eBay

raphael@ebay.com · ‎11-02-2016

Hello everyone,

Welcome to our weekly chat. This week, the thread will remain open until tomorrow as usual.

Open issues:

Incomplete ID History
Link to Community located on Feedback page points to eBay.com
Some Search pages show watchers, some don't
Items missing from combined invoice
CA Shopping cart erroneously applying free shipping on multiple orders (under investigation)
Request Total unavailable

Updates:

Selling limits live items count discrepancy - We are investigating further.
Missing Tracked Packet destinations - still no update from PayPal and Pitney Bowes
Combined shipping offers not shown to international buyers - ticket open

If anything is missing, please let me know. Thanks!

00nevermind00 · ‎11-02-2016

Hello Raphael,

The revamped US boards are a sorry mess.

Is the same thing going to happen to our boards?

lucitabby · ‎11-02-2016

Hello Raphael,

The Fall Seller Update thread seems to have gone dead but I am still worried about one issue that we didn't hear back on.

"By February 2017, for most categories, newly-created listings will require at least one type of product identifier (e.g. UPC, GTIN, one of the above, etc.). Also, note that the options “Does not Apply” and “NA” will no longer be available for the majority of items. Private codes can be generated by sellers."

"Does not Apply" is something I use on most listings. Have you heard anything about this.

Thank you,

Judith

rose-dee · ‎11-02-2016

Hi Raphael, and welcome to November...

I have a question about listing on .com, which I'm hoping you may be able to answer. I noticed recently when using the new "Revise Item" form on .com that there was no box to check off for "apply my promotional shipping rule", as there usually is under each shipping section (unless I'm missing it somewhere).

If it really is gone from the revision form, does this mean I can no longer specify to which areas of the world I want to apply my promotional shipping?

I would appreciate any insight you have on this, as I'd like to ensure that the promotional shipping rules I do have in place are applied properly. Thanks!

rose-dee · ‎11-02-2016

@lucitabby wrote:

"Does not Apply" is something I use on most listings. Have you heard anything about this.

Oh yes, with so much else going on I'd forgotten to ask about this again too. Very important point, and a real concern for those of us whose items don't have UPCs!

pjcdn2005 · ‎11-02-2016

i don't know if you have another id or not but it look like most or all of your items on this one are not new so you won't need UPC for them.

I'm concerned about this too as I have new items that I received without any tags or UPC info. Most of those items aren't super popular or have been discontinued so they are unlikely to be in a product catalogue and I have no way of finding the UPC for them.

Raphael, does eBay want us to generate our own UPC codes for items when we don't have that information even though they do have a code somewhere? I don't nderstand the point of doing that or even generating one for a handmade product. It may get be handy for the sellers own inventory but how does it benefit seller or buyer on eBay?

raphael@ebay.com · ‎11-02-2016

@00nevermind00 wrote:

Hello Raphael,

The revamped US boards are a sorry mess.

Is the same thing going to happen to our boards?

Hi nevermind,

We aren't scheduled for that update yet, but it will come at one point I think. Hopefully all the kinks will have been ironed out by then.

raphael@ebay.com · ‎11-02-2016

@lucitabby wrote:

Hello Raphael,

The Fall Seller Update thread seems to have gone dead but I am still worried about one issue that we didn't hear back on.

"By February 2017, for most categories, newly-created listings will require at least one type of product identifier (e.g. UPC, GTIN, one of the above, etc.). Also, note that the options “Does not Apply” and “NA” will no longer be available for the majority of items. Private codes can be generated by sellers."

"Does not Apply" is something I use on most listings. Have you heard anything about this.

Thank you,

Judith

Hi Judith,

The Structured Data team hasn't issued further details on that yet (how seller-generated codes will work).

gwrocen · ‎11-02-2016

Hello Raphael,

We just noticed that we received a late shipment defect - first one ever in 18 years on eBay.

We were paid for a purchase on August 21 and mailed it on August 22.

In our view it is now up to the Post Office to do its job.

On Sept. 26 or there abouts, the recipient left feedback for a satisfactory purchase.

However, he also left a "late delivery" defect for us.

Why do we get the defect for "late delivery"?

Why does the POST OFFICE not receive the defect - after all they are the ones who did the delivering???

Unfortunately this buyer chose not to pay for a tracking number for his parcel even though he was given the option to do so.

Somehow this does not seem right.

Why does eBay choose to give us a defect without giving us a chance to respond or defend our record?

Thanks.

gwrocen

esclyons · ‎11-02-2016

because without tracking EBAY does not believe you sent it when you said you did..

gwrocen · ‎11-02-2016

@esclyons wrote:
because without tracking EBAY does not believe you sent it when you said you did..

And they believe the recipient (buyer)????

Without giving us (seller) a chance to respond??

It works both ways. - if they won't/can't believe the seller,

(with no tracking), how can they believe the buyer??

momcqueen · ‎11-02-2016

Hello. I had a question from last week that was overlooked. I'll repost.

Re: October 26th 2016 Weekly Session

in reply to raphael@ebay.com

‎10-26-2016 11:34 AM

As you know, sellers love to discuss Best Match. We were reminded of the ebay User Agreement which states:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/user-agreement.html

We strive to create a marketplace where buyers find what they are looking for. Therefore, the appearance or placement of listings in search and browse results will depend on a variety of factors, including, but not limited to:
- buyer's location, search query, browsing site, and history;
- item's location, listing format, price and shipping cost, terms of service, end time, history, and relevance to the user query;
- seller's history, including listing practices, Detailed Seller Ratings, eBay policy compliance, Feedback, and defect rate; and
- number of listings matching the buyer's query.
To drive a positive user experience, a listing may not appear in some search and browse results regardless of the sort order chosen by the buyer.
Some advanced listing upgrades will only be visible on certain Services.
eBay's Duplicate Listing Policy may also affect whether your listing appears in search results.

Can you please explain what the statment 'to drive a positive user experience, a listing may not appear in some search and browse results regardless of the sort order chosen by the buyer' really means?

Thank you,

Maureen

p.s. The 'Followers list issues' are over as far as I can discern. Mine own at least display the proper number and actual users.

silverpinups · ‎11-02-2016

eBay is unfortunately more buyer friendly then seller friendly.... their seller rating programs have always been an issue in fairness and I don't see it changing anytime soon.

Be thankful you didn't receive a "item not received" claim for sending it without a tracking number.

On the flip side you could contact the buyer and ask them when they received the package. If they "can't remember" the exact day the package arrived, you could contact eBay Customer Service and dispute the defect.

gwrocen · ‎11-02-2016

@silverpinups wrote:
eBay is unfortunately more buyer friendly then seller friendly.... their seller rating programs have always been an issue in fairness and I don't see it changing anytime soon.

Be thankful you didn't receive a "item not received" claim for sending it without a tracking number.

On the flip side you could contact the buyer and ask them when they received the package. If they "can't remember" the exact day the package arrived, you could contact eBay Customer Service and dispute the defect.

Silverpinups - Thanks for the suggestion.

momcqueen · ‎11-02-2016

If the buyer does tell you, take that extra number of business days and consider adding it to your handling time so that you can properly pad your delivery estimates to cover a realistic amount of time. That is the real reason to contact your customer, not to hope they won't remember so you can get a defect-removal pass from Customer Service. The previous respondent was sharing with you how my own defect was able to be removed. I posted about it on the Discussion Boards at the time.

momcqueen · ‎11-02-2016

@gwrocen wrote:
@silverpinups wrote:
eBay is unfortunately more buyer friendly then seller friendly.... their seller rating programs have always been an issue in fairness and I don't see it changing anytime soon.

Be thankful you didn't receive a "item not received" claim for sending it without a tracking number.

On the flip side you could contact the buyer and ask them when they received the package. If they "can't remember" the exact day the package arrived, you could contact eBay Customer Service and dispute the defect.
Silverpinups - Thanks for the suggestion.

Please read this thread carefully.

http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/Appealing-a-Late-Shipment-Defect-Successfully/m-p/347206/...

It is important that you understand the reason you are speaking with your buyer about the date your item was received. I repeat, it is not so that you hope the buyer doesn't remember so that you can appeal to Customer Service, it is so that you know the proper number of days to add to handling time to cover potential late shipment defects going forward. That was the reason that I shared my experience, not so that any seller -- you or me -- could avoid taking responsibility for the defect. I don't like Late Shipment Defects any better than anyone else but they exist for a reason and we have to live with them no matter our protestations this past year.

esclyons · ‎11-02-2016

Doesn't work that way, i had a buyer leave a late defect 5 weeks after the item was due to arrive, and they were just a province away..i asked them politely if in fact the item just arrived, or if they just waited to leave feedback.. no reply.. so what can you do then..

momcqueen · ‎11-02-2016

If there is no reply from your buyer, the seller is left none the wiser as to how many days of extra handling time to add to their untracked listings. The tale ends there.

My point is that the seller cannot start harassing the buyer about the received defect in the hopes the buyer just will not remember when the order arrived and how late it actually came. This follow-up contact has to serve an actual, useful purpose. Or I would expect it will be considered buyer harassment by sellers by ebay in future.

gwrocen · ‎11-02-2016

@mjwl2006 wrote:

Please read this thread carefully.

http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/Appealing-a-Late-Shipment-Defect-Successfully/m-p/347206/...

It is important that you understand the reason you are speaking with your buyer about the date your item was received. I repeat, it is not so that you hope the buyer doesn't remember so that you can appeal to Customer Service, it is so that you know the proper number of days to add to handling time to cover potential late shipment defects going forward. That was the reason that I shared my experience, not so that any seller -- you or me -- could avoid taking responsibility for the defect. I don't like Late Shipment Defects any better than anyone else but they exist for a reason and we have to live with them no matter our protestations this past year.

Thanks for the information.

Prior to this, during the Canada Post Fiasco this past summer, we had boosted handling time to 5 days

but going forward think we will up it to 10 days (the next level) even though we ship within one business day.

We have been selecting "economy shipping" (this is on .com) which is rated at 11 - 23 business days

for expected delivery.

Guess this may still not be good enough when customs or the distribution centers hold the parcel

for as many days as they like. Or, as in the case of one parcel we had a while back,

they kept sending the parcel back and forth between a couple of distribution centers in Pennsylvania

until they figured out how to get it to its destination in Ohio.

Thanks again.

merritt-motorcycle-salvage · ‎11-03-2016

Since when did ebay decide to slap the "People who viewed this item also viewed" large horizontal gallery of other sellers listings in the middle of our listings between the listing image(s) and description. Now we pay ebay so they can advertise other sellers listings on ours. Anything else in the works to steer potential buyers away from a sellers listings.