eBay

raphael@ebay.com · ‎08-03-2016

Hello everyone,

We're back! Welcome to our weekly chat. The thread will remain open for the next 24 hours or so, please go ahead and post at your convenience.

Open issues:

Login redirect to foreign eBay sites
Automotive listings losing images when changing duration to GTC
Best Offer on listings that didn't have it in the first place
Errors when uploading more than one tracking number at a time (repeated, erroneous numbers saved)
Request Total unavailable

Updates:

Anchor Store coupon not working/only working on AU site - Issue has been identified and is being worked on between eBay and PayPal. In the meantime CS has been provided with tools to help affected sellers with a work around.
Printer friendly Order Details page missing items - Resolved - fix rolled out or to roll out soon.
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!

silverpinups · ‎08-03-2016

Hi Raphael,

I asked you this question at the last Weekly Session and just wanted to confirm again.

What happens to my USD GTC listings on eBay.ca after Aug.3/16? When eBay.ca starts to end the USD listings from renewing, will they show up as "ended listings" / "unsold listings" or will they disappear or be deleted?

There seems to be some confusion with different sellers about this particular issue.

momcqueen · ‎08-03-2016

Good afternoon, Raphael. Welcome back. I hope Vegas was not all work and no play for the team form eBay Canada.

My issue is with a Late Shipment defect that I recently received due to the postal disruption.

While many ebay sellers were closing their stores in mid-June and hiding their listings in preparation for the likely mail strike/lockout with that July 2 deadline fast approaching, I loudly and proudly announced my intent to stay open. Which I did. Because I had a contingency plan, and I was confident ebay Canada would not allow Canadian sellers to suffer for Late Shipment defects that were beyond our control due to the looming postal disruption.

My late-shipment-defect order shipped by domestic lettermail same-day (within five hours) being deposited into the mailstream at a postal counter on June 21 before I returned to my desk to increase my handling time to 10 days. Just to be extra safe.

It was something being mailed to a repeat, satisfied customer so I wasn't terribly worried, I have sold to him via untraced domestic lettermail in the past and there have been no issues with receipt.

The Order Details on this item stated Thursday, Jun 23, 2016 - Wednesday, Jun 29, 2016 as the delivery estimate.

The buyer left me positive feedback sometime around July 4. After the July 2 nail-biter of a strike-lockout deadline, and after the Canada Day Long Weekend.

I noticed later that week that I had received my first ever Late Shipment Defect for this transaction. Surprise. Remember, I had it in the mail same-day as per my handling time at that moment in the day, and it was in fact shipped within five hours of payment.

I called ebay Customer Service to get this feedback removed, and was told by the first CSR that they couldn't find anything about ebay Canada that said there was grounds for feedback removal regarding a postal strike. They wouldn't look at the Announcements Board when I told them that this was a place they could confirm what I was telling them, and they didn't care to hear about a pending mail strike. I asked for a supervisor. None was available.

One called me back later that day. I explained about the postal strike, the July 2 deadline, and how that if this item was delivered late it was due to mail mishandling as a result of the stressful work situation created by the looming strike-lockout. The supervisor said none of that mattered since the only grounds for removal would be if my order was shipped with tracking and only between July 2 and 18. Since it was shipped via domestic lettermail, it was ineligible for feedback or defect removal. And shipped too soon to count.

As one can see from the hundreds if not thousands of comments in the ebay Community through the month of June about the impact of the mail strike-lockout on seller performance metrics, this is the exact situation that countless other sellers warned me would happen if I didn’t close mid-June like most others planned to do: a buyer would get their shipment late due to mail mishandling as a result of a tense work environment or stalled workstream.

Does ebay really expect me to accept this Late Shipment defect that is completely and entirely not my fault? My orders are promptly dispatched and are never late. Until the negotiations at Canada Post came to a head and everyone expected it to implode that weekend. No wonder my outgoing mail was not delivered on time, I also had an incoming cheque mailed to me by Canada Post Corporation itself go missing that week leading up to July 2. It’s clear to me that things were not at they should have been behind the closed doors of Canada Post and their mail distribution centres at that time.

What am I to do about this? I feel as if I have been left to twist in the wind. The Item Number was 231824807884.

Thank you,

Maureen

raphael@ebay.com · ‎08-03-2016

@silverpinups wrote:

Hi Raphael,

I asked you this question at the last Weekly Session and just wanted to confirm again.

What happens to my USD GTC listings on eBay.ca after Aug.3/16? When eBay.ca starts to end the USD listings from renewing, will they show up as "ended listings" / "unsold listings" or will they disappear or be deleted?

There seems to be some confusion with different sellers about this particular issue.

Hi silverpinups,

Starting today, GTC listings that were created in USD will no longer renew, but will remain live until their next scheduled renewal date. Once that date hits, the listing will go into your Ended listings.

jt-libra · ‎08-03-2016

Good afternoon Raphael. I hope you returned from Las Vegas in reasonably good shape …. both physically and financially 🙂

I plan to open a store. It appears that I have no selling limits because I don’t see them anywhere on my eBay summary. However, because of family issues, I have not been very active on eBay the last few months and I am now at risk of losing my Top Seller Status because I did not meet the sales requirements for the past month. I hope to increase sales over the next couple of months but should I not regain my Top Seller badge for a while, could this result in selling limits being imposed when I open a store?

pjcdn2005 · ‎08-03-2016

Why do you think that the lateness had anything to do with the possible strike? Perhaps I'm wrong but I thought that the things that eBay proposed to do were if there was a strike or lockout. Although I don't think that giving us a maximum delivery time of 7 days for letter mail is realistic considering that 2 weeks isn't uncommon, I don't see how this situation is any different than if it had happened in February. I had heard (but can't confirm) that during that time less people were mailing items so service may have been faster in some cases.

If you get the defect removed, that's great, but I do wonder if that's what eBay meant when they were reffering to protecting sellers during a disruption. Maybe?

snoopwiz · ‎08-03-2016

Welcome back. Hope you had a blast in the desert. It just wouldn't be a weekly chat if I was not to ask about any progress in finding a Canadian supplier for the "coupon program?" Or, even more to my liking, scrapping the ill-planned idea completely in favour of a credit note, or perhaps lowering our store fees a smidgen? I am looking at 50 boxes I did not want, do not need and still irked about "paying" approx $2 each for 40 cent boxes.

raphael@ebay.com · ‎08-03-2016

@mjwl2006 wrote:

Good afternoon, Raphael. Welcome back. I hope Vegas was not all work and no play for the team form eBay Canada.

My issue is with a Late Shipment defect that I recently received due to the postal disruption.

While many ebay sellers were closing their stores in mid-June and hiding their listings in preparation for the likely mail strike/lockout with that July 2 deadline fast approaching, I loudly and proudly announced my intent to stay open. Which I did. Because I had a contingency plan, and I was confident ebay Canada would not allow Canadian sellers to suffer for Late Shipment defects that were beyond our control due to the looming postal disruption.

My late-shipment-defect order shipped by domestic lettermail same-day (within five hours) being deposited into the mailstream at a postal counter on June 21 before I returned to my desk to increase my handling time to 10 days. Just to be extra safe.

It was something being mailed to a repeat, satisfied customer so I wasn't terribly worried, I have sold to him via untraced domestic lettermail in the past and there have been no issues with receipt.

The Order Details on this item stated Thursday, Jun 23, 2016 - Wednesday, Jun 29, 2016 as the delivery estimate.

The buyer left me positive feedback sometime around July 4. After the July 2 nail-biter of a strike-lockout deadline, and after the Canada Day Long Weekend.

I noticed later that week that I had received my first ever Late Shipment Defect for this transaction. Surprise. Remember, I had it in the mail same-day as per my handling time at that moment in the day, and it was in fact shipped within five hours of payment.

I called ebay Customer Service to get this feedback removed, and was told by the first CSR that they couldn't find anything about ebay Canada that said there was grounds for feedback removal regarding a postal strike. They wouldn't look at the Announcements Board when I told them that this was a place they could confirm what I was telling them, and they didn't care to hear about a pending mail strike. I asked for a supervisor. None was available.

One called me back later that day. I explained about the postal strike, the July 2 deadline, and how that if this item was delivered late it was due to mail mishandling as a result of the stressful work situation created by the looming strike-lockout. The supervisor said none of that mattered since the only grounds for removal would be if my order was shipped with tracking and only between July 2 and 18. Since it was shipped via domestic lettermail, it was ineligible for feedback or defect removal. And shipped too soon to count.

As one can see from the hundreds if not thousands of comments in the ebay Community through the month of June about the impact of the mail strike-lockout on seller performance metrics, this is the exact situation that countless other sellers warned me would happen if I didn’t close mid-June like most others planned to do: a buyer would get their shipment late due to mail mishandling as a result of a tense work environment or stalled workstream.

Does ebay really expect me to accept this Late Shipment defect that is completely and entirely not my fault? My orders are promptly dispatched and are never late. Until the negotiations at Canada Post came to a head and everyone expected it to implode that weekend. No wonder my outgoing mail was not delivered on time, I also had an incoming cheque mailed to me by Canada Post Corporation itself go missing that week leading up to July 2. It’s clear to me that things were not at they should have been behind the closed doors of Canada Post and their mail distribution centres at that time.

What am I to do about this? I feel as if I have been left to twist in the wind. The Item Number was 231824807884.

Thank you,

Maureen

Hi Maureen,

Sorry that this happened. However, the CSRs you spoke to did and said what they were supposed to. Our provisions to remove defects in case of a postal disruption weren't put in effect because there was no postal disruption. Whether your shipment was delayed because of heightened stress level at the distribution plant, however likely, is speculation. Canada Post maintains that their service was never interrupted, and as you know, lettermail delivery times aren't guaranteed. I wish I could say otherwise, but in this case CS made the right call according to what their instructions were.

raphael@ebay.com · ‎08-03-2016

Hi jt-libra,

@jt-libra wrote:

Good afternoon Raphael. I hope you returned from Las Vegas in reasonably good shape …. both physically and financially 🙂

I broke even on both counts!

@jt-libra wrote:

I plan to open a store. It appears that I have no selling limits because I don’t see them anywhere on my eBay summary. However, because of family issues, I have not been very active on eBay the last few months and I am now at risk of losing my Top Seller Status because I did not meet the sales requirements for the past month. I hope to increase sales over the next couple of months but should I not regain my Top Seller badge for a while, could this result in selling limits being imposed when I open a store?

Selling limits are not connected to whether you open a store, and it usually takes some time before we adjust selling limits after a seller slows down a bit. I wouldn't be worried, even if you did get a bit of a reduction in your limits, your proven track record should play in your favour once you start selling again.

raphael@ebay.com · ‎08-03-2016

@snoopwiz wrote:

Welcome back. Hope you had a blast in the desert. It just wouldn't be a weekly chat if I was not to ask about any progress in finding a Canadian supplier for the "coupon program?" Or, even more to my liking, scrapping the ill-planned idea completely in favour of a credit note, or perhaps lowering our store fees a smidgen? I am looking at 50 boxes I did not want, do not need and still irked about "paying" approx $2 each for 40 cent boxes.

Hi snoopwiz,

Vegas was fun! Best part was meeting with all the sellers, some of which chat with us here from time to time.

I hear you about the shipping supplies. No news yet but we are still pushing for a fully Canadian solution. I promise we will announce as soon as we can say anything.

amcdc79 · ‎08-03-2016

Hello Raphael,

Not sure if it's just a glitch, but when I went to relist a few of my Automotive Emblems on .com (where they have been since day one) every time I changed them to GTC instead of the normal 30 days, all the photos disappeared. If I left them alone, and just relisted them there was no issue with the photos, have you heard about this before?

Thanks

jt-libra · ‎08-03-2016

raphael@ebay.com wrote:
Hi jt-libra,
@jt-libra wrote:
Good afternoon Raphael. I hope you returned from Las Vegas in reasonably good shape …. both physically and financially 🙂
I broke even on both counts!
@jt-libra wrote:
I plan to open a store. It appears that I have no selling limits because I don’t see them anywhere on my eBay summary. However, because of family issues, I have not been very active on eBay the last few months and I am now at risk of losing my Top Seller Status because I did not meet the sales requirements for the past month. I hope to increase sales over the next couple of months but should I not regain my Top Seller badge for a while, could this result in selling limits being imposed when I open a store?
Selling limits are not connected to whether you open a store, and it usually takes some time before we adjust selling limits after a seller slows down a bit. I wouldn't be worried, even if you did get a bit of a reduction in your limits, your proven track record should play in your favour once you start selling again.

Good to know. Thanks!

bunbar · ‎08-03-2016

Hi I have a strange problem, I just recieved the following email from a buyer. The item has been paid for. what do I do

I don't know who you are but I DID NOT PURCHASE THIS ITEM! I did not give you permission to charge my account with this purchase.

Cease and desist charging items to my account!

momcqueen · ‎08-03-2016

Interesting, I had an unpaid item case open and close on a buyer last night and tonight he messaged me to say he did not know who had bought the item. I told him to contact Customer Service pronto if he thought he'd been hacked.

bunbar · ‎08-03-2016

What has me most confused is that someone paid for it. It's an item that is less than $5.

lady.stark · ‎08-03-2016

Good evening Raphael,

eBay said they would protect us during the whole Canada Post crisis and the "to ship or not to ship" thing. I just got a defect because of that crisis. Will eBay stay true to its word and remove it? Thanks!

pocomocomputing · ‎08-04-2016

raphael@ebay.com wrote:
Hello everyone,

We're back! Welcome to our weekly chat. The thread will remain open for the next 24 hours or so, please go ahead and post at your convenience.

Open issues:
Best Offer on listings that didn't have it in the first place
Errors when uploading more than one tracking number at a time (repeated, erroneous numbers saved)
Request Total unavailable
Updates:
Anchor Store coupon not working/only working on AU site - Issue has been identified and is being worked on between eBay and PayPal. In the meantime CS has been provided with tools to help affected sellers with a work around.
Printer friendly Order Details page missing items - Resolved - fix rolled out or to roll out soon.
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!

It has been months since I reported issues with Selling Limits and how they are counted. What is the status?

musicyouneed · ‎08-04-2016

Hi Raphael, I hope you had a good time in Vegas. This is part of a broken record regarding having to sell in Canadian $. I sell CD's and I would say in the past up till Mar/April of this year, 50 to 60% of my sales were to US buyers. Well now it is down to about 5% and that one was listed on .com. I almost had a large sale on Tuesday from a previous US buyer buying 5 CD's to take advantage of free shipping for over 5 CD's. He would email me stating this one, and when I told him that he has to go over to .ca to use the cart. He changed his mind. This sale would have been about $160, which I lost. I am at a loss of what to do now.

musicyouneed · ‎08-04-2016

This is further to my email. This buyer has purchased over 80 CD's from me in the past using .com, over $1,400. I feel that him having to go over to .ca and the fact that the Canadian $ amounts show higher discouraged him. Having the fact that he cannot use the .com cart and the Canadian $ is working against me and probably most of the sellers here who sell on .ca. Here is his first email indicating that he wished to purchase 5. If Canadian sellers who sell on .ca lose US buyers, we will have to move our business to .com as the .ca model doesn't work for us and this is proof right here.