eBay

raphael@ebay.com · ‎05-04-2016

Hello everyone,

The weekly session is back! Sorry for the hiatus last week. I'll be here most of the day today.

Open issues:

Odd missing gallery picture in search results
Errors when uploading more than one tracking number at a time (repeated, erroneous numbers saved)
Selling limits live items count discrepancy

Updates:

Sold items going into Unsold container - Resolved
Seller marketing emails issues - Selling team assigned someone to this, waiting on news.
Wrong tax rates applied to PayPal labels - still no update from PayPal and Pitney Bowes
Missing Tracked Packet destinations - still no update from PayPal and Pitney Bowes
Combined shipping offers not shown to international buyers - under investigation with shipping team

To my fellow rebels, scoundrels and nerf herders, May the Fourth Be With You!

raphael@ebay.com · ‎05-04-2016

@pjcdn2005 wrote:

raphael@ebay.com wrote:

@pjcdn2005 wrote:

Hi Raphael,

When a Canadian buyer wants to return a not as described item to a Canadian seller, is it possible for the seller to issue a return label through eBay and/or does eBay send the buyer a return label? I believe that both options are available to U.S. sellers and buyers but I'm not aware of a way that it can be done here.

Hello pjcdn,

A seller can issue a return shipping label and upload it to My eBay to send it to the buyer, but for now eBay doesn't have the same self-serve return functionality as there is on eBay.com.

Sorry, but are you saying that there is a way on eBay for us to set up the label and send it to the buyer? It looks as if I click on print shipping label next to their transaction that I would be able to transpose the information on the shipping label and then send it to the buyer but I haven't actually tried to do that.

Or, are you saying that we have to buy our label online from Canada Post and pay full price?

Sorry if I was unclear. On eBay.ca we don't have integrated labels so you can't create a shipping label on eBay and send it to the buyer for a return. What you can do, if you already have a prepaid return label (from Canada Post or otherwise), is upload it to a Return case so that eBay sees it and the buyer gets it.

rose-dee · ‎05-04-2016

raphael@ebay.com wrote:
@mjwl2006 wrote:
Good afternoon, Raphael,

As you may or may not know, when a Canadian buyer attempts to browse an American version of a Canadian store, they get a pop-up window that says 'do you really want to go to XXXX.com when you can use XXX.ca'. When is ebay going to adopt this approach? There are casual and new ebay users who don't even know ebay.ca exists.

Thanks,
Maureen
Hi Maureen,

Great recommendation. Thanks!

Just one moment, hold your horses please!

While this may work well for online retailers who have a seamless, completely functional checkout system across all platforms, and may be a lovely concept for sellers listing mainly on .ca with a lot of Canadian buyers, what would happen to those of us who have a .ca store but list on .com? Just a few issues I can think of from the perspective of a seller like me who has had nothing but trouble listing on .ca and has moved to .com for that reason:

Would a Canadian buyer who goes to .ca have any difficulty attempting to make a multi-item purchase or check out seamlessly if they choose an items listed on .com (in $US) by a Canadian seller?
Would automatic shipping discounts that were set up on .com (for listings moved there in order to make the cart work properly for U.S. buyers), still work for .com listings purchased via .ca? My understanding was that the two automated promo shipping systems were separate.
Would all markdown features that are available on .com still be shown to .ca shoppers for my .com listings?
Would being routed to .ca change the visibility or presentation of .com listings to that Canadian buyer?

I'd like to know the answers to these and other concerns before cheering for this idea. I'm afraid my faith in eBay's ability to provide a completely consistent -- and consistently functional -- experience across its platforms is not very great.

rose-dee · ‎05-04-2016

Two weeks ago you provided a sample of text (with HTML tags) that could be used in a listing to supersede eBay's bots creating an arbitrary summary of the listing description. I have three questions about this:

1) Can the tagged "blurb" be placed anywhere within the Description section, or must it be at the very top?

2) Will it still work if inserted into text within a listing frame (e.g. such as an Auctiva frame, which is then dropped into the eBay Description section whole)?

3) Will there be a dedicated spot in the SYI form for sellers to create this summary, as a reminder that it must be done if the seller wants to avoid bot-speak?

4) I do understand that if the listing description is 800 characters or less, the bot takeover won't apply, but will there be some sort of counter made available in the SYI form?

I'm not sure I even know what 800 characters looks like in terms of how many lines are available, but it can't be much. In any case, for me, having a bot pick and choose what to put in a listing summary for a OOAK or unique item is absolute poison, so I'm going to have to do something about this for almost every listing.

rose-dee · ‎05-04-2016

Another subject entirely...

Last spring (i.e. 2015), eBay announced that it was removing Omniture from store features. We were told something similar would replace it "in a few months". Honestly, I relied quite a bit on Ominiture for marketing purposes, regardless of whether some thought it wasn't completely accurate, and I miss it a great deal.

Any ETA?

After all, we're coming up to nearly a year. Why couldn't Omniture have been left where it was until eBay had something to replace it?

lady.stark · ‎05-04-2016

raphael@ebay.com wrote:
@lady.stark wrote:
Hi Raphael. Up until yesterday, I was paying my seller fees in US $. My automatic payment was my American Express card. I changed my billing currency yesterday and tried to add my credit card again, but the system does not want to accept it. It says "Visa or MasterCard" only. Do you know why I can use it for my billing in US $, but not in CAD $? It does not make any sense... thanks!
Hello lady.stark,

Amex isn't accepted on eBay.ca, it is on eBay.com though. Perhaps you had set it up on eBay.com before?

Nope. I added it quite recently (maybe last year), and it was on eBay.CA. I did not use .com for more than 3 years.

dutchman48 · ‎05-04-2016

My take as a comment and question.

Everything Ebay has done over the last couple of years is for the large sellers selling new products or the Chinese. Hence why all the codes they now want. Amazon any one?

Any one selling used has no use for all these changes, no ID numbers available but still required or N/A. A totally useless make work project for anyone selling used or hand made.

Now this fiasco with mobile requirements and number of characters. Sellers of new merchandise don't need long descriptions. Sellers of used and hand made do to prevent issues with buyers. This is no different than the let's hide the description.

Writing is on the wall, sellers of used are going to continually get put through the mill with constant change and change to the change until they get fed up and leave. This is what Ebay wants.

Sellers of used give Ebay the most headaches, and returns to deal with. Chinese are immune and large sellers of new merchandise are more or less immune unless factory defect.

Ebay is slowly pushing out sellers that do not sell new and they can say whatever they want.

Their servers are overloaded, their system has far too many glitches, and they give lip service to sellers.

rose-dee · ‎05-04-2016

@pierrelebel wrote:

[...]Three weeks later, I have not yet heard from eBay about the email marketing problem. Tried it again yesterday - same result - "Failed" with no explanation as to why something that has worked for more than ten years is not working now.

Until you mentioned this issue up 3 weeks ago, I had no idea this was a glitch. I tried to send a promo email after setting up a store-wide markdown, and it appeared that it simply didn't happen.

I assumed I must have done something wrong, or that it was -- like so many other features -- temporarily "out of service". There was no message to say the feature was disabled, so I thought, OK, maybe the email had actually been sent (without a confirmation for some reason). So I didn't go back to try again.

Thank you for bringing this up. I have to wonder how many sellers, like me, may not have even been aware that the email marketing was not functioning at all, or wondered whether they'd made an error during input that might have affected the function.

Incidentally, I don't think that sellers wouldn't care about the absence of this feature. I use it frequently, purposefully, and rely on it to communicate with my subscribers en masse on specific occasions, such as when I list new pattern designs. I consider my email subscriber list -- and the ability to reach directly out to customers who are clearly interested in what I sell -- to be a key elements of my marketing.

"Failed" with no explanation as to why something that has worked for more than ten years is not working now."

When I read this I couldn't help but think about the "cart disconnect". EBay had a checkout system that worked for years across borders, then suddenly didn't. No explanation, no announcement, and no fix for that either, going on not just three weeks, but three years.

The question in my mind lately has been not: "Shouldn't eBay do better"?, but "Can eBay do any worse than it has"?

rose-dee · ‎05-04-2016

raphael@ebay.com wrote:
@hallscrystal wrote:
Hi,
On this page:
http://pages.ebay.ca/sellerinformation/news/sprupd16/features-fees.html

Items must be less than $150 for free Gallery Plus etc. - Basic Store
What happens with multiple items?
Are the fees calculated on the total amount available or just for one?

If I have a listing that customers can buy up to 6 glasses at $50 ea - are listing fees based on $300, or $50?

Hi hallscrystal,

In your example, the fees for listing upgrades would be based on a $50 item.

Well, well, another interesting little change that I'm sure few sellers (me included) noticed, what with the other seismic changes that have gone on around here.

As an aside, I had to smile at this tactic (increasing fees for "background" services). It's so reminiscent of what the B.C. government did a few years ago when it was desperate for cash but knew it would be political anathema to openly raise taxes -- they simply increased fees for every little government service. Need a document? There's a fee for that. Better access? There's a fee for that too.

But here's my question about this particular fee hike: I really don't "get" the rationale behind offering free upgrades on cheaper items (list price <$150). It seems utterly counter-productive. I would think eBay would be keen to encourage sales of high-value items (i.e. more FVFs for eBay) by providing cheaper listing upgrades for them (or at least favourable/promotional pricing).

I'm really at a loss. Raphael, perhaps you could explain eBay's thought process on this subject -- if there is one. Or was it just a matter of: "we need more money, oh yeah, here's a place we can raise fees and nobody will complain?

ricarmic · ‎05-04-2016

Hi Raphael!

Umm the "answer" to my question changed? Originally you mentioned that you did not know the answer and that you'd go see what you could find out. Now it says what is below, which isn't an answer to my question, I'm thinking it was meant for someone else.....????

Everything after Hi ricarmic has changed, I'm thinking it was a miss-edit???

=========================================================================

@ricarmic wrote:
Hi Raphael!

Regarding the supplies coupon:

My store is registered on .COM (I actually now and "forever" have sold only on .COM)

My $75 coupon says it is only valid on the ebay shipping store on .COM and it says it is $75 US$

So I am supposing that I can't use my coupon on the Canadian store.

I did some looking and I don't understand if the coupon can be used on the .COM side against the item and the shipping, or if the coupon can be used only against the item cost? I've never had anything to do with coupons before so I don't really know how they work.

If I can't use the coupon in the Canadian store and/or against the combined item/shipping cost in the eBay.COM store, it's a lost "benefit" to me....

Hi ricarmic,

It would be great if we could find a way to make shipping to Canada from the USA the same cost as shipping to the USA from the USA. But as everyone knows, shipping to or from or within Canada is really expensive. Regardless, the way to think about this is that if eBay is investing $1 to reduce the cost of shipping supplies for US buyers, they are investing $1 in ours as well. It is equal.

pocomocomputing · ‎05-04-2016

Here is the sample HTML and sample text from the Seller Update FAQ page here (Question 9). Please note that counting characters is not simple. If you have a return, that counts as 50 characters. It can be placed anywhere in the listings as far as I read.

http://pages.ebay.ca/sellerinformation/news/sprupd16/view-item.html#tab=faqs&faq=faq-vi-q09

How do I create a custom item description?

If you have HTML authoring capabilities, you can indicate which content eBay should use for the View Item summary by encapsulating desired content (up to 800 characters) in special HTML markup. A simple way to tag your content is to include the following HTML around the text you wish to include in the mobile item description:

<div vocab="http://schema.org/" typeof="Product"><span property="description">This paragraph contains almost 800 characters of text to be displayed in the mobile item description. And the text in this paragraph through this sentence contains 250 characters, which is the amount we will display without any actions on your part. When you tag this paragraph with these simple HTML breaks, the content will be displayed to shoppers looking at your item. This will allow the shopper to see the key information you want to display, without them having to click through to the complete description. If your complete description is 800 characters or less and uses basic HTML we will display the entire description without any action by you—so the best practice is to keep it within 800 characters. If you have a long description, make it easy for your buyers by using this option. </span></div>

pocomocomputing · ‎05-04-2016

The special eBay.com USA 2016 Spring Seller Update had a topic on how to count characters and more info is there. It can be hard to read and understand. What is posted there is not final.

http://community.ebay.com/t5/2016-Spring-Seller-Update/eBay-how-do-I-count-html-characters-in-the-80...

Here is another topic on the special mobile text.

http://community.ebay.com/t5/2016-Spring-Seller-Update/Mobile-View-w-HTML/m-p/25413846

rose-dee · ‎05-04-2016

Wow, you're right. This counting of characters is going to be more of a headache than I imagined. I'm just hoping eBay will provide some kind of "window" in the SYI form for an optional, custom-written summary by the seller, that keeps count as you input characters.

Raphael, do you know if that's coming, and when? If so, I might hold off editing all my listings until it's available.

And I see that 800 characters doesn't provide much in the way of a listing description if that's all a seller is using in order to avoid the bot-takeover. One reasonably-sized paragraph is about it. That might work for mass-produced items which everybody is more or less familiar with, but I can't imagine describing some of my OOAK or unique items fully in one paragraph, especially if sizing, colour, and specific characteristics are concerns.

rose-dee · ‎05-04-2016

@dutchman48 wrote:

"Sellers of used give Ebay the most headaches, and returns to deal with. Chinese are immune and large sellers of new merchandise are more or less immune unless factory defect."

I agree with just about everything you said in the post above, except I have real trouble with the above idea. There must be legions of outstanding small sellers of used goods on eBay who have kept their seller standards spotless. So what would be eBay's gain in getting rid of those sellers? As much as I also believe eBay is trying to get rid of small sellers, this is something I can't grasp.

The thing is, the small, OOAK sellers who are still left standing and who have been successfully selling on eBay for years are the ones who have adapted, complied, bent with the eBay winds, and still maintained a stellar reputation, i.e. the best soldiers left after all the battles.

To my mind, these are exactly the type of seller eBay should be bending over backwards to keep here. I count myself among that crowd. I've caused eBay very few headaches over the years, have really had only one occasion to deal with CS, and have never had a return, a defect, or a negative FB comment. So why get rid of sellers that like? I'm still making money for eBay, although admittedly not at the rate of a large Chinese seller. But on the other hand, if eBay made this place more accommodating and comfortable for me to sell successfully, I might still be here years after that Chinese seller moves on.

Is it mere shortsightedness on eBay's part to let a whole cadre of successful, experienced, top-notch sellers feel pushed to the point of leaving just because they are offering unique items on a small scale? What was all that ballyhoo by David Wenig last year about supporting eBay's "traditional core sellers" and "smaller sellers". If this is the result, it isn't very convincing.

Perhaps Raphael can tell us: Does eBay actually still want our kind of "boutique" seller? I frankly can't think of anything eBay has done in the past year that would make me think the answer was "yes".

dutchman48 · ‎05-04-2016

Ask Raphael what the % of calls to CS come from small sellers as opposed to the Chinese or Mega stores?

It would take literally 1000's of small sellers to produce the same profit as 1 or 2 large sellers or the Chinese sellers.

Ebay's wonderful program to pay for extra visibility is not intended for small sellers as they can't afford it. The mega sellers will gladly pay for it to eliminate the small seller competition.

rainbow71113 · ‎05-04-2016

I send out a weekly email and haven't been able to send an email specifically for my markdown sales for years. It shows that the email was generated but 0 have been delivered. I've had to plan my new listings those weeks so that a few older items show that there is a sale.

forester_studios · ‎05-04-2016

Hi Raphael - Just wondering if Ebay is aware of a new "bug" when printing labels through Paypal. In the past when I printed a shipping label with Paypal the item would be moved automatically from the "Awaiting shipment" section to the "Paid and shipped" section.

Lately I've noticed this does not always happen and sometimes I need to manually use the "Mark as shipped" button to get the item to move to the "Paid and shipped" section.

Now I realize this isn't the most important issue on Ebay, but nevertheless it is just one more "Glitch" to deal with. Hope this can be fixed soon. Thanks!

rainbow71113 · ‎05-04-2016

I would just like to make a comment, recently I've had to revise for upc/mpn/brand names and then photo issues resulting from bulk editing those listings-over 200 variation listings lost their photos. After fixing all those, I have now done over 1300 of my 7300 listings converting them to cdn. For those of us who have injuries, specifically shoulder/arm/wrist, this is now starting to become problematic for me. I came to ebay because I was unable to work a steady job and this was my solution to earning an income-it has taken me over 9 years accumulating this inventory. I've looked into the migration tool and since we still have to go into each listing to make sure it complies with upc/mpn/brand and photos etc..along with making sure shipping rates are correct, and then having to end the active listings, I don't see it making any less work than ending them and relisting them. At least this way my watchers are given a hyperlink to go to the new listing which I've been told will not be the case using the migration tool. Being under a time restraint of August (when they said they will end all non Canadian listings on .ca) has me concerned-doing 100 items a day will take me 60 days and that's if my injuries don't get worse. Not to mention an impending postal strike which would mean putting my store on holiday status if that occurs. They are saying that mid July they will be in a position to strike if negotiations fall through...and we all know how those have worked in the past-they have ALWAYS gone on strike. I'm hoping if that does happen ebay will extend the time frame since we can't revise/relist on holiday status.

momcqueen · ‎05-04-2016

@forester_studios wrote:
Hi Raphael - Just wondering if Ebay is aware of a new "bug" when printing labels through Paypal. In the past when I printed a shipping label with Paypal the item would be moved automatically from the "Awaiting shipment" section to the "Paid and shipped" section.

Lately I've noticed this does not always happen and sometimes I need to manually use the "Mark as shipped" button to get the item to move to the "Paid and shipped" section.

Now I realize this isn't the most important issue on Ebay, but nevertheless it is just one more "Glitch" to deal with. Hope this can be fixed soon. Thanks!

I have noticed this as well and find it highly irritating. Due to sellers being defect-ed when Shipments are sent 'late', the stakes are now higher than ever if tracking isn't uploaded on time and ebay cannot even see an item is 'shipped' and not 'awaiting shipment'....?

arkh_angel · ‎05-05-2016

Hello,

Had this problem a few times lately and was wondering how such an important issue/functionality could have been overlooked.

Customer fills a return request. I send him an answer within the resolution center. No answer from customer.

Next day I send a message using eBay's messaging system and got an answer within minutes.

This happened a few times to me and I can't believe nothing tells the customer that a message waits for him in the resolution center. This is SO important! Don't you want us to resolve our issues by ourselves with an easy way to communicate with the customer? How will they know if they don't even get a notification?

Now I don't even use Resolution Center anymore to communicate with customer since it is unreliable.

Regards

dutchman48 · ‎05-05-2016

When are the boards going to be fixed, nothing posts, jumps all over, redirect errors, etc.

Ebay is becoming useless with all the bugs and glitches.

When will it be sold to a corporation that cares about service and a site that functions as it should, not all these bugs and glitches that present staff seem to care less about or deny they exist?