New Method of Replying To Inquiries Is A Pain In the A$$

[ospreylinks]

Recently ebay started adding the feature that questions on an item are now held within the actual item, so if you call up the item, at the top you will get a notification that you have #___ questions regarding this item.

So now you are suppose to hit the respond icon, sign in and then answer and if you want you can elect to have the question and your answer included on the listing....

What use to be simple and easy is now conveluted....

And this is progress?

Jeff

[shoplineca]

Jeff
I agree 100% that this is not progressive nor in the Seller's best interest. They are forcing you to use eBay's emailing system while keeping a record of whether or not you respond.

The inquiries do not even have to be from a customer that has purchased something from you or are even bidding on anything you are selling.

The other point is that you respond but do not get a copy of the response that you sent and then you still have to go through and check off who you responded to and which questions you responded to.

I had 4 questions come in from one customer and answered all 4 at one time in one email but the eBay system reflected 4 separate inquiries requiring 4 separate responses.

Anyway, whether we respond, and how we respond should have nothing to do with eBay and even if we do not wish to use their system, we are compelled to review it and clear out the numbers reflected as pending response.

Waste of time and of no help to me at all.

Malcolm

[momosworld]

I see that the email comes to our inbox as well as the actual auction, know one has time to scroll through hundreds of auctions and answer each email so i just use my regular email address to send the message and don't bother with the new feature....pointless.

Moez.

[recped]

@monosworld

You're right on, nobody forces you to respond via eBay's new system you can respond as always. The new system does allow you to respond WITHOUT revealing your email address. In addition, in the all too frequent situations where your answers never reach the recipient (spam filters, server rejects etc.)the recipient can log into eBay and find their answer associated with the item.

I suspect this new "feature" comes as a result of the ever increasing difficulty of making direct contact via email.

Ben

[muminlaw]

I just noticed this morning that I had 2 items with questions -- I only got the email on one of them. I presume that means the questioner also has the option of not revealing their email addy so it's being assumed that we all have nothing better to do with our time than to monitor our "my eBay" pages at all times! At least we do have the option of a column to show items with questions so it's a fairly quick scroll but I don't like having to do it! The least eBay could do is alert us by email that we have a question pending. Believe it or not eBay -- some of us do have a life outside of eBay!!!

Glenda

[ospreylinks]

I think one of my big aggrevations is having that note showing up on the top of the listing saying you have 2 questions to respond to when you already have......via regular email.

It just makes you double take, did I respond or didn't I?

Jeff

[muminlaw]

Jeff, I'm sure that you don't go and look at each listing to see if it still looks the way it did yesterday, so how many of those questions are you going to see? And when you do see them, it should at least let you know if you've responded (although I'll grant that it can't know if you've responded privately). It's a stupid system, not even remotely thought out, and we should all protest vehemently that, as it's set up now, it can't work! EBay has got to send us an email to let us know when we have a question, even if we can't respond off-eBAy! That sort of automation is already in their system -- what's the big deal??

Glenda

[shoplineca]

For those of you who dont follow the US PS Discussion Board here is a MAJOR problem with this new question system:

You are only permitted to answer 10 inquiries per day but are able to receive hundreds. Apparently it has something to do with jamming up eBays systems so they have put a limit on the number of inquiries a Seller can answer in one day.

Would it not make more sense to limit the number of questions that a Seller can be asked before placing the limits on the Seller responding?

There are several US PSers receining 15-20 questions and after answering the first 10 they get a default message telling them that they have reached the daily limit of emails that theu can send.

So now if you dont respnd to the other 5 or 10 emails, your customers or potential customers will be pi$$ed off with you and not bid or they will leave you a neg because of the eBay system not allowing you to respond.

The system should not be half way. Either it should be put in for everyone to use and all the kinks and bugs and stupidity worked out or scrap it until its ready to be used without major flaws in its operation.

Malcolm

[vintagevenueco]

Would sellers receiving 10+ messages perday still not just opt to answer them through their standard email service then? For the most part I try to minimize the use of ebay extras. I find the stuff changes way too fast and I have only been selling for 3 months!

Tom

[shoplineca]

Tom
No, the new system doesnt divulge the bidders email address.

There is a belief that eBay will soon not allow Sellers to email any Buyers directly and vice versa. That everyone will have to go through eBay using only eBay userids as the reference.

There can be 2-reasons for this. The first is to eliminate "off eBay sales". That is to say when a Seller and a Buyer correspond by email on any items listed on eBay on auction or in their store and it is sold without fees going to eBay.

The second reason is that it may become another form of generating further revenues for eBay.

The questions and more in particular the Objections to the new email system on the US PS Board were pretty much unanimous to either eliminate the new system OR, as I suggested, give us a switch to turn it off, completly optional to the Sellers who decide what tools help them manage their eBay business.

At any rate, on August 10th , Rizal from eBay said he would check with the higher powers at eBay and let us know. We are still waiting however the level of impatience grows, expecially for those poor PSers who are receiving multiple inquiries yet limited to answering 10.

Malcolm

[vintagevenueco]

Yeah, I would like a couple of those "off" switches.

Tom

[dahdoot54h0]

I'm relatively new here, but I have quickly come to dislike the new system for the following main reason: I find it impossible to keep track of what was said, to whom, or even "did I even answer it yet?". If I opt to respond (during the day) with my regular email, I have to manually delete the question from eBay, or it seems that I haven't answered it. Off hours, it becomes even more complicated, as I have to use a webmail server from home since I'm not on my office network. That involves copying and pasting email addresses, and logs my responses to yet a different set of SENT folders. TALK ABOUT CUMBERSOME!
I wouldn't mind the eBay system so much if it would STORE AND KEEP all the questions and responses in one area. It might even help out by simplifying cutting and pasting answers that are repetitive.

Someone really needs to examine this process!
Cary

[shoplineca]

UPDATE
Rizal, an eBay pink, has been looking into a couple of problems voiced by the US PSers and after a week has reported to us on the matter of reciving more buyer inquiries than being allowed to respond to.

Here is his explanation:
"Okay guys, here's what I got...
There are three types of emails that the system can send: Ask Seller a Question (ASQ), Contact eBay Member (CEM), and Contact Transaction Partner (CTP - basically members who currently have a deal pending within 90 days). The limits to each of those is as follows -
ASQ:
0 feedback: 10 email/day
1+ feedback: 50 email/day
CEM:
0 feedback: 1 email/day
1+ feedback: 10 email/day
CTP: (This form looks 99% the same as the CEM form except that it displays the recipient's email address on the form.)
No daily limit
Apparently, the CTP form had some fixes recently put in. So whatever wasn't working before, should be working now.
Here's more -
- The daily limit resets each day midnight PST.
- The limit is counted towards a member when a member sends email but not receive it (but does count when you respond and system can distiguish between the 3 types).
- Powersellers or any sellers will have no daily limit when they send out email to their final buyers.
There is no "opt out" of the limits and it doesn't look like the limits are changing anytime soon.
I'm sure this will result in more questions and definitely more concerns. I only ask for your patience. Thanks.
Rizal"


I have since asked that when eBay put in enhancements or makes changes that they provide us with information similar to what Rizal provided above so that we can quickly determine if the enhancement is working as intended or what part isnt. We dont even know how the enhancements are supposed to work because eBay dumps them on us and weeks later after complaints, one Pink does soem deigging over 8-days to give us the above explanation.

By the way, there are now a ton of questions raised to understand this fuller.

Malcolm

[shooger]

Malcolm, I agree that eBay may plan to eventually phase out allowing anyone to contact each other in any way except through the website. What a disaster that would be for the average user!

Also, I agree that eBay MUST provide us with information when they make changes like this. To just dump the new procedure into place and then ignore us is ridiculous. We had to beg and plead for information from a pink. Sick.

So far I'm not sure what to make of the feature itself. I've used it to some satisfaction a few times, but have also had it backfire on me. I really like using my email program to do my emailing, when it comes right down to it. 😕

[shoplineca]

Here are a couple more problems with the system:
1. I recd an email telling me I had an inquiry. I clicked on the link and it told me there were no o/s questions for that item number.

So I accessed the item directly where it reflected there was an outstanding (recent) question t/b answered. I clicked on the link on my listing to answer the question and a page came up telling me that there were no o/s questions for that item number.

My eBay still showed an o/s questions as well but I couldnt respond thru eBay's system.

Fortunately the person inquiring didnt hide his email addy and I was able to resspond thru my email system however My eBay still reflects there is a question t/b responded to.

2. For quite a few PSers, the email inquiries are taking between 2-3 days before they actually receive them, often a day after the auction has ended. It is clear to see when they were sent by the person inquiring as they are dated.

3. Under the above-posted rules (from my post 12), someone with a FB of 9 can only respond to 10 inquiries yet could recive 100.

I made severeal suggestions to the Pink who said he will fwd them to appropriate areas within eBay. First, I suggested that when they introduce new programs or enhancements, that they provide us with a description of what they have given us similar to what the Pink provided as seen in my post 12.

I also suggested that the problem with this particular enhancement was not due to the technical contributions to the program, rather from the administrative orders given the technical people.

I see this enhancement as having been created for the Buyers without any (or at least very little) consideration being given to the Sellers.

When eBay creates something, they have in mind EITHER the Buyer or the Seller and in this case the BUYER was in mind and for that reason, it is loaded with serious administrative problems making its use almost impossible for the Sellers to depend on.

Malcolm

[tamiyastriker]

Where do you have to go to find a message that I sent a buyer before the auction ended?

[muminlaw]

Unless you checked the box to send a copy to yourself, I think it's lost in never-never land! And when the seller answers a question through the system, there isn't even a box to check to keep a copy for ourselves ... sure hope they'll fix that too.

Glenda

[shoplineca]

Glenda
Its worse than that. The system that you are referring to still exists however there is a new enhancement where the box to send yourself a copy of the email is NOT available.

The choices are
BOX A: Hide my email address
BOX B: Show my answer to all people looking at this listing.

Again, NO box to click requesting that a copy of the email be sent to yourself.

Should a potential buyer not want you to see his email addy, he can click off the appropriate box and all you can see is his eBay userid.

I believe that we may eventually loose the ability to communicate to Buyers via our own email system and be forced to communicate through eBays system using only people's eBay userid. The reason is to restrict opportunities for off eBay selling.

I would suggest that the volume is very small and there is more loss in fees due to inflated shipping charges.

My son ordered an item from Toronto where actual UPS shipping charges are $35 Cdn and he was charged $135 US.

Why did he pay it? Becuase he saved hundreds on the cost of what he purchased which was alot more than the extra $145 Cdn he paid in delivery.

eBay lost listing fees on the $135 USD delievry fees charged. I see thsi all over the place and am surprised that eBay does not enforce its rules, although those sellers would move on elsewhere and ebay would loose more revenue in the end.

Malcolm
Malcolm

[muminlaw]

Malcolm, actually I was referring to the questioner having a box to check off for a copy for himself - that was still there last time I asked a question. I think it's only the "questionee" who doesn't have a box.

And as far as restricting off-eBay buying and selling, it ain't gonna stop that! I got an email today, through eBay's system, offering to buy a postcard that I had sold - the winning bidder is now NARU and the card is unpaid. The person making the offer hadn't even bid on it in the first place so he's not eligible for a "2nd chance" offer! I know I should report him, but all I did was turn him down. He happens to be a cheap SOB! Who knows how I'd have reacted if he had made a decent offer (just kidding).

Glenda

PS - no, the province never owned BC Tel - they thought they made the rules but, of course, it was always the unions who made the rules. It's now owned by Telus and the union is trying to break them too! If BC didn't have the best climate in Canada, we'd be outta here in a heart-beat!