Hello Canadian eBayers,
Welcome to our weekly chat. Please start posting at your convenience, we will join you at 1 PM Eastern as usual.
@rose-dee wrote:
Good afternoon Raphael,
Can you please clarify whether eBay has any policy at all regarding verbatim copying by one seller of another seller's item title(s), especially if done repeatedly, and especially if the precise item specifics are also being copied wholesale? (I'm not referring here to the text of the item description or photos being pirated).
This is obviously made simpler by one seller opening another's item, and using the "Sell Similar" feature, effectively using the other's ideas, work, and time to save himself the same trouble.
Does eBay have any rules or policy(ies) in this regard? If so, can you elaborate, and also indicate what a seller can or should do who finds him/herself the object of repeated copying?
I would think many sellers' titles can be quite original and important as a marketing tool (I know I spend quite a lot of time on many of mine). If there is no specify policy in place, does this issue fall under the general umbrella of eBay's position on copyright violation?
Hi rose-dee,
eBay has an Image and Text policy, and the right way to report offending sellers is to contact CS.
With that said, when it comes to listing title and item specifics, one would think that a seller selling the same item as yours or one really close to it might feasibly end up with the same listing title and item specifics on their own listing. Short of having a real life example, I can't really comment more on this, but I do encourage you to report the case to CS if you think you should, they will be able to tell you exactly what is what since my own information might be a bit dated, not having worked such cases for a very long time.
@ecgt wrote:
Thanks for the reply, Raphael. Just as an FYI, the client who purchased the item last week that was not charged tax registered in 2007, a much later date than what you indicate here. However, we registered in 2002, so is it an issue with our account or the buyer's account?
The issue is with the province field being formatted the wrong way on the buyer's shipping address. For Newfoundland there may be a discrepancy in the abbreviation in some cases (NF vs NL, and the tax table only recognizes one of the two). Thanks for pointing this out, I will make sure we catch that in our fix.
To be specific about the problem, if I look at
using my pierrelebel user ID (registered on eBay.com in 1998), I see NO tax table:
Shipping and handling
Item location: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Shipping to: Canada, United States
Excludes: Africa, Asia, Central America and Caribbean, Europe, Middle East, Oceania, Southeast Asia, South America, Bermuda, Greenland, Mexico, Saint Pierre and Miquelon
Change country: | Postal Code: |
Shipping and handlingToServiceDelivery*
US $14.00 | Canada | Expedited Shipping (Canada Post Expedited Parcel) | Estimated within 2-8 business days |
Free Local Pickup | Canada | Local Pickup |
* Estimated delivery dates- opens in a new window or tab include seller's handling time, origin Postal Code, destination Postal Code and time of acceptance and will depend on shipping service selected and receipt of cleared payment- opens in a new window or tab. Delivery times may vary, especially during peak periods.
Domestic handling time
Will usually ship within 1 business day of receiving cleared payment - opens in a new window or tab. |
Return policy
Item must be returned withinRefund will be given as 14 days after the buyer receives it | Money Back |
The buyer is responsible for return shipping costs.
Now if I look at the same listing using pierrelebel-canada (registered on eBay.ca):
Shipping and handling
Item location: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Shipping to: Canada, United States
Excludes: Africa, Asia, Central America and Caribbean, Europe, Middle East, Oceania, Southeast Asia, South America, Bermuda, Greenland, Mexico, Saint Pierre and Miquelon
Change country: | Postal Code: |
Shipping and handlingToServiceDelivery*
US $14.00 | Canada | Expedited Shipping (Canada Post Expedited Parcel) | Estimated within 2-8 business days |
Free Local Pickup | Canada | Local Pickup |
* Estimated delivery dates- opens in a new window or tab include seller's handling time, origin Postal Code, destination Postal Code and time of acceptance and will depend on shipping service selected and receipt of cleared payment- opens in a new window or tab. Delivery times may vary, especially during peak periods.
Domestic handling timeEstimated sales tax
Will usually ship within 1 business day of receiving cleared payment - opens in a new window or tab. | Seller charges sales tax in multiple provinces. |
Return policy
Item must be returned withinRefund will be given as 14 days after the buyer receives it | Money Back |
The buyer is responsible for return shipping costs.
@buckcreekbilly wrote:
Hello
I bought two dvr security camera systems for a seller here. It stated that these systems will work with Blackberry, still advertise them as such. It will NOT work with Blackberry and they assured me that they are developing an app and will send it to me. They kept stalling and then told me i would receive the app on Oct 10. This date has come and gone and still nothing. Now when i try to contact them, all of a sudden, i always get an automated reply...office hrs blah blah. They always replied before, have a complete record of all communication in my mailbox. They obviously stalled me past the 45 day limit to file a complaint or fraud complaint. Can't even leave negative feedback. This was an over $400 purchase and i can't take any action with Ebay? They are still on here and STILL advertising that they work with Blackberry. Blatant fraud and i'm not allowed to report it or have Ebay take any actions?
Hello buckcreekbilly,
This is an unfortunate outcome. Unfortunately, as you already pointed out, being out of the 45 days window makes it impossible to open a case against the seller. In such cases where a seller who shipped you an item that turns out not to be as described in the listing asks you to wait for them to resolve the issue, a case should always be opened regardless when the cut off date draws near. The seller then has some more time to resolve the problem and you are still covered.
May I ask that you send me a private email with the item number in question?
Thanks!
@lady.stark wrote:
Hi, I have 3 problems I would like to share with you and hopefully find a solution:
1. The "View original listing" link doesn't work anymore. I click on it, it seems to load the page, but it shrinks again on its own. How am I supposed to see the shipping tab and all the photos of the listing now?
2. The "View order details" link doesn't work either. It brings me to a blank page with only ads from AdChoice.
3. When I click on "Ask a question" or "Contact buyer", it brings me to a page where all the features are available EXCEPT there is NO space to type my message! And when I click on "Attach photos", nothing happens. How am I supposed to contact my sellers to ask questions or my buyers to respond to them if I cannot write anything?
I use Internet Explorer 8 with Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. Please do not ask me to use another browser, because that is not an option. Thank you!
Hi lady.stark,
You won't like my answer, but these all sound like browser issues. You can try clearing your cache & delete your cookies, but your browser and OS being pretty old, chances are that might not do much. Maybe try upgrading to a more recent version of IE?
@buckcreekbilly wrote:
Would the new Paypal 180 day policy cover this?
As per the Policy Update page on the PayPal site, the changes go in effect in January 7 2015. Unfortunately it doesn't look like it can cover your original purchase.
Thank you Rodney!
That is NOT the problem.
I understand how the tax table works.
Read my post carefully.
Using pierrelebel (registered on eBay.com in 1998) the Sales Tax table prepared by a Canadian seller (see first post today raising this issue) does NOT appear
When reading the same listing using pierrelebel-canada (registered on eBay.ca years later) the tax table does appear.
Same listing from the same seller. The tax table appears as it should if I use my eBay.ca registered user ID but does not when I use my eBay.com legacy user ID.
It is not a browser issue as the problem is identical using Firefox or MS-IE
"that is based on the buyer shipping address associated with the account. "
Both pierrelebel and pierrelebel.canada have the same mailing address.
If I go to change my registration address, I cannot enter ON. Your system provides a selection of provinces and territories, the correct one being "Ontario"
@pierrelebel wrote:
"that is based on the buyer shipping address associated with the account. "
Both pierrelebel and pierrelebel.canada have the same mailing address.
If I go to change my registration address, I cannot enter ON. Your system provides a selection of provinces and territories, the correct one being "Ontario"
When you registered your first account in 1998, the province field was freeform. You could write anything you wanted there. In 2002, Rodney made a change to the registration form that standardized the province selection (the pull down menu you see today). This one puts the right 2 digit province code in the database.
@lotsa.luck wrote:
That last question refers to editing ACTIVE listings but I would like to also ask about the same thing for SCHEDULED listings in bulk to remove the auto-relist option.
On Nov 24 Ebay (Canada) starts to charge for $0.30 for automatic re-lists once sellers use their 50 or 100 free monthly listings limit.
I can't find functionality for either of these editing options in bulk. Is the expectation that sellers will individally edit listing one by one?
At this time, it does not appear as if BEAR (the bulk editing tool) supports Auto Relist.
This concludes our weekly chat for today. Thanks for your participation and see you next week!
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