eBay

katlover1952 · ‎11-27-2016

I am going out of the country for a week from Dec 5th to 12th. I have often seen messages across the top of listings that say something like " this seller is currently away & will not be able to ship any items until x". Not sure how this is done but assume if you have a store there is some way to do this so that it appears on all current listings.

if something sells in this time frame & gets paid for does eBay just give what would be normal times for shipping & would you risk getting defects. Am trying to determine if I should put the store on vacation like I did during the postal situation (which sales have never recovered from) or if I should use a message. Any thoughts, suggestions?

Thanks.

prarie_nerd · ‎11-27-2016

If you set your store to away and that message is displayed you will still receive defects for items not sent within your handling time. I almost lost my account last spring because of that.
You need to extend all your shipping times until you return. Even hiding your listings doesn't work. I've still had items sell when they've been "hidden"

rose-dee · ‎11-27-2016

@prarie_nerd wrote:
If you set your store to away and that message is displayed you will still receive defects for items not sent within your handling time. I almost lost my account last spring because of that.
You need to extend all your shipping times until you return. Even hiding your listings doesn't work. I've still had items sell when they've been "hidden"

You are right about the first part, but do you know how a buyer was able to purchase something when the items were "hidden" on vacation setting? I'm very concerned, as that shouldn't be possible. In fact, if that occurred, I'd be calling eBay to remove any resulting defects. To my mind, that would clearly be their fault. The "hidden" feature should be there to protect sellers from exactly that sort of thing.

One possibility I can think of is that it does sometimes take a day or two during a very busy time (like the Christmas period) for eBay to actually make all of a seller's listings invisible once that setting is chosen. I had this happen to me -- a day after choosing to "hide" all my listings on vacation, they were still there. Fortunately I was still around to check on it. Finally the listings disappeared the next day. Is that perhaps what happened in your case? If the sale took place within the first day or two after setting the store on vacation, that could be the explanation.

The same thing occurs when you return and re-open your store. It can take a couple of days for all the listings to re-load.

I'd be curious to hear more details from you on the hidden items that were purchased, because I've always relied on this feature to protect my seller status while I'm away.

rose-dee · ‎11-27-2016

@katlover1952 wrote:
I am going out of the country for a week from Dec 5th to 12th. I have often seen messages across the top of listings that say something like " this seller is currently away & will not be able to ship any items until x". Not sure how this is done but assume if you have a store there is some way to do this so that it appears on all current listings.

Sorry, I meant to answer this question in the above post. You simply go to "Manage My Store" (in Selling Manager on .ca, it's under the "Account" tab, or you'll find the link at the bottom of your storefront page). Then scroll down to the bottom on the "Manage My Store" page until you see "Store Vacation Settings", and use the "Turn ON" option under "Store Vacation Settings".

I always like to add an explanatory message in this section (it will be seen on the storefront if you have a "classic" style store, I'm not sure about the "new" store format). For example, I'll type in large font that the store is closed for vacation (or for whatever other reason) and the dates. Sometimes, depending on how long I plan to be away, I'll also choose to set up a boilerplate "Out of Office Email Response" as a courtesy to buyers who might be sending an email request for something while I'm away.

i.am.vivian · ‎11-27-2016

@rose-dee wrote:
do you know how a buyer was able to purchase something when the items were "hidden" on vacation setting? I'm very concerned, as that shouldn't be possible. In fact, if that occurred, I'd be calling eBay to remove any resulting defects. To my mind, that would clearly be their fault. The "hidden" feature should be there to protect sellers from exactly that sort of thing.

If the item was in the buyer's Watch List even if the seller is on "vacation" for a month with "hidden" items, the vacation notice will appear above the listing but once it is in a Watch List it doesn't disappear from there and the buyer can still buy it. Whether eBay could be coaxed into forgiving any resulting defects is another matter entirely.

rose-dee · ‎11-27-2016

@i.am.vivian wrote:

If the item was in the buyer's Watch List even if the seller is on "vacation" for a month with "hidden" items, the vacation notice will appear above the listing but once it is in a Watch List it doesn't disappear from there and the buyer can still buy it. Whether eBay could be coaxed into forgiving any resulting defects is another matter entirely.

Aha, this makes perfect sense, I hadn't thought of that. But it also unfortunately means that the "hidden" feature is practically useless. Although once the buyer clicks on the listing from his watch list, the vacation notice should appear in the actual listing. I suppose that won't dissuade a really keen buyer though.

Something to ask Raphael before he leaves: what exactly would eBay do about a defect in this situation? This is the kind of question he should be able to answer without any difficulty. It could happen to any of us.

So much for feeling protected by vacation mode.

rose-dee · ‎11-27-2016

Oh, I know the answer to this dilemma -- just never go on vacation! Voilà -- problem solved!

i.am.vivian · ‎11-27-2016

@rose-dee wrote:
Something to ask Raphael before he leaves: what exactly would eBay do about a defect in this situation? This is the kind of question he should be able to answer without any difficulty. It could happen to any of us.

So much for feeling protected by vacation mode.

Even if you are going away only for a week I would say change your handling time to the absolute max as if you shipping Surface to Australia or Taiwan. If the store is on "vacation" then even if a Watcher sees the long time, along with the vacation message, that's a clue to wait until the seller gets back. Doesn't always happen though. The long handling time should help.

prarie_nerd · ‎11-27-2016

My store was on vacation mode pretty much all summer because of Canada Post with items I was still getting lots of offers and even sold a couple items that I had to send FedEx. I don't know how or why it happened. If I did a search I know they didn't come up. I assumed they were the watchers and they were able to access the listings through thier watch list

momcqueen · ‎11-27-2016

If you set your store to Vacation Mode you can either hide all your listings from purchase at that time without ending them, or leave them live but with that banner of text. Either is fine, it's a matter of personal preference. If you choose to leave them live, however, you must revise your handling time to match or exceed the number of days you will be away so that your buyers see an accurate Estimated Delivery Date.

This will prevent defects related to Late Shipment and give the buyer an accurate date of probable receipt.

rose-dee · ‎11-27-2016

@i.am.vivian wrote:
Even if you are going away only for a week I would say change your handling time to the absolute max as if you shipping Surface to Australia or Taiwan. If the store is on "vacation" then even if a Watcher sees the long time, along with the vacation message, that's a clue to wait until the seller gets back. Doesn't always happen though. The long handling time should help.

What an incredible pain the on-time delivery policy is. They should scrap it and find some other way of keeping sellers in line. It generates all sorts of stupid necessities for workarounds. As much as the old defect rules were difficult, at least we had some direct control over most of it.

Even though any handling time over 3 days will affect (i.e. downgrade) visibility and placement, at least changing to an extra-long handling time won't matter if the store is already on vacation. I suppose it's all we can do. And as you say, it might help to deter some otherwise over-eager buyers who don't pay any attention to the vacation notice.

momcqueen · ‎11-27-2016

@rose-dee wrote:
@i.am.vivian wrote:
If the item was in the buyer's Watch List even if the seller is on "vacation" for a month with "hidden" items, the vacation notice will appear above the listing but once it is in a Watch List it doesn't disappear from there and the buyer can still buy it. Whether eBay could be coaxed into forgiving any resulting defects is another matter entirely.
Aha, this makes perfect sense, I hadn't thought of that. But it also unfortunately means that the "hidden" feature is practically useless. Although once the buyer clicks on the listing from his watch list, the vacation notice should appear in the actual listing. I suppose that won't dissuade a really keen buyer though.

Something to ask Raphael before he leaves: what exactly would eBay do about a defect in this situation? This is the kind of question he should be able to answer without any difficulty. It could happen to any of us.

So much for feeling protected by vacation mode. :woman frustrated:

If you hide it, the buyer can still find it in their Watch list but the Buy It Now Button vanishes.

momcqueen · ‎11-27-2016

@rose-dee wrote:
@i.am.vivian wrote:
Even if you are going away only for a week I would say change your handling time to the absolute max as if you shipping Surface to Australia or Taiwan. If the store is on "vacation" then even if a Watcher sees the long time, along with the vacation message, that's a clue to wait until the seller gets back. Doesn't always happen though. The long handling time should help.
What an incredible pain the on-time delivery policy is. They should scrap it and find some other way of keeping sellers in line. It generates all sorts of stupid necessities for workarounds. As much as the old defect rules were difficult, at least we had some direct control over most of it.

Even though any handling time over 3 days will affect (i.e. downgrade) visibility and placement, at least changing to an extra-long handling time won't matter if the store is already on vacation. I suppose it's all we can do. And as you say, it might help to deter some otherwise over-eager buyers who don't pay any attention to the vacation notice.

I've no problem with buyers accessing and buying my items while I'm on holiday. If I use Vacation Mode, i leave the listings active and extend my handling time to match the number of days I will be gone. Easy. Problems solved. Sometimes, the buyer just wants to know they have the item they seek secured and paid, it will be shipped in due course if not immediately.

recped · ‎11-27-2016

@i.am.vivian wrote:
@rose-dee wrote:
do you know how a buyer was able to purchase something when the items were "hidden" on vacation setting? I'm very concerned, as that shouldn't be possible. In fact, if that occurred, I'd be calling eBay to remove any resulting defects. To my mind, that would clearly be their fault. The "hidden" feature should be there to protect sellers from exactly that sort of thing.

If the item was in the buyer's Watch List even if the seller is on "vacation" for a month with "hidden" items, the vacation notice will appear above the listing but once it is in a Watch List it doesn't disappear from there and the buyer can still buy it. Whether eBay could be coaxed into forgiving any resulting defects is another matter entirely.

My understanding is that this particular issue is no longer possible. I use the Vacation setting frequently from May to October, I usually have a fair number of listings that are being watched and have not had any sales when in Vacation mode with listings hidden.

"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
- answering Trolls is voluntary, my policy is not to participate.

ricarmic · ‎11-27-2016

I'm with Rec, I close for about a month (August) each year and I haven't had any problems with hidden items being purchased for a few years.

In the early days of "vacation mode" I do recall that watched items could be purchased but I thought that was fixed.

Like rec I have many watchers, and even folks messaging me while I'm on holidays letting me know theyre going to buy an item when I get back.... so it isn't letting them buy and they must have been watching it....

pjcdn2005 · ‎11-27-2016

If you hide it, the buyer can still find it in their Watch list but the Buy It Now Button vanishes.

That's how I understand it to work as well. A few years ago there was a glitch thst allowed a hidden item on a watch list to be purchased but that was reported as fixed quite a while ago. But I know at one time it was still mentioned somewhere in the help pages even after it was fixed.

I always hide my items when away for more than 2 or 3 days and haven't ever had a hidden item purchased but I can't explain why Prairie had a different experience.

At this time of year, I would definitely hide my listings. People don't always look at the handling time when they make a purchase and since the majority of purchases made in the next couple of weeks are for christmas, a longer handling time may cause a problem.

momcqueen · ‎11-27-2016

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
If you hide it, the buyer can still find it in their Watch list but the Buy It Now Button vanishes.

That's how I understand it to work as well. A few years ago there was a glitch thst allowed a hidden item on a watch list to be purchased but that was reported as fixed quite a while ago. But I know at one time it was still mentioned somewhere in the help pages even after it was fixed.

I always hide my items when away for more than 2 or 3 days and haven't ever had a hidden item purchased but I can't explain why Prairie had a different experience.

At this time of year, I would definitely hide my listings. People don't always look at the handling time when they make a purchase and since the majority of purchases made in the next couple of weeks are for christmas, a longer handling time may cause a problem.

Ah, that's true. At Christmastime, it may be better to be safe than sorry. In my own case, I was thinking more about vacation days in the summer when people are not as likely to all be looking for something to be delivered within a certain timeframe in mind.

cumos55 · ‎11-27-2016

On vacation

from May 15 to June 15...... changing US to Canadian dollars on all listings.

Also from June 22 to September 1.... with the possibility of a postal strike

All purchases were blocked... not a single buyer... not even a watcher bought anything

--------------------------------------------

Go on vacation... make sure you block all purchases....

and leave a message about when you will be back.....

Your store will not be visible on eBay .

Also........

It was many years ago... that sellers would put their store on vacation for 24 hours..... with the intent of getting better visibility and stimulating sales.

Not sure about this today.....

rose-dee · ‎11-27-2016

@mjwl2006 wrote:
If you set your store to Vacation Mode you can either hide all your listings from purchase at that time without ending them, or leave them live but with that banner of text. Either is fine, it's a matter of personal preference. If you choose to leave them live, however, you must revise your handling time to match or exceed the number of days you will be away so that your buyers see an accurate Estimated Delivery Date.

This will prevent defects related to Late Shipment and give the buyer an accurate date of probable receipt.

But that's the problem that the earlier poster pointed out, i.e. even "hidden" listings were being purchased, apparently quite recently. So whether live or "hidden" doesn't seem to matter; extending handling time will be the only way sure way to avoid defects, although that can present problems of its own. It seems idiotic to have to do that, but that's what we have to resort to in order to protect ourselves.

The question of defects arising from "hidden" items is a straightforward one that Raphael should be able to answer. I'm going to try to catch him in 2 weeks' time on this subject, since if the whole point of "hidden" vacation mode is to avoid problems with shipping, then eBay should either not be giving defects for inadvertent sales under those conditions, or should remove them after the fact. I would like to know exactly where we stand.

There are a couple of areas of the on-time policy where eBay has admitted defects should generally be reversed. Hopefully this is one of them.

rose-dee · ‎11-27-2016

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
If you hide it, the buyer can still find it in their Watch list but the Buy It Now Button vanishes.

That's how I understand it to work as well. A few years ago there was a glitch thst allowed a hidden item on a watch list to be purchased but that was reported as fixed quite a while ago. But I know at one time it was still mentioned somewhere in the help pages even after it was fixed.

I always hide my items when away for more than 2 or 3 days and haven't ever had a hidden item purchased but I can't explain why Prairie had a different experience.

At this time of year, I would definitely hide my listings. People don't always look at the handling time when they make a purchase and since the majority of purchases made in the next couple of weeks are for christmas, a longer handling time may cause a problem.

I agree that hiding listings is the wisest route, and my understanding was as you pointed out -- that hidden listings could not be purchased, even if on a watch list. However, perhaps something has changed, or there is a new glitch (not unheard of here!). I'd be interested in knowing whether 'prairie nerd's' experience with hidden listings selling was recent or not. I've never personally had a hidden listing sell during an absence.

I'll try to remember to bring this up with Raphael in 2 weeks. It would be good to know what's going on in the background before we get too close to Christmas.