eBay Bugs & Issues Thread

[kalvin@ebay.com]

Hi Everyone,

We are starting a new thread here for you to post your concerns when you encounter an eBay issue or bug and have un-tacked the previous thread that has been around since the beginning of 2008.

Here are some important things to point out:

1. This is not eBay Customer Support. All bugs and site issues should be reported to CS to ensure that they are escalated & tracked. You can report issues to CS using Contact Us. Enter a brief description of the issue you are encountering into the search box and select the most appropriate topic(s).

2. We would like to keep this thread as organized and purpose-driven as possible. If you don't have a bug or site issue to discuss, please consider posting to a different board/thread.

3. Provide as much detail as possible when describing your Issue.

Thanks -

Kalvin

[surplusdealdude]

Ain't that a co-incidence - I started a thread just like this last night;

http://forums.ebay.ca/topic/User-To-User/Lets-Make-A/600036411#1279069050132

There's a few issues there.

Additional issues;

1. I've been spending a lot of time on the Paypal forums lately. The sellers there are....disturbed about the 21-day hold. Part of that disturbance arises out of their surprise when they find that their payment HAS indeed been held.

Surely ebay has enough information by now to be able to insert a message in the listing process that definitively states whether the payment will be held or not, so the seller has better information with which to make a decision.

Some of those people are depending on the items they sell for rent money and they're left in a terrible circumstance when they find out that the rent won't be paid for 2 - 3 weeks.

This is something ebay could do, not paypal, because it occurs at the listing stage.

2. You seriously need to 'stupid proof' the process more. It's becoming obvious that nobody reads the Paypal User Agreement and a huge number of people are becoming dedicated enemies of ebay and paypal because they assumed they were covered by the buyer/seller protection plan when they were not. This is primarily a paypal issue, IMO, but there are opportunities for ebay to contribute to the educations as well.

And you have to go beyond the vague generalities that so often pepper ebay's statements. Instead of stating that "Paypal does not protecty buyers where quality issues arise", you need to say, "You have ZERO protection if the seller sends you a rock in a box". Things like that.

3. Scams - As I have posted elsewhere, Nigerian scams are changing - they're no longer sending items to Nigeria, they're sending items to American addresses and then they get re-routed. More sophisticated language is also starting to appear in scams to lawyer - they'll get to us shortly.

ebay can easily identify hi-scam items. You know the categories, you know the price ranges that scammers are interested in.

It would be a simple matter to insert .php popups in listing forms, geared to new sellers with less than 25 feedback, that would warn them that this type of item is a high-scam item and that they can protect themselves by going to the forums (give them the link) and asking what to watch for.

You could also insert .php popups in the shipping function if there is no record of payment - that would help defeat the "Fake Paypal payment" scam. That is controllable from ebay and it should also be introduced in Paypal.

You won't stop all of the scams, but I bet you'll cut the number down dramatically and, in so doing, you'll keep the sellers that get burned once and then never try again.

Taking the long view, you'll also be turning ebay into one of the few safe trading platforms in the world - think what that would do for your revenue.

4. You have THE greatest online selling resource anywhere that I have seen right here in the ebay forums and ebay is not using even a tiny fraction of the potential here.

WE are the ones that see massive scams forming.

We are the ones that see problems building because people come here to complain.

WE ARE YOUR EARLY WARNING SYSTEM.

And we can't do a thing to stop problems because we don't have a "panic button".

We need to have direct, immediate contact with somebody that will jump when we report a problem. Obviously, not all of the posters should have access to this, but there are a lot of regulars like Pierre, femme, toby and so on that could be expected to act judiciously.

Every single forum has people like this - if they say there's a problem, then THERE'S A PROBLEM AND SOMEBODY BETTER ACT QUICKLY TO PREVENT MASSIVE MONENTARY LOSS OR BAD PUBLICITY.

So use them.

Give each of them an email address that's manner around the clock - could be in San Jose, could be in the Phillipines, anywhere where we can get something fixed FAST.

I had an experience like that last night - the Paypal forums went kablooie - the responses were being posted with the wrong member's ID's on them. Luckily, I had Amanda's email address, let her know and the problem was fixed fast.

On ebay, we'd be lucky if the problem got fixed in a week.

That's just for starters - I'm sure the others will have their own ideas as well.

[surplusdealdude]

dipmicro reports here;

http://forums.ebay.ca/topic/Canadian-Powersellers-Discussion/If-You-Have/500048884#1279077915274

that;

Since yesterday the GetSellerTransactions does not send containing order anymore despite "IncludeContainingOrder" being set and my system cannot combine invoices with multiple lines. Fortunately a developer friend (an eBay seller, not employee) responded to me within 10 minutes that Download from SMP still contains these records so I was able to rig something up to get missing info from there and get orders out of the door. I cannot imagine the fiasco for 10x bigger operation than mine.

[pocomocomputing]

Shipping

1) eBay Shipping calculator on eBay.ca is not calculating the taxes on items under $5 for USA and International properly. I am in British Columbia and the tax was changed from 5% GST to 12 HST. The calculator is calculating at the old 5%. I suspect the calculator does not take into account the province where the item shipped from and the applicable GST or HST properly.

PS I wonder what tax (GST or HST) it charges for domestic Expedited Parcel

2) eBay shipping calculator does not allows sellers using PayPal shipping Canada Post option for Expedited Parcel to Canada and the USA to pass on the 25% discount. So when using the calculator, the shipping cost is not competitive when buyers view the listings. I offer a discount in the description of but buyers do not see it and pay first. I have to do a PayPal partial refund which is annoying.

3) There is a bug in using the calculator and choosing countries. I set up Domestic shipping with one option, either Lettermail or Expedited Parcel, depends on the size. No Problem here. When I set up International shipping, I have to set up two options, USA only and International. No problem. When I view a listing and the calculator, USA will show two options, one for USA only and one for International when selecting USA and not putting in a Zip. Other USA territories like Puerto Rico can get this sometimes. USA is treated weird, it is both USA and International to the calculator at times.

4) I detest the huge amount of space wasted in listings on Excluded Countries in listings. I ship to selected countries worldwide so I do not exclude a continent so the excluded list goes on forever. Remove the excluded country list, make it a drop down box, like the drop down list for country shipped to. The design is stupid to list what I don't ship to. Additional problem with the current design. Let say you exclude a continent. I have had users with a blocked country contact me to ask if I can ship and they say they do no see their country in the blocked list. That is because it shows as a continent blocked (Asia). Third problem, the massive paragraph of blocked countries is not sorted in any meaningful way. It would be best to sort alphabetically instead of by continent with countries.

5) It would be nice to be able to do a bulk edit and apply an excluded country list to selected listings. I have items that I want to ship only to Canada and the USA. So I create the listing with only those countries. Other listings are worldwide with excluded countries. Problem, when I first set up my excluded countries, I was scared a bit of International Shipping so I was very restrictive in the countries I allowed. Later I wanted to add a few more countries. I did so in my Account settings. I could apply from the account setting the new list but it would change the listings that I wanted restricted to Canada and the USA. So I ended up not fixing the listings with fewer countries. Then I had a problem with some international buyers asking why they can bid on some listings and not others.

6) eBay listings show Insurance Not Available when you click on Shipping and Payments. Well insurance is available for some Canada Post Shipments. And the insurance option in listings was disabled a long time ago. So buyers see Insurance Not Available and I do have insurance. I do not know if this affects the sale or not. But it is wrong. I spent hours going back and form with eBay CS and doing tests and after a couple of weeks never got a response again. It was dropped with no explanation. I was really upset as I spent my time helping eBay with this bug and then I dropped cold, no explanation.

7) The eBay Sell Your Item form does a poor job of checking the dimensions when input to know if they are appropriate for the shipping class used. I will give an example. If I enter a dimensions of 20 x 15 x 10 CM, it is accepted for any class except 2 cm thick Light Packet. No problem, the listing is made and the listing works. If I used Small Packet as the shipping option, the eBay shipping calculator works. If I used Expedited Parcel USA, the eBay shipping Calculator does not work and gives some message that shipping cannot be calculated and to contact the seller. Many Canadian users blamed eBay shipping calculator as being buggy in the forums. I found out from eBay CS (once they had the answer!) that the dimensions are wrong. For Expedited Parcel, the minimum for Canada is 10 x 7 x 0.1 CM but the USA minimum is 21 x 14 x 0.5 CM. So this is why by 20x15x10 failed. Never in a hundred years would anyone figure this out from the error message when using the calculator. I was lucky to get the one CS who knew. I have posted this issue in these forums a few times as some Canadian ebayers mentioned this problem. I saw many times that the ebay shipping calculator is bad but it was this bug. PS I am trying to remember if it give the same message for Light Packet thickness of 2 cm. I can't remember.

I got more but this is taking too much time. All reported to eBay and nothing done.

[pierrelebel]

"All reported to eBay and nothing done"

Unfortunately, that has been my experience, over and over and over.

I have purchases to invoice, pack and ship this morning and cannot and will not waste hours here describing the long list of buggy problems created by eBay but not yet corrected.

I will mention one that is dear to my heart and many other sellers with an eBay store and a large number of listings with multiple quantities: the inability and/or unwillingness by eBay to solve the "store vacation" problem.

The solution is so simple: eliminate the ability to click on the "Buy-it'Now" button when a store is "on vacation". That's it. Nothing else will do. The problem has been known for years, discussed for years, the solution offered for years, yet nothing has been done to fix the problem.

And, quite candidly, I am sick and tired of hearing the same excuses: "it is a complex problem", "it's a nasty bug", "it would cost too much to fix", "we do not have the resources" or, the best, "it's not really our fault".

I say BULL to all that. eBay just does not get it.

With eBay, rightfully putting so much emphasis on buyers satisfaction and penalizing sellers dearly for failing to provide 100% service, it is totally unfair to let that problem drag for as long as it has.

A very simple example:

A store owner with 3,000 listings, including thousands with multiple quantities, puts the store "on vacation" for two weeks.

While away, buyers will have access to the listings and have the ability to click on the "Buy'it-Now" despite a warning stating "the owner is away until (date) and completion of the purchase may de delayed".

Some buyers will ignore the warning and buy.

Two weeks later, the seller will receive several low DSRs (1 or 2) for shipping time, resulting in loss of TRS status and its benefits such as 20% FVF discount and ranking by Best Match.

The cost to seller: $200+ month in lost discounts ($600+ for minimum three months) and substantial loss in sales caused by lower ranking in BM.

A solution of course would be for the seller to end all listings and relist them upon return. Think about it. How much time is required to relist ended listings when each one must be revised to show the correct quantity available (at time of relisting a multiple quantity listing, eBay wrongly "assumes" the original quantity available, not the quantity at time of ending a listing).

Enough said. I know I am wasting my time as the folks who run San Jose just don't get it. 😞

[pocomocomputing]

All I see in this thread is negative experiences about CS and ebay fixing things. Wow.

I am going to get depressed reading this.

If eBay is serious about fixing things, how about communicating. For every problem listed here, post an acknowledgement of the issue, a followup and if it is being looked at and when it is fixed. If you even fix 5% in the next 3-4-5 months I will be impressed. So pick the easiest 5% and report back.

The problem with CS in my experiences is that they just stop communicating after a while. I cannot afford to waste time reporting things and go back and forth a few times by email only for the issue to fall off the map and never get a response again. So rude.

I have more issues, big and small, but I do not know if it is worth reporting.

[surplusdealdude]

I get the sense here that ebay really doesn't know the magnitude of the bug problem because sellers have stopped reporting them - we just put up with them.

Yet Kalvin isn't going to be able to go to ebay management and get them to divert significant resources to this unless he has a MASSIVE list of problems to report.

It's a catch-22 situation.

How do we resolve this?

[kalvin@ebay.com]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for taking the time to write all of these out. There is a ton of information here and I appreciate the time you've taken to express your concerns. I will try to address them all while not being to verbose. I will also promise to be as candid and upfront as possible. To try and keep things in a format that's useful I'll post individual responses rather than loop them all together.

Surplusdealdude:

1. PayPal holds are a complicated issue, which I'm sure you're aware of, and they are something that is presently necessary. I would encourage you to remember, however, that the holds are for 21 days *or* whenever the buyer leaves positive feedback- whichever comes first. Additionally, there are various factors that contribute to whether or not a payment will be held for a seller which may or may not be present at the time of listing.

2. I'm not totally clear on what you mean on this. Buyers who receive a "rock in a box" instead of their item and paid with PayPal are absolutely covered by buyer protection. PayPal buyer protection for Canada covers Item Not Received and Significantly Not As Described claims without maximum limits the same way that it does in the US.

3. Unfortunately there is nothing "simple" about implementing php pop-ups on the eBay site, whether on the listing forms or in the shipping function. To be absolutely candid, there's nothing "simple" about adding code to the site in any fashion, which is why it often takes longer than the community think it should to implement changes and improvements. With that said, scams are obviously something that eBay takes very seriously and we work hard to prevent them from hitting the site. There is a lot that goes on behind-the-scenes that the community isn't aware of that prevents fraud from ever reaching the site. Do we catch 100% of it? Likely not, but we do catch a great deal.

4. You guys all have the ability to contact me at kalvin@ebay.com.

~K

[kalvin@ebay.com]

Poco:

I'm skipping around for a sec. We are working on the Solutions Directory issue right now and I can't thank you enough for bringing it to my attention.

With that said, I am going to remove your post from this thread in an effort to spare people from finding that site.

Again, thank you very much for letting us know and we'll get it taken care of ASAP.

~K

[kalvin@ebay.com]

Poco:

Shipping Calculator & related shipping/insurance issues:

Definitely aware of the fact that the shipping calculator has some deficiencies and have passed on these issues to my colleague who manages shipping. We are anticipating improvements to the calculator which should help, but we do know it's a problem. I've also included your comments about the shipping insurance issue and the dimensions. Sorry I don't have more specific information for you at this point.

USA & International Shipping:

I know what you mean with this and at this point the only way to prevent the US from coming up under USA & under International is to become consistent in your available shipping methods in indicating either specific countries to ship to, or choosing the larger "domestic" or "International" and lump them all together. It's not ideal, but it's the way the system works right now. A similar topic was discussed in another thread last month (though her issue was the reverse with having Canada show up twice) here

Lastly, with regard to the other things you mentioned in terms of the wasted space for excluded countries, etc... I'll be absolutely candid that the chances of those being changed in the near future is slim. One of the things I'd like to call out to the larger group with all of these issues is that each and every one has to be prioritized against each other, against others not mentioned and against the company priorities. Like everything else in the world there are limited resources and the issues that are considered most critical are what will be addressed first.

~K

[kalvin@ebay.com]

Hi Pierre-

Again, in the spirit of being candid, I don't have anything new to say that you haven't already heard on this. Are we aware of the issue? Yes. It is also a complex issue.

That said, it's also important to note that the buyers who can find and purchase these items are still relatively niche. By that, I mean that they either need to have a direct link to the item (watch list or have purchased one recently) or use a search engine to locate the item directly. While still an issue, it does mitigate the level of access to those items.

Again, this issue, in addition to all the others, has to be prioritized against the bigger picture so I don't have an ETA on when this might be worked on either.

~K

[pierrelebel]

"still relatively niche"

"I mean that they either need to have a direct link to the item (watch list or have purchased one recently) or use a search engine to locate the item directly"

There are five ways for a buyer to find items offered by a seller whose store is "on vacation"

1) links from the "watch list"

2) links from the sellers feedback

3) from having saved a link to the listing

4) from doing a search for the seller "text only format"

5) from links offered by search engines

The reality is that active sellers (those of us with thousands of listings) have all experienced the problem when the store is "on vacation". It may not have mattered as much in previous years - it was an irritant, just another bug.

However, with the new "reward and punishment" system put in place by eBay, it really makes a financial difference.

[kalvin@ebay.com]

Hi Pierre,

Again, I'm just going to be candid here. Yes, the situation does happen but all 5 of the ways you mentioned are far from the usual ways a buyer would reach a seller's items. That doesn't excuse the issue, but it does put it into context when trying to prioritize it against other issues or changes needed on the site.

~K

[pocomocomputing]

Shipping - continued

8) I list on eBay.ca with domestic Canada and International USA and worldwide as shipping options. Standard setup. I have a tax table setup for Canada. My listings on ebay.ca show on the Shipping and Payments page the following text

Seller charges sales tax in multiple provinces

This is correct. If I log in to the ebay.com site like I am a buyer, my listings show

Seller charges sales tax in multiple states

Now this is not true as I am in Canada. No tax is applied to USA shipments. But potential buyers see that and may avoid the item for sale if other USA buyer has no sales tax. I received an email from one USA potential buyer about this as he lived in a tax free state and wanted to know why he was to be charged.

There is a hyperlink in the line that links back to eBay.ca tax rates which are not relevant.

Same thing happens when you log in to eBay.au or any site.

These little things make any nervous buyer who is scared to be charged incorrectly very nervous. I often wonder how many lost sales I get because of the shipping page with all of its display bugs. The only good news is that eBay hides these bugs on a second Shipping and Payments tab which most buyers do not even see or know it exists.

More to come.

PS I have no way to know that eBay is aware of any of these issues because there is no central "Known Bugs" list. This would be nice to have with status. But such a list ok known bugs and never being resolved would be very damaging to eBay's reputation so I know that is why it is not posted.

If you ever go to a web site selling a utility say like CCleaner, they post a quick list of fixes going back with each release date. They also have a wish list and a know bug list. No need to reinvent the wheel, many software houses are open and up front about this. I assume eBay is afraid of liability for lost sales and bad listings.

I did send the 25% Canada Post shipping directly to you kalvin and you replied. I added it to my shipping list for completeness.

[pocomocomputing]

Poco:

I'm skipping around for a sec. We are working on the Solutions Directory issue right now and I can't thank you enough for bringing it to my attention.

With that said, I am going to remove your post from this thread in an effort to spare people from finding that site.

Again, thank you very much for letting us know and we'll get it taken care of ASAP.

~K

I know it is not your fault that no one took it seriously when I contacted live chat months ago about the bad links I was wondering about how to post it here in the public forums and since you are aware now, the post should be deleted. I would appreciate a post or ebay message when it is fixed. I will even spend some time checking if you did fix it and offer feedback. What really bothered me was that it always left doubt that my computer was infected with virus by these sites. Every time I had a glitch, I would waste hours and days checking my computer.

This is the reason my I am so negative about CS and reporting anything to them as it is a waste of my time. All sellers just adapt to the changes and bugs and lack of caring by CS.

I have used other thrid party software to list on eBay and their CS is bad too. It seems that CS is hard to do.

I worked in computer tech support for many years and did CS so I know it is hard. But I will tell you that I also worked many long unpaid hours until 3 in the morning or weekends fixing issues for my customers. Unlike eBay, I needed to keep my customers or get fired or go out of business when I worked for myself.

The irony of doing good CS was that management (and customers) always remembers the one or two things that are done wrong and never the zillion things you do right. I guess ebay and you personally can relate to that too. 😉

Sorry, off topic, personal gripe about doing CS and life.

[pocomocomputing]

Poco:

Lastly, with regard to the other things you mentioned in terms of the wasted space for excluded countries, etc... I'll be absolutely candid that the chances of those being changed in the near future is slim. One of the things I'd like to call out to the larger group with all of these issues is that each and every one has to be prioritized against each other, against others not mentioned and against the company priorities. Like everything else in the world there are limited resources and the issues that are considered most critical are what will be addressed first.

~K

I always thought it was dumb to list what is not shipped to. So much space wasted saying NO! I thought eBay was about having a positive experience. All the buyer has to do is check the countries shipped to. in the drop down list.There is no need for displaying the countries not shipped to. When trying actually purchase, the buyer will be blocked. Not logical at all.

No further reply necessary. I understand your point.

[pocomocomputing]

4. You guys all have the ability to contact me at kalvin@ebay.com.

~K

I am a new seller (1 1/2 years) so I did not know you existed until a month or so ago. I read the forums regularly but not Canada Town Square until recently.

No need to reply.

[surplusdealdude]

Kalvin,

I'm not totally clear on what you mean on this. Buyers who receive a "rock in a box" instead of their item and paid with PayPal are absolutely covered by buyer protection.

Not if they engage in a non-ebay transaction, which quite a few people are doing nowadays. They get caught, they get furious. Read all about it on the Paypal forums sometime.

You guys all have the ability to contact me at kalvin@ebay.com.

And, if you're away in San Jose, we're out of luck.

A few months ago, someone hacked into an existing seller's account and uploaded thousands of listings at $99 each.

If we had been notified of this, all we could have done is sit helplessly by as buyer after buyer got scammed.

Yes, they would have got their money back, but it's a black eye for the site and some of those buyers won't be back.

Donahue and the crew estimate that there are about 10% of 'bad sellers' remaining on the site that ebay should try to lose and he's making everybody jump through hoops to get at those 10%. We already know who a lot of these people are - we hear about them everyday.

Instead of taking the sledgehammer approach that JD is doing, which is only encouraging bad sellers to get more creative ( several new scams have already sprung up as a direct result of the 21 day hold), use the resources that you already have for the fine surgical work needed to get rid of bad sellers.

I'm not saying to let us make the decision - I'm saying that you should give us a contact person that we can discuss what we're seeing with and know that we're not simply being given the kiss-off, as most of us now suspect we're experiencing.

WE ARE THE EXPERTS ON THIS SITE, not the MBA types in head office - we know the nuts and bolts of it and we know what constitutes a bad actor.. Take advantage of that.

That said, it's also important to note that the buyers who can find and purchase these items are still relatively niche

Not when every neg counts, it isn't.

Pierre takes a vacation and gets 10-30 orders. I am on vacation right now and have had 2 orders and 3 questions.

We're being held prisoner because you can't make this work.

Unfortunately there is nothing "simple" about implementing php pop-ups on the eBay site

Then do a "do loop" or a subroutine, which IS simple to implement - I've done programming for 40 years, I know how it's done.

You have a whole department of disruptive IT that only seems able to mess up the site - have them work on something constructive for a change.

With proper incentives like, "Do it or you're fired", they'll figure out a way really quickly.

[pocomocomputing]

In the eBay.com forum Fall Seller Update 2010, a thread is currently in progress on this subject and a specific commitment to fixing this problem is PROMISED by an eBay rep by early 2011. To me, early 2011 is Jan to March at the latest.

Here is the thread

Will you PLEASE fix Store Vacation Settings problem?

Here is a quote from that thread of post # 14

Hi Everyone,

Thank you for posts and sharing your experiences here on this board. We understand the inconvenience of not being able to completely close down your store when going on vacation.

The eBay Stores Product Team is actively working to address this very issue, so sellers can completely block all purchases when going on vacation. We expect to have this functionality available in early 2011.

Thank you,
Cheryl

Perhaps kalvin@ebay.com can comment on this as this is as direct a response on this issue that I have seen.

Please note that one important question was the availability to all eBay users and not just store owners. No answer at this time. However, eBay store owners are probably most affected. Since a store has no real meaning anymore on eBay like it used to, then perhaps an account vacation instead of store vacation mode is a better solution? This is post # 20.

[/quote]
Will that feature be for anybody? No matter what type of listing? Or will it be just for store owners or Power Sellers Or TRSs?[/quote]

Hi wygmngal,

Great question! The vacation settings functionality will be available to all sellers with stores subscription.

I also wanted to mention that sellers should continue to use the ‘Make my fixed price listings unavailable’ along with ‘Display a vacation message in all available listings’ until this functionality is available.

Thank you,
Cheryl

[pocomocomputing]

ebay GTC listings

I would like to be able to end a GTC automatically at the end of a cycle. I have some GTC that need to be updated to meet eBay new item conditions and other changes. This has happened a few times with ebay changes. I have other GTC that are not doing well.

I use eBay Selling Manager Pro which has some nice listing Automation Rules. I can see a nice addition to these rules to add an Do Not Relist this GTC. This way I could tag all the ones I want to end in one shot.

This would allow me to get the maximum listing time out of a GTC. Manual ending is a pain. I also noticed that if I have watchers, they may sometimes bid on a GTC in the last hours or minutes so I would like to maximize the listing time that I paid for.

This may sound like a feature request. I beg to differ. It is a fix for GTC which has no way to end nicely other than an abrupt manual ending. This manual ending is a silly way in this day of automation.

I do realize that in Selling Manager Pro I can use FP 30 and list X times. But I need to end some existing GTC cleanly.