2012 Fall Seller Update

[CmtyGuide@ebay.com]

Discuss changes announced during the 2012 Fall Seller Update here!

http://www2.ebay.com/aw/ca/201207.shtml#2012-07-24112136

[pjcdn2005]

Thanks Bryan. One more question..sort of related to the previous one. Where does it say what my percentage is?  I found it once  but haven't been able to find it since then.

[rainbow71113]

Hello Bryan,

Ebay always says we will be higher in searches, but since I search by newly listed I get results by date listed, it doesn't matter if they are top sellers etc or not.  So how is it beneficial to appear higher in the searches if searches depend on the buyer's sorting method?

[ottokitty]

Thanks raphael,  for the quick answers to both my questions.

Good answers, and I can live with those changes.

However, if I may comment:

Condition will now be shown in 3 places - in this NEW field, in the Item Specifics, and in the item description. OVERKILL? 

Location  - I do prefer being able to choose my own Location description, in my case it is more accurate information for my buyers, both Canadian and US, than a US zipcode wil be.

I also see a question of privacy problems, if Canada implements this, as postal code pretty much defines a street. Many sellers may not have a comfort level with that much info about them in every listing.

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

In any case, I'm glad you guys are here to answer questions, we Canadians often have different issues than the US. Your presence is much appreciated (even if all the changes may not be so much)

[pjcdn2005]

RE:  Star/Feedback of Sellers

I have very good feedback and ratings as a seller except in the area of shipping and shipping time.  I feel that I am at a huge disadvantage when dealing with customs and borders.  It doesn't matter how clearly I state in my ad that I have no control over custom wait times or if my package makes it within the time I've alloted in my ad I am still receiving hassles in the star and feedback for those packages.  I am seriously considering not selling to Canadian addresses anymore unless Ebay can address this which is a shame as I feel I am a good seller and will accommodate my buyers anyway I can.  I have recently received an email from Ebay saying they are limiting my account based on the above, however, if they look at my other ratings they are glowing.  I think Ebay needs to consider if they want to keep sellers like that or not.  🙂

You will likely get more answers/comments if you post a separate thread about this since this thread is about the fall update. Or look through previous posts as there are many suggestions about shipping.

As far as you having a disadvantage..all Canadian sellers are in the same boat so we have to find ways to make it work as it's unlikely that ebay is going to change feedback anytime soon.

I send a message to the buyer once their item has been shipped and give them a realistic time of when to expect their item. This seems to really help with shipping time ratings as then the buyers has a better idea of what to expect.

I'm not sure why you said that you are considering not selling to Canadian addresses since you were mentioning customs? When you have an item too big for lettermail,  I would suggest that you use the shipping calculator for items within Canada. For example, your shipping prices right now are high to me in Alberta but probably more realistic to someone in Ontario. Also..keep in mind that if you use paypal shipping for printing labels, you receive about a 20% discount when using Canada post expedted parcel within Canada and to the U.S.

[bryan.ca@ebay.ca]

Thanks Bryan. One more question..sort of related to the previous one. Where does it say what my percentage is?  I found it once  but haven't been able to find it since then.

It can be found on your sellers dashboard. 
1. Click on US flag

2. Click on tracking summary.

Hope that helps 🙂

[pjcdn2005]

I also see a question of privacy problems, if Canada implements this, as postal code pretty much defines a street. Many sellers may not have a comfort level with that much info about them in every listing.

Ottokitty, the actual postal code won't show on your listing.

http://pages.ebay.ca/sellerinformation/news/fallupdate2012/boostsales.html#hi3

Enter a valid Canadian postal code or US zip code and eBay will automatically fill in the correct city and province or state

Actually, I'm not crazy about that idea as I would rather just have my province showing, not the exacty city but I can live with it. 🙂

[bryan.ca@ebay.ca]

Hello Bryan,

Ebay always says we will be higher in searches, but since I search by newly listed I get results by date listed, it doesn't matter if they are top sellers etc or not.  So how is it beneficial to appear higher in the searches if searches depend on the buyer's sorting method?

Hi isis1313,

Great question, the default search is set to "Best Match", majority of our users leave this as their default. You are a power user 🙂

Thanks.

[pjcdn2005]

It can be found on your sellers dashboard. 
1. Click on US flag

2. Click on tracking summary.

Hope that helps 🙂

Yes that helps. Thanks!

I swear that wasn't there yesterday though. lol

[raphael@ebay.com]

In any case, I'm glad you guys are here to answer questions, we Canadians often have different issues than the US. Your presence is much appreciated (even if all the changes may not be so much)

My pleasure! The Canadian reality and its challenges is definitely something we are aware of and care about. I'm glad we can help. 🙂

[bryan.ca@ebay.ca]

Yes that helps. Thanks!

I swear that wasn't there yesterday though. lol

I know I've had lots of those kind of days 🙂

[ottokitty]

Not really, it's more of an enhancement. Item Condition Notes aren't meant to replicate what's in your description word for word, rather they should be a summary of the general condition of the specific item offered. Also, don't forget that a plain-text summary of the item condition (as opposed to the HTML-rich, elaborate descriptions that a lot of sellers use), is designed to be Mobile-friendly. The main idea with these Item Condition Notes is to give the buyer incentive to scroll down and read further into a listing, something that was proven to be a hurdle.

I'm trying to understand this.

The new CONDITION Field is meant to be a brief summary. In many cases, my books will have minor conditons issues (almost like new) and those will be easy.

 But some will have MANY flaws and are described in detail in the description (and can be lengthy).

What you are saying is that I should say something like:

 the book has considerable wear, please see complete details about the condition in my description below

instead of going into the same detail I have in the listing.

Is that correct?

[block36]

I very much agree with your question about DSR's accuracy in SHIPPING TIME and SHIPPING COST marks - in my listings in most cases I do not enter the actual cost - I enter only the size and weight of the item together with all applicable shipping options - the computer of Canada Post assigns the cost and there is also a factor for the currency differential. I ship the great majority of my items within 24 hrs. and sometimes I can not do any better (I even got few speeding tickets on my route to the post office 🙂 !

But I always want to do better, but the great secrecy of the DSR system does not let me know who exactly was unhappy and I can not establish the specific problem. 

At the same time how can we challenge the accuracy of DSR's marks? Since these marks serve as tool for sellers' punishment, I think sellers' rights to accuracy of the DSR information are obvious.

And at the same time the feedbacks' ratio (added/not-added) is quite high. Less than 70% of buyers leave feedbacks, and it is lower and lower with years... Being for over 12 years on eBay I have learned about many attitudes towards feedbacks:

 1 - I do not have time,

 2 - I forgot,

3 - I expect everything to be good and will deal ONLY with unsatisfactory situation.

Couple of new buyers could not find the LEAVE FEEDBACK button on their screens, another new buyer told that she did not know that she suppose to do it...

One of my regular buyers (actually more than one) do not leave feedbacks at all, but they return and buy from me again. I think the return visit(s) should be treated as SILENT APPROVAL and certain positive marks to apply.

Hope there are similar views on this sensitive subject.

[pjcdn2005]

I agree with ottokitty. Your presence is much appreciated.

Kudos as well to ebay on some of the updates such as  giving sellers 3 days to reply before a case can be opened. I also appreciate the new rule for cancelling bids and ending an auction early. Obviously there may be a good reason for ending an auction early  but I do hear about so many sellers doing that just because they aren`t happy with the price. I wonder though if sellers will then let the auction end, refuse to send the item or make up some sort of excuse and then try to get their fees back with a mutual cancellation.

Regarding the 3 days...... Is it going to work like that when someone tries to file a case through paypal rather than ebay?

[pocomocomputing]

Not really, it's more of an enhancement. Item Condition Notes aren't meant to replicate what's in your description word for word, rather they should be a summary of the general condition of the specific item offered. Also, don't forget that a plain-text summary of the item condition (as opposed to the HTML-rich, elaborate descriptions that a lot of sellers use), is designed to be Mobile-friendly. The main idea with these Item Condition Notes is to give the buyer incentive to scroll down and read further into a listing, something that was proven to be a hurdle.

Raphael, your reply seems to directly contradict the eBay Questions and Answers on the new Condition field on the new seller update page here:

 
http://pages.ebay.ca/sellerinformation/news/fallupdate2012/boostsales.html#hi2

Here is copy and paste of those Q&A.

Should I use the item condition notes if I already include this information in the item description?

Yes, we recommend moving your condition information from your listing description to the item condition notes field. Presenting this important information in a standard location on the item page where buyers can easily find it helps them make well-informed buying decisions.

Can I put condition-related information in my item description and include it in in the new item condition notes field?

If you use the condition notes field, do not include any condition related information in the item description to avoid buyer confusion. All condition information should go into this field exclusively, so buyers don't have to look in more than one place.

[vesivus]

Absolutely!

It is difficult enough for Canadians to sell on eBay without this DSR for shipping. We provide top service and ship within 1 day, and still get low marks about 'slow shipping' and 'expensive shipping'

There's nothing we can do, and it's simply unfair.

[raphael@ebay.com]

What you are saying is that I should say something like:

the book has considerable wear, please see complete details about the condition in my description below

instead of going into the same detail I have in the listing.

Is that correct?

That's how I interpreted it, yes. Further, I would say you should put in there what are the most important points to mention about your item's condition instead of just directing back to the description for more details (which is kind of implied). That said, as pocomocomputing points out in another post, there seems to be a different message included in the FAQ for that topic. I suppose the best approach is, when the new field is available, try it out and see how it works best for you.

[raphael@ebay.com]

Raphael, your reply seems to directly contradict the eBay Questions and Answers on the new Condition field on the new seller update page here:

http://pages.ebay.ca/sellerinformation/news/fallupdate2012/boostsales.html#hi2

Here is copy and paste of those Q&A.

Should I use the item condition notes if I already include this information in the item description?

Yes, we recommend moving your condition information from your listing description to the item condition notes field. Presenting this important information in a standard location on the item page where buyers can easily find it helps them make well-informed buying decisions.

Can I put condition-related information in my item description and include it in in the new item condition notes field?

If you use the condition notes field, do not include any condition related information in the item description to avoid buyer confusion. All condition information should go into this field exclusively, so buyers don't have to look in more than one place.

Hi pocomocomputing,

Thanks for pointing that out. I seem to have missed this part, which is likely to have been added just before these pages went live.

As I told ottokitty, despite the intended use for Item Condition Notes, seller will undoubtedly find the best way to use the feature to their advantage. I certainly hope you will as well 🙂

[zee-chan]

I too am disappointed about the new fee for ending auctions early.

[raphael@ebay.com]

I agree with ottokitty. Your presence is much appreciated.

Kudos as well to ebay on some of the updates such as  giving sellers 3 days to reply before a case can be opened. I also appreciate the new rule for cancelling bids and ending an auction early. Obviously there may be a good reason for ending an auction early  but I do hear about so many sellers doing that just because they aren`t happy with the price. I wonder though if sellers will then let the auction end, refuse to send the item or make up some sort of excuse and then try to get their fees back with a mutual cancellation.

Regarding the 3 days...... Is it going to work like that when someone tries to file a case through paypal rather than ebay?

Hello pjcdn2005,

Thanks for the kind words. Please note that the new Seller Protection rules with regard to how Buyer Protection cases are handled will only apply for items sold on eBay.com for now. To clarify, this means items that buyers have purchased from the eBay.com site, regardless of which site the item was listed on or which site the buyer is registered on. Items bought on eBay.com fall under the US eBay Buyer Protection program and only under that program does eBay get involved in the dispute process in that way.

So if you're wondering whether the 3 days period before a buyer can open a case applies to PayPal cases, the answer would be no, unless the item was purchased on eBay.com.

In any case, open Buyer Protection cases already aren't counted for sales made on eBay.ca, so you can see how that wouldn't apply for such transactions. In Canada we're still under the old dispute system, something we're hoping to change in the future.

[raphael@ebay.com]

I'll just take a quick moment to touch on comments made by abc_3, block36 and vesivus regarding the Shipping-related DSRs. We definitely appreciate you guys taking the time to let us know your thoughts on the subject, but for now we will keep this thread for discussing the 2012 Fall Seller Release that was announced earlier today. Thanks for keeping the comments on topic.

With that said, I'd like to add that the inherent disadvantages in being a Canadian seller is something we at eBay Canada are very much aware of and we constantly work to find ways to mitigate those disadvantages. For now, the best way a Canadian seller can work around problems like low Shipping DSRs from US buyers is to offer free shipping with 1-day handling and whenever possible, to use tracked shipping and upload the tracking data to My eBay. This will help manage buyer expectations. We fully understand that this model won't work for everyone, but it will work for most.