eBay

happy_pigeon · ‎11-08-2018

Hi all,

With Canada Post rotating strikes continuing for the third week with no indication of a resolution between Canada Post and CUPW, the eBay Canada team are looking to hear from Canadian sellers about the impact of the strikes on their business.

Feedback and examples from our seller community helps us to better advocate for you. If you're comfortable with sharing your experience, we want to hear from you, whether you've felt an impact from the postal labour disruptions or not.

Some members of my team (someone other than myself or Tyler) may reach out to you via PM for more information after you post in this thread. We look forward to hearing your stories!

reallynicestamps · ‎11-16-2018

On Vacation doesn't mean invisible, unless the seller also Blocks sales.

It's really stupid not to Block the vacationing Store entirely, since sales cannot be completed.

YMMV.

momcqueen · ‎11-16-2018

I never hide my items; I extend my handling time to match the the number of days I’ll be gone. I’m not gone for long.

Cumos has no visible listings; they’re hidden and therefore not available to be viewed which is the reason it’s peculiar to have 94 views unless cumos himself visited that listing 94 times.

beansantiques · ‎11-16-2018

On my behalf, as a small business, I appreciate this letter ebay sent to the PM. However, since these rotating strikes have started, I have had actual feedback posted that items were delayed, but worse my "Shipping Time" DSR ratings have risen. Why not protect us sellers, and while these strikes are on protect our seller ratings. These COST us dearly if we don't fall within the standard set forth. We have no way to protect ourselves other than to put our store on holiday until it is over, but who knows how long that could last. For me, that is simply not an option. I would greatly appreciate ebay considering this and implementing a freeze on DSR shipping time ratings until strike issues resolved. Thank you. Sheri

boutiquestepup · ‎11-16-2018

In reply to Happy Pigeon in regards to Canada Post Labour disruption:

Because of Canada Post strike it creates climate of uncertainty my clients are not buying online as much.
My online sales were down in October and so far November by 40% to 48% compare to last year.
My suppliers in USA refuse to ship my orders with USPS/Canada Post and all of my USA orders have to ship with UPS. Therefore increasing my cost tremendously. For example 1 x order of $1300.00 from my supplier shipped with UPS and it came with $400.00 fees for brokerage, taxes on brokerage, HST taxes, duty, etc etc. and that is just one order from 1 x supplier. I have several like this.
We are heading toward the busiest season, and I have invested in inventory for this season, and if the sales dont pick up, I am stock with my inventory for another year.
I have used courier for some orders, however I cannot ship all my orders courier, it does not makes sens to pay $25.00 in shipping for a $15.00 item, and customers will not pay that.
Lets hope something happen quickly...This strike is hurting my business and I have No Union, No Pension, No Benefit, Not paid by the Hours, I am self employed Small Business Owner, and I need the government to step in. We need Canada Post back and operating before the Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
and thank you Ebay for the letter to our Prime Minister

silverpinups · ‎11-16-2018

I talked to my favorite Post Clerk today and Canada Post has not notified the Postal outlets of any refusal to accept outgoing international mail.

All my packages this week have reached their destination country except for one package that was mailed out yesterday by Xpresspost.

I believe that Tracked Packet and Xpresspost services have been given priority while regular mail is moving much slower or has been halted at Canada Posts major processing centers.

The next few days of negotiations between Canada Post and CUPW will determine whether I stay open for business or set my store on vacation mode.

otteropp · ‎11-16-2018

It is really strange! I did the same as you and put our Store on Vacation before the strike started. I have lived through too many Canada Post strikes since the 1970's that I felt strongly that this was not going to end soon and rotating strikes can cause huge delays.

I also have added new listings to my Store however I have my vacation settings set so that my listings are not visible.

I have double checked on this by signing out and doing searches....my store shows I am away however I too have large numbers of 'viewers' on my new, hidden listings!

I know that no-one has seen them so now it makes me question the 'Viewer counts' when my Store is active! Do I really get views ot are they eBay phantom views??

I just heard that Canada Post has asked other Countries to not send any mail into Canada as we have a 30 day backlog of parcels across the Country.....I am not surprised.

theelectricempire · ‎11-16-2018

Yea that's what happened to us too. Just dead over here. I even issued a few refunds so we are in the red.

zee-chan · ‎11-16-2018

@happy_pigeon

A few questions, and sorry if it has been answered before, I just wanted reassurance:

1. With the current rotating strike situation, I'm thinking of increasing my handling time to like 20 business days so that the ETA eBay gives is longer. Are we protected from all late defects, low DSRs, and negative feedbacks occurring with the near future, regardless of whether or not we use tracking?

2. I have some unsold listings that will disappear from the eBay database in a couple weeks as they are reaching their 90 days, and I was thinking of relisting them to keep them alive, but there's a rotating strike. I don't want to relist just to end them right away as it's 34 cents per listing. Is there a way for eBay to keep the unsold listings in the database longer? My current plan, as mentioned in point #1, is to relist them with 20 business days handling time.

3. Will we get some free listings promos after the end of the rotating strike to help us out with sales? We haven't gotten any free 500 listings promo in ages, so I haven't added much new items because of it. eBay gets less FVF from me as a result

4. When is that $5/month store plan coming out to the .CA side?

momcqueen · ‎11-16-2018

I need my DSRs on Shipping Speed to be protected from hit marks during and following the strikes. It's hardly my fault CUPW and Canada Post cannot keep their (redacted) together.

momcqueen · ‎11-16-2018

Also, last weekend, I had sales like a house on fire. This week, crickets.

As both an online ebay buyer and seller, I am right now trying to collect what I require for Christmas and that involves, of course, shopping from UK and USA. As an online seller, I'm not going to have any money to spend at Christmas on my family this year if I don't sell my own wares to pay for what I need to buy.

My patience with this labour disruption has grown very thin.

mrdutch1001 · ‎11-16-2018

if you use the "Sell Similar" or "Re-list" option you can save in draft mode. Instead of using "List" and activating the listing, use "save as draft", which will extend the time frame another 30 days.

cumos55 · ‎11-16-2018

I was surprised to see views on many listings uploaded after September 17.

The listing with 94 views was uploaded on October 16, about one month after the store was put on vacation. Such a high number of views would have been expected if the store was not on vacation....

The information on a listing includes the following.....

You can add this item to your watch list to purchase later..... How are they viewing this listing on vacation?

femmefan1946 · ‎11-16-2018

@theelectricempire

I even issued a few refunds so we are in the red.

When the Strike is over, allow a day or three and then re-invoice those refunded customers "now that you have received your purchase" through Paypal's Send Money service. This will work better for tracked packages. It works about half the time on untracked, because most people are honest.

And put those who don't repay the refund on your Blocked Bidder List.

Fool men once.....

femmefan1946 · ‎11-16-2018

@zee-chan

2. I have some unsold listings that will disappear from the eBay database in a couple weeks

Put your Unsold Descriptions into a text document (include any HTML coding that you may use). Also save the pictures if you can.

If your listings disappear, you can reconstruct them quickly, since, in my opinion, writing, coding and typing the Description takes more time than any other part of uploading.

OR.

Put your Unsold Listings up for 15 minutes very late at night. Then close them again immediately. The downside is that 35cent fee when you don't have a Store and do have over 50 listings. The upside is that the re-closed items have another 90 days to sit on your Unsold List.

zee-chan · ‎11-16-2018

@mrdutch1001 wrote:
if you use the "Sell Similar" or "Re-list" option you can save in draft mode. Instead of using "List" and activating the listing, use "save as draft", which will extend the time frame another 30 days.

That's a good idea. Is there a limit to how many I can save as draft?

zee-chan · ‎11-16-2018

@femmefan1946 wrote:
@zee-chan
2. I have some unsold listings that will disappear from the eBay database in a couple weeks

Put your Unsold Descriptions into a text document (include any HTML coding that you may use). Also save the pictures if you can.
If your listings disappear, you can reconstruct them quickly, since, in my opinion, writing, coding and typing the Description takes more time than any other part of uploading.

OR.
Put your Unsold Listings up for 15 minutes very late at night. Then close them again immediately. The downside is that 35cent fee when you don't have a Store and do have over 50 listings. The upside is that the re-closed items have another 90 days to sit on your Unsold List.

Backing up copies of the listings takes too much work (!!) because I'm lazy. If there isn't a strike I'd have been okay to relist them for 35 cents each and let them live their 30 days. Actually I'd have opened a store for a month to revive all listings so that they're good for another 30+90 days if there isn't a strike going on.

So if the draft suggested by @mrdutch1001 works, then I'll put them in draft mode, save them, and open a store in late-December. The rotating strike oughta be done by then...?

pjcdn2005 · ‎11-16-2018

@reallynicestamps wrote:
On Vacation doesn't mean invisible, unless the seller also Blocks sales.

It's really stupid not to Block the vacationing Store entirely, since sales cannot be completed.

YMMV.

I'm aware on how putting a store on vacation works which is why I looked at cumos listings before I posted and he has zero listings showing.

mrdutch1001 · ‎11-16-2018

I sometimes have several hundred listings in draft mode ...over 500...

pjcdn2005 · ‎11-16-2018

You could also schedule them to start sometime in the future as there is no charge unless you actually let them start at the scheduled time. You can keep changing the scheduled time but make sure you take them off the scheduled time once you open the store as stores are charged when they use scheduled listings.