eBay

kalvin@ebay.com · ‎02-27-2014

Hi everyone,

Please use this thread to discuss any of the topics announced in the Spring Seller Updates.

Thanks,

~Kalvin
eBay.ca Community Manager

kalvin@ebay.com

femmefan1946 · ‎03-11-2014

The defect rate is simply the percentage of a seller's successful transactions that have one or more of the following transaction-related defects, the top predictors that a buyer will leave eBay or buy less:
- Detailed seller rating of 1, 2 or 3 for item as described
- Detailed seller rating of 1 for shipping time
- Negative or neutral feedback
- Return initiated for a reason that indicates the item was not as described
- eBay Money Back Guarantee (previously known as eBay Buyer Protection) or PayPal Purchase Protection case opened for an item not received or an item not as described
- Seller-cancelled transactions

The detested Shipping Time Rating remains.

blackvelvetvintage · ‎03-11-2014

I have a problem with:

Shipping times for Canadian sellers (Detailed Seller Rating)

This has been a problem for me since 2006 (when I started buying and selling on Ebay)

I have called Customer Service many times to no avail.

It seems EBAY is not listening and now has introduced a new 2014 Spring Seller update.

For an example I am a buyer in the USA purchasing from blackvelvetvintage (seller, me) in Canada.

As a buyer I am asked to rate blackvelvetvintage namely shipping times. Well it took 2 weeks so I would have to say a 3 rate.

Is it really my fault has a Canadian for any possible custom, weather, postal delays.

OH Ebay when will you figure this out and make it RIGHT???

blackvelvetvintage · ‎03-11-2014

RIGHT on!!!!! femmefan!!

tobyshitzu · ‎03-11-2014

What is counted as a seller-cancelled transaction?

Any transaction cancelled through eBay or refunded through PayPal because the seller no longer has the item (such as out of stock) or chooses not to ship the item after it was sold is counted as seller-cancelled.

Will there be a way to determine if the buyer doesn't want it shipped?

I end up cancelling a number of overseas ones. With video games, some work overseas, some don't. But there is a significant number of buyers who want to buy the ones that generally don't work. No matter what I put in the listing I get buyers (generally low fb) who don't understand the region lock. So every time I look at their fb and ask the one who don't look like they have bought overseas before if they really want it. If they don't, I refund if they already paid and offer a cancel. Which seems to make a lot more sense then mailing something that won't work for them and the potential problems that will cause. Its common to see in other games sellers' fb negs or comments complaining about receiving ones that won't work overseas.

Will ones cancelled like that now lose me TRS? I don't really want to stop overseas sales as they are going quite well. The buyers seem quite happy to be informed and get a chance to cancel

I guess none of us are surprised there is still nothing to help Canadians not be hit by overseas shipping time like Americans don't have to worry about to keep their trs

pjcdn2005 · ‎03-11-2014

Will there be a way to determine if the buyer doesn't want it shipped?

What reason do you use now...buyer changed mind, made mistake or other?

I can't imagine them keeping the 'other' choice as that doesn't tell them the reason for cancelling.

Kalvin, will there be more choices for cancellations given...or perhaps an open field in which we can type in the reason?

How will you know if the seller is putting in the actual reason?

universal-heros · ‎03-11-2014

I fully agree with you, eBay just doesn't listen, so what else is new. I ship from Canada, ship out usually within 2/3 days. The problem is the US buyers don't realize they are buying from a Canadian seller. So our delivery time is longer and we get hit with Seller Detail ratings. Totally unfair as I try very hard to make sure everything ships as soon as possible.

thecoinhunterca · ‎03-11-2014

Here is another mouth full from a Canadian seller. To hold us responsible for shipping times is ludicrous. I ship ALL my products the next business day. First of all, Canadian shipping rates are incredibly expensive. Tracked packet into the US is approx. $16. Non tracked Canada Post products such as light packet or small packet are frequently used to ship products with values under $40.00 +- by many sellers as it impossible to sell a product for $20 and have the buyer pay $16 to ship it. Secondly, what if a tracked product winds up in customs???? 1 out of 10 do my little Ebay friends. What if the buyer doesn't pick up his/her mail for a week? Same goes for domestic Canadian shipping, not all product is viable to be shipped tracked. What happens when a case is open for lost item??? What happens then??? What if a refund is provided????Do we still get penalized??? As it is, sellers are already plenty exposed to buyer manipulation, this just gives buyers more tools to do it. I've also asked Ebay to add an open case category similar to "mail loss" to at least track buyers that chronically report mail as "lost". If a buyer has more than two mail "lost" buys in a given time, he/she should be flagged. Bottom line, this is far from the brightest idea Ebay has had.

chad1952 · ‎03-11-2014

How come we are rated by buyers on how long the postal service takes to get it there??? We should only be rated on how long it takes us to get it in the mail. Also ebay customers do not take into account that ebay charges us FVF's on shipping or the cost of shipping materials-noticed lately that the shipping cost is now posted on the labels I print from home for tracked packet, small packet air and ground-totally disagree with this. Don

rogue34e · ‎03-11-2014

RE: spring seller update - disputes

When the buyer opens an item dispute. It would be nice if they were first required to contact the seller prior to being able to access this option.

All the disputes that I have received are from US buyers (I ship from Canada) who expect their package to arrive fast.

Not one of these buyers contacted me prior to opening a dispute, for not receiving there package yet.

I do not use a tracked package as it is outrageously expensive to ship to the US from Canada and buyers would just pass me over due to the high shipping costs. (I know I pass over items with rediculously high shipping.)

Kenna

rogue34e · ‎03-11-2014

A nice solution to the shipping time issues, is to take the time the item is paid for and then the time the item is shipped, ie through Paypal when postage is purchased and call this the shipping time.

EX. buyer paid by Paypal on june 1st-- then the seller paid for shipping via Paypal on June 2nd. Therefore the shipping time for the seller is 1 day. This would truely reflect the actual shipping time that the seller took.

This is then independant of the time the postal service has the package in transit. It eliminates the buyers version of how long they think the package should take.

The current way of judging the shipping time is very subjective of the buyers impression of how fast they think the shipping time should be.

Kenna

landylimb · ‎03-11-2014

More draconian rules from e-bay, what about lost sellers? You are making it nigh on impossible to keep anyone happy. You charge us final value fees on postal charges which we have to pay then slam us for something out of our hands. We DO NOT run the postal service or customs so therefore we can NOT control how long it takes. These are IMPOSSIBLE ratings.

All hail the corporate money grabbers.

universal-heros · ‎03-11-2014

Hi Kalvin, I also noticed the eBay is making changes to the categories again. Why does eBay have to change the category numbers to the products. The last time this happened I had to go and spend 60 hours on Turbo Lister to change all (3000+) of my category numbers because they were all reset to a default that was not acceptable to eBay. EBay assigns and number for a specific item , we use it make all our listing for it. Then for no reason eBay changes the number and we can list the product until we change to a NEW number. Fine when you sell 10 items, not so much fun when you have over 3000 items. It just another kick in the face when all we are trying to do is provide good customer service.

Also about the hit we will take if we sell something we don't have. I list 600- 3000 items 2400 of them are comics, every once in a while one will sell out but I forget to remove it off Turbo Lister. Next month I upload again and it sells but I don't have it. I refund the buyer with an apology about the listing. Why is that so bad that eBay feels I should be downgraded for it. You/eBay can't name one business out there that always has every single item they say they have all the time. They provide good customer service and are not penalized for it, why are we?

thecoinhunterca · ‎03-11-2014

I also agree with UH about getting penalized for stock shortage. We deal in coins and have a street store front. When dealing with lots of stock and multiple outlets, errors in stock counts and updates can happen. I realize that you're trying to prevent sellers from listing stock they don't have, but that doesn't apply to all cases. As mentioned before (and this might be fixed now) turbo lister has a flaw with multiple counts where when you relist, the count resets to the original stock count and not adjusted count of stock that was sold. On the issue of neutral feedback. 2 years ago a buyer purchased a coin from me. No contact, buyer left a neutral comment that I felt was not legitimate. I tried to contact numerous times to resolve the issue with no result. I blocked the account. A year later the same buyer changed his ID name and bid on one of my items (after negotiating a BO price because he felt there was a flaw on the coin ). I sent the item, the buyer left neutral feedback again claiming that he wasn't certain that the item was as described. My pictures are very clear. Again attempted contact to resolve with no response. Complained to Ebay without results. Instead of penalizing me for the above scenario, I'd like to know how Ebay will actually FAIRLY DEAL with such a scenario. The only other neutral feedback I received was for a buyer complaining a coin not being wrapped in plastic but in the picture in clearly is not and the description reflects it. Should I be penalized for that? You get the jest. I am all for making Ebay safer and protecting buyers from getting shafted. The same courtesy should be offered to the sellers.

westernstargifts · ‎03-11-2014

A nice solution to the shipping time issues, is to take the time the item is paid for and then the time the item is shipped, ie through Paypal when postage is purchased and call this the shipping time.

EX. buyer paid by Paypal on june 1st-- then the seller paid for shipping via Paypal on June 2nd. Therefore the shipping time for the seller is 1 day. This would truely reflect the actual shipping time that the seller took.

This is then independant of the time the postal service has the package in transit. It eliminates the buyers version of how long they think the package should take.

The current way of judging the shipping time is very subjective of the buyers impression of how fast they think the shipping time should be.

Kenna

I also detest the Shipping Time rating as the majority of buyers rate us for "delivery" time. Just read anyone's feedback and you will see comments on "delivery" time, fast or slow, but never on how long it took the seller to ship.

The method you suggest, Kenna, would work if all postage could be printed from PayPal. I ship primarily Light Packet and Lettermail which cannot be printed from PayPal. Also, I am not sure if all couriers fees can be printed from there either so it would not work for a large number of sellers. Otherwise it is a great idea!

007steveb16 · ‎03-12-2014

So the ability for the buyer to rate "shipping" time remains???? *twitches*

GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Ridiculous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

xylem-xylem · ‎03-12-2014

I agree with universal heros. I mail auctioned items to the USA from Canada in small envelopes under 30 grams. There is no tracking number! You can't get a tracking number for small envelopes. It's a simple $1.10 stamp and then good luck with Canada Post. I have mailed envelopes to the states over 1000 times and the delivery time(s) are all over the place. sometimes they arrive quick, sometimes not! But of course it's the sellers fault because the item didn't arrive in the 'delivery time' window. I am considering changing my delivery expectation time to say. IT WILL ARRIVE WHEN IT GETS THERE!. You see, I offer free shipping on all my sales and I still get buyers complaining that it took more than 5 business days to get from Edmonton Canada to Wherever USA. How can I speed this up? How?

xylem-xylem · ‎03-12-2014

landy limb is right . We can't predict, forecast, justify, guarantee, expect or promise any postal time deliveries without making fools of ourselves at Canada Posts pleasure.

landylimb is right.How the hell can we make binding promises for shipping times with a postal system that is in the middle of restructuring anyways?

Kalvin, you spend your days coming up with things to change just to justify your existence? Go fix some of the things that Ebay sellers want fixed. You need to sell for as few years and deal with some of the **bleep** that sellers have to deal with. You remind me of an oil executive in a downtown Toronto office who changes the paint color on oil tankers to please the fish - meanwhile the tanker is leaking oil!

thecoinhunterca · ‎03-12-2014

I wonder how long it's going to take Kalvin (or someone else) to comment/respond on these comments. After all, a company who expects exceptional customer service from it's partnered sales force, should lead by example!!!!

msmaggie060 · ‎03-12-2014

I have never had a return except for one buyer who purchased an item and then wrote to say that she already had the same one at home. It wasn't expensive at all, I was leaving for vacation, and in that case I didn't ask her to return the item, just refunded and told her to pass the item on to someone who could use it.

Anyway, I do occasionally get a buyer who bids or buys and then realizes that they have bought a pattern instead of the actual item even though it is correctly described and has multiple photos. People don't always read, just look quickly and see what they want to see. When they ask me to cancel I will (why ship something if they don't want it) but if I do is this considered a "defect"? Does this mean that I will have to ignore their request for cancellation and then file for non-payment in order to protect myself? I don't think I would want to do that, that would certainly invite bad feedback!