Hello Canadian eBayers,
We're back! Please start posting your questions and comments at your convenience, we'll join you at 1pm Eastern as usual.
At one point or another everyone has opened up their inbox and has found unwanted emails. Sometimes called junk email or unsolicited bulk email (UBE), the Canadian government is implementing a new law, Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL), to crack down on unwanted emails and texts. This law will have a major impact on businesses, because now businesses and organizations will need to prove they have consent to reach out to new, existing, or potential customers using electronic messages.
CASL will take effect on July 1, 2014. Non-compliance will result in penalties for each violation that can reach as high as $1 million for an individual and $10 million for organizations.
My question is: what is eBay doing to protect its store sellers using email marketing through eBay - sending messages to users (in Canada and elsewhere) who have added their names to the mailing list over time (I count hundreds of them on my eBay mailing list).
The legislation requires new consent be obtained or we face fines. Is eBay.ca aware of the new legislation?
What will eBay.ca do to protect us?
For readers unaware of the new Canadian legislation, a few links to information of the subject:
http://fightspam.gc.ca/eic/site/030.nsf/eng/home
http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/casl-lcap.htm
http://www.mondaq.com/canada/x/321396/Compliance/The+Transitional+Period+Implied+Consent+Under+CASL
Happy reading.
Now a question about "strikes" given to buyers for non-payment.
The help page on eBay.ca states very clearly:
eBay's policy for non-paying bidders is:
- First offense: warning
- Second offense: warning
- Third offense: indefinite suspension
The help page on eBay.com is quite different (lots of words with little real meaning):
"Excessive unpaid items on a buyer's account may result in a range of consequences, including limits on or loss of buying privileges. Even if you don't have excessive unpaid items, we may limit your buying until you've established a good buying history or paid for the items you've committed to."
Link to eBay.ca: http://pages.ebay.ca/help/sell/bidders_overview.html
Link to eBay.com: http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/unpaid-item.html
The obvious question is: What is the real eBay policy?
Am I correct in assuming the eBay.ca page is outdated (by many years) and has yet to be replaced by up-to-date information?
While on the subject...
"What if I have a reason for not paying?
Although you're expected to pay for all items that you purchase or win, there may be cases in which you feel you have a valid reason for not paying. Check the table below for guidance.
- Seller changed the price, shipping costs, or payment method after the sale.
- This is a violation of the rules for sellers. If this happens, contact us.
Why oh why does eBay require the buyer to take extra steps to remove an unwarranted strike when the problem could be solve at time of answering eBay's initial inquiry by giving the buyer the option to explain why payment was not made. It used to be that way many years ago.
To follow-up on post #2, I just received this email message from The Toronto Star as few minutes ago. Obviously they are aware of the new Canadian legislation::
We hope you have been enjoying the offers, promotions and other
information from the Toronto Star and thestar.com.
Canadian e-communications laws are changing and we need to confirm
that you wish to continue to receive these special offers, promotions
and other information after July 1, 2014.
Please click this confirmation link <http://emarketing.thestar.com/t/1067553/169935133/267985/23/?f566cc7b=MTY5OTM1MTMzLjhlOGNkMTZkZGYwYz...> and you will receive notices, offers, promotions,
communications and other information that may be of interest to you
from the Toronto Star, thestar.com and toronto.com . You can
unsubscribe at any time.
Please Contact Us <http://www.thestar.com/about/contactus.html> if you
have any questions.
Sincerely,
Toronto Star
I've noticed recently that some options have changed on the SYI or relist form, specifically Gallery Plus.
I used to like being able to add Gallery Plus for an extra $1.00 on special items, but now it appears the only way to get that feature (which shows the enlarged photo in searches and a clickable photo gallery) is to pay $2.00 to get the "package".
Am I correct in this, and if so, any idea why this change was made (aside from making more money for eBay? 
). It was great to be able to use an "à la carte" method of choosing options, but I won't pay $2.00 per listing for 3 features when I only want and need 1.
@vintagenorth wrote:
Is anything being done to correct the Search problem with Shipping Not Specified showing even though I have flat rate shipping listed for Canada, US and International? It was previously showing up as Not Specified in everything except Best Match, now it is showing Not Specified in Best Match + all other categories. Getting worse instead of better. This is happening on this ID plus on my store ID and sales have dropped to next to nothing in the past 10 days!
Thanks.
(I may not be here to respond during the Board Hour today).
Hi vintagenorth,
We are actively working to resolve the issue with Search. Unfortunately I don't have an ETA that I can share for this fix yet. Thanks for your patience and understanding in this matter.
@vintagenorth wrote:
Another question - I rec'd the offer to add a store to this ID last month. I was thinking seriously about doing so soon. This week I rec'd the email that said the offer was extended. However, the extended offer was only sent to my other ID where I already have a store. Will there be an extended offer for non-stores as well?
(Hopefully, ebay will fix all the ongoing problems very soon because until they do, the offers really don't matter anyway, do they? I can't be expected to upgrade while sales are falling off.)
Regarding the Store subscription promo, I asked the Promos team to fill me in on exactly how that particular promo worked. Once I get that info I'll update this post.
EDIT: Looks like there was an error in the promo emails that were sent. The US Promo team told us they are preparing a correction email that will be sent to all impacted users, so look out for that.
@rose-dee wrote:
I've noticed recently that some options have changed on the SYI or relist form, specifically Gallery Plus.
I used to like being able to add Gallery Plus for an extra $1.00 on special items, but now it appears the only way to get that feature (which shows the enlarged photo in searches and a clickable photo gallery) is to pay $2.00 to get the "package".
Am I correct in this, and if so, any idea why this change was made (aside from making more money for eBay?
Hi rose-dee,
You can still use Gallery Plus. In order to see the option, click any of the "Add or remove options" links on the SYI page, then look under the Photos section to find the Gallery Plus option. When you're done editing the listing, you'll see the Gallery Plus option on the Review your listing page, in the "Make your listing stand out" section at the top.
@rose-dee wrote:
I wonder if you could comment on the following, an email which a number of sellers have apparently received recently, and which is causing concern and confusion. Specifically: (a) are these messages legitimate, and (b) what exactly is the reason behind these emails? Thanks!
"You recently created or revised this eBay listing that included the International Site Visibility feature:
--------------------------------------- [number & title of listing],
However, we had to remove International Site Visibility from your listing. Of course, we won't be charging you the fee for it.
Because the laws and eBay policies vary by country, sometimes items that can be listed in your country can't be listed internationally. It's also possible that the listing itself violated an eBay policy in another country. In situations like this, we automatically remove the International Site Visibility feature from the listing.
We're sorry for the inconvenience this causes.
To find out about our global selling requirements, visit:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/questions/sell_international_requirements.htmlFor more information, contact customer support by clicking the "Customer Support" link at the top of any eBay page.
Thanks,
eBay"
eBay made a system announcement regarding this issue. You can read the details here:
On eBay.com today, members can see an announcement about a new promotion:
http://pages.ebay.com/promo/2014/0618/SellNow.html
As usual, the announcement page on eBay.ca is silent.
Why is that?
Don't your Canadian members deserve to be informed?
raphael@ebay.com wrote:Hi rose-dee,
You can still use Gallery Plus. In order to see the option, click any of the "Add or remove options" links on the SYI page, then look under the Photos section to find the Gallery Plus option. When you're done editing the listing, you'll see the Gallery Plus option on the Review your listing page, in the "Make your listing stand out" section at the top.
eBay made a system announcement regarding this issue. You can read the details here:
http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/201406162009521.html
Thanks on both accounts, Raphael. I'll check both. "That Was Easy!" (ooops, sorry, wrong slogan ).
@pierrelebel wrote:
On eBay.com today, members can see an announcement about a new promotion:
http://pages.ebay.com/promo/2014/0618/SellNow.html
As usual, the announcement page on eBay.ca is silent.
Why is that?
Don't your Canadian members deserve to be informed?
Hi Pierre,
This promo is run by the US promo team and although it looks like Canadian sellers can enjoy the free listings (I'm currently working to clear up whether that is the case or not), the sweepstakes part is not open to Canadian as you can read in the Terms. This may explain why this was treated this way. I'll update this post when I learn more.
EDIT: Got a hold of the promo team sorted out the oversight. We are going to put up an announcement shortly. Thanks for flagging this.
For reference, here is the CA link: http://pages.ebay.ca/promo/2014/06_18.html
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