July 25 2018 Weekly Session "Ask Andrea Anything" at eBay Open

tyler@ebay
Community Member

Hi everyone -

 

We're doing something a little different this week as I'll be at eBay Open.

 

I'm working with Andrea Stairs, General Manager of eBay Canada, to respond to your questions.

 

I'm opening the chat now to give you a few days to get questions in. I'll close it around Monday and work with Andrea to get responses to your questions which I'll post mid to late next week.

 

Thanks!

Tyler

Tyler,
eBay
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July 25 2018 Weekly Session "Ask Andrea Anything" at eBay Open

(1) Has there been or do you anticipate there being an official announcement about what eBay plans to do to help sellers who were severely inconvenienced with the photos suddenly disappearing in their GTC listings.  Last I heard was something was going to be announced on July 18. 

 

(2) Would eBay Canada consider adding another store level?  Perhaps for 5,000 listings?   I have no need for 10,000, never did and most likely never will. Seems like my per listing cost doubled from 3 to 6 cents with that increase.

 

Oh yes, there are a few perks involved however, the only one that has any worth to me is the "upgraded" c/s.   I have zero need for the (less and less as time goes on) choice of  (in my view) overpriced boxes/tissues/tape. I would be more than happy foregoing the $210 materials credit per quarter in exchange for a $100 - $110 store credit per quarter.

 

Perhaps a price-point of $229 or so, monthly, for 5,000 listings?  My store subscription/renewal comes due in a few months and I would prefer keeping my listings here on eBay.  I appreciate you taking the time to come here, read the posted messages.

 

 

 

 

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July 25 2018 Weekly Session "Ask Andrea Anything" at eBay Open

Hi Andrea and Tyler,

I am usually busy on Tuesday and on Wednesday morning so  haven't been posting on the weekly board very often but since I have time today, I have a few things that I want to comment and/or ask about. Please forgive the overload!

 

According to the summer update certain categories such as collectibles and cameras would have the option of offering 14 day returns. The option is still available on .com but on .ca sellers just have the option of 30 or 60 days. When will the 14 day return option be added back to .ca in those categories?

 

 

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July 25 2018 Weekly Session "Ask Andrea Anything" at eBay Open

On the search pages on .com or .ca the free returns option is highlighted on each sellers listing even when the free returns criteria is not chosen. However, in most cases the free returns is just for US buyers. So as a Canadian buyer I see free returns, click on a listing and unless I actually scroll down and then click on the shipping tab and then again scroll down to the return area, I would purchase the item thinking that there were free returns when in fact it is more likely that I would have to pay for a  returns or that the seller doesn’t even allow returns for international buyers.  

 

All screenshots below are of the same listing (Item 292621807963) but the first 2 are a search result for a Canadian buyer and the last two are results of a search by a US buyer. In this case the item would be sent through the gsp but the results are the same for items sent directly by the seller.

 

The screen shots were done on .ca although you would see the same results on .com

It is obviously very misleading that all international buyers are shown that a listing has free returns when it doesn’t.  Is this going to be changed so that the results are accurate?

 

free returns 1 Canadian buyer.jpg

 

free returns 1a Canadian buyer.jpg

 

 

free returns 2 US buyer.jpg

 

free returns 2a US buyer.jpg

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July 25 2018 Weekly Session "Ask Andrea Anything" at eBay Open

More about free returns and search.  In the previous post I hadn't specified that I wanted to see just free return shipping listings. But even when I check off free returns on the left side of a search page, the free returns that show up are not necessarily free returns for Canadians or anyone from outside of the US.  The screenshot is from .ca and shows 4 items with ‘free’ returns. However, all 4 of the free returns listings are free only if the buyer is in the US.  One of the listings does not allow international returns and the other 3 require international buyers to pay for returns.  The results are similar for the rest of the search page.

 

These results are similar whether I am shopping on .com or .ca. Whenever I check off free returns as a search parameter, I see all free returns for the US and rarely are any of them actually free for Canada.  I don’t really understand why ebay would set it up this way. If I was a buyer and thought that an item could be returned free and then was later told that I had to pay for the return, it is unlikely that I would be shopping here again.

 

Free returns.jpg

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July 25 2018 Weekly Session "Ask Andrea Anything" at eBay Open

I agree with snoopwiz saying "I have zero need for the choice of  (in my view) overpriced boxes/tissues/tape. I would be more than happy foregoing the $210 materials credit per quarter in exchange for a $100 - $110 store credit per quarter. If they won't do that, at least give us choices of sizes for sellers that ship in smaller sizes.

 

 

 

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July 25 2018 Weekly Session "Ask Andrea Anything" at eBay Open

Regarding the missing pictures...

 Why did ebay not make an  announcement about the problem so that seller's could check to see if they had pictures missing from their listings?  Yesterday I saw a post on the US boards from a seller that just noticed that they had a number of listings with missing pictures.  This is one month after the problem happened and they just found out that there ever was a problem!  Most sellers do not click on their own listings very often and I'm sure that a seller with hundreds or thousands of listings may never notice that their pics have disappeared unless a buyer happens to comment.  I really think that is was poor judgement on ebay's part not to make their customers aware that their was a problem. 

 

I don't really expect a response...just wanted to make a comment.

 

 

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July 25 2018 Weekly Session "Ask Andrea Anything" at eBay Open

I had no idea any of my pictures weren't showing but someone sent me an email yesterday telling me they couldn't see the picture. I was able to see it and I just copied the picture back to my computer and reposted it. The buyer said they could now see it.  Still a pain but  at least I didn't have to retake the picture, and have no idea which other ones can't be seen

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July 25 2018 Weekly Session "Ask Andrea Anything" at eBay Open

I believe that it happened to listings that automatically relisted during a 3 day period.  I'm not positive but I think that it started around June 19th or 20th  so if you have any listings that relisted during that time, you should check those ones.

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July 25 2018 Weekly Session "Ask Andrea Anything" at eBay Open

Hello Tyler,

 

Just following up. Is anything happening with the issue regarding attempting to  save a draft listing and then getting the following message:

 

https://sm.ebay.ca/

Your connection is not private

Attackers might be trying to steal your information from sm.ebay.ca (for example, passwords, messages, or credit cards). Learn more

NET::ERR_CERT_COMMON_NAME_INVALID
 
I believe this pointed out over a month ago and is still occurring.
 
Thanks,
 
-CM

 

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July 25 2018 Weekly Session "Ask Andrea Anything" at eBay Open

Thanks but with over 5000 listings I have no idea what was relisted on which dates. I think if i look at them from my computer I can see all the pictures unless I click on the item itself. Hopefully not too many were relisted on those days

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July 25 2018 Weekly Session "Ask Andrea Anything" at eBay Open

snoopwiz wrote: I have zero need for the (less and less as time goes on) choice of  (in my view) overpriced boxes/tissues/tape. I would be more than happy foregoing the $210 materials credit per quarter in exchange for a $100 - $110 store credit per quarter.

 

I agree, why not instead of a shipping supplies coupon we receive a eBay Bucks coupon to spend on eBay items. I have never used the shipping supplies coupon because of sizing and lack of appropriate products that fit my needs. 

 

eBay will still benefit from a eBay Bucks coupon and generate more business, fvf's etc, and sellers can benefit by buying items that they really want or desire. It's win, win.....   

 

  

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July 25 2018 Weekly Session "Ask Andrea Anything" at eBay Open

I hope eBay Canada (and/or dotCOM) will start advertising more aggressively particularly for the back to school and Christmas sales periods.

(These don't actually affect my business, which is strongest from January to April.)

 

I would also like to see the Resolution process made clearer for new and guest buyers. All too often complaints about feedback are really complaints about failed transactions that could have been resolved faster and more satisfactorily for both parties through the Resolution Centre.
Actually, if feedback disappeared entirely, it would n't bother me a bit.

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July 25 2018 Weekly Session "Ask Andrea Anything" at eBay Open

Thanks but with over 5000 listings I have no idea what was relisted on which dates. I think if i look at them from my computer I can see all the pictures unless I click on the item itself. Hopefully not too many were relisted on those days.

 

 

With over 5000 listings, it's worth looking into..... GTC Listings that renewed between Thursday, Jun.21/18 - Saturday Jun.23/18 were affected. My guess is, with over 5000 listings that you  probably have 500+ listings with image issues.

 

 

 

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July 25 2018 Weekly Session "Ask Andrea Anything" at eBay Open

Hi Andrea, hello Tyler. Thank you for taking the time to hear our questions and concerns. I’m going to sing my favourite song: the one about Promotions Manager. How much longer will we have to wait on eBay Canada for this feature that USA sellers take for utterly granted? I’m absolutely loyal to eBay Canada; I don’t feel like I should be punished as a seller for that but the only way I’d have had access to creating special offers for my buyers is to leave eBay.ca for eBay.com. That’s not right. I’ve been waiting since 2012.

Thanks,
Maureen

p.s. What is ebay doing to get our special eBay discount for postage from Canada Post back?
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July 25 2018 Weekly Session "Ask Andrea Anything" at eBay Open

Double plus YES!! on the shipping discounts!

 

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July 25 2018 Weekly Session "Ask Andrea Anything" at eBay Open

amcdc79
Community Member

Oh Wow, a AAA morning where we get to ask the big kahona questions. Thank you Andrea for taking the time to do this.

 

Strange that the longer we are on ebay, the more questions we have, may I start out with,

 

Starter Store level- How is it working in the US, is it coming to Canada? It is great that ebay realizes there needs to be more than 3 or 4 store levels, one size, or even the amount now needs to be increased.

 

The cost of shipping within Canada is brutal, to the US about the same, the cost everywhere else with tracking is just plain gouging. Any thoughts regarding a GSP for Canadian sellers?

 

Then there is the big elephant in the room, China. Many fine sellers, but also scammers galore, cheap shipping to us, but expensive the other way. Land of piracy and counterfeit, they really don't worry about IP at all, so they flood the market. Many do not even bother to ship, just take the money and run. Of course this is not just an ebay.ca issue.

 

The big issue, is reporting the illegal goods for sale on ebay, yes the VERO system works for the big guys, but the rest of us see it take months for the counterfeit items we report to be taken down. Sadly the sellers just open another account, and they are back in business.

 

I was surprised to see on an ebay listing, an add for your competitor on the listing, my jaw just dropped, is ebay aware of this, or are they collecting fees for bringing the "river" the sale?

 

I do have many more questions, a lot of them are already discussed on the sellers board. The fine folks helping on those threads, generally answer most of them, I hope that they also let the higher-ups know what is going on.

 

Since ebay is an US company, their policies are generally geared towards that market, the Canadian market may have similarities, but as you know it is different. Good luck presenting the Canadian perspective, and thanks for all the fine work and help provided, by those who work in .ca.

 

 

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July 25 2018 Weekly Session "Ask Andrea Anything" at eBay Open

Is the possibility of a store with 500 listings being considered? Going from 250 to 1000 is a bit too much of a jump. Cost wise and for space. 500 is a level that would definitely work for me. Thanks.

 

-CM

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July 25 2018 Weekly Session "Ask Andrea Anything" at eBay Open

Hi, what with slower sales and constant changes we all need some motivation. Have you given any thought to doing some “meetups” on .ca similar to those seen on the .com board. I realize that members themselves do the arranging and get some help from eBay but they might work in larger areas. Would be great to meet some other ebayers to discuss strategies. I seem to recall many years ago eBay did have some Canadian get togethers.

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July 25 2018 Weekly Session "Ask Andrea Anything" at eBay Open

Also? This makes me very unhappy. And when might I/we expect a compensatory offer? https://www.ecommercebytes.com/C/blog/blog.pl?/pl/2018/7/1532458951.html
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