Sellers should not rely on eBay’s mobile app when checking their seller performance metrics. eBay manager Brian Burke told listeners of the eBay for Business podcast that there is a difference between the metrics value shown on the mobile app and on the desktop.
eBay Service Metrics Discrepancy
According to eBay’s help page, “Service metrics provide you with data on the percentage of your transactions that result in ‘item not as described’ return requests and ‘item not received’ requests from buyers.”
A seller had submitted a question for the eBay for Business podcast hosts Brian Burke and Jim “Griff” Griffith. The podcast transcript shows the seller asked the following question:
“I noticed the 90-day total on the mobile app was no longer the same as last 90 days on my desktop. In the Performance tab summary, there is a discrepancy of over 10%. How does eBay calculate these numbers and why is there such a difference? Naturally the 90-day total is an important metric for resellers and I’d simply like to know which one makes the most sense for me to use with my own business tracking.”
Burke responded, “We asked the team responsible and they confirmed that yes there is a difference between the 90-day total value shown on mobile and on desktop. They’re working to consolidate the data sources for the value so that they accurately reflect the same value on both devices. There’s no time yet or estimated time for when this’ll be changed. Stay tuned.”
Griffith added that it was a top priority and the team knew the discrepancy was “cringe making.” He said from what he could deduce from the communications with the product team members, there was a time delay caused by using different data servers.
Burke said the team would resolve the issue with the different 90-day totals eventually – “until then, we suggest relying on the 90-day total shown on your desktop view of eBay.”
USPS SCAN Forms Proof of Acceptance, with a Catch
During the same eBay for Business podcast episode, another seller submitted a question about USPS SCAN Forms, which shippers can use to get one master barcode representing all packages in a shipment. The USPS scans the master barcode, which enters all of the associated packages into the Postal Service USPS Tracking® database as “Shipment Accepted” and allows both the sender and the recipient to see when the package entered the mailstream.
Sellers are judged by how fast they ship, so the initial acceptance scan is extremely important – and of course customers look for scans as the package makes its journey to them, so all scans are important until the item is delivered.
The seller started off by calling Griffith’s tip several months ago where he explained that sellers could print labels throughout the day but still use one end-of-day scan sheet a “game changer.” But he then asked for reassurance about the validity of SCAN Form scans as an acceptance scan for each package.
“I heard from a postal authority and that is a SCAN sheet does not appear to be an acceptance sheet because if we have 15 packages on our SCAN sheet and we’ve got 15 boxes and we hand them over and they scan the SCAN sheet, then we still don’t have real evidence that we actually shipped 15 boxes to exactly who we were supposed to ship them to. The postal clerk rightfully so, just assumes they’re all included in the SCAN sheet. And since it’s not an acceptance scan, my big concern is our package might be late just because lateness happens in the post office, UPS, everywhere.”
Griffith said eBay does consider USPS SCAN Form scans to be acceptance scans: “if the clerk scans that scan sheet, the information does go to eBay and it is considered an acceptance scan for all those packages,” he said.
However, he added the following caveat: “There is a difference between individually scanned packages and a SCAN sheet when it comes to an insurance claim. So that initial scan with a SCAN sheet USPS does not use that initial scan from a SCAN sheet as a proof of acceptance for a liability claim that you may file for, “hey, the item got lost” if there is no other scan. So if the parcel is then scanned at a later time at a different location, than it is eligible for insurance. But that’s the only difference.”
The USPS help page, “Filing Indemnity Claims for Loss or Damage,” also indicates a second scan is necessary after a SCAN Form acceptance scan when filing a claim.
You can listen to the full podcast on eBay.com, which aired on February14, 2023, and let us know what you think of these issues.
