Sellers turned up on Wednesday to attend eBay’s weekly chat session, and moderators fielded their questions and comments. Likely due to the fact it was 3 days before Christmas, attendance was slightly lighter than usual. Here are some of the issues raised during the session.
1) A seller offered eBay feedback on Store search. @somanypostcards wrote: “Currently when someone goes to a store there is a store Search option that says “Search all nnn items” (i.e. in the store.) Is it possible to keep this in store search on the search result pages? At present if someone does a store search, the results of the search are show and there is also only a search field for all of eBay; the in store search field has disappeared. The only way they can do another in store search is to hit the back tab. Many buyers might not know this, so a second search takes them out of the store.”
An eBay moderator responded, “I was able to replicate this and I’ll pass your feedback on. Thank you!”
2) Another seller reported that the “search by image” feature had been temporarily removed from eBay’s mobile app. An eBay moderator replied: “We don’t have any additional information to provide outside of being informed that the image search functionality has been temporarily turned off for both the iOS and Android apps.”
3) A seller who had raised concerns about the effort it took to generate sales and fee data from Managed Payments transactions during last week’s chat session returned to explain why he felt the response from the eBay moderator did not solve the issues. There was no response from the moderators.
4) And a seller concerned about having no way to report account takeovers was told by an eBay moderator: “If you are in a transaction with a buyer you believe to come from a compromised account please report the buyer via this Help Page.
“If you are trying to report an account you are not in a transaction with there is not a way to do so that I’m aware of.”
While sellers don’t always get the response they may have been hoping for, the weekly chat session is one of the few ways sellers can ask questions and communicate their concerns in real time. The chats take place each Wednesday at 4 pm Eastern, and you can find a link on this page of the eBay discussion boards (the week’s link appears on the afternoon of the day the chat is scheduled).
Ebay left me a lump of coal in Christmas stockings by approving a refund to a customer for a item not received even though tracking showed it was delivered. Needless to say I was flabbergasted by this and promptly filed an appeal which is not an easy thing to do. I do give them credit for reversing the decision within 24 hours but I do not understand why they even approved it to begin with.
The customer seeing that the impossible has happened filed two more claims on the same order. I wonder how it will work out.
After a few months of monitoring the weekly chat, I have a couple of observations:
1. Problems of a technical nature seem to go over the heads of the moderators.
2. Do moderators have enough experience using eBay to create listings, fulfill orders, or capture accounting data and import it into an accounting package?
3. The timing and format of the chat does not give posters enough time to post, react, or even attend. If the chat could open a few hours before eBay staff started posted responses, would moderators be able to effectively respond with thoughtful replies instead of reflexively repeated paragraphs from web documentation? How convenient is it to post in a forum that is open for only one hour each week?
When I search for an item by size, why are 90% of the search results in a size other than what I searched for? Sometimes by a lot.
I bought Philips Sonicare toothbrush heads from an eBay seller a few months back. I received the product and quickly noticed that they were counterfeit. NO brand name on the product. I gave the seller a Negative, one of the 1st in over 22 years on the dismal CF of a website. The seller sent me an email within the eBay system and stated he would reverse the charge if I would remove the negative feedback? eBay is aiding and abetting counterfeit products. Where is the FTC? Horrible eBay!