Home › Forums › Buying and Selling › Selling on eBay › ebay Spring Seller Update is this Wed Feb 26, Town Hall Feb 25
Tagged: ebay seller update Feb 2020, ebay update
- This topic has 48 replies, 12 voices, and was last updated 1 year, 6 months ago by
MyCottage.
-
AuthorPosts
-
-
02/24/2020 at 2:52 pm #74339
02-24-2020 10:50:45 AM
Our next Seller Update is on its way and we’re giving you a heads-up to help you plan your week ahead. The 2020 Spring Seller Update will be announced on Wednesday, February 26, so please plan to set aside some time to read all the details.eBay experts will also be on hand to answer your questions on The eBay Community. They will also discuss the 2020 Spring Seller Update on the eBay for Business podcast the week following the Seller Update.
Don’t forget our first ever Seller Town Hall is happening tomorrow at 11am PT. Join us for the live, virtual event where eBay executives, Jordan, Marni and Harry will discuss 2020 plans and answers top questions from sellers. A not to miss event.
-
This topic was modified 1 year, 6 months ago by
MyCottage.
-
This topic was modified 1 year, 6 months ago by
-
02/24/2020 at 3:11 pm #74343
Do you have predictions of any big changes?
-
02/24/2020 at 3:46 pm #74346
Jay, Not really. Maybe they’ll throw out some hints at tomorrow’s town hall, but ebay is in such a state of flux these days, I really have no idea. I’m just hoping whatever it is, it is either positive or at least neutral for our business.
-
02/24/2020 at 3:55 pm #74347
True. I haven’t heard rumors of anything big.
-
-
02/24/2020 at 4:04 pm #74349
Here are some of the questions they’re going to answer tomorrow:
-
02/24/2020 at 4:08 pm #74351
Wow, I haven’t been keeping up with Managed Payments since we dont use it yet. Are they charging 25-cents for each transaction?
_____________
Managed Payment Per Item Listing Fee
The $.25 per item listing fee in Managed Payments is an egregious fee increase that will eliminate many high volume, low cost sellers. For instance if I sell 40 postcards to a single buyer in a combined sale my per item listing fee would be $10. Currently I pay a $.05 transaction listing fee using PayPal’s Micropayment account. Can eBay offer a reasonable fee in Managed Payments so that high volume, low cost sellers can remain on this site and make a profit?
-
-
02/24/2020 at 4:18 pm #74352
I’m not sure if they are doing that or had simply said they will be doing it. But an ebay exec has also indicated he isn’t happy about it, so that may go away. I sure hope so.
-
02/24/2020 at 4:20 pm #74353
And to be clear, they will answer SOME of those questions, with preference for those with the most votes. So I’m guessing a lot won’t be answered. Last time they did something like this, I think they answered maybe the top 10 or 11.
Also, if you can’t be present for the live Town Hall, it will be available as a replay later on.
-
02/24/2020 at 5:15 pm #74354
Will they provide a transcript? I would like to read their responses, but I don’t have time to sit for an hour or two and listen to them talk.
-
-
02/24/2020 at 5:18 pm #74355
I doubt there will be a transcript, but it’s possible (They do provide one for the weekly podcasts). I’m going to try to watch it live if we get home in time.
-
02/24/2020 at 8:16 pm #74357
I’ve been looking for a link to join that Seller Town Hall meeting, without success.
-
02/24/2020 at 8:23 pm #74358
-
02/24/2020 at 9:36 pm #74362
Thanks for the reminder. I hope they address your question first, MyCottage!
-
02/24/2020 at 9:41 pm #74363
Thanks Temudgin….I hope they address it at some point. But I admit, I’m not expecting them to provide a lot of detail if they do….unless it ties into changes coming on Wednesday. That would be nice….
-
02/25/2020 at 2:52 pm #74376
Just finished the Town Hall Meeting and I was impressed. It is quick summary showed to me at least that they are listening, are aware of many of the things we have read and talked about and that addressing those issues are in the works.
Not a lot of detail, but this format is not for that, just a precursor to what is to come. Even things that won’t be in tomorrow’s Update but are still on the drawing board for later on this year.
They touch on the Managed Payment $.25 fee. Also I like that they are willing to change some of the IS and also allow us to write in some of them and in turn as they learn they will add some that are pertinent and also admit their mistake of including some that were not pertinent.
A few good tid-bits in there, in my opinion.
Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art
-
02/25/2020 at 3:12 pm #74377
Well, to my surprise, they did address my question first. Most responses were relatively general, which is probably unavoidable, but my impression is that they really are trying to improve things, and that they recognize that the “used” market has been left to languish for too many years. I’d call myself cautiously optimistic at this point.
-
02/25/2020 at 3:15 pm #74378
Yep.. you were first. And true, it remains to be seen, but they did mention some topics of importance to all of us and they are working on them.
What I am expecting though is there going to be a big KA-BOOM, when they force eveyone over into Managed Payments. And if so, that may take all their resources thrown at that to fix as quickly as possible.
We can read more details tomorrow when the actual update rolls out. Oh Joy!
mike – mdcgfa
-
This reply was modified 1 year, 6 months ago by
MDC Galleries & Fine Art.
-
This reply was modified 1 year, 6 months ago by
-
-
02/25/2020 at 5:14 pm #74387
Mike, One thing to keep in mind….there is no one date when they will be onboarding everyone onto MPs. While they will be ramping up fairly quickly in July or August, when the restriction expires, it isn’t going to be everyone at once. Hopefully, that will limit the potential for disaster….
-
02/25/2020 at 5:32 pm #74391
That’s right. I forgot it was to be a “phased in” approach. Ok, we will see how the first round goes and hope I am not one of the first group! 🙂
They will probably start with the smaller sellers, just in case. Could you imagine the they started with the stores that had 10’s and 10’s of thousands of listings and it glitched! 🙁
mike at mdcgfa
-
-
02/26/2020 at 10:13 am #74413
Spring Seller Update..
I like what I have been reading and many changes seem to be aimed at helping or supporting sellers.
Some of the information covers things that have already happened in Oct. and Nov. 2019 and details on some newer things.
It is worth a read, in my opinion, and this time I came away feeling pretty good. The Q&A at the end of each section / topic gives some more perspective also.
I think it does some of the things that the Ebay was discussing yesterday at their first ever live town hall meeting. [links to this are above somewhere].
Also more details into what is still to come with regards to Item Specifics. That topic is still going to have more changes coming over the rest of this year.
mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art
-
02/26/2020 at 10:44 am #74416
I’ve only skimmed through it so far, but, yeah, I don’t see anything to be alarmed about, and that in itself is a plus. LOL. On balance, it looks pretty good to me.
-
02/26/2020 at 10:45 am #74417
Of course, the category changes and item specifics will probably be a PITA, but it will be a not unexpected PITA.
-
02/26/2020 at 10:48 am #74418
eBay hasn’t emailed/messaged me the link to it yet. Had to do some searching for it: https://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/seller-updates/2020-spring/index.html
-
02/26/2020 at 10:56 am #74419
-
-
02/26/2020 at 11:04 am #74421
I was really hoping they would up all the listing amounts allocated to each store level in order to better compete with Amazon’s unlimited listings for $39.99 a month. Oh well. I could really use 15,000-20,000 “free” listings in my anchor store at this point!
-
02/26/2020 at 12:16 pm #74424
Starting April 1, 2020, we will no longer close returns early at the request of a seller when the buyer has not shipped the item back.
I wonder if this means that all returns have to stay open for 30 days.
-
02/26/2020 at 1:21 pm #74427
It’s not great, but I always thought it was weird that you could have a 30-day return window, but get it closed quicker.
-
02/26/2020 at 1:28 pm #74428
That’s all fine and dandy, but what about when a seller waits until day 29 or 30 to open the return?
-
02/27/2020 at 8:29 am #74479
I’m confused. If you have 30-day returns, then a buyer can open a return on the 30th day.
It’s not great, but its how its always been. You can limit your return window if that;s too long. Am I missing something?
-
02/28/2020 at 7:24 am #74527
Yes, my question is what is the time limit if the buyer initiates on that last day? Can I call in after 5 days? Is it 10 days to auto close? Do they get another 30 days?
-
-
02/27/2020 at 8:47 am #74482
RTWV… Yep, like Jay says, this is how it has been for a long time. If a buyer has 30 days to ask for a return, that means 30 FULL Days, so up until 11:59:59 PM in there time zone [a full 30 days] they can ask for a return.
Then if a seller is on the automatic system, a label is auto. generated immediately and Ebay sends it with a message they have 5 days and gives a date to re-pack and ship. If after that period of time the item is not showing a return tracking number a seller can ask Ebay to close the case. But that early closing only applies to the time frame Ebay gave them to return the package after they requested a return and it was approved and a label generated.
The 30 day time frame that a Buyer is entitled too, is what it is. 30 full 24 hour days down to the minute before the 30 days expires.
Now we have heard here on SL about Return Requests coming in AFTER the time frame is up and that’s a different situation. If a seller has 30 day return and someone messages them after 45, 60, 70, 90 days, I think a “NO” to the return is in order.
mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art
-
This reply was modified 1 year, 6 months ago by
MDC Galleries & Fine Art.
-
02/27/2020 at 9:00 am #74486
Yep, a 30 day return policy is 30 days to initiate the return request, not 30 days in which to actually return it to the seller’s address. If you have a 30 day return policy, ebay will not auto approve after the 30th day. Buyers can still request a remorse return after the 30 days, there is no prohibition on that, but you can safely decline the request. I had that happen only once, and there were extenuating circumstances, so I refunded (and told him to keep the item, which had cost me all of 50 cents)
-
This reply was modified 1 year, 6 months ago by
-
-
-
-
02/26/2020 at 12:27 pm #74426
“New Terapeak features coming in early spring
Unsold listing indexing and sell-through rate
Aggregate metrics for active listings
Listing report for active listings”Terapeak is going to give us the sell-through rate. You will no longer have to compare solds to unsolds to decide if something is desirable. HOLY COW!!
-
02/26/2020 at 2:00 pm #74432
Does anybody know what the middle of this sentence means?
In addition, we may decide a case in a buyer’s favor without requiring the buyer to contact eBay if tracking that proves shipment of the item was not provided by the seller within 3 business days after an “Item not received” case was opened.
What does it mean for a seller to provide shipment?
From this page:
https://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/seller-updates/2020-spring/service.html-
02/26/2020 at 2:04 pm #74433
never mind, I read it wrong. I should have grouped “tracking that proves shipment” as the thing that needs to be provided in 3 days rather than “tracking” being the thing that proves “shipment was was not provided”.
-
-
-
02/27/2020 at 9:37 am #74488
So I’m confused. If the buyer opens a return on the 30th day, how long do they have to actually return it?
-
02/27/2020 at 10:16 am #74489
Atomic Star,
Under the current rules, they have 5 business days in which to print the return label and upload tracking (done automatically with ebay return labels) Then they have however much time it takes for the item to be delivered to the seller, and then the seller has 6 business days in which to refund.
This is changing on April Fool’s Day (Yes, ebay has a real knack for writing their own punch lines).
Per the ebay Discussion Board:
“Starting April 1, 2020, we will no longer close returns early at the request of a seller when the buyer has not shipped the item back. Instead, we will wait to ensure buyers have sufficient time to provide proof items they requested to return were shipped back. If we do not receive proof of shipment from your buyers while the return requests are active, we will protect you by removing any negative or neutral feedback left on that transaction.”
Could you please define “sufficient time”.
When buyers are sent an eBay-generated return label, the return is closed if the label is not printed within 10 business days. If the buyer prints the label, we allow the return to remain open an additional 5 business days to ensure shipping scans are captured. When buyers are not sent an eBay-generated return label, we wait up to 35 business days before closing the return.
So, I’d say what will be happening in April is: Instead of five business days in which to print the return label, the buyer will actually have ten business days. If ebay can see that the label has been printed within that time frame, the buyer will be given another five business days to make sure there’s a shipping scan. I assume if there is no scan, ebay will close in favor of seller.
Keep in mind that most buyers would prefer to get a refund sooner rather than later, so usually there is no incentive for them to wait any longer than necessary. But yes, this gives the buyer a good bit of time. In my experience, and I believe this is pretty true for most returns, returns are usually initiated within a few days of receipt of the item. As a practical matter, I don’t think this change is going to have much impact on me.
-
02/27/2020 at 10:59 am #74494
I agree my Cottage. This is a very minor tid-bit. The only change from the past is that the Buyer will get more days to return and a few extra days to provide tracking as proof of the return. Everything else about the same.
really this point of the Update is of no real concern to use as it applied to our business model and SOP’s. Same old, same old.
Much more interesting talking points in the update of interest to us. But no real concerns.
We are more focused on the Main Category and sub-category changes and the associated Item Specifics changes and how much work will we be involved in to get all those added changes implemented.
Mike at MDCGFA
-
02/27/2020 at 12:20 pm #74501
Mike, Yeah, this is simply no big deal for my business. There’s really nothing in this Update that really concerns me (unless I’m missing something). The categories and item specifics will mean extra work, but changes to categories and IS were expected, and if they can eventually get some of that mess cleaned up, we’ll all benefit.
-
-
-
02/27/2020 at 10:55 am #74492
Here’s a bit more, from an ebay rep (this is the April change): If the buyer doesn’t print the label, we’ll close the request 10 business after the return was opened. So the buyer won’t have the option to print the label on day 30 as the return will have already closed.
If the buyer does print, we’ll wait 15 days from open to close the request if we don’t see a ship scan.
-
02/27/2020 at 11:13 am #74496
I suspect ebay was probably giving the buyers ten days even before this (despite the five day rule), but was closing the case after five days IF the seller contacted them to close it. ebay probably got push back from unhappy buyers and ebay was also probably tired of having CS reps tied up with the seller requests. So, come April , no more calling ebay to close the case…will save CS rep time, and fewer pissed off buyers. From a seller standpoint, if I understand this correctly, I won’t need to babysit the returns, waiting to jump in and call ebay on Day 6….if they don’t meet the ten business day deadline, ebay will automatically (I think) close the case in sellers favor.
-
02/27/2020 at 3:33 pm #74512
Ok, so if they wait until the 30th day to open the return and then wait until the 10th day to print the label, they have 5 more days to ship? 45 days to process a return? Am I the only one who thinks this is nuts?
-
02/27/2020 at 4:22 pm #74518
@Atomic Star: Not “As Nuts” as just a short time ago Ebay was pushing for 90 Returns and Free Shipping of which they backed off of, and we are thankful for the relaxing of that “Amazon Wanna Be push they were on.
I’ll take 30 any day over 90. But also think that some people may order something and then go on a 2 weeks vacation, or order something while on vacation and don’t get back from it until two weeks later. Or someone orders a unique one of kind item as a gift for a friend who has a special collection and just doesn’t want to miss out on getting it while it is on a great Sale, but doesn’t open it and proceeds to wrap it and then discovers two or three weeks later it is not what it was supposed or assumed to be. regardless of who is at fault, they want to return it.
We can live with 30 days easily, but 90 days falls more into the “nuts” category to us.
Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art
-
-
02/27/2020 at 4:10 pm #74514
Atomic Star, As long as we’ve had 30 day return policies, the buyers have had 30 days to initiate the return. (You can use 14 day returns for certain categories, but I think most sellers just use 30 days). Studies have shown that most returns are initiated within a few days of receipt….which is one reason some sellers have 60 day returns….studies have also shown that, the longer the buyer has to initiate the return, the more likely they are to calm down and just forget about returning it. But I digress.
So, this isn’t adding more time to initiate the return, just giving the buyer more time to print the label and get to the PO. Since most buyers will initiate the return within the first few days of the 30 day period, and most will print the label and ship fairly quickly, the number of times a seller is likely to get a return that takes 45 days is probably very tiny.
To me, this isn’t any big deal, because IN PRACTICE, most of my few returns will go as they always have.
-
This reply was modified 1 year, 6 months ago by
MyCottage.
-
This reply was modified 1 year, 6 months ago by
-
02/27/2020 at 4:28 pm #74519
By the way, I think the categories that are permitted to have 14 day returns instead of 30 are: Collectibles & Art, Cameras & Photo and Medical, Mobility & Disability Equipment. I believe they added jewelry to this list too, but I’m not sure. Since a lot of what I sell is in the Collectible category, I could go with 14 days, but I think buyers are more likely to buy when they feel confident about my return policy, and so I give 30 days. I’m also set to auto accept. Much easier than reviewing every return request.
-
02/28/2020 at 7:04 am #74526
As a clothing and shoe seller, I look at this differently. It gives my buyer 6 weeks to rent my clothing. I think a collectibles customer knows if they want to keep something the moment they see it, but clothing is different. The customer can take it on a cruise, wear it to a wedding, or whatever and then return it 6 weeks later.
-
02/28/2020 at 9:02 am #74529
Atomic Star,
As I said, the 30 day rule isn’t changing. Since you sell clothing, I assume you’ve had some returns. How many have actually waited 30 days to request a return?
-
02/28/2020 at 9:43 am #74531
My Cottage more than I’d like. One of them currently pending is a $150 skirt that went to China. I have very little hope of seeing that back within the next four weeks or more depending on the coronavirus. Besides that, I’d say maybe four or five times a month people wait until the last moment to facilitate a return. I sell a lot of clothing.
-
02/28/2020 at 9:48 am #74532
Well, my guess is, that really isn’t going to change. They have 30 days now to initiate, and they’ll have 30 days when this goes into effect. Yes, they have some extra time to now to print the label and ship, but that’s the only difference.
-
-
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.