Ina Steiner EcommerceBytes Blog
News and insight focusing on ecommerce.
by Ina Steiner, Editor of EcommerceBytes.com
Thu Oct 31 2013 09:20:50

eBay Warnings Indicate It Can't Keep Track of Seller Compliance

By: Ina Steiner

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Many sellers are reporting that eBay sent emails on Wednesday telling them they are out of compliance with best listing practices, but many sellers said the information contained in eBay's warning emails was incorrect.

Today's EcommerceBytes Newsflash covers one instance of this: eBay warned sellers to add "condition description" and other item specific fields to certain of their listings, but many said the item was already filled into the fields.

Later I began receiving reports that other sellers received emails from eBay yesterday telling them their items were in the wrong category, but again, they say information contained in eBay's email was incorrect.



Here are some examples of the problems sellers who received email warnings from eBay are reporting (these are from four different sellers who emailed me overnight):

"When I checked to find out which 2 listings didn't have item condition description, eBay told me there was only one and gave me a title. The only problem is that I don't have a listing with that title!"

"Did some one have another "Thinking Day" at eBAy? Just now I received a notice that ITEMS I have listed are NOT in the correct categories and I need to EDIT them to fit. I went to take a look-see and discovered the following: For a pair of Helly Hansen YOGA or WORKOUT PANTS the category I have them in is: Clothing shoes and accessories>Women's clothing>Athletic apparel" (and the seller provided additional examples in which her listings are in the correct category). "I dunno," she continued, "what ARE they thinking??? How much closer to the category 's can you GET?? I didn't even bother to go look at the other absurd things I am alleged to be doing "wrong" such as - Item Condition - something I am very careful about."

"It is time consuming to go thru their nonsense. For instance they indicate that an antique item doesn't have a UPC etc."

"Here is another variation - I thought it was spam. One of my photos was 469 pixels at the longest edge, which I corrected. However, my category accurate."

One reader wrote, "If I don't accept eBay's "recommendations" will they hide my listing?" And that's the crux of the issue. If eBay can't properly identify non-compliant listings, are they burying sellers' listings in search results?

The issue is no small matter to sellers even if you don't count the worry and time wasted this causes sellers, which is considerable. Being buried in search results leads to low sales - something sellers have been reporting lately.

With eBay now purging sellers, the issue calls into question whether eBay is correctly identifying sellers that don't meet its performance standards. If you believe you were "indefinitely suspended" from eBay recently without just cause, let me know.

And if you find yesterday's email from eBay to be helpful, please weigh in!

Comments (67) | Leave Comment | Permalink
Readers Comments

Perminate Link for eBay Warnings Indicate It Can't Keep Track of Seller Compliance   eBay Warnings Indicate It Can't Keep Track of Seller Compliance

by: conspiracyfact This user has validated their user name.

Mon Nov 4 09:26:16 2013

Ebay is now mostly an economic warfare operation against the middle class and poor waged by a fascist merger of government and corporations. All small sellers are now given a dwindling piddly "allowance" by big brother bay (north korebay). And if half of your allowance gets lost to refunds or fraud, which might be secretly caused by ebay since there is no transparency or accountability, that still counts toward your total "seller limit" and you won't be getting any more allowance until next month if you're lucky. Oh by the way, chargebacks are impossible with bitcoin.

All of these "required slash recommended" "item specifics" and freakin' extra redundant description boxes are a scapegoat and fog of war, making you edit 500 listings to desperately see if that works. Now they can deceptively say you're not getting sales because you are not in "compliance" with filling those web 2.0 fail forms out properly. But the real reason you're not getting sales is because you've topped out at your seller limit allowance from your loving parents at north korebay. I mean... a business that is allegedly in the business of sales.. limiting how much you sell.. that's why its not a real business; it has been politically hijacked.

Max Keiser is saying bitcoins will go to 10,000; a single bitcoin is worth 228 dollars right now to show how worthless fiat paper is becoming. We can make money simply converting to bitcoin and merely holding onto it without even needing to sell stuff! Here's another way to make money: have an articulate intelligent charismatic person start a youtube channel/ website/ magazine/ make documentaries/etc and make money in the information war by taking donations and selling products while exposing ebay. It can be extremely lucrative, ask alex jones.

Feedback has also become a tool to ban sellers rather than an informationally useful reputation system. In a free market, no hierarchical authoritarian tyranny could be the judge jury and executioner. Instead, individual players in the market would choose who to buy from or not based on feedback. Nobody would be permanently banned because of it, rather fewer individual buyers would voluntarily choose to buy from someone with low feedback; natural market forces, rather than fear and execution. I mean.. permanently banning.. from something as vital as a major vein of the economy; its almost equivalent to the power of preventing someone from breathing air. No rehabilitation, no mercy, zero tolerance.

Perminate Link for eBay Warnings Indicate It Can't Keep Track of Seller Compliance   eBay Warnings Indicate It Can't Keep Track of Seller Compliance

This user has validated their user name. by: Ric

Mon Nov 4 09:53:27 2013

Here is a useful suggestion eBay will likely ignore....

Given that OEM equipment and parts are generally not available for retail, and as such do not have UPC codes, why doesn't eBay provide sellers with a field or check box where by items can be designated as OEM.

By offering an OEM field, eBay would be saving sellers hours of listing reviews as their scanning software would be able to skip the listing when the field is checked.

This would be a simple fix, would benefit both eBay and sellers, and thus makes it highly unlikely the suggestion will be implemented.

eBay is not interested in helping sellers unless it is helping them fail or end become restricted - eBay has seen to it that sellers get lots of help achieving that goal...sales... not so much.

Perminate Link for eBay Warnings Indicate It Can't Keep Track of Seller Compliance   eBay Warnings Indicate It Can't Keep Track of Seller Compliance

by: FREDDY This user has validated their user name.

Mon Nov 4 10:58:54 2013

I think that after the 1st of the year, jd and boys will basically get rid of all small sellers. Starting with anyone competing with his ''glorious'' diamond sellers. Then, basically all part time small sellers and work his way up.
jd would prefer to just have you move on and not be forced out. Just in case it makes the news (which I doubt - he has paid for that service). This is the reason for all the STUPID demands he is now using. You will get kicked off for not following or you will leave due to no sales.
All by his design. After that, the ebay, paypal etc will all be broken up and sold separately.
It appears that he is selling his quarterly bonus stock options right away. So I guess he doesn't believe there is any growth - (which there is not) in his new 3 year turnaround plan.  

Perminate Link for eBay Warnings Indicate It Can't Keep Track of Seller Compliance   eBay Warnings Indicate It Can't Keep Track of Seller Compliance

by: Bloggo This user has validated their user name.

Mon Nov 4 14:38:14 2013

''Even though people think I’m an expert at technological innovation...''

What? Who on Earth would think that? If you had any doubts, that statement alone proves that JD is truly delusional.

Perminate Link for eBay Warnings Indicate It Can't Keep Track of Seller Compliance   eBay Warnings Indicate It Can't Keep Track of Seller Compliance

by: tawhite This user has validated their user name.

Mon Nov 4 15:22:06 2013

I get these silly notices at the top of my selling screen in red ink. The first time, I changed to ebay recommendations for Item Category with the bulk loader without stopping to doublecheck. My mistake. None sold. Why? Well one big reason is that the eBay recommended Categories were all wrong. So now I ignore ebay's ''suggestions.''

Now on another note, I have an open case on an item with Parcel Post (Standard) shipping. I dropped off the package at the post office four days earlier with a weekend in between.

When I looked up the order, eBay had marked the Delivery time as within 3 days! That is the Priority Mail time frame, not Standard mail, which takes up to 8 days.

But because eBay put the wrong Delivery period in, I now have an Open Case and a customer believing I'm screwing with him on the shipment.

BTW, the 8-day period doesn't end for another 3 days!

eBay is beyond ridiculous.  

Perminate Link for eBay Warnings Indicate It Can't Keep Track of Seller Compliance   eBay Warnings Indicate It Can't Keep Track of Seller Compliance

This user has validated their user name. by: Tula

Wed Nov 6 17:48:35 2013

I got one of these notices about the wrong category, so I changed to the one they indicated. The item could actually fit in both the one I had listed and the one eBay suggested. A few days later, I got another notice on the same item, telling me to change the category to the one I used in the first place. Lame.

Perminate Link for eBay Warnings Indicate It Can't Keep Track of Seller Compliance   eBay Warnings Indicate It Can't Keep Track of Seller Compliance

by: Bloggo This user has validated their user name.

Fri Nov 8 17:09:03 2013

I just got a wrong category notice. They suggest that I put a Concert Tour Poster under ''Video Games & Consoles > Video Games''
Imagine how much fun your kid will have with a piece of paper, after you tell him it's really a video game.

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