This is a very long article, the subject is important and it involves my client, my business and eBay.
The crux of the situation is communications at eBay, how eBay strives to inspire the customers of eBay, (the sellers) to provide excellent customer service and communications. And why it is difficult for the customer (sellers) of eBay to take this request seriously when eBay itself can not seem to provide even basic communications to its customers.
As many of you know I run an eBay and blog/website design and consulting company – iBusinessLogic.com… In the course of events we work with many clients on eBay related issues, our clients look to us for answers, especially in the current state of ever present flux for eBay sellers.
Yesterday one of our clients, Cornerstone Commercial Supply, called to ask me why they could not list anything on eBay?
The rest of this story will be detailing my efforts to find an answer as to why they had been blocked from listing…
To tell the truth we still do not know, so first let me give you some background.
Well, Ebay is trying to change their business model and be more like Amazon….Amazon will send you a reminder to please give your seller feedback. I know, because I buy on there all the time. Perhaps your customer should open an Amazon store?
Perhaps…
Except Amazon does not accept the type of products this business offers, to my knowledge.
We could open an Amazon Webstores account for the seller and stock his webstore with his own products and then import similar Amazon products for upsales… Unfortunately the investment has been made in eBay and we need to get this situation worked out before moving forward with any new initiatives.
Thanks for your comment Patricia! Keep sending them!
Scott
It is called the worms eye view. This is what small non PowerSellers deal with on a daily basis. Live helpless.
I will bet you that the reply you receive to your email has nothing to do with the question you asked. The second reply will be totally different and will also have no bearing on your question. I have had four successive replies, over the space of a week and a half, all different, none addressing the problem.
Being who you are you may get special treatment. We don’t.
From personal experience, keep the email down to five words or less.
I spent an hour and a half on the phone with PayPal help today querying an unauthorised charge on my PayPal Debit Card. Have not used it since February. No of course I don’t know who charged and what it was for, total mystery.
I feel your pain and the this is not only an issue for a seller with a need, it has issues with a buyer too. The need of eBay to upgrade their customer service is the “Gorilla in the Room” It only takes 1 call and you will see they are friendly gnomes. The will not harm, nor help you they are just doing a job to their best ability. That is the scary part, I know they do not have a clue either, LOL.
My goodness – what an extremely exhausting ordeal!
Just glad it’s not me having to go through that, however
I’ve had my share of that in the past as well – but luckily it’s
been a while now.
The reps indeed are all very friendly and helpful, as to their
abilities and limitations on providing information on what they can or can not disclose. That in part is where the problem lies, they need reps from all areas and departments on the job to help customers. For an organization such as eBay it should not be so, that for example Trust and Safety is a 9-5 job and then good night.
Specifically that department should be staffed with online help 24/7.
In a way I feel sorry for all other reps who are surely trying to give their very best, but I’m fairly certain that they in part are either burnt out and / or simply overwhelmed. That’s where the mistakes come in, such as not being able to provide the correct link, as it was in this case. I’m sure it not only frustrates the customer, but in the end also the rep.
On another note, it makes me wonder if these reps are still within the USA, or meanwhile outsourced to other countries!? –
Of course I am now very curious to know, as to how this riddle will be solved. What great mysteries may Trust and Safety have in store for CornerStonesupply? And how many moons will come to pass, before the answer is revealed?
Robert
UPDATE:
As of this morning – Approximately 40 hours post email to Trust and Safety – NO REPLY has been generated from eBay of any kind.
My Client just reminded me of the considerable investment he has made in “His eBay” and he is patient but would like answers.
In Richard Carpenters words… “If we did something wrong, we did not know what it was at the time and we will fix it when we know”. “Why won’t they tell us”?
This is an exceedingly difficult situation to explain to a client, or to anyone. There is absolutely no process available to find an answer which will lead to a solution.
How would you fill out this survey? And, does anyone at eBay ever read the responses?
Thank you for chatting. Please provide us with your feedback so we may serve you better. It will only take a moment of your time.
1: For these first few questions, please rate your overall experience. Later, you will be asked questions about the specific eBay representative who assisted you.
Overall, how would you rate this experience with eBay Customer Support?
Very dissatisfied
2: What was the main reason that you contacted eBay Customer Support?
Selling
Reporting a problem/error with the site
3: Was your original question to eBay Customer Support resolved?
No
4: If not, please select the reason why.
I didn’t feel the agent understood my question or concern
I was referred back to Help pages
I was referred back to Customer Support
My issue requires more info/contact with Customer Support
Rep didn’t answer all of my questions
Referred to Safe Harbor or Billing chat
Technical issue
5: How satisfied were you with the wait time before the eBay representative joined the chat?
Satisfied
6: Did the chat session encourage you to buy and/or sell on eBay?
Our chat had no effect on my buying/selling habits
7: How many times have you contacted eBay customer support regarding this issue?
1
8: If there was one thing we could do to improve our “Live Chat” process, what would it be?
Other
9: Please, elaborate on your choice above.
Allow the representative to answer questions and provide useful information.
10: For this next set of questions, please rate the specific eBay representative who assisted you.
Overall, how satisfied were you with this specific eBay representative’s service?
Neither Satisfied nor Dissatisfied
11: How satisfied were you with the wait time between interactions with the chat rep?
Dissatisfied
12: How would you rate the following aspects of your chat with this eBay Customer Service Representative?
The representative understood my question.
Yes
13: The representative’s tone was friendly and professional.
Definitely Yes
Yes
14: The representative’s explanations and instructions were easy to understand.
No
Definitely Not
15: The responses felt personalized rather than canned or scripted.
Neutral
16: The representative addressed all of my concerns.
No
Definitely Not
17: The representative was knowledgeable about the subject.
No
Definitely Not
18: If there is one thing that the representative could have done to improve your experience, what would it be?
Answer my main question completely
Address all of my questions
Other
19: Please elaborate on your choice above.
Trust & Safety issues with restrictions on accounts need immediate attention, not 24 hour delays and referral to another department. Also, representative gave a bad link three time to contact Trust & Safety, what help is that?
Scott,
This is just the situation that I discussed at the “blogger” meeting at eBay Live. I told Brian Burke and the Trust & Safety rep (forgot who it was) “when action is taken against an account, there MUST be a way to communicate with eBay immediately. When eBay suspends or restricts someones account in many cases they are messing with someones livelyhood. The real fear is the “Black Hole of Trust & Safety”. eBay must enable this to be resolved immediately not in the next 24-72 hours.” Brian and the T&S rep acknowledged this and wrote it down on their notepads.
Obviously, this is a problem that is confronting a significant number of users and one that eBay must act on and quickly!
The problem with eBay fixing their communication problems is that eBay will probably try to do it themselves. And as past performance proves, they usually make things worse.
As we have seen in their attempt to improve seller-to-buyer communications, they have made more of a mess than they have fixed.
My suggestion is that they hire an outside consulting firm that will analyze it properly and do it right. I also hope they will put the money and manpower behind it to impliment it properly. But that might be asking too much.
I am going to make a bet that this is the reason for the violation…http://tinyurl.com/3t4z6x
This video has a http://www.url.link that is a violation of the links policy. If nothing else, it is a good candidate for the TnS shutdown
john