The eBay UK Bulletin: Issue 234

The eBay UK Bulletin: Issue 234, 1st December 2011

Topics in this issue:

1. eBay news – Contact

2. Dispatch vs. delivery

3. PayPal spoof

4. Reader’s rant – Shill bidding

5. Ask Molly – How can I spend my Dollars?

Hello and welcome to this week's edition of ‘The eBay UK Bulletin’.

Sales are still full steam ahead and last week included my best ever day's turnover. I have stopped adding more inventory and will probably run with my current active listings which are around 550, down from 650. A short sale in time for Christmas delivery should see all my targets hit and then time to put the old feet up for another year.

In the bulletin this week is a stark warning about your monthly eBay invoice.

Also a reader’s rant of epic proportions – kettle on first!

[For details of this newsletter, please scroll down to the end.]


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1. EBAY NEWS – CONTACT

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Over the past five or so years the subject of contacting eBay has cropped up in this bulletin more than a few times and not always in a favourable light. Well, I must mention it again and this time from my personal experience.

It all started with a monthly invoice for one of my minor accounts of £360. I only have 400 listings active and sales for the month amounted to less than £1,000 so 400 x 10p plus 10% of £1,000 should be in the region of £140. Alarm bells started to ring.

Upon investigation of the current invoice (my eBay – account tab – right hand side/select invoice) I found four charges for ‘Featured First Fee - Special Duration’ each one costing £44.95. Regular readers will know that I am far too mean to buy any add-on features, especially for items selling at £4.99.

This listing upgrade can be selected on the final page when revising an item by ticking a box. Never do this, it just isn’t worth the money. I may from time to time forget the date, lose my way commuting to the shed and send the wrong hand cream, but I never ever get my numbers wrong.

Time to contact eBay and it worked like a dream, following the ‘contact us’ tab I was given an 0800 number with a PIN. The phone was answered within minutes even though this was a Sunday and the customer services lady looked into the problem, agreed that it was totally out of character [Ed- even the US knows how mean you are!] and initiated a credit to the account.

I was impressed so praise where praise is due (tick, V.G.)

Lessons to be learnt from this adventure:

1) Anticipate how much your monthly bill should be

2) Check your online invoice each month looking for obvious problems.

3) Contact Molly for a lend of the eBay 0800 number.


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2. DISPATCH VS. DELIVERY

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“Hi Molly,

I wanted to comment on something that was raised in the last bulletin.

I would entirely agree that eBay should do something about the dispatch/delivery issue. I always dispatch items either on the day they are purchased or at the very latest the next working day.

Although it is lovely to receive positive feedback, it often relates to my fast delivery of items. However, I don't actually deliver them - I dispatch them! If items are delayed (or even worse, lost) by the Royal Mail it is entirely outside my control.

I have raised this with eBay but it does not appear to be a priority for them. I would really welcome a change in the feedback for dispatch. Buyers might want to give a positive for dispatch time but a negative for delivery but have only the one place to give this. Maybe if eBay also included an extra section for delivery then buyers would realise there is actually a difference between the two.


‘londoner1525’ - http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Crafting-Angels


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3. PAYPAL SPOOF

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Here’s a quick PayPal spoof currently doing the rounds. If you spot something like this, just forward it on to me and then delete.

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12 Nov 2011 01:31:21 AEDT
Transaction ID: 3E687391972R3624O



You sent a payment of $137 AUD to eBay International AG (AU-ebay-eom-fees@ebay.com )

It may take a few moments for this transaction to appear in the Recent Activity list in your Account Overview.



Merchant Instructions to merchant
eBay International AG You haven't entered any instructions
AU-ebay-eom-fees@ebay.com
+61 61282880000



Description Unit price Qty Amount

$137 AUD 1 $137 AUD



Subtotal $137 AUD

Total $137 AUD



Payment sent to AU-ebay-xxxeom-fees@ebay.com

Invoice ID: 641552839



Issues with this transaction?
If you belive this is an error please follow the link below and complete the instructions.
On the confirmation page, press the 'Cancel Payment' button to confirm. Your payment will be cancelled and the funds returned to your PayPal account.

https://www.paypal.com/xxxxxxxxxxx/helpweb?cmd=_help.

Please do not reply to this email. This mailbox is not monitored and you will not receive a response. For assistance, log in to your PayPal account and click Help in the top right corner of any PayPal page.

To receive email notifications in plain text instead of HTML, log in to your PayPal account, go to your Profile, and click Notifications.

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There are a couple of things to note with this spoof, firstly there is not a description of the item and secondly the word believe is spelt wrong – as usual.

If you spot a spoof, please send it in – Mollybol@ebaybulletin.co.uk


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4. READERS RANT – SHILL BIDDING

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“Dear Molly,

The reason for my missive this time is twofold. On the one hand I was NOT amused to wake up Friday morning and find that eBay had decided I was guilty of shill bidding, had restricted my account, marked my seller dashboard with Very Low policy compliance and insisted I take a tutorial before logging into my account again.

On the other hand, however, after much gnashing of teeth and rending of clothing I did manage to get the eBay representative on the end of the chat-line to agree in writing that eBay had been wrong – YES, eBay HAD BEEN WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!! – unheard of.

I have included the full conversation transcript below and if you have the time to read through it, you will notice how initially it was incredibly difficult to keep calm.

Why is it that their replies never answer your question? The moral is I feel that if you can hold off from banging your head on your desk for long enough and keep shortening your comments until they have no option other than to address them, you might actually, eventually get an answer. If you must persist, you might even get justice!

‘Tortchyboy’ - http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Green-Light-International



eBay

Welcome to eBay Live Help. How may I help you today?

Tortchyboy

Hello, I have been accused of shill bidding which I deny. I have completed the tutorial but my policy compliance on eBay is now very low. I thought to commit shill bidding you had to bid on items, I have not done this, the only items I have bought were Buy It Now.


eBay

Hello there. I understand that you'd like to know more about your policy compliance status. I'll be happy to look into this for you. While I'm reviewing your account, are there any additional concerns you would like me to address for you today?


Tortchyboy

Yes. I have NOT committed shill bidding.


eBay

Please bear with me for a few moments while I look into this.


Tortchyboy

No problem, thank you.


eBay

Thank you for waiting. I have checked and can confirm that your policy compliance rating is Very Low due to shill bidding. This will be removed on your account on 22 Feb 2012.


Tortchyboy

I know that but you are not hearing what I am saying, I did NOT commit shill bidding.


Tortchyboy

It is unfair for eBay to just decide that I did this for no reason and punish me; it is like conviction without a trial


Tortchyboy

I completed the tutorial so I now know what eBay's shill bidding rules are and I do not believe I broke any of them

Tortchyboy

To commit shill bidding you must bid on an item, I have not


Tortchyboy

The only items I have purchased from a relative were Buy It Now; that is not shill bidding



eBay

I see that your account was restricted to listing using Buy It Now format only because of a breach of eBay's Shill Bidding policy. This restriction will last for a minimum of 14 days.


Tortchyboy

I know all this; you are not telling me anything I do not know. My point is I DID NOT DO SHILL BIDDING please address that point


Tortchyboy

I DID NOT BREACH THE E-BAY SHILL BIDDING POLICY - What do I do about that?



ebay

I can understand why you'd like more precise information. Your account was found to be involved in Shill Bidding with the following associated account: **************


Tortchyboy

I know all that but to commit shill bidding you must bid - I did not. The items I purchased were BUY IT NOW.


Tortchyboy

Am I correct? To commit shill bidding you must bid, is that right or not?


eBay

Let me check.


Tortchyboy

Thank you.


eBay

Thanks for waiting. We've checked our internal records again. While we make every effort to ensure that we only take action in cases where we have all relevant evidence, unfortunately it appears that in this case, the action on your account was taken in error. I apologise for the inconvenience.



Tortchyboy

Thank you. Does this mean that the very low policy compliance will be removed?


eBay

To assist you with this matter further, I need to get assistance from my colleagues in the relevant department. I will now send them your issue and all the information on your account to save you from having to explain again. You will receive a response from them via email.


Tortchyboy

Thank you for your help. Can you just clarify for me that the Very Low Compliance rating on my e-bay account will be removed?


eBay

You're welcome. I'm afraid we don’t have the tools to look into it in a detailed manner so I will need to refer you to our relevant team in this case.



Tortchyboy

Okay. At least you have confirmed that I did nothing wrong. Hopefully, as the Very Low Policy Compliance was imposed in error by eBay, they will decide that it is only fair they should remove it. I will wait and see.


eBay

Looking forward to have this matter resolved. Thank you for using eBay Live Help. Have a great day.



M – Wow, two full cups of coffee.

If you want to get it off your chest, feel free – Mollybol@ebaybulletin.co.uk


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5. ASK MOLLY – HOW CAN I SPEND MY DOLLARS?
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“Hi Molly,

I was wondering if you could advise me on a PayPal matter?

I have received a payment in US dollars into my PayPal account from a sale via eBay.com (I mainly sell on eBay.co.uk) and although this payment is included in my overall total amount when I come to transfer the money to my bank account this US amount is not included. Do you know how to transfer this to my primary PayPal account?

‘pennyyork’ - http://stores.ebay.co.uk/pennyyork



>From the main 'My Account' PayPal summary page select the 'profile' link and then 'my money' next to 'PayPal balance' is a link to 'currencies' where on the right side is a currency converter.
Select the destination currency in the drop-down menu: if the one you choose is new for your account, you will automatically create a balance in that currency.

Use this service sparingly as exchange rate conversions never make us money do they?



If you have a question about eBay or home working in general, please send it to: mollybol@ebaybulletin.co.uk - I will reply personally to every e-mail I receive and remember, there are FREE copies of my book available for the best questions, tips, or stories.



-- END NOTE --



That's all for this week. Check out www.ebaybulletin.co.uk for the latest news from Molly HQ.

My new packaging slips have arrived and I am very impressed, they give the impression that I actually know what I am doing.

Check out ‘bluestarprint’ - http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/bluestarprint/?


Total sales on ‘mollybol’ have now edged past 53,500; that’s a lot of packing slips!

Best wishes and happy eBaying

Mollybol



Author of the bestselling title, 'The eBay Business Handbook' - available direct from the publishers: www.harriman-house.com/ebaybusiness