eBay Seller News Week In Review 12-12-21

We saw another eBay personnel shake up this week, this time eBay lost Head of Brand Advertising and Partnerships Scott Kelliher.

eBay Loses Head Of Brand Advertising Scott Kelliher

Another shake up in eBay ops as Head of Brand Adverting Scott Kelliher departs for ad tech company Quantcast.

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton

Kelliher was VP Global Advertising Alex Kazim's right hand man and leaves a big hole in one of eBay's key departments.

As the final holiday countdown begins, eBay is pushing faster shipping and delivery times.

eBay Pushes Faster Shipping & Delivery Times For Holidays

eBay adds search filter for expedited shipping, but still shows unrealistic delivery times & ignores seller handling.

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton

The good: eBay has finally added a search filter in the mobile app experience so buyers can easily locate sellers offering expedited shipping options.

The bad: eBay is still ignoring seller handling times and showing unrealistic delivery estimates in many situations.

eBay made more changes to the Stores experience this week, raising some eyebrows by including the total number of items sold on sellers' store pages.

eBay Stores Add Promos & Sales History, Remove Feedback

eBay’s new stores experience has added promotion banners & sales history, but taken away seller feedback details.

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton

I'm more concerned that the new store design has removed easy access to seller feedback - it now only shows a percentage, not the total number, and it is no longer a clickable link.

Why would eBay want to make it harder for buyers to see seller feedback profiles?

Sellers reported technical issues this week that prevented them from editing variation listings.

eBay Sellers Can’t Edit Variation Listings

Sellers across a variety of categories are reporting they are unable to edit any variation listings on eBay today.

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton

And even more concerning, a technical issue forced incorrect product catalog data on sellers' listings with no way to opt out!

eBay Forces Incorrect Catalog Data On Listing Pages

eBay is adding incorrect product information to seller’s listing pages with no way to opt out.

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton

Still no word on any protections or assistance for affected sellers who may receive negative feedback or not as described returns due to this issue.

Some sellers were caught off guard this week when they received notice from eBay that the IRS had informed them of problems with their tax IDs, requiring them to submit W9 tax forms or face having funds withheld.

eBay Tax ID Doesn’t Match, Requires Sellers To Submit W9

Some sellers received message stating taxpayer ID number does not match, must submit W9 or funds may be withheld.

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton

Affected sellers are still struggling to get information and assistance from eBay on this issue. It appears the problem at least for some sellers may be related to the fact that eBay does not provide an option for sole proprietors to enter an EIN instead of a social security number.

And finally I took a look at eBay's curious insistence on shuffling users to Facebook for customer service, seller engagement, and social commerce initiatives apparently unaware they are leading sellers right to a competitor's door.

Is Facebook The Competitor eBay Doesn’t See Coming?

eBay CEO Jamie Iannone blindly leads customers right to Facebook’s door.

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton

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