eBay Seller News Week In Review 2-20-22

Welcome to the Value Added Resource eBay seller news week in review! Before we get started, just a couple reminders:

eBay is set to report Q4 21 earnings on February 23rd. Stay tuned for exclusive pre-earnings commentary and full coverage from an experienced seller perspective after the call!

I'm also continuing to investigate cases where people who have never sold on eBay or knowingly created an account on the site are receiving 1099-k forms from eBay. If you've been impacted by this issue, please provide your information in this contact form - I'd love to talk to you!

eBay 1099-K Error Report Contact

Did you receive a 1099-K for tax year 2021, but did not sell on eBay or create an eBay account during that time?

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton

Now on to the week in review ~

Vertical Focus

Less than a month after launching Authenticity Guaranteed for Trading Cards, eBay has already dropped the minimum price from $750 down to $500.

There have been some growing pains with the new program as well, specifically concern with damage in shipping possibly being caused by the packaging being used by the authenticator.

eBay Drops Price For Trading Card Authentication, Shipping Problems Reported

eBay drops minimum price for trading card authentication, experiences growing pains with the new program.

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton

Hopefully they can get these issues sorted out ASAP, but I do have to give kudos for the increased seller engagement I'm seeing from eBay in this vertical!

eBayUK announced a very limited time fee discount promotion for sneakers, dropping the final value fee to 2.5% from February 14th to February 21st, prompting me to wonder - what happened to the 2.5% social sharing incentive VP of eBay Stores Tom Pinckney announced at eBay Open Online in August?

Sellers have been asking for details ever since, but none have been forthcoming.

eBayUK Sneaker Fee Promo - Where Is Social Share Incentive?

eBayUK is running a 2.5% fee promo for sneakers, but what happened to 2.5% social sharing discount for Stores?

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton

The continued delaying of a feature that would provide fee discounts to a variety of sellers as an incentive for bringing buyers to the site is starting to feel a bit like a bait and switch at this point - especially since eBay just announced in the Winter 2022 Seller Update they will be raising fees across the board as of March 1st.

Has eBay decided they aren't on board with the exposure of lower take rates expanded to a wider seller base, hoping it will quietly slip from our memories?

Seller News

Contributor Jackie Miller took a look at the changes to eBay's feedback system from the Winter 2022 update and what they might mean for sellers.

eBay’s Feedback Push

A look at changes to eBay’s feedback system from the Winter 2022 update & how it may affect sellers.

Value Added ResourceJackie Miller

eBay has made a change to the Saved Searches page design and the eBay community is not loving it.

eBay Updates Saved Search Experience

eBay has rolled out a new Saved Search experience, but many users find the new look & feel less than magical.

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton

Technical Issues

Sellers are reporting ongoing errors with listing templates that have stretched out over 2 weeks with no fix in sight.

Listing Template Issues Leave Sellers Spinning Wheels

eBay listing templates have been broken for over two weeks, leaving many frustrated sellers without a timeline for a fix.

Value Added ResourceJackie Miller

There have also been reports of errors when attempting to send invoices to buyers. eBay community staff confirmed API delays are most common cause for these errors, which could be a troubling sign that eBay's infrastructure is struggling under the load of video in listings and other recent updates.

eBay Sellers Experience Errors Sending Invoices

Sellers report experiencing errors when trying to send invoices to buyers - eBay staff confirms API delays to blame.

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton

Users across social media are reporting more automated account suspensions, errors when trying to verify account details, and what appears to be a new session timeout feature.

Verification Errors & Banned Accounts - What’s Up With eBay Security?

Users report account verification errors/bannings, new session timeout feature- is eBay ramping up security efforts?

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton

If eBay is starting to take steps to address account takeover fraud on the platform I'm all for it, however the bots gone wild and technical mis-execution preventing account verification don't instill a lot of confidence.

Other News

Mark Weinberg, VP of Core Product Engineering, and Randy Shoup, VP of Engineering and Chief Architect stopped by IT Revolution to discuss the tech led reimagination efforts in a fascinating interview about devops at eBay.

DevOps & eBay’s Tech Led Reimagination

eBay Product Engineer & Chief Architect discuss challenges: monolithic code, missing tools & poor processes.

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton

Regular readers will know I'm certainly skeptical of how much progress is being made on the "tech led reimagination" journey, but in the spirit of credit where it's due: kudos to Weinberg and Shoup for being willing to openly discuss challenges and failures as well as successes and lessons learned.

This is the most transparent and candid interview I think I've ever seen from anyone in any kind of leadership position at eBay - something we could all use more of from our "trusted platform of choice."

One last note, I've been doing some tinkering around with a refreshed site design for Value Added Resource - still playing with a few things, but feedback always helps to get it dialed in just right.

Contact me or drop a comment below to let me know what you think!