Despite the stress sellers are facing due to the coronavirus pandemic, eBay informed its sellers today that it will enroll them in its new Managed Payments program this year, and announced another phase in the rollout.

eBay sent an email giving sellers the "opportunity" to pre-register: "Once you pre-register, nothing will change in your selling routine. Starting Late July, your account will be activated for managed payments, and we will notify you as your activation date approaches."

A seller who forwarded EcommerceBytes the email she received wrote, "Please tell me this is a joke." The email began by addressing the timing ... Read More

eBay will announce a seller promotion this week for non-Store subscribers, according to eBay Vice President of Seller Operations and Engagement Marni Levine.

eBay is currently running a promotion for Store subscribers giving them 50,000 additional free listings each month in March and April, while the new promos will cover non-Store subscribers.

On Monday, Levine said, "We have promotions for non-Store subscribers coming up this week, our consumer sellers, and then we're also looking at ways to bring on a lot of the struggling brick-and-mortar stores online to eBay through special programs."

She also gave examples of items that are selling well, including items in ... Read More

Parts of eBay's website are inaccessible Monday afternoon, including Seller Hub. The timing is unfortunate since eBay ended phone support due to the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. We imagine eBay is having at least some of its global technical staff working from home in addition to its customer service staff.

Down Detector shows a spike in reports beginning between 2 and 2:30 pm EST.

Sellers are also reporting problems on Ecommerce EKG: "Can not get into the seller hub at eBay. Repeated get this message: We ran into a problem, but we're working on it. Please ... Read More

Online sellers find themselves in uncharted territory due to the coronavirus outbreak as concerns about health and safety disrupt everyday life.  

Many are wondering what other sellers are experiencing. Are online sales up or down? Are sellers making changes to pricing? How do sellers think their sales will be faring 6 months from now (when, believe it or not, the holiday shopping season will be approaching)?

We're taking the temperature of online sellers by surveying readers to find answers to questions that are on their minds. 

Please take a few minutes to report your experiences and share your thoughts. We'll pool your answers and let ... Read More

A reader reported his account was hacked yesterday morning and used to make a $5 purchase. He was online and quickly changed the password - "not sure if they got any of our personal information or not," he told us.

Account hacking is not new, but he grew concerned when he tried to notify eBay and found no one available to talk to. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, eBay informed users on March 18th it had transitioned its customer service agents to work from home.

The reader said when he checked the eBay boards, he found numerous people reporting having their accounts hacked, ... Read More