Seller Finds Fatal Flaw in New eBay Vacation Mode

by: papergoy

"Because eBay is a business".  If it's a 24 hour a day business (as it is), why does it not have 24 hour customer support?  Someone cannot get an account hacked in off-hours?  Crazy....

by: iheartjacksparrow

"We believe that this is an erroneous, unthought out policy implemented by an executive that has no idea what they're doing."

Doesn't that explain everything eBay does?

by: Sierra

I agree that there MUST be an immediate vacation mode!!! While I hope I don't need to use it for an emergency, it will come in handy when craft fairs start happening again (I mostly sell handmade items). I can put my Etsy shop on vacation immediately and eBay needs to copy them ... for a change!  

by: ZZ

Here's another unthought eBay implementation: My after X-mas sales being almost nothing and then the return of the one expensive item I sold. However eBay had already sent that money to my bank, so my account went negative, Then I sold something and needed $3.21 to ship it with eBay shipping. Sorry, they said, your account is negative. Another option was to click on Paypal shipping. Nothing happened; I assume rejected too because why would I keep a balance in my Paypal account since I never use it anymore?
So I called and am told erroneously that my account would be positive the next day. It wasn't. So I get a strike for not shipping on time.
I'm pretty sure I agreed to let eBay withdraw funds from my bank. Why don't they do it then? Why pay me every week or every day? Paypal let me decide when to transfer money. What was wrong with that?

by: LarryMoe

I also tried to use this function, and the new change only allows one to be on 'vacation' for 30 days.  ??

I tried to put my listings on hold after I received my first eBay invoice with FedEx charges that were significantly higher than the shipping calculator showed.

The eBay Shipping Calculator only works accurately for FedEx Home Delivery.  FedEx 2 Day, which was quoted at $11.89 was any range of values after delivery.  The 2 Day pricing is Black Magic, and I have yet to figure out what I will pay before purchasing.

I plan on devoting an hour or so with Customer Service, to see if they can actually show me how to determine my costs ahead of time.  

I also tried to get some specific info from FedEx.  But, they kept asking me for eBay's billing address before they would give me any info.  I suspect this will be a waste of time between the two.  Each entity referring me to the other.

by: dannyb

I Told ebay about their error immediately after they implemented the change because at that time I was only opening for a couple of days a week.

I let them know a 12 year old in their parents basement could add 1 line of code to correct the programming error and wanted to know why ebay never holds itself to higher standards like those imposed on its customers.

I was told my concerns would be passed on.

by: Bidonmine

My "Vacation" and/or "emergency" mode is to shut-down all my listings. My wife and sister have my passwords and, in an emergency, if I can't, they can shut down my listings on all sites (they also know how to handle emails from customers and issue refunds, if required). It is much easier to re-start listings than to deal with negatives for non-shipment.

by: puppiesandflowers

Bidonmine - how do you have them shut down all your listings on ebay now?  

by: LasVagueness

I suspect that engineers need to 'earn their keep' and that is why they are always tinkering with eBay features and formats. A Hippocratic Oath (do not harm) for puttering engineers sure would be useful.

by: selling stuff

Bidonmine - how do you have them shut down all your listings on ebay now?

You can do it quite easily by checking the box at the top which will then check all of your listings & then click on the end option. I did this on 12/14 when I decided it was not worth it to me to keep my listings up & deal with the stress.    

by: Lightning

I agree that reducing the responsiveness of the vacation function as it morphed to ''Time Away'' is stupid.  But that's eBay.  That said, it probably fits most people's needs, except for those rare emergency shut-downs.  

As @selling stuff states, you can just end your listings ''en masse'' in a few clicks.  That might be prohibitive for people who are operating at their max allowable listings, as closing and relisting can double the items listed in that period.  

But that's kind of a perfect storm of things to happen - you are at max listings AND you have a singular emergency that causes you to close down.  I suppose in that case the worst than can happen is that you have to pay your ''per item'' 0ver-the-limit relist fees, which could be phased in to soften that blow.  

And that would be needless occurrence, considering they could have just left the original Vacation Mode function alone and ADDED Time Away for those who didn't have stores.  We know there are complete idiots running eBay, and programming eBay, but they don't have to constantly prove it.

by: CanBrit

@puppiesandflowers

I believe they are talking about ending all listings which takes effect immediately..

by: puppiesandflowers

Thanks everyone for the instructions. I have an "Emergency Manual" in case something happens to me which still has the old Vacation Mode instructions. I would never have thought of ending the listings like that - trying to keep the emergency shut down system as simple as possible for my hubby - thanks again!

by: zeek6228

"Because eBay is a business".  If it's a 24 hour a day business (as it is), why does it not have 24 hour customer support?  Someone cannot get an account hacked in off-hours?  Crazy....


I spend $5000/month on eBay fees and I can't contact someone at eBay with indoor plumbing in their house.