Attn : Pls Help! All Ebay.ie sellers Private and Business!

GillianC39

Hello All

I am one of a group of Ebayers who have decided that we are been treated differently to our Ebay.co.uk and Ebay.com fellow members and that we want to try and do something about it.

The changes we have seen have been slowly introducing themselves since around about June of 2013. They have reached such a level that we have decided to try and do something about it... by banding together all unhappy members under a common union. Strength in numbers as it were.

A simple perusal of the official Ebay Support Forums made us realise that there are a huge number of sellers in Ireland who are unhappy about the current situation. Simply put, as sellers we are not being offered the same options or benefits as our UK compatriots. In many cases, not only do we not receive those same benefits, but we are charged comparably more than Ebay.co.uk for a 'lesser' product.

Those of us who have attempted to contact Ebay.ie, to complain or simply confirm the current situation, have grown to the slow conclusion that not only is the Telephone Support rather toothless when it comes to offering answers or solutions, but it is also rather reluctant to even acknowledge that any discrepancies even exist. It has become a rather 'circular' process now... with Support adding no further to the solution and always ending with a polite, but ultimately useless, promise to 'pass on the concerns to the relevant parties'.

I am a Private Seller on Ebay. I have noticed a marked change in how Ebay.ie treats its customers since June of this year. Prior to that, and with an almost clockwork frequency, the UK would receive free listings one weekend, and then Ebay.ie would receive it the next. I would schedule the majority of my listings to coincide with those 'free' weekends. Ebay would still receive their Final Value Fees.

And then, on June 23rd 2013, free listing weekends for Irish sellers suddenly stopped. In addition, over the weeks since then, it has become apparent that the frequency of 'free listing weekends' on Ebay.co.uk has, if anything, slightly increased.

I've selected the relevant sections from the official Ebay 'All Announcements' page at
http://www2.ebay.com/aw/marketing-uk.shtml

Zero insertion fee for 100 listings on 22 and 23
June on eBay.ie

Zero insertion fee for 100 listings on 22 and 23
June on eBay.co.uk

---

Zero insertion fee for 100 listings on 13-14 July on
eBay.co.uk

Zero insertion fee for 100 listings on 27-28 July on
eBay.co.uk

Zero insertion fee for 100 listings on 15 August on
eBay.co.uk

Zero insertion fees for up to 100 listings between
7-8 September on eBay.co.uk

Zero insertion fee for 100 listings on 12 September
on eBay.co.uk

Zero insertion fee for 100 listings on 21-22
September on eBay.co.uk

Zero insertion fee for up to 100 listings on 12-13
October on eBay.co.uk

Zero insertion fee for up to 100 listings on 26-27
October on eBay.co.uk

Zero insertion fee for 100 listings on 31 October on
eBay.co.uk

Zero insertion fee for up to 100 listings on 9-10
November on eBay.co.uk

Zero insertion fee for up to 100 listings on 23-24
November on eBay.co.uk

It is not only the Private Seller who has been impacted by the changes to Ebay.ie when compared with it's .UK 'sister'.

A Featured Shop in the UK is now GBP £59.99 and includes
1200 FREE LISTINGS per month.

---

A Featured Shop in Ireland is now €69.99 (comparable
with the Exchange rate) but NO FREE LISTINGS

---

A Basic Shop in the UK is GBP £19.99 and includes 200 FREE
LISTINGS

---

A Basic Shop in Ireland is now €24.99 (more
expensive than UK) but NO FREE LISTINGS

It is not only pricing model differences we have noticed. A friend of mine, a business seller on Ebay, includes that

- When searching on Ebay Ireland, it brings up global
items rather than giving priority to Irish Sellers,
as it used to. You now have to drill down to "UK &
Ireland" or "Ireland Only" to get any meaningful
listings

- Premium Sellers are supposed to get 15% on Final
Value Fees for qualifying listings that have sold.
This discount is based on royal mail so not designed
for irish sellers...

...For those trying to qualify for Premium Seller
status, we need to offer express post. But on Ebay
Ireland "An Post Express Post" is the only obvious
express choice. No courier choices.
-When phoning Ebay CS (in Dundalk or Blanch) you're
told you're through to Ebay UK but that they *might*
be able to help you. Also, when you say you list on
Ebay Ireland, there's a certain incredulity from the
rep.

I could include countless complaints but the general gist of it all is that we're tired of been treated as if we were the 'poor cousins' of Ebay. We have concerns that there has been a policy change at Ebay.ie head office which is impacting on both Private and Business sellers alike. We have tried to go through the normal channels but have seen nothing that would indicate that Ebay.ie intends to introduce parity with its Ebay.co.uk and Ebay.com counterparts. We have asked question after question and received words amounting to nothing 'real'. Nothing 'tangible'.

We're not asking for anything unique to us. Just a level playing field, thats all.

So, we've decided to set up a Facebook page as a first step response to the problem. Its our belief that if we remain as 'isolated' voices then we're much easier to 'ignore'. If we can gather together in numbers we have a voice that is louder than the sum of it's parts. From there, we can go on.

The Facebook page is

https://www.facebook.com/EbayIrelandSellers

or search for 'Ebay Ireland Sellers' on the Facebook page.

If you do drop by and are interested in adding your voice to ours, please acknowledge your visit by posting. 'Like' the Facebook page, or just comment here!

Best Wishes,
Gillian

allthedoyles

I certainly noticed the search function has changed .- cos last year ,a search always brought up results from Irish sellers first .

Nowadays , search results show UK items first ,and similar Irish items are way down the list.

Yet the ''green'' dot on the left-hand side for item location , is set to '' on eBay Ireland ''

Celeron Media

My sales on Ebay have been way down in the past few weeks because of all the UK & Chinese sellers getting priority on the default ebay search engine results on Ebay Ireland. My listings on Ebay.ie are at the middle and end of the list like every other Irish seller on Ebay.ie. They should revert it back to the way it was by having sellers located in Ireland, first on the list when using the Irish Ebay site.

GillianC39

Hi guys

thanks for your input. It does seem that at the moment the overall ethos of Ebay.ie is somewhat against the .ie!

As you say, it's not 'just' the pricing/free listing stuff it's also in how our data is been supplied to the potential buyers. It looks like, for some reason, we're being downgraded? The search/display method and execution looks as if it's somehow changed.

All of this is impacting severely on our ability to compete on an international level. I know from being a Ebay buyer myself that quite often the decision to buy one item from a seller over another identical item from another seller can come down to a simple matter of whichever is cheapest. Even by a couple of Euros. So many of the top sellers have DSRs of 98% and above that the choice often boils down to location and postage rates.

From what I have gathered from the Business sellers I've talked to, it looks like the search results are somehow being 'seeded', and that seeding is not in our favour.

If you consider a small Irish business seller, who lists a couple of hundred items a month... there are at the moment no 'free listings' on Ebay.ie. Say each item costs 1.00 Euro to list. Already, at the start of listing, the Irish seller is down by a few hundred Euros compared with their .UK 'competition'.

And it's this that's killing so many Irish sellers. They can't compete equally simply because they're being hit right where it hurts.... smack bang in the margins! One friend of ours is considering packing it up altogether and they've been on Ebay for 8 years now. Simply can't justify the cost of listing when factoring in the huge downturn in actual sales.

We're being hit a double whammy in the cost of listing, and how our items are being displayed in search results.

Ebay is not a 'local' market. It's worldwide. Costs, and benefits, of being an Ebay member should reflect that. Right across the board. If they're treating individual sections more favourably than another section (say .uk over .ie) then they're creating an artificial market situation in which the chosen elite will inevitably prosper at the expense of their poorer 'cousins'. It's simple economics, the buyer will follow the best deal. And in this current climate, the Ebay.uk seller is being protected by what are in effect subsidies. Subsidies which we ain't getting! Why not? I hope that doesn't sound petty but really...why not?

It seems a bit ironic when you consider the European Headquarters for Ebay is in Dublin.

Just as a little bit of light relief, I was on the phone yesterday to Ebay Customer Service, speaking to a lovely fella (UK Based... we were put through to Ebay.uk even though we rang the number listed on the Ebay.ie site) and after about 20 minutes he said that he'd just talked to his superior and that it looked like the 'Free Listing' weekends had been stopped because not enough Irish people were using or wanted them. I had to giggle at that... sureeee the Irish people WANT to be charged and WANT to lose the free listings... I mean it makes perfect sense!

We were a bit disappointed that although this thread has over 150 viewings, the Facebook site only went up by one 'Like'. We're just starting to try and gather the actual factual evidence, and from there we intend to act further. At the moment I think we'd be laughed at with only a handful of people commenting on Facebook and only 7 'Likes'!!!!

What's that saying...united we stand, divided we fall?

Regards
Gillian

allthedoyles

I definately agree with your comments on seeding structure .

I have just checked an item I am selling on .ie , and it only has 7 views , even though it has been listed since yesterday .

Now I logged into .co.uk , and viewed an exact same listing in UK , and it tells me '' 15 people are viewing this item per hour'' and also that 6 have sold in the past 24 hours .

So I agree that eBay are NOT treating Irish sellers the same way as UK counterparts .

GillianC39

So I agree that eBay are treating Irish sellers the same way as UK counterparts .

Shouldn't that be *NOT* treating Irish sellers the same way as UK counterparts ?!?? lol

Please guys sign up for the Facebook page!

https://www.facebook.com/EbayIrelandSellers?ref=br_tf

Gillian

allthedoyles

I see 100 free listings on co.uk this weekend

GillianC39

Hi allthedoyles

yup I just laughed when I saw that one

27 November, 2013

Zero insertion fee for up to 100 listings on 28 November - 1 December on eBay.co.uk

22 November, 2013

Zero insertion fee for up to 100 listings on 23-24 November on eBay.co.uk

21 November, 2013

Unbelievable. Last free listing for us was what? 6 months ago

GillianC39

Hi guys n gals

well it's been a week now since we started our plea for help and I'm pleased to say that the number of 'Likes' on Facebook has quadrupled in that time. Sure it's still low, but its growing every day now.

I know that some of you reading this might think it's not important to yourselves, or even relevant. Most of you probably aren't even selling on Ebay.ie

However, if you think about how the Irish economy is at the moment, I'm hoping you can see that anything which impacts upon a few has implications for the many. People are leaving Ebay in ever increasing numbers. Businesses that were doing well last year, even thriving, have been seeing their ability to compete in an equal marketplace slowly eroded week by week. Give a quick perusal of the official Ebay forums and you'll see that Irish sellers are puzzled. They're annoyed. They don't understand what's going on.

We're not asking for anything special. No preferential treatment. What we are asking for is equality and nothing more. Nothing less.

There are a number of Ebayers who will always be more vocal than the majority. Some people don't have the time, or the 'mindset' to be the kind of individual who makes their concerns public. Just because we only have 30 Likes on Facebook doesn't mean there aren't hundreds who have read the page (and this link) and for whatever reasons just haven't commented.

We're hoping the facebook page can become the equivalent to an online petition. Given the numbers, we can make a difference because if there's one thing a large company DOES care about is its public image. If there are enough of us the intention is that our combined voices become so loud they can't ignore us.

We aren't dreaming this up. We're not throwing stones at Ebay just because we have nothing better to do. The differences between ourselves and the UK Ebay system are real differences, we aren't making them up just to further our argument. We don't hate Ebay. We're not 'trolling' them. Ebay is a great company but at the moment, in our opinion, its gone off the rails.

Personally I don't have an Ebay 'business'. I'm not a 'PowerSeller' just a grandma who sells a few things every month. If you look on the Ebay forums, it's not just the business sellers who are feeling this. Its gone wrong for Irish sellers from the smallest to the largest.

So, if you have the time please pop over to the Facebook page and leave a comment and/or Like.

Cheers

johnjoesim

Search listings are an absolute joke, hadnt sold on ebay.ie for quite some time so wasn't aware of the change, only when I realised that my listing wasnt appearing on the first few pages of search results did I realise. Unlikely that I'll be selling on ebay.ie again, facebook page liked

GillianC39

Hi johnjoesim,

we're getting an increasing number of people complaining about the very thing you mentioned.

Many thanks for the 'Like'... every one we get just shows how bad the situation really is!!

Regards,
Gillian

allthedoyles

I got a phone call last night at 11pm , asking about what I was selling on eBay and if I had stock.

Then I get a message on eBay from someone , and they addressed me by my first name .

I cannot find on eBay where they got my phone number and name from .

Does anyone know ?

Is this info available on all eBay sellers page

Celeron Media

allthedoyles wrote: »

I got a phone call last night at 11pm , asking about what I was selling on eBay and if I had stock.

Then I get a message on eBay from someone , and they addressed me by my first name .

I cannot find on eBay where they got my phone number and name from .

Does anyone know ?

Is this info available on all eBay sellers page

If you have a business account, your contact details are at the bottom of your listings. I have random people calling me every few days trying to get items cheaper. It's really annoying.

allthedoyles

Celeron Media wrote: »

If you have a business account, your contact details are at the bottom of your listings. I have random people calling me every few days trying to get items cheaper. It's really annoying.

Thanks for that - you are correct .

I recently asked eBay to increase my selling limits , and I think I upgraded to business seller to do this .

I now see contact details at the bottom of listings .

GillianC39

If you have a business account, your contact details are at the bottom of your listings.

Never knew that, thanks

wmpdd3

I always try buy from an Irish seller, cheaper delivery being one reason.

The search results are all over the place even when I select Ireland you get loads of UK Sellers, even after the sponcered ones.

It is just driving buyers onto Ireland only sites.

allthedoyles

I think there has been a shift in eBay policy for search results .

Its looking good for mine anyway , as they are on top of the pile recently .

Other than Ireland and UK , all International listings are separate at the bottom of search results .

jules58

Hi Gillian, am disgusted about how your are being treated however to deal with my issues I would like to get through to Ireland. In the past I have and they have sorted my problems but now I just go through to very annoying people in the Philippines and have spent 2 hours today on the phone as I have to call back after an hour and always get someone else and have to start again. Recently however I have been unable to get to anyone UK based yet I notice you or someone in the thread has been straight through to Ireland please can you give me a no. Thanks for helping.

allthedoyles

This is a free number to contact eBay from Ireland .- The receptionist has an American accent , so I don't know if the call centre is in Ireland .

1800 948 010

jules58

Hi, I am not able to dial this from the Uk, does anyone have a geographical number for Ireland?

the groutch

afaik you would dial (00) 353 800 948 010

Kintarō Hattori

Celeron Media wrote: »

My sales on Ebay have been way down in the past few weeks because of all the UK & Chinese sellers getting priority on the default ebay search engine results on Ebay Ireland. My listings on Ebay.ie are at the middle and end of the list like every other Irish seller on Ebay.ie. They should revert it back to the way it was by having sellers located in Ireland, first on the list when using the Irish Ebay site.

As a buyer rather than a seller I hate how Chinese listings show up first. In particular this annoys me when I'm shopping for footwear for the missus. I like to try and avoid Chinese products and buy from within Europe as the styling/quality is leagues ahead but eBay seems to make finding listings from Europe really quite difficult.

jules58

thankyou the Grouch will try that

innthe

anyone know what the ebay contact number is? ( UK and ireland)

rob316

Hi just saw your thread and wanted to throw my support to you.

Im done with ebay.ie, its absolutely gotten impossible to sell on it. I had a nice little niche market going for myself of where my product was more expensive than the uk but postage was cheaper and quicker so it kind of evened it out. Not huge sales but significant to turn a healthy profit. Now the prospective buyer cant even find me.

The pricing and listing structures compared to the UK I could deal with but for the UK/International seller to get default preference in the search results is a disgrace.

Its blindly obvious ebay have no interest in Ireland except reside here and avail of our generous corporation tax.

Im off to concentrate on my adverts store, much fairer playing field and is growing by the day.

ctbfashion

Hi,

Really interesting thread. i was not aware of all the advantages the co.uk site has shocked really.

I have noticed in the last six months my sales dropping massively and i feel i am priced as good and as ever and the stock is spot on.

I checked there to see where my listings are and most of them are bottom of the pages or even on the second page. I am going to mail Ebay and try and find out what is going on. I will let people know what response i get.

I am not on Facebook but you can affiliate my store to your campaign.

http://www.ebay.ie/usr/premiumfashionstore

blenderbus

Interesting thread. Here's another great example as of the 1st of Jan:
Basically the VAT change is being absorbed by ebay in the UK but not in Ireland....
Note the change to terms on 31/12/2014 (quoted below)

***EU VAT legislation changes for electronic services on eBay.co.uk***
: : :
Private sellers

We're not changing fees for private sellers as a result of this new EU legislation.

The fee page for private sellers will show that UK VAT of 20% is included in the fees for listings on or after 1 January, but the overall fee that you pay will not change.
: : :

***EU VAT legislation changes for electronic services on eBay.ie***
Private sellers
If you're a private seller, you'll see a slight increase in the amount you're billed for transactions from the 1 January 2015, due to your local VAT rate being higher than that in Luxembourg. The fee pages will be updated accordingly.