Been on Holidays, and have come back to disarray. :(

[northern_4x4]

O.k

So I set my store to holiday mode. From the 4th of Jan to the 25th. I leave all my items up there for sale still as I thought it would be best to get some sales rather than none from removing my listings whilst gone.

So I sit down this arvo, go into my account and I have 40 odd mesages, 2 new requests open for items that I haven't shipped while I'm 700k's from the shop and 142 orders to process. I liked the last bit....

 Anyhow. Out of the 40 odd messages nearly half are from buyers asking where they're items are. The two requests that were open I had until the 23rd to respond!? I am away until the 25th.... So how was I supposed to respond if I didn't look at this until the 25th?

The first issue on the messages I have recieved. I think eBay need to make the away notice that comes up on each item the customer see's more noticable. And also keep bringing this message up when they go through checkout WITH a confirmation check box or something. This will stop the blind for sure.

The second issue with the requests. Why don't, or can't, eBay see that the store is set to holiday mode and give us buyers more time to respond?

I really think eBay need to look at these two issues, and seriously. I thought to email eBay but I can't as they dont have a section where I can chose what my issue is if I try to use their system.

So is there a generic email address that I can use to contact them? I think these will just fall on deaf ears but I would like to try at least.

I hope everyone had a great christmas and new year. I did.

Cheers.

[padi*0409]

You'll just get a cut and paste response if you email them, and that's unlikely to address your problem, far better to get them to call you back on the phone then ask for a supervisor if you don't get a decent reply from the first CS rep.

http://ocsnext.ebay.com.au/ocs/cusr?query=1485

[twyngwyn]

did you have an 'out of office reply' to your messages as below?

http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/sell/placing-store-vacation.html

[jensmanchester-australia]

If you are away and unable to post your items you need to set your handling time to a long enough period to cover the days you are away. This will stop INR requests being opened and will also let buyers know of the expected delivery date when they go through checkout which avoids a lot of the problems with buyers asking where their item is.

It is also advisable to set up an auto reply within the ebay message system and also on your normal email account advising people you are away until a certain date.

You can also add a message to your checkout instructions advising buyers you are away which they will see when they go through checkout.

My understanding is that the holiday settings do not always show on mobile devices so unless buyers are informed another way they may not be aware you were away at the time of purchase.

Ebay provide these tools for sellers to use so they can inform buyers when they are away and as every sellers circumstances are different it is up to each individual seller to utilise what suits their circumstances best.

[davewil1964]

I believe you can also hide your listings, if you don't want to end them, so only people who are watching them can buy.

Or you can end them all if you aren't able to post in a timely manner and relist when you come back to work.

After all, you wouldn't expect a shop to have the doors open, even with the lights out, when no staff are there.

[digital*ghost]

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@davewil1964 wrote:

I believe you can also hide your listings, if you don't want to end them, so only people who are watching them can buy.

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Hiding listings in holiday mode actually applies across the board, and prevents purchase even if the listing is accessed via a watch list or link (if you try to purchase a listing that has been hidden, you get an error message saying something like 'this seller is not processing orders at this time, but you can add it to your watch list and buy later', so a very good option for those who can't be in attendance of a store for an extended period, but don't want to lose watchers or sales history. 

[davewil1964]

There you go.

[brerrabbit585]

Looking at it from a buyer's point of view, while the away message does state that the seller is away and they may not be able to post straight away, some buyers would be confused by this and think it can't be true that the seller actually IS away if the items are still available for sale, so they'd go ahead and buy and still expect normal delivery.

If the handling time hasn't been extended to cover the time away then the expected delivery date that shows when a buyer views a listing would only reinforce their belief that the seller isn't really away at all.

[iscrap76]

I put my store in holiday mode 15 months ago for 1 day only so I could attend my father's funeral.  I received defects because tracking showed I didn't post on this day.  Was told by eBay that I needed to hide my listings, since then I have changed my handling time to 3 days, shich if at the time I had 3 days I shouldn't have received defects.  I did however get ebay to remove the defects but this took quite a lot of time.

[phorum_junkie*]

Just recently had my store in holiday mode, was only away for a week so left listings 'buyable' but increased handling time to 10 days to be on the safe side. With my other ids which are not stores I just increased the handling time to 10 days.

No issues, everything packed and posted day after I returned and no defects or even enquiries as to where their parcels were.

For longer than a week I make my items invisible and don'tt have any auctions ending during the time I am away. Any non store BINS are cancelled and relisted on return.