topic Re: Don't go on holidays in Selling

Don't go on holidays

lmckec2009 — Fri, 11 Jan 2019 07:47:30 GMT

I have been on holidays.All my listings stated that I was away until 11/1/18.I returned 2 days early.

there were 7 sales, which I posted on 10/1/18.

because I was penalised last time I had a holiday, I rang ebay to say I had posted all items . I have been told I will have my seller dashboard penalised.

Can any kind ebayer tell me how to stop this happening , please

Re: Don't go on holidays

davewil1964 — Fri, 11 Jan 2019 07:50:50 GMT

Put your store in holiday mode when you're on holidays.

If you don't have staff to run it, you shouldn't be trading when you can't fulfil your commitments to your customers.

As you have experienced this before, why did you think it would be different this time? eBay works with bots, not people. If you send late, you get a defect. Simples.

Re: Don't go on holidays

imastawka — Fri, 11 Jan 2019 07:51:05 GMT

You have to extend your handling time for when you return.

You can't leave that up to ebay.

It's up to you to do that.

Re: Don't go on holidays

imastawka — Fri, 11 Jan 2019 07:57:00 GMT

As an aside, please change that butterfly logo.

It did my eyes in.

Just sayin'

Re: Don't go on holidays

jellybirddesigns — Fri, 11 Jan 2019 08:32:04 GMT

Why pay for a store if you're not going to use one of the best features - holiday mode?

I usually turn on holiday mode a few days before I go away as this means I'm not running around doing orders when I need to be packing and relaxing.

In the holiday mode settings there are 2 buttons - one button lets you set the date you'll be back, the other button gives you the option of hiding your BIN listings so nothing can be purchased.

This is the safest way to ensure you won't get any defects.

And please remove that dreadful blurry butterfly header - it's really off putting.

Re: Don't go on holidays

lmckec2009 — Sat, 12 Jan 2019 03:04:43 GMT

Hi I did use holiday settings allowing an extra 2 days. Thank you for your suggestion re hiding listings. I will do that .As to my butterfly logo, thank you for your comments, i am sure you meant it kindly.I have removed the butterfly.

Re: Don't go on holidays

lmckec2009 — Sat, 12 Jan 2019 03:06:14 GMT

I did do that but it made no difference.I will hide listings next time, and request no store fees from ebay, Thank you

Re: Don't go on holidays

lmckec2009 — Sat, 12 Jan 2019 03:07:47 GMT

Really did not realise the butterfly logo was offensive. thank you for your help

Re: Don't go on holidays

imastawka — Sat, 12 Jan 2019 03:36:07 GMT

@lmckec2009 wrote:
Hi I did use holiday settings allowing an extra 2 days. Thank you for your suggestion re hiding listings. I will do that .As to my butterfly logo, thank you for your comments, i am sure you meant it kindly.I have removed the butterfly.

This is not clear to me.

Is this the amount of time you extended your handling time?

Cos an extension of 2 days is not enough obviously.

Extended to 2 days after you get back would be the idea.

The dreaded butterfly is still there.

Hiding your listings won't make the store cheaper.

You still have to pay for the subscription for the month.

Re: Don't go on holidays

digital*ghost — Sat, 12 Jan 2019 04:54:43 GMT

@lmckec2009 wrote:
Really did not realise the butterfly logo was offensive. thank you for your help

It's not, it's just absolutely huge and at a really low resolution. If a buyer clicks to visit your store, it's all they see on the page.

The blurriness can actaully affect people in a physical way (i.e. attempting to focus on it can cause things like mild nausea and headaches), but more than that, it takes up a quarter of the page and you need to scroll down before being able to see anything of your actual shop, so it's likely detracting from your store and even potentially affecting sales.

It looks like it's been uploaded as a banner (called billboard on the edit store page), so you'd need to remove or replace it there - an image that's 1200 x 270 is the recommended size for a billboard. I can see the original image was much smaller (by opening it directly in a new tab) so it was enlarged significantly in order to be displayed.

If you'd still like to use it as your billboard, I took the liberty of making this banner that you can save and upload - the butterfly is at its original size, just on a white background that's 1200 x 270, and you can add anything else you like if desired:

Re: Don't go on holidays

lmckec2009 — Sat, 12 Jan 2019 07:48:11 GMT

Thank you I have tried to remove the butterfly. XX

Re: Don't go on holidays

lyndal1838 — Sat, 12 Jan 2019 08:06:00 GMT

Yes, It has gone now.

Re: Don't go on holidays

countessalmirena — Sat, 12 Jan 2019 08:14:38 GMT

digital*ghost, butterfly shrinker...

Re: Don't go on holidays

egglesdtp — Sat, 12 Jan 2019 12:56:57 GMT

Yet another person who seems to think typing their headings and descriptions in all caps is effective. It's not.

Re: Don't go on holidays

whiznumber6 — Wed, 16 Jan 2019 01:07:38 GMT

I put my employer's eBay store into "holiday mode", and extended the handling time to 15 business days. This easily covered the period we had off.

But, yes - mid-way through the holiday break we had a buyer send a frosty e-mail demanding to know why it was taking so long to despatch the item. I sent an equally frosty e-mail including screen-caps of the "This seller is away until..." banner and the 15 day handling time.

And on Monday - a buyer purchases an item and pays. Then immediately sends a message saying they want to cancel the order as the 15 day handling time is excessive.

You can't win...

Re: Don't go on holidays

purplemon18 — Wed, 16 Jan 2019 03:00:10 GMT

I'm sorry to hear about your troubles. I had the same thing happen to me a bit over a year ago. Unfortunatetly eBay has never properly implemented a holiday mode, so your title is really the only solution that works, don't go on holidays.

We put our store on holiday mode and monitored sales. We contacted anyone who bought something and told them when we would be shipping and offered to cancel their order. None of our customers made any complaints, but ebay still penalised us and it took about 6-9 months for our account to properly recover, at least it seemed that way. Our sales were very quiet for months.

Other than not going on holidays, here are the options:

1) End all your listings. This is probably the safest option, but you lose things like sales history, and it will be hard to get momentum going again, so it's not really recommended.

2) Turn on holiday mode, this puts a little banner up telling customers that you are away, but it's very easy to miss this banner when you are scanning through dozens of listings.

3) Hide your listings, this helps, but it only hides your listings from search, people can still find your listings from things like direct links.

4) Extend your handling time to a couple of days after your return. This will prevent you from getting defects on your account.

5) Have a friend or family member do your shipping while you are away.

I'm going away later in the year, and will probably do 2, 3, and 4, as well as making my own banner in my description advising customers of the extended delays.

There is no way to fix any of your problems after the fact, other than maybe by sweet talking someone at eBay. You just have to take your lumps and not give up before your store recovers.

Re: Don't go on holidays

twyngwyn — Wed, 16 Jan 2019 03:22:06 GMT

take a screenshot of your holiday settings and forward to ebay.....they should remove defects....I have done it twice