There are some areas in this discussion that I think you may be confusing with other issues, but I apologize in advance if I have misunderstood anything you have stated, it is not my intention to upset you, just to clarify, and understand the real issue.
1. The items in stores on holiday are available, they are not clogging up the site, they simply have a different delivery date to that stated by eBay (if the seller doesn't change the postage policy).
Sorry, but they aren't available at all. They may be available to order but if a buyer can't expect to receive them in a normal time frame then they're not available as such. Available means you pay your money and the goods are handed over - in this case they're posted within a reasonably short time. If a person needs something in the next week they don't want to click on umpteen listings that can't be posted until next month because the seller is away. Yes they are available. If buyers didn't want to wait sometimes, none would buy from overseas, lots of things I have ordered from overseas take over 1 month to arrive. Do you suggest all overseas listings also be removed? Do you suggest they shouldn't offer to extend postage handling time over 5 days as they currently offer up to 30 days? All different issues.
2. The hundreds of dulpicated listings is a completely different issue (that I totally agree is a right pain), but what can they do?
What can they do? They could take notice of reports they receive. Unfortunately, they only take notice of a few because of their limited resources.
3. Why do you say more stores will go away if the delivery dates issue is fixed?
I'm saying more will leave their listings visible when they go away instead of making them invisible. How do you know?
And what difference would it make anyway, if the delivery dates are stated correct, no buyer will be confused, so they will be happy. How is that making the buyer experience worse than ever?
Because a lot of people don't want to buy things if they know they won't be posted in the next few days. That's not just because they're impatient, it could be because they need to ask a question, or it can be because it's easy to forget about purchases that won't be posted for a while and then if they never arrive it ends up being too late to do anything about it. If the dates were stated correctly, the buyer would know when to expect it, if they don't want to wait, they won't buy - IF they know the correct estimated dates. As it stands now, they don't always know, this is where the problem lies. The problem about being able to do something about non arrivals only starts after the expected delivery dates, doesn't it? If not, it should.
4. You don't need to put a store on holiday to extend your handling times, so wading through items that have long postage times has nothing to do with holiday mode. Why should a listing that has 30 days handling time be given priority over a listing with store on holiday for 5 days?
I think listings with 30 days handling time should also be given a very low priority. I think a lot of buyers would be wary of sellers with such long handling times because it denotes inefficiency, and if they take that long to post then what else are they inefficient at? I know some do it because they don't order the stock until it's sold, but that's supposed to be declared, plus all sorts of things can go wrong, eg. their supplier is out of stock, postal delays, etc. So you agree it a totally different issue. But where and how do they draw the line - you can select handling time to be 1,2,3,4,5,10,15,20 or 30 days, what is the cut off point, how do they prioritize? You could always suggest to eBay that they add to the Sort drop down box to include sort by delivery times, that would solve that for you, and if they fixed the holiday away dates, they would go lower down the list also.
5. If it is disrespectful to have items available for sale while away with 7 or 10 days extra handling time, is it disrespectful to have items listed for sale with 30 day handling times? Is there a difference?
A lot of sellers who leave their listings up while they're away do it for a lot longer than 7 or 10 days. Some go away for more than 30 days and some even go overseas and leave all their items visible. Where are you going to draw the line - 7 days, 10 days, 11 days, 12, 15? They do need to draw the line, and set a limit for holiday - good idea. As they already allow you to set handling time to 30 days, I suppose they might see that as their limit?
If I were to leave my listings up while I was away and only had an extra 7 to 10 days handling time, I probably wouldn't even bother saying I was away. I feel it is a courtesy to let buyers know I am away even if only a short delay, and not have them think I don't have stock or are too lazy to post for 7 - 10 days. But in your case, how can you guarantee you'll be back in 7 days if you're away due to illness? Why do you think illness of my partner will affect me getting back and posting things? What happens if you end up being away an extra four days but someone has bought before you amend your return date? Do you think ebay should accommodate you and amend the arrival date on that purchase too? I have never and will never amend postage date once set, unless I have arranged for items purchased prior to still be posted on date specified in the first place.
For those who always have a 30 day handling time, that's just plain sloppy. There may be valid reasons for it in some circumstances (sale pre-orders) but a lot would be just plain inefficient. I'd guess that some would actually be away but haven't actually said so. I guess you are guessing correctly, but if you knew the reason, say if it said the seller is away until x date, you wouldn't think they are sloppy or inefficent.
6. Illness - such an unpredictable thing, but so are car crashes, fires, bombs.... Anyone could die, whole families get killed in crashes, whole business get wiped out with bombs. You don't have to have your store on holiday for dealth to affect it at any time, that is irrelevant, and there are simply too many what ifs. I hope that I won't crash the car taking my husband to hospital, thereby killing us both at the same time. If an item isn't delivered, eBay already have in place a claims proceedure and PayPal will readily refund money for undelivered items, and accounts with lots of defects get closed down. So that is already looked after by eBay.
It takes a long time to close them down and you can bet your boots that buyers aren't automatically refunded in such cases, or even contacted by ebay or paypal. Despite the ebay MBG being advertised so freely, a lot of buyers still wouldn't realise they can get their money back for items that don't arrive in such cases.
There are lots of what ifs, but this is why I suggested we should all try and have someone who can do the basics if something happens to us, as in set the store to away or end listings. Yes, anything can happen regardless if you have store on holiday or not. If it makes you feel better to know, last year I wrote a letter to be opened in case we are both killed at same time, and it does give all instructions as you suggest. But this is another entirely different issue that has nothing to do with away notices.
7. I have never said I am entitled to anything just because I pay my fees, or that anything is just about what I want, not sure at all were you got that idea from. In a perfect world, it would be nice to think that all issues with eBay are fixed, and everyone is happy.
But you've said you expect ebay to work perfectly, or strongly inferred it, when you said this, "They have the resources, they can fix things." You want them to fix the away issue so it works for you, regardless of whether that may or may not be the best experience for everyone else. And you thought I twisted your words? How is suggesting eBay has resources and can fix things, by any stretch of the imagination be interpreted as I want eBay to work perfectly? When have I said I want issues fixed to work only for me, regardless of others. I would like the issue fixed so NO buyer is given wrong information of expected delivery dates, how is that only fixing the issue for me?
Re being entitled to have them fix this issue because you pay your fees, you said this, "We pay eBay to provide a good easy usable service.", and this, "Remember, we pay eBay to provide this platform", which can only be construed as you expecting to be done because you pay your fees. I used the word 'we' as in ALL SELLERS, not me personally, if I had meant me personally, I would have used 'I' not 'we'. All Sellers have the right to expect a good working platform that supplies correct information.
8. I don't feel my contacting them once a year could be called constantly, or has such a negative impact on their resources. If everyone stopped contacting them altogether, they would never know what problems there were or fix anything. They simple need everyone who has issues to let them know, and when enough people report a specific problem, they might fix it.
I never said you complain constantly, but you were trying to encourage others to complain, and everyone knows an isolated complaint is never going to get any attention. My point exactly, isolated complaints don't get attention. Nit-picking, I know, but you've obviously contacted them more than once a year because you said this, "I have several times previously begged eBay to make the away notices more prominent and change the postage dates..." Begging denotes more than a simple request once a year, and postage dates haven't been around all that long. My last contact before this contact was April, 2016. That correspondence went back and forward a couple times between eBay and myself, and yes, I admit to begging in each of those back and forwards. It was when you could still email them. Postage dates back then just said 2-4 days or whatever, still dates.
I'm sorry but I think ebay is primarily for active sellers, not for those who are away, and the system is designed with that in mind. So why do they offer the holiday function. I can understand why ebay doesn't give high priority to changing things so that people who are away can have their cake and eat it too. Have said before I am not holding my breath. I think the fact that you're able to actually keep selling while you're away should be considered a bonus and a privilege, rather than complaining that you might have to edit half a dozen business policies and expecting to have a one-click solution when you go away. Can a standard function, that isn't visible enough and only half works, be considered a privilege?
