Inadequacies in the delivery info under 'Purchase details' in the case of multiple pickup

Suggestions and Feedback on the eBay Platform

In contrast to earlier times, it sadly remains very much only the community left to report malfunctions on the ever-changing eBay platform website. Contact with customer service is sealed off “down below,” personal contacts are not accessible, and the automated assistant is often only fit to waste one’s precious time in vain - that is frustrating.
For reporting malfunctions, only two alternatives can come into question:

EITHER, a user uncovers an actual malfunction and goes to the trouble of pointing it out to eBay - then eBay should take care of it in its own interest,
OR, a user uncovers an alleged malfunction and goes to the trouble of pointing it out to eBay - then eBay should take care of it in its own interest, since there is obviously a gap or inconsistency or a comprehensibility problem here with regard to the unambiguous user understanding of how to use the eBay website correctly - thus a usability problem, in English, usability - exists.

That is why I absolutely cannot understand why eBay shuns this specific user feedback so completely. It is downright stupid, probably about as stupid as eBay thinks its users are by only keeping a closed pool of answer options in its automated “customer service” assistant [Admittedly, that was partly unobjective, but hey ... ! 🤢] - which has technical programming reasons - AND yet also fails here to build in a check that determines whether an excessively strained, highly patient user has now been chatting with the assistant bot for so long, way too long, which indicates that through its response loops no accepted solution option could or can obviously be offered, so THAT THE PROGRAMMING FINALLY AT SOME POINT COMES TO building up a personal contact to customer service or at least offering a callback option.

Now to the specific issue. It concerns the extraordinary construction site of transaction processing for agreed self-collection. Here there have rightly been major changes, owed to the increasingly rampant criminal fraud or the abusive exploitation of the eBay platform. The idea is fundamentally good and acceptable: to confirm / have confirmed the handing over of an item prepaid electronically in advance at the pickup meeting point by scanning a QR code generated specifically for the transaction using the eBay app, so that the money can subsequently be paid out to the seller. This is also possible for users who trade on eBay in the traditional way on a PC; in the end, the QR code can be printed out and the printout taken along for pickup. (The police already know of cases of robbery at dubious handover locations, where expensive smartphones have been snatched out of the hand by fake sellers or fake pick-up people or extorted under threat in the face of suddenly appearing accomplices.)
With a single item, this seems to work without problems. As soon, however, as a second or several items come into play - which is rather normal in self-collection transactions! - the malfunction currently (still) becomes noticeable that even if the QR codes of the additional items are scanned by the other party, these additional items are NOT marked as picked up and provided with a checkmark symbol, neither for the buyer nor for the seller, and not in the web view nor in the app view. See attached screenshot.

The consequence is, on the one hand, remaining uncertainty for the seller as to whether he will actually be paid out the entire purchase amount for all handed-over items via the escrow-like processing system, or only for the one first item marked “picked up” - and on the other hand, precisely because of this, an unnecessary cascade of mutual, actually unnecessary and superfluous communication between seller and buyer is triggered after collection. The latter also applies, incidentally, to the lead-up to, agreement on, and initiation of self-collection. Most buyers and sellers are still quite overwhelmed by the new circumstances (keyword: QR code) and there is not even an easily understandable tutorial from eBay kept in a prominent place that one could simply link to. Instead, users affected by this shortcoming have to play the explainer for their respective trading counterpart again and again each time, which is actually quite clearly a matter for the platform operator eBay, to ensure corresponding comprehensibility, simplification, and ease in dealings with one another when agreeing on the pickup option!

paralepepalme

1043 View listings

Posted 2 years ago·Last reply 2 years ago

1 comment

steffi@ebay

Admin2 years ago

Community TeamView listings

@paralepepalme wrote:

Contrary to earlier times, it is very regrettably now only the community left to report malfunctions on the eBay platform website, which is constantly in flux. Contact with customer service is concreted over “down below,” personal contacts are not reachable, and the automatic assistant is often only suited to waste one’s precious time fruitlessly - that is frustrating.
For reporting malfunctions, only two alternatives can be considered:

EITHER, a user uncovers an actual malfunction and makes the effort to point it out to eBay - then eBay should take care of it in its own interest,

OR, a user uncovers an alleged malfunction and makes the effort to point it out to eBay - then eBay should take care of it in its own interest, since there is obviously a gap or inconsistency or a problem with comprehensibility regarding the unequivocal user understanding needed to operate the eBay website correctly - i.e. a usability problem, in English -.

That is why I absolutely cannot understand why eBay shies away so massively from this specific user feedback. It is downright stupid, probably about as stupid as eBay thinks its users are by only keeping a closed pool of response options in its automated "customer service" assistant [Admittedly, that was partially inappropriate just now, but hey ... ! 🤢] - which has technical programming reasons - AND yet also fails here to build in a check that determines whether an overburdened, highly patient user has now been chatting with the assistant bot for so long, way too long, which indicates that through its response loops no accepted solution could or can obviously be offered, SO THAT THE PROGRAMMING FINALLY AT SOME POINT COMES TO creating personal contact with customer service or at least offering a callback option.

Now to the specific issue. This concerns the extraordinary construction site of transaction processing for agreed pickup. Here there have rightly been major changes, due to the rampant criminal fraud or the abusive exploitation of the eBay platform. The idea is fundamentally good and acceptable: to confirm / have confirmed the handover of an item paid for electronically in advance at the pickup meeting point by scanning a QR code generated specifically for the transaction using the eBay app, so that the money can subsequently be paid out to / can be paid out to the seller. This is also possible for users who trade on eBay in the traditional way on a PC; in the end, the QR code can be printed out and the printout taken along for pickup. (The police are already aware of cases of robbery at dubious handover locations, where expensive smartphones have been snatched out of people’s hands by fake sellers or fake pickups, or extorted under threat when accomplices suddenly appeared.)
With a single item, it seems to work without problems. However, as soon as a second or several items come into play - which is actually normal for pickup transactions! - the malfunction is currently (still) noticeable that even if the QR codes of the additional items are scanned by the other party, these additional items are NOT marked as picked up and given a checkmark symbol, neither for the buyer nor for the seller, and neither in the web view nor in the app view. See attached screenshot.

The result is, on the one hand, lasting uncertainty for the seller as to whether, via the escrow-like processing system, they will actually be paid out the full purchase amount for all handed-over items, or only for the one first “picked up” item that was ticked off - and on the other hand, precisely because of this, an unnecessary cascade of mutual, actually unnecessary and superfluous communication between seller and buyer is triggered after pickup. The latter also applies, incidentally, to the period before that, to the arrangement and initiation of the pickup. Most buyers as well as sellers are still quite overwhelmed by the new circumstances (keyword: QR code), and eBay does not even provide an easy-to-understand tutorial in a prominent place that one could simply link to. Instead, users affected by this deficit have to act as the explainer all over again each time for their respective trading counterpart, which is actually quite clearly a matter for the platform operator eBay to ensure appropriate clarity, simplification, and ease in mutual dealings when agreeing to the pickup option!

Hello again @paralepepalme, as already written: I will pass it on to the responsible colleagues and thank you for your feedback.