Better communication please

[HannaHolly]

There is one thing that frustrates me here on EBID- a thing i know looses the site members unnecessarily- a thing that could be fixed instantly and at no cost!

EBID support- effective communication saves EVERYONE time!

example
1. i gave feedback on new EBID auction uploader- mentioned the ability to use images hosted off site would be a big improvement
2. Response from EBID- "We are now able to use non-ebid images in Gallery Auction. Simply enter the URL"
3. Great! I prepare two ebid uplaoder sheets selecting gallery feature and linking to my off site images
4. Receive EBID auction errors email- invalid images
5. I check URLs- they are exactly as i always submit - i email support
6. support response "The problem was with your images. Images with spaces in the filename or "%20" cannot be used if you wish to use the Gallery option."

7. As changing the off line folder name to remove the 'space' will invalidate every pictuire i have on my current EBID auctions- i edit my spreadsheets to remove the gallery option

now here's what 'should' have happened
1. EBID announcement on forums- we are now able to allow non-ebid images for gallery auctions. Please note image filenames must not contain spaces or "%20"

Now if that had happened i wouldn't have spent ages preparing & uploading spreadsheets that were going to be rejected - and you wouldn't have had to answer my emails

There are many more examples of poor communication littered around these forums- my own question about second stores remains totally ignored, other people report lack of response from support emails.

EBID Support. Here is some free advice

* Utlise your forums to announce new features.
* Send out a regular (say every 3 months) newsletter to all site members telling them of recent upgrades
* Make sure you update your help pages as changes are made
* Do not post ambigious 'truncated' messages ( has anyone worked out the PPPay one yet?- i havent!)
* Do not send one line email responses when a few extra words could resolve an issue- saving you from getting further emails
* Do not 'ignore' forum posts- if something can't be done- say so!

Keeping people informed keeps people on your side- let us work with you- rather than in the dark!

[wiltshiretresors]

Hear hear!

Well done Val, excellent post. Couldn't agree with you more.

Hope G & M take notice.

Fabienne.

My auctions at the mo:

[mypleasureisland]

A HUGE round of applause for that post. Absolutely spot on.

Here is todays change that no-one knew about.
As some of you will have read on the forums very recently I have been vocal about lack of response from eBid concerning my spreadsheets failing to upload. On 25th August I uploaded, successfully, 10 spreads totalling 28MB of data. I split it into 10 for everyones convenience as email is NOT designed for sending large files and anything over 5MB is highly unlikey to be delivered. All 10 uploaded just fine within a few minutes. Since then I have been unable to upload and have been pestering support daily and when frustration set in at the lack of response I went public.
Today eBid has uploaded my auctions, well 500 ish of the 2000. I too have the same invalid image issue and have emailed them to ask what it means. I cannot work out which items it is as support consolidated my data from 7 sheets back into one sheet so the row numbers are unfathomable to me.
At the crux of this is the rule that you can only upload 2 spreadsheets per day. I can only assume this came in over the last 2 weeks, there is no mention of it anywhere on the site that I can see.

If anyone has a reliable crystal ball can they lend it out please, when I have finished with it Val can borrow it and when she finds the answer to the truncated PPPay message she can tell the rest of us who remain mystified.

regards

Jean

[paladinz2k]

Agreed, spot on post.

10 spreads totalling 28MB of data. I split it into 10 for everyones convenience as email is NOT designed for sending large files and anything over 5MB is highly unlikey to be delivered.

Just as well you did split them, as I found out (eventually) eBid has a file size limit on sheets they are physically able to open, not that its mentioned anywhere.

At the crux of this is the rule that you can only upload 2 spreadsheets per day. I can only assume this came in over the last 2 weeks, there is no mention of it anywhere on the site that I can see.

lol, ok thats a new one to me too! I upload 4 at a time currently (will be more) and have not been told there is a limit. Why would I want to post my auctions over several days and possibly lose sales? When they are ready and I want to post them, I want to post them THEN not some now and some over several days.

If anyone has a reliable crystal ball can they lend it out please, when I have finished with it Val can borrow it

ME! ME! ME next! Can I borrow it after Val, puhleeeeze.

[mypleasureisland]

Agreed, spot on post.

lol, ok thats a new one to me too! I upload 4 at a time currently (will be more) and have not been told there is a limit. Why would I want to post my auctions over several days and possibly lose sales? When they are ready and I want to post them, I want to post them THEN not some now and some over several days.

My point exactly. Why are my auctions now being rationed? I have asked support to confirm maximum file size. Only way around this for me is to stop using html in my listings. It is that which causes the files to be so large.

What really galls me is that yet again a 'rule' has been arbitrarily imposed with no notice or even announcement. I find it very difficult to work 'with' this site when it does nothing to work 'with' me. I have waited two weeks for support to come up with that. I was the person asking questions and trying to help, provide as much information as I could. Right from day 1 I said I was trying to upload 10 sheets, it would not have taken over 2 weeks to tell me I was wasting my time as I could only send 2! It leads me to conclude that this rule was imposed yesterday afternoon as a result of my support query. Maybe it only applies to me?

I see in another post that Gazlannathai is going to have to scale back everything he does over here while he writes all of his listings again. He too is having problems working 'with' ebid. If ebid start to lose sellers like him then this site is going to be in trouble. There will be little to attract new users, buyers or sellers.

Things must be made easier for people. Starting with top notch customer support, advertising to attract new users, and a suite of tools for buyers and sellers that makes it easier. Ebay charge horrendous fees, but I cannot really fault them on attracting buyers and sellers and tools. There customer service isn't the best but it is starting to look good next to this site!

regards

Jean

[paladinz2k]

Again Jean, you are making perfect sense.

One VERY simple method eBid could employ to reduce sizes has been suggested before, and simply ignored as far as I know :-

Split all auctions into 2 parts, the actual item (which is non static) and a second section containing all the other info we post on each auction, which in 99% of items is static for each user.

The spreadsheets would then not need to contain the static info at all, drastically reducing server load, upload sizes and storage!

Yet for some reason eBid dont seem to have even responded (as far as I know) to what seemed to me when I read it (forget who posted it sorry) to be a very sensible idea and a feature eBay do not offer sellers.

[mypleasureisland]

Again Jean, you are making perfect sense.

LOL I hope my students think that too although at times I doubt it!

My employers charge my time at around £65 per hour to give out advice like that. I call it common sense!

Anyone want to sign up for a management course at Dudley College? You have seen the quality of the tuition already LOL

Jean