eBay Retiring File Exchange
It's official, eBay will be retiring the File Exchange program and moving sellers to Seller Hub Reports instead, effective June 15th 2021.
Some sellers who use File Exchange are nervous that the change could cause disruptions for their businesses, which is understandable considering it appears there are still some parts of the new reporting system that are a "work in progress" and not all features currently available in File Exchange will be immediately available in Seller Hub Reports.
ebarth1 wrote:
When will the template for creating listings in bulk be ready? I'm hoping it's before the June 15th date that you'll be discontinuing File Exchange. This is a critical tool for our business. Also... can you add description text as a field that can be downloaded/updated? I can certainly see how that would be useful and would be more in line with the bulk editing tools on other sites like Bonanza.
tools_apps_team@ebay responded
We do not currently have a date for the new create listings templates, it is currently a work-in-progress. However, the Seller Hub Reports section can accept and process File Exchange files, so at this time you can upload your existing files/templates there if needed.
The Description column will not be included on any downloads, and there are currently no plans to do so. However, I can see how this would be helpful to your business, and am happy to put that feedback forward. I would also recommend using the "Comments" link in the top right-hand corner of the Reports tab so our team can review any other feedback you may have.
josephkeenanjr was concerned about not yet having access to the new tool and asked if eBay might consider pushing the effective date out to give sellers time to adjust.
It looks like I do not have the ability to use the new tool yet. I cannot see the "Basic Template" on my list. Will you be contacting me, as a current file exchange user, before June 15th to assist me in making the conversion? Just a suggestion, but before you announced a firm date to no longer support file exchange, you should have ensured that the new tool was fully functional and ready for use. It's not. Would you consider extending the deadline beyond June 15th if not all sellers can be brought over?
Also, I used to be able to contact members of the advanced team that handled file exchange by phone if I had problems. That is no longer possible. How does cutting off the phone contact with the seller make sense a time when you are giving us a firm cut off date of June 15th, AND the new tool is not functioning. Just a humble, nervous seller. Joe
tools_apps_team@ebay responded
As mentioned in another reply, there is not currently an option for basic templates or new listings, but we are currently working on it. As a contingency, current File Exchange files/templates are accepted through Seller Hub Reports. As @shipscript noted, you can contact us at turbodata@ebay.com with any transition help you may need.
We do not currently have plans to extend beyond the June 15th date, but I can push that forward to be considered should it come to that.
We understand how important the tool is for your business, appreciate the feedback, and are working to ensure that everything is in order as-soon-as-possible.
shipscript pointed out there were some formatting errors with the CSV files in the new Seller Hub Reports.
tools_apps_team@ebay
I just now downloaded "listings" > "active" from Seller Hub. The CSV quotes are not correctly wrapping titles that include commas or quotes.
tools_apps_team@ebay said
Hi @shipscript,
Thanks for reaching out.
We've had other reports of this issue, and are currently working to address it. I appreciate you bringing this instance to our attention, and the patience while we work through it.
This continues a trend in which it seems eBay believes it's OK to roll out a "work in progress" unfinished, half baked new "experience" that users must then test for them on the fly, provide feedback, and hope eventually it somehow improves to be at least a "minimally viable product" - at which point eBay simply moves on to the next magical experience in their multi-year journey of tech led reimagination instead of actually finishing the job.
Six months after the initial release, eBay "introduced" the Listing Quality Report, again - even though they hadn't fixed all of the issues that had been previously brought to their attention.
eBay's new Unified Listing Experience received so much pushback from sellers that VP of Seller Experience and Tools Harry Temkin was forced to admit eBay had made a misstep and would need to go back to the drawing board on several key design aspects in the March Seller Check-In.
Terapeak Sourcing Insights is also still a work in progress that some sellers have yet to be able to access, let alone get any actionable insights from to improve their businesses.
A new Personalization Experience was recently rolled out to eBay UK. Rather than build out a complete, fully functional personalization feature which allows sellers to set required fields for certain information, they went the fastest/least expensive development route by simply adding a text box for the buyer to enter information into, which is then sent by eBay messaging to the seller.
eBay apparently failed to consider that personal contact information such as email and phone number may be a legitimate part of a personalized message, resulting in some sellers not receiving the messages because eBay blocks messages with contact information in an attempt to thwart off site sales.
And of course there was the recent category and item specifics debacle that still has some sellers reeling 2 weeks later.
eBay seriously needs to take a step back to focus on the core of how their platform actually works and what real users need from it, rather than just trying to keep the plates spinning while shouting "look over here...another magical new experience!"
CEO Jamie Iannone's tech led reimagination is useless without the resources and talent to execute it well. At some point, he's going to have to start holding his team truly accountable and ensure delivery of working, viable, finished product if he really does want eBay to be the "seller platform of choice."
