eBay Vault Problems - Incorrect Title & Missing Info Hurts Resale Value
UPDATE 3-25-23
4 months after raising this issue with eBay, the seller in question has still gotten no assistance and is unable to correct the title on the listing for the card they had sent to the eBay Vault - leaving him no option but to withdraw the card.
My vault card still has title errors. Would like to sell it but I can't edit the title to include "Auto" literally the most common word in card titles. So I guess I'm withdrawing it.
eBay what has happened? How can you drop the ball on a service like this.
Currently eBay has waived most selling, storage, and buying fees for items in the Vault in order to encourage adoption but one fee they have not waived is the withdrawal fee.
It's a pretty sad state of affairs when users who have stepped up to be early adopters end up not being able to use the service, not getting any help, and likely charged fees for taking the only other option available to them - removing themselves from the service.
eBay has definitely dropped the ball here and needs to fix this issue pronto if they hope to ever garner significant usage of the Vault.
UPDATE 11-22-22
After almost a month, the affected seller has still received no direct communication from eBay to correct the issue and is considering withdrawing his card from the Vault.
Still no direct communication from anyone on the ebay "Vault" team. I checked in and noticed the title is edited, but looks like they copied the text from the PSA slab, but still did not include the date!? This is very disappointing. I will be withdrawing my card and will be advising other collectors to avoid using the vault service.
What an absolutely dismal showing from eBay - is this really the experience Director of Trading Cards Bob Means wants for Vault users to have?
eBay has been aggressively marketing it's Vault since it was first introduced introduced - rapidly dropping the minimum price from $750 to $250 and extended fee waivers to try to entice trading cards buyers and sellers to use the service.
Liz Morton ~ Founder
One of the benefits of eBay Vault is supposed to be professional image and listing creation services - once your trading card is placed in the Vault, eBay enters all of the details of the item to enable hassle free selling.
Hassle Free Selling
- Enjoy same-day payments and insured shipping, all handled for you by eBay.
- It’s easy to sell from the eBay vault with high-quality images and pre-populated listings.
However, an eBay community member says they found the service to be not so high-quality after all.
I tried using eBay Vault, honestly against my better judgement. Bought card on eBay, shipped straight to vault. It's been ingested/listed by ebay into my Vault. However whoever wrote the title, left out the YEAR and other important descriptions. Leaving out the year on a sports card, especially for a "Vault" service, is laughably bad. However it's not funny as it's my card, and an expensive one at that.
Tried to get ahold of support through numerous channels, no response. Wondering if anyone is having issues with the Vault? Really disappointed, and mad at myself for trusting that eBay would actually handle this service professionally.
Why is this a problem? Because once eBay creates the listing information, the seller is unable to edit it. 🤯
That means when they go to resell it, if eBay has messed up the listing details, it could significantly impact the selling price. 💸
Viewing your Collection stored in the eBay vaultYou can view and manage your cards stored in the eBay vault with the Collection beta tool.
Here’s how:
- Go to My eBay and select Collection beta.
- Go to the In the eBay vault section and select the arrow icon on the right-hand side.
- Use the Status filter and Search feature to find a specific card.
- Select the card to see further details and options.
See the Manage your collection page for more information on the Collection beta tool.
Selling cards stored in the eBay vault
You can easily list any card you’ve stored in the eBay vault. eBay offers reduced Final Value Fees for eBay vault items. If buyers want their item shipped to them, fulfillment is handled directly from the eBay vault at no extra charge.Here’s how to list a card stored in the eBay vault:
- Go to My eBay and select Collection beta.
- Find the card you'd like to sell and select Sell this item.
- Select the pencil icon in the corner of the Pricing section to add your pricing.
- Review the rest of the auto-filled listing information.
- Select List your item.
- Verify your identity using a one-time security code sent to your phone.
You'll receive payment the same day the buyer pays for the item. Cancellations are only allowed if the buyer hasn't paid for their purchase. See the Order cancellation policy page for more information.
It says you can edit the listing to add the pricing before putting it back up for sale, but the fine print in the terms and conditions says you can't edit the listing info - most likely because the card goes through authentication on the way in and then eBay applies the Authenticity Guarantee to all future sales.
They can't allow the seller to make changes because then they can't guarantee the card as authenticated matches the description.
Terms & Conditions (all the way at the bottom of the page):
Imaging and Listing Services
- By directing an Eligible Item to the eBay Vault, you agree to allow eBay or its partner(s) to create a high-resolution digital image (the " Digital Image ").
- eBay will make the Digital Image available in your Digital Collection for inspection. By using the Vault Services, you waive all further rights of inspection.
- As part of the Vault Services, eBay will create a detailed record that incorporates the Digital Image and includes a preset title, description, and item specifics that will be used to populate an item listing if you opt to list your Vaulted Item for sale on eBay (the " Listing Services "). The resulting item title, description, and item specifics cannot be modified on the listing, but you will be responsible for designating the price and buying format for your item.
It seems the Vault is getting off to a slow start and eBay may not be seeing very high adoption rates, possibly due to a lack of transparent, easily comparable pricing.
Liz Morton ~ Founder
Others have been turned off by what they see as an overreach with eBay putting a video ad on all listings that are eligible to be sent to the Vault.
It's annoying AF. I don't even want to list cards on eBay anymore.
— Prestige Collectibles Japanese Baseball Cards (@prestigejapanbb) October 18, 2022
I don't think a lot of sellers are going to like eBay advertising their services INSIDE their listing. Sellers that are already paying high fees to eBay for selling, should be able to opt out of this, or at least get compensated with a fee discount for allowing it. This is wrong.
— Fly in the Vasoline (@WillLew51464805) October 4, 2022
Have you used eBay's Vault service? I'd love to hear about your experience! Leave a comment below or contact me.
I had a customer open THREE separate INAD cases back to back in Feb. She told a bunch of falsehoods in her comments on the case and refused to provide pictures to back up what she was saying, so I called her out on in it with proof that her statements were untrue.
Even though I knew she was trying to scam me, of course, I approved the returns [all 3] and provided a pre-paid shipping label.
She never sent anything back. I got 3 messages from eBay's system saying "We've closed your buyer's return because we have no record that they shipped the item back to you."
However, eBay's system counted all of them against me in my Service Metrics, causing my "Item not as described returns" rate to be: 0.98% even though the buyer was an obvious scammer and didn't return the items.
I didn't have to refund her since she never shipped anything back so there's not a problem there and eBay did remove her feedback, but eBay still counted the cases against me in my 'service metrics' percentage making me look bad in comparison to my peers.