For new newsgroup readers, these are not our forum posts. Any comments to the posters below should be made on the applicable thread, marked in bold below.
FYI apologist post_a_note aka 20th_century_art posts spin and damage control supporting eBay ...
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From eBay Stores Forum
SELLER NON-PERFORMANCE Policy explained
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=1000551652&start=0http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:KVWT1loH9wEJ:forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa%3FthreadID%3D1000551652%26tstart%3D0%26mod%3D1188747785655+ebay+%22SELLER+NON-PERFORMANCE+Policy+explained
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bhe*** (302 Listings | Report Aug-30-07 08:56 PDT
Lynda Talgo of TNS answers questions regarding the new SNP policy
http://www.ebaychatter.com/the_chatter/2007/08/lynda-talgo-of-.html
Q: What about non-paying bidders who leave a negative feedback?
A.
It may seem that any negative feedback from a non-paying bidder is
undeserved, but this is not always the case. For eokra212q9
xample,
buyers may decide not complete payment because the seller has attempted
to change the terms of the transaction after the conclusion of the
listing. Clearly, this is an area that is not black and white. We're
continuing to evaluate whether all types of negative feedback should be
included in evaluating seller non-performance.
.
post_a_note (0)
View Listings
|
Report Aug-30-07 12:08 PDT 10 of 40
I keep seeing this spouted without proof. Just another example of telling a lie enough and everyone will believe it as fact. Where is the proof?
Whenever I ask to see the proof that good sellers are being suspended over this, I'm asked to politely sit back down and remain quiet.
Funny double standards on this board.
If your child came home with a letter from her school concerned that she was in the bottom 1% of her class... would your first reaction be to accuse the school of lying?
This is a posting ID. If you have a problem with PIDs, feel free to ignore this post.
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http://blog.auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/blog/blog.pl?/pl/2007/6/1182798373.html
| June 25, 2007 |
 eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| By: Ina Steiner |
| Mon June 25 2007 15:06:13 |
| Sellers
are reporting that they are being targeted by eBay for seller
nonperformance ("breach of non performance policy"). While this may or
may not reflect a new policy, it seems the level of enforcement has
increased in the past week or so. As with other recent Trust and Safety
initiatives, eBay has not announced anything about it, at least from
what I can see. Here's an example of just one of many threads about the issue. As you can see, this seller has no telephone number to contact eBay. It appears to me that recent T&S initiatives (beginning last fall) have increased the demand for customer support, but from my understanding, capacity has not increased. Making the site safer by cracking down on sellers sounds like a sensible idea, but eBay sellers know that unscrupulous buyers can give them unjustified negative feedback. By going purely on raw feedback, and not taking into account circumstances like deadbeat and newbie buyers, some good sellers may get caught in the net. And as usual, sellers are left wondering if eBay exempts their top sellers from such crackdowns. I have inquiries pending, in the meantime, let me know if you have been affected by this issue by posting a comment below, or calling the AuctionBytes Hotline (see this page for the toll-free). |
Readers Comments
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: RichardC |
| Mon June 25 2007 16:04:27 |
| Ina,
I do believe this was the "Seller's Experience" focus that was
introduced at the ecommerce summit back in January. eBay stated they
were going to look closely at sellers performance, and robotically or
by humans-those falling within certain parameters would receive
consequences. Of course this is not fair for sellers, but as is the case of VERO violations, what is fair. Shoot First and ask questions later (if you can!) At least with VERO you have an contact email- though you rarely receive a reply!!! One must remember eBay is not a democracy. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Todd |
| Mon June 25 2007 16:45:42 |
| We have been affected by this. As per eBay notification this is the information that they provide to you: ''eBay will continue to evaluate your account on a monthly basis. Restrictions will not be lifted unless your buyer dissatisfaction rate is brought below 5%. Please note that failure to reach this level within four months will result in the suspension of your account(s). Significant improvements to your customer satisfaction must be seen in order for us to consider reinstating full selling privileges. Please note that should these improvements not occur, eBay may be required to take further action.'' eBay reviewed our account after 6 weeks and suspended us for life. They stated that a previous account that we owned (from one of our drop off stores) did not meet the criteria therefore we were being suspended. Just to note, that account has not been used in almost 5 months no feedback received in over 3 months and when we asked them to close it 6 weeks ago they told us no. So now we are suspended permanently for being linked to that account. Our account manager was unable to help us - he was told that any appeal would not be fruitful and the decision is final. The ironic part of all this is that when they contacted us 6 weeks prior they told us to improve our selling account - no mention of improving this other account. As well, how can you improve over 100% satisfication (if you sold nothing and received no feedbacks that equals 100%). |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Sandi |
| Mon June 25 2007 17:21:41 |
| I
received an email from ebay Friday, telling me I was in the bottom 2%
of sellers for buyer satisfaction. My feedback is 99.3, I have 4.9 on
the new ratings stars. Over 500 positive feedbacks from 275 unique
buyers. I have 2 negatives, one from a deadbeat, crook buyer, one from a buyer who notified me her insured item arrived damaged via feedback, yet refused to return it for a refund or file an insurance claim. I have emailed ebay since Friday with no response. I find it odd they say they are doing this to improve the buyer experience, yet the seller who has had 20,000+ unhappy buyers this past year alone continues to list & sell. I find it ironic that ebay, a company with the worst customer service of any online venue has taken it upon itself to decide what good customer service is. If they were a seller, they would have already received a lifetime suspension. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Ramy |
| Mon June 25 2007 22:41:23 |
| I too have been unfairly suspended. I am not a full-time ebay seller but only do it part-time to earn some extra money to put my two daughters thru college. I have a 99.6% positive feedback with only two negative feedbacks in the past six months and only 6 total negatives out of over 1400 positive feedbacks. My regular job is as a retail manager in a clothing store so I understand what it takes to offer good customer service but this new crackdown is unfair to small mom& pop operations and they need to use different criteria not just a blanket percentage rating. Thanks for letting me vent. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: ROBIN MCCAIN HUSAIN |
| Mon June 25 2007 22:48:42 |
| we
have been sellers and buyers since may05 and have a 99.2 rating. we
also got the 14 day suspension for the bottom 2% . ebay customer
service is terrible and we have not gotten back any responce from the
trust and saftey dept. we have rec 1 neutral and 3 negs in the past yr.
all the negs we dead beats that destroyed our property and file claims
through paypal. my acct was on hold for almost 2 mths .WE LOST A TON OF
BUSINESS. paypal and ebay fees avg 400.00 to 500.00 a months , so u do
the math. robin and richie |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Caleb Laurence |
| Tue June 26 2007 19:23:20 |
| I to have had this happen to me, but have been fighting it all the way back to february. My business is destroyed, and if someone wants to start a class-action lawsuit, please count me in |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Caleb Laurence |
| Tue June 26 2007 19:24:29 |
| May I also say, that I have been busing and selling on Ebay since April of 1999, and basically got the boot, never to be able to sell again...... |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Kevin |
| Tue June 26 2007 23:46:27 |
| I
am a family man and a father of five children. I have been an ebay
member since 1999. Almost Three years ago, I started doing research on
products that I can seller on ebay. It took me 18 months of research to
find the items and suppliers that I can make a living on. It was only 2
years ago that I have become a steady ebay powerseller. I quit my day
job and started my business out of my house garage, then I had my
brother work for me in addition to three more employees. I was working long hours trying to keep up with the expenses of my large family and try to build a sustainable business. Then early this month (June 6th), I received an e-mail from ebay saying that my account was suspended. And although the reason was unclear, they specifically stated that because my account is linked to my brothers personal account, and his account was suspended for seller non-performance!!!! I was thinking that this is a spam e-mail, so I picked up the phone and I called my ebay account representative, a lady by the name of Anna Spenz. She turned out to be very unprofessional. she didn't even give me a chance to talk and she started talking to me like I am a nothing. I was shocked just by the tone of her voice... I mean I didn't expect that at all. Although she didn't want to specify the reason for the suspension of my account, she did tell me that my brothers account was from the bottom 1% of ebay sellers. And because we shared the same information such as last name or address, my account was suspended too. When I tried to understand why his account generated so much dissatisfaction, she said that he hasn't been shipping the products that he sold to his buyers but then she rejected the idea of putting him on a three way call stating that ''he is not eligible for her service as a reason....'' Anyways, I waited for my brother to show up and I explained to him the problem and that I am pretty much out of business because of his action. He didn't believe it. So he showed me that he hasn't sold a thing for over five months, no open disputes, and his feedback rating was most 98.2% so what was she talking about!!! I ended up sending an e-mail to the trust and safety department requesting some more clarification about the problem as per my account manager recommendation. The reply was suppose to take 24-48 hours. I got a reply e-mail a week later stating that they will uphold the suspension and did not address any of my questions. I have since let go of my employees and in the process of closing my business. But what bothers me the most is the ability of ebay to bully anybody around. And the fact that they don't even have phone support for the trust and safety department. That's the worst customer service, I've ever seen. I think that ebay grew too big and they just bully honest sellers around. I hope somebody can shed some light on this and contribute with any idea on how to resolve my problem. Kevin |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Brian McGregor |
| Wed June 27 2007 027:13:11 |
| Unfortunately
this is one ball game where eBay owns everything! If they decide,
fairly or unfairly, that you can no longer play in it, then there's
little you can do apart from embarking on the appeals process. I feel
real sympathy for those sellers for whom their eBay earnings are a
significant element in the household income. There is one strategy, however, which can reduce the impact of eBay suspending your account. That strategy is to have more than one eBay account. I strongly advise every eBay seller to set up a second, and even a third eBay account. Make sure you get feedback ticking over on all your accounts then, if eBay pull the plug on one account, you aren't put out of business! Brian |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Rick Dronkowski |
| Wed June 27 2007 027:27:04 |
| Would like to join a Class Action suit against ebay for new 90 5% policy We are Powersellors and this ias totally unjust. They need to pay!!!!1 |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Laurel |
| Fri June 29 2007 13:16:35 |
| I have been affected by the crack down I received the 14 day suspension. I work full time as an ebay seller and as an aide to a handicapped child (which dosn't pay much therefore ebay)I have surched for anything that could possibly have trigered the notice. I have a 99.7% positive feedback yet it said I am in the bottom 2% of sellers even the new star systim gives me s 4.7 avg. from buyers. I did have a npb and I did file a claim the buyer had a -7 feedback. and a neutral from a newbe that did not understand the system. I have sent 2 emails to trust & Safety and no answer in 10 days. If this is a punishment for something I did wrong wouldn't it be more productive to let me know what I did so it can be corrected? I am very disappointed in ebay, but it is the only game in town with this following. I am fortunate to have a 2nd site that I sell other items on and have listed some of my best sellers from the restricted site but what a pain. I am still down about $4-600 in sales for these 8 days, which is scary for us as we run very close on $$. My husband is disabled and we count on this income. I feel as a could be power seller (I opted to not sign up) for 5 yearsIt is truly infair not to be given a less drastic warning and then if i did not comply, then restrict me. But to get this out of nowhere and no way to contact anyone at ebay and no response to emails it is very bad business. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Dan |
| Sun July 1 2007 01:40:49 |
| If
every seller and buyer reported ebay and Paypal to The BBB and IC3 they
might do something about it, but it seems everyone I have talked to
& read about only complains & takes no action against ebay.. My
Advice TAKE ACTION I am & have been for the past year. I actually
got 1/2 of my money back from Ebay. Hope this helps. PS If we could get ebay to stop the scamers getting away with 1 sent starting prices & all cost on shipping, they could probably afford to lower fees for honest sellers. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: John |
| Sun July 1 2007 14:38:09 |
| I have been a part time ebay seller for many years. My 100% feedback is only because I have refunded money when it was not due or have been "black mailed" into receiving a positive feedback. It is there ball and there playing field. I have seen questions and concerns posted over the years all going no where. Cynical, yes. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Sandy |
| Mon July 2 2007 02:03:15 |
| I have recently become a member of this select group-my experience is the same.I am so overwhelmed by this, and other seller friends are amazed at Ebays' actions. They do control it all- there isn't anything that can be done. They give no answers and leave you hanging. If there was somewhere else to go it would be great.But everyone knows Ebay-so we are stuck in this crazy new control policy. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: quickphil |
| Mon July 2 2007 18:12:49 |
| I have been saying it all over the boards and the PS board for a long time. If you put, or keep all your eggs in the eBay basket, you are nuts. Simply nuts. I know a PS who was VeRO'd, all her items. She was stuck with, I believe, $18,000 of inventory. Now, after the ax feel, is she putting up a website. Amazon and the others are helping, but they are going down the eBay road also. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Si |
| Mon July 2 2007 19:26:51 |
| I'm
not sure having multiple accounts will help much now - eBay are linking
accounts and suspending ones that relate to suspended or closed ones. This has just happened to me, they 'caught' all but one of my accounts and also my ex-housemate's old one at my address. (I believe the rule says something like if account is suspended no-one from that household can use another account, rather than just the individual.) It seems they are using addresses, names, IP addresses, emails, attached Paypal and/or Skype accounts and more to link accounts. For me this all comes from an ancient account with incorrect info - faxed them id as requested... not getting anywhere! I don't want to risk selling with the one I have left and trying to sort it is a nightmare. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: eno59 |
| Wed July 4 2007 04:33:32 |
| I too am under the %2. Buyers that knowingly use a service I provide for honest buyer .Canada post light package/bubble package. These are a theif tool if you except Paypal as payment . I had one theif allready . People that use this and know the lenght of time it takes but EBay allows them to leave negative feed back and proof thats like a coaster.My bigget problem too is EBay never answering the emails or 1 that looks like the automated email syndrome.even a neg from 2002 when they never helped me back then ethier and livechat is a joke . They prove each day here they don't care. They make a claim they do but they refuse to look at yuor feed back and all that happened . They are as bad as the ignorant people that put the negative feed back. Right now I dunno whos worse actually. I can't even EDIT my listing to remove the shipping. all it takes is 5 neg feed backs even from years ago and 15 to just get to the %5 . what a rip off they call a 3 to 1 fair.I would have to be a complete idiot to believe that. I had to put my site on vacation thanks to EBay. Yet they still will charge me and as you can tell I'm being ripped of buy them . I have tried for 3 months now to get this fixed . The last year now when I ask for any help its a total waste of time. It amazing a company that makes the multimillions is so darn cheap to have a 1-800 number. I finally thanks to people in the Ebay community got the one for paypal and I never will use paypals emails again I hope. The theif got his money but so did I with a fight for whats right fully mine.Credit card companies should really be investagaining these chargebacks. Its a thiefs heaven . Sick of the few people in the Ebay community that tell me to drop the shipping . It makes up more like 10 to 1 of my sales but ebay's ignorance to suspend with out having the curtacy and respect to check first is disgusting and appaulling. The fact is when its abviuos buyers are making claims that they shouldn't be then ebay should fix it. 3 months is way do darn long to wait . I pay a monthly fee and I'm treated like a pice of sh..t and every one on here . I know there is a lot more than whats here thou. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: eno59 |
| Wed July 4 2007 19:17:32 |
| http://pages.ebay.ca/help/feedback/questions/retaliatory-feedback.html well I guess this site proves we are screwed and evil allways wins and nothing we can do . well I will just close down It not worth it . I hope ebay dies when they feel they aren't responsable to investigate it but don't mind using it to srew the inocent then they are as bad as the crook. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: eno59 |
| Wed July 4 2007 20:20:53 |
| Seller even saying suck it up .I wonder if real stores that catch a thief suck it up. hmm I wonder what would happen if the police could do like ebay and get a lawer to releive thenm from the responsability to catch that thief and do whats right and corect the wrong . Ebay made the system that the thiefs and just bad buyers use and abuse darn right they should be responsable. Stinking laws again that let this happen. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: eno59 |
| Wed July 4 2007 20:44:42 |
| Just earse my ranting its a waste of time .We have lost no matter how wrong it is . my store I'll close since its screwed any ways. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: eno59 |
| Wed July 4 2007 20:45:32 |
| Just earse my ranting its a waste of time .We have lost no matter how wrong it is . my store I'll close since its screwed any ways. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: RPOL1234 |
| Thu July 5 2007 22:09:11 |
| Yes my account was resticted also. No negative feedbacks in the past 30 days no open disputes. I have been told by other ebayers that neutrals are being counted as negative. Which is not right. One of my neutrals has that I describe the item right shipping was ok but I guess the buyer just didn't like the time that much. I always wokr with the buyers and offer some sort of compensation if the itme is disliked. I do not feel as though by account is giving ebay a bad name. Feedback is there for the buyers to look at. If they feel as though the seller is bad they can choose not to buy from that person. If as seller has hundreds of positives that should show that they are doing a pretty good job. How many complaints do you think a major department store gets a year. ANd with all the complaints thtat ebay has been getting lately according to these new rules ebay should be shut down as well. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: bonni |
| Fri July 6 2007 06:06:08 |
| Yet another good reason to have your OWN website and use eBay only as a means of getting customers to it. Eventually, sellers will learn never, ever to rely on eBay. It's an unstable environment in which to build a business. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Fruitee |
| Fri July 6 2007 11:30:35 |
| I
dont think its a coincidence that the feedback star system went into
place before this came around. We no longer have a way to protect our
business from people who are abusing us in feedbacks. The fact that
ebay puts a big friggin arrow on there that says SELLERS WONT KNOW ITS
YOU pretty much is putting bullets in a gun. and wouldn't you know it, for the ones they have targeted to kick out... they've ramped up their PROSTORES marketing in our sellers screens. lol Ebay if you want to be my boss and exercise that kinda control over me... don't be surprised if you get a notice from the department of labor for being my employer. For a venue you sure seem to be applying employer/employee practices such as performance ranking |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Toni |
| Fri July 6 2007 11:50:54 |
| This
is so sad. Just like when the fees went up so high, it's terrible to
learn of so many disabled and poorer sellers just trying to feed their
families or pay the rent get axed by Ebay. These aren't just numbers;
these are real live people with the need to make some money to live on.
It's not extra money, but life or death money to them. And it's the
children of all these sellers who will suffer also. And the elderly. If anyone has been to Ebay Live you have seen all the REALLY poor and elderly and handicapped people who sell on Ebay. They are just trying to have a better life---to pull themselves up off the bottom and be productive. And then Ebay suspends them unfairly with no recourse and no explanation. How can you improve your feedback when you aren't allowed to sell anything or are suspended totally? |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Toni |
| Fri July 6 2007 12:04:34 |
| There
is a huge, huge shooting star powerseller (read Ebay's cash cow) who
has a 90% feedback rating, has a star rating of 3.7 to 4.3 who is still
in Ebay's good graces. He has had 11385 negs and neutrals in the last
year; 2443 in the last month. Think of all the thousands and thousands and thousands of their buyers who may never return to Ebay again to buy from any seller. Yet a small seller (insignificant to Ebay's bottom line) with 500 feedback and 2 negatives from non-paying buyers gets suspended for life. This is so wrong. When money talks, there is no concern for "buyer satisfaction" or the "buyer experience" on Ebay's part. These terrible super-cash-cow sellers hurt Ebay's reputation for the entire world, yet Ebay loves the money from them too much to take any action against them. For too high shipping or buyer complaints, including many Paypal chargebacks even. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: michele |
| Fri July 6 2007 16:56:00 |
| This has happened to both of our ebay businesses. My family was selling on ebay full time as our only income, but it is gone now and we are trying to figure how to support our family. We have a warehouse full of inventory. Guess we'll hit the locale flea market! |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: George R. Hansen |
| Fri July 6 2007 17:19:10 |
| I'm
wondering if these sellers who are being suspended are selling low
price items, below $25.00. I am wondering if these sellers are being
blotted out because of the ''junk'' Meg was talking about. I am also
wondering if this is paving the way to the ''New'' eBay. It's obvious that eBay wasn't too happy when there wasn't more of an exodus last summer from those who have stores when they upped their fees. I think there is a dollar amount somewhere in this suspended equation, whether it's monthly fees paid, low price items being sold, maybe sellers keep their stock month after month with item not selling in their stores. It's more than just a few negatives and neutrals at work here. I believe if eBay can't get you one way then they look for a way to get rid of you another. Look at it this way. If you had a 4.5 or lower star feedback, how long would it take you to get that up to a 4.9 as eBay wants you to have and how many products would you have to sell in a months time assuming everyone purchasing from you will give you 5 Stars across the board which in itself probably wouldn't happen. Now, they monitor you monthly, so lets face it, that is almost an impossible task. The majority of the suspended sellers will never accomplish that goal. Are only store owners being suspended or is it auction sellers too? Someone up for taking a poll on these suspended sellers? EBay loves to take polls and comments from the community to make choices on how eBay moves forward. Pull your resources and find out the differences and the similarities of this situation and put 2 and 2 together. That's the only way you will come close to an answer. Then once the poll is taken make it public for all the world to see. Look elsewhere and hope that someone takes the auction and stores rein where eBay is loosing. I do believe some company somewhere with the guts and revenue is reading and watching this whole eBay fiasco and right now finding ways to take over the auction/stores market. Dreams do come true! Good Luck! |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Mariann |
| Sat July 28 2007 19:12:38 |
| I
too have been affected by this. After receiving my first notice I used
live chat hoping to get some answers. I didn't. They said all I could
do was send an email so I did. Here's what I wrote: "I received this notice and want to know why -SNPC NOTICE: Restricted Account I tried to list something for sale tonight and could not list it. This is unacceptable. I am a reputable seller and would have a 100% positive feedback if not for unfair negative comments. For example: item was not received even though I mailed it to the address given (buyer did not insure item and there was no way of tracking it),negative feedback was left because buyer said she was overcharged for shipping but my shipping charges are always a flat fee and she bid on item anyway. My feedback is now 99.4%. I did put in for retraction of negative feedback when I received my first negative comment but Ebay never did respond to it so I didn't pursue the rest. Anyway, this is very upsetting to me to now have E-bay restrict my account when I am a 53 year old woman who has the utmost integrity and ethics when it comes to selling on E-bay. Please respond to my situation as soon as possible. If this is not a mistake please give me all the specific details. The restriction notice said I could sell an item but I could not list one this evening. Please let me know what is going on. I would also like to have a phone number where someone in the Trust and Safety department can be reached." My reply to this email was another automatic response, no personal information whatsoever. Of course, no phone number was sent. So, I sent off another email today hoping Ebay would make this right but after reading all the postings I doubt they will. I think as sellers we are being treated so unfairly. They are looking at, in my case, 3 unfair comments made by unknowledgeable E-bay buyers and penalizing me, an honest seller trying to make some extra money. The fact that there can not be any personal phone contact to set things straight just frustrates me so much! They really need to step up their customer service. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: somebodysomewhere |
| Thu July 12 2007 23:41:14 |
| The number one problem on ebay that contributes to a whole host of other problems including negative feedback on seller accounts is ebays total and complete failure to perform any verification whatsoever on buyer accounts. As of the last time I checked about a month ago ebay is still signing up buyers with no more verification than an email, this results in deadbeat bidders who as often as not will leave retaliatory feedback and lost revenue. If ebay would start requiring credit card or bank account info on all accounts deadbeat bidding and a lot of other related probelems would fall to next to nothing. As it is a deadbeat loses one account due to unpaid item strikes and they just sign up for another under another bogus name. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Paul |
| Sat July 14 2007 014:46:23 |
| I just sent an email to meg@ebay.com according to http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/aug2003/nf20030818_1844_db049.htm She is reading her email right? although about 500+ per day i think it is worthy for us to send her about the comments we've put here, at least we "HOPE" that she will consider changing the policy a bit. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Jason |
| Tue July 24 2007 15:42:55 |
| I have been affected. I had 100% rating on over 800 feedbacks before 1 auction where I sold 200 as is memory sticks for a guy. Some of them ended up not working and even though everything was clearly stated in the auction listing and I worked through the paypal resolution process with each of them, they still left negative feedbacks. Ebay gave me very little time to get my feedback rating up, which was impossible and then they suspended my account and my other account permanently. I have not been able to get in touch with anyone in ebay that is willing to listen to me and look at the facts. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Paul |
| Sat July 28 2007 028:00:27 |
| Sadly.
after one month I cleaned up all my negative/neutral feedback and
disputes, and then send an email to request review. The Trust and
Safety team just copy and paste their last same email saying I have
limited privilege to sell for another 30 days. and ask me to further
improve. WTF.... |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Wolf |
| Sat July 28 2007 10:29:12 |
| Digg this story guys! http://digg.com/world_news/eBay_suspending_good_standing_seller_accounts_without_warning_You_re_next The more people that digg the story (click the digg it button to the left), the more exposure this will get once it's on the front page. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: dale |
| Sat July 28 2007 12:48:28 |
| From 1999 to 2006 I was on ebay and then suspended with over 30,000 in pos fdbk with a 98.4% rating....BECAUSE of negative feedback! (and after I began to complain about fees quite loudly) With no way to contact a human being at ebay, and after weeks of faxing replies from my customers who had complained (that indeed their merchandise was received - just late due to an internal problem quickly resolved here on my end - and that they were happy and TRIED TO REMOVE the negative - BUT COULDN'T) I quit. But the REAL problem was born from the fact that in 2001 it cost me $2200month to list the products it now costs over $7000month to list. Competition and changes in the industry were forseen and adjusted for and only played a small part. Income falling from 100K to 12K per year due to fees was, and is, the problem. Customers who enjoyed fantastic bargains and great service that felt wonderfully personal due to the technology of email - are the losers. Ebay's treatment of it's sellers is the evil. Greed is it's name. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: K. |
| Sat July 28 2007 14:05:27 |
| There are a lot of us sellers that worry more now about the PITA buyer that buy's a Factory sealed item ,And will Ding US with less then positive over :A how the company made the Item !B. the color of used by the company ! I got Less then postive over the wrong shade of red on a fire truck by a toy comnpany ! the Item was still factory package mint. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: K. |
| Sat July 28 2007 14:05:45 |
| There are a lot of us sellers that worry more now about the PITA buyer that buy's a Factory sealed item ,And will Ding US with less then positive over :A how the company made the Item !B. the color of used by the company ! I got Less then postive over the wrong shade of red on a fire truck by a toy comnpany ! the Item was still factory package mint. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Bob H. |
| Sat July 28 2007 15:59:08 |
| A
few comments on this topic. And no, I DON'T work for eBay. Some of
these comments will upset most (if not all) of you. Sorry about that...
sometimes the truth hurts. It's possible that eBay is ''weeding out'' the unprofessional sellers that do irritate buyers and cause them to ''blame'' eBay for what the buyer believed to be a bad eBay experience. And, I know that some buyers are just as bad as some sellers. Unfortunately, eBay's reputation suffers in the long run. I believe that they would rather upset that bottom 2% and have them leave eBay than upset the 98% that they would rather keep. Let's face it...eBay is a business. They make money for their stockholders. They don't owe any of us anything. I'm sure that their financial analysts have determined that they will make more money overall by following this path. Instead of griping about having your ''business'' shut down, do something to change your selling habits. Of course, if you had done the right thing from day one, you wouldn't be in this mess. Frankly, I'm getting tired of reading comments from eBay sellers who can't spell, form a complete sentence, or clearly describe their issues. I'm starting to wonder if all of these eBay gripers are uneducated and don't know how to run a business. How about a little professionalism in your business dealings? Look, it's simple: Describe the item accurately, stop ripping off buyers on shipping, and ship the item promptly. THAT is the formula for keeping your feedback high and your ratings close to 5.0 Yes, I'm one of those sellers that sells items less than $25. I have close to 2000 FB rating and 4.9 ratings. I have achieved a 100% rating by following the selling principles listed above AND being courteous at the same time. What can you do TODAY to get on the track to becoming a better eBay seller? Stop griping about it and just DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT! My opinion... nothing else. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Bob H. |
| Sat July 28 2007 21:28:18 |
| Hey, eno59.... No wonder you are in the bottom 2%. Seventy-seven total feedback with 5 of them being negative? That % is horrible. How can you claim to be a good seller if you have that many people giving you negative feedback in such a short time? Come on, get real. You are not running your business properly. And then you rant about it on this blog? Yes, you SHOULD close your store. When eBay gets rid of the low-performing sellers, my business is sure to go up. Customers buy from people/stores that supply these things: 1) Fair and honest price (and that INCLUDES shipping). 2) Fast service (quit blaming it on the postal service). Ship your items the next day and 10 days through Canada Post won't seem so long. 45 days? Who wants to wait that long? 3) Friendly customer service. Provide emails to let them know when you're shipping, notice of any delays, etc... Those three items are the cornerstone to successfully selling on eBay. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Mrs. Smith |
| Sat July 28 2007 21:30:59 |
| You
all want to say that those who were suspended KNOW WHY, and it was
deserved. Wrong Answer! I have 99.7% feedback; no outstanding issues;
account current; NO negs; (3 w/d); 1 neutral for past 90 days -- and
the comment was ''great seller''. I am a Silver Power seller, so I called the support line. Before you think I'm a huge seller, my feedback number is around 4000, acquired over 7+ years. The very nice fellow at eBay support can't quite figure it out, either! (I was watching the listings being removed as we were talking on the phone.) So ... he says he will escalate my issue. He calls back a couple of hours later to tell me that because of the specifics in my case (?), instead of restricting my account from selling altogether, they would put the listings back up as closed, and I could sell 75% of my gross sales from the past 90 days, averaged monthly. As of last night, my account was still completely restricted from selling. OH - You can add another 740 positives to my account that DIDN'T COUNT, because the customers were so happy with their product and service that they not only returned to eBay, they returned to buy items from ME. YES, if someone does not pay within 2 weeks, I send a NPB notice. If they still don't pay, I file for my final value fee credit, and the buyer gets a strike. This is how things work on eBay. It's also always been my understanding that the entire point of feedback is so that eBay can be self-policing. Buyers and Sellers rate their experiences, and this lets their future potential trading partners know what to expect. Are buyers so ridiculously stupid now that this will no longer work? I sincerely doubt it. Rather than going after the sellers who may have made an error or two, they should be looking at the repeat offenders with the truly horrible feedback; those with a record of real dissatisfaction; those who take the money and run; those who deal in counterfeit items; and those who post mis-leading ads. The feedback system as it was prior to stars was working fine. Those of you who remain so loyal to eBay need to realize that if it is me this week, you are not too far behind. Everyone eventually gets a dissatisfied customer. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Mrs. Smith |
| Sat July 28 2007 21:33:37 |
| I should have added my star ratings: My lowest star rating is Shipping Time: 3.9 (illness & death of my father in WV - we are 500 miles away in MI); Shipping charges: 4.4; Communication: 4.5; Item Description: 5.0 Our shipping charges are, and always have been, very reasonable. eBay and PayPal should have such customer support. I have provided documents three times to PayPal for my name change due to marriage on 11/25/2005 -- still no name change. When I use the "toolhaus" tool circulating through the message boards, my i.d. returns at 0%. I must say that I am truly baffled. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Kathy |
| Sun July 29 2007 22:04:19 |
| I
too have been affected by this crazy new policy. I have a 99.6%
feedback. I have really been going through a rough time these past
couple of months with scam artist buyers. So, I have a few negatives
and a neutral from the last 90 days. One of the buyers filed a
complaint for non-receipt, but when I filed a complaint with the IC3,
she suddenly "found" the package at her old address (how did I get her
address from 6 months ago" - no, I am serious, she actually said that
to me). Her feedback is being used against me currently and I had to
ask for her forgiveness of my past feedback (in hopes that I will once
again be able to list on eBay). I depend on my income on eBay. That is how I pay my bills. Two weeks is an eternity, and from what I understand from other sellers, it is likely to take more than two weeks to get my listing rights back. SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE DONE!!!! |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Tom Justice |
| Mon July 30 2007 20:04:36 |
| If someone is organizing a class action suit against ebay for their bumbling impetuous ill non-thought through, "Non-performance" wacko brainlessstorm, let me know and I'll join in. Meanwhile, am also contacting BBC. Any journalists out there, write an article or call and get one written in Forbes, Business Week etc. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Tom Justice |
| Mon July 30 2007 20:35:20 |
| I
just wanted to leave the complain I just filed with BBB her in the
event that others with similar complaints might be helped in writing
their complaint: Complaint Description: Ebay has launched a ''non-performance'' policy penalizing sellers with what they consider low feedback ratings. Here are the complaints: 1) The policy was impetously implemented without warning 2) Many people with customer ratings of 98 to 99.7 positive customer feedback have been shut down, suspended, or their allowable listings decreased. 3) Ebay promises e-mail correspondence in 24-48 hours and does not allow phone communications. Over 40 sellers have reported (see auctionbytes.com) that they have not been contacted in over one week after writing ''emergency'' emails. 4) Ebay's policy does not consider key considerations such as complaints from ''newbies'' who don't understand the system; complaints from unscrupulous members deliberately buying things so they can leave negative feedback; the degree to which sellers do or don't ''pay off'' complainers with illegitimate refunds etc. to avoid negative feedbacks; the nature of the product offered and its susceptibility to negative feedback. 5) Once a seller is notified that their neutral and negative feedbacks are unsatisfactory according to ebay's arbitrary stadard, key information is NOT provided such as how soon the ''restricted'' seller will be able to relist items; the exact number of items that represent their formulated restriction, etc. Without such info the seller is left ''hanging'' not being able to make any plans for there business. 5) The policy effects thousands of ebay sellers, but was apparently developed with no input from the seller community----or perfunctory input if that. 6) USERNAME: justvinylla USERNAME: justvinylla Your Desired Resolution: 1. I belive a refund of lost seller net income over the number of days that my accounts was restricted is in order. 2. I request that ebay a) Pull back the suspensions and restrictions on all sellers. b) Organize focus groups of both buyers and sellers to address the concerns of each. c) Delay re-instituting their ''non-performance'' policy until such input has been made and publically recorded. d) Re-name the policy in positive terms so as to imply that ebay is interested in supporting sellers in improving service and assuring buyers of reliability and trustworthiness from ebay and their sellers. Hopefully ebay will be responsive to fair minded concerns and avoid costly legal actions currently being organized in the seller community. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: eno59 |
| Wed Aug 1 2007 01:01:47 |
| Bob H you are clearly the definition of websters dictionary(Idiot uneducated, ignorant, ill-informed person) 1 of those negatives if you accually took the time to read look and plainly see is one that was left from a seller that was paided fully and left it for me. Never comunicated with me as to why other than he ended it .FULLY paided and no reason as to why he left and negative at all. 1 is a seller that new the shipping and new he could steal the item and have all his money returned. I have all the proof and all the threats . Paypal did return mine to and agreed but ebay is useless the fact is they do nothing to respond or check it out etc etc . and you can't even figure out the math . It not still 98% as each month so far there is another 2% gone . The fact is that the shipping has a 45day wait period it allways has even paypal doesn't nothing till the 45days is up . Shipping isn't my fault it is the shipping companies. Right now ALL have been from usa buyer where the shipping has been slow ever since the 9/11 and thats a fact . Even been on the news. But as much as I wanted to end my sales to the usa I have and know there are still some honest buyers from there. But it doesn't matter if there a 100 all it takes with this stupid bot system is 1 to end it . I hope you are next because with each month 2% gone they will have to pick on some one else. They need some one else to feed on . Anyway your are ignorant . |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: eno59 |
| Wed Aug 1 2007 01:09:49 |
| by the way I have order many things from 1 province over Vancouver and with expedited it took no less than 12 days to get here . So going 5 times(more) that it does take longer for that type of shipping . I have bought from the usa and know hopw long the shipping can take and its the same . I am not that ignorant to complain for somethign I chose like tham and abviously you |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: eno59 |
| Wed Aug 1 2007 01:23:16 |
| I also see you don't have the guts to show you site either. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: eno59 |
| Wed Aug 1 2007 01:08:53 |
| Tom Justice Yes Ebay rfuses to answer emails . Thye send 1 cover letter which is totally usless. But I guess technicly that one cover letter is an answer.Any one with a brain that works knows that thats a croak of BS ,But its abviuos thats what they think . |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Paul |
| Thu Aug 2 2007 02:05:22 |
| I have left another message earlier... I have been power seller for 4 years and with 7000+ feedbacks and 4-5 stars in all their new rubbish feedback category system. I admit I have some outstanding issues consistently with a few different buyers but I resolve them quickly. As a seller you know you can't avoid such things happen in particular when selling in larger scale. 100% positive is impossible, but as long as things can be resolved quickly it is fine. A negative means nothing bad as long as it is kept low and you handle the transaction properly. The problems now actually are (1) They suspend/limit sellers without much reason, and they just come and point at me: "Hey you are a bad seller". Even I asked so many things by email they just copy and paste their old shit and refuse to show any concrete complain cases on me. (2) Even after 30 days and I asked them to review. The damn mystery Trust and Safety department just again copy and paste the email they sent before and I got ANOTHER 30 days to wait. The shit thing is, in the first 30 days I have already cleaned up every complains dispute refund cases. No neutral/negative in that 30 days and no sales in that 30 days. But I still in that non performing seller category.... Now I got no more complains I can handle but I still don't even know what was the problem after all and I can't get out of this non-performance group. Why do they refuse to explain the concrete reason to us? What the f... is this kind of customer service? If ebay itself is a seller, they should get lifetime suspension immediately! |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Alex |
| Thu Aug 2 2007 02:59:01 |
| Well, over a month & the ''Great Computerized Witch Hunt'' continues... Lives & finances being crushed with no good reason. Mom & Pop business's that took years to build being destroyed & reputations ruined. No notice or warning of supposed ''infractions'' People that put all of their eggs in eBay's basket have had that basket taken from them & stomped flat... All because of this latest ''gimmick'' to prop up their falling stock prices. MEG WHITMAN !!! Are you not ashamed ?? Oh wait - I forgot. Shame is only possible if you have a conscience.... How very sad.... :O( |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: eno59 |
| Thu Aug 2 2007 02:23:05 |
| http://pages.ebay.ca/help/feedback/contextual/leaving-detailed-seller-ratings.html one more proof that ebay allows the buyer to leave neg when this shows that ebay should be removing it.SELLER HAS NO CONTROL OVER SHIPPING DELAYS.But yet ebay lets the buyer leave a negative when it was well with in the shipping limits for the type of shipping they chose. Consider only business days when evaluating communication. Sellers don’t always check email on weekends and holidays. This is also where I was hit with negatives that it cleary says here I shouldn't have been . once again proving they don't want to be a responsable company. and they need to go learn to read the dictionary about what neutral means. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Kathy Bannister |
| Sun Aug 5 2007 12:29:43 |
| I think it is interesting that the boards are filled with sellers who support eBay's newest witch hunt. The fact is not all buyers are honest. Thus, not all feedbacks are honest. Obviously, not all sellers are honest either. However, a negative or neutral is not always proof positive that a seller is a "bottom feeder" (as has been suggested by a few individuals spewing hatred on the bulletin boards). In my case, I have dealt with an inordinate amount of scam artists (buyers) within the past few months. I am a small seller, and I supplement my income with my eBay earnings. I cannot afford to be defrauded by buyers on eBay (any more than some buyers on eBay who cannot afford to be defrauded by sellers). Ebay's response to fraud on their site (and falling stock prices) has been unilateral and unfair. If no one speaks up, if everyone accepts the status quo, then they hand over their rights too. Okay, so right now it is not affecting them, but wait, it very well might in the near future. You're right eBay is NOT a democracy. However, they are still required to honor the rights of their customers (and by the way, eBay's customers are buyers AND sellers). The number of lawsuits lost by eBay demonstrate this very fact. My guess is there will be a new lawsuit, and eBay will be called to task for these discriminatory policies. I hope to be a part of the lawsuit because eBay's actions have hurt me financially (and emotionally as well. I am not fond of being referred to as a member of the bottom 2% because I have had 3 scam artists try to strong arm me in the past 90 days. Oh, and just remember, many of the buyers on eBay are also sellers on eBay... |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Bob H. |
| Sat Aug 4 2007 16:39:00 |
| Well, eno59... Your last several posts further illustrate the unprofessionalism of some eBay sellers. By the way, thanks for being an eBay seller (at least for a while longer)...eBay needs to eliminate somebody at the bottom. Nice to have some of you 2%'ers around. 1) I doubt that eBay will continue chopping off a new set of bottom 2%'ers after each round. Using that logic, they would be down to approximately 92% of original sellers after just a few rounds. Come to think of it...that STILL wouldn't be too bad. They could probably have cut off the bottom 10% of sellers and still be in good shape. Let's hope that they continue dropping sellers for awhile. My business will go way up! 2) You obviously missed the point. YOU are a poor seller if you are getting 5 negatives in 77 sales (leaving you a 72 feedback mark). Come on -- that is way TOO MANY negatives for such a small number of transactions. By the way, the negative comments from your buyers suggest that you don't communicate with them and that your items arrive DOA. And, the shipping takes forever. If you have a shipping issues, just COMMUNICATE with them and tell them WHEN you shipped the item. Don't just ship it 2 weeks later, ignore the buyer and then BLAME the shipping system. Gee, my items get TO CANADA within 10 days. Yours take 20-45 days from Canada to here? Do you wait 10-20 days before shipping? 3) I can do the math. I see that you're averaging 4 feedback ratings per month over the past year. Wow, at that rate, you should be able to ship your packages within a day after receiving payment. Of course, at that rate of sales, I can certainly understand why you're so upset at possible suspension from eBay. Without eBay, you'll be losing so MUCH money from your 4 sales per month (8 sales in the last 6 months)! 4) Let's face it...you're NOT a real eBay seller that is trying to make a living from selling on eBay. Excuse me, maybe that's what you're attempting to do -- trying to get your sales up, but can't because eBay is on your case. If so, you are going about it the WRONG WAY! Get those negatives down by taking care of your customers. Respond to their emails and inform them. You have probably spent more time whining and complaining on this forum/blog than you have responding to your customers. And, your only chance of survival is to start over with a new eBay name and zero feedback because very few people will purchase from you with the lousy feedback that you have. If English isn't your native language, I give you kudos for at least being able to communicate in the language. Otherwise, please heed this additional advice: Please learn how to use commas and periods properly. Maybe then, your posts just might have a chance to make some sense. Plus, you referred to a dictionary. Maybe you should get one and learn how to SPELL. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Bob H. |
| Sat Aug 4 2007 18:11:38 |
| For
those of you that want to improve your seller star ratings and are able
to calculate new results, here's how to do it. Though, it might
illustrate the futility of trying to improve your ratings. It would be easy to put this into a spreadsheet to do the math for you. This word version of a formula illustrates the calculation needed to determine the newly desired detailed seller rating. New rating = (current average rating * current number of ratings + average of new ratings * number of people leaving new ratings) / (current number of ratings + number of people leaving new ratings) For example, say that a seller has a rating of 4.4 with 77 people leaving that rating? If the next 20 people leave a rating of 5.0, then what would be the new average rating? New rating = (4.4*77 + 5.0*20) / (77+20) = 4.5 (rounded to nearest tenth position). Don't forget to do the math using the correct order of operations. How long would it take to go from 4.4 to 4.8? The answer --- 108 new ratings @ 5.0 would bring the average up to 4.8 WHEW! Good luck! And NOBODY is going to get a perfect 5.0 from the next 108 people. So, let's say you average 4.9 (still pretty hard to do). Then, it would take 180 people averaging 4.9 --162 people giving you 5.0 and 18 people giving you 4.0 -- to go from a 4.4 to 4.8 rating. What a daunting prospect! More realistically, how about going from 4.4 to 4.6? For the person with 77 ratings averaging 4.4, it only takes 47 new people leaving an average 4.8 rating to kick them up to 4.6 Yes, it might look impossible. That's why it's important not to let your rating drop in the first place. I'm sure that eBay is looking at several things when dropping people: 1) # of negative comments in a specified time period. 2) Overall FB % rating. Of course, #1 and #2 are related. Five negs in 6000 transactions over 3 years is not much. If they all happened in recent transactions, you might be in that bottom 2%. Five negs in 77 transactions is WAY TOO MANY no matter how long it took (sorry eno59!) 3) Listing descriptions. Is it JUNK? Too much of it floating around on eBay? 4) Shipping charges. Too high? Of course, that's one of the things that will reduce one of your star ratings. 5) Turnover. Is eBay making money off of you? Just like any business, if the company were spending more money ON you than you're worth to them...the company wouldn't miss you. There are costs to keeping non-performing sellers around. eBay also knows that non-performing sellers do create a negative impression of eBay with potential buyers. Listen guys...I'm one of the few people on this forum that has the guts to say this to the rest of you --- you are on this forum because you are in trouble or fear that you will soon be. One person on this forum wrote: ''I am a reputable seller and would have a 100% positive feedback if not for unfair negative comments. For example: item was not received even though I mailed it to the address given (buyer did not insure item and there was no way of tracking it), negative feedback was left because buyer said she was overcharged for shipping but my shipping charges are always a flat fee and she bid on item anyway.'' DUH, how about TRACKING or DELIVERY CONFIRMATION of the item? Can you prove that it was delivered? It is the responsibility of the SELLER to deliver it, prove it was delivered and file an insurance claim with the P.O. if it wasn't delivered. Buyers don't have to buy insurance. It's up to the seller to get it there and PROVE IT if there's a dispute. Would make sense to insure YOUR item in case the P.O. lost/broke it since the buyer can get the money back (at least from credit card or PayPal) if it's not delivered. (Yes, I try to get my buyers to pay for insurance. If not, I take my chances on the cheaper items or purchase it myself on the more expensive items. With 2000+ packages going out the door, I have YET to have one lost or have a buyer claim it's lost. I figured that I have saved over $3000 on insurance charges. I could lose the next 200+ packages and still be ahead.) The seller in question said that she had the shipping charge listed. It can still be too high in the buyer's opinion. It's possible that the item was purchased at a very good price and the buyer really wanted it. Does that mean that shipping should still be piled on? I may feel great about paying 1/2 price compared to another seller's item, but if I have to pay $5 more in shipping (compared to the other seller's lower shipping charge), I will still complain that the shipping is too high. That'll be true even if the overall price is lower -- because I will feel ripped off on the shipping. Not to mention that eBay sees this and knows that they are losing FV fees on the listing when it sells (since they don't charge fees on the shipping charges). They know that sellers are circumventing the fees when they sell low and ship high. Then, they RAISE the listing and FV fees to everybody to compensate. Again, the idea of items selling for a penny and then shipping is $19.95. Finally, what do I gain from the eBay ''bloodletting?'' I end up with fair competition from other eBay sellers that don't irritate eBay buyers. The buyers that clog the search results with junk items and penny items (then charge $19.95 shipping) do affect my business. They should all be dropped if they're not up to par. Dropping the bottom 2% of sellers is actually GOOD BUSINESS. I'd be extremely happy if they would make it the bottom 10% (keeping my hopes up -- there's still time!) I'd rather compete with sellers for a group of buyers that like to shop on eBay and who enjoy the experience. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Jesse Barbieri |
| Mon Aug 6 2007 15:04:54 |
| I too have been a victim of this ''seller non performance'' suspension. My account was suspended back in January of '07. Actually any accounts that contain or contained my address were suspended. That means family members were suspended. Anyway, eBay is still telling me that the only way to reinstate my account is to contact each person who filed a complaint against me and have them take their negative feedback away and explain how the issue was resolved. Most of these people won't respond to me, one of the members is not a registered user, and one guy is making rediculous demands. He wants a full refund, me to send another one of the items, and an appology. This is not good business. This does not make people want to sell on ebay. ebay only looks after the buyers and does not care about the sellers. They only want people to join. I have been contacting eBay about this every day, and no luck. I only had one guy tell them that the issue is resolved. Any suggestions? I made a new eBay account with my fiance's information and we used my paypal account. Now her account is suspended because it was linked to my account. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Jesse Barbieri |
| Mon Aug 6 2007 15:07:51 |
| I also wanted to say that my account was suspended because users overseas complained that their items were not delivered. There were a couple others. Seems that all it takes is some idiot to tell the other buyers to complain. Thats what they do, and ebay still lets the problematic buyers stay on ebay. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: eno59 |
| Sat Aug 4 2007 23:34:35 |
| well once again you assume I did comunicate but since you like ebay and the fact that ebays feedback makes it imposible to respond and show proof .I did comunincate. 2 said I didn't . ! it was me that first comuniucated the other all his went into spam . Plus the fact he bought on a late friday night and bitched about it on onday. If you see the logic in that yopu untterly crazy. . you once again are ignorant. 5 neg that need investigatd but since ebay proves they refuse to take responsablity to do it will in the end eliminated them . If they were under their owwn feadback they would be perm. suspended .1 of my neg is from a seller that thanks again to Ebay I could never get it fixed iether. I still to this day have no Idea at all why he left it . I payed in full verified and then I look and see he left me a neg andc never once comunicated with me. I even the other day stooped so low to ask him for what I would have agreed to years ago. MUTUAL. this feedback system is rotten to the core. If you want to be blind to bad for you.Biggest probelm of all is the fact that Ebay is fully irrisponsable for the system they created. I have to bribe them $20 a neg to even look at it I just found at safe harbour. Total scam . |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: ebay |
| Sat Aug 4 2007 23:44:43 |
| you really are stupid eh I just reread what you said I did NOT send it 2weeks later you moron The f..g canada post web site shows it was sent at a proper and Ebay fit under ebays stands. It morons like tou that assusme and can't even bother to look at my feedback. Which again makes it imposible to give the full details and more proof of the neg being a complete lie. Canda post site show the date and it was not 2 weeks later. I have 2 that said doa but they clearly said sold as is and 1 of thiose 2 was some one that never did comunicate at all too . I just looked and seen a neg. But the discription clearily said unless you have a 2940 scsi card I wouldn't know how to get it to work. It needed a card that was manual setting. 2 other buyer got the same drive and they worked. so did that one all tested before i put them up etc . It stinks how ignorat you are assuming and not checking out anything . a screw it time for /ignore your a waste of time and stupid clearly |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Kathy |
| Sun Aug 5 2007 12:33:08 |
| Yep, you're right, my spelling and grammar are not always 100%. However, I did manage to get a Master's degree, and I did graduate at the top of my class. I am not stupid, and I am not illiterate. However, I am not a perfect typist, and I think you are able to get the general point of my postings. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Bob H. |
| Sun Aug 5 2007 16:14:59 |
| For Kathy, Yes, you are not stupid or illiterate. Your posts communicate your thoughts very well. That doesn't mean that I agree with them (just like you can disagree with my thoughts). It is entirely possible that with your feedback and ratings that you could STILL be in the bottom 2% (at least for the moment). eBay could be looking at more recent transactions and maybe you're temporarily at the bottom. After all, you stated ''I have a 99.6% feedback. I have really been going through a rough time these past couple of months with scam artist buyers. So, I have a few negatives and a neutral from the last 90 days.'' Have you thought about WHY you're being scammed? Is there something about the way you're doing business that leaves you susceptible to being scammed? Are you tracking your packages? How about withholding feedback on your transactions with ''new'' or low-numbered feedback eBay'ers until they have left you feedback first. My rule is that I don't leave feedback for anybody with FB of less than 20 or less than 99% UNTIL they leave feedback first. Anybody with a good percentage and a high FB number gets feedback as soon as they pay. Kathy, you will probably survive eBay's new policy and come out stronger in the long run. eno59 on the other hand... For eno59, Thanks, eno59 (or ebay ...see comments from 2 posts prior to this one). You have REALLY made it clear that you cannot communicate properly. (''a screw it time for /ignore your a waste of time and stupid clearly''). WHAT were you trying to say???? I know that buyers can sometimes be unfair, but when you are repeatedly getting negative feedback comments (out of a relatively small total of comments), then YOU are doing SOMETHING wrong. How easy it must be for you to blame the other person. Here's a different kind of example: Let's suppose that you get into a conflict with 10 different people and those other people rarely get into conflicts with anyone. Do you think that it could be YOU that is the source of conflict? Do you want some more facts. During the past 6 months, you had 8 postive FB and 2 negative. That's a whopping 80% during that time period. And for the entire last 12 months, you had 42 positives, 3 negatives and one neutral. That's still only 93.3% during the past year. You are one STELLAR seller! It still comes down to this: YOU are doing something wrong on eBay. For WHATEVER reason, your customers are NOT happy with you. People won't leave negative FB if you take care of them. Maybe it's the shipping, the way you describe your items, your inability or unwillingness to properly communicate (''HD never worked, e-mailed back and forth, after 2 months, now ignores me, FRAUD!'', ''BEWARE! paid 2 weeks ago, no communication, no product, NOTHING!!! RIP OFF HERE!'') or maybe, just maybe, you are not cut out to sell on eBay. From the facts that YOU'VE presented to us, it certainly appears that there is justification for you being in the bottom 2%. With YOUR track record, buyers WILL avoid you. Change the way you do business or somebody else will be selling to your potential buyers. When did you LAST sell something? Oh, I wouldn't worry about it too much...you can't be missing out on too much money. After all, your 46 sales in the last year surely didn't pay the mortgage. Why don't you take your merchandise to flea markets and sell it there? Just think -- no fees to eBay, buyers can see and judge the merchandise, nobody will view your poor FB rating on eBay, and you won't have to rely on written word to get your point across. Hey eno59, if you're serious about selling on eBay, quit whining, get off of these boards, and spend more time fixing your business and/or reputation. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Kathy |
| Mon Aug 6 2007 18:12:57 |
| Please email me at kathyscarnine@cox.net with any info about a lawsuit regarding this. It is time that we all fight back. I plan to file complaints with the FTC and with the Better Business Bureau. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: mickeydeez |
| Thu Aug 9 2007 09:18:25 |
| eno59,your buyers say you suck Item took 20 days to ship and arrived DOA! This seller can suck it. Buyer: ldsj ( 18) May-03-07 18:13 -- (#200032937056) -- BEWARE! paid 2 weeks ago, no communication, no product, NOTHING!!! RIP OFF HERE! Buyer: heelshaven ( 151) No longer a registered user Mar-26-07 12:33 Reply by eno59 (Mar-26-07 19:30): still in transit and takes up to 45days for what he payed for . -- (#200034241929) -- paid for item...never recieved...45 days to get refund..Bad ebayer Buyer: giftsnmoreonline ( 122) Jan-22-07 14:57 Reply by eno59 (Jan-22-07 15:03): https://em.canadapost.ca/emo/basicPin.do?language=en 7210029006010916 Proof Follow-up by giftsnmoreonline (Jan-22-07 16:49): why pay for something and refuse it...did you ever think canada post at fault !! -- (#200047069675) -- Read before you bid, battery as-is already stated, buyer unable to read english Seller: a1electronics_wholesale ( 526) Sep-24-06 08:56 -- (#110023611652) -- Item arrived well packed but was DOA. No way of knowing exactly why. Buyer: saswork ( 20) Mar-01-03 07:04 Reply by eno59 (Mar-23-03 00:55): They do work tested and formated . leaves feedback without emailing not good -- (#2304591309) -- Aution didn't work out. Seller: seany2000 ( 68) Dec-06-02 11:51 Reply by eno59 (Dec-12-02 18:38): He refused to send what I payed for . lost on the exchange rate. his fault -- (#2059181753) -- HD never worked, e-mailed back and forth, after 2 months, now ignores me, FRAUD! Buyer: fmentone ( 21) Apr-09-02 19:53 Reply by eno59 (Dec-12-02 18:40): Does work its an sx model need to go in the adapter and say yes to send command -- (#1326816139) |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Bob H. |
| Fri Aug 10 2007 21:03:09 |
| I
see that somebody else agrees with me that eno59 has eBay problems.
And, in case you're wondering, I DID NOT post the comments by
''mickeydeez''. Though, when I searched on eBay's community, the only
eBay user named ''mickeydeez'' came up as a long-time registered user
with ZERO feedback. Of course, just because he/she used that name on
this forum doesn't mean that this is the same person who is registered
on eBay. Switching back to the topic: I know that there are sellers still operational on eBay that have worse records than some sellers who have already been suspended. This just implies that eBay's ''bloodletting'' is NOT over and that the time will come for the rest of the bottom feeders to be suspended. For example, I was contacted by a user who has a FB = 85% with detailed seller ratings of 3.5 to 4.4 out of 5. On top of that, she had 5 negatives out of the last 9 transactions. And, she wanted me to sell to her. Ha! Ha! Let me jump right on that sale! Her listings were still active. Why is SHE still on eBay? Then again, maybe she just came out of a suspension and is trying to get her FB rating up by buying instead of selling. Yes, she should have been dropped and probably belongs in the bottom 2%. That doesn't mean that people who are complaining about their suspensions don't also belong in the bottom 2%. Think about it, if you ARE in the bottom 2% (by whatever criteria eBay uses), then you should be dropped. Does it really matter what order they suspend the 2% in? |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: LAURA TRUEMAN |
| Fri Aug 10 2007 22:34:53 |
| Ina ebay has no customer service whatsoever. You wait days for an email, yet they shut your site down. You ask Live Help its like the Three Stooges poking their eyes out. You tell them that people are doing chargebacks even tho they have the merchandise ... they don't care. Truthfully ebay needs to be monitored by the gov't they are out of control and as much as they would like people to think THAT they are a corporation, they don't run their organization as such. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Jason |
| Thu Aug 16 2007 17:08:48 |
| We actually have a lawyer that has won against ebay already, and now is taking on our cases. Feel free to email me with information about your case, and I can give you the lawyers details so you can join our non continency suit. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Brent |
| Thu Aug 16 2007 14:45:25 |
| I'm
in the same boat with everyone else. I have over 20,000 feedback and a
98.7% score. Ebay sent me the email restricting my account saying I
had over 5% negative and neutral feedback for the last 90 days. I added it up and I actually had less than 2% negative and neutral feedback for 90 days. I couldn't talk to my gold powerseller manager because he left the company and ebay is restructuring the program so they aren't assigning new reps right now. The rep I did talk to had no idea why I was restricted, but couldn't do anything about it. I played the game and contacted the negs and neutrals I did receive and had most removed by mutual removal. I emailed and asked for the account to be reviewed again. Guess what. I got the same form email telling me to wait 30 days and continue to resolve my issues. Issues? What issues? I don't have a single open dispute. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Donna |
| Fri Aug 17 2007 017:02:52 |
| I just got a notice from eBay this week that I am being limited in the number of items I can post due to a 5% dissatisfaction rate over the past 90 days. I have written to eBay to explain that the reason for my falling a little behind is that my husband passed away, but have received no response. And since his estate is in probate, I will be depending on eBay for additional funds until probate is completed. I've been a member of eBay since 1996. I have had only one eBay user name and account for all those years. I have maintained a rating during all that time which has never been--and still remains--at least 98%! My volume during the period they considered for this limitation was small, due to the personal circumstances, and yet they took this action. Ever since eBay announced that they were placing emphasis on "buyer satisfaction" a year or so ago, I've been concerned that stuff like this might start to happen. It seems that the small sellers who really got eBay started are no longer important to them. I'm very, very disappointed. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: sjj |
| Thu Aug 16 2007 18:25:14 |
| Ebay has issues! Yesterday, I received the famous email from ebay stating that I met the standards for a ''good'' seller. I also got a phone call stating that I was being put on probation for being a ''bad'' seller. ALL IN THE SAME DAY! They don't know what they are doing. It's a comedy of errors. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: jsicolts |
| Fri Aug 17 2007 017:59:21 |
| ebay
"crackdown" is totally unfair. We are at 99% approval, yet a few
OVERSEAS buyers that squeek at the postal rates and shipping has caused
us to be on a THIRTY DAY restriction. We have appealed of course. It
does NOT seem to effect sales and listings on HALF.COM and other sites,
Alibris, Biblio.com etc. What are they cracking down on? Sellers that DO NOT REQUEST negative feedback removal? ji |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Rey |
| Thu Aug 16 2007 23:47:43 |
| Ebay is doing what they THINK is appropiate , but they dont realise they are digging themselves by making many of the good sellers go somewhere else..and eventually this will have repercusions. they spect 100% from sellers but when is time to respond to the sellers concerns and questions all they do is send a canned responses which doesnt even make sence.. If we the sellers were able to rate ebay, they would have been NARU a long time ago. moreover if we had the power to fire some of the management for poor handling of the company interests I know which top management i will fire on the spot.. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Magda |
| Fri Aug 17 2007 017:39:42 |
| Who taught eBay arithmetic??? I received hundreds of positive feedbacks after having received a few negatives which brought down my rating, yet the numbers never go up again. How is that? |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: BC |
| Fri Aug 17 2007 017:53:07 |
| Even though my feedback rating is 99.8% I have had enough of ebays crap and closed my store I am taking my selling elsewhere and to my own site. Feedback is to subjective and some of the buyers who complain about the smallest matter rather before they even contact the seller. Enough is enough for me. Ebay has just become to much of a hassle to sell on. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Cathy Cushman |
| Fri Aug 17 2007 017:04:20 |
| If Ebay is going to put so much credence in buyer's feedback about seller's non-compliance, then the buyer's should have at least a 50+ feedback so they can at least have a little experience and savvy to know what in the heck they are complaining about!! Some buyers get a big ''kick'' out of joining Ebay, leaving negs for honest Ebay sellers who have worked for years to build a good reputation. The newbies ruin a good seller's reputation, close their account, and open a new one...only to jack around with another honest ebay seller. The buyer needs to show some credence in order to be even allowed to ''neg'' someone. For example, I got my firt neutral yesterday in over one year by a buyer with a feedback of 7. Why? She said I shpd her item other than Priority Mail that was stated in the auction. Guess what? It doesn't state anywhere in my auction about shipping Priority Mail. It says Standard Mail Delivery, which, by the way, saved her over $12 in shipping fees. What can I do as a seller? See what I mean? Her feed back of 7 vs mine of over 2700? Make sense? Hell, NO! |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: philby |
| Fri Aug 17 2007 017:29:37 |
| I see that this first blog entry was June 25. Yesterday we received a notification from e*bay that we were still sellers in good standing (oddly enough as did two other sellers I know in different countries). Is this a pre-cursor to becoming not a seller in good standing? There are some mighty funny things going on at e*bay, like the number of high end BINs hits right on end of billing cycle by zero feedback accounts that appear to have been inactive for some years. These are BINs total in the tens of thousands of dollars just via a cursory search. Now while one can and does claim back the final value fee, it is only a credit and they still have your money. Unrelated issue? I don't think so. Don't believe me? Do a check on completed items across several cats and have a look. Many of these disappear within a couple of days like they never existed as completed items. I think there are many serious problems with the site, and what we are seeing is damage control of a kind to keep that share price up. The issue, as has always been the issue, is that while they implement many new ideas for ''buyer safety'' they are all at expense of ''seller protection'' as well. No wonder so many sellers have left in large numbers. This latest tactic, lack of customer support and ruthless attitude to sellers small, medium and large will impact further. They have forgotten something really basic. The less sellers who have ethics, and will depart because of unfair treatment, the less buyers will come to the site. The novelty value is off e*bay. As soon as the name became a verb, and it just became another part of life, the chrome came off the knob. ENRON PART DEUX on the horizon? |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: DD |
| Fri Aug 17 2007 017:47:50 |
| I
was a victim of this about a year ago, long before eBay's new policy. I
had basically stopped selling on my account with feedback rating over
2,000, 99.6% positive. I ran 7 auctions for ''around the house''
clutter, and 3 were won by the same non-paying bidder with a feedback
of ''1''. He wanted to send a check, and I clearly said I would accept
Paypal and money orders, but no checks. Long story short, I decided to
accept the check with a 5 day wait after I received it. 3 weeks later,
no check came, and I kept getting emails threatening negative feedback,
so I filed a NPB complaint. The next morning, he had left me negative
feedback for all 3 items. The check never came, so 2 weeks later I
pulled up the NPB dispute and saw he responded that the check was
mailed (though he could walk on water before he proved it had cleared.)
I closed the dispute, got my FVF credit, and he emailed eBay and had
his NPB strikes removed??? I emailed eBay, and they told me since he
responded to the NPB dispute his feedback would not be removed. What a
crock! A year later, I am still PO'd about this result. A week later, I
signed in to place a bid and found out my account was suspended for
seller non-performance. This jerk filed a complaint on ME, and then I
was required to try to contact the 5 other buyers out of over 2,000
that left negative feedback, and have them write a letter to eBay
explaining that the problem was corrected. The last negative before
this A-hole was over a year before, and I had to get in touch with
them? I called the old Powerseller support number I had, and gave them
total hell in trust and safety when they told me it was my fault for
screwing up the transaction. Well, the account is still suspended. My question for the almighty eBay is this... eBay seller ''bargainland'' has a 93% positive rating, including neg/neutrals, over the past 30 days. Total feedback is 90.4% positive. This is a seller that truly hurts the buyer experience, but continues to sell on eBay? If I had been paying for 3,000+ weekly auctions, then FVF added, over $50,000 in monthly fees, would I have been suspended? |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: philby |
| Fri Aug 17 2007 017:50:28 |
| QUOTE: Who taught e*ay arithmetic??? I received hundreds of positive feedbacks after having received a few negatives which brought down my rating, yet the numbers never go up again. How is that? UNQUOTE Because their dumb system works like this... if you get a couple of negs early in your selling days when you only have a few feedbacks, it lowers your percentage. It never recovers. The reverse is true for seller who started long before the % BS and has several thousand feedbacks, and several hundred negs and shows a percentage of 99.7%. That e*bay really thinks that most buyers have any clue as to how to honestly fill in that star rating system just indicates that they have no clue just how low the lowest common denominator is out there. Ms Cushman's comments above are right on the money, too. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: cam |
| Fri Aug 17 2007 017:55:05 |
| A
policy that prohibits sellers from earning a living has got to have
redress. This policy has a large impact on new sellers. You cannot have
a blanket policy based upon metrics without taking sampling size into
account. For example, a new seller with 10 positives and 1 neutral
falls into this ''net'', and new sellers are the ones most likely to
make a ''newbie'' mistake (delayed shipping, overcharging no shipping,
bad packaging, etc). This is just one problem with this system. Others include the decimation of the feedback system. eBay should just eliminate feedback for buyers. A seller should never ever ever now leave negative feedback for fear of retribution because the weight is now strictly on the seller. There are sellers who will always end up getting more negatives than others - driving certain segments totally off eBay (liquidation sellers for instance). Instead of giving ''bad'' sellers a hand up, they are met with retribution, and I for one, am tired of eBays attitude that sellers are a dime a dozen. Go back to old feedback and see the number of sellers no longer selling. This program could have been a postive - A phone call, webinars, workshops for sellers not meeting the standards, instead the first ''method'' of improving buyer satisfaction is suspension. Is it any wonder that so many sellers dream of getting off eBay? Getting their own website, customer list, store and saying good bye eBay?? I've never been a customer of a company that has so little respect for its clients. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: fly |
| Fri Aug 17 2007 10:08:49 |
| I like the idea as too many people have been ripped off by terrible eBay sellers. One question though for eBay: If they see a neutral as a buyer having a very bad experience, why not just get rid of that option? That way if the buyer really is upset, they will leave a negative and then as a seller we know they are seriously upset. They aren't going to know their neutral is affecting us like a negative and if they did, they likely wouldn't leave it or would contact the seller first. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: ashley |
| Fri Aug 17 2007 10:32:08 |
| Ebay
has become a hot bed of scammers. Remember the book that exposed the
paypal SNAD policy that enables buyers to get things free? How long before the buyers catch on that they can blackmail you with the threat of a negative and possible shut down your business if you do not allow them to steal your merchandise. I noticed Ebay's 3rd largest seller Bargainland, Who had horrible feedback, has just opened their own site. They seem to have no shortage of customers either. According to their forum page, they will be allowing outside sellers on their site in the near future. I just wonder if more of the huge sellers leave Ebay, will this impact Ebay's future policies on limitations? |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Pat |
| Fri Aug 17 2007 11:00:45 |
| I've just read about this new policy on Ebay, my wife and I have been selling on Ebay for about 7 years. Our feedback rating is 99.9% positive. Most of the 6 negative comments we have came about when Ebay integrated the feedback from Half.com with our feedback from Ebay. And all of it is from deadbeat buyers who left it just because they thought it would hurt us personally. My question for Ebay now is do they actually look at the feedback comments to make their determination of whether a seller is ''non performing''? We recently received a neutral feedback for some thing and the written comment was ''great seller, fast shipping! completely satisfied!'' We are not sure if this person meant to leave this a neutral or did they accidently hit the wrong button? I can see where this could be a problem for us if more people start doing this sort of thing. I hope (and pray) that Ebay actually looks at comments left rather than just the numbers, it will certainly make a lot of difference. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: otispd |
| Fri Aug 17 2007 11:36:49 |
| I do not trust anything eBay tries to do. They seldom benefit the seller unless they see extra ways to increase our costs. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Sue |
| Fri Aug 17 2007 11:37:09 |
| Ebay new rules are unfair. I have an overall rating of Feedback Score: 8260 Ebay new rules are unfair. I have an overall rating of Feedback Score: 8260 Positive Feedback: 99.5% Members who left a positive: 8300 Members who left a negative: 39 All positive Feedback: 10823 And I must say every negative feedback I have received has been un justified Some of them have been from buyers who NEVER PAID, OR WAS UN HAPPY EVEN THOUGH THEY GOT EXACTLY AS DESCRIBED. Some of the negatives have been saying item is great and still leave a neutral or negative. I do not know what or how the start rating is measured or even how you find it how do you find the numbers of 5,4,3 how do you rate the stars rating when all it gives you as numbers? I think ebay needs to allow sellers to rate the buyers same way buyers rate sellers and allow sellers to see who rates them in the stars ratings. Positive Feedback: 99.5% Members who left a positive: 8300 Members who left a negative: 39 All positive Feedback: 10823 And I must say every negative feedback I have received has been un justified Some of them have been from buyers who NEVER PAID, OR WAS UN HAPPY EVEN THOUGH THEY GOT EXACTLY AS DESCRIBED. Some of the negatives have been saying item is great and still leave a neutral or negative. I do not know what or how the start rating is measured or even how you find it how do you find the numbers of 5,4,3 how do you rate the stars rating when all it gives you as numbers? I think ebay needs to allow sellers to rate the buyers same way buyers rate sellers and allow sellers to see who rates them in the stars ratings. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: johngalt |
| Fri Aug 17 2007 11:40:52 |
| I find it extremely ironic that the company with the WORST customer service in the world is now holding it's sellers to a higher standard. Either I'm getting negative feedback from non-paying bidders after a dispute is closed or getting spammed by Chinese who bought only to get my email address (and also don't pay). Ebay won't do anything to stop it. So while it concentrates on improving the "buying experience," the selling experience continues to deteriorate. Ebay has to be the worst managed company in the world. Hey, at least we have Skype! Will it ever improve?? Who is John Galt? |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: miss fuss |
| Fri Aug 17 2007 13:03:55 |
| i
saw the writing on the wall when eBay instituted FB 2.0 & its DSRs.
i'd been buying and selling there for over seven years. it used to be
fun--i was a happy buyer AND seller. as eBay instituted more and more
draconian dictates, making its customers (the sellers) the bad guys, i
let the last of my auctions end this spring, and haven't bought or sold
there since. yes, i need the money my eBay sales brought me. and i'm still working from home--i'm just not paying eBay to do it. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: amie skelton |
| Fri Aug 17 2007 13:05:26 |
| I am a buyer who is clad to see something done . Buyers who do not put a reserve get less than they want for an item wont insure and do not send the item. Then we buyer have to fight to get our money.Then the sellers who want your feed back but wont leave it for buyers. This is a give and take situation. I give the sellers take and I for one think sellers should be punished. I canseled a few bids and got slamed so why not the sellers to!!! |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Jeff D |
| Fri Aug 17 2007 13:19:38 |
| It's
about time. As an owner of two stores I get so tired of being the most
honest guy sometimes. I compete in the toy/game and media categories.
I work hard to list ONLY items I have in stock and I ship within 2
days using the fastest shipping methods. I have 100% on both of my
stores. Here's why I am happy Ebay is tossing the losers...if you want to list items you don't have, fine...but learn to RESPOND TO CUSTOMERS when you don't have it...Refund quickly, etc. When I see these media sellers listing products from Alliance, B&T or Super D's catalog (oops, did I give away your secrets?) why not post that you need to outsource the product and it isn't in hand? I have it in hand and you wouldn't BELIEVE how many emails I get from prospective customers asking me if I physically have it. What the heck is that? Proof too many have hurt Ebay with their greedy tactics. No wonder you people sell below cost and jack up the shipping. I get what you are doing. I don't/won't do that...it's immoral. As for shipping, what is up with sellers who charge $5-7 for shipping a CD or DVD? I've got an idea...why don't you STOP demeaning the true value of the items? I know why...you don't have it in stock whereas sellers like myself carry it and therefore need to turn it around quickly to pay for it and collect our profits. Enough...I am so glad that Ebay is removing the loser sellers. My business has jumped and allowed me to stock many more items to sell. It's not hard to take care of the customer. How come after many thousands of orders I haven't run into any of these evil buyers? Not once...seems to be an excuse for bad behavior on the part of sellers who can't empathize with customers who want their items in a reasonable amount of time and expect you to have the item the minute the paypal the money to you. Yep, I've bought from each of you and many leave me cold. No emails to tell me if it's shipped, false promises of first class mail and late shipping because you either don't have it or are too slow. Shame on you. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Pat |
| Fri Aug 17 2007 13:23:51 |
| Each of these sellers has a feedback rating of 99.9, but who would you rather deal with - the seller with 2,640 feedback and 1 negative, the one with 26,480 and 32 negatives or the one (powerseller) with 264,800 and 320 negatives? Feedback percentage scores can only tell us so much. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: hilsshop |
| Fri Aug 17 2007 13:37:28 |
| You
all need to do what one seller does to keep your account. She is on her
3rd or 4th Id now as Ebay suspended the rest previously mostly for not
sending the items. doggydesigns If you leave her a neg she leaves you
one and then emails you if you remove hers she will remove yours. Many
of the items she sells are also copyright infrigment also. This has all
been reported to Ebay many times but because she lists 4000-7000 items
monthly they just ignore it. Counting the ones she had removed by the
buyer she has right now 163 negs and 113 neutral for the past year.
5242 sales and still a rating of 99.4 and a power seller. I had her suspended for a short period once long ago for copying my auction pictures and using them.I finally totally changed what I was selling so buyers would not confuse me with her. At one time I was a power seller and even though I am disabled and Ebay was my only source of extra income I found I was paying them more then I was making and have decided it is a waste of my time. Now I sell only stock left over for less then I paid wholesale or items from around the house. I also gave up my website which had all the leather goods I sold but no longer sell. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: koen |
| Fri Aug 17 2007 13:58:24 |
| I'm almost a platinum powerseller so I have some experience in the ebayworld. Multiple times ebay's ''Trust and Safety''-guys have suspended my listings and deleted all older similar transactions in my selling manager account WITHOUT EVEN A WARNING. Major administration problem! In the end it turned out they were wrong and they offered me 6 months free membership on the selling manager program. I lost some thousands of euro's and that was their reaction. I mean, where's the union here? I don't want these almighty desk guys to be able to wrek my store when they want to. I want to have rights like my neighbour who runs a small grocery store. I pay taxes the same way he does so am I not entitled to stability when I do everything right? I love the ebaysystem but us VAT-registered sellers should have more rights when it comes to suspending and such. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Cowbell |
| Fri Aug 17 2007 18:56:49 |
| Before I began selling CDs, I checked out the big guys to see what their negs were about. The former biggest one-cent seller (cough) got neg after neg for poor communication, rudeness, non-receipt, and poor descriptions. Best research I ever did. They began to care about feedback once the percentage was displayed, and goosed it up a bit. A huge seller can simply make the decision not to fill 1% of orders and maintain a 99% rating. Interesting thought, isn't it? eBay chased me away when they pulled my store out of the search, and are now only about 10% of my sales. I have nearly 15,000 feedbacks, with 17 negs. Three I earned by making errors in the orders. (I fixed the problems, and considered the negs harsh, but they're entitled to their opinions.)One guy was a whacko who honestly did not know where he lived. One was left five minutes after purchase with no explanation. One was someone who mistook me for Jay and Marie! The rest were NPB's calling me a liar. Several got their strikes removed by "responding." Apparently, the "check is in the mail" defense is proof enough for eBay. Instead of the bottom sellers, eBay could take a look at the TOP sellers. If they did a little math, they would notice that the top three sellers have collected more negs in the last year than all the 2-perecnters combined. itrimming, eforcity, accstation, and moviemarz have alienated 11,000 eBay buyers in the last 12 months. Funny, but somehow I suspect they, and their millions in fees, will be immune from this witch hunt. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Jeanne Barney |
| Fri Aug 17 2007 15:12:44 |
| I wish that eBay would crack down on deadbeat BUYERS! I am so tired of getting stiffed by people with high feedback ratings - high, no doubt, because sellers are afraid to leave negative feedback for fear of retaliation. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Ed |
| Fri Aug 17 2007 18:39:17 |
| Another bad idea since anything that requires ebay support will always result in the wrong people getting targeted and not getting the help they need. It's a good thing ebay isn't required to meet the same standards they set for everyone else or the site itself would be suspended 99% of the time. While i've never had a problem with a bad seller i've been ripped off by ebay many times and even a BBB complaint won't get any satisfaction as ebay refuses to resolve the issue and just has the BBB close the case. It's about time ebay was monitored and shut down for non-performance when they don't meet the standards everyone else must comply with. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Jerry C. |
| Fri Aug 17 2007 20:17:22 |
| To continue with my original post. Ebay has effectively destroyed their feedback system. Anytime you make users afraid to use a system that can be used against them later will drive sellers away from feedback for fear of retailation feedback and being put on Ebay's virtual HIT LIST! Where is the accountability for dishonest buyers? One thing I have learned about all these changes is human behavior. People go through the emotions of Ebay change, then the reaction and finally acceptance. With all changes, we eventually accept it and Ebay knows this. They are well aware of the noisy period then the calm. They figured it out. I am glad Auctionbytes is a voice for sellers. There isn't too much support anymore. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: philby |
| Fri Aug 17 2007 20:21:56 |
| QUOTE: ''e*ay will continue to evaluate your account on a monthly basis. Restrictions will not be lifted unless your buyer dissatisfaction rate is brought below 5%. Please note that failure to reach this level within four months will result in the suspension of your account(s). Significant improvements to your customer satisfaction must be seen in order for us to consider reinstating full selling privileges. Please note that should these improvements not occur, eBay may be required to take further action.''UNQUOTE Well, there you have it right there. The whole reason for the exercise. By targeting long term sellers with this action, and knowing full well how flawed the feedback and now the star rating system really is, the only way one can improve one's standing as a seller is TO LIST MORE STUFF, pay more fees... It's now painfully obvious. D'oh! Had forgotten the Golden Rule: everything they do is about making money, and as a business one understands that. However, like any long term only game in town, they are drunk with power. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Patricia |
| Fri Aug 17 2007 19:31:28 |
| I don't know what to make of all this. I've been selling on ebay for many years now - almost from the beginning and still have clean feedback. (I can tell you I've eaten plenty of costs in order to try to keep it clean - no excuses - its part of doing business) However I'm seeing stories about ebay wielding a heavy club and it doesn't seem fair. I know the main bad sellers and fraudsters are still in place and selling. As with everything ebay has done in the past this doesn't seem to be well thought out or fair and certainly doesn't seem to be administered fairly. I believe they need some sort of punishment policy to get sellers in line but not what they're doing. It should be automatic listing suspensions - a few days first -then if no improvement a week suspension -then a couple of weeks then permanent. If the first few suspensions don't impress on a seller that he has to improve his feedback then he should be suspended permanently. I don't believe in clubbing him to death with the first blow and then expecting him to improve immediately or be gone! Like everyone else has said, its their turf and they can get downright rude - I've seen that plenty of times over the years. I think at this point they are desperate...revenue is falling along with core listings. They're losing money and they really don't know what to do to gain their buyers back. I'm afraid they feel sellers are a dime a dozen and they're willing to sacrafice them in order to give buyers new confidence in the site. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Jerry C. |
| Fri Aug 17 2007 19:51:46 |
| This
is an interesting topic. Ebay sent this blanket email to every seller
as far as I am aware. This can have a profound impact on the eBay
community. Let's call it an eBay shake-up. Not only will the great
sellers tighten up their operations, shaving the bottom 2% means the
filter will never go away. When you get rid of the bottom 2%, then
there is a new bottom 2%. This means the bar will always rise on eBay.
This is not always a bad thing in my opinion, but Ebays roots where
established on amatuer sellers. By always raising the bar, you are
creating eBay monopolies (for lack of a better term )and industries
where companies can discount, ship faster and hire payroll for customer
service. The amateur seller trying to get their feet wet will
eventually disappear with this new formula. You can see ebay changing their model right before your eyes and the changes are massive in scale. I don't see Ebay as an auction site anymore, where you can bid and have fun finding items. I see it as a mass shopping portal, that wants its cake and to eat it too. Ebay has officially lost it's identity. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Glenn C |
| Sat Aug 18 2007 018:16:33 |
| The Ebay user agreement is a contract governed in all respects by California law. Rules and policy are incorporated into that agreement when they are posted on the site. The new policy setting a higher standard for seller performance was posted on Aug 13,2007. Under California law a change to a contract cannot be made without consent. Consent cannot be given without notice. Moreover, Ebay is enforcing the higher performance standard retroactively, using data from transactions that were completed before the new policy was a part of the agreement. The object of a contract or any clause within it, may not be impossible. Last I checked, going back in time is impossible. The threat of a large class action lawsuit is very real. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Lisa |
| Sat Aug 18 2007 14:55:11 |
| There's far too many sellers out there that intentionally seel junk or are just plain rude. But I fear eBay will do it in the usual hamfisted way. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Bambi |
| Sat Aug 18 2007 20:23:14 |
| If
this situation didn't have such dire consequences, it would be
laughable. Suddenly you have people, who depend on all or most of their
income from Ebay, shut down with no warning. The reasons given in the
''Alert'' are vague. And if you asked for clarification, you were lucky
if you got the response that just repeated the same vague language. The recent announcement about the crackdown did nothing but cause confusion and raise more questions. What I would like to say to my fellow restricted and suspended sellers (especially the low-volume sellers)who are or will be affected by this new ''make it up as we go along policy'' is Ebay is concerned about it's ''BRAND'' which has taken a lot of hits recently. (Consumer Reports survey, VTech shootings, the recent report on CNN about ''Efencing'' and all of the other scams ASSOCIATED with Ebay'') There ARE other options out there that may not be as big but could meet our needs. (Ewaey) is just one example! |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Another wronged seller |
| Sun Aug 19 2007 019:56:00 |
| I
was recently restricted by the SNP ''policy'' as well. This policy is
poorly conceived, horribly executed and non-existantly managed by t
& S. Following the 90 day average, I calculated at around 6.5% with no open disputes( 2 in the last 90 days for INR and both were received and the disputes closed) They also took down 123 store listings. The only reason I fell into their net was because of the timing of the feedbacks. I don't sell the same amount year round so the feedbacks aren't left evenly year round either. Based on the 90 day averaging, I had just lost several hundred positive feedbacks because they were at 90 to 120 days at the time of the restriction. In fact another 120 feedbacks dropped off in the last 30 days since I was restricted raising my ''buyer disatisfaction'' rate to around 13% even though I had not gotten any more negs/ neuts since the restriction. Also, at the time of the restriction they deleted 5 weeks of sales history. Every email I get tells me to go through the mutual feedback withdrawal process. Unfortunately, I can't seem to get anyone at ebay to understand that when they cancelled my listings and deleted my history, all the item numbers became invalid. When you try to put the item number in the mutual feedback withdrawal form, the item shows as invalid and won't let me proceed. Despite two appeals, 8 emails and 4 conversations with stores support, I can't get anyone at T & S to even comprehend WHY I can't go through MFW. EVERY subsequest reply I receive suggests AGAIN to go through MFW. Great job Ebay! I am taking the time off to develop a new website to transition away from selling on Ebay in the future and I would encourage all honest sellers impacted by this to do the same! Thanks INA, this site is a ray of sunshine! Pardon my vent! |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Joe Greenberg |
| Sun Aug 19 2007 12:24:12 |
| Read what some sellers have said about what has happened. I sell and buy too. My experience with many high powered sellers hasn't been exactly nice. Most don't answer my emails, so even if I want what they have to sell, I don't buy if possible. Most times they ignore me. I would guess some people would just buy from them to give them a negative feedback. I rather not waste my time and money doing that. Some people forget that this is a business and business people should look on customers as always right even when wrong. I bend over backwards for my customers and wonder how some of those power sellers got to be power sellers cause they couldn't care less for some of the buyers, so maybe it's time ebay did something and is and so you hear the complaints. If these people were so good, ebay would help them but if they are not doing their job, then they reflect on all of the sellers on ebay and ebay itself and evntually they will destroy ebay. Ebay knows this and they don't seem to know it. It's the same old story with people who don't want to follow rules and want to do things their way. It's always been that way and always will be that way. If people don't like it let them not be an ebay seller. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Bob H. |
| Sun Aug 19 2007 13:03:14 |
| For
''Another wronged seller'' -- Come on! Get real. You have alienated 13%
of your buyers in the last 90 days (and 6.5% before dropping the
previous 3 months worth of FB) Buyers don't care as much about the
previous 120 feedbacks. What are you doing different NOW to irritate
your buyers? Here's a good question for you --- would YOU buy from
somebody who had 87% FB during the last 90 days, regardless of their
previous history? What I don't understand about these ''whining'' eBay sellers is HOW and WHY they get these negs/neutrals from their buyers? The proper way to do business is to COMMUNICATE, describe accurately, ship what you are supposed to ship, ship it FAST, and use DELIVERY CONFIRMATION to prove that they got it! Yes, eBay has changed. The ''old'' eBay allowed sellers to ship their used household items that nobody wanted to some grandma-type buyer in middle America. Grandma would wait 7-10 days to get it and be happy. Today's eBay has buyers that see businesses selling items and they want to know when it was shipped and they want it FAST. This is especially true when you RIP THEM OFF on the shipping charges. If you're going to charge $5.95 to ship something that costs you $1.31 to ship, then at least get it out the next day! For ''Joe Greenburg'' --- THANKS! I can tell from your posting that you are one of the better sellers. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: concho |
| Sun Aug 19 2007 21:48:51 |
| I'm
really surprised how many Pollyanna comments I see over this issue.
It's as if those that come to the boards with opinions in favor of the
policy, have not extrapolated the policy to it's conclusion. "I'm at
100%! I'm so good! eBay is right to get rid of those with negs" Folks, don't you understand that those you criticize can spend a couple of bucks on your 99 cent stuff, leave you a "no appeal" negative and drag you right in the pool with them? I believe eBay is in a free-fall decline which will probably only be fully noticed by the average joe and Wall Street after this years holiday season. Specialty web sites and amazon style 3rd party venues are gaining inertia. The reputation for fraud and scams aside, there are too many entities involved in a typical eBay transaction - eBay, seller, Paypal, seller's check-out providers, buyer's CC disputes ETC. The model is simply passe'. Intelligent buyers want to shop where there is a someone (some single entity) who will step up and take responsibility! eBay may know full well that they are going to loose many sellers over the next year and just be trying to push the worst ones over to the competition ASAP. Certainly, If I could wish my troublesome customers on my competetion, I would! The difference is that I know who my bottom 1% PITA customers are but eBay doesn't have a clue! LOL |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Vi |
| Sun Aug 19 2007 15:11:17 |
| Bob
H. is right. There are far too many poor sellers who blame everyone
but themselves for their feedback problems. Sure eBay's automated "bad
seller catcher" is going to catch some people unfairly and there should
be some form of appeal or support, but getting rid of bad sellers is
good for everyone. It may sound harsh, but buyers don't care if your
car died and you can't get to the post office or if you have personal
problems of any kind. They just care about getting their stuff at a
good price and in a reasonable time frame. eBay is in a tough place. They get grief if they don't fight fraud, but in doing so, they get grief from sellers. It's a tough line to walk. Business is business, for eBay as well as buyers and sellers. You need to be a professional if you hope to succeed, even on eBay. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: 1998 ebayer |
| Sun Aug 19 2007 19:55:26 |
| I don't understand it. There are so many comments on this board from sellers who have been caught in the net. However, I just looked at the nortica 500 list. Out of all the top sellers, I don't see any of them suspended. Most have pretty crappy feedback ratings. Why haven't any of those sellers been suspended? |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Jim |
| Sun Aug 19 2007 21:38:40 |
| I applaud eBay's action. eBay is no longer the ''Wild West'' of the internet auctions. Buyers expect ''Excellence'' from vendors or sellers. Excellent is almost perfect. The sellers who hold their buyers ''Hostage'' before leaving feedback or try to make a profit from shipping should be held accountable for their poor business practices. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Patty R. |
| Sun Aug 19 2007 23:59:17 |
| I
found the Nortica 500 list rather interesting ... it took a little
further manual research, but it seems that 37%+ of those sellers with
the worst feedback ratings have either halted sales or are NARU. I only
looked at those bottom 60, but that seems like it might be indicative
of the whole. Clearly, the "August 2007" listing of the "top 500 eBay
members based on feedback ratings" is not corroborated by current
status. In fact, several went NARU many months ago - although their
stupendous rating total has kept them in the Nortica list. Frankly, the
concept of millions of transactions a year having been "set free" from
these slimy sellers and into the market of other, far more reputable,
sellers is heartening. while scruple-free sellers could hold "hostage" the feedback, shouldn't it be the buyer who should leave appropriate feedback first? This would signal the completion of the transaction. If both sides are communicating as they should, then there should never be a negative. I find the "statement" made by sellers who leave feedback upon receipt of payment as a bit crass - "Thanks for the money! I'm done with this transaction, even though I haven't even shipped it yet" Finally, I trust the comment on shipping is a generalization of abusive practices. In actuality, companies operate by making profit. Handling to accomplish shipping utilizes labor and material resources the company must make a profit on ... unless they're some fantasy altruistic non-profit, of course. The smaller the eBay-ing operation, the higher the handling fee should be expected - if it is going to reflect he true cost of that operation. There are no economies of scale for the mom & pop operation - like toting 2 or 3 versus hundreds of packages to the post office each day. Our job as sellers is to be reasonable but, of course, it should also be our choice. And, to all the posters: Thank you for such a thought-provoking and informative range of discussion!! Of course, thanks to Ina for having brought this up in the newsletter ... I was living under a stone, apparently. ;p |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Kathy |
| Mon Aug 20 2007 18:30:38 |
| Well,
I closed my account. For anybody who is interested, my eBay nickname
was stillmee. I am checking out alternative venues (perhaps one that is
sincerely interested in a level playing field). That being said... I am not criticizing anyone else posting here. However, in defense of myself, I will say this... The current standard that eBay is using assumes that the buyers are absolutely telling the truth. In fact, they don't even take in to account eBay's sanctions against some of those same buyers. For example, one of my recent feedbacks, which was used to restrict my account, was from a buyer who said that she never received an item. Interestingly enough, she found the item the day I filed a complaint with the IC3. I also filed a complaint with eBay, and supposedly, they sanctioned her (though they never really tell you what that means). Imagine my surprise, when her complaint was used to determine that I was one of "the bottom feeders." That's okay, though, as it is great fodder for a class action suit against eBay. So, who did you say is handling that suit???? |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Another Wronged Seller |
| Mon Aug 20 2007 020:46:28 |
| To: ''Bob H'' While I appreciate your position, clearly you don't fully understand the point I was trying to make. The percentages I quoted and you commented on are purely related to the timing of when the feedbacks were left not when the transactions actually occurred. I have another business that doesn't always allow me the time to sell on ebay. So frequently I have a high sales volume period followed by an almost non-existant sales period. I use ebay to even out my workload during less then peak periods at my primary business. So, if you agree that satisfied customers are more prone to leave a fast positive and customers with a problem might wait to leave the neutral or negative. Because of the wide 90 day window ebay allows to leave feedback you might get an accumulation of negatives in a slow sales period when your positives aren't high enough to offset them. BTW, if you took an average on my ''buyer dissatisfaction'' for the last 120 to 150 days my percentage would fall between 2 to 3%! Just over 1% if you only look at negatives. It is only because of the timing of the feedbacks and the 90 day cycle ebay arbitrarily chose that causes my percentages to seem high. The reverse can also be true. A seller can generate a lot of negatives in one slow sales period but then if it's followed by a high sales volume period with a lot of positives, it can negate the effects of the ''bad feedback'' during the slow period. In an ideal world the feedbacks would be counted in the same time period as when the sales were generated not when they were left. The real result of this is that some sellers are being disciplined for no other crime then to not have the same sales volume year round AND have feedbacks left equally timewise thruout the year. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Paul |
| Mon Aug 20 2007 020:38:27 |
| To Bob H, I read your comment and want to say congratulation to your current account status. Likely it will still be alright for a while... But in case some day in the future you got that Seller Non-Performance warning from ebay please remember to let us know here. I eager to see that day comes. I am not a native English speaker. Sorry for that and I may mis-spell some words or using some broken grammar. But don't worry I will try putting some more commas in between... However I believe I communicate ''fairly well'' to certain extend... But what?! I still got that seller non performance warning limiting my max sales transaction to 75% of my previous month. You have done a great job in the feedback scores mathematical now we know how the percentage is calculated.... But let me tell you here, I know some mathematics too... let's say I got 100 units revenue last month and then i got a warning because of 5 negative, this month i will get max 75 units due to limitation, and i will have to get my 3 month historical -ve feedback below 5% in order to lift it. And then if that failed, I will get 100*75%*75% limit on the 3rd month, and then 100*75%*75%*75% next and so on. And do you know how they evaluate their so-called ''rating''?? It counts your past 3 months feedback scores. So on the 2nd month evaluation your 1st month rating is weight heavier because you sell less on the 2nd month. The 3rd month evaluation you got 1st month weight damn heavy and 2nd also quite heavy because you sold further less!!! Eventually just get a single -ve feedback your account is doomed and you simply can't sell anything!!! You see the point? It is deadly for small scale sellers! Given that my a/c on average getting 5% negative every month and got limited on the first month and can't get away from the warning, basically it is done. It is a sux policy though I can understand why they impose this policy. (1) They want to get rid of most part-time sellers because those guys don't pay huge amount of fees comparing to those shooting-star large scale sellers. (2) Small scale sellers harder to be controlled. They are agile to change the listings and escape even they got complains from buyers. Can you see why so many people posting in this page? Are you sure they are all bad rubbish sellers as you said? Think about what's going on before blah blah blah here... Good luck and god bless your accounts survive slightly longer than ours. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Paul |
| Mon Aug 20 2007 020:19:14 |
| Bob H, one more thing, as you said you have "guts" here in your previous post === I'm one of the few people on this forum that has the guts to say this to the rest of you --- you are on this forum because you are in trouble or fear that you will soon be. === Why don't you post your account name here and let us buy something from you and see how it goes? I am willing to spend money and buy things from you and kill your accounts. Any account is okay, even low volumne or high volume one. Just one down is enough, the rest of yours will be gone sooner or later. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Paul |
| Mon Aug 20 2007 020:28:59 |
| well... I bet you will post other sellers' account hough... LOL |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Reed |
| Tue Aug 21 2007 021:58:21 |
| I
think it is about time eBay did something about non-performing sellers.
My only regret is that they don't seem to include mutually withdrawn
f/b in their calculation. I know a powerseller who gives a retaliatory neg to an honest neg from a buyer. Seller sends poorly described or completely mis-described merchandise. Buyer tries to contact seller who ignores the communications. If buyer persists, seller's response is: ''we can exchange negative f/b.'' Buyer gives up trying to resolve the problem and leaves a neg. Seller immediately (in one case within 16 minutes) leaves a retaliatory neg. Then two/three days later the seller sends out the mutually withdraw f/b request. The seller, however, NEVER does solve the original problem. The seller got to have his cake and eat it too. eBay doesn't address this situation and they should. Time for seller's to step up to the plate, provide exemplary customer service, and act like the professionals they claim they are. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Lynn |
| Tue Aug 21 2007 021:53:05 |
| Ebay needs to be an EXAMPLE to there sellers and give great customer service before they go tell sellers how to give great customer service |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Bob H. |
| Tue Aug 21 2007 021:31:42 |
| For
those of you who are whining about buyers deliberately leaving you a
negative, I just have to ask...WHY would anybody leave a negative to
ruin your business just for the fun of it? (Unless you're Paul, who
admits he would leave me a negative because he can't handle the truth
of my posts here). Take care of you customers by running a proper business in a professional manner and you'll be fine. Why is it any different than running a brick and mortar operation? The answer...it shouldn't be. There's an old saying...If the customer is happy, he might tell ONE person about his good experience. If the customer is unhappy, he'll tell TEN about his poor experience. Keep them happy and you probably won't get negative FB. PIS* the customer off on eBay and it hurts your future business (or even puts you out of business)! There are thousands of sellers with 100% FB who must be doing something right. And, I'm not talking about them giving away merchandise or refunding money to keep from getting negative FB. Their buyers wouldn't even think about leaving negative FB because they are happy with the transaction. Too many of the whiners on this blog try to justify their poor FB ratings. Come on, get real. For example, when is 5 negatives out of 150 sales good business? Especially if 3 of those are within the last 20 sales. There are thousands of sellers out there who agree with me. But most of them won't post here because they don't have anything to worry about concerning the crackdown on sellers. So, this blog ends up with being filled with rants and ravings from sellers who are being held accountable by eBay. Most of you ARE in the bottom 2% whether you believe it or not! And, it doesn't matter HOW you got there. At least eBay is giving you a chance to redeem youself by improving your business practices. If you were in the bottom 2% of MacDonald's franchises, you'd risk being cut off. Why shouldn't eBay be able to do the same thing? For ''Another Wronged Seller'' you said ''BTW, if you took an average on my ''buyer dissatisfaction'' for the last 120 to 150 days my percentage would fall between 2 to 3%! Just over 1% if you only look at negatives. It is only because of the timing of the feedbacks and the 90 day cycle ebay arbitrarily chose that causes my percentages to seem high.'' Do you really think that having 2 to 3% buyer dissatisfaction is OK? Why are you getting ANY negatives? |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: maxx graphix |
| Tue Aug 21 2007 14:39:54 |
| Just another example of poor management by Ebay. I wish all those who have lost, the best of luck on your new business venture. We do not have to endure this. Start another store somewhere else. Your own website should present it self as a professional business. Just accept CC's. Visa or MC or Discover and AMX will do more to protect thier clients than PayPal or FeeBay anyday of the week. Ebay, your services are no longer wanted. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Bambi |
| Tue Aug 21 2007 12:14:37 |
| "The proper way to do business is to COMMUNICATE" Bob H Here's a question for you - Does the proper way to do business also apply to EBAY? How well did Ebay COMMUNICATE it's new policy to it's CUSTOMERS (sellers)? |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: miss understanding |
| Tue Aug 21 2007 17:48:24 |
| Its a two way street between sellers and buyers. I've been selling on ebay since 1998, I have thousands of positive feedbacks, with only 7 negative feedbacks for the entire 9 year period. Those negatives came from folks who basically left bad feedback, and never contacted me to let me know there was any sort of problem. When I tried to contact them, I never received any sort of acknowledgement. I'm not in the bottom 1% of users being affected, but quite honestly, Sometimes sellers really AREN'T the problem. They just got involved with newbies, or folks who were looking for a $100 item for $1.50. When they didn't get it, they left negatives. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Bob H. |
| Tue Aug 21 2007 18:23:39 |
| Bambi, A lot of people have gripes with the way eBay does business. There are some things that I wish they would do (or do better). BUT...I can't control that. It's eBay's sandbox and they can kick me out anytime they don't want me to play with them or change the rules so that I will want to leave. However, I can control what I do and how I do business on eBay. That's what my posting are all about. There are far too many unprofessional sellers on eBay and I'm happy to see them leave or be forced off. Unfortunately for them, some of them are too blind to realize that THEY are the ones that need to changes their practices or go off and start their own website business...LOL, like they'll do any better there! |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: roo |
| Tue Aug 21 2007 12:25:17 |
| For
some time now, many of us have been complaining to eBay to DO something
about fraud on the site. When I was first asked to join Voices of the
Community in 2003, I made a very simple point - the problem at it's
core is ANONYMITY. The people who intentionally cause problems on the site do so because the can, and they can because they can join anonymously. If eBay punishes the ID, the PERSON comes back with a new ID. I have been told for all of this time that eBay CAN'T require people to positively identify themselves because it would affect membership numbers. This is only important to two groups - eBay and Stock Holders. The membership metric is one that is followed by Wall St. closely, and why eBay touts over 200 million accounts, when it is really only 40-70 million users that are "active". This latest dragnet will fail, as have all other T&S initiatives aimed at removing or reducing fraud on the site. Simple logic has been given by eBay for all of this: 1% of the sellers are causing 35% of the problems. So, even assuming that by enforcing an arbitrary standard of removing those with 5% combined negative and neutral feedback sellers will remove this 1%, YOU STILL HAVE 65% OF THE FRAUD ON THE SITE! Meanwhile, you now have the additional friction created by literally ruining the lives of GOOD people who have done nothing more than opened their doors to buyers who are themselves part of the problem. I contend that part of the reason BUYERS leave unwarranted non-positive feedback is BECAUSE THEY TOO ARE ANONYMOUS. Until someone at eBay wants to deal with the 600lb gorilla that anonymity is, all of this is just further destroying the good will between people in the community and eBay staff, and destroying what was once the shining star of the Internet. It is so sad. _roo |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Another Wronged Seller |
| Tue Aug 21 2007 19:22:41 |
| To ''Bob H'' For ''Another Wronged Seller'' you said ''BTW, if you took an average on my ''buyer dissatisfaction'' for the last 120 to 150 days my percentage would fall between 2 to 3%! Just over 1% if you only look at negatives. It is only because of the timing of the feedbacks and the 90 day cycle ebay arbitrarily chose that causes my percentages to seem high.'' ''Do you really think that having 2 to 3% buyer dissatisfaction is OK? Why are you getting ANY negatives??'' Do you honestly think it's realistic to have 100% satisfied buyers in this selling enviroment? If the standard for being dissatisfied includes neutral feedbacks, newbies, feedback blackmailers,etc... then no. My first neutral back in 2002 reads: ''shipping was quick, nice product, thank you.'' By ebay's standard this would reflect a dissatisfied customer. Care to explain? My most recent negative was this: ''Junk parts didn't even match'' Interesting negative feedback considering he never paid for the item despite 4 invoices/ pmt reminders so it never shipped. How could he tell ''junk parts didn't even match'' Must be one of those psychic buyers. Seriously, if this is typical of the kind of feedback buyers leave and this is the standard sellers are being judged by (that could potentially get me restricted), is it more likely that the problem is with the restriction criteria??? When sellers have NO recourse about unjustified feedbacks like the two examples above, but could still get you suspended, the restriction criteria is about as flawed as you can get. The last negative above is one of the ones that caused me to be restricted. Perhaps the sellers aren't ''whining'' as some here put it, but we are justifiably outraged for all the right reasons!! |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Mark |
| Wed Aug 22 2007 022:54:26 |
| I've never understood ebays mathematics on feedback. To me, this is another example of ebay not looking out for its sellers, and of course its so-called elite Powersellers, of which I belong to. It seems to me that they worry less and less about the scams that are happening hourly, daily on ebay and more about those trying to run a professional establishment. Now counting the neutrals as positives is ridiculous. Why then can't they count positives from items of the same buyer as separate. As someone has mentiuoned its not an ebay democracy, but a dictatorship and they will soon realize it when the Powersellers and sellers in general start moving their business to other forums, where they look out for their clients, instead of supporting the scamming, internet fishing so called "good people". Thanks again ebay for puting the $money before the people. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Bob H. |
| Wed Aug 22 2007 11:55:33 |
| For ''Another Wronged Seller'' -- I still stand by my comments. Do you REALLY believe that your actions don't contribute in any way to the number of negs/neutral comments that you get? I guess that you're just unlucky and maybe all the scammers, rip-off buyers, and people just out to ruin somebody's business must line up in wait for you to sell something! Could it be that ''bad things sometimes happen to good people?'' Yeah, sure. Your business practices probably have nothing to do with your feedback record (LOL). Here are your own words: ''Following the 90 day average, I calculated at around 6.5% with no open disputes( 2 in the last 90 days for INR and both were received and the disputes closed) ... In fact another 120 feedbacks dropped off in the last 30 days since I was restricted raising my ''buyer disatisfaction'' rate to around 13% even though I had not gotten any more negs/ neuts since the restriction. '' Come on, Another Wronged Seller, you ARE doing something wrong. Forget about the so-called timing of when you get poor FB, the plain truth is that you just plain GET THEM. You were tracking at 13% buyer dissatisfaction after earlier FB ratings dropped off the radar screen. WOW, you're upsetting your buyers at the rate of 13 out of every 100. Whine all you want...you're just a POOR seller who needs to go. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Jrdn |
| Wed Aug 22 2007 14:09:36 |
| Hey Bob H, How about we give your selling account a dry run for undeserved buyer feedback and filing of false claims and ebay's SNP policy to give you an ebay whacking? If you think you're immune because you run a clean shop, give us your selling ID and let's test your position. C'mon, if you're such a strong believer in sellers always contributed something to their restriction, give us your seller ID. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Jrdn |
| Wed Aug 22 2007 022:09:24 |
| I've had my ebay seller account restricted for the following reasons ... 1 negative feedback left by buyer, a substantiated extortionist by ebay's standard yet ebay refused to remove her negative feedback and still permits her to buy and sell on ebay. 1 negative feedback left by buyer who is a non-paying bidder (NPB) and retaliated in feedback. 2 Item Not Received claims filed by same NPB who filed these two claims BEFORE I ever received her LATE PAYMENT and AFTER I closed two unpaid item claims levied against her. Her 'payment' turned out to be a folded piece of paper with a stamp slapped on it, no payment inside. I have pictures of her folded paper w/stamp if ebay actually cared about the truthfulness of these INR claims. I returned her folded paper w/stamp. She kept the two INR claims open until ebay removed her UPI strikes and then immediately gloated about getting the UPI strikes removed in a followup feedback comment. 2 Neutral feedback left by buyer who bought the wrong rack set expected a refund then bought the right rack set and then retaliated in feedback stating they weren't new. I only sell new items. 1 Neutral feedback left by buyer who claimed a color difference in the fabric that can only be explained by monitor color differences, all pictures I provide are of the item itself. A refund was offered and refused as buyer still wanted to keep fabric. I sell to pay for medicines not for profit. I had a 99% and better feedback score. eBay restricted my seller account based on unsubstantiated buyer feedback-opinion from 1 extortionist, 1 non-paying bidder who filed two fraudulent Item Not Received claims, 1 buyer mistake-remorse and 1 no-fault neutral due to a monitor color difference in hue. If this weren't bad enough, I was then banned from posting on the discussion forums because I gave a live ebay Customer support number to other restricted sellers and was so outspoken about my account restriction, ebay's SNP policy, lack in seller protection on ebay and ebay-owned Paypal and numerous loopholes in their feedback and claim system that buyers exploit. I guess telling the truth and being honest gets you booted. In case people want ebay's live person contact number, it's 18003229266, press zero, zero, ask for store rep (don't ask for Trust and Safety, you'll get routed to automated message telling you to email). eBay corporate headquarter phone #14083767400. I'm done with ebay as seller and buyer and family and friends are also cancelling their seller-buyer subscriptions. ebay is officially on our boycott list which I can honestly say is rightfully deserved, ie they've been placed on the botcott list as a result of ~substantiated evidence to their guilt of wrong-doing~ and isn't based on opinion alone. eBay is no longer a venue by an active participant and it's time for a class-action lawsuit. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Jrdn |
| Wed Aug 22 2007 022:28:51 |
| Forgot to give some valuable information about the SNP notice I received and being booted off the ebay discussion forums for sharing too much truth ... the emails they sent to restrict and warn me had links on them ... DON'T CLICK THEM!!! After each click, I found that my IE Favorites list had been altered and only showed my links to ebay - all my other links were GONE! It wasn't until I did a system restore to an earlier date and time that I was able to retrieve and UNDO whatever bug, virus, spyware, phishing whatever they put on my puter. I tested this phenomenon seven times to see if it would happen again and yep, each and every time! So, watch yourselves when clicking on any of the links on the emails ebay sends regarding your acoount restriction or suspension. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Paul |
| Wed Aug 22 2007 14:20:58 |
| Bob H, === For those of you who are whining about buyers deliberately leaving you a negative, I just have to ask...WHY would anybody leave a negative to ruin your business just for the fun of it? (Unless you're Paul, who admits he would leave me a negative because he can't handle the truth of my posts here). === It is definitely naive to say so. The business arena is similar to a battle field. If you and me are competitors on similar products why I didn't do it? I would just take it as marketing fee. It is you who don't understand the situation here we are facing, and that is because either your transaction volume is large or you don't even sell or you are just lucky and the non performance warning not yet reach you. The situation is IF my transaction volume is small, a few negative or even neutral feedback can kill my a/c. Even that's really my fault in the transaction handling OR it is because of filing final value fee claim OR whatever else reasons. Do you know how strict that rule is? Do you know they are just using a COMPUTER PROGRAM and filter out those ''non-performing seller''? Even just a few neutral ''Thanks'' feedback to my profile already kills my account. You got that? I don't know what you are defending for. But think a bit deeper before bullshitting here: why would I even waste my time typing here? why would so many people posting their complains here? WHY? WHY? WHY? It is because many of us have already tried our best to recover our a/c but the f-cking Trust and Safety department just treat us like criminal and they even respond to my review request using a ROBOT PROGRAM that copy and pasting the same message again and again!!! My a/c have no negative/neutral feedback, no dispute but what?! No one is resuming my selling privilege. No one even seriously reviewing my a/c status, and I have nothing more else I can do except voicing out something in this blog! You got that?! |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Another Wronged Seller |
| Wed Aug 22 2007 16:30:55 |
| To: Bob H Clearly you don't get it. Your repeated arguments about ''whining'' shows you truly don't know what you are talking about or havn't bothered to think it through completely. Despite repeatedly explaining WHY the timing of the feedbacks can be fatal to a seller with peaks in their selling patterns, you still don't seem to understand it. Example: May- sell 500 items, get 5 negs, 5 neuts 2% bad % Powerseller! june- sell 50 items, get 5 negs, 5 neuts from earlier high sales period but left in following month. 20% bad July-sell 50 items, get no negs or neuts. August- Sell 50 items, get no negs or neuts BAsed on the above example when May drops off the average, what you are left with for june, july and aug leaves you with 150 sales and 20 bad ones. In this example, you would be suspended because you are over 10%. The reality is if you looked at 120 days instead of 90, you would show 650 sales and your bad percentage would be less then 5% and you would be selling as usual. You can dress up like a Ebay Cheerleader and shake your pom poms all you want. It doesn't change the facts I outlined here. Another example: Customer bids on something and wins it. I send them an invoice- no reply I send them a pmt reminder-no reply I send them a 2nd pmt rrmeinder-no reply I send them a direct email-no reply Finally after 2 1/2 weeks I send a UPI. Buyer sends me a negative feedback- 1st contact with buyer since the auction closed. Negative puts me over the top and gets me restricted. What did I possibly do to deserve the negative and subsequesnt restriction? Expect a person to pay for something they bought? Instead of making vague references, tell me SPECIFICALLY what I did wrong ?? |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Bob H. |
| Wed Aug 22 2007 17:33:56 |
| Well ''Another Wronged Seller''...let's take a look at your own example: May- sell 500 items, get 5 negs, 5 neuts 2% bad % Powerseller! june- sell 50 items, get 5 negs, 5 neuts from earlier high sales period but left in following month. 20% bad July-sell 50 items, get no negs or neuts. August- Sell 50 items, get no negs or neuts Gee, A.W.S.... 2% BAD in May, 20% BAD in June and you call yourself a good seller? Using YOUR OWN EXAMPLE, you got 20 neg/neutrals out of 650 sales for all four months. Forget your arguments about the timing of the sales. Over 4 months, you are still only running 96.9% good FB. Good news, there's always September where you can hopefully get another 50 sales with no negs and then your FB can be 100% for July-September sales. And, since eBay is looking at the last 90 days, you can come back. Unless, of course, you get some MORE negative feedback from customers who bought from you in January-April. After all, they're probably lining up and just waiting to destroy your business with unwarranted negative feedback. Based on your track record, you probably will get some negative feedback -- and it will probably be well-deserved. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Another Wronged Seller |
| Wed Aug 22 2007 20:20:56 |
| To: Bob H How typical! You ignore my question about why The feedback that got me restricted was justified. Must be nice to ignore the facts! You can lead a dumb *ss to water but you can't make him drink. You know the old saying: Why do you beat your head against the wall?? Because it feels so good when you stop! Jrdn is right. Troll! I'm done wasting my breath. You are probably not even a seller. You are either too dense to understand or you are deliberately baiting people on this board to get your jollies. How pathetic is that? |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Jrdn |
| Wed Aug 22 2007 19:05:20 |
| IGNORE ALL TROLLS LIKE BOB H whose only reason for being on this and other boards where restricted sellers are posting is to get a rise out of as many as he can, typical TROLL behavior. No longer reading nor responding to posts from TROLLS! |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Linda W |
| Thu Aug 23 2007 13:24:38 |
| Ebay should take a look at the buyers having fun without regard to hurting the sellers, and the amount of negatives and neutrals these buyers give out, and receive, before ebay blames the seller. Buyers should have the same restrictions put against negatives received, as sellers do. Ebay would not be in business if they used the same ratings on themselves. Also, ebay should not charge to relist an item when a buyer has refused to pay for that item. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: cuteasabug |
| Thu Aug 23 2007 10:30:45 |
| There needs to be a 12 step program for sellers that are still at Ebay. The abuse will continue as long as you stay there. Simply leave, it will be the best day of your selling life! |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Jrdn |
| Thu Aug 23 2007 14:39:28 |
| PROTECTING YOURSELF ON CANCELLED LISTINGS ... For those who still wish to do business with ebay and list items on their biased-toward-the buyer-screw-the-seller venue, I'd like to suggest emailing a copy of all listings to yourself. Do it on current listings and do it after creating a new listing and keep these emails of your listings in a file somewhere. After reading one seller's story on the ebay discussion boards, I emailed a copy of every listing I had to myself and it's a good thing too because I know how ebay is set up to sabotage sellers in making a restriction and/or suspension in the removal of their listings without notice as one of their favorite means of punishment. Protect yourself and your business and email copies to yourself of ALL listings. This way, you are one step ahead of their vicious game and it will save you time in getting your listings up again without having to reinvest the time to create them from scratch. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: restricted seller w/99.5%pos+3000transactions |
| Fri Aug 24 2007 024:35:38 |
| Bob H., You sir, are a pompous ass. You are tweaking the tempers of many people and coming off as very righteous. Your insulting comments such as ''Let me do the math for you'' leave me, and others I'm sure, just a little irritated. Go be ''big man on campus'' somewhere else please. I am a real seller that was caught up in an unfair sweep. You are inflaming many tempers. Take your opinions elsewhere if all you want to do is incite arguments. Eno, you are coming off as uneducated. Make your point in an educated manner and you may get some support. |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Tom J. |
| Sat Aug 25 2007 18:59:58 |
| I thought readers of this blog would be interested in the following data that I received from the Better Business Bureau. "The BBB processed a total of 3165 complaints about this company in the last 36 months, our standard reporting period.Of the total of 3165 complaints closed in 36 months, 1230 were closed in the last year." This means that ebay resolved 38.8 % of the complaints logged against them. So it looks like the monolith ain't so good at takin' care of customers themselves, doesn't it? Now if this isn't great fodder for the bloggers or a journalist looking to score their first big article that goes something like "Ebay Boots Off all 98% Sellers While Their Own BBB Ratings Plummet to a 39% Satisfaction Rating." |
| eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown |
| by: Another Wronged Seller |
| Sat Aug 25 2007 23:19:28 |
| Intersting
statistic! Ebay should be instatnntly restricted. That meas that they
are 7 times worse at recolving customer complaints as the standard they
set for the sellers. Of course, are those numbers for both buyers and
sellers I presume ? What would be intersting to see is the status of the ebay accounts of the sellers who had filed complaints. I wonder if ebay took punitive action against them for filing BBB complaints. |
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http://www.ebaychatter.com/the_chatter/2007/08/lynda-talgo-of-.html
Lynda Talgo of TNS answers SNP questions
Posted by Laura on August 29, 2007 at 08:06 PM in General , Trust & Safety Corner
Unless you've been on vacation the last two weeks (and if you were,
welcome back!), I probably don't need to tell you that SNP is an
acronym for eBay's Seller Non-Performance policy,
a longstanding policy which has had a lot of new attention since August
13. That was the day Senior Vice President Philipp Justus told the Community about our heightened attention to SNP.
As a part of our efforts to improve the buying experience, eBay is focusing on sellers whose recent non-positive feedback and item not received activity put them in the bottom 1% of all sellers. We are paying close attention to this group because they generate fully 35% of all the bad buyer experiences on the site.
The reason why these efforts are important is that our research has found that buyers who have a bad experience with an eBay seller tend to buy much less—or even not at all—from other eBay sellers afterward. By targeting this 1% population, our aim is to make a more active and vibrant marketplace for the other 99% of eBay sellers.
Unsurprisingly, Philipp's letter has triggered a lot of discussion and emails. Our sense is that Community members agree with our efforts to take action against this group of sellers -- sellers and buyers both benefit from a more trustworthy marketplace. Since beginning enforcement, many sellers have had questions about enforcement and how they can make sure their buyer satisfaction rates remain in compliance with the SNP policy.
We took some of the Community's most common questions to Lynda
Talgo, Senior Director of Global Policy Management in Trust and
Safety. Lynda's been one of the thinkers/implementers behind these
targeted SNP enforcement efforts, and she and her team have been
working hard to help sellers 
understand SNP. Lynda's answers to some of the most common questions we're hearing are below.
* * *
Q: Can a seller get restricted based on only one negative or neutral feedback?
A: No, the intent of our new SNP enforcement is to focus on sellers with a pattern of buyer dissatisfaction, and a seller would never be restricted based on a single negative or neutral feedback.
Q: What factors do you consider when restricting an account?
A: We look at negative and neutral feedback activity and Item Not Received rate to determine level of buyer dissatisfaction, and we also use sales volume to determine which restriction to use. Let’s take a look at each of these in detail.
Feedback: We look at unique negative and unique neutral feedback activity in proportion to a seller’s total selling feedback.
Item Not Received: We look at the rate of INR (Item Not Received) claims in proportion to all selling transactions.
Detailed Seller Ratings: We are not currently using Detailed Seller Ratings, but we expect to in the future. We will continue to focus our enforcement on a very small subset of the overall selling community. Please stay tuned...
There are two thresholds we use to determine which restrictions are most appropriate. Most sellers who fall into a category of SNP enforcement are there due to feedback rates, so I’ll use those in my examples.
Greater than 5% buyer dissatisfaction rate: A seller must have more than 5% negative and neutral feedback, as a seller, over the last 90 days to qualify, and must also receive a minimum of two negatives from unique buyers in the past 90 days.
Greater than 10% buyer dissatisfaction rate: A seller must have more than 10% negative and neutral feedback, as a seller, over the last 90 days to qualify, and must also receive a minimum of three negatives from unique buyers in the past 90 days.
There are different restrictions (described below) for buyer dissatisfaction rates of greater than 5%, and greater than 10%, and for low-volume sellers.
Q: Are you now considering a neutral a negative? If so, why continue to have neutral feedback?
A: No, it’s more accurate to say that we treat neutral feedback as not positive. For instance, neutral comments alone do not trigger an SNP action. There is a negative feedback threshold of two which neutral comments do not count towards.
I understand the concern among some members about counting neutrals in SNP calculations. Generally speaking, however (and we’ve done a lot of research to prove this), a neutral does reflect an unsatisfactory buyer experience. There are exceptions, of course, but the vast majority of neutral comments indicate an issue. We felt that leaving neutral comments out of the calculation would mask a significant part of the bad buyer experience problem.
We continue to have neutral feedback because it’s helpful information for buyers to read and review when they are evaluating a seller. The main purpose of the feedback system is for buyers and sellers to be able to evaluate each other – and neutrals, similar to the Detailed Seller Ratings, provide additional information to buyers and sellers.
Q: How do you do the calculations that determine a restriction?
We
calculate the buyer dissatisfaction rate over the past 90 days, which
is a rolling window. (That means that with each new calendar day, both
the start and end dates on this window move forward a day.)
Let's look at some specific examples of how we would evaluate an account based upon feedback received as a seller:
Case 1:
Seller_Steve sells 20 items in 90 days
and receives one negative and one neutral feedback (10%
dissatisfaction). There would be NO action taken. Why? We have a
minimum threshold of two unique negative feedback received before
beginning to include neutral feedback in the evaluation.
Case 2:
Seller_Steve sells 20 items in 90 days
and receives two negative feedbacks from one unique buyer (10%
dissatisfaction). There would be NO action taken. Why? The interaction
between a single seller and single buyer may not give a reliable
picture of the overall interactions between that seller and the larger
community.
Case 3:
Seller_Steve sells 20 items in 90 days
and receives two unique negative feedbacks and one unique neutral
feedback (15% dissatisfaction). There WOULD be action taken on the
account, since there is greater than a 5% buyer dissatisfaction, and
the threshold of two unique negatives was met.
Q: Some people are getting a 14-day restriction, while others are able to sell at a reduced volume -- why the difference?
A: First, let's remember these restrictions impact only 1% of our sellers – the same group that is causing 35% of our bad buying experiences on the site. The goals of these SNP restrictions are to change seller behavior. We want those sellers with a pattern of bad buyer experiences to improve or fix their business practices, so they can be successful on the site.
We feel it is fair to treat casual sellers and those who are running businesses slightly differently. While it may sound like we’re unfairly penalizing small sellers, we’re really trying to address the different needs and issues between the two groups.
Low-volume sellers: Low-volume sellers are those with no more than 2 negative feedback, no neutral feedback, and less than $3000 sales volume over a 90-day period, would typically receive a 14-day full selling restriction. After the 14-day period has passed, selling privileges will be automatically reinstated. (As with all selling restrictions, the seller can continue to bid and communicate.)
Higher-volume sellers: For sellers who are not low-volume sellers, and who have a buyer dissatisfaction rate of greater than 5% (but less than 10%), the restriction is a reduction in sales volume. Sellers will be able to continue selling and listing items, up to 75% of their historical weekly volume based on their rolling 90 day history of completed sales. (This is based on dollar sales volume, not on number of items sold.) We manually review restricted accounts after 30 days to determine if there has been improvement in their satisfaction rates. If a seller’s buyer dissatisfaction rate is brought down to less than 5%, the restriction will be lifted. If the buyer dissatisfaction rate remains greater than 5%, the sales volume will continue to be reduced. Additionally, sellers whose performance substantially worsens during this restriction period may be subject to more significant consequences.
Sellers who incur a buyer dissatisfaction rate of greater than 10%, with at least three unique negative feedback, will receive a full selling restriction.
Again, these historical numbers are based on the rolling 90 days.
Q: Some sellers are still able to sell, but their volume is restricted. How does that work?
A.
The volume restriction is based on average completed weekly sales
volume over a rolling 90 day period. For example, consider
Seller_Steve, who typically sells $1000/week in merchandise, and then
receives a restriction to 75% of his historical weekly volume. In this
example, Seller_Steve would be allowed to list items until his
completed sales over a 7-day period reach $750 (75% of $1000), at which
point he would be no longer able to list. He could list again when his
sold volume over the past 7 days dropped below $750.
Q: What about non-paying bidders who leave a negative feedback?
A. It may seem that any negative feedback from a non-paying bidder is undeserved, but this is not always the case. For example, buyers may decide not complete payment because the seller has attempted to change the terms of the transaction after the conclusion of the listing. Clearly, this is an area that is not black and white. We're continuing to evaluate whether all types of negative feedback should be included in evaluating seller non-performance.
Q: How concerned should I be about SNP?
One unintended consequence from the recent enforcement of this policy has been fear and uncertainty in sellers who truly don’t need to be worried, and I really regret that; it was not our intent to cause confusion with our sellers. The vast majority of you, over 99%, are creating great buyer experiences that benefit the whole Community, and we and our buyers are grateful for your hard work and the excellent customer support you provide.
* * *
Thank you, Lynda!
Also, please check back soon -- Lynda's next Q&A session will be about actions sellers can take to improve their buyer dissatisfaction rates.
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