I'm a part time seller that has had good success with my Ebay "side hustle". My current Ebay account is 24 years old. I've always maintained good metrics until recently.
Unfortunately, I'm going through a tumultuous divorce. It was necessary for me to leave my home. I would return when necessary to pick up sold items, but was having issues fulfilling orders timely. My spouse eventually trashed my entire inventory and a number of purchases had to be canceled and refunded (10 or so).
I have now removed all of my listings that are inaccessible. Admittedly, it took too long for me to do so. I should have removed them as soon as our issues began.
I received an e-mail about ensuing account deactivation if I didn't improve metrics (turns out order cancelation is a major defect). I've now had 3 months with no defects 😁. However, because the metric "look back" is for a 12 month period, I've had my listings limited to 50 at any given time (from whatever it might have been before...seemed unlimited for my purposes and activity level).
My 4-5 sells a month (out of 50 listings) are sufficient to show improved service and extend my grace period, but insufficient to improve my metrics enough to elevate me to above standard again. Essentially, my ability to expand my Ebay business (which I'd like to do at the moment with all these new expenses in my life) is cut off until metrics reset after a year.
I've used the support link to have an Ebay rep call me. It only took like 20 seconds which is amazing during the holiday season! I was lucky to talk to a well spoken individual that didn't seem like a total call center bot. So many props to Ebay for that!
Still, he conveyed that he couldn't increase my limit and that I should wait another month and try again. I told him that I've had 3 defect free months, but that my metric percentages only budged a few percentage points (not enough to make a big difference in another month). He understood my worries and reached out to the "defect removal team", but their department was closed and he said he was typing out a detailed message for them to address tomorrow.
Ebay's metric system isn't necessarily a bad thing if they are willing to make adjustments on a case by case basis. I can imagine all sorts of legitimate reasons for a crash in metrics (hospitalization, natural disasters, etc).
I'd like to see the system changed to allow for quicker remediation. A part time seller, like myself, need not be stuck at 50 listings for a full year. I understand the concerns regarding customer satisfaction, but a path to improvement should be available for those willing to make improvements.
All the best! I'll let you all know how Ebay's team handles my problem tomorrow.
mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999
