RE UPSETTING MESSAGE FROM EBAY WHILST MOVING/ON HOLIDAY SAYING MY ACCOUNT HAS FALLEN BELOW STANDARD.

[newels46]

I was shocked and upset to receive a message saying that my account has fallen below standard.  Have been selling  since 2005 (and buying) with what I would class as exceptional feedback if anyone from EBAY actually bothered to read it.  It has remained at 100% apart from a couple of occasions all that time. (one of which was removed by ebay).   I am guessing this is because I am currently not selling (moving house etc ). and also because they are not really interest in individual sellers like me who sell inexpensive items cheaply.  So many of my friends are switching to Facebook marked place, local sales , Vinted Etsy etc.  While I am at it  the manipulation by them to make things more and more difficult is disgraceful, for example removing photos and unsold items after a certain time and restricting messaging.  However they are more than happy to ignore the continued sale of counterfeit goods on an industrial scale.  It is shameful behaviour for the majority of us honest buyers and sellers.

[inhawaii]

The amount of time you've been on ebay and your "exceptional" feedback have nothing to do with falling below standard.

[albertabrightalberta]

@newels46 

How many items have been canceled? I see one instance in which the seller was understanding but you canceled because you couldn't find the item. Those OOS cancellations are deadly.

[mam98031]

@newels46 

Since you aren't posting with the affected account it is hard to say what is going on, so I have a few questions.

Did you put your items on Time Away while you were moving?

Did you have to cancel any sales because you couldn't ship them out?

Were you late shipping any orders?

If you are unsure, you can look at your Seller Dashboard and find out what caused this to happen.  I always encourage sellers to regularly review the details of the Seller Dashboard a couple times a week so they can see if there is any trouble brewing.  Then they can be PROACTIVE about potentially fixing the issue instead of reactive when things start falling apart.

https://sellerstandards.ebay.com/dashboard?region=US

The email should have told you what caused your issue or at least hinted at it.  You may not agree with it, but the email should have said something about it.

The majority of sellers are Ebay are small sellers like you and me.  We make up about 80% of Ebay's sellers.  Sellers tend to say stuff like you have when something happens they don't understand and/or they don't agree with.

Ebay has always only kept old listings for 90 days.  Since you have been here since 2005, you should be use to that.  Most of us, when there are important listings we want to keep around, we find a way to save the content so we can get to it easily enough.  There are all kinds of free programs out there.

I don't know what you mean by "restricting messaging".  Would you please explain that a bit more.  That certainly sounds disturbing to be sure.  

[ebooksdiva]

Your seller dashboard will tell you why you’ve fallen below standard. 
You may have fallen below standard because of these or a combination of…

You cancelled transactions for out of stock

You’ve shipped items later than your handling time 

You had cases where you allowed eBay to step in. 
Sold less than the minimum requirement to be above standard or top rated.

Your length of time with eBay and amount of feedback doesn’t come into play when your seller performance is evaluated.

Click the link below to learn how to improve your seller performance.

Monitoring and improving your seller performance 

“While I am at it  the manipulation by them to make things more and more difficult is disgraceful, for example removing photos and unsold items after a certain time and restricting messaging. 

All sellers are evaluated on the 20th of every month for seller performance, it’s not manipulation. 
Unsold items as well as sold items are purged from eBays servers after 90days. 
If you are restricted from messaging that only means you violated some policy. Or you are blocked by users. 

However they are more than happy to ignore the continued sale of counterfeit goods on an industrial scale.  It is shameful behaviour for the majority of us honest buyers and sellers.”

Only those reported are removed, feel free to report items you feel are counterfeit. 

[dbfolks166mt]

     In addition to what others have already provided I noticed you are located in the UK. Sometime over the summer eBay began applying a more stringent evaluation of a sellers INR's claims regardless of the validity or outcome of those claims. I could not find the exact policy but this may be a question you want to post on the EUR boards. There were several posts similar to yours and even some where the sellers accounts were suspended as a result of the new process. 

[nobody*s_perfect]

Hi, As noted in another post, you're on ebay.com, which is the US site. You might get better replies if you go to

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Discussion-Boards/ct-p/13

eBay's seller performance standards do not factor-in your feedback history, nor do they look back more than 12 months.  Performance evaluation for sellers in the UK is based on (1) cases closed without seller resolution; (2) transaction defect rate (including cancellations for "Out of stock"); and (3) late deliveries.  You can see the details of the UK performance policy here:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/selling-policies/seller-standards-policy?id=4347 

[hartungcards]

There should be an eBay policy of not dropping any seller's account to Below Standard until they get back from their holiday.

[luckythewinner]

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I was shocked and upset to receive a message saying that my account has fallen below standard. 

There are only two things that can cause a seller to fall below standard: 1) Seller-initiated cancellations; and 2) Cases closed without seller resolution. Both of those things are entirely within your control as a seller. If you are shocked, it is because you were not paying attention to your seller dashboard. 

 I am guessing this is because I am currently not selling (moving house etc ). and also because they are not really interest in individual sellers like me who sell inexpensive items cheaply

No. There are only two things that can cause a seller to fall below standard: 1) Seller-initiated cancellations; and 2) Cases closed without seller resolution. Both of those things are entirely within your control as a seller. If you are shocked, it is because you were not paying attention to your seller dashboard. 

Have been selling  since 2005 (and buying) with what I would class as exceptional feedback if anyone from EBAY actually bothered to read it.   

Perhaps. But there are only two things that can cause a seller to fall below standard: 1) Seller-initiated cancellations; and 2) Cases closed without seller resolution. Both of those things are entirely within your control as a seller. If you are shocked, it is because you were not paying attention to your seller dashboard.

So many of my friends are switching to Facebook marked place, local sales , Vinted Etsy etc

And yet you have not.  

[luckythewinner]

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@ebooksdiva wrote:

You’ve shipped items later than your handling time 

Sold less than the minimum requirement to be above standard or top rated.

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You are mistaken on both of these points.

Shipping time is not considered for below standard; that is only considered for Top Rated.

And there is no minimum sales volume above standard; that is only considered for Top Rated.  

[luckythewinner]

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@hartungcards wrote:

There should be an eBay policy of not dropping any seller's account to Below Standard until they get back from their holiday.

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I think if you got an honest response from eBay, they would say that Below Standard is designed to end a seller's career on eBay rather than prolonging it. 

[newels46]

To all of you kind people that have taken the time replying to my long message about being suddenly told I am below standard whilst on holiday and not selling.  Thank you for all your comments and information but I realise I am on Ebay USA instead of Uk so need to post there.   I will take on board your various comments and information and get myself on the UK forum as things I believe work slightly differently.  Rockstar just to say Non of the above 100% feedback and no issues at all that is why I was so upset.  All the information has been helpful.  Clearly I am not as tech savvy as I thought  was.  Have a lovely Christmas THANK YOU ROSA.

[newels46]

Thank you for responding please see my message to Rockstar x