Locked
Discussions in this board are limited to the original poster and Community Mentors
Looking for an eBay Mentor. Stuck at Below Standard and Need Advice!
Summary: luvmy2kids840 is seeking advice to improve their eBay seller status after being stuck at "Below Standard" due to early mistakes in their selling process. They received feedback from jacbarcollectibles, who suggested increasing sales using inexpensive items to lower the defect percentage. mr_lincoln advised considering price cuts to boost sales, while tenbigdogs recommended gaining a deeper understanding of eBay’s platform and learning from other sellers' experiences. luvmy2kids840 expressed their intention to try adjusting their prices despite concerns over reduced profits.
Subject: Looking for an eBay Mentor. Stuck at Below Standard and Need Advice!
Hi everyone! I'm hoping to find an experienced eBay seller or mentor who can answer a few questions and help me figure out what to do.
I started seriously selling on eBay in April of this year. I have 100% positive feedback, happy customers, and over 600 items listed in my store. I take pride in what I sell, take nice pictures, describe my items, and even package everything nicely.
Here's where things went wrong.
I made five cancellation mistakes when I was still learning. The items weren't actually out of stock. For example, I accidentally listed an incorrect size on one item and listed a child's item as an adult size on another. Rather than send customers something incorrect, I canceled the orders and immediately refunded their money.
Unfortunately, I selected "out of stock" as the cancellation reason because I didn't understand how much that would affect my seller rating.
I've been stuck at Below Standard since June. eBay evaluates my account on the 20th of every month, but my rating hasn't improved. I'm being charged additional selling fees, and I can't use certain promotional features.
I contacted eBay, but they couldn't help me. I also didn't realize there was a 90-day deadline to appeal these defects, so I missed my opportunity.
From what I understand, I may have to wait until April of next year (2027) for these defects to finally roll off my account, unless I can make enough successful sales to bring my percentage down sooner.
That's an incredibly long time to struggle with additional fees over five mistakes I made when I was just starting out!
Here's what I'm hoping someone can help me understand:
Is there any other way to get these defects removed after the appeal deadline?
Is there anything I can do to get back to Above Standard before April 2027?
Would closing my store or changing my subscription help, or would that just make things worse?
Has anyone else been through this and successfully recovered their seller rating?
I really don't want to give up. I've worked hard to build my store, and I have over 600 listings. My customers are happy, my feedback is 100% positive, and I'm doing my best to learn from my mistakes.
The additional fees are eating into my profits, and it's becoming discouraging.
I would truly appreciate any advice from an experienced seller. I want to keep growing my store, but I need some guidance on how to move forward.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this!
tenbigdogs
Mentor2 weeks agoHi@luvmy2kids840 Unhappily, it sounds like you made an even bigger mistake than cancelling sales for the worst reason and missing the deadline to appeal. It sounds like you jumped into the deep end of the pool before you fully understood the platform you're swimming in. You may have made innocent mistakes, but you made them because you needed to learn more about eBay before acting. You are actually lucky that the only sanction you've been handed is a loss of rating. There are more ways than the mistakes you've committed to get banned from selling altogether. You need to take this as an opportunity to learn the platform inside out and avoid unforced errors.
One good way is to read the posts of others on these help boards. Read about the mistakes they've made and not only how to remedy them, but how to avoid them in the first place. The most direct source of information is the eBay Help pages. Start on basic selling and just keep clicking around until you've read and understand everything they've got. If you have questions about any of it you can come here and ask the experts. If only you'd come here sooner. Good luck!
eBay Help page on Selling: https://www.ebay.com/help/sr?aiSummary=true&st=3&pos=1&origin=1&query=How%20do%20I%20start%20selling%3F&intent=selling&lucenceai=lucenceai&docId=HELP1071&topicId=4073&queryUserRole=SELLER&search_origin=1
mr_lincoln
Mentor2 weeks ago · EditedHi @luvmy2kids840
To add to what @jacbarcollectibles has provided cut all of your prices in half for a month and see if that increases sales. You seem to be selling a lot of clothing, that is a saturated category so that is not helping. In basic terms you have to sell your way out. The suggestion to slash your prices isn't so bad considering you were probably at one time running sales or paying for Promoted listings at "X" over you regular FVF selling fees. If your clothing is used I suspect you have a low Cost of goods to begin with.
luvmy2kids840
OP2 weeks agoI have ran 20 percent off sales .... I just hate to give all my stuff away.
Thanks for the reply tho! =)
mr_lincoln
Mentor2 weeks ago@luvmy2kids840
If memory serves the Below Standard addition fee is around 6% ... and you are willing to sell for 20% off? It sounds like you have room in your pricing to lower your prices and not offer any discounts but at the end of the day what you decide to do it certainly your decision.
luvmy2kids840
OP2 weeks agoalright sounds good I will try and lower my prices a bit .
just so aggravating cause I need this income =(
thanks again!!!
jacbarcollectibles
Mentor2 weeks agoYes, several mentors have gone through this. Since the below standard rating is based on a bad buyer experience percentage all you can do is to increase the amount of sales you make to get the percentage reduced. One of the mentors that went through this found a large number of inexpensive items that buyers would want to purchase and sold them to get their sales up. They may or may not have made any money on the items but the point was to get their sales up to lower the defect percentage.
luvmy2kids840
OP2 weeks agoI asked Chat and it said I needed to sell over 120 items... or maybe it was 200....lol
I dont have any bad feedback and all my people that I give a refund were happy that I did it asap.
I just hate that I have to try and dig my way out of this .
I was hoping they could review my case.... but I guess it dont work like that.
thanks for your help =)