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Seller Level Below Standard for 6+ months – I feel stuck in a loop
Summary: yardazz is seeking advice on resolving their persistent Below Standard seller status on eBay, despite having 100% positive feedback and attempting to address past defects. They have experienced listing restrictions and have been unable to improve their seller level despite repeated assurances from eBay customer service. eastlaneave suggests increasing sales with inexpensive items to mitigate defect percentages and offers resources to track and understand the defects better. They emphasize the importance of reviewing the defect details and timelines to anticipate when they might no longer impact the seller's performance.
Hi everyone,
I’m hoping an experienced eBay seller or mentor can help me with an ongoing Seller Performance issue.
I have been selling on eBay since 1997, have 100% positive feedback, and my account is currently Below Standard, which is restricting the number of items I can list. I cannot even relist some of my unsold auctions.
Late last year during the holidays, I had some out-of-stock cancellations, which caused my Seller Level to drop. This year, I have had only one out-of-stock defect.
I have a 3-day handling time, but I ship most orders the same day.
For approximately the past six months, I have called eBay Customer Service each month and have repeatedly been told that the 20th is my Seller Performance review date and that my Seller Level should return to normal after the review. Each month, I wait for the review, but my Seller Level does not change and the listing restriction remains.
On July 30, I called again. I was told that two older out-of-stock defects were affecting my Seller Level and that eBay would remove those defects, which should correct my Seller Level. I was also told the restriction should lift on August 1, but it did not.
I received a written follow-up from eBay confirming the defects and directing me to the defect appeal process. However, when I go to the appeal link, it says I cannot appeal them because the transactions are more than 30 days old.
At this point, I feel like I’m stuck in a loop and no one can help me. I’m repeatedly told to wait for the next review, then the review happens and nothing changes.
I’m also being told to "sell my way out" of Below Standard, but how can I do that when eBay is restricting the number of items I can list and I cannot even relist my unsold auctions?
Has anyone experienced this, or does anyone know how to get eBay to manually review an account when the Seller Level has not changed after multiple monthly evaluations?
I would really appreciate any advice from an experienced seller or eBay mentor who knows how to get this escalated.
Thank you!
eastlaneave
Mentor1 month ago@yardazz
Cancelling a sale for being out of stock is one of the major defects on a seller's account.
You need fewer than 2% of your transactions to have defects, which are
✓ Transactions you canceled for being out of stock
✓ Cases closed without seller resolution
The only solution is to increase the denominator - the number of sales
One way to do that is to find something inexpensive to sell and list it very inexpensively so you sell a number of them quickly. That will raise the denominator and thus lower the percentage of defects.
Example
4 defects/ 100 sales = 4%
4 defects/200 sales = 2%
I am aware you have a listing limit. You may need to list some small items to get sales.
The consequences of falling Below Standard can include:
- Your items may be placed lower in search results
- eBay may limit or restrict you from selling on your account and related accounts, or from registering a new account
- Funds from your sales may be held
- You'll be charged a higher percentage rate for final value fees
--- You will be blocked from using the Promoted Listings tool, and will not be able to create new campaigns or edit existing campaigns
- eBay may downgrade your eBay Store to the Basic level if you've been Below Standard for more than 60 days
- You'll be unable to access the partial refund tool
"Your seller performance status is at risk in the US" means that your account is at risk of being closed or being assessed higher Final Value Fees due to problems in your sales.
Please check here for your seller level
https://sellerstandards.ebay.com/dashboard
and your Service Metrics are here
https://www.ebay.com/sh/performance/service-metrics
You will be able to see the overview of any issues, and can pull a report to see details.
Please read these pages carefully
https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/selling/seller-levels-performance-standards?id=4080#section6
https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-policies/seller-performance-policy?id=4347
https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/selling-fees?id=4822#section6
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SPECIFIC INFORMATION
Your out of stock defects stay for 12 months. You need those to roll off before your level will increase.
If you click "Get Full Report" you can see when the defects happened and determine when they will 'roll off'
https://sellerstandards.ebay.com/dashboard?region=US
After you pull your report, if you need guidance, please copy and paste your numbers and the dates here so I can help.