Anyone else call customer service with complaint and SALES disappear for the next 48-72 hrs (except for repeat buyers)
Summary: diecastcurator expressed concerns about a pattern they observed: a noticeable decline in eBay sales for 48-72 hours after contacting eBay Customer Service. They suspect potential technical or algorithmic reasons behind this, though they acknowledge it could be coincidental. Other participants shared their views, with some dismissing the idea of intentional throttling by eBay, while others suggested looking into seller status. diecastcurator mentioned contacting eBay Corporate, who acknowledged the issue and are investigating further. The discussion included varying opinions on the technical capabilities and intentions of eBay regarding sales visibility.
Has anyone else experienced a noticeable drop in sales after contacting eBay Customer Service to file a complaint or report a technical issue?
I’ve started noticing what appears to be a pattern with my account. On several occasions, I’ve contacted eBay regarding legitimate complaints or technical defects—some of which have had a significant financial impact and resulted in substantial lost sales.
What concerns me is that my eBay sales seem to drop significantly for the following 48–72 hours, beginning on the exact day I contact Customer Service and file a complaint. The only exception I’ve consistently noticed seems to be sales from repeat buyers.
I understand that sales can fluctuate for many legitimate reason (BUT this has happened 6 for 6 of the last times) and yesterday and today are perfect examples. I’m not claiming that contacting Customer Service is necessarily causing the decline but it could be some rogue employee doing so in programming dept. or whoever has access to that feature. Obliviously eBay's throttles NEW sellers to make sure they build up a reputation but I'm 26 years in with stellar feedback. However, the timing has occurred often enough that I’m concerned and would like to know whether other sellers have experienced something similar.
I’m also wondering whether there could be an issue involving search visibility or account-level settings after a seller contacts Customer Service. For example, could something within eBay’s search algorithm (formerly referred to as Cassini), an account setting, or another backend process potentially affect a seller’s visibility following a customer-service interaction? I’m not suggesting that this is happening intentionally; I’m simply trying to understand what could potentially explain the pattern I’m seeing.
I’ve also written to eBay Corporate regarding this matter, along with several other concerns. They acknowledged my letter and informed me that they are investigating the issue further. I’m currently waiting for their response.
Has anyone else noticed a similar pattern—particularly a sudden decline in sales or visibility for 48–72 hours after contacting eBay Customer Service or reporting a technical issue?
hartungcards
·2 days agoI stopped reading after, "I understand that sales can fluctuate for many legitimate reasons."
dbmm-media
·2 days agoas long as you been here you should know contacting customer service is a waste of time.
gurlcat
·2 days agoAnd the only bigger waste of time (and money) is sending them a letter.
bashort
·2 days agoI think that throttling someones sales or visibility because of a complaint is well beyond ebays technical ability.
gurlcat
·2 days agoTo people with Main Character Syndrome, anything is possible.
authentic*vintage
·2 days agoI have that :D
gurlcat
·2 days agoYou seem pretty grounded to me. But who knows, maybe like Neo you just know how to play normal around all us blue-pill poppers who don't know what's really goin on.
mam98031
·2 days agoEbay is not conspiring against you. You have been around long enough to know that sometimes sales are great and other times they aren't. There is no conspiracy against you or anyone else that contacts Ebay for some assistance in one of the ways in which we can contact Customer Service. I wish you the best.
redlinear
·2 days ago@diecastcurator
You wrote them a letter??
You might as well take the rest of the year off
bashort
·2 days agono because I want to waste my time on other things
diecastcurator
OP2 days agostart educating yourself before replying with smart remarks....google or ask AI's
does ebay have the ability to throttle sales??? and im seeing it first hand
im listing every day and EVERY time for the last 6 complaints to eBay that have escalated to logging defects (loss of sales in general because of the defects) I've gotten the run around and conflicting answers to the problems EVERY single time. and then that day my sales drop of like i don't exist
eBay has the technical capability to control listing visibility and suppress sales through its search algorithm, though eBay denies intentionally throttling accounts to limit revenue.
EBay may or may. Throttling may occur to prevent large sellers from taking all the market share. not want you to grow quicker ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9JsmUujBfI
chapeau-noir
·2 days agoeBay has the technical ability to do a lot of things, but writing an algorithmic procedure to throttle this seller or that out of 17 million or whatever for calling customer service is probably pretty low on that list. I would say that even random coincidence has a higher probability factor.
And Youtube is full of conspiracy nuts.
gurlcat
·2 days ago@diecastcurator Those defects you mentioned -have they lowered your seller status to 'Below Standard'? If so, there's your throttling trigger right there. They openly state in policy that one of the consequences of Below Standard is decreased listing visibility.
https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-policies/sellerstandards-policy?id=4347&from=EBAY_AI&origin=EBAY_AI#limitations
grann-4629
·2 days agoeBay employees also have to cut off one body part everyday when they finish their shift, ie: cut their nose off to spite their face. There is no reason I can think of why eBay would prevent sellers from selling, especially large (successful) sellers. That would be like telling Walmart to quit and let the Mom & Pop stores back in.
inhawaii
·3 days agoYes, I hear that when you contact customer service with a complaint, they turn off your sales for 48-72 hours. They only block new customers. Repeat customers are still able to buy from you. 🙄
annadryl
·3 days agoIf you're implying that they are punishing you for complaining, no, they don't. Phone reps can't do that anyway. They're just phone guys who get complained at all day long. If you have issues or difficulties you should ask here. It's quicker and easier.
gurlcat
·3 days agoNo, but then I can't recall the last time I called customer service. Those contract workers don't know much policy and steer people wrong all the time. When I have a concern or confusion about something, I come here and get help from veteran fellow sellers who are real experts in policy (and savvy strategies too).