BBE rating and restricted seller account
I sell yacht small size yacht equipment worldwide by post. A couple of months ago political changes in the US meant that small goods were not exempt from import duty and in response postal services from here in Sweden stopped posting ALL goods to Sweden overnight, with no warning. Obviously I had to refund people who had already paid and to whom I could not deliver. This gave me a BBE (bad buyer experience) warning! Subsequently, a Chinese firm clearly intent on copying my products had to be refunded (it's clearly stated in my listing that I will not sell to China, to business address or to anyone who I believe may try to copy my products or infringe any copyright ), then another Chinese business (eBayer registered in China) tried to buy my product using an address in Germany, even asking me to phone him to say when it was delivered - ergo it was a falsely/fraudulently used address as a 'blind pick up' - I checked it online. Again I refunded this character. Now I have been totally blocked from selling my product - for dong nothing else than protecting my buyers & eBay. Customer services have fudged and replied with total nonsense, have been utterly patronising and keep saying "we hope this has resolved you problem" when they have made no attempt WHATSOEVER to resolve anything. I really don't believe most of the understand most of what is said in English.
It's a really unfortunate situation and I cannot find any way to talk to anyone remotely interested in providing any sensible way forward. I have asked Customer Services (after days of mailing back and forth) to escalate the matter to someone who has the authority to change something, yet they refuse to reply on that and I get the feeling that 'Customer Services' are 'running their own circus' and deliberately withholding issues from eBay per-se (because I can name quite a bit of wanton, even dishonest behaviour from them). Is there anyone who knows the right person to talk to? All help appreciated.
progenator1
OP6 months agoThanks for your reply. Regarding the first point, the physical impossibility to post to the US was imposed suddenly and without warning by postal services from Sweden, following a sudden US political decision. There was no possible way to pre-empt this, ergo the argument that I should not have listed the product as available in the US at the time is, sorry, nonsensical. eBay is blatantly (not by interpretation) breaking its own written policy rule 3 as quoted above - the matter was not in my hands.
I didn't know the rule about not being able to add postage existed, however I have been in touch back and forth with eBay for weeks on these matters and there has been no mention of it whatsoever - yet they have talked repeatedly about the cancellations. The removal of the listing was due to a try to supply the US, with eBay themselves saying that the situation may well change and to 'try again in the future' (as it appeared to with a courier suddenly re-opening small goods post to the US) and having to cancel that when the buyer wasn't happy about paying postage (well actually he asked why that was, didn't actually say he wasn't happy with it). Not hearing from him, after asking repeatedly, it was morally correct to refund him promptly - no harm done to either party. Indeed the products I supply are otherwise unavailable spare parts and I have had people say they will pay anything I wish to get them and have just tried to help people - I have never taken advantage of that, despite being offered loads of money - just charged the cheapest service I could get. I LOOK AFTER my customers to the highest possible degree. ALWAYS. Hence the 100% feedback and comments reflecting that. So anyway thank you for making me aware of that rule. By a simple logic if I'm being asked to 'try again in the future' and did so, by eBay's own recommendation, I'm not sure how what I did was wrong, by their rules or by any moral value.
As eBay have made clear (in writing) that they had a way to adjust BBE manually previously, but don't now have it, it's clearly an issue they have had before and they are trying to automate their way forward in a way that doesn't bode well for them in the long run, in my view. As I have also said, customer services have lied, and have other issues with automation not working for them, including when it comes to giving wrong information when it comes to updating bank account info, just as instances. I'm really not amused by any of this and whilst eBay has been useful for some time, any organisation that does not follow its own rules causes massive frustration to users and ultimately loss of trust in services and in society - I feel very strongly about moral values being upheld and the effects on society when they are not.
I am also miffed at a total lack of support from eBay regarding the person fraudulently using a business address in Germany to obtain the goods which I refuse to sell to anyone I believe will try to make imitations of or infringe on copyright on. As mentioned, the buyer wanted a phone call to say when they had arrived - ergo he was using that address as a 'dead drop', almost certainly criminally. I say that the more so having looked up info on the internet. THAT is a good reason not to supply them, and an immediate refund leaves no bad taste or detriment to them or anyone else and indeed protects honest people.
Really I'm not asking for much, in essence only that eBay consider the issues with overdone automation and inflexibility and lack of appeal procedure AT ALL, or any reasonable remedy. And in my case reinstate my possibility to sell the item, absolutely in followance of their rules as far as I physically can, preferably with reasonable advice if anything falls foul of their policy.
Thanks again, J
lacemaker3
·6 months agoI'm sorry, but this isn't a debate. I can only explain the rules, and what they mean. I can't change them, nobody here can do that, and their customer service can't change the rules either. eBay interprets their rules the way they want to. If you don't agree with that, then you should not sell here.
I don't know if your restriction is temporary or permanent, that would be shown in your CBT Selling Dashboard. You may only be restricted from selling to the USA, since you still have listings up on eBay UK, selling to the UK and Europe. Since eBay has not removed most of your listings (only one, which was available for purchase to the USA) the chances are that the restriction is temporary. Once the cancellations have aged out of the evaluation window, if you don't have any more cancellations, then your rating will improve.
You might want to consider Tradera, which is based in Sweden, and many sellers offer sales to Sweden and Europe. So you could reach your target buyers, and I doubt that there are many buyers from China on Tradera. I used to buy Swedish products there, but the shipping is usually too expensive nowadays.
lacemaker3
·6 months agoI see that your items have recently been listed for sale on eBay UK, and shipping to UK and Europe only, so that avoids the problem of not being able to ship to the USA. It's good that you blocked US shipping, many global sellers have refused to do that, and paid the price for having to cancel US purchases.
Currently, I can see that you have 3 items listed for sale, which can be shipped to the UK and Europe. I also see 5 sold items in the last 90 days, and one item was ended early on Mar 6, 2026. Did you end that one, or did eBay end it?
Are you sure that you "have been totally blocked from selling my product"? Because it looks to me like you still have listings for sale, that can be purchased. Did eBay end any other listings?
What does your Cross Border Trading (CBT) Seller Dashboard say? If you share a screenshot of your dashboard, I might be able to help you with interpreting it.
Unfortunately, there is no acceptable reason for cancelling a transaction once the buyer has paid. If you can't block the unwanted buyers, then you are out of luck. It's not acceptable to cancel a transaction after a purchase has been made and paid for. If you feel a buyer is using a freight-forwarding address in a European country to get around your refusal to ship to China, then you can try cancelling because of "a problem with the buyer's address" but I don't think even that reason is acceptable as far as the BBE rating goes.
progenator1
OP6 months agoThanks for your kind reply. Yes, on the last order I was so careful to say to the buyer that a PayPal request would be sent for postage cost (as the cost varies almost daily, depending on who is even offering to post to the US). The fellow wrote and said the post was billed as "free of charge" which it clearly wasn't - he hadn't read the listing. So I asked if he's like a refund or to pay for postage and he didn't reply, so I gave him a refund as the only moral way ahead that I know of. The double-bind is listing on eBay UK from Sweden (goods in Sweden) where eBay often does not charge tax correctly (if at all) though they are obliged to do so by UK law, and that I cannot list without saying it's International Post as the goods are in Sweden (which eBay knows) yet I get the options for UK post - so there is clearly a fault in eBay's programming, and I have tried to bring this up with them. Making mistakes or having errors is no issue, it's a complex site and lots going on, what IS wrong is that they will not allow mitigating factors or allowance for exceptions - cust svcs let it slip yesterday that they used to have the possibility to manually adjust BBEs but that that has been stopped now (no reason given to me). -ergo they have A) had BBE issues before that needed manual correction and B) the programming and methodology and training is already there so it wouldn't be (relatively) difficult to re-instate. eBay cust svcs did say it may be fine to try again exporting to the US 'when it's ok' but then there's no way one knows until trying, and I did succeed a number of times the past week or so, and made several people who had been waiting desperately very happy! Thanks for the offer to look through my CBT dashboard - I don't even know what that is but will have a look and try to send it to you tomorrow-ish. All this is really disheartening, I've always done my best for customers and the feedback shows they are really happy. As they say, 'a good deed never goes unpunished'. Anyway, a big thanks again, J
progenator1
OP6 months agoAnd sorry, forgot to add in reply that eBay did end just the one listing (the one supposedly causing them 'issues') in the end (though not for some days after they told me I was suspended) - the rest seem to be still active. But then they had told me my selling privileges have all been suspended per-se, which was never true anyway, as I found out.
But they (cust svcs) haven't a clue what's going on - I have literally had them tell me I had four listings active when only three were (before any suspension and for a different item!) as friends across Europe verified for me in real time: I think that's a part of the issue. Customer services seem to be on a different planet.
progenator1
OP6 months agoThanks, there are all manner of issues with eBay, just for example I tried to list two different items though they serve the same purpose. A look at the description shows they are different, and in unequivocal detail - they are both secondhand and do visibly differ, yet eBay stopped me making the listing, telling me I was "trying to make a dupliclate listing". Then the cooker gimbal I have for sale is rated at far overpriced - I looked at the eBay given comparison - a pair of cooker potholder arms which were anyway at (by far) the wrong price and in no way at all a similar product by anyone's definition. I think eBay has decided that AI is actually Intelligent 😉 eBay was (and is still potentially) a great venue, but if they carry on like this I will lose interest completely and though it will absolutely take time to make up sales, I won't have to pay them their percentage and will do better in the long run. I must say I am grateful for your help and to everyone who has responded. Thanks.
stainlessenginecovers
·6 months ago@progenator1 you simply need to 'change up' the title.
progenator1
OP6 months agoSimple as that, rockstar? Great I'll give that a try, thanks.
progenator1
OP6 months agoHi again Lacemaker and thanks again. I would draw your attention to article 3 from the link you kindly sent:
Seller fault unfulfilled rate: the percentage of transactions where a seller cancelled a transaction because they no longer had the item, or the item was never shipped due to their act or omission, and the buyer's money was returned.
The articles were never not sent by any omission by myself, but by being physically prevented from doing so, so even eBay's own reaction to their own policy is flawed and incorrect, however they refuse to make an honest and correct adjustment, let alone an apology. No decency or following their own rules or even an attempt to: It's disheartening. I'll look for that other info I promised to forward as soon as I can. Thanks, J
lacemaker3
·6 months ago@progenator1
I'm sorry, but if you cancelled because you couldn't mail something to the US, that is considered to be a cancellation by the seller, or seller fault unfulfilled. eBay's position is that you should not have allowed the purchase to be made in the first place.
eBay is enforcing their rules as written, by their interpretation. I'm sorry, but that is how eBay enforces this rule.
Unfortunately, that is strictly against eBay's rules as well. You are not allowed to charge extra after a purchase, everything has to be paid through eBay's checkout system. Even if you explained this in the description, it isn't allowed. I know that some sellers tried to do this when the import rules were changed in Aug 2025, but it was very risky, even though some buyers were reasonable and complied with it, because it was a policy violation on eBay.
I checked the listing that eBay ended early, and your buyer was correct. It does show free shipping to the USA, and because of eBay's policy, you are not allowed to ask for shipping to be paid outside of eBay. That is probably why the listing was ended, because of the policy violation.
kensgiftshop
·6 months agoSorry, if it's a BBE suspension, you're done selling on Ebay.
progenator1
OP6 months agoThat was an odd reply, as a suspension is not the same as a ban or exclusion. Indeed the word suspension means 'held up' or temporary. And eBay even said that after a period of not having issues it would be lifted - not a very helpful answer, but thanks all the same. You see, it goes further than that - they told me I was banned from selling yet my goods were still for sale. Then one of the items I have for sale has been removed, not the others. Indeed, I was told to re-verify my bank details by a certain date (in 20 odd days), yet after only a few days I was told I couldn't receive payments despite my having A) given the, what they asked for and B) the deadline being some 20 days away - yet I was paid out anyway. I could go on, with other issues including customer services blatantly (provably) lying. In upshot, it looks as though whoever is running customer services hasn't a clue what they are doing and/or is 'running their own circus', so various matters do need to be raised with people above them who have some integrity and authority to act. How do I get hold of the right person/department?
kensgiftshop
·6 months agoOn Ebay, a BBE suspension is the same thing as being banned.
Ebay doesn't like it when a seller cancels orders.
Once you get the BBE warning, it's not long until you're suspended, unless you can sell enough to knock down the %.