Hurricane-Related Inventory Loss — Request for Human Review
Hello,
I’ve been an eBay seller for 25+ years. After Hurricane Milton, my wife and I removed over 500 listings due to flood/property damage, but a few affected listings were missed. Four sales resulted in refunds because those items were no longer in our possession due to storm loss.
I contacted eBay explaining the disaster impact and offered photos/video documentation. My appeals were closed with no further avenue.
Today I received an email from eBay suggesting I “improve selling habits.†That’s frustrating and tone-deaf given this was a natural disaster situation, not negligence.
I’m requesting a manual review by a human agent (not an automated closure) and a clear path to reinstatement. If reinstatement is not available, I need written clarification of the exact thresholds and dates for when Top Rated status can be earned back.
Thank you,
ryry-jj
·8 months agoBottom line, they are just standards that we all try to meet...sometimes we do and sometimes we dont for a variety of reasons. Personally, I don't care if I meet them or not, I just do my best and let the pieces fall where they may
tobaccocardyahoo
·8 months agoIn the period since March of 2020 I have had heart surgery, and two floods due to frozen pipes.
As an online seller who has been active in various selling forums, I knew I had to act.
I placed my listings on another site on vacation from the ER while a decision was being made to admit me.
I did the same immediately after I turned off the water after my floods.
In each case, I did it from my cell phone in minutes. When the immediate crisis had passed, I concentrated on how to begin to sell again.
There are enough of us who are of an age which requires we have a plan. I will be 80 on my next birthday.
I have 15k items which were not damaged which have not been listed again because I have limited my selling activity to a simpler to sell subset of items. I am selling more with less listed, and packing is taking less time and effort.
It was important to me to find a broad benefit to my trials.
bonjourami
·8 months ago"There are enough of us who are of an age which requires we have a plan. I will be 80 on my next birthday."
I always dislike when ops' play the age card as some kind of excuse. There are many regulars in here much older than the op, myself included.
famoustreasures
OP8 months agoYou are so correct. Some years ago I won the Florida state Tai Kwan Do championship. Now. somehow I got the Aortic valve issue and due to my age and Diabetes. I did not see this coming-AT all! No Plan and it all hit at once. Great for you that you are recovering and have life planned. In regards to Ebay I wish I had the front of mind to do better but at the same time I had two strokes. Be careful.
kensgiftshop
·8 months agoLast time I was sent to the hospital, I was in the ambulance headed for Tulsa.
I was putting my sites on vacation from my cell, while they were trying to pump enough blood in me to keep me alive until I reached Tulsa.
fern*wood
·8 months agoEasiest way to know is to look at the dates of your OOS defects, because they will drop off after 12 months.
christworks
·8 months ago@famoustreasures I think you should have pulled down every single item, then relisted things once you knew you had it and it was fine. I do understand in the heat of the moment, with everything going on, why that may not have been your initial reaction.
The fact you had old listings up months or a year or more later is 100% completely on you. That is negligence on your part. eBay is not at fault. You had plenty of time to go back through your listings and ensure anything you did not have had been taken down. If you didn't do that, certainly the first time you had to refund a customer you should have. Have you done it now? You really cannot afford to cancel another order for a while.
famoustreasures
OP8 months agoChristworks,
Your opinion. I hope you never are 100% disabled from war as I am. I also hope when you are 79 as I am you have the energy to redo every item when you are not going to the Heart doctor as I am every other week attempting to stay alive from a faulty Aortic valve. True it would have been great to redo everything and if you see my issue as negligence it is your right. Nothing I can say.
I know that nothing will come of this post in my favor and I know its sellers only. Ebay sided with most of you in regards to it was my fault period and closed the case. Its over. Has been.
I mentioned my health because everyone of you-everyone of you have -old age-health that is coming and it will change your life and energy. So many unforeseen issues and when it happens to you good luck with the robot world. I felt like venting about the changes. Thats it.
I feel pretty good that I took down all that I could find. Sales occurred when we were struggling with so many issues then. Nothing since and that's the good thing. Best of luck to you all.
christworks
·8 months ago@famoustreasures You are rather presumptions. I never mentioned my age. How do you know I am not older than you? Even if I am younger, how do you know I don't have health problems, or other problems that sometimes interrupt my business?
You are the one who brought up all of this, saying that you wanted some help or advice. We've given it to you, but it appears you wanted people to share in your pity party. This isn't the place for that.
Your health and the fact that you are a veteran does not absolve you of your responsibility as a seller. I can name a half dozen or more regular people on this forum right now who are your age or order, have health issues, served in the military, etc. One member has been in the hospital twice in the past couple of months. Every single one of them knows their responsibility, as do I.
A couple of years ago a massive dead tree from a neighbor's property fell onto my detached garage, where I store my inventory. Thankfully it happened at time that I did not have any pending orders. If I had pending orders, I would have needed to cancel them and could have ended up in your same situation. Unfair? Yes, but not eBay's fault. In my case, it would be the fault of my neighbor who did not take care of their dead tree. Regardless, when it happened, the very first thing I did, without hesitation, was to end all of my listings until the tree could be safely removed, and I could safely get all of my inventory out, inspect it, and get into a storage unit.
You never have to redo listings if you end them, unless you delete them. You can end them, do a bulk relist and save as drafts. As long as you resave them before they drop out of drafts after 70-days, then you can keep them there as long as needed. That's the proper way to handle this if you are ever in this situation again.
eBay has millions of sellers. It would take a massive amount of manpower to verify people's various excuses for not meeting standards. This would result in an increase in fees, which would anger more sellers, maybe even yourself.
I am sorry this happened to you. My hope is you learn from it. You can get back to where you were. You really do need to make an effort to ensure you actually have everything you think you do. Say that is "my opinion" if you want.
Thank you for your service to our country.
famoustreasures
OP8 months agoAs I stated your opinion is valued. I learn from all. Thanks for your comments. One exception. Not after a pity party. I guess I was thinking it may help others to have a plan when disaster hits. Could have been wrong on the help issue. This has ended and I should not have used the old title that I wrote some time ago. Lesson learned.
lakefor94
·8 months ago@famoustreasures I did not read the whole thread.
Just stick with it. Make sure you get your carrier scans within your handling time and don't involve eBay with any of your returns or INR's if that should arise.
Come back here if issues come about before they become a problem and folks here will help you along as they do me when I have a problem I cannot resolve myself.
TRS will come to you, just a matter of time.
You got this.
christworks
·8 months agoOkay. Good luck!
stuff4divas
·8 months ago@famoustreasures
sounds like this is the best that could have happened for you considering your circumstances
for your update on weather related seller protections, read here>
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Shipping/Seller-Protections-are-in-place-for-sellers-impacted-by-severe/m-p/35452571#M520903
Good Luck in what sounds like a well deserved retirement!
golfingaddict
·8 months ago@famoustreasures
This is the page for seller standards.
Seller performance overview | eBay
On the page, look for seller dashboard, it is a blue box/link.
On the seller dashboard, there will be exact details of your defects, your performance, and the listing causing you issues.
Everything you need to know is on that page.
I realize that everyone has different circumstances. Age, health, obligations, weather, storms, whatever, but I have been selling since 1998 and have always tried to take responsibility for my account and I don't leave it to others to handle.
I think there are many here that have encountered issues with health and weather events and unexpected emergencies.
If you want to run a business on eBay, you have to take care of your business and not depend on anyone giving you a pass because of your issues. It's the hard truth. eBay has the same expectations for all sellers, young and old.
Read the seller dashboard and seller performance guidelines. The answers are there.
luckythewinner
·8 months agoEbay sided with most of you
eBay didn't "side with" me or anyone else. eBay simply enforced their policy, as they said they would when you signed up. And that policy does not contain any waivers for inventory losses incurred by people with health conditions.
True it would have been great to redo everything
No one said you have to "redo everything". You simply had to end your listings, and relist them when you confirmed the item was in inventory. All that takes is a few clicks, not "redoing everything".
I felt like venting about the changes. Thats it.
You didn't just come here to vent. You came here asking for two very specific things, according to your initial post:
famoustreasures
OP8 months agoActually that was written some time ago. Thanks for your opinion. I just revised what I had written some time ago. You are wrong about I am asking. I am not. There is no one on this page that could change a thing. I said it simply. I was just venting about robots handling everything. I like people including you who doesn't agree with me. Unless you are a robot
bonjourami
·8 months ago"Unless you are a robot"
A robot with over a thousand purchases? How silly.
meekamaye
·8 months agoI had 100 rating for years but in the last year it dropped due to medical issues and late shipping. Frankly, eBay has no compassion for sellers. It is simply the world of corporate business and I didn't meet their expectations and health issues wasn't of any interest to them. So, I have just sucked it up. After 28 years with them and all the leadership/corporate changes I simply shrug my shoulders and say, "oh, well..."
An interesting side note is the fact years ago I had over 2000+ positive feedback and they decided at one point to take most of those feedbacks off (I think it was around 1000) and start everyone over again on an even playing field. That stung and it happened across the board. Anyone else remember that episode?
albertabrightalberta
·8 months ago@famoustreasures
With 887 active listings, your account is quite active so you're very lucky that ebay is giving you the time and opportunity to rebuild your top rated status. Count your blessings!
"That’s frustrating and tone-deaf given this was a natural disaster situation, not negligence."
The hurricane was a natural disaster. The issue with OOS dings IS negligence since you erred in neglecting to end all the listings for the damaged items. And not only did you miss ending some listings following the hurricane, you didn't assess your inventory over the next 14 months, subsequently resulting in sales and OOS defects on your account.
Accept that your problems are on you and work to rebuild your TRS status.
luckythewinner
·8 months agoI removed over 500 listings due to flood/property damage, but a few affected listings were missed.
{snip}
That’s frustrating and tone-deaf given this was a natural disaster situation, not negligence.
The hurricane was not the only reason for your issues. IMHO you should have ended all your listings immediately, and only relisted items as you confirmed you still had them. That way, those four listings would not have been missed.
I need written clarification of the exact thresholds and dates for when Top Rated status can be earned back.
You already have your written clarification - it is in your seller hub. That tells you which transactions caused defects, and how far your evaluation period looks back.
Hurricane MIlton was in October 2024. That was 15 months ago. When did these cancellations happen?
redmodelt
·8 months agoYou are not contacting eBay or their employees on the community chat; we are other buyer and sellers. All we can do is offer advice. We cannot see your account or what is going on with it.
Can you post screen shots of messages you have received from eBay, maybe someone can see what is going on.
Does it have something to do with current feedback score and higher final value fees?
mamacassidy
·8 months agoEbay doesn't care about any of our personal situations, because we all have personal situations. So they just go by the numbers:
All sellers are required to maintain the following minimum performance standards for their listings on eBay.com within their evaluation period:
We evaluate your performance on the 20th of each month based on your recent sales, and assign you one of the following seller levels:
Qualify as a Top Rated Seller
To become a Top Rated Seller, you must meet the following guidelines:
Once you meet these requirements, we will automatically upgrade you to the Top Rated Seller status at your next evaluation.
golfingaddict
·8 months agoHurricane Milton happened in October 2024
Any defects or issues from those orders would have rolled off your account by October 2025.
If you still had listings up that were no longer available you had quite a bit of time to take them down.
Are you sure that there are no other issues that is causing this?