Seller Performance and Automatic Defect removal
On January 16th Ebay sent a newsletter letting sellers know that if they had some defects or bad feedback due to the winter storms that the account will automatically be fixed. I sell live plants and we had frozen conditions in 47 states for over a week. All of our orders needed to be held back. I now have a late shipment rate that exceeds 3% and my seller status will be reduced from Top Rated shortly on the 20th.
In previous years I was easily able to get Ebay "customer service" to remove them. This year I attempted to remove a few of the defects but I was responded to, most likely by AI, that the defects cannot be removed or appealed. I explained to the AI to no avail that this was due to the weather but my words were not heard.
I got some responses by email from the "team" and I even included a cut and paste of the Ebay Newsletter but they responded as if they had not read it and did not acknowledge the fact that I ship live plants. They told me to perform better and I wont have this problem in the future and enjoy the new seller rating.
This is totally unfair. Is there any English Speaking Ebay employee who reads these things. I have all but given up at this point. I am a top rated seller (until the 20th)
albertabrightalberta
·2 years agoMy suggestion would be to hold off even listing plants until a time of year that you can be sure that shipping them is safe.
nobody*s_perfect
·2 years agoeBay's definition of weather-related delays is tied to the seller's ability to get the item to the Post Office, and the ability of the Post Office (or other carrier) ability to move the item. The announcement on January 16 referred to "you may also be concerned about shipping delays for items already shipped or difficulties getting sold items to your carrier. "
This is totally different from holding off on shipping because of low temperatures, which is a delay related to your product rather than to transportation issues. Temperatures below freezing are found in many states throughout the winter months. Perhaps in winter, especially when large areas of the country are forecasted to be exceptionally cold as they were in January, you should have a handling time even longer than your current 5 days, to give you even more flexibility. eBay allows up to 30 (or maybe even 40) days.
farmalljr
·2 years agoPretty sure "late shipments" and "delays due to weather" mean they will cover you IF you actually SHIP orders. Since you did not ship, you will get performance dings for not doing your part as a seller, shipping inside of your handling time.
In weather instances, you should have put your store on vacation before weather turned nasty. You can contact US eBay support through social media, but I'd bet they are going to tell you the same thing I just did.
There are probably certain times of the year that shipping things makes no sense. Plants probably are not wise to ship Jan-Feb since most of the country is under freeze problems. I would not ship anything freeze sensitive during that time of year, unless you are willing to take the risk of loss.
framcpdar
OP2 years agoHi thank you so much for your valuable input. I wish you had read the January 16 seller newsletter. The automatic removal of defects also covers the inability to "actually ship" due to weather as well.
It is accepted practice amongst Nurseries and their customers for nurseries to ship orders when appropriate due to season or weather. Ebay has entered this business as a middleman and should have rules appropriate for what is acceptable, and accepted, for each segment of commerce as it is all not the same.
Since you do not deal with perishable goods you really dont have the same perspective. Suggesting closing shop for 2 months out of the year is not a good option for me. I am looking for advice on how to get Ebay to honor their written commitment and follow their own policy and get past the singapore based customer service from Ebay.
I checked out your shop and it seems that you have a 100 percent pos feedback which is admirable. You most likely had to make lots of concessions and suffer lots of buyer abuse to get such a high score. Thank you again for your suggestions.
stainlessenginecovers
·2 years agoof which they mean you personally cannot get out of the house to go to the carrier or the carrier cannot come to you...due to storms.
NOT for you to 'not' ship due to weather elsewhere.
If someone was doing that for you before, they shouldn't have and the way the system is now, someone in Florida using 'it's frozen out there' will probably NOT get anything changed.
farmalljr
·2 years agoI disagree. eBay is not a site dedicated to selling plants. You are asking for special treatment. It's your job as a seller to ship inside your handling time. If you post office was operational, you get no breaks. That's not what they meant. You as the seller, should have enough foresight to put your store on vacation when there will be problems with the weather.
Your claim that because I am not a plant seller, I am somehow ignorant to how the business works is laughable. Suggesting you put your store on vacation when weather is not right to ship sensitive and perishable plants is very good advice. Even larger nurseries like Gurney's will not ship plants when the weather is too cold. They are smart enough to know, they will eat those losses. As the shipper, the duty is yours to get the product to the buyer safely. YOU are in control of what and when you ship. They are YOUR losses.
eBay is likely going to stick you with the performance failures you have. Learn from it and stop acting like a snowflake and expecting them to treat you special. You must ship in your stated handling time. Consider vacation mode for your store in bad weather. You sell a perishable product, that means not every single day of the year is a smart one to be shipping. Meaning you need a better plan then just not shipping and expecting eBay and buyers to "just understand" the nature of your product.