Seller Status Warning
Hello All, I've been with ebay for twenty years. I had my Above status dropped to Below because a buyer found a technicality where he could bypass immediate payment through an invoice request. It forced me to cancel the order. (A week later, the buyer bough and paid for the same items). In July, I noticed a drop in my seller rating. I saw it was due to this order. I contacted an agent and was told there was nothing they could do because it fell outside the 90 day window (by about a week), but not to worry as my seller rating would correct itself on August 20th. This did not happen.
I just talked to another agent and was told no one at ebay has the ability to fix this. Even though it was the buyer who caused this issue (and I still sold him the items), and there are zero complaints from any other buyers...tough luck.
What I want to warn everyone about is the "out of stock" option. Again, I've been with ebay for 20 years and have never read or encountered the fact that if you cancel an item for being "out of stock" it stays on your account as a defect for an entire year, unless you contact them and then they may only remove it as a one-time courtesy.
I have been through a lot with ebay. I list multiple items almost daily, but this is beyond unfair. It's killed my promotions and marketing. It's moved me to the bottom of the search list, without a single complaint from one buyer. There is zero justification to this policy and the lack of adequate response I've gotten
fern*wood
·2 years agoYou can see your rating and any defects on your seller dashboard. The percentages involved and infractions are shown there.
chowpit36iw
·2 years agoIf memory serves correct, a buyer has 4(?) days to pay an invoice. Not sure why you cancelled the order as opposed to waiting for the allotted time by eBay to pay.
As for transaction defects for out of stock, yep, they're nasty. Seems I always have one hovering over me during the course of a year. However, echoing others, one defect shouldn't have dropped you to a 'below' seller standard. I have an out-of-stock defect right now and I am still 'Top Rated.'
Transaction defects can drop off sooner than a year if you are a high volume seller that has no defects over the course of a quarter. I can't recall what that threshold number is, other than it was in the hundreds.
scootyhooty
OP2 years agoOK, so that's what interesting. The items were BIN immediate payment. He jumped on them because three would be sold in a day. We agreed on immediate payment and I would give him a discount. He put them in his cart, and then did nothing. So I sent an invoice. And then he did nothing for a week, even though I would send a reminder every two days. I contacted an agent. They said wait longer, etc...I explained that wasn't the agreement and he's treating this like layaway because he doesn't have the cash on hand
slippinjimmy
·2 years agoWhen you send an invoice you reset the 4 days to pay clock which is why you did not ever see the cancel for non-payment option.
buyselljack2016
·2 years agoAnd beyond the fact that one OOS does not cause "below standard"..................
no immediate payment because of invoice request----- forced to cancel ----- something does not add up here 🤔
scootyhooty
OP2 years agoYou can play conspiracy all you want. I literally canceled, relisted and the guy came back pleading for the same deal. I agreed with the understanding it's immediate payment, not when he feels like it, or else I report it to ebay. He paid. I sent it to him. All positive feedback.
It's not one OOS, it was technically four. even though I canceled one order, they each count individually
robbie31415
·2 years agoYar, I have literally bought something from another retailer with 1 day delivery to myself just to send it to a buyer to avoid an OOS cancellation.
If rather take a financial hit for my mistake than get eBay mad at me.
Sorry you didn't know about this, you should read everything on the seller level page and metrics. Important to keep high ratings.
scootyhooty
OP2 years agoNow that's a decent response. Thanks
dhbookds
·2 years agoYou're saying you were demoted to below standard because of ONE instance?
Transaction defect rate
What this means
We count a transaction defect when either of these things happen:
Minimum requirements
You're allowed up to 2% of transactions with defects within an evaluation period.
You'll only be evaluated as Below Standard if your transaction defects are associated with more than 4 different buyers.
https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-policies/seller-standards-policy?id=4347&st=3&pos=1&query=Seller%20standards%20policy&intent=Seller%20standards&lucenceai=lucenceai&docId=HELP1272
scootyhooty
OP2 years agoYou got me. The best I got was one removed, possibly, as a courtesy, for a listing that had one too many item options
slippinjimmy
·2 years ago@scootyhooty
You don't get downgraded to Below Standard because of ONE Out Of Stock cancellation. You must have at least 4 Defects from 4 different buyers.
The Seller Standards policy has been in place for years, the policy is not hidden and if you even occasionally checked your Seller Dashboard you would see what was going on.
https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-policies/seller-standards-policy?id=4347
scootyhooty
OP2 years agoI have six. One item was broke. One was listed twice. The other four are for one sale
coolections
·2 years agoOut of stock is the worse thing you can do as a seller. I have no clue why you would even pick that as a choice. Your buyer did not pay so there was no reason to cancel anything. You would have been reimbursed your fees and you could have just blocked the buyer.
scootyhooty
OP2 years agoBecause he was not responding to any messages and the ebay's agent advice was give it more time. I had multiple buyers and agreed to a deal because he was looking to buy several items with the understanding he would pay upon receiving the invoice