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Selling

gadget-nerd
Owner538 View listings
11 Months In: Solo Seller, Top Rated Plus, $50M Limit & 56% Feedback Rate

I would like to share my story and accomplishments in hopes that this will get recognized by the higher-ups because I think that I have done something pretty incredible. I live in Mobile, AL and we used to have a chain of stores in the area named Dirt Cheap. Their business model was simple. They bought return pallets from Amazon, Walmart and Target and sold that merchandise on their shelved for Dirt Cheap prices. To give you an example I bought 30 or 40 Marvel Legends Star Lord action figures for 48 cents with tax and sold them for $14.95. My first year in business I made $20,000 profit from buying exclusively at Dirt Cheap and reselling that merchandise. I made my first sale on July 29, 2023 and started my store subscription on September 1st. On my first evaluation I was awarded Top Rated Plus. I was on my Seller Hub right after Thanksgiving and I saw Top Rated at the top of my page. I clicked on it and still didn't fully understand what it meant so I did a Google search to find out what it actually meant. It still didn't register in my brain what I had actually accomplished. Fast forward to June 19 of the following year and I was sitting in my car outside of Walmart. I opened the app, went to the Selling tab, scrolled to the bottom of the page when I saw that my limit had been increased to $50,000,000. I had no idea what in the hell that meant so I contacted eBay to ask if this was really a thing. When the chat ended I said to myself "So this is a thing now" and went right back to what I was doing not fully comprehending what I had accomplished. Not once had I ever asked for a limit increase. At one point my limit was being increased so frequently that I just dismissed it because I thought that this was the norm for every seller. Less than 11 months after making my first sale I had achieved Top Rated Plus and had somehow had my limit increased to the $50,000,000 ceiling. The other day I was discussing my store with Google Gemini and I mentioned that I had reached Top Rated Plus on my first evaluation and the $50,000,000 limit in less than 11 months and it told me that was an exceptionally rare accomplishment so I opened up a new tab and started my research. Only then did I discover exactly how rare of an accomplishment that actually was. I still hadn't fully grasped what I had accomplished. Then I contacted customer service to verify this information, and after looking at my account and metrics they verified that this information is in fact true. You wanna know the weird part? I wasn't even trying to do any of this. It just happened. I primarily sell vintage electronics. Specifically vintage PC components, accessories and software. I fully test everything that I sell and make sure that it is fully operational before I list it. I accept returns on the vast majority of my inventory because if anything is returned because it does not work, then that is my fault for not testing it properly and unlike most sellers I take full responsibility for that. As a result of my rigorous testing policy I have a 1.19% return rate for electronics an when the industry standard is upwards of 10%. My transaction defect rate is 2 out of 221 transactions, late shipment rate is 0%, cases closed without seller resolution is 0% and I only have 1 transaction that wasn't uploaded on time. I have 100% positive feedback and 89 followers across 942 items sold. I call my packaging ritual "Logistical Respect" because that is exactly what it is. I wrap every item in at least two layers of bubble wrap, all electronics are placed into an ESD bag before being placed into a box where the void is filled with shredded bubble wrap with color coded tissue paper placed in the box for a boutique unboxing experience. I also include a personalized hand signed thank you letter with every order that explains the history of the item that was purchased and/or my personal memories/experience with that particular item. Paragraph-long emotional feedback has become the norm for me. All you have to do is read my feedback to see what I am talking about. As a result of my letters and packaging I have a feedback capture ratio of 56.6% which is more than twice the industry standard. I have had some amazing conversations with my customers most of which are at least an hour long. I could easily write a book with all of the stories I have been told and the conversations that I have had. With all of my international orders I leave their feedback and translate their letters into their native language. Why do I do this you ask? If my international customers speak English it is not going to be their first language. So why would you communicate with them in a way that they are unfamiliar or uncomfortable with? It only takes a little bit of effort to make someone happy and to make their day, week or month. If I can do that then my job is complete. What makes me happiest is when I make other people happy and that is why I continue to do this. The money I make on eBay is an afterthought. The Internet is a cold, lonely, faceless place and I am on a personal mission to try to inject a little happiness and warmth into it. I love doing this more than anything else that I have ever done. If I broke even I would continue to do this until my last breath.
3 days agolast reply 22 hours ago
61
Discussion
eBay Categories
Jewelry & Watches

khan_watches
84 View listings
Buyer-Requested Cancellations Counted as Seller Fault Unfulfilled in BBE – Is This Correct?

Hello, I am looking for clarification regarding the Seller Fault Unfulfilled metric under eBay's Cross-Border BBE policy. It appears that some orders where the buyer explicitly requested cancellation may be contributing to the seller's Seller Fault Unfulfilled BBE rate. I am trying to understand whether this is intended behavior or a possible classification issue. Specifically, if the sequence is: Buyer places order → Buyer requests cancellation → Seller accepts the buyer's request → Buyer receives a full refund should that transaction be classified as Seller Fault Unfulfilled ? This seems different from a situation where the seller cancels because an item is out of stock or because the seller is unable to fulfill the order. Another concern is that the BBE dashboard may show a number of Seller Fault Unfulfilled transactions, while the downloadable BBE Transactions report does not clearly identify the individual transactions responsible for that metric . This makes it difficult for a seller to determine which transactions are being counted and provide evidence if a transaction has been incorrectly classified. Could someone familiar with Cross-Border BBE please clarify: Are buyer-requested cancellations supposed to count as Seller Fault Unfulfilled? Does BBE distinguish between buyer-requested cancellations and seller-initiated/unfulfilled cancellations ? How can a seller obtain the Transaction IDs being counted under Seller Fault Unfulfilled if they are not identified in the downloadable BBE report? Is there a specific process for requesting a manual review of an incorrectly classified BBE transaction? I would especially appreciate clarification from an eBay representative or sellers who have encountered the same issue. Thank you.
6 days agolast reply 3 days ago
1
Question
Ask a Mentor
System error allows 3 buyers for a single listed item. One canceled order left a negative review. EBAY- denied my request for removal because I canceled the order not the buyer, even though that's what I was informed to do by the EBAY help chat.
I've been an ebay member and buyer since 2005. Less than two weeks ago, I started selling my old collectibles on ebay. I made over 40 sales and everything was going smooth. Then, I listed a single item last Friday and when I woke up, I had 3 different buyers who had bought and paid for the item. I double checked the listing and it was listed as a quantity of 1. Through the help chat and articles it said I had to cancel the extra orders. I canceled two of the orders and explained what happened. One of them who is a reseller, left me negative feedback after I explained. I sent him screenshots verifying everything and asked that he take down his review. He hasn't responded and ebay denied my request for the removal of the negative feedback because I was the one who canceled the order and not the buyer, even though that's exactly what I was informed to do from the same help chat. My rating went from 100% to 83%. Any other sellers ever experience anything like this? Any suggestions beyond contacting the buyer again and requesting removal? Thanks in advance.
2005dylanh
Posted 5 days ago • Last reply 3 days ago
1
Question
Ask a Mentor
Subject: 11-year account (8k+ sales) Below Standard due to 14 Time Away defects – Advice on appeal?
Hi everyone, I’m looking for some advice from experienced sellers and community managers regarding a sudden defect spike on a long-standing account. Account Background: Account Age: 11+ years Lifetime Sales: 8,000+ completed transactions Current Evaluation Window (12 months): 477 sales Defects: 14 (Defect Rate: 2.94%) Current Status: Below Standard What Happened: After taking a 2-month break and putting my store on Time Away, the vacation period expired. Unfortunately, I failed to track the exact reactivation date and was physically unable to process incoming orders for a couple of days right after reopening. During this short window, 14 orders came in. Unable to ship them within my handling time, I made the mistake of cancelling them and selected "Out of Stock" as the reason. In reality, all items were physically in stock—I just could not process them at that exact moment. Current Situation: All buyers received an immediate 100% refund, and there are currently 0 open cases or unresolved disputes. This was a one-time operational oversight following a 2-month absence, not a pattern of poor service or selling items I don't own. Given my 11-year track record and over 8,000 successful sales on eBay, what would be the most effective way to present this to eBay support or request a manual review/probationary limit? Has anyone successfully appealed a similar restriction with a strong account history? Any insights or guidance would be greatly appreciated! Best regards, Galyna
2015_salyg
Posted 2 weeks ago • Last reply 2 weeks ago
14
Discussion
Buying & Selling
Selling

2015_salyg
2435 View listings
Subject: 11-year account (8k+ sales) Below Standard due to 14 Time Away defects – Advice on appeal?

Hi everyone, I’m looking for some advice from experienced sellers and community managers regarding a sudden defect spike on a long-standing account. Account Background: Account Age: 11+ years Lifetime Sales: 8,000+ completed transactions Current Evaluation Window (12 months): 477 sales Defects: 14 (Defect Rate: 2.94%) Current Status: Below Standard What Happened: After taking a 2-month break and putting my store on Time Away, the vacation period expired. Unfortunately, I failed to track the exact reactivation date and was physically unable to process incoming orders for a couple of days right after reopening. During this short window, 14 orders came in. Unable to ship them within my handling time, I made the mistake of cancelling them and selected "Out of Stock" as the reason. In reality, all items were physically in stock—I just could not process them at that exact moment. Current Situation: All buyers received an immediate 100% refund, and there are currently 0 open cases or unresolved disputes. This was a one-time operational oversight following a 1-month absence, not a pattern of poor service or selling items I don't own. Given my 11-year track record and over 8,000 successful sales on eBay, what would be the most effective way to present this to eBay support or request a manual review/probationary limit? Has anyone successfully appealed a similar restriction with a strong account history? Any insights or guidance would be greatly appreciated! Best regards, Galyna
2 weeks agolast reply 2 weeks ago
27
Question
Ask a Mentor
9-Year Above Standard\Top Rated Seller Permanently Restricted Due to Automated BBE Filter Glitch. Need Advice/Mentor Help
Hello fellow sellers and mentors, I am writing to this community in a state of complete devastation, hoping to get some advice or guidance from experienced members. Recently, my 9-year-old active shop, "EmbroideriesShop" (which specializes in unique, high-quality handmade embroidery and patches), was hit with an automatic, indefinite selling restriction due to a BBE (Bad Buyer Experience) policy violation. When I contacted customer support, the agents sent template responses stating that my seller-fault defect rate rose to 12.01% and that the restriction was applied automatically by the system, leaving them with no technical ability to restore my account manually.

However, looking at my actual, objective metrics, this decision is an absolute mathematical anomaly: Top Rated Seller Badge: I hold the official "Top Rated Seller" badge multiple times with 100% positive buyer feedback . 9-Year History: I have successfully sold over 4,400 items and gathered 999 followers . Impeccable Service Metrics: My Item Not as Described defect rate is 0.00% (0 out of 190 transactions). My Item Not Received rate is only 0.53% (1 out of 187 transactions). The Cause of the Spike: The 12.01% defect rate spike occurred solely because of a single order cancellation during a short, low-volume sales month. This cancellation was due to a system glitch on my discount settings, which I have since completely fixed. How can a 9-year-old store with an active Top Rated badge and 100% feedback be permanently banned over a single transaction defect? The automated BBE filter completely ignored my flawless decade-long record, treating me as a high-risk seller. Since customer support agents claim they cannot bypass the automated decision, I am completely stuck. Has anyone experienced a similar automatic BBE ban on an established account? Is there a specific department, executive email, or legal path I can take to get a human being at eBay to manually look at these flawless metrics? I have attached my redacted metrics dashboard for reference. Any advice, guidance, or moderator escalation would be deeply appreciated. Thank you so much for your time and help. Best regards, Max EmbroideriesShop
embroideriesshop
Posted Jul 18, 2026 at 2:16 AM • Last reply 2 weeks ago
8
Discussion
Buying & Selling
Selling

diggerantique
212 View listings
Denied Defect & Restriction: Ethiopia to USA Hub Delay via Qatar Cargo Route

Hello Community Managers. My seller account was restricted due to transaction defects caused by international cargo disruptions completely outside my control. I ship packages out of Ethiopia to buyers in the USA. My carrier routes all North American freight directly through the Qatar Cargo Hub, which is suffering severe regional flight groundings. Frontline email support repeatedly denied my appeals because they only looked at the final destination country (USA), failing to see the physical transit hub bottleneck. Tracking shows my packages were accepted by the carrier in Ethiopia on time. Please help escalate this to a trust specialist to manually review my tracking routes and lift this restriction. @devon@ebay @kyle@ebay
1 month agolast reply 1 month ago
3
Discussion
Buying & Selling
Selling

elbysvcs
4624 View listings
Seller rating bumped down due to the Post Office late deliveries.

Anybody else have their seller rating dropped a level due to the Postal Service having problems delivering within the estimated delivery time? I received an email a few days ago entitled "Act now to regain Top Rated Seller Status". Unfortunately your account no longer meets one or more of the Top Rated Seller requirements. Upon visiting my dashboard I found that they show my account as "Above Standard", down from "Highly Rated". and have 21 orders listed as arriving late. Now, I have a 100% rating on on-time shipping so in my opinion, getting downrated because the USPS can't get their stuff together is just a bit ridiculous and unreasonable since sellers have absolutely no control over how badly the post office is going to screw up .
1 year agolast reply 1 month ago
19
Discussion
Buying & Selling
Selling

abez_fashion
190 View listings
Seeking Advice: Who to contact to remove an automated CBT restriction warning caused by a proven false SNAD?

Hi everyone, I’m looking for some advice on the best escalation path or specific contact to reach out to regarding an automated Cross-Border Trade (CBT) account restriction warning. I am a cross-border seller, and a recent buyer explicitly misused the return system to avoid paying return shipping. This triggered a Bad Buyer Experience (BBE) ding and generated an automated warning on my dashboard. Here is the exact context: The Claim: A buyer filed a return under "Doesn't match description," explicitly claiming a "Mistake in Manufacturing" because the jacket was too tight. The Reality: The item was manufactured perfectly to the explicit measurement chart provided in our listing. The Admission: The buyer completely ignored our size chart and simply assumed the jacket would match their idea of a generic "international size L." When they realized their sizing assumption was wrong, he selected the SNAD option purely to force a seller-paid return label. In our official eBay messages, he openly admitted to this: "Hi Ive just come home and tried. Its really very tight and not a normal international size L. I cant even close the jacket. All my jackets and coats are size L Im sorry I have to return" "I did not know which reason to choose as its not size L Mr or Mrs Please dont worry Im not going to leave bad feedback or anything. best regards" I fully complied with eBay's policies, accepted the return, and refunded the buyer immediately. However, because my average selling price is high and my transaction volume is relatively low, this single false SNAD claim heavily skewed my Service Metrics. Standard support and the standard CBT appeals email have essentially stated they cannot or will not remove the SNAD defect itself from the backend. Since the defect seems locked in, I want to pivot and appeal the CBT account restriction warning itself. It is incredibly unfair to have my business threatened by an automated system over a documented buyer sizing error where the buyer openly confessed to ignoring the listing metrics and guessing the return reason. My Questions: Is there a higher-level risk/compliance team, a specific email address, or an eBay Community Manager I can contact who has the authority to review these message logs and lift the CBT warning? Has anyone successfully had an automated warning removed while leaving the underlying defect in place by proving the buyer manipulated the system? Any guidance on exactly who to contact next would be greatly appreciated. Thank you! @ebay.com @rebecca@ebay @sarah@ebay @griff@ebay.com @doug@ebay @kyle@ebay @tracie@ebay @dina@ebay @mirains@ebay.com @baadnesen@ebay.com @rhardwick@ebay.com
1 month agolast reply 1 month ago
10
Discussion
Buying & Selling
Selling

luxe_eyewear
0 View listings
UNABLE TO CONTACT EBAY AGENT FOR MANUAL VERIFICATION OF NEW ACCOUNT

My newly created seller account was suspended within 15 min after registration. I believe this may have been triggered by an automated security review. I am a genuine seller and I am fully willing to verify my identity and business. I can provide any documents you require, including government ID, business registration, bank account details, and proof of address. I would sincerely appreciate a manual review of my account instead of an automated response. If there is any information missing or any issue that needs to be resolved, please let me know and I will respond promptly. Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to your guidance. Can anyone help me contact eBay agent? i Have tried contacting them via contact us option but live chat isn't available and send me to the option of send mail When i send a mail i just keep recieveing the same automated reply in the mail and no human intervention is provided Any help will be appreciated.
1 month agolast reply 1 month ago
2

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