I have been a member over 11 years. I have had five issues that put me in below standard rating. Some of which were due to cards that were less than $5. The eBay envelop is not always tracked by the USPS (as it is supposed to be according to eBay) and as a result I have no way to prove that a card actually arrived. DING. One issue, I could not find a jacket and contacted the buyer to explain that my space was rearranged while I was out of town and that I would give it to him free when I found it. He declined and I was dinged and now the dreaded Below Standard Rating. Customer service said "just say that he wanted it canceled and cancel it and it will be done next time." So, I'm supposed to lie in order not to get below standard? The next customer service representative said that that was not correct (uh huh). In another instance, customer said that a jacket was damaged when it arrived. I would have given him a refund right away, but he started out with an email calling me a scammer etc. and attacking me. The picture he sent was partial and you could not tell anything by it. Couldn't even tell if it was the jacket that I sent him! The first customer service person said that eBay ruled in my favor, but then I was blindsided when I lost the money and the jacket and was dinged because he contacted American Express and they ruled in his favor without him sending me a full picture of the jacket! The second customer service person said that the ruling came because American Express decided before eBay did (even though the first customer service rep had already told me that I won)....get your stories straight customer service! It did not matter that you could not tell if it was actually the jacket that I sent or not. Another ding, I sent a high end card out , but made a mistake in the listing and the graded box was checked. As a result it went to the graded card authenticator instead of the ungraded card authenticator and was rejected. I was unaware that this was the reason it was rejected and did not want to send the card to the buyer until I could verify that the card was real (I purchased it on eBay, but it did not go through the authentication because of an eBay glitch (lol the joke is on me). I had to send it to PSA to be graded and authenticated before relisting it. In the mean time DING! Anyway, the first thing that I noticed about being below standard is that eBay expects you to improve this rating, but they make it very difficult to do so. First, they do not allow you to promote your listings. They also move the listings to lower visibility while charging you an even higher percentage if they do sell. Way to help me get on track eBay! Seems like extra income for eBay yet again (kick em while they are down while making mor $$ tactic instead of actually helping). I fully expect to suffer the negative consequences in my selling account for saying something that isn't positive about eBay in this post ...Don't ever say anything negative or you will reap the consequences believe me that has been something that I learned in the last 11 years. I feel like I am back 11+ years ago starting out and having the buyers bully me while threatening my rating to get free things, except now it is the buyers and eBay making things difficult. My conclusion, after spending over 11 years selling on eBay is that it is not worth the trouble any more! Customer service makes it up as they go along and will say anything. A few Dings ruin you. Feedback is very important to eBay, but only a small percentage of buyers leave any. Scammer buyers are rampant and constantly find new ways to game the system and the sellers. Your items that you pay eBay to list may not even be shown if they don't sell in a few months. This after the big push to put 10,000 items on your store. Every time an new update comes, expect it to effect you selling ability and take hours and hours to "update" your listings. If you do get below standard, instead of helping eBay makes it more difficult and expensive to raise the rating. GOOD LUCK selling on eBay
