"Tracking Uploaded On Time and Validated" part of Seller Performance?

[acsellerators]

Hi there, just wanted to reach out about some conflicting responses about the "Tracking Uploaded on Time and Validated" metric and whether or not it is used to determine seller performance.

I have been Top Rated Plus for over 3 years now, and have always had steller Defect, Late Shipment, and Tracking Uploaded On Time and Validated percentages.

However, due to a bug in the eBay shipping software, I was unable to ever attach tracking to an order containing 150+ items. The order was shipped and received well within the stated timeframe, but the tracking never was able to be attached.

Now, my Tracking Uploaded On Time and Validated percentage has dropped below 95%, and I am at risk of losing my Top Rated Plus Status:

Upon contacting customer service to get these defects removed (as they were no fault of my own), I get the following response:

"Please be informed that "Tracking Uploaded on Time and Validated" this particular metric is not included in determining or measuring your seller performance rating. This means that it does not affect your selling performance."

This is the 7th time I have contacted them and gotten the same response. I have sent them the above picture to no avail. What am I missing here?

Thanks for any help!

[wooden_flower]

Try reaching out to the eBay for business team via facebook.  CS is confused - the tracking % will not cause you to go below standard, but it can cost you top rated.  eBay generally will not try to correct tracking issues unless it affects your status - since this does, they should be willing to help.

150 is a lot of items, but if you get another like that, take the time to manually add the tracking to at least enough of the items to keep you in TRS range.  Since you can only have 40 items on an invoice or payment, use bulk shipping to combine the payments into a single label and eBay will load the tracking for you (probably not telling you anything you did not already know).  I think it would be less of a hassle 🙂

https://www.facebook.com/eBayForBusiness

[acsellerators]

Thank you so much for the advice! I was able to contact eBay through their Facebook Page.

Unfortunately, they explained they are not permitted to remove Tracking Uploaded defects as a courtesy. Seeing that my request has already been denied 7 times by customer service, I am at a loss on what to do here. Any other advice? I am being re-evaluated on the 20th and losing my Top Rated Plus Status at that time as well

[wooden_flower]

I would contact them again and explain that you are not asking for a courtesy, that you are asking how to correct errors caused by their inability to upload the tracking.  You will need to explain specifically how it happened.

If you do miss TRS next evaluation, it will only be for 3 months at most, since you are evaluated on a 90 day cycle.  If your sales have been increasing, it might be only for the one month.  

[acsellerators]

Hi there, thanks for the suggestion! I contacted them again to explain this in more detail as you suggested. I also explained that this is not a courtesy request, and provided the bug article number (given to me by the CS rep) as well as all the details regarding the transactions and how the bug occurred.

They explained that under no circumstances will they ever remove Tracking Uploaded on Time and Validated defects upon asking. All defect removals must go through an appeals process with the back office team. This is to "ensure fairness and equality between all sellers on the platform".

I was told to submit an appeal again - as I have 7 times before, and have been denied 7 times before.

So now, I am left with the only option being to e-mail the appeals team (they do not accept calls). The most recent e-mail denial I received was worded as the following:

"However, please be informed that the defect that we can only remove are canceled transaction, close case without seller resolution and late shipment. For tracking uploaded on time and validated, we don’t have an option to remove individual defects but if we can see that it’s the only requirement that was not met to be a top rated seller and the defect should be counted, we are overriding the seller status of the member.

What I would advise is for you to sell more items so that it will be able to compensate the tracking uploaded on time and validated defect as the target is only for 95%."

So basically, they are saying it is impossible to remove. The CS rep, who submitted the appeal, included a myriad of information including the bug #, transaction dates, dates I called CS for help, etc..

I really feel completely hopeless here, as I have spent over 15+ hours on the phone and e-mail over the last 2 months only to get denied every single time. Is there anything else anyone would suggest?

[acsellerators]

Just stumbled across the following thread, dating back to 2017:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Seller-Hub/Can-a-defect-be-removed-from-quot-Tracking-uploaded-on-time...

Apparently they have been refusing to remove late Tracking Uploaded defects since 2017, even in cases of blatant software bugs. They will remove late shipment defects, but not late Tracking Uploaded defects as there is no way for them to actually remove them in the system.

This really hurts us eBay sellers who unfortunately fall victim to software bugs or even the occasional late mail carrier. And with there being literally no way to appeal, I wonder if it's even worth it to pursue further.

If anyone has successfully had a late Tracking Uploaded defect removed please do chime in. It would let me (and I'm sure others as well) know that it is at least possible.

[wooden_flower]

I’m sorry to see that.  I always thought the rule was that corrections would be made if it changed your status, but obviously not.

Since it seems there is nothing you can do to change the Oct evaluation, have you checked your item count to see if your % will be back in line when you are measured on Sept - Oct - Nov?  With your volume of sales, you should be able to limit the loss of TRS to 1 month.

[acsellerators]

Just got some good news! They finally removed most of the Tracking Uploaded Defects from my account due to the bug.

The key was filing a brand new appeal, with the level of documentation required for a court case. I provided:

• Order numbers for every transaction that fell victim to tracking uploaded bug
• Buyer ID for every transaction
• Dates of every order
• Date the order was shipped delayed due to the bug
• Explanation of how the bug affected and what I did to try to circumvent it
• Screenshots of the bug actually occurring (good job I had the foresight to do this)
• Screenshots of the multiple attempts made to circumvent the bug (i.e. multiple bug screenshots, multiple screenshots of different labels attempts to be generated)
• Screenshots of cell phone call records to customer service (with date and time stamps)
• Screenshots of seller dashboard with the defects due to bug

Even then, I received an e-mail stating that they wouldn't remove it.

Finally, I resent all the information again, and demanded my case be escalated to higher management.

And then, just an hour or two later, they were removed!

It was around 2 hours of work to gather the info. But hey, if it means I can still sell with TRS I'll take it!

Thank you tremendously for the help and encouragement! Without that I would have probably given up.

So, if anyone's reading this, take those screenshots!

[wooden_flower]

Wow, that is so great to hear!  I'm glad you kept after them 🙂

Thanks for sharing the good news.