eBay

sfc_auto_parts · ‎01-26-2020

I was wondering with the new protection for top rated sellers, can you appeal an item not described ding on your service metrics?

Sold an item for parts and the buyer claimed snad. Buyer admitted on messages that she didn't read description or look at pics.

Thank you all in advance

jasoheat_0 · ‎05-12-2020

FRAUD IS FRAUD and you did not answer that , item sold for parts not working returned for item is defective not working WHAT explain that one and i get dinged TWICE that is FRAUD ( NO ASSUMPTION ) , and your assumption is that it is broken even when it wasn't returned as assumptions go both ways( so then you're are saying we are dinged either for lazy/ lying customers or ebays assumption )

jasoheat_0 · ‎05-12-2020

oh and by the way ..........one of those 6 year ebay veterans who sells on ebay and even stated that he did not read the listing ( yet your reps stated the customer is responsible for reading it ) still got dinged for FRAUD and it is FRAUD and NOW i must email every single customer when an item is sold for parts not working because of NO SELLER PROTECTION

jasoheat_0 · ‎05-12-2020

and Trinton , i do appreciate you answering these question , and i am not trying to be difficult , but i am so frustrated trying to understand these policies , when they seem so contradictory . I feel as if Ebay is trying to FINE me for things that are predominantly completely out of my control

vrie39 · ‎05-12-2020

@frugality_inc wrote:
I have reported a handful of false SNADs with significant evidence to overturn these cases and eBay has not credited back one label or removed the service metric defect.

You will never be credited back the shipping label, ebay will never pay for it, they won't force the buyer to pay for it either and ultimately sellers will always pay these costs however the defect is unfair.

@frugality_inc wrote:

Third being having realistic 'very high' criteria. Let's say for example purposes with the screenshot attached that all 24 cases were valid SNAD cases. 1.35% SNAD return rate is still not 'very high' at all compared to recent studies for eCommerce return rates and reasons.

I agree, the present metric requirements are draconian.

vrie39 · ‎05-12-2020

Let me see if I can elaborate a bit...

Ebay has a system in place that makes sellers believe that the route to better service metrics is to sell more, this is not true. We don't get away from bad metrics by entering the next "level" of sales (like by going from a hundred items to a thousand per quarter), we get away from it by selling less items per evaluation period.

It's not that if you get 2 defects per thousand items you need to sell 2 thousand so you will only have 2 defects but 2 thousand items sold, that will never work out that way. If you sell 2k items you will not only have at least 4 defects but chances are you will be busier and less able to pay specific attention so it is quite possible you will gain even more defects (like 5 or 6 in this example) and that will throw you under the bus.

Service metric calculations at my level are per the quarter, other more prolific sellers are evaluated monthly and those who sell a lot less are evaluated per year however if a seller on the annual level they won't get away from bad service metrics by selling enough to enter the quarterly level, doing that will only make matters worse.

In other words if I'm below critical at 2 defects per quarter but 3 defects will put me over the line then I need to see how many defects / items sold I am accruing... For example if I am accruing 2 defects per thousand sold and I am selling 1400 per evaluation period then it makes sense that if I sell around 100 more I will start gaining another defect. In an evaluation period the percentage isn't so much per items sold / defects but rather total number of defects per your seller level (and compared to your peers).

Tricky, tricky...

So to get away from bad service metrics I have always known I need to sell LESS per evaluation period *IF* I can find no other solution, time here is not on my side.

At least that's the way I understand it, now the easy ways to get away from defects is:

Evaluate one's listings and study the SNADs to see if there is something that can be improved.

Raise the prices of those items causing most of the problems a little bit (like 10% or so), this will slow the sales of those items and cause number of defects / items sold to come down.

Here is the win-win:

Raising prices means more profit, less items sold means less defects, less defects means top rated seller, TRS means higher search rankings which translates to more sales and all of that means MORE money for the TRS seller who has Higher prices to begin with!

I am genius, you can thank me later.

Anonymous · ‎05-12-2020

@jasoheat_0 wrote:

FRAUD IS FRAUD and you did not answer that , item sold for parts not working returned for item is defective not working WHAT explain that one and i get dinged TWICE that is FRAUD ( NO ASSUMPTION ) , and your assumption is that it is broken even when it wasn't returned as assumptions go both ways( so then you're are saying we are dinged either for lazy/ lying customers or ebays assumption )

Hi @jasoheat_0, happy to clear up the misunderstanding here - listing an item as "For parts/Not working" does not absolve them of responsibility. A buyer can still report a concern that their purchase didn't match the listing description and a seller would still need to accept the return and offer a refund. While you have indicated that my last reply did not address your statement that "fraud is fraud", I can only reiterate that some situations where you feel a buyer is being fraudulent may actually be situations where there is simply a difference of opinion or a misunderstanding. If there is evidence of fraudulent behavior, we have protections available. If the only "evidence" available is based on assumptions, this would not be sufficient.

For example, we do not have to assume anything when a return is requested and then not completed since your service metrics track returns that were opened. Whether the buyer sent the item back or not won't change that the return was opened. Saying their return was not valid because they did not return the item is an assumption. Saying the return was opened in the first place is a fact, and this is what we record in the metric we are discussing. I encourage you to review my previous response again for more details on the protections available and how to request a review of a specific situation you are running into.

pjcdn2005 · ‎05-12-2020

If you are referring to service metrics you aren't going to 'go over the line' with 3 items not as described. You don't get a defect for service metrics, you get them for unresolved cases and for seller initiated cancellations. In order to be over those metrics you would have more than 2 AND be over the max. percentage which for TRS is .5%.

Service metrics are different...

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-policies/seller-performance-policy/service-metrics-policy...

If you are rated Very High in a category, but you had fewer than 10 'Item not as described' return requests from unique buyers, or your 'Item not as described' rate is under 1% in a specific category during the evaluation period, you will not be subject to consequences

jasoheat_0 · ‎05-12-2020

well when i explained to the rep that the customer stated they did not read the listing( in an email the rep could read ) ( 6 year ebay veteran ) and then returns the items as not working for parts ( and he stated he did not read ) why am i held responsible ......thats FRAUD as he is stating he did not read ( yet he reported it defective not working ) and even the rep said there was nothing wrong with the listing ...its getting scary to sell on ebay especially when we will be FINED 4% of a total years sales ( i do not fall into the 3 month ) for a buyers laziness and not reading as 20 % of my metrics is for this one reason alone , as it is ebay almost make s as mcuh as i do on a sale and now this >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

jasoheat_0 · ‎05-13-2020

so the request for item that i have received back " defective not working " when in actual fact the items were sold as NOT WORKING FOR PARTS , and stated 7 times thru out the listing and then the return is forced ( as we really do not have an option ) and these dings go against my service metrics when i have done everything i can do to prevent this . yet because of either LAZY non reading customer or a flawed software ( where customers can not easily see the condition ) i get dinged . 3 cancellations i believe this week because i am having to email customer during and after the sales . if i was not to email them if not with the rate at which this is going i could conceivable ( as it is happening more frequently ) get 12 dings a month because of customers NOT reading . that could potentially turn into 100 plus a year ( dings against my metrics for this issue ) i have repeatedly asked your reps and for help in this matter on how to make my listings clearer ( not one could make a suggestion based off of my current listings ) yet i am graded on this and potentially could end up getting fined ( when i can not afford EBAYS FINES

vrie39 · ‎05-13-2020

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
If you are referring to service metrics you aren't going to 'go over the line' with 3 items not as described. You don't get a defect for service metrics, you get them for unresolved cases and for seller initiated cancellations. In order to be over those metrics you would have more than 2 AND be over the max. percentage which for TRS is .5%.

Service metrics are different...
https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-policies/seller-performance-policy/service-metrics-policy...
If you are rated Very High in a category, but you had fewer than 10 'Item not as described' return requests from unique buyers, or your 'Item not as described' rate is under 1% in a specific category during the evaluation period, you will not be subject to consequences

I don't know what the magic number is but you won't get less defects if you sell more, if you sell more you will get more defects and that is bad. I have seen many sellers get sucked down into that mechanism where they believe that selling more is the answer, it is not.

mam98031 · ‎05-13-2020

@vrie39 wrote:
@pjcdn2005 wrote:
If you are referring to service metrics you aren't going to 'go over the line' with 3 items not as described. You don't get a defect for service metrics, you get them for unresolved cases and for seller initiated cancellations. In order to be over those metrics you would have more than 2 AND be over the max. percentage which for TRS is .5%.

Service metrics are different...
https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-policies/seller-performance-policy/service-metrics-policy...
If you are rated Very High in a category, but you had fewer than 10 'Item not as described' return requests from unique buyers, or your 'Item not as described' rate is under 1% in a specific category during the evaluation period, you will not be subject to consequences
I don't know what the magic number is but you won't get less defects if you sell more, if you sell more you will get more defects and that is bad. I have seen many sellers get sucked down into that mechanism where they believe that selling more is the answer, it is not.

Defects are items that show on your Seller Dashboard [not the Service Metrics].

If you are a seller in trouble with the Service Metrics policy, then absolutely increasing sales in some way which in turn increases your number of transactions will dilute the numbers in time. You do however have to be smart about it and make sure your listings are designed in the best way you can to prevent INADs. There of course is not secret to that and it often is just the luck of the draw as even a perfect listing can get an INAD filed. But unless you are running an extremely high INAD rate [which would be a sign something was wrong with your listings] increasing your transactions is the way to climb out of problems with the Service Metrics.

mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999

collectors_road · ‎09-29-2020

Oh thats what I thought. Lol. But indeed it does affect your metrics, you just have to hunt for the page that shows you where you REALLY stand.

Theres a glorious chart of How you are actually being grading.

Yes, indeed you may appear to be a top rated seller but underneath the surface theres a whole other game being played.

Bahhahhahah

collectors_road · ‎09-29-2020

Right! You don't hear about this very much any more. In fact I have heard the opposite was true, that it wouldn't be harmful to your account.

I have bent over backwards to help buyers who hardly deserve it.

I have taken the initiative to refund, cancel, close, etc. Realizing that is doing to my account, trying to make it a better buying experience for the customer.

Oh Brother!

And Might I add with the pandemic some customers lately have just lost their marbles. In all the 20 years Ive been on ebay I have never encountered so Much

Madness as there has been this month.

collectors_road · ‎09-29-2020

Wow,

And it is VERY difficult to get out of the Hole they put you in - because now your lower in search. So sales go down. Making the percentage of sales lower, Making the percentage of SNAD larger. Sigh.