Below Standard Drop Resulted in 99% Cut in my Listing and Selling limits - Is this Normal?

[salon-1-audio]

I've been selling on ebay since 1986, with thousands of positives, currently at 100%, sales over $1M and last month my limits were 11,000 items and near $150K.  We had a guy return an empty box filled with paper so no refund.  He fought it and ebay refunded him and nicked our rating.  Then had a return go to a neighbors store, by the time we found it ebay had refunded.  Another nick.  And a couple items went out a day late (my fault).  Still no emails or unhappy customers.  We just fell under standard and ebay dropped our selling limits to 140 items and $18K!  After a number of calls to find out if this was a glitch, its apparently not.  How does cutting off 99% of a sellers ability to sell help anyone here?    Every couple hours I'm getting emails when items try to auto-relist that we're over our limit.   Its like getting kicked in the crotch and spit in the face everyday.  For years I used to have a personal ebay representative I could call and now seems like I'm just another number.  No wonder they are losing business. 

[parkersparrow]

Ebay wasn't around in 1986. Assuming that must be a typo.  For someone doing that much business and for many years you should be aware of the rules and how the site works.

[salon-1-audio]

You are correct.  It was 1996.  It was the wild west back then and nowhere near the rules they have today.  We could actually leave appropriate feedback for bad buyers... imagine that!  It was also a lot more fun and you felt like part of something special.  Today it's just business for ebay and us.  

[parkersparrow]

If you look under overview in the seller hub you can see and keep track  of all of the things you mentioned in your OP. 

[grayirongolf]

Your in eBay's correctional facility. Once you've been admitted into eBay's penal system it's hard to get out.   As a human rights issue, eBay should supply you with 3 hots & a cot while you serve your sentence.

[stuff4divas]

Did you appeal these 2 decisions?

[Anonymous]

Not only that but his feedback is 1,285 & If you do the math he receives 53 feedback a year & if you go to his store you will find its only been Member Since 4-12-2011. So im calling this one out !! Smells like **bleep**!! Sir or Madam if your going to come on here, and share please do so with truth & Honesty!! 

[dentalsales4u]

That's not a nice thing to imply scottishtrades.
I've been buying and selling on eBay for 19 years, but you wouldn't know it by looking at this account.
Many sellers have multiple accounts as I do.
This account doesn't get a lot of feedback, yet I'm a TRS.
My other account isn't a TRS account, but has over 2,000 feedback.
You can't judge a book by it's cover!

[salon-1-audio]

Good observations.  We have 3 user names that we use.  This one is my personal account which is also the newest one.

[salon-1-audio]

Thanks for the suggestion.  I've spent hours on the phone with ebay/paypal.  The final decision on the return of the box filled with packing paper was they can't do anything about it since the tracking 'proved' it was delivered to us.  They recommend contacting the FBI and getting it documented.  I just couldn't bother the FBI for a $350 ebay sale.  This seems like a big loop-hole in ebay, but that's another topic.

[luckythewinner]

We had a guy return an empty box filled with paper so no refund.  He fought it and ebay refunded him and nicked our rating.  Then had a return go to a neighbors store, by the time we found it ebay had refunded.  Another nick. 

Two unresolved cases will not put a $1 million seller  below standard. There must be more to the story of why you are below standard.

What does your dashboard say are the reasons you are not Above Standard?

And a couple items went out a day late (my fault).

A couple late shipments will not put a $1 million seller  below standard. There must be more to the story of why you are below standard.

What does your dashboard say are the reasons you are not Above Standard?

[blu_owlie]

The FBI seems extreme but you can definitely file a report with your local police department for fraud and then forward the report to eBay and PayPal.

Is there record of the weight of the box when you shipped it and when you received it? That could be used as proof that the original item was not returned.

[dentalsales4u]

I would also file mail fraud with the post office. The USPS takes this very seriously!

[salon-1-audio]

On this account we're only doing $60K-$100K annually right now.   All time sales are well over $1M (all accounts).  I watch my selling manager daily.

[tri-countypowersports]

My boss started our ebay store many years ago, and I have been in charge of it for the last 10. We recently got a listing program that messed up our handling times, and we had a ton of late packages due to use being closed due to the Christmas and New Years holidays. We were out for 3 months waiting for our rating to go up. Ebay doesn't include handling times when you are on vacation mode, which is total **bleep**. We have almost 100,000 listings and we cannot manually change the times for every single item. It would take us 2 months to do that. Late shipping and returns all count as strikes toward us. Cancelled orders are another one that bit us due to the company we were using not having the correct information provided towards us. It was a huge lesson and we learned and bounced right back, but it did take some time and hurt me financially due to this being my full time job. Sales were down and so were the paychecks. There are rules on here, so just make sure to follow them correctly and you should be fine.