Below Standard Warning

[collectintime]

I have been on eBay for 20 years, and I am not going to make the threat that I am not going to sell here. It is out of control though, and I don't know if CEOs have changed. Don't know the chain of command and don't care. I have always jumped the hoops and followed all of their policies, but now it is a buyer's free for all. When I get a return, now 10 times per year, originally once every 3-5 years. When I have fallen into the trap of a criminal buyer, I do try to state my case. Five years ago eBay agents DID read the information and sided with me on more than one occasion. I have found out now, there is no reading by anyone at eBay. It is automatic. The seller wins, you lose. This year I have lost over $1,000 because of this new policy. 

Even worse, what I did not realize, was that I went from Top Rated Plus to Below Standard. I thought, so what? I will not get the 10 percent discount, that used to be 20 percent.

Oh, there is so much more eBay chooses to punish you with. Here it is in case you don't know. The $100 coverage for insurance for USPS changes to $50, no more global shipping allowed, you come up in the search, dead last. If there are 40 items on like yours, you are not getting seen. And worst of all the new 30 cent per item plus 13 percent taken away from sellers including the shipping you pay (never understood that!) includes another 6 percent, with a note that says, you are below standard. So basically you are paying almost 20 percent for every sale. To add insult to injury, I changed back to Top Rated on October 20. They are continuing to charge the below average fee until November 1. I am just supposed to understand that that is their "billing cycle."

I don't spend much time on these boards, but really wanted to let sellers know that you must take all returns with a smile, thank them, and of course, you can report the buyer, PLEASE, that is just to make you feel better. Nothing ever happens to these scammers. Is it costing eBay anything? No, so let them do to the sellers as they please, there will always be other suckers willing to sell on eBay, just like me.  Just smile and say thank you eBay for running the prices of collectibles into the ground for the last ten years. Thank you, eBay Master, I will continue to follow!

[siamdao]

I agree.  We used to buy a large number of supplies for our business off of eBay.  We found it much more beneficial to buy direct from suppliers on other platforms.  eBay is not a good platform for easy to source items.  To us it is what it once was, a site where hard to find items can be found (sometimes).   

[divwido]

I don't understand the label.  Your listings are well written with clear pictures and clear titles.

But I do understand that in their eyes you are a thief and they are perfect.  I think you have some lovely items and I will be watching your store.

[southern*sweet*tea]

---

@collectintime wrote:

. I had two "without resolution" because I was not going to take their guff, and hit number three and that was IT! Went straight to Below Standard.

---

Non-performance defects are FATAL.  Not completing a sale is in Ebay's eyes the absolute worst thing a seller can do.  Your are allowed a maximum of two in 12 months if you have less than 400 transactions a quarter.

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-policies/seller-performance-policy?id=4347

[indiansummernights]

Same with me. I only shop on Ebay if I can't find what I'm looking for on Amazon or it's cheaper to buy from an Ebay seller.

[tlogistics]

How did you call ebay? I've been hit with below standard after being scammed twice and can't get any response from ebay.

[mapleka_0]

The frustration you speak of is the reason why I couldn't contain myself anymore the other day, when a buyer purchased a B.O. item of mine and before paying asked "can I return this if it doesn't work?"

You can use your imagination to fill in the rest.

But to address your concern, yes there is a LOT more to lose than 10% when a seller loses TRS.

And no, you don't lose TRS for just a month (as if that wasn't bad enough)...

When we lost TRS years ago we lost it for a whole quarter!

Also agree, "reporting the buyer" is a placebo, it does absolutely nothing besides maybe making that seller feel good because we think they're going to do something.

[corvettestainless]

@mapleka_0   Also agree, "reporting the buyer" is a placebo, it does absolutely nothing besides maybe making that seller feel good because we think they're going to do something.

It does work and is not just a placebo. Hence the many threads started by members that state they "lost their return privileges''.

[corvettestainless]

@tlogistics Getting a return call takes up to a couple days; but know that there is nothing that will be done. You don't go to Below Std because of 2 scammers, you go there because you did not take care of them and ebay had to do it for you. See message 18 in this thread. 2 is all you get in 1 year. 

[tnt-usa]

There is above standard which I believe comes before top rated. 

[collectintime]

There is above standard in some categories on the dashboard, but on "without resolution" there are only two choices: Top Rated and Below Standard. Check it out, it is quite the eye opener. So the bottom line is, you better do whatever the buyer wants, or else you can pay eBay almost 20 percent on every sale and a plethora of other punishments. 

[collectintime]

I searched for even one person on these boards who said he / she "lost return privileges" not a single thread came up. Could you direct me to such a discussion? I would be very interested to see if this is true.  I feel confident that absolutely nothing is done to the deceitful buyer, no matter how many sellers complain. If it were true why wouldn't eBay share this information with sellers? (Once the buyer has (number, please) of complaints he/she will lose return privileges.) 

[disneyshopper]

I searched for even one person on these boards who said he / she "lost return privileges" not a single thread came up.

I have read messages posted by buyers where they stated they lost the ability to file a case under the Money Back Guarantee due to filing too many "not received" items.

[collectintime]

Once again, I request you to show me just one of these threads, just give me the words you used in your search. I searched with several phrases, no such thing found as losing return privileges. I would love to find one. Thank you in advance for directing me to these threads that mention this. 

[collectintime]

By the way, the buyer does not say "not received," that would not be a problem. USPS would take responsibility if the item were insured. I am talking about saying it is "not as described" because of some very bizarre problem, that strangely will not show up in photos. The seller is going to pay postage both ways, could easily be $40-$50. The buyer will never tell the truth and just say, "I have buyer's remorse." They are well aware eBay will side with them no matter how ridiculous their claims are. 

[fashunu4eeuh]

You are a long time, established seller, but seem to be uninformed about critical eBay seller information.

Ebay’s bi-annual Seller Updates are important documents about changes in policy. Had you kept up with these, you would know that “not taking guff” can hurt a seller’s metrics and add a 5% increase in Final Value fees for Below Average sellers, along with the other punitive measures you were surprised by.

The only way to survive on eBay is to keep up with all these policy updates that happen every six months or so. Visiting one’s dashboard regularly can also help stave off problems before they become fatal.

Your posting your experience here will likely save some others the same fate. Below is the link to the last Seller Update, for those interested.

https://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/seller-updates/2020-fall/index.html