Below Standard => hurts for a year?

[ctr.inc]

I had a difficult time last summer when I was in and out of the hospital with unexpected problems. As a result, I cancelled several orders almost all in July and Aug 2023 resulting in a 10% cancelled order rate for that period. This didn't affect me until November 2023, when the number of items I was allowed to list was significantly decreased.

As a result, my sell through rate has plummeted,  just because I can only list couple of items a month. It's mathematically impossible for me to increase my rating even with a 100% sell through rate. I can't even lower the prices on the items to drive more sales because I'm "below standard".

I spoke with someone at eBay who suggested my rating would increase in Feb (which was the first date of a "defect transaction". Backstory there: I shipped an item, for some reason it wasn't able to be delivered, and was returned to the post office. I asked them to wait a week to see if it would be redelivered, they opened a case, eBay decided in their favor). However my rating hasn't increased because the majority of the cancellations were in July.

As far as I can tell, I won't be able to get my seller rating up to normal until next August, or possibly next November (when the downgrade happened; it took 90+ days to downgrade my account)?

Amazon evaluates you on the last 90 days of transactions. As a result, it's possible to clean up any mistakes immediately and get back on track. For eBay it seems as if it's over a year and you can't do anything to improve it. This is half a rant and half a question about if there is anything I can do. Because my inventory is aging, I'm tempted to abandon eBay altogether, despite being a seller for 20+ years with a near 100% approval rating. 

Is it time to just pack up and say goodbye?

[reallynicestamps]

You can ask politely every 30 days for a rise in your allowance of listings.

If you use the eBay employees who run the social media accounts, you may have better luck.

Just stay calm and polite.

The phone clerks are paid by a sub-contractor and have no authority so avoid them in this case.

While I wouldn't abandon eBay, this is an opportunity to find other markets. Some sellers have the same inventory on four or five marketplaces.

Which requires a lot more organization than I am capable of.


https://www.facebook.com/eBayForBusiness/ — Message button in upper right on landing page.

https://www.instagram.com/ebayforsellers/


https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/How-do-I-contact-Customer-Support/m-p/32016431#M1783851 -> Automated Assistant, type AGENT -> enter. You will then get more options.


The social media Chat accounts are covered by trained eBay employees with some authority.
And you get a transcript so you can compare what you heard with what you were told.
 

[chapeau-noir]

Given the time limitations on your products, I would branch out.

[gwens*4saleitems*]

While you are dealing with this issue, you may want to put together a contingency plan.

Family, friends, neighbors who can help, be there for you, if the health issue arises again. That would prevent cancelling orders, late shipping, and/or someone to be able to put your items on vacation mode until you can get to them.

[mam98031]

I'm very sorry this has happened to you.  One of the first things to keep in mind is this is not Amazon and the rules are different here than they are on Amazon.  If you are expecting the rules to be the same, you will always be disappointed.

I am also very sorry to hear you were so sick last year and I sincerely hope you have completed your road to recovery and all is well with you now.

OK, to work out of this issue, as you know you need to get more transactions.  The more transactions you can get the more diluted the numbers become.  It is in your best interest to post things at a price that will likely make them sell fast.  Inexpensive items that you can turn over quickly.  Concentrate on doing that right now.  That should be your top priority.  

You should be watching your Seller Dashboard CAREFULLY and regularly.  That is where you will see if things are improving for you.  Each section has the ability to give you a detailed report for the items that caused the defect.  Just click on the down arrow on the right side of a section you want to see the details on.  This is where you will get your most current and accurate info.

https://sellerstandards.ebay.com/dashboard?region=US

Now with the problem you had regarding delivery of an item.  I assume you meant you asked your buyer to wait a week to see if the PO would redeliver the package.  If that is what you did, you should not have done that.  If the PO had not delivered the item simply because no one was home or something simple like that, they would have left a form in the buyer's mailbox that notified them they had a package that could not be delivered.  Then the buyer would need to fill out the form telling them another date they could deliver it or go directly to the PO and pick it up themselves.

If you had left it alone, it would have worked itself out.  The tracking should have also noted why the package could not be delivered.  Not sure why you lost that INR, but from what you have shared you should not have.

It is time to get a better understanding of that is happening to your account.  I think there are some misunderstandings here that you just need to understand the details better so you can work yourself out of this issue.

First step is to go to that link I gave you above and look at the details.  You can share them here or if you do not want that much of your personal account info out there, you can send me a private email and tell me.  I will be happy to help you work through this so you can get your account back in good health.

[wastingtime101]

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@ctr.inc wrote:

I spoke with someone at eBay who suggested my rating would increase in Feb (which was the first date of a "defect transaction". Backstory there: I shipped an item, for some reason it wasn't able to be delivered, and was returned to the post office. I asked them to wait a week to see if it would be redelivered, they opened a case, eBay decided in their favor). However my rating hasn't increased because the majority of the cancellations were in July.

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Items returned to sender as undeliverable are covered under seller protections. You would not have had to refund the buyer if you responded to the non-receipt claim by adding tracking. Because that happened in February 2023, it was not counted on your monthly seller evaluation until March 20th 2023 (which evals through end of Feb). That also means it will not drop off your seller performance until March 20th 2024. Even when that one defect drops off in a couple of weeks, it is not going to change your rating from Below Standard to Above Standard.

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@ctr.inc wrote:

Amazon evaluates you on the last 90 days of transactions. As a result, it's possible to clean up any mistakes immediately and get back on track. For eBay it seems as if it's over a year and you can't do anything to improve it. 

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eBay evaluations are based on sales volume. When you sell 400+ items in 90 days, you have a 90 day evaluation period. When you sell less than 400 items in 90 days you have a 12 month evaluation period.

The July defects were counted on your August 20th 2023 evaluation. I assume you were a Top Rated Seller before that happened, which granted you a grace period to get back on track. Because you did not bring your rating up in those couple of months, your account was downgraded to Below Standard.

It stands to reason that the defects counted starting August 20th 2023 will drop off your account August 20th 2024 and bring you back to Above Standard. Note the Below Standard extra fee will not be removed until the first of the next month (Sept 1st).

This page outlines how seller performance is measured:

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

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@ctr.inc wrote:

This is half a rant and half a question about if there is anything I can do.

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If you want to move things along faster, I suggest a fire sale of sorts. Do your best to price low and move inventory fast, even if you take a small financial hit, to get your numbers back up. Either that or wait it out. Do you have items you can list and move them fast? Increased sales with no issues will help you in your quest for higher listing limits.

[cyber-fred]

eBay has made a mess in their selling policy if you want to call it that.  Now I'm rated 'below standard'...why?  Because I had two transactions where the buyer chose to give me bad feedback unfairly.  One was an antique light switch cover and it didnt fit his mounting plate - so that was my fault.  The other was a con - I sold him a porcelain platter, he reported it shattered on delivery but when I asked for a picture of the broken item I got no response, just bad feedback.   Now I get constant reminder emails from them telling me I need to 'improve'.   It s not me that needs to improve - its eBay.   Pretty fed up with this site, and I am a charter member.

[mam98031]

"Now I'm rated 'below standard'...why?  Because I had two transactions where the buyer chose to give me bad feedback unfairly.  "

NOPE, that didn't happen.  Two transaction can NOT cause this issue, there has to be at the very least 4 if it is Defect / Seller Dashboard related, which feedback is NOT something sellers are eval'd on.  And 10+ in a specific category if it is Service Metrics related.

You have very few transaction in the past 12 months.

Your account is TRS, do you drop to Below Standard as of November 1st?