Ebay moving the goalpost with service metrics

[lasantino]

hello,

a couple months ago.  3 months ago I had 3 returns opened up as not as described that were all clearly buyers remorse.   This put my seller metric into the very high category.  

I talked to various ebay reps til I was blue in the face. Some told me the would descore the incorrect returns from my service metric, some told me nothing could be done. I wasted hours countless hours.

2 months go by. I haven't had any  not as described returns opened.  I was checking my projected service metric on the days  leading up to the 20th of the month , which is the date they rescore the service metric.

every single day , the 16, 17 ,18 , 19, 20th.  all  of the projected service metric ratings showed I would be moving down to the high category. (from very high)  this would remove the additional 5% final value fee ebay has been assessing my sales.

Today, I went to verify that my service metric was now down to high.  Lo and behold. the metric is still in the VERY HIGH category.  This is impossible, nothing has changed.  I took a screen shot before the 20th showing the percentages and the projected service metric.  ..

Has anyone else had this happen..   Obviously, I will reach out to customer service. However, I'll just get a callback with someone either telling me what i want to hear or not what i want to hear.  Whatever they say will have no bearing on reality.  Noone that can actually make adjustments to a sellers account is available by phone anymore.!

[lasantino]

thanks for all the responses.

yes, I have over 10 snad's.  the 3 in a row i referenced above put me over the 10 threshold.

Of the 12 SNAD returns I have had in the last year. 8 of them are buyer remorse returns. .. 8 out of 12!.  this is why metrics are so screwed up. You can't accurately measure anything when 8 of 12 data points are not actually legitimate snad.  

What I was complaining about in this post was that the 4 days up to the 20th. all showed that I my seller metric from july would be back below very high, down to just high.   However. on the 21, seller metric still shows very high.  

Let me express another failure of the service metric.   Ebay automatically removes snad from service metrics if a top rated buyer reports a buyer for misusing returns.   This means that sellers in the top rated category will never have their service metric affected by false snad. However, all sellers that for whatever reason decided to not chase the top rated status(i gave mine up because i wasn't going to jump through hoops to ship within 24 hours.) will never be able to have a false snad descored from there service metric. so sellers that ebay considers my peers ,  will be made up of many top rated sellers who are by default not going to  penalized by false snad.  Thus making it almost impossible for a seller who false into the very high category  to get out of it.

[lasantino]

also, i've never requested a feedback revision. I think ebay categorizes feedback that has been removed by seller request because it violates ebay's policies as revised.

Regarding my responses.  I actually thought I was very matter of fact and didn't say anything snarky in my response to feedback.  How could anyone be offended from my factual responses.

[lasantino]

zamo,

did ebay go back and credit you the month of additional 5% fvf it had charged your account despite you being under 1%.  As you said, under 1% is protected from the additional fvf. If you had to wait til the monthly review, doesn't that mean they charged you for over a month an additional 5%?

[katzrul15]

Didn't say I was offended - to me, they do not come across as customer centric.

On the one with the Sweater - it reads like, well too bad, it was 45 days, so tough there was a stain.  Might not have even been a stain, but reflects worse on you as Seller than not having any reply - jmho  (Might have been better to state that if there was a stain, it was a listing oversight and Buyer was welcome to return for a full refund and declined, etc - or we stand behind every item we sell, welcome to return for any reason as my description states we honor "no hassle returns", which your listings do state)

On the one with the broken plate - again, doesn't address the broken item, but reads like well, too bad it broke, you wanted too much for 1 refund plate so I didn't refund you.  Might not even be what occurred.  It would have been better to state you offered a return at your expense for a full refund and the buyer declined.  Something that demonstrates as a Seller you tried to make a broken dish set better.  Again -  just my read on how they are written.  Someone else might have a totally different take.   On a SNAD, you owe the shipping back or a partial to make them happy - not the Buyer's fault one arrived broken.  Maybe you could have offered to resource a replacement plate - who knows.  You might have done 45 things to make these buyers happy - just does not "read" that way to a prospective new buyer, unfortunately.

Usually it means you replied when the sting to the issue was still fresh.  Some great folks on this board have some wonderful replies when folks post and as for reply suggestions.  Hopefully, no new red donuts in your future, so maybe if so, come here and ask for ideas on how best to reply to reflect as well on you as a Seller as possible.

[katzrul15]

You do not have to be TRS+ to have the Seller protection.  You just have to be TRS and offer 30 day returns - Buyer can be the one to pay to return.  

Seller Protections (ebay.com)

You would need to get your sales volume up in order to work to offset the metrics.  Hopefully, you can work to move some merchandise that is not as high-dollar to help offset some of the ratios.  

Good luck (sincerely) - It can be a tough climb back out of that rabbit hole.  Also, work to remove or modify any listings that could create a new situation for you - the last thing you need is another SNAD to hit your metrics right now.  You have really nice items, so hopefully with a little ingenuity, you can find a resolution.

[lasantino]

I must have not been clear.  I am not talking about seller protection.   I'm talking about the service metric policy protection ebay extends to TRS.  If a buyer open a return claiming snad, the seller who is trs will not have the return show up in his service metric count as long as he reports the buyer for misuse of ebay returns.

For regular sellers. the only way to get false snad to now show up on the service metric is to offer free shipping and free return shipping and 30 day returns.

I already include shipping in my price.(freeshipping,) I already have 30 day returns.  I will not offer free return shipping.  In my opinion, and in my category, this invites wardrobers.   

[katzrul15]

Yes, free return shipping on high-end clothing and shoes could be like rent-a-party attire, unfortunately.

Had not looked at it that way.  What does your dashboard show - any of these going to roll off soon in that rolling 12 months?   

**You do realize some of your descriptions state a 14 day no hassle returns but you are offering 30 day returns?