eBay

alternative_lab_source · ‎05-06-2024

This post is for sellers that are rated top-rated or aspire to be top-rated.

Recently, my seller's level fell from a top-rated seller to "above standard", so I looked into the issue and found that I have several defects in the category of " Tracking uploaded on time and validated". Turns out that for these transactions, I voided the initial labels and bought new labels, and the system did not get updated. I buy labels from Pirateship, and Pirateship communicates with eBay and uploads the tracking. So the lesson is that whenever you use a third party vendor for labels, be sure to update the tracking on eBay whenever you void the initial label.

So I brought up the issue with eBay, hoping that these defects could be appealed. After all, it was a system glitch, and nobody was hurt. This is where I found out that defects in this category cannot be appealed. As you probably know, you could appeal defects in the other three categories, namely, Transaction defect rate, Late shipment rate, Cases closed without seller resolution. Is it weird that defects in the tracking upload (probably the most harmless defect) cannot be appealed, although it does affect the seller's level? Well, that is how the system is set up as of now, and I sure hope that it changes in the future.

You might wonder why I care about the seller's level. Top-rated sellers get a 10% discount in FVF. Depending on your regular FVF rate, the discount is worth 1.3 to 1.5% of the transaction. Those defects stay with you for three months, so for three months of not being a top-rated seller, I'd be paying $450 more in FVF based on my past three months' sales. Not a small loss.

allthingssurplus · ‎05-06-2024

Most if not all volume Sellers use a third party system to ship. We use ShipWorks owned by Stamps.com. Our rates are largely cheaper than any eBay label. I currently have 23 upload defect causing me to be 50% along the way to losing my 10% discount on FVF. I believe the platform is working as designed, working hard to steal the discount on FVF. No one in management has a set to just say as of today no more discount. Why be honest, clear, clean or moral. Just not eBays style.

Most on the thread are missing the why the uploading is an issue. Our category has a high replacement issue. Now the other four platforms we are on all know how to deal with replacements. Any Buyer that has any issue with anything we sell we send a replacement if they want it. When we send the Buyer the replacement a new tracking number is generated and the tracking number is now a second tracking number on the same sale. Here is what eBay does. When the replacement is delivered, eBay applies the delivery date of the replacement to the original primary shipment. Now the original shipment shows as being delivered or uploaded very late.

This all started in Oct 2023 when it got bad was when AI took over customer service in Dec 1, 2023. All of our defects are due to this condition. I appealed many times and all Customer Service reps agreed that we did nothing wrong and should have all defects removed. eBay IT department came back and said the fix is to purchase a shipping label from eBay and the double deliver date will not be an issue. So it is clear eBay is making it impossible for good Seller to make money.

This is why for years Sellers have asked for replacements to be recognized by the system. Not really what eBay wants. Its now taken 4 months to get my account to be within 50% of allowable defect to still receive the 10% discount. In four more months I'll more than likely lose my discount.

If eBay would work as hard as they do to increase fees, losing the discount being one of those work projects, as they could work on growing GMV, sales, all of these high school games to weasel more of the Sellers profits in order to pay share holders would not be necessary. By the way Q1 of 2024 eBay said they grew GMV by 1%. As per usual not true. eBay accountants add the money eBay made through advertising revenue to GMV allowing a 1% sales increase. Financials show other income like advertising as a separate entry on the P&L. So the real world is eBay has lost market share for the pass 11 quarters in a row. Good job eBay. If eBay sold any of the products Seller sell they would be bankrupt in a month.

All the from a 24 year Seller

itscalledapostingid · ‎05-06-2024

You say ebay's system doesn't recognize replacements...But these aren't being officially sent as replacements are they?

Like you have "money back or replacement" enabled in the item's return settings, a return request is opened, buyer selects 'replacement.'

The reason I ask is if the buyer only messaged you about a problem couldn't you just message them back with a new tracking number you got from your shipping label vendor?

allthingssurplus · ‎05-07-2024

No that is not how the central shipping system works. We ship using ShipWorks and all of the platforms we are on report sales to ShipWorks. When we create a label that tracking number goes to the Buyer to the platform the Buyer purchased from. The shipping system cannot be changed because eBay will not allow any Seller to ship to ship two items to a Buyer and have the delivery info correct to both tracking numbers.

Each shipment has a ship date and a delivery date. Not true for eBay. The most current ship/deliver will always be attached to the original shipment making it look like it was shipped and delivered on the same day as the replacement. That create the defect.

orangehound · ‎05-07-2024

@alternative_lab_source wrote:
@orangehound wrote:
@alternative_lab_source wrote:
So I brought up the issue with eBay, hoping that these defects could be appealed. After all, it was a system glitch, and nobody was hurt. This is where I found out that defects in this category cannot be appealed.
I feel for you ... and I understand how the buyer is not impacted. But, I'm not sure how eBay could judge an appeal.

Moreover, eBay is losing money when any of us buy labels on pirateship, so there is zero incentive for eBay to make adjustments when pirateship is at fault.
eBay shouldn’t “lose” money when we buy labels from a third party, unless eBay makes money from shipping labels. If this is case, the eBay shipping discount is kind of hypocritical. I do remember comparing rate between eBay and pirateship and found the latter to be slightly less, which is why I stick to it.

Three things:

Both eBay and pirateship will receive a commission from the USPS when they sell postage through their platform (as well as any other postage broker). You think pirateship is doing this as a public service?
In addition to profits, I'm of the opinion that buying postage from them inflates their GMV ... they are obscure about all the things that go into calculating that number.
Now that eBay is finally implementing USPS cubic rates, I'm not noticing any difference in USPS shipping costs between pirateship and eBay (based on maybe a dozen size/weight/distance experiments). If you have an example where pirateship is cheaper, I would love the education.

itscalledapostingid · ‎05-07-2024

@allthingssurplus wrote:
No that is not how the central shipping system works. We ship using ShipWorks and all of the platforms we are on report sales to ShipWorks. When we create a label that tracking number goes to the Buyer to the platform the Buyer purchased from. The shipping system cannot be changed because eBay will not allow any Seller to ship to ship two items to a Buyer and have the delivery info correct to both tracking numbers.

Each shipment has a ship date and a delivery date. Not true for eBay. The most current ship/deliver will always be attached to the original shipment making it look like it was shipped and delivered on the same day as the replacement. That create the defect.

Sounds like you need to avoid having two tracking numbers on so many orders because I don't suspect ebay's gonna make any changes to their system.

Like I said in my previous post if you have to send a replacement to a buyer just purchase the label manually from an online label vendor and send the tracking number to your buyer in an ebay message. Don't add it to the order.

allthingssurplus · ‎05-07-2024

We are a large business and can't change our system which works very well for us. Here is the real issue. eBay should always attach the proper dates to shipping and delivery for all tracking numbers. We have received these defects when a Buyer purchases the same item again a week later. The most current shipping and delivery date will be attached to the sale made a week earlier. Date and time for each tracking number no changing those times. The eBay system used to do that, AI doesn't seem to like it. When you are shipping 30-100 packages a day with a limited crew you can't waste time on thing you shouldn't have to waste time on. There is no eBay policy stating how to get around the way these tracking number are being messed with.

itscalledapostingid · ‎05-07-2024

@allthingssurplus wrote:
We are a large business and can't change our system which works very well for us. Here is the real issue. eBay should always attach the proper dates to shipping and delivery for all tracking numbers. We have received these defects when a Buyer purchases the same item again a week later. The most current shipping and delivery date will be attached to the sale made a week earlier. Date and time for each tracking number no changing those times. The eBay system used to do that, AI doesn't seem to like it. When you are shipping 30-100 packages a day with a limited crew you can't waste time on thing you shouldn't have to waste time on. There is no eBay policy stating how to get around the way these tracking number are being messed with.

If the tracking numbers are being assigned to the wrong order when a buyer purchases from you two weeks in a row that has to be a problem with your third party shipping system. I don't think Ebay's doing that.

I would take that up with the IT guys at ShipWorks. I hope they can get it sorted out.

luckythewinner · ‎05-07-2024

I looked into the issue and found that I have several defects in the category of " Tracking uploaded on time and validated". Turns out that for these transactions, I voided the initial labels and bought new labels, and the system did not get updated.

I think you are overlooking the fundamental reason why eBay wants timely uploads of tracking information.

The purpose of "Tracking uploaded on time and validated" is not to retroactively reassure eBay that you have shipped the item.

It is to proactively reassure the buyer that you have shipped the item. Late updating of tracking information means that buyers cannot get timely information about the item's progress.

Top Rated is a reward for serving customers, and failing to give them the tracking information on time does not serve customers.

inhawaii · ‎05-07-2024

You can appeal defects for tracking uploaded.

You can appeal anything you want.

Highway Patrol - Junior Brown

robbie31415 · ‎05-07-2024

From what you wrote there is nothing to appeal. You didn't upload valid tracking on time.

You made a mistake. It will be short lived.

Ebay had issues where I got defects because eBay tracking was frozen to seller added tracking with no updates.

Ebay purged all the bad for me obvious issue on their end. So they do help out if you aren't at fault.

However, from my experience with voiding a pirateship label. The second label has to be manually updated on eBay. If you didn't do that then it's seller fault issue.

allthingssurplus · ‎05-08-2024

Forgot to say in my posts. What happened to you is the problem. Its not about updating. eBay is applying the most current label of a Buyer to a past sale. We have done the same thing voided a label and cut another and that causes a defect.

mr_lincoln · ‎05-08-2024

@allthingssurplus wrote:
Forgot to say in my posts. What happened to you is the problem. Its not about updating. eBay is applying the most current label of a Buyer to a past sale. We have done the same thing voided a label and cut another and that causes a defect.

@allthingssurplus

That may be more of an issue with the API software between Pirate Ship and eBay ... have you tried manually loading the 2nd tracking number to the sold file on eBay?

I know when Voiding and printing another label through eBay there is no issue, I've done that on more than one occasion and never received any defects and the 2nd tracking number automatically uploads to the sold file.

Regards,
Mr. Lincoln - Community Mentor

allthingssurplus · ‎05-08-2024

True, however not the case. As of December 1, 2023 eBay will not change a Tracking Uploaded defect. They are cast in stone. There is one consideration: If you request the Buyer to open a return request and send a replacement to that Buyer and contact eBay again after tracking shows delivery you have a chance of winning an appeal.

Look at the nonsense. The time wasted contacting the Buyer, contacting eBay at a min twice to resolve a non issue. In my business we ship 30-80 packages a day. We do not have the time to deal with the waste. For years never had tracking number altered by eBay. You ship an item get a tracking number and a delivery date. Ship to the same person a week later get a different tracking number and delivery date. Never should those two transactions cross of comingle. If we have an issue with a Buyer like they don't like the condition of a used part, we send another that day ending the issue. We don't require them to do something, like open a return request. Why inconvenience them. We handle all issues with speed which is why I've been Top Rated before there ever was a thing called Top Rated.

allthingssurplus · ‎05-08-2024

If you purchase label through eBay they will post correctly. We purchase like 8% of our labels from eBay. It's rare when eBay pricing is lower than ShipWorks (Stamps.com). So if you are good businessperson and like saving 10-20% on shipping eBay will defect you into the loss of your 10% FVF discount which in our case is between $800-1000 per month. It has taken four months for my account to go from decades of perfect shipping to 50% away from losing my FVF discount. I'm sure in the next 4-5 months eBay will accomplish the goal. Someone in eBay needs to grow a pair and just say no more FVF discounts.

itscalledapostingid · ‎05-08-2024

@allthingssurplus wrote:
True, however not the case. As of December 1, 2023 eBay will not change a Tracking Uploaded defect. They are cast in stone. There is one consideration: If you request the Buyer to open a return request and send a replacement to that Buyer and contact eBay again after tracking shows delivery you have a chance of winning an appeal.

Look at the nonsense. The time wasted contacting the Buyer, contacting eBay at a min twice to resolve a non issue. In my business we ship 30-80 packages a day. We do not have the time to deal with the waste. For years never had tracking number altered by eBay. You ship an item get a tracking number and a delivery date. Ship to the same person a week later get a different tracking number and delivery date. Never should those two transactions cross of comingle. If we have an issue with a Buyer like they don't like the condition of a used part, we send another that day ending the issue. We don't require them to do something, like open a return request. Why inconvenience them. We handle all issues with speed which is why I've been Top Rated before there ever was a thing called Top Rated.

Ebay's not putting tracking numbers on the wrong order. It's your 3rd party shipping service adding tracking numbers to the wrong order.