For a few months the Item Not Received service metric report was not working for us (attempting to download only gave us a SNAD metric report, and not INR report).
Finally the report was working again this morning. But going through I noticed some problems:
- Items that were returned to sender, and cases that were looked at by eBay, are being counted against us.
- Customers are not supposed to be allowed to open an INR *after* the item has been delivered. EBay is allowing this, and they are not being properly removed from rate calculation!
- Buyers are not supposed to be allowed to open an INR case until the delivery date has been surpassed (confirmed this by testing on our own purchases). We have many examples of cases being opened on or before the delivery dates!
The ones with white background should NOT have been counted against us as they were either delivered on time and/or the case was opened before the delivery date.
The ones highlighted yellow did legitimately arrive late, but still illustrate the issues that the INR cases should not even be allowed to open at the date they were opened!
How are we supposed to get these issues resolved? Support says they can not remove Service Metrics. On some of these they already told us it wouldn't count against us in the cases involving them. But they ARE counting against us!
@zamo-zuan wrote:EBay is playing with peoples livelihoods, with penalties that could cause losses in the tens of thousands of dollars or more. There's no reason we should just sit back and allow ourselves to be risk for penalties that we don't deserve when eBay's system can't even follow their own terms of service?
You're confusing eBay the Corporation with a person who cares. Corporations only like you when you feed their bottom line. Reduce that bottom line and you will be gone without so much as a "Thanks, it's been fun, now get out!".
I had one customer who was able to open an INR case BEFORE I EVEN SHIPPED!! This was a work order, not personal -- the offices are closed over the weekend, buyer made a purchase then asked to cancel. Then sent several messages asking to cancel. Then opened an INR case!! How can a customer claim to have not received their order before it's even been shipped? And we use tracking on ALL orders, and eBay knows this (or could find out from their 'Big Data' if they actually were the Technology Company they claimed to be)...
When I was programming, developing business software for small to medium sized businesses, it was a point of pride for me to really get to know the client, to learn as much as I could about how they work, and then to ask enough 'leading' questions to get them to think past the simple "we need this" and consider the impact of "this" on the rest of their systems.
Too many of today's IT 'professionals' aren't, or have just given up and become code-monkeys who crank out whatever the boss says, even if it's stupid, illogical, or just plain illegal. Just as long as they keep getting those over-inflated paychecks, they'll code whatever they are told to, no questions asked.
So you end up with processes created and managed by people who have no idea how that process will impact 80% or more of their customers... the sellers who bring the product that attract the buyers with their money.
Don't assume eBay has your best outcome in mind or is at all concerned about the impact of what they do on your sales. They don't. It's just not in their Big Data. And besides, the AI system told them this was best, and computers are always correct, right?
I think it's getting close to retirement time and spending more time with the pre-school and grade-school grandkids. They see things much more simply... much easier to process... and they think Grandpa may be silly, but he's still the best! 🙂
-Bob.
@px_455 wrote:I believe TRS+ engages certain "protections" so that you must not suffer from this nonsense...
Funny, how that works...When it's just a bit of extra coding.
Eaby certainly has gotten crafty in the olden days.
Unfortunately, the TRS+ protections that state they can remove Service Metrics strikes says it is for false INADs, not for INR.
https://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/get-started/seller-protection.html
It might still be worth reporting the buyers and trying to appeal the cases, but I wouldn't hold my breath.
@Anonymous wrote:
- When it comes to service metrics, eBay looks at the fact that an INR was opened. They do not look at whether or not the seller is covered by seller protections with a delivery (or equivalent) scan. Service metrics are measuring how many INRs are filed. In eBay's view, the fact that an INR was filed means the buyer had a problem and that's all that matters to them. eBay has always counted every INR filed on my service metrics even though nearly all of them have tracking confirming delivery at the time the INR is opened.
- Since when has a buyer not been allowed to open an INR after an item has a delivery scan? Buyers could always open an INR after there's a delivery scan. If there's confirmed delivery then the seller 'wins' unless the buyer can prove an item was delivered to a different address, but that has nothing to do with whether or not the INR counts against service metrics.
- https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-policies/seller-performance-policy/service-metrics-policy?id=4769 Your 'Item not received' rate is the percentage of your transactions where buyers requested information about an item that was already expected to have arrived, or where tracking shows the item as delivered but the buyer has not received it.
- The only time eBay will remove INRs from service metrics is:
- When a buyer is determined by eBay to be abusive.
- When there are severe weather events and published carrier disruptions. https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/selling/monitor-service-metrics?id=4785
- Buyers can open an INR when the estimated delivery date passes or when tracking confirms delivery (or delivery equivalent) - whichever comes first.
With all of that in mind, I do see what appears to be one issue with your report. There are 4 line items above that look like they were opened early: July 14 & 17, Sept 12 & 15.
Do you know if those orders had an estimated delivery date range? The July 17 INR: is it possible the delivery window was July 16-19 which is why the buyer could open on the 17? I would want to know why those 4 INRs were allowed to be opened on a date that's before both the estimated and actual delivery date.
The main dispute isn't with it being when the INR was opened, nor is it that an INR was opened after a delivery scan. Apologies for the confusion, but to be specific regarding the note "Delivered but INR", that was one of the cases that we were told was not going to be "included in rate calculation". But it was. Items that are delivered before the INR are not supposed to be included in the calculation (and most of them say "No" on the line) but not in this case.
The bigger problem is that the INR's are allowed to be opened before the delivery date. This is not supposed to be possible in the system until the estimated date of delivery has passed - not before and not on the estimated date of delivery.
If you hit the item not received button on an incoming order, it will confirm this with a pop up that tells you the delivery date and mentions they could take action after that date.
Our shipping methods do not give ranges:
Also, look at the calendar for most of those dates in question. It looks like shipping may be taking 5+ days, but the majority of those are over a weekend. Meaning the handling time + shipping is often times just 2-3 business days, so the minimum range would not be surpassed yet.
