Need insight on whether to delete my seller account or not , detailed scenario

[changeling93305]

I need some advice on how to deal with ebay and what the best options
are for me. They recently just this month moved me to below standard
performance levels and i found this ought by them moving my fee's up
from 3.5% to 7.5% with a 4% "penalty". My invoice was about double
what it should have been and this is how it came to my attention.

The reason this happened is almost unbelievable  it is so stupid.

I sell guitars only. I sell about  a gross of 250k worth of guitars on
Reverb dot com. That is a great E-commerce site and my main source of
business. On ebay i do about 80-100K.

I list guitars on each site, whichever one it sells on first, i take
it down off the other one.

I have had one "bad deal" in the last 120 transactions i have had as a
seller. It was a remorseful buyer who made up a damage claim, i got
the guitar back there was no damage. I paid for his shipping, and ebay
as always takes the buyers side. That gave me one Seller defect.

Apparently and unknown to me, i had 4 other defects in the past year
and this was enough to put me below standard and in the penalty box.

When i have to cancel a transaction. There are options/selections for
the reason why a cancellation is needed. This were for a variety of
reasons. Buyers wanted me to ship to a non approved address. Or in the
case of Russia, they pulled all shipping insurance to Russia so this
year i lost my Russia sales. So when i cancel a transaction i did not
know that this can work against you. Many times i just pressed " Out
of stock" as that seems like a peaceful way to back out of a
transaction and refund the buyer and relist.

So apparently i learn now that that is the kiss of the death to your
seller account and it acts as a transaction defect. All it took was 5
of these total over the course of 12 months for them to sack my seller
status.

In that times i have sold over 100k in sales, have excellent feedback,
only had one return. Uploaded all my shipping info on time.

All of this is because of cancelling transactions on goofy deals.
Belatedly i learned that i should have always chosen something like
"there is a problem with the buyers address" or something that defers
the blame away from me. Often times this was the case, but i figured
why does it matter? A cancelled transaction done right away should not
hurt me. My instinct was that refunding the buyer promptly was the
important part. I should have been more concerned with " How is ebay
gonna try and screw me".

So here is the problem. I do not sell a lot of items i sell high
priced items. I have guitars that i sell for as much as 2900$, so
selling 80 guitars on ebay and 200 on reverb is a great year for me
over the course of a year.

Reverb charges me 3.25% fee's and are an easy and honorable company to
work with. Ebay was forced to move their fee's down to 3.5% in the
category of guitars because of Reverb to compete with them. If there
was no Reverb. Ebay would still be charging a 10% fee on guitars.

So now suddenly my fee structure is 7.5% on ebay because of falling
below standard.

I called ebay and explained to them that these defects were not my
fault and i was unaware that i willingly giving myself a defect. They
sympathize but do not have the power to change anything . It was not
this way years ago on ebay. The new ownership is terrible.

So they do not want to make it right. There is no way i am going to
sell high end guitars at a 7.5% fee when i sell them on REverb for
3.25%. It would not be wise business to do so.

They want me to keep selling to rebuild my status, but what i did
today is i pulled my entire inventory of 35,000$ off of ebay. It's
mind boggling to me that they do not look at the bigger picture, they
do not have the power to work something out with me.

They told me i should sell a bunch of low priced items to get my
status back up. I cannot do that and do not have the time for it.

So what i am pondering at this time is closing out my seller account,
perhaps even my account entirely and just starting over.

The reason i still value ebay even though Reverb is superior for
guitars. Is having both simultaneously increases the speed at which
they sell. So it moves faster for me and some people still have not
heard of Reverb so there are reasons to want to stay on board.

So they have ways of trying to stop sellers from starting new
accounts. But here is the thing. I am not banned, or restricted. I am
at a 4% defect rate, and they say i need to get to a 2% rate, and they
want to gouge me on fee's for hundreds of dollars each month to
rebuild that status. They removed one of the 5 defects, so maybe i am
3.5% defect rate now or something like that.

So my question is there a way to just start a new account? The
feedback system means absolutely nothing in my industry. If you have a
good ad a good product and good pictures and a competitive price, your
guitars will sell so my 99% positive feedback 500 score actually does
not mean that much to me. The bottom line for me is all about fee
structure.

I will not sell guitars at 7.5% , but i would sell them at 3.5%. If
there is a way to get back to 3.5% i still sell here.

Also i believe i can maintain good standing because i know now the
loophole by which they got me. I was never a bad seller, i  was
completely naive ( and also busy running a business that they profit
from) about their transaction defect system as it pertains to how you
classify a cancelled transaction.

So what is the best method of starting over? Is there a streamlined
way to do this?

I do not think i can salvage my current account. It's a matter of
principle to me.  I will not be punished financially for cancelling
transactions that were flawed.

What's the best way to start over, step by step.

[southern*sweet*tea]

There are only two ways a seller on Ebay can hang themselves- not responding to cases (cases where Ebay steps in) and being out of stock.  I'm afraid you supplied your own rope on this.

Closing your account takes six months (to allow for any Paypal cases that may be filed) and during that six months your account will continue to fall since you are no longer selling. It will wind up being suspended, and once an account is suspended, it's game over. All other selling accounts will be suspended along with it.

Rather than pulling everything, you should have continued to sell, even if it was small, low cost items to keep sales figures up. 

[myescape]

You are allowed multiple accounts.You just need seperate emails for each and up to 8 can attach to 1 pp account.But if 1 gets in trouble they all will

[jadys-0]

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@myescape wrote:

You are allowed multiple accounts.You just need seperate emails for each and up to 8 can attach to 1 pp account.But if 1 gets in trouble they all will

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keep in mind if your transaction rate versus the defect rate on this account falls too low, and this account get suspended, any other Associated accounts can and probably will be as well.

[castlemagicmemories]

OP, sad to say, what you don't know can and often does hurt you.

There is so much more to selling than just listing, getting paid, and shipping, as you found out.  Read this Board daily and keep up with policies by reading the past and current Seller Updates.  Check your Seller Dashboard frequently for hints of trouble so you can address them before you fall Below Standard.  

OOS and not responding to cases,  which causes Ebay to have to step in, are the kiss of death to accounts, as you now know.  It is not dishonorable for anyone to enforce their policies.

Since this is a matter of principle for you, and you have pulled all your listings, I wish you luck in your future endeavors.  

Sorry but you can't open a new account to get around sanctions on your present account.  

Do research the selling policies.

[a_c_green]

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@changeling93305 wrote:

So they have ways of trying to stop sellers from starting new
accounts. But here is the thing. I am not banned, or restricted. I am
at a 4% defect rate, and they say i need to get to a 2% rate, and they
want to gouge me on fee's for hundreds of dollars each month to
rebuild that status. They removed one of the 5 defects, so maybe i am
3.5% defect rate now or something like that.

---

Okay, math is not my strong point, but realistically, at your most recent rate of sales, how long would it really take you to get your defect rate back below 2%?

You're selling big-ticket items, and trying to continue that from a new, zero-feedback selling account would simply make you a scammer target, not to mention losing whatever goodwill and long-term record you've established with your existing account up to now.

Abandoning this account would be throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Recovering from this bad patch by putting your best efforts into continuing to sell under the current account will give you a much better dividend, much sooner.

[buyselljack2016]

@changeling93305

as ...southern....   said:

Sell some low cost items quickly to get your #'s back up.

Sell those items at a loss if you need to to sell them quickly.

I bought "forever stamps" from a seller that was likely doing it to get the stats up.

They were selling 3 stamps for less than face value with free shipping. You can get 25 sales (with 25 stamps for you to ship with) like that from one coil of stamps.

They did not get you with a "loop hole".  eBay does not like OOS cancels. (I know they were not OOS, but you selected that) OOS cancels disappoint buyers. eBay does not want disappointed buyers.

[buyselljack2016]

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buyselljack2016 wrote:

@changeling93305

Sell those items at a loss if you need to to sell them quickly.

I bought "forever stamps" from a seller that was likely doing it to get the stats up.

They were selling 3 stamps for less than face value with free shipping. You can get 25 sales (with 25 stamps for you to ship with) like that from one coil of stamps.

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Need to add.

You need to do this in a way that not all are sold in a single transaction:)

[juststuffisell]

Yep....that is a bad situation. I am a firm believer in not cutting your nose off despite your face. I would continue to sell on eBay and adjust my practices to comply with policy - try to rebuild your back end ebay reputation - your front end rep with customers is good.

You can opt for a 1 or 2% increase in price to offset the higher fee rate or pass the entire amount on or simply eat the cost until you can get your rate adjusted. I would not recommend opening another shop for multiple reasons to include existing reputation as a seller (customer facing). It could also be a TERMS issue with ebay as you would be trying to circumvent a eBay imposed penalty. (something you would need to check with eBay on)

This is one you learn from and work through given the sales $'s potential you would be shutting down.

Cheers!

[lovtaco0]

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@a_c_green wrote:

You're selling big-ticket items, and trying to continue that from a new, zero-feedback selling account would simply make you a scammer target, not to mention losing whatever goodwill and long-term record you've established with your existing account up to now.

Abandoning this account would be throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Recovering from this bad patch by putting your best efforts into continuing to sell under the current account will give you a much better dividend, much sooner.

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This is what I was going to say. You also have a store - if it's an annual subscription you will have to ride it out or pay early termination fees.

First, read up on seller performance metrics and the Money Back Guarantee for buyers. Reinstate your listings. Can you up the price a little and still remain competitive? This can help to cover the higher fees. You said you don't have time for lower priced items but it looks like you were already tossing some jeans and magazine lots into the mix. List more things like that to get sales moving and lower your defect percent.

[changeling93305]

Hello everyone, thank you for all the replies i did not expect so many. Very nice of you all to chime in on this problem.

I will take the time and read all your replies here and consider everything.

I slept on it a night and thought about this. And there is one solution that might be a good eventual one.

I had 5 defects, now 4 as i disputed one. There are two that are from october 2017, that will dissapear off my account in  October 2018.  

What i could do till then, i just keep my precious guitar inventory on Reverb, maybe put a few guitars on ebay at a 4% price increase to offset the fee.

And then list a few various small things each month just to keep the account going. Basically like my various things i have at home to get rid of like jeans, guitar pedals, trimming my comic book collection.

And then Likely this can be cleared up by October without me having to lose much money on guitars.

Also one further question, there have been some mixed answers on here about this.

I could keep this account going. But also start a new one. I did open a new ebay account as Nwestguitars, is it that this new account will immediately be also tagged as below Standard?

I will find out soon, i just did not want to invest a lot of hope and time/effort into a new account if it is not worth it. Someone said on here that you can have up to 8 accounts on one paypal. 

[lovtaco0]

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@changeling93305 wrote:

I could keep this account going. But also start a new one. I did open a new ebay account as Nwestguitars, is it that this new account will immediately be also tagged as below Standard?

I will find out soon, i just did not want to invest a lot of hope and time/effort into a new account if it is not worth it. Someone said on here that you can have up to 8 accounts on one paypal. 

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The new account will start fresh and will not be below standard. If one account is suspended that would affect your other account.

The new account will start from scratch and it's best not to list high value items until it's well established with a high amount of seller feedback. It would be double the work to establish a new account while bringing the current account back up to standard. If you have the time then go for it, man.

[tiramisu41]

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@changeling93305 wrote:

I could keep this account going. But also start a new one. I did open a new ebay account as Nwestguitars, is it that this new account will immediately be also tagged as below Standard?

I will find out soon, i just did not want to invest a lot of hope and time/effort into a new account if it is not worth it. Someone said on here that you can have up to 8 accounts on one paypal. 

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@changeling93305, sure you can open a second account.  You need to have a different email address than the one you use with your original eBay account, and you can associate the new account with the same PayPal account you're using for your original eBay account.

Your new account will have a clean slate.  Sounds like that's great, but not really.  As a new seller, you will be subjected to selling limits in terms of the number and value of items you can sell, and will be subject to waiting periods to receive funds from your sales until you've proven yourself as reliable. 

You also will have a zero or low feedback score.  Combine that with selling high-value items and you will be a prime target for scammers.

If I were you, I'd go with "Plan A" -- continue to sell on your existing account.  Sell some lower-priced items/low-risk items you can turn over quickly and without problems.  That will help get your seller metrics up. 

As you noted, by October some of your "black marks" will no longer count against you.  TBH, it could take that long for you to build up enough of a track record on the second account for your selling limits be lifted to the point where you could sell as freely and often as you have done on your original account. 

IMO, opening a second store and putting up with all of the silliness that comes with it as a new seller, is a heck of a lot more work and not worth the effort.  I'd work on getting your metrics back up between now and October.  You're lucky you have another niche platform you can also use, in the meantime, I'd continue to use it. 

[sam9876]

" The new ownership is terrible."

What new ownership?

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

Why would they not consider a new account being open as fee evasion? When does it become illegal to open a new account?