eBay

japanesetaste · ‎05-13-2017

eBay is not removing two defect rates for two products that were stuck in customs for weeks and then, according to Italian customs, buried. Tracking number shows "item in customs" and we also got a document from shipping company confirming that Customs retained and threw away the mentioned products.

According to eBay policies these cases should be automatically removed from seller's performance record but they have not. I contacted many times customer support but they do not remove the defect rate nor give any clear explanation about why they do not do it. Not sure what I can do next.

http://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/seller-protection/defect-removal.html

"Under the defect removal policy, certain transaction defects received for reasons outside a seller’s control will be automatically removed from the seller’s performance standards and feedback profile. For example:

eBay can determine through valid tracking that the defect was the direct result of systemic delays in shipping or communication. Examples include wide-scale shipping carrier delays, items stuck in customs, or power outages due to extreme weather. Actual events will be listed on eBay’s announcement board."

copper.boom · ‎05-13-2017

@japanesetaste Do you have a FaceBook account? Supposedly the CS reps on eBay's FB are easier to work with than those at the overseas call centers.

japanesetaste · ‎05-14-2017

Thanks for the reply.
I actually have been communicating them via e-mail/message but it has been unfruitful so far.
Should I just directly message them @ https://www.facebook.com/eBay/ ?

*eponymous* · ‎05-14-2017

How are planning on messaging a webpage with an at-mention?!

facebook.com/eBayForBusiness and twitter.com/eBayForBusiness

You can avoid getting defects, even when there are carrier delays, by having acceptance scans within your handling time. All seller metrics are totally within sellers' control.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure<<<mother's wisdom...today is MD, after all.

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage. ~ Anais Nin

nowthatsjustducky · ‎05-14-2017

@*eponymous* wrote:

You can avoid getting defects, even when there are carrier delays, by having acceptance scans within your handling time. All seller metrics are totally within sellers' control.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure<<<mother's wisdom...today is MD, after all.

Considering the OP's package tracking is showing it made it to the destination country's Customs, that would indicate that they did get the needed scan. It does not have to be an acceptance scan, just a scan at any point along the way.

If it works, sell it. If it works well, sell it for more. If it doesn't work, quadruple the price and sell it as an antique.

-- Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #80

japanesetaste · ‎05-14-2017

@*eponymous* wrote:

You can avoid getting defects, even when there are carrier delays, by having acceptance scans within your handling time. All seller metrics are totally within sellers' control.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure<<<mother's wisdom...today is MD, after all.

All seller's metrics are not totally within seller's control.
For instance, late shipment rates that are carrier's fault and not seller's.

japanesetaste · ‎05-14-2017

Or the items stuck in customs case I was talking about which is penalizing my seller's performance even if tracking number clearly shows items in customs.

These are some of the official responses from eBay customer service by the way:

"I’m Patrick from the Appeal Department of eBay Customer Service and I’m writing in relation to the late shipment for 5119724299 and 5119724179. I understand that this item been scanned and there was refused due to customs payment. Please allow me to assist you further on this today.

Although you may feel that you did everything to take care of your buyer, we cannot remove this defect as it is still an indicator of a less than positive buying experience, which we must take seriously. Please note that this decision is final and cannot be changed or escalated.

If your buyer has an issue with the item, you should work with them to solve it. If your buyer asks eBay to step in and the case is decided against you, this will count as a defect."

"As I checked in the case the defect cannot be remove since the case was escalated to us and we are the one who made a final decision on the case, all cases that has been decided by our own will be considered as valid defect. We use the term "defect" when a buyer indicates that they were not completely satisfied with a transaction, but there are others as well – please see the link near the bottom of this email for the full list. In today's competitive online shopping environment, buyers who aren't happy with a purchase will move on to another website. This affects the success of the whole eBay selling community, so we count a seller's defect rate as part of our evaluation of seller standards. All escalated cases or eBay is the one who made a final decision in case will be considered as defect and counted as case closed with out seller's resolution."

copper.boom · ‎05-14-2017

Did you send them the link to policy and quoted text you posted above about defects being removed for items stuck in customs?

yuzuha · ‎05-14-2017

I'm honestly confused as to why customs would throw away an item rather than return it to the sender if it was not picked up. What was the item in question? Was it restricted or prohibited in that country?

japanesetaste · ‎05-14-2017

yes I did.
I will do it again through facebook cs as you suggested as well.
thanks

japanesetaste · ‎05-14-2017

Official version is they threw it away but it might be they just took it for their personal use.
Italian Customs are known for being not the most efficient and reliable customs out there.
I have sent the same product (skin lotion) many times to other countries and even to Italy and didn't have any problems before.

yuzuha · ‎05-14-2017

Huh, odd. My understanding always was that things that weren't picked up from customs would be returned to the sender eventually after a certain amount of time had elapsed. Then again, this could be why Italy isn't on the USPS' list of participating E DelCon countries...

studio_haedes · ‎05-14-2017

Greece, Brazil and Italy are are pretty slow but it will get there... eventually. Germany is a black hole of either theft or a customs nightmare from which there is no escape. I Lost so many packages there I blocked them on eBay until postage went up so astronomically recently i don't have to worry about European or UK sales at all now.

d-k_treasures · ‎05-15-2017

@yuzuha wrote:
I'm honestly confused as to why customs would throw away an item rather than return it to the sender if it was not picked up. What was the item in question? Was it restricted or prohibited in that country?

It depends on if you have that box checked on the customs form or not.

_____________________________
"Nothing is obvious to the oblivious"