eBay

zamo-zuan · ‎08-22-2018

I noticed today as I was browsing our "My eBay > Account" page, that there was a flag on the Powerseller Level bar, saying that that our Powerseller level dropped. Previously I believe we were titanium (or at least platinum), and now we are silver?

I called in about this and the first rep I spoke to said it seems the "global" sales are is not calculating properly, and that our amount of transactions meet the "Gold" requirement.

After getting off the phone, I read through the page again, and I noticed that it mentions you can reach the powerlevel if you have the amount of sales OR the amount of transactions. Our transaction amount meets Gold, but our sales amount should be even higher than gold.

So I called back again, and the new rep I spoke to said that the reason the seller level dropped is because "Global sales no longer include domestic sales"???

I asked if this was a recent change, and he said yes, and that is why the drop happened suddenly this month. So I searched to see if information regarding this was in any of the Summer Update notes I could find, and I could not find anything...?

I even googled "eBay powerseller update" within the last year, and no results from any of the updates mentioning powerseller at all? I checked every page on here - https://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/seller-updates/2018-summer/index.html - no mention of powerseller?

So right now I'm getting conflicting information from eBay, I'm not sure if this is an intended change that hit all stores, or a bug that is affecting all stores, or a bug that is affecting us specifically?

It would not make much sense to me if powerlevel was only an indicator of how many sales you make out of the US... but stranger things have happened on eBay?

Can anyone clarify? Is this affecting you as well? Did you powerseller level drop? Are global sales no longer including domestic sales?

If this was an intentional change, I'm wondering why it was not included in the update notes....?

zamo-zuan · ‎08-23-2018

@castlemagicmemories wrote:
@zamo-zuan wrote:
@castlemagicmemories wrote:
Not so strange; you may not have had a drop before this, so it is only showing up now. Threads have been appearing on this for some time.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/What-is-going-on-with-quot-AT-RISK-FOR-GLOBAL-PROGRAM-quot/m-p...

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/quot-Your-seller-performance-status-is-at-risk-in-the-global/m...

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Went-from-Gold-Powerseller-to-Bronze-OVERNIGHT-But-I-still-mee...

The question this still raises is, if this is intended & has been happening to other sellers as much as a year ago, why is this only affecting us now?

Because it didn't. It didn't automatically affect anyone when it first rolled out~just like not every seller goes to Below Standard, ever. If your sales did not warrant the downgrade, then it didn't get downgraded.

Hard to say if Powerseller actually is weighted in to visibility anymore. The first rep said it has a minor amount of weight while most of the weight comes from TRS.

But the other rep basically denied what the first rep said...

To be honest, neither of them can really be sure what is rewarded most in search... if it actually does have any weight in search, it is definitely an issue if some sellers are being lowered now, and some others might not be dropping for another year.

Some others sellers may never drop. Again, it' s not something that will automatically affect all sellers at the same time, or even at all.

I've mentioned a couple times, this is NOT about top rated. We did not go below standard. We are still top rated.

Our rate of sales have been consistent from last month to this month. Our powerseller level has dropped between last month to this month. Which is supposed to be based upon total sale value and bulk of sales, which did not fluctuate much during this month.

To drop from Gold to Silver by normal standards, we would have needed to lose 2,600 transactions in one month, or have dropped $25,000 in one month. Neither of these things have happened.

Furthermore, we were previously titanium level.

It's only now - in August's evaluation, that our Powerseller level has dropped, the alleged reason being because it's no longer including US sales in "Global" section.

So considering this, I ask again... if this was a change that supposedly happened a year ago, why is our powerseller level only dropping this month for the first time?

castlemagicmemories · ‎08-24-2018

Hopefully this will clear this up.

The change didn't automatically make all sellers fail globally when it was implemented. It's as simple as that. Some have failed since then, some may never fail. If your sales don't warrant it now and never have, then you need to take that up with CS or a blue.

Again, it's just like being Below Standard. When that came into being, all sellers weren't immediately thrown into Below Standard. Some have become Below Standard since then, but some never will be Below Standard.

IOW, it is not an absolute that was applied to all accounts or that will ever affect all accounts.

Hope this makes sense. If you feel nothing has changed in your sales, take it up with CS or a Blue.

zamo-zuan · ‎08-24-2018

@castlemagicmemories wrote:
Hopefully this will clear this up.

The change didn't automatically make all sellers fail globally when it was implemented. It's as simple as that. Some have failed since then, some may never fail. If your sales don't warrant it now and never have, then you need to take that up with CS or a blue.

Again, it's just like being Below Standard. When that came into being, all sellers weren't immediately thrown into Below Standard. Some have become Below Standard since then, but some never will be Below Standard.

IOW, it is not an absolute that was applied to all accounts or that will ever affect all accounts.

Hope this makes sense. If you feel nothing has changed in your sales, take it up with CS or a Blue.

Yeah, that's the thing. Sales levels did not fluctuate nearly enough for a level to drop.

The main difference as we're being told, is before the US sales were counted towards global. Supposedly, US sales now no longer count towards gobal. Now that they are not being counted, we see the significant drop.

But if the US sales have not been included in global calculations for a year... we should have seen this drop a year ago. If this is true... Why did it happen this month, rather than a year ago?

Does not make sense that the formula would change for everyone else a year ago, but for us just now.

helloandgoodmorning · ‎08-24-2018

@zamo-zuan wrote:
But if the US sales have not been included in global calculations for a year... we should have seen this drop a year ago. If this is true... Why did it happen this month, rather than a year ago?

Does not make sense that the formula would change for everyone else a year ago, but for us just now.

No because it's a 12 month lookback. You had enough US based sales in the last month before the change that you kept the status until now when the last month of US counted sales rolled off. Now it's only your global transactions from the past 12 months that count towards your global stats.

Good night and good luck

zamo-zuan · ‎08-24-2018

@castlemagicmemories wrote:

Hope this makes sense. If you feel nothing has changed in your sales, take it up with CS or a Blue.

The part quoted here is actually why I made this post.

CS are saying different things.

They told me it was a recent change that should be listed in the summer or spring updates, but its absolutely not mentioned in those.

The closest thing is the change we are discussing last year, but that seems to be focused on TRS, and not on powerseller.

Hard for me to know what is truly intended, when eBay CS doesn't even seem to know.

zamo-zuan · ‎08-24-2018

@helloandgoodmorning wrote:
@zamo-zuan wrote:
But if the US sales have not been included in global calculations for a year... we should have seen this drop a year ago. If this is true... Why did it happen this month, rather than a year ago?

Does not make sense that the formula would change for everyone else a year ago, but for us just now.
No because it's a 12 month lookback. You had enough US based sales in the last month before the change that you kept the status until now when the last month of US counted sales rolled off. Now it's only your global transactions from the past 12 months that count towards your global stats.

Interesting theory.

Prior to this, I beleive we were titanium, or at least platinum, as I recall seeing it recently. For such a huge drop, even if we consider the lower one (platinum) that would mean in one month we would have had to drop more than $200,000 in sales.

We didn't have such a drop from August-Sep last year.

helloandgoodmorning · ‎08-24-2018

I was responding to the part about seller status based on region.

I don't know what's going on with power seller status, but it's an outdated program so I don't know why it matters?

Good night and good luck

zamo-zuan · ‎08-24-2018

@helloandgoodmorning wrote:
I was responding to the part about seller status based on region.

I don't know what's going on with power seller status, but it's an outdated program so I don't know why it matters?

I'm not sure how much weight it has anymore. Some reps say it doesn't have much weight, but just a small amount. Another have told us that it doesn't affect anything anymore.

There's no way to know the truth. So the best I think we could do is just make sure we are showing up correctly for what we should be.

castlemagicmemories · ‎08-24-2018

@helloandgoodmorning wrote:
@zamo-zuan wrote:
But if the US sales have not been included in global calculations for a year... we should have seen this drop a year ago. If this is true... Why did it happen this month, rather than a year ago?

Does not make sense that the formula would change for everyone else a year ago, but for us just now.
No because it's a 12 month lookback. You had enough US based sales in the last month before the change that you kept the status until now when the last month of US counted sales rolled off. Now it's only your global transactions from the past 12 months that count towards your global stats.

THANK YOU! (Not shouting, just emphasis!) I thought it was a 12 month look back, but wasn't sure so did not specify a timeframe but just indicated that the implementation of the separation would not necessarily affect ALL sellers immediately or even at all!!!!

castlemagicmemories · ‎08-24-2018

@zamo-zuan wrote:
@castlemagicmemories wrote:

Hope this makes sense. If you feel nothing has changed in your sales, take it up with CS or a Blue.
The part quoted here is actually why I made this post.

CS are saying different things.

They told me it was a recent change that should be listed in the summer or spring updates, but its absolutely not mentioned in those.

The closest thing is the change we are discussing last year, but that seems to be focused on TRS, and not on powerseller.

Hard for me to know what is truly intended, when eBay CS doesn't even seem to know.

The past threads on this seem to indicate it goes back at least a year~I didn't research the Spring or Summer updates from that year.

zamo-zuan · ‎08-24-2018

@castlemagicmemories wrote:
@helloandgoodmorning wrote:
@zamo-zuan wrote:
But if the US sales have not been included in global calculations for a year... we should have seen this drop a year ago. If this is true... Why did it happen this month, rather than a year ago?

Does not make sense that the formula would change for everyone else a year ago, but for us just now.
No because it's a 12 month lookback. You had enough US based sales in the last month before the change that you kept the status until now when the last month of US counted sales rolled off. Now it's only your global transactions from the past 12 months that count towards your global stats.
THANK YOU! (Not shouting, just emphasis!) I thought it was a 12 month look back, but wasn't sure so did not specify a timeframe but just indicated that the implementation of the separation would not necessarily affect ALL sellers immediately or even at all!!!!

Well I called back in regarding the confusion regarding this.

I was informed that the update from last year (that is mentioned by @castlemagicmemories and @helloandgoodmorning ) is ONLY related to global TRS. Last years update should NOT be applied to the Powerseller rating. They took a look again, and said thatthe correct level we should be at is Titanium.

They put me on an extended hold to try to find any information for Powerseller changes from last year until today. They were not able to find anything. So they think this was a glitch in the system.

Of course, we've been told misinformation before. So please take with a grain of salt. Just trying to keep everyone updated!

castlemagicmemories · ‎08-24-2018

@zamo-zuan wrote:
@castlemagicmemories wrote:
@helloandgoodmorning wrote:
@zamo-zuan wrote:
But if the US sales have not been included in global calculations for a year... we should have seen this drop a year ago. If this is true... Why did it happen this month, rather than a year ago?

Does not make sense that the formula would change for everyone else a year ago, but for us just now.
No because it's a 12 month lookback. You had enough US based sales in the last month before the change that you kept the status until now when the last month of US counted sales rolled off. Now it's only your global transactions from the past 12 months that count towards your global stats.
THANK YOU! (Not shouting, just emphasis!) I thought it was a 12 month look back, but wasn't sure so did not specify a timeframe but just indicated that the implementation of the separation would not necessarily affect ALL sellers immediately or even at all!!!!
Well I called back in regarding the confusion regarding this.

I was informed that the update from last year (that is mentioned by @castlemagicmemories and @helloandgoodmorning ) is ONLY related to global TRS. Last years update should NOT be applied to the Powerseller rating. They took a look again, and said thatthe correct level we should be at is Titanium.

They put me on an extended hold to try to find any information for Powerseller changes from last year until today. They were not able to find anything. So they think this was a glitch in the system.

Of course, we've been told misinformation before. So please take with a grain of salt. Just trying to keep everyone updated!

@zamo-zuan

Of course, no worries, and thank you! While most of the threads found were TRS related, there was at least one the was by a POWERSELLER, and that pre dated your issue.

My next thought would have been a glitch. Hope you can get this resolved. Good Luck.

helloandgoodmorning · ‎08-27-2018

@zamo-zuan wrote:
I was informed that the update from last year (that is mentioned by @castlemagicmemories and @helloandgoodmorning ) is ONLY related to global TRS. Last years update should NOT be applied to the Powerseller rating.

That's exactly what I said in post 22.

Did you ask them if the powerseller level has any significance to search? The level shouldn't matter unless you're losing a benefit.

Good night and good luck

zamo-zuan · ‎08-27-2018

@helloandgoodmorning wrote:
@zamo-zuan wrote:
I was informed that the update from last year (that is mentioned by @castlemagicmemories and @helloandgoodmorning ) is ONLY related to global TRS. Last years update should NOT be applied to the Powerseller rating.
That's exactly what I said in post 22.

Did you ask them if the powerseller level has any significance to search? The level shouldn't matter unless you're losing a benefit.

One of the reps said yes but most of the benefit was moved to TRS, so it was just a small amount of weight. Another said it doesn't make any difference for search anymore, but the stamp might show more trust to customers.

To be honest, I took that as "none of the staff actually knows how the search works". No way to tell if there's an actual benefit, might as well get it handled just in case. Who knows if an unlucky bug might hit the system and happen to make it the #1 factor?