Seller Level and the Metrics that eBay uses to get you in the ZONE to charge you an additional 5%

[middlemanparts]

Anyone else have this issue? I have been selling on and off eBay for over 10 years. 

Just noticed recently that my Seller Level dropped to below standard and it was purely based on cancellation of sales due to inventory. 

This Metric is scaled over the course of 12 months and based on a percentage of the amount of sales you make. Not only that, but eBay decides that you will also be penalized by cutting down the upcycle of your listings and taxing you an additional 5% final value on your current sales until you can get your transaction defect rate dropped to less than 2%. 

I only sell a hand full of items a month if that so based on these metrics, I get to sit in the below standard zone and pay an additional %5 final value to the already high %12.55 standard for a year. 

All this because I cancelled a few items due to stock. God forbid I sell on local platforms and forget to remove the item from my listings. I would understand if I was shipping out my items late or not taking returns but this is pretty unfair. 

[jayjaspersgarage]

"God forbid I sell on local platforms and forget to remove the item from my listings."

Enough said.  You can't keep track of your own inventory when you sell items away from ebay.   Ebay is focused on customer satisfaction.  

I always end the items as I pull them for live sales events and restart the ones that didn't sell.  That makes it impossible to sell something you already sold somewhere else.  I also get a lot of emails on Friday nights asking where things went.  My answer is that if you wanted to buy it why didn't you?  If it doesn't sell this weekend it should be back up by Monday night.  I did this all summer and it worked great.

[chapeau-noir]

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@middlemanparts wrote:

Anyone else have this issue? I have been selling on and off eBay for over 10 years. 

Just noticed recently that my Seller Level dropped to below standard and it was purely based on cancellation of sales due to inventory. 

This Metric is scaled over the course of 12 months and based on a percentage of the amount of sales you make. Not only that, but eBay decides that you will also be penalized by cutting down the upcycle of your listings and taxing you an additional 5% final value on your current sales until you can get your transaction defect rate dropped to less than 2%. 

I only sell a hand full of items a month if that so based on these metrics, I get to sit in the below standard zone and pay an additional %5 final value to the already high %12.55 standard for a year. 

All this because I cancelled a few items due to stock. God forbid I sell on local platforms and forget to remove the item from my listings. I would understand if I was shipping out my items late or not taking returns but this is pretty unfair. 

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You absolutely need to keep track of your inventory - 'forgetting' means that the buyer who honestly paid up front for that item is disappointed - that's not good customer service and is why your metrics reflected it.  Weather this and just try to do better with inventory.  I sell on four platforms and know what it's like to have to keep track, but it's really important. 

As for fees - I pay more on two of the other platforms than here and less on one, so eBay is about in the middle insofar as that goes. 

[fashunu4eeuh]

Canceling transactions erodes buyer confidence in the site, so it is a big deal. That is why you were penalized. It’s as big a deal as failing to ship on time, because it is failure to ship, period.

[richard1rst]

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@middlemanparts wrote:

Just noticed recently that my Seller Level dropped to below standard and it was purely based on cancellation of sales due to inventory. 

So basically you are admitting it was your own fault. Food - acceptance is one of the steps to redemption.

[jayjaspersgarage]

"So basically you are admitting it was your own fault. Food - acceptance is one of the steps to redemption."

Food?  Oh, it is getting close to dinner time.

[richard1rst]

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@jayjaspersgarage wrote:

"So basically you are admitting it was your own fault. Food - acceptance is one of the steps to redemption."

Food?  Oh, it is getting close to dinner time.

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OOPS !!!! Typing WAY too fast while being distracted - obviously (?) that should have GOOD

[iart]

I think most sellers have messed up and sold something they no longer had.

But I doubt very many claim they're a victim because of it.

[jayjaspersgarage]

"I think most sellers have messed up and sold something they no longer had."

I know ebay's software makes frequent mistakes and allows sold items to be relisted.  That's always fun to explain to an upset customer.  

[fern*wood]

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@middlemanparts wrote:

All this because I cancelled a few items due to stock. God forbid I sell on local platforms and forget to remove the item from my listings. I would understand if I was shipping out my items late or not taking returns but this is pretty unfair.

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It is actually far worse than shipping out late and having a no return (for remorse) is permitted.

There are two ways to get defects and your dashboard will track this and show when you are in danger.   (1) out of stock cancellations  (2)  cases closed without seller resolution

[jayjaspersgarage]

"

"So basically you are admitting it was your own fault. Food - acceptance is one of the steps to redemption."

Food?  Oh, it is getting close to dinner time.

OOPS !!!! Typing WAY too fast while being distracted - obviously (?) that should have GOOD"

Aren't we all distracted these days?  I was just poking fun.  I edit two book series and have a NYT column.  Ebay has been a huge distraction at times. 

[middlemanparts]

Thanks for all the replies. I have a better understanding of the reason for the metrics to involve cancelling an item. What I do not deem fair is the Metric percentage being applied to to the amount of sales. I am at 186 items sold for the year. I would need to get to 251 items before this below standard metric to charge me an additional 5% FVF is removed. 

Does the community feel that the additional 5% FVF is a fair punishment to a hobbyist seller? There is no way I would be able to get to 251 sold listings to drop the 2.68% sales defect to 1.99%, I don't even have that many listings up. 

Something fair would be an evaluation of 60-90 days after the warning/notice of seller level dropping.  That way you could actual sum up improvement whether you sold 5 items or 500 in a month. 

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@middlemanparts wrote: .... God forbid I sell on local platforms and forget to remove the item from my listings. .... 

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Yes, that is exactly the message that eBay is trying to get across to you. Completely failing to fulfill an order is of course worse than shipping it late.

[chapeau-noir]

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@middlemanparts wrote:

Thanks for all the replies. I have a better understanding of the reason for the metrics to involve cancelling an item. What I do not deem fair is the Metric percentage being applied to to the amount of sales. I am at 186 items sold for the year. I would need to get to 251 items before this below standard metric to charge me an additional 5% FVF is removed. 

Does the community feel that the additional 5% FVF is a fair punishment to a hobbyist seller? There is no way I would be able to get to 251 sold listings to drop the 2.68% sales defect to 1.99%, I don't even have that many listings up. 

Something fair would be an evaluation of 60-90 days after the warning/notice of seller level dropping.  That way you could actual sum up improvement whether you sold 5 items or 500 in a month. 

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I'm a small seller (used to be full time) and feel that the tranches are indeed too far apart.  Right now it's a 3-month look-back for 400+ transactions in 90 days.  For less than 400 transactions in 90 days it's 12 months.  I'm willing to take my licks for skrooing up, but that is like a double penalty - a 180-day look-back would be more fair without penalising the small seller for an entire year, with the small seller having a tougher time digging out. 

Having said that, one does get 60 days to improve before the hammer smacks you.

[mtgraves7984]

I got the TRS 30-day 'grace period warning' once, due to two OOS dings... plus a 3-day (warranted) 'time out', for me to get a handle on my inventory. Lucky for me, the mathematics were more doable than yours sound. Good luck and hang in there!