I may be off base with my observations and invite discussion to clarify. eBay provides two pecentages with respect to an individual's Service Perfromance, yours and your peer(s). This data is used to determine where one stands relative to the service performance of his or her peer(s). There are ranges that could see the seller placed into the high and very high ranges if their metrics show deviation from what is considered average in the market. This in turn could lead to the punitive sitiatuation of higher value fees fees assessed to such a seller.
A Tale of Two Peers
There are two (and two only) sellers on eBay who sell product "X"--a square block of wood new to the market. The items are exactly the same and are sold at the same price by both sellers. The sale of each item provides each seller with a 5% profit after ebay/paypal fees. The demand for the wood blocks is stable and each seller ships 95 blocks a month to customers. For the first two months the product has been sold, neither seller has had any returns and all customers are happy. One of the sellers though would like a larger share of the wooden block market and decides to set up several accounts--guest accounts, accounts under friend's names etc. to order five blocks from his competitor over the next month. On each of the sales a claim of some sort is made. One might suggest the item is counterfeit, while others may be SNAD or INR. Anyway, the competitor files 5 cases against his competition in a one month period. The second seller now finds himself in a situation where around five percent of the transactions he completed the previous month are now showing up on his service metrics page in an unflattering way. His peer, the one who filed false claims, is operating at zero percent. Two people selling the same item. Peer one with a zero percent rating and peer two with a five percent rating. The difference is substantial and would likely put the second seller into a higher value final fee category if the trend continues. If the second seller is forced to pay HFVF and his profit is only five percent to begin with, how long will it be before he decides to pack it in after he sees his profit reduced to one percent. As eBay has indicated they cannot change or alter anything with respect to how the metrics are generated, seller one is well on his way to seeing his competition removed from the marketplace. Job Done. I know it's an oversimplified example, but if eBay isn't prepared to provide information on how the data is gathered and substantiate the comparitive data with hard figures, the lack of transparency will lead folks to believe anything can happen.
