Top rated in jeopardy. Looking for insight

[americanresalecompany]

I work hard to maintain a perfect rating. I will say I had a few iphone cases I listed incorrectly so I had 3 defects all pop up within a few minutes before being able to revise the listing. I listed them as iphone 13 but they were 13 pro. 

That said, I went about 400 sales without issues. Now, I had a buyer buy a nail polish, I know the quantity was 2. At the exact moment, it shows on ebay it was the same minute, another buyer was able to buy the same thing. 

No big deal, I contacted ebay to let them know. I also asked what I should do to not incur a defect. I didn't make a big deal and I was prepared to just run to a local store and pay extra losing money ($5) on the transaction just to avoid any issues. The ebay rep told me "I was a protected top seller" and to mark it as out of stock" and no defect would be incurred. I advised against yet he insisted no defect would arise and there was no need to worry. I was wrong to listen. 

Since then I have talked to a supervisor and countless reps as I am in danger of losing my top rated status over a $2 item which I have since discontinued. 

I have had other reps claim I would be covered and it would be appealed. Wrong. Same result. Denied, denied. 

Any advice aside from the obvious is appreciated.

[brightlightbookseller]

Unfortunately, the phone and even chat reps will often just tell you what they think you want to hear and give out wrong information.

That said, 4 cancellations out of 400 sales wouldn’t place you below the required percentage of defects, unless not all of those sales were in the last 12 months? How many sales did you have in the last year?

And regardless, you’ll get better information and are more likely to actually get helped if you go to facebook.com/ebayforbusiness and contact the team there. Those reps are both more often honest with you and more able to affect real change in your account. If you can convince them that was an actual glitch, they might remove the defect.

[harafkac0]

First off, cancelling a sale due to "out of stock" most certainly incurs a defect.

The CS are not our friends, they do not even work at Ebay. Rather they are employees of some offshore company that provides customer service to ebay, their knowledge of ebay policy is about equivalent to that of a part-time ebayer.

Being a top rated seller and maintaining that status on ebay today involves knowing policy inside and out, to such a degree that you easily know more than Customer Service does. Also, since it's not hard to know more than they do I'd take it a step further and become intimately familiar with policy.

That means start reading, also take note every time something goes a certain way, the results of one's actions here are predictable.

You are not likely to get this defect removed, however I also don't believe that you'd lose TRS status over one... Did you have a few more? If so, once you lose your status it will take about a quarter (three months) of impeccable sales to regain TRS.

[earthdreamer]

Apart from your out of stock issues, you may have your Swarovski listings deleted by eBay due to a VERO violation. 

You are required to state the phrase “made with Swarovski” in the title itself, otherwise it misleads buyers into thinking it is an item made by Swarovski, setting you up for a potential INAD defect. 

[americanresalecompany]

I actually did that just prior to your comment. Thank you all. I appreciate it.

[luckythewinner · Accepted solution]

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No big deal, I contacted ebay to let them know. I also asked what I should do to not incur a defect.

You were out of stock. You SHOULD incur a defect.

I am in danger of losing my top rated status over a $2 item which I have since discontinued

There is nothing in the seller performance criteria that considers the cost of the item.

I work hard to maintain a perfect rating.

 It sounds like you need to work harder on listing accuracy and inventory management.

[americanresalecompany]

I like your outline. I especially like the red incorporated into the answer.

[americanresalecompany]

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[pjcdn2005]

Does your seller performance dashboard show that you will be losing your trs status?   You would lose your trs if the percentage of defects is was more than .5% of your sales AND if you have 4 or more defects. 

[americanresalecompany]

Unfortunately due to me mislisting something months ago as iphone 13 case when it was a pro caused the prior defects even when remedied quickly. The real issue I felt was irrelevant was that I sold this item at 8:59pm. The item im posting about, that is. The quantity dropped to 0. It shows this in the order details. Then at the exact minute, another buyer bought it as well. The quantity also says zero on the order details page. This is when I chatted and was told to cancel for out of stock which I know better not to do, as I was assured this was the remedy to the duplicate purchase. In the end, it is what it is I suppose. 

[americanresalecompany]

I appreciate your feedback 

[earthdreamer]

"Now, I had a buyer buy a nail polish, I know the quantity was 2. At the exact moment, it shows on ebay it was the same minute, another buyer was able to buy the same thing."

Maybe I am missing something, but if you had 2 items in stock, and two buyers bought one each, you should have been able to supply the item to both customers. 

[americanresalecompany]

First buyer bought two haha. My mistake. It was buy one get one free. Total was at 2. They paid for one and were given a free one so the quantity showed zero after that. Then another buyer was able to buy one at the same minute and quantity showed zero after that as well. Maybe I'm just crazy and need more sleep. Who knows.

[americanresalecompany]

Update. Ebay sided with me and let me keep top rated. Ebay rep was incorrect and there was a glitch were two buyers somehow purchased at the same time with a quantity of one. Yay, One for the sellers!