Below Standard by exactly one case - and one case was escalated before the return was even delivered back to me
Summary: secretsecondsoutlet is seeking help with a situation on eBay where their account is marked 'Below Standard' due to a small number of cases closed without seller resolution. They explain that in each case, they could not act before returns were received or due to personal crises, affecting their seller status unfairly. theelench suggests tagging community team members for direct assistance. kat@ebay, a community team member, responds that past cases cannot be reviewed for exceptions, and the performance level will remain until improved over time. dwhairandbeautystore shares a similar experience with cases escalated during a holiday and questions the handling timelines. Unfortunately, a resolution to remove the defects is not offered, and secretsecondsoutlet is advised to focus on maintaining high standards.
Hello - I'm hoping eBay community staff (or anyone who has been through this) can help me get my situation in front of the Seller Performance team, because every other channel has failed and I don't believe it has ever been looked at by a human.
I'm a business seller of 15 years (99.6% positive, 1,300+ feedback). My account is Below Standard on one metric only: "cases closed without seller resolution" - 3 cases out of 808 transactions, which is 0.37% against the 0.30% threshold. That is a miss of 0.07 percentage points: exactly one case.
I've pulled the full timelines from my transaction defect report, and I'd ask you to look at what actually happened:
1. Return ID 5313503954 (Feb 2026): the buyer posted the return on 27 Feb, asked eBay to step in on 3 March, and the return wasn't delivered back to me until 7 March. The case was escalated four days before the item ever reached me - I never had it in my possession, so the two-working-day inspection window sellers are supposed to get never even started. I reported the problem with this return at the time.
2. Case ID 5372426619 (Jan 2026): return delivered to me Thursday 15 Jan, case opened Tuesday 20 Jan, and decided against me - with the money deducted - the same day it was opened, automatically on tracking data. This was also a "doesn't fit" remorse return, but it is recorded on my account as "item not as described".
3. Case ID 5374376700 (Feb 2026): return delivered on a Saturday, case opened after three working days, and again decided and charged the same day it was opened.
Every buyer received a full refund funded by me - nobody was left out of pocket. All three cases fall in one eight-week patch when I was dealing with a serious, documented personal crisis. Nothing before, nothing in the five months since.
I know the standard appeal window has passed and I'm not trying to relitigate the cases. I'm asking how a business seller gets a discretionary/goodwill review of one defect, because the consequence - 6 extra percentage points on every sale until February 2027 and no Promoted Listings - is wildly disproportionate to a 0.07% miss made up of cases I demonstrably could not have resolved in the time given. A formal written complaint is going in the post to eBay (UK) Ltd this week. I would be very grateful if community staff could flag my account to Seller Performance, or point me to the right written channel - phone support has repeatedly been unable to help.
Thank you for reading.
dwhairandbeautystore
·1 month agoI have this exact same problem at the moment, again for 3 cases closed without seller resolution. It's the first time I've ever been below standard in 20 years.
In my case, the buyers all opened cases for tiny non-tracked items as soon as my holiday settings were on, all ignored requests for delivery office details so I could look into it and all escalated while I was still on holiday.
I'm confused by your timelines also though - eBay only give you 2 days to refund once the item is returned. Why did you wait 3 days and not act?
They will always side with the buyer in this scenario.
secretsecondsoutlet
OP1 month ago@dave@ebay @kat@ebay
kat@ebay
Hi @secretsecondsoutlet ,
Thank you for your post.
As these are public forums we don't have the ability to review accounts for older cases or to make exceptions to change a performance level. I'm afraid as these defects are so far back they are unable to be removed. Customer support has already reviewed them and your account and advised on more than one occasion they are not able to remove them. I understand this is not the news you wanted to hear but the account will remain in the below standard performance level until the defect % goes below the threshold. Its challenging and I know you have already been doing this but to improve the standards level its best to continue to sell your best selling items without any further defects.
Thank you,
Kat
theelench
·1 month agoI think you'll find that the Community Team reps. will only reply to you personally if you tag them, although they do sometimes join-in on a thread when they can give advice on a wider problem.
You could try Kat or Dave @ ebay. Using the "@" symbol will activate a drop down menu to click on.
appletree23
·1 month ago · EditedWith case 2 how was the return delivered back to you before the case was even opened? says return delivered on the 15 Jan but case opened on the 20th? if you'd had the return for two working days(Friday and Monday) then why delay issuing the refund?
jonatjonatjonat
·1 month agoI'd agree - fair enough on Case 1 - but cases 2 and 3 seem an open and shut case of a refund not being processed in time.
OP states they were undergoing a personal crisis - but there's not a lot to say other than ebay don't make exceptions. You can see it from their point of view - having to deal with case by case issues is not possible for a company the size of ebay.