eBay

baby_buzz_direct · ‎19-12-2024

I noticed by chance a couple of days ago that for a recent transaction Ebay gave us a defect both for 'Late Delivery' and 'Case closed without seller resolution' ( we did not refund the buyer when they informed us that they had not received the item but sent them a replacement (informing them about this); due to a postal issue they did not receive the replacement either and then opened a case over the following weekend. Ebay refunded them straight away and gave us the said defects.

Now in the Seller Standards Policy ( https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/selling-policies/seller-standards-policy?id=4347 ) it clearly says There can only be one defect per transaction. So I called Ebay support to ask them to remove one of the defects, but they told me this would only be possible for two defects in one of the categories. I can't really read this from the policy and can't see how you could get two defects for the same transactions in either of the categories alone.

Anybody with an opinion or experience regarding this?

game_raid · ‎19-12-2024

When you sent the replacement I guess you added the tracking number at the same time so this would flag up as a late dispatch because it's after your own dispatch time you have set.

The system will not know you have sent a replacement because one hasn't been delivered, it will be seen as a new tracking number that has been added days after the original expected delivery date and your own cut off time.

This would give you a defect which is separate from the case closed without seller resolution which makes this 2 categories.

If the original order had been delivered late after you shipped the replacement it would have given you a defect which would be removed as long as you dispatched on time. This is what they mean by 2 categories, you would have got a defect for late delivery and also defect for late dispatch due to adding a second tracking number under the same order number.

It is never a good idea to send a replacement IMO It is better to resolve things on a case by case basis and just refunded them before the case closed.

baby_buzz_direct · ‎19-12-2024

Yes, we realized already that it was mistake to send out the replacement Item with tracking number when the original item was sent without tracking (being a low value item). But we got the defect for late delivery, not late dispatch, when we received the replacement item back 4 weeks later due to some postal issue . We have not been querying this defect as such but only that we additionally also got a defect for 'Case closed without seller resolution' even though the Seller policy says 'There can only be one defect per transaction'.

Anyway, as a consequence of this and one or two other similar case recently, we have decided now, as you suggested as well, not to send out replacements anymore but refund the order before the case is closed and rather ask the buyer to place a new order.

game_raid · ‎19-12-2024

There are 3 categories.

Transaction defect rate - When an order has been cancelled for being out of stock

Late delivery rate - When an order has been shipped or delivered late, uploading tracking on dispatch will get the late delivery defect removed, because you added a second tracking number eBay has counted that as part of the order.

Cases closed without seller resolution- This covers multiple cases, such as item not received or a return that hasn't been refunded in time.

You can get multiple defects per order, as example.

An item was delivered late with no tracking added before delivery or didn't get dispatched on time, this would get a defect.

A buyer decides they wish to return the item and once delivered back the seller drags their feet and the refund window closes so the buyer contacts eBay and this gets them a refund and the seller a defect.

This is one of the ways a seller can get 2 defects on a transaction. If they didn't do it this way the system could be gamed, sellers would offer a poor service if all they got is a late dispatch defect and didn't have to worry about sorting out items not received or refunds on returns in a timely manner.

Cases closed without seller resolution is one of the worst for a seller to go below standard and has the lowest threshold for defects, it is seen as the seller can't be trusted to deal with customer issues so they have to have the ability for multiple defects per transaction based on category.

The same is in your situation, the buyer asked eBay to step in because the item hadn't been delivered in time so you got a defect in that category as well, it's totally independent from the late delivery defect.

baby_buzz_direct · ‎23-12-2024

@game_raid wrote:

The same is in your situation, the buyer asked eBay to step in because the item hadn't been delivered in time so you got a defect in that category as well, it's totally independent from the late delivery defect.

The 'Case closed without seller resolution' defect is not independent of the 'Later delivery' defect here as the case was opened because of the late delivery in the first place. And we responded to this straight away within the official Ebay channel (Ebay offers an option 'Reply to buyer' for this), asking the buyer to wait a couple of more days as there may be a delay with Royal Mail. The time limit for resolving the case then expired a couple of days later over the weekend (the buyer had never asked us for any refund up to this point), but rather than waiting until Monday to tell us they still have not received the item (when we would have refunded them immediately), they asked Ebay to step in over the weekend, and Ebay gave them a refund and us a defect for 'Case closed without seller resolution' immediately. We have been 'on the ball' in this case throughout and responded to every request the buyer made, and this is all documented in the case history. In view of this it does not make any sense to give us a defect for this. Given the circumstances we took appropriate steps at any point and these were agreed with the buyer.