eBay have it all wrong

[wiggle956]

So my account has been reviewed and eBay determined me to be a below standard seller.

I have a 0.42% defect rate yes thats right under half a percent. Imo this is crazy, it's a fairly new account only a year so I've sold 722 items and have 3 defects. They are item not arrived cases which each time I try and resolve with the buyer but offering to send out a replacement item. I've worked quite hard to build my account up and now I just feel like I'm being punished for my hard work and my 0.42% defect rate. So if that was a Google rating it would be 4.5 out of 5 taking into account the half a percent but in eBay eyes it's below standard.

I said the the guy on the phone so look at it this way you take 722 calls 3 of those say there not happy with your help only 3 but eBay sake you. You'd certainly feel that was very harsh. Annoing thing is we've got Christmas coming up and I'm going to lose a lot of sales due to this rating and my TERRIBLE 0.42% defect rate. Imo eBay is a sinking ship and it's to do with how they treat there sellers. Nothing else.

They can give free fees to try and compete but till they sort this sort of stuff out they will never compete with vinted or any other platforms. I'd much rather pay a fee and be treated properly. 

Going to move my whole business to Etsy now 

[wiggle956]

Btw it's not the account I've posted from buy a second account that I have 

[bravergrace]

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@wiggle956 wrote:

I've sold 722 items and have 3 defects. They are item not arrived cases which each time I try and resolve with the buyer but offering to send out a replacement item.

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It sounds as if you may have misunderstood how the defect system works.

eBay doesn't automatically give you defects for item not received cases.  It gives you defects if the case is closed by eBay, in the buyer's favour.

If you want to resolve an INR case with the buyer, you have to do this BEFORE the deadline for resolving the case.  The way the system is set up, there isn't normally time to do this by sending out a replacement item (unless you're sending it out as guaranteed next day delivery).  

This means that if it isn't tracked, you really need to refund BEFORE the deadline date.  Even if the item or the replacement turn up, you need the buyer to close the case by ticking the "Item received" box.  This may not be fair, but it's the way the system works.

[wiggle956]

I know how the system works I've had an eBay account for 19 years. The problem I have with eBay is the fact they see an account with half a percent defect rate as a bad seller. It's ridiculous 

[wiggle956]

They do care about the sellers which is going to be there downfall in the future as more and more sellers are switching over to other platforms. Not because others are better but because of how they are treated. 

[bravergrace]

No, it's not ridiculous.

We're not at school.  Percentage defect rates matter - and they vary across different things.

If my supermarket only poisoned me wiht salmonella in 1 egg in 200, I'd still avoid them.

If my baker left the jam out of 1 doughnut in 200, it wouldn't really bother me.

If 1 car in 200 was made without reliable brakes, a motorway journey would be like Russian roulette.

If my GP killed 1 patient in 200 by prescribing the wrong medicine, that would be worrying.

Other sellers can cope with a half-percent defect rate - and there is a lower limit to cushion very small sellers.  

[moldosgifts]

Apparently i'm not allowed to point in in a comic way this account may be a busness maskarading as private account so aplolopgise for that.

Post was removed and rightly so!!!!

In terms of the defect figures cant be changed if the figures say you desrved then make it so.

[pg_kicks]

Whilst I can understand your frustration, you did agree to these 'rules'. I know eBay don't take many of their policies seriously but it seems like your other account has been caught in one of the ones they actually do punish accounts for breaking. The 0.5% is pretty low but it is used for accounts selling thousands so it needs to be a catch all.

Hopefully they can get their act together and stop accounts breaking other policies and the law.  There are far too many accounts acting illegally and breaking multiple policies which is eBay cared and acted upon the site would be a much better place, no idea why they see some policies/rules as more sacred to break than others though.

[moldosgifts]

Very tactfully put.

[old-car-magazines-and-brochures]

If you think eBay are bad, just wait until you try Etsy! A quick search on google or YouTube will soon put you off. I am just one of thousands of top rated sellers that their bots automatically removed because it decided we were in breach of their policies and they have almost zero customer service. Worst company ever 

[wiggle956]

We're talking about a 0.42% defect rate being seen as  bad in business when we all know it's not. They have taken away my Christmas sales over 3 defects in near 800 sales and they can also see that I tried to resolve each of the issues with the buyers which where probably just scammers anyway.

As sellers we can get scammed by a buyer and eBay do nothing but get a 0.42% defect rate and they screw you as well as the scammers 

It will be what's downfall in the end

[mazda-mx5-mk3-parts]

I am in the same boat I had three liars who returned fully working fully described items back because these three lying buyers couldnt be bothered to read a description and look at the extra photos which all had part numbers but they didnt look at those. I blame the ebay app because its absolute rubbish if all the description isnt in the title and the first photo your stuffed because some ebay buyers are so lazy they just assume and we know what assumption equals !! Anyway I am 0.4% below standard and ebay are taking 6% more in fees if i sell anything thats now 20% they are taking when you add every fee up !! But this is the BIG BUT !! I havent sold a thing for two weeks now when I was selling ten to twenty items every day !! Personally as someone who has been in business for 35 years their system is totally backwards because if they are stopping a seller selling how is that effective and if that seller actually sells anything then they take more fees what sort of business principal are ebay following I dont know anyway I have had no money now for two weeks so it looks like christmas is now cancelled ebay have told me they will review my account in February 2025 so I might be dead of starvation by then well done ebay another nail in the coffin of the small business you certianly know how to run your business backwards or is it you dont care because the big buisinesses pay your wages and the smaller businesses doesnt matter sounds like the current government is in charge it really does !!

[mazda-mx5-mk3-parts]

it is ridiculous especially when quite a few ebay buyers lie through their back teeth to return a item at the sellers cost its called real life principles not sat behind a desk percentages which are total nonsense the problem is everyone you talk to at ebay is in cloud cuckoo land sometimes I say to myself do these people really exist because its quite scary with some of the things they come out with its as though they have been living in a carboard box all their lives !

[mazda-mx5-mk3-parts]

Well said and I am on your side. Three so called defects I had were all from three deluded scammers nothing more nothing less. I reported everyone one of them multiple times and did ebay do anything no they didnt do one thing ebay go on and on about doing things by the book well I did and they did nothing so whats the point !!

[wavesales]

Hi, But if you live in Hong Kong you can have 99.99% defects and you cannot report a single one!!

[ojewellery]

By defect do you mean cases closed without seller resolution are three or 0.42%?

It's a pain but once a buyer has opened a case you have to work exactly in the rules to avoid defects.  Buyer needs to close case to send a replacement,  tracking show delivery or refund before eBay step in.  It'd be lovely to have a replacement item sent option but there isn't one.

Moving forwards I guess you're on a twelve month review period.  Have you worked out when the first defect drops off the rolling twelve months?  The alternative would be to buy in some fast turnaround stock, even with tight margins, and up your sell through to get a three month review.

[wavesales]

This site is seriously winding me up I have purchased 2 switches from eBay and both sellers have stated out of stock after 2 days, what the hell is going on here. Let down once is ok but let down twice is a total joke. WHY do eBay allow this?.

[tressygirl]

eBay don't  allow this.  Citing out of stock the seller receives a defect on their account.  Too many of those,  seller standard falls below standard,  and selling  sanctions take place.

@wavesales