over 99% positive feedback but still blocked from ebay

shelovestobuystuff

Where do I start???
Spent 2 days listing new stuff to sell,shop was looking fantastic,sales have been good this month(over £400 already)and getting better.Coming up to my busy sales period after a very slow winter quarter.I had lined up 3 new suppliers and one big drop ship account and those were the items I was listing when ebay struck.
Went for a coffee break at 12 yesterday and logged back in to find I had no business.Seller non-performance cited and all listings ended.They will review my account in 30 days to see if things have improved?
Basically I am up s**t creek without a paddle and things were going so well.
Apparantly even though I have 99.4% positive feedback ebay also need a 95% buyer satisfaction rate over a 90 day period or you get the chop.They work out the % by counting up the neutral and neg feedback taking neutral to mean the same as neg!!!and they also take into account your 5 star rating.I have 5 in all except dispatch time but its really delivery time the customers are leaving it for,anyway,just 4/5 for that.
Has anyone else had this happen.
It just seems ridiculous that a 99%+ seller can be axed like this.

shelovestobuystuff

Heres a reply I got from another ebay user.Spot on I think.

In any other organisation warnings would be given about any alleged 'poor performance' and the recipients would be given ample opportunity to improve their performance before being dismissed.

However, it appears that eBay simply wield the axe - at a stroke and without any prior warning. One minute the seller is trading; the next they are not.

Further, eBay's selection of which seller's head to chop seems enitrely arbitrary: I cannot see that shelovestobuystuff's feedback warrants suspension or dergistration any more than I could in the case of the seller I have referred to in my previous response (above).

Having been summarily suspended, the seller is then plunged into a Kafka-esque scenario where they are required to improve their peformance without being able to trade and, as eBay are not regulated or subject to UK law, the seller has no right of appeal.

In effect, eBay are a law unto themselves and are free to act with impunity.

No seller is going to be unaffected by the 'changes', and and any private sellers who make a living from trading on eBay are particularly vulnerable.

Ironically, fraudsters, scammers, shill bidders etc remain free to trade while wholly protected by eBay's 'transparency'.

If it wasn't so serious I would be laughing at the sheer ineptitude and arrogance of eBay's 'Fat Controllers'. As it is, I can only hope that what we are witnessing are eBay's death throes as it goes into meltdown.

soolin

It's the new rules and one that appears to have been slipped in almost un noticed. I have mentioned it on a few threads and usually refer to it as the 'bottom 5% of sellers' rule.

You have explained it exactly, it isn't just negative feedback that counts but a combination of all feedback, plus DSR and also buyer complaints. As it is worked out over a 30 day period it really only triggers if a seller starts to get a few less than perfect feedback and/or stars plus any complaints (but of course sellers might not even know about them).

Basically anyone whose stars start to head down towards 4 needs to act quickly to get them back up again so that this is not triggered. If you are finding that your delivery times are slow then look at your courier, or if you are using royal mail ensure that when you are reinstated you go to the PO daily and try and get those stars up again. It isn't usually despatch times that affect stars, most people can seem to keep that in the high 4s, it is usually post and packing charges that most buyers hit on .

As you've gathered this is an automatic suspension and so I haven't seen anyway of appealing it, although if you are a high level powerseller you may find your account manager may be able to assist in time limiting the suspension.

soolin

Incidentally, you mention you drop ship some items..is this clearly stated upfront in your auctions as that might have triggered some complaints either because it is not mentioned prominently, or because they despatch slower than your buyers anticipate.

shelovestobuystuff

Thanks,not a power seller and not much chance of becoming one now either.My feedback has been 100% over the last 30 days,no negs or neutrals at all.The e-mail I got said 90 days.I had low sales between xmas and feb and 2 negs left by one seller in March for a transaction that he didnt even pay for back in dec,thats what did it.
So unfair.

shelovestobuystuff

The dropship items were just being added and I would have checked stock levels every morning to make sure there were no delays there.Hopefully I will still get to give it a go.

soolin

Sorry, I just rechecked and it is 90 days..I will make sure I change my standard post in future as I was convinced I read it as 30 days when it was first announced. It also says:

Please note that although we are not including Detailed Seller Ratings at this time, we will be using them in the future

which doesn't actually tally with other experiences that people have had, and also with the standard email that ebay send.

It also says:

The consequences for breaching this policy are determined primarily by the level of buyer dissatisfaction. Sellers with buyer dissatisfaction levels between 5% and 10% will, at minimum, have their selling privileges limited for a period of time. Sellers with buyer dissatisfaction levels exceeding 10% will, at minimum, have their site privileges substantially restricted, possibly including a complete restriction on selling privileges. Failure to bring buyer satisfaction rates within an acceptable range may result in account suspension.

This does all rather suggest that there are complaint son file, but as you'll never know it is hard for you to know how to rectify anything that people don't like. Have you had many losses in the post or do you have any strange terms and conditions in your auctions that might trigger anonymous complaints?

Also, if you are just starting out with drop shipping be careful, it does attract rather a lot of complaints. Cover yourself by ensuring you have a statement in your listing as to where the goods are coming from rather than let buyers think you have them at your registered location. Also make sure that your drop shipper guarantees despatch within 7 days as if not you will not have any seller protection on paypal and you will get more complaints as most people expect to see their goods in a week.

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/seller-non-performance.html

It is really quite difficult to fall below the expected standard, so while you sit out your suspension trawl through your listings and your products and make sure everything is perfect..look particularly at any odd little terms and conditions you might have allowed to creep in and which will generate complaints

shelovestobuystuff

I wish I could trawl through my listings but ebay ended them all and they did not appear in my unsold items section as they are meant to as of March,thats according to ebays own policy.
I have had a few things lost in the post,Royal Mail are a nightmare.But I always keep in touch with my customers and issue refunds or replacements.I had an item take over 5 weeks(I posted about it asking if it was a record) to get from scotland to wales recently and it arrived weeks after the refund was sent.
I state 3 day usual dispatch time and expect item within 7 days but you are right ,people expect instant delivery.
I have been on ebay over 1 year and have 3 negs in total,2 of those were from the same non-paying bidder who didnt respond to unpaid item dispute.There is a new rule coming in from may which would see that feedback removed but I dont know if its for sales after may or if they will backdate the new rule.The other neg was for an item lost in the post and refunded immediately I knew about it,as usual the feedback was the first point of contact from the buyer.

shelovestobuystuff

<DIV>Heres the policy,if it was in force previously I would not be suspended right now.Hope it does get backdated.

Removing negative or neutral Feedback left by a buyer who fails to respond to a UPI

We are building in more flexibility for what happens when a buyer responds to an Unpaid Item dispute (UPI). From May, we will retroactively remove negative or neutral feedback left by buyers who do not respond to the UPI process, or respond but do not specifically call out poor seller performance, item condition or transaction problems.
Thank you for continuing to offer your thoughts and suggestions on the changes we’re introducing to make eBay an even more trusted site, where sellers thrive as buyers shop with even more confidence.
Regards,
The eBay Team

soolin

At the moment feedback left where the buyer does not respond to the dispute is removed automatically, the only changes from May will be that there will be more ways that the buyers feedback can be removed even if they do respond to the dispute.

AS for looking through your auctions I was assuming that you liste dvia a third party like Turbolister or Auctiva where of course the auctions will still be there as Master copies. I shouldn't make assumptions though really, as this proves!

shelovestobuystuff

Thanks,I have e-mailed ebay re the feedback which should have been removed.Hopefully that alone should see me re-instated.