Ina's Podcasts

AuctionBytes Presents
Ecommerce Industry SoundBytes

August 18, 2007

eBay Responds on Seller Non-Performance Policy

Sat Aug 18 2007 12:00:56

eBay Vice-President of Trust and Safety Matt Halprin joins AuctionBytes to talk about the company's recent actions taken to enforce its Seller Non-Performance policy. Matt discusses the role of Neutral feedback ratings and talks about eBay's delay in communicating with users about the seller crackdown. Matt also reveals that eBay's new Detailed Seller Ratings will be used in future enforcement decisions. eBay sellers will want to listen to this podcast to gain a better understanding of eBay's Trust & Safety policies and enforcement. Run time: 31:05

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Readers Comments for: eBay Responds on Seller Non-Performance Policy

Comment left by: Kyla

Sun Aug 19 2007 019:27:07

Thanks for putting this podcast out, it's clear that eBay is biased against sellers and feels their current problems are due to sellers. They seem to have forgotten with nothing to buy there would be no need for a buyer. Matt Halprin said "that's a good question" so many times it's unbelievable as a response to Ina's questions instead of actually giving a real answer to the question asked. eBay seems to be turning into a "seller be ware" system and the buyer is essentially right until proven otherwise with no real provision to educate buyers to do their part - with that attitude and the lack of real answers I think they will see increasing problems, not an improvement of their decreasing market share. I would add that I have 1100+ 100% positive feedback with 75% as a seller.

Comment left by: Helen

Sun Aug 19 2007 12:28:06

It was a very good podcast. However, it still has not been addressed that there are small volume sellers who have been hit with negative feedback from 2 non-paying bidders. One of the bidders has even been suspended. Ebay still will not look at the seller's history nor lift the restriction until their 30 days expire. If a member is suspended from buying it is obvious to me their feedback should not be counted in this valuation as ebay has already determined this was a member not needed in the ebay community. Members have every right to prove payment to ebay in order to have a strike removed. I do believe that non paying bidders as a whole should not be included in the calculation. I believe their ratio of accuracy could be considered as accurate as neutral equates to negative.

Comment left by: Christian Braun

Sun Aug 19 2007 13:04:06

This new initiative is yet again unannounced and drastic. I just looked at our neutral feedback, a good example is "Thanks" from a buyer with one feedback. If eBay wants to look at feedback in a more detailed way it should move to 1-10 scale or similar. Upfront notice to sellers (i.e. one or two months) would also be nice...

Comment left by: Kelly Eberhard

Sun Aug 19 2007 13:24:55

I cant begin to note all the borderline illegal (and over) problems with this new seller non performance policy.
To Start:
It was retroactively applied to a time BEFORE it had been announced and as such was not a part of our legal user agreement.
Buyers who left negative comments who are no longer registered users because of E Bay policy violations are counted in the calculations against good sellers.
Neutrals with very nice comments from newbies who don't know what they are doing and really want to leave a positive comment are counted once you receive 2 Negatives in the 90 day period.
Feedback is supposed to be a voluntary
thing but they are making frightened sellers beg their buyers who have forgotten to leave feedback to do so to help the percentages.

I have dumped my stock for one. I don't want a company who could try to enforce such a poorly thought out, biased towards the high volume seller, completely unfair policy in my portfolio. I want the smart guys.

Comment left by: Jerry

Sun Aug 19 2007 14:04:32

This was a great interview by Ina.

First off, Matt Halprin seemed to plant 100% of all shoppers leaving Ebay as the sellers fault. I did not hear one mention of buyers driving the cost of goods up with bogus claims, giving negative feedbacks with no investment in their eBay account, only to pack their bags and start a new buyer account. I do believe there are bad sellers that need to be sanctioned, but this is an all out assault only against sellers. In my opinion, a very one-sided attack with alot of collateral damage. This will obviously clean up Ebay, but it's like shooting a fire hose at a match. There are some sellers in the background that will end up all wet and cold, leaving Ebay as good sellers. There needs to be some balance.

The other thing is Matt's explanation of neutral feedback got me steamed. A neutral is just that, its a neutral. It means not great, not bad. If your are going to use neutral and view it as a negative experience, than Ebay needs to get rid of it altogether or change the name to something else, like a ''Soft Negative'' . Where the score is not affected but it's still a negative.

Ebay's feedback was such a simple tool in the past that now it's turning into a diluted and inaccurate distraction to doing business.

Finally, I don't think Ebay should be allowed to turn on and off accounts at will without a formal appeal process. One that is monitored by a third party and scrutinized in detail. One that is ACCURATE. There are laws that prevent landlords from evicting tenants from their brick and mortar establishments without a process. This is the 21st century where real estate is virtual and I think the laws need to reflect this. Ebay can devastate a person. I think Ebay needs to be readily available with a LIVE seller hotline for sellers that are affected this. A hotline staffed with knowledgeable employees, that can clearly describe what has happened to the callers account and address all concerns and questions of the seller. It's the least Ebay could do for sellers that have invested huge amounts of time, money and personal sacrafice to build thier businesses.

Comment left by: Greg Hook

Sun Aug 19 2007 15:04:00

Mr Halprins attempt to explain this new policy seemed to lack conviction in some areas. I note the he gave a short and adamat "No" to the impact on Small sellers. I believe he is completely misguided in his view of this question. If what he says is true, then he needs to have a talk with Policy_steve, who has been responding on the discussion boards on eBay. We've seen two different explanations, neither of which makes much sense, and confusion and panic abound with what little we all still know. I am not in danger of being involved in this policy as far as my current sales and feedback are concerned. However, I can see that this policy has some giant holes through which larger sellers can jump in order to avoid restriction or suspension. Smaller sellers do not have these advantages. If the geniuses and the data miners at eBay can't predict these things then perhaps they should address this matter to the community at large, not just Say they did.

Comment left by: Bonnie

Sun Aug 19 2007 15:31:52

I listened to the podcast, shaking my head in disbelief throughout its entirety. While I wholeheartedly agree that bad sellers should be weeded out, this amounts to throwing out the baby with the bath water. I've been a Powerseller for several years now with 99.8% positive FB. My stars are all between 4.8 & 4.9. However, I'm bronze level & therefore still a low volume, small seller. All it will take to get me restricted for a minimum of two weeks is two negs & a neutral within 90 days. Meanwhile, a high volume seller can accrue literally *hundreds* of negs in the same period of time & it's business as usual for them. What's wrong with this picture? I work very hard to maintain consistently good FB & star ratings, provide excellent customer service & deal honestly and fairly with buyers. And yet, if less than a handful of NON PAYING bidders (or other sellers seizing this golden opportunity to use their buying IDs & eliminate some competition for a while) decide to knock me out of my much-needed extra income by leaving bogus & undeserved bad FB.....all my hard work & proven track record of being a GOOD seller counts for nothing. Suddenly I'm in the dreaded 1% of the bottom feeders, right down there with the professional scammers & crooks. How truly motivating! How this inspires me to just knock myself out on eBay & keep shelling out those big fees every month, simultaneously biting my fingernails that somehow I'll manage to squeak through without malicious FB or just one of the occasional fruitcakes that crop up for the BEST of sellers despite our best efforts. Thanks but no thanks. Like so many other sellers, I intend to set up my own website & take it from there. Enough already. I certainly don't advocate being unfair to buyers, but this is so totally UNFAIR to sellers, it's downright ridiculous. This has got to be one of the most ill conceived, poorly thought out & badly executed policies imaginable.

Comment left by: Marie

Sun Aug 19 2007 17:19:02

We may amend this Agreement at any time by posting the amended terms on this Site. Except as stated elsewhere, all amended terms shall automatically be effective 30 days after they are initially posted. Additionally, we will notify you through the eBay Message Center.

Wasn't the policy implemented immediately. Would this be considered breach of contract? Our user agreement clearly states 30 days.

Comment left by: DVD Wholesale

Sun Aug 19 2007 19:08:48

What an idiot. If he believes half of what he said, he is completely out of touch. I never thought I would miss Rob Chestnut.

I agree with Jim Cramer's description of eBay. They are just a bunch of empty suits. As a seller of 8 years, most of my business has already been moved to my own site. I will do everything within my power to move the remaining 32%.

One thing ebay didn't think out, many of us sellers are also buyers. I always search ebay when I need something. NOT ANYMORE. If you can restrict my account with 98.7% feedback, then screw you. I will never buy ANYTHING from ebay again. I would rather pay twice as much locally or go without.

But that said, ebay is run by a bunch of hypocrites. They seem to care about the buyer, but why are they ignoring a large seller like evalueville that has nearly 5% negatives alone!

The problem is these empty suits are trying to figure out why they are loosing ground. Instead of talking to the sellers that pay the bills, the concentrated on buyers. You want growth, get rid of the sellers that are really in the bottom 1% and lower fees.

This guys sucks!

Comment left by: Glenn Corning

Mon Aug 20 2007 020:49:57

The new seller nonperformance policy does fall harder on low volume sellers. Any seller who receives less than 20 feedback in 90 days from new customers only, is at greater risk of restriction or suspension. The lower the number of feedback, the greater the risk. The reason is simple. Using less than 20 feedback in search of a 5% factor (1 in 20) yields an error rate so high that the results are statistically meaningless. Ask any statistician, even 100 feedback would be a small sample for this kind of analysis.
--- An eBay seller whose sales fluctuate between a higher volume and a low one is at even greater risk. The larger the difference in sales, the greater the risk. Once again the reason is simple. Positive feedback tends to be given sooner after a sale than neutral or negative feedback is given.
--- Consider this example. Three unfavorable feedback are received at the end of a group of over 150 positives. Its not a problem at first. A couple of months of low sales volume pass with 100% positive feedback. Now, the same 3 unfavorable feedback have caused the seller's dissaisfaction rate to zoom from less than 2% to over 21%. ---- This happened to me. Now I am restricted to 75% of my very low recent sales volume. My overall eBay feedback score is 99.4%. Am I part of the bottom 1% of eBay sellers? I don't think so.

Comment left by: Patricia

Mon Aug 20 2007 11:58:41

I strongly disagree your new policy on neutrals. If you feel neutrals are the same as negs then play fair and get rid of neutrals altogether! The only neutral I ever got - many many years ago was from a new buyer who simply did not know the rules. She gave me a neutral for a $2.55 brand new in box item because she felt ''a $2.55 item didn't merit praise''!!! Your hamfisted way of dealing out suspensions does not take things like this into consideration and in that you are dead wrong! You deserve a negative for that particular part of your new policy!

That aside, I'm happy to see you finally taking action against bad and unscrupulous sellers - but doing it in an ''automated fashion'' is almost as bad as not doing it at all.

Also, how do you intend to avoid a class action suit when you decide to let feedback and volume of sales decide a seller's place in your listings? Since we all pay the same fees do we not all deserve the same service? If not, why not?

Okay, now we must contend with your star system but again, you slammed sellers hard by making them anonymous. They do not benefit buyer or seller since seller doesn't even know which transaction they apply to and do not know why the buyer rated them the way they did.

Last - do you still consider yourself to be ''only a venue''. Sounds kind of ludicrous now.

Incidentally, I am not a seller with marks on my record. I've been selling on your site for the past 9 years with 100 percent feedback and a total of over 3,000 feedbacks.

Rethink your new policies and make them fair and evenly administered with a touch of the human element for a change! Don't take away seller's means of income simply in an automated fashion! I want to see a fair policy for a change. In being hamfisted and unyielding you only open yourselves up to ridicule and word spreads quickly that ebay is on the rampage once again and that's not good for sellers OR buyers because a LOT of your buyers are also sellers!!!

Comment left by: Jerry

Mon Aug 20 2007 12:14:57

I just got steamed listening to this empty suit because I am so disgusted with the endless changes eBay is making to their site. What sellers need is a stable selling platform. eBay doesn't understand that.

Comment left by: jsicolts

Tue Aug 21 2007 021:45:07

Interesting and kind of sad - I also agree with the comments here. We have 10,000+ Postivies and 1-2 neg/neutrals a month. We are selling MORE product now on other sites like Alibris, Biblio, etc. AND Ebays wacky policy did NOT effect our buying and LISTING on Half.com !'

Comment left by: jsicolts

Tue Aug 21 2007 021:45:28

Comment left by: Bob

Tue Aug 21 2007 021:29:10

Once again eBay runs over its sellers, blaming the end of the world is oming on sellers. eBay's constant policy changes has caused me to just close my store and stop selling on ebay, even with a 99.6 feedback rating. It is just no longer worth it. If ebay would spend as much time educating its buyers as it does making a sellers life miserable, ebay may see an improvement.

Adios ebay tire of the constant bs and blaming everything oon sellers.

Comment left by: Dennis

Tue Aug 21 2007 021:53:07

Back in the late 90's Ebay's system was so fruitful and effective, that many gave up their existing careers to build their livelihood on Ebay.
With the wreckless stunts Ebay has pulled last year and this year, thousands of livelihoods have been destroyed.
Ebay's actions have done harm to the public. When harm is done to the public, it becomes the state and Federal authorities' responsibility to step in and regulate.

Comment left by: Terri

Tue Aug 21 2007 12:03:39

I agree with everything said here.I have been a small seller who just got powerseller statice back again for the 3rd time within my selling of 6 years.I have always felt that Ebay is out to destroy the small seller and keep there high volume sellers who make them the most money.They seem to agree with everything a buyer has to say as I have had to refund 2 buyers money for no fault of my own(Items damaged during shipment and THEY did not buy insurance because they were too cheap to protect there breakable items!)I spend my profits to buy packing peanuts and bubble wrap and most buyers don not understand we sellers have high costs to provide them with our service of bring them unique items.Thank heaven for repeat customers who do value our time and money spent.Ebay I feel has robbed me of my money along with the higher fees that PayPal now takes to pay for there salaries.Both of these CEO's are getting richer while Ebay is trying to intice sellers to spend more money using galleries and other items to raise our costs of listing but what do we sellers get back for our money for doing so?Poor customer service-Loss in profits-Bad feedbacks or nuetrals by buyers who don't know what they are doing-Headaches when ebay condemms us sellers for making them money to pay there bills and not our own.I have about had it with Ebay and there nonsense as I am finding it not as much fun to help put food on our table for my children so we don't have to go onto food stamps as we did a few years ago.After the high costs of fees,I am just about able to buy a few groceries for my family or buy the higher costs of gas to go to the post office-fed-ex and other errands we sellers must do for our customers.Ebay needs a huge wake-up call and broght down to our level from one of the other auction site who treats the sellers with more repect and values them as Ebay has not done to us.

Comment left by: jim

Tue Aug 21 2007 15:46:18

Hi god well that what i used to think you were until around 10 days ago. I was a power seller on ebay until tuesday week ago. Ebay was my life i left my fulltime job 2 years ago and in 8 mths became a powerseller. I had two ebay accounts the other one for my family to buy and sell from and my powerseller 99.8% feedback which was my job. because my family user had two nuetrl and a negative you guys suspended both accounts bacause of this new policy without any warning it took me 4 days to get an answer why. on the day you suspended me an indian guy from ebay rang me to tell me my powerseller id was suspended when i asked him why he said oh i cant tell you that you will have to talk to trust and safety. What a laught trust there is none. I cant believe you are allowed to rip a persons life from underneath them and destroy them.We had just purchased a commercial property and settlement is this friday all for the ebay business. Now i will loose the lot. You have destroyed mylife both emotionally and financially. But besides me all the customers who had purchased items from me for i have no access to my sold items which means since last week i have been unable to send out any items for i have no access to my manager pro so i have no idea who has paid for what. This has not just put a poor taste in my mouth it has affected about 50 people. At present i am speaking with the state government for this is unfair dismisal i will be taking this matter further

Comment left by: biglar

Tue Aug 21 2007 16:36:02

How about the seller bargainland. Overall 90.4%, in the last month 94.4% positive, in the last 6 months 94.3%. Sounds like the crackdown only applies to small sellers

Comment left by: Bre Robert

Tue Aug 21 2007 16:36:02

It is really a pathetic and sad issue when a company's officer discusses subjects that they know so very little about. I think this is very obvious, from the comments he makes and his references used.

Let's face it folks.. eBay is no longer an Auction Site. It is a shopping network that has no respect for the Sellers.

eBay's concern is selling advertisements so that when I search eBay to buy a seller product, I am lead away by the links to Amazon, and other online shopping networks.

Why would eBay, list a comparative of all similar products to beat the price lower and lower?

Now a policy of 'Seller Non-Performance' pops up just like a 'popup' on your computer.. And, you can't get rid of it.

It is time to give up on eBay.. I sell more on my Internet Sites than I sell on eBay..

I have always, let me say this again, ALWAYS, been frustrated in eBay's policy that allows newbie's (and even those that become unregistered) with a feedback of 5 or less with a rating of 75% to be allowed to leave any kind of feedback! Why don't buyers have to pay their dues and earn feedback of 10+ before they can even be allowed to give feedback?

How many idiots know this and buy, then don't pay, take the product listing off the board and then leave the negative feedback just for the evil of the thought? Or even a few competitors at that!

Once again, folks (sellers) eBay is not what it first was! It is a simple shopping network that adverts other shopping networks.

Their policies, practices, rules, feedback and all transactions are bogus and make believe.

Their objective might simply be to provide the venue for Hollywood to auction off celebs clothes, jewelry, homes and cannot and does not want to be concerned about sellers who are listing auctions for less than 2 or 3 million each time.

If you want to earn money online, you won't find the success at eBay.

Try your own online Internet website with the same type of items and list them for free on Craiglist. Simply put your link to your page (url) and I believe you will earn a higher income without all of the bogus policies speeches.

It is time to put eBay back on your 'back off' priority considerations.

How they can create policies and then make their communication lines unreachable are a mystery to me. How they can get away with this and so many other unacceptable procedures practiced by a public company.. remains one of my biggest wonders???

I will not be sad to see eBay get what they themselves dish out.

What goes around comes around.. eBay will feel the presence for their lack in consideration to their sellers. Their sellers who made them the big company they are today.

Go for the Internet Sales... Best Wishes to all Sellers on eBay.. However, all hope is lost... if you remain where officers create policies that are special to their needs and not to those of the overall company community. br

Comment left by: Art

Tue Aug 21 2007 16:45:53

These people don't have a clue. Like the stock guy on the TV says, a bunch of empty suits. They spout the same garbage over and over. I'd be willing to bet that not a single one of them has ever made their living selling on EBay. Yes there are bad sellers out there, but I don't see them disappearing. This solution is more likely to impact good sellers than the bad ones. I know of one of my competitors who constantly switches his ebay account name. When he has accumulated too many negs on one account, he moves to a new name, I think he starts to build a new one while using the old one.
I have reported numerous listings for flagrant violations, like selling a featherweight product for $0.99 then charging $19.99 to ship it, when you know it could be sent Priority for $4.60. THAT is clear fee avoidance and unfair to other sellers, but those posts never seem to get removed by EBay.
This new rating thing, being totally anonymous, seems totally arbitrary. Heck, I don't know what number I got from who, or why.
And these suits don't seem to understand that customers can be crackpots. Just got a neutral from a buyer who was mad that he only got one mirror. My description clearly, IN CAPITALS, stated the picture is of 2 to show detail, but you are only bidding on 1 single mirror. He was mad that he didn't read my description, so he posted a neutral. I had a customer who failed to go collect his package from the post office when they told him it was there. So they sent it back to me. He insisted that I had to cover the cost of sending it to him again. I decided to do so, but he was a potential negative through no fault of my own. A lot of us small fry depend on this outlet (of course I am working on moving more of my sales to other auction sites and to my own web site). And lest you think I am a problematic seller, I am a Bronze Powerseller with a 100% positive over 3,000 feedbacks. (Well there is a negative from an idiot over nothing from back before when you could get a negative removed.) EBay, get some people on staff that know a little more about the selling end of this process. Quit letting the MBAs run the place.....

Comment left by: Another Wronged Seller

Wed Aug 22 2007 022:30:45

I find it interesting that the posters here seem to have a much better grasp of the realities of this SNP than their VP of Trust and Safety.

I am no expert in data mining but I would be interested in seeing the raw data that they are basing this 1% of sellers =35% problems assertion.

GIGO - Garbage In, Garbage Out.

What result were they looking for when they initiated this data mining? If they were looking for a reason to crack down on sellers perhaps the results are a bit skewed to get the results they were looking for? I suspect they were looking for someone to blame for their weak stock price, eroding sell through percentages, lower final sale prices and a myriad of other problems ebay has. Unfortunately, sellers seem to be the scapegoat here including a lot of innocent ones.

Regarding his take on the use of neutral feedback... His contention that neutrals represent buyer dissatisfaction in most cases is ludicrous. You could argue that it might be a soft positive far more easily then it represents deep buyer dissatisfaction. My experience tells me that neutrals (in most cases) mean the buyer is generally satisfied. Perhaps not jumping up and down with ecstasy but satisfied. If they were truly unhappy they would have left a negative. Weighting neutrals to the negative side makes little sense when you can't determine for sure if the poster is definitely leaning satisfied or not with a neutral on a transaction.

Ebay needs to do a much better job of educating buyers on when negs and neutrals are warrented. Where is the sanction on a newbie who permenantly damages a sellers reputation and perhaps gets him suspended because he didn't know which feedback was appropriate? If buyers had been educated that leaving a neutral could mean getting that seller suspended, would so many have been left? I believe until they explain the ramifications of what their feedbacks REALLY mean (in the ebay dictionary) then it is irresponsible to base a policy like this on such unreliable data.

Better more accurate feedbacks from the buyers will translate into a better picture of what sellers really need to be sanctioned. Don't just throw a dart at the wall hoping to hit the right ones!!!

Comment left by: Silver PowerSeller

Wed Aug 22 2007 15:25:41

I operate both an ebay store and an online store. I ship the exact way, handle product at the same speed, offer the same quality and great customer service. I find it interesting that I never have an issues on my online store that I do through eBay. First off I have to say 99% of my buyers are awesome and I appreciate their busines. It's the 1% that messes it up. The problem is these eBay buyers almost always have the same online personally. Very demanding, trigger happy and most always are new (less than 20 feedbacks). They have no investment in their account and know that they have sellers by thier puppet strings. Ebay does not mention anything about these type of shoppers as being the reason why more buyers are not shopping eBay. I bet if ebay conducted a new type of analysis about bad buyers they may come up with some of the same conclusions as their last survey. I bet you will also find that most sellers will succumb to their demands even when you know they are working you. If you try to use the tools Ebay gives you for unpaid item strikes, you risk a negative retailatory feedback. You can pull numbers from any metrics and draw a conclusion, but when you don't look at the whole picture all you get is a very lopsided distorted view of the marketplace. I currently do not have anything to worry about on Ebay. At 99.9% 6,000 postives and great stars, I think I am safe for the moment. I just don't like the automated filtering system without a full review of a sellers account.

I set up an Amazon auction account last night and was very pleased to note that Amazons computer calls you up to verify your account and you must enter your PIN number to activate it. I always thought it was too easy to set up an account on Ebay. There needs to be better verification. Maybe a phone call, or address verification by physical mailing. I don't think buyers should be able to start multiple accounts and if so, their feedback should follow them. I think if very accurate filtering can be achieved by weeding out the true bad sellers and true bad buyers, then you might see a more vibrant shopping marketplace a year from now. I am pessimistic and will predict that the marketplace will continue down the trend its on with these new initiatives.

I personally run my store with great price, but I feel abondoned by Ebay should I ever need them to assist me.

Silver Powerseller

Comment left by: Silver PowerSeller

Wed Aug 22 2007 15:39:09

Oh and by the way. Ebay needs to change the name of the neutral feedback to something else. Maybe they should change the name to "flip a coin" Heads positive, Tails negative or maybe Ms. Cleo, since Ebay is going to start using it's psychic ability to read shoppers minds.

I even questioned my own interpretation of a neutral to the point where I went to dictionary.com to look up the word. It was pretty much black and white to me. A neutral is the gray in the middle.

Gimme a break!

Comment left by: auctionwally

Wed Aug 22 2007 23:06:49

Man, I don't know. It sound like a lot of bull to me. It sounds like eBay is trying to take the heat off of eBay but not doing anything for it's sellers.
For example, when asked about why eBay couldn't better address unfair feedback given to sellers, Matt danced around the issue.
In fact, I hate to bash, but the guy couldn't really answer any questions to my satisfaction, I got the feeling I was listening to the fall guy for a Politician. I'm an 8 year eBayer and a Powerseller. I was at one time the biggest advocate of eBay. But it just seems they really don't want to listen to sellers.
I've contacted Trust and Safety numerous times with very detailed information and I got a canned response thanking me for my input for a totally unrelated issue.
Geez, they've got the money to hire the help. Can't they be a little more responsive?
And Matt, not to be cruel, but if I were you, I wouldn't do anymore interviews until your a bit more prepared. Either eBay didn't supply you with concrete answers to some pretty obvious questions, or just didn't know the material.
...now watch me get kicked off of eBay.

Comment left by: diddlysquat

Mon Aug 27 2007 027:31:54

I think that since this Feedback 2.0 has come in, the number of negs and neutrals has gone up. It may be competitors trying to blast me but at any rate, it is very unfair!

Check this neutral comment:
Found identical earrings at Wal-Mart yesterday 4 much less. Transaction went OK.

Now who's fault is that? Not mine! A buyer should do their pricing before bidding. (If the comment was even true)

But I am sure that eBay is going to hold it against me.

I called eBay today and talked to them about this policy and my account manager didn't even know about the policy. I had to direct him to the information about it. HELLO!

There should be a rating system that a seller can use to rate their buyer also. And this rating system should lead to disciplinary actions for buyers that reach a certain amount of neg / neutral comments.

A one sided system is set to fail.

I spend thousands of dollars in fees each month and I feel that eBay owes me more than a bunch of threats of suspension and etc... They should not be biting the hands that feed them.

Now they are topping it off with warnings about shipping prices set by sellers. (A banner comes up sometimes before the final click to post an item)

What they are doing here is trying to force sellers to add their shipping prices to the item (gives eBay a bigger piece of the pie and the seller is out a portion of their shipping fees). I have seen many sellers change their shipping to be free since this feedback 2.0.

I am building my own website and when it is complete- bye bye eBay!

Comment left by: eBay teacher

Wed Aug 29 2007 029:10:50

I'm appalled at the Seller Non-performance Policy.

Wonder why this wasn't announced to us at eBay Live Boston? At the feedback class at Live, not many people were allowed to speak out against the newly imposed DSR's- they ran out of time when the pressure on them was turned up.

I don't even want to list anymore let along teach my October eBay class. Makes no sense to bring any more sellers to a community in which they are so looked down upon.

Seller for 5 years, 99.9 fb

Comment left by: David White

Thu Aug 30 2007 10:55:07

As a radio talk show host of a live call in radio program on eBay and internet marketing, I have received several comments regarding the SNP policy. None of these comments are good. Many listeners have voiced deep concerns regarding the manner and secrecy surrounding the implementation of this policy, and the extremely vague process eBay uses to determine who is suspended or restricted. I have requested comment from eBay at least twice without response. Lacking a response from eBay, I and my listeners are left with the impression that eBay does not wish to discuss the process they have unilaterally implemented, leaving those affected absolutely no real recourse. The steps outlined in the ''appeals'' process are archaic and antiquated, and virtually ineffective. In my mind the actions of suspension or restriction are nothing less than an absolute judgement of guilt by eBay without due process. Let me say, that I believe there needs to be oversight and action by eBay for Non Performing Sellers. It is one way to police the site to ensure a pleasurable experience for all. However, if eBay is going to act as judge and jury, they MUST offer recourse. There must be direct person to person contact. Yes this means the dreaded TELEPHONE contact. There MUST be contact BEFORE the judgement is carried out! If the basic concept of the site remains #1. We believe people are basically good, and #3. We believe that an honest, open environment can bring out the best in people, then eBay must rescind this policy until they can implement it in an open and FAIR way.

Comment left by: Pat Pitcher

Fri Aug 31 2007 10:20:55

I have been selling on ebay for 9 years and usually have PS status - during the summer I back off selling much so it comes and goes. I must say that I'm thoroughly disgusted with this continuing attack on sellers in an effort to divert attention from the core problems of ebay. I have not seen this new policy do anything to clean up the numerous true ''problem'' sellers who have hundreds of negatives for real issues like - doesn't work, not as described, not delivered, and so on. these big guys can get away with just about anything - always have and always will. They pay too much in fees - many also get special treatment in other ways. Keyword spam and other rule infractions don't get their auctions pulled no matter how often they are reported. I have had 9 negs (I think)in 9 years and every one was from a NPB. It is ridiculous that these potentially have any impact my selling status. Neutrals are also problematic. The are generally for things over which I have no control - delivery time and postage charges. I will not subsidize the postage and I don't work for the post office or customs department so I can't get the package there any faster or cheaper. It is what it is - some buyers just like to bitch and bind and will do so no matter what. Ebay needs to put some controls, possibly verification upon registration, on all new members. I'm fed up with sellers constantly being the whipping boy for everything that is wrong with ebay. The constant changes to the site and never ending tinkering with search and ever increasing complexity of doing or finding anything likely has much more to do with buyer dissatisfaction than anything else. By all means, get rid of shoddy sellers, dishonest sellers, sellers of fakes etc, but don't use a sledge hammer to do the job when a tack hammer would do!

Comment left by: CaryW

Fri Aug 31 2007 19:25:39

Shame on you Ebay!!! What are you really trying to achieve with this Newest Bad Policy? Who in their right mind thought this was a good idea? What everyone over at Ebay needs to do is: #1 Get rid of the New Star Rating System or let everyone see who's leaving the ratings. #2 Affective Immediately, Implement a New Buyer Non-Performance Policy or a Feedback Rating system on buyers, one that is Exact in Every single way to the Seller policy. #3 Fire the MBA Meat-head's who keep coming up with this Garbage!!! #4 If Meg can't get a handle on all this, she needs to go. #5 Lower the darn seller fees.
#6 Make it Mandatory that every single employee must have been both a Buyer and Seller with at least 50 feedback's for each , and be in good standing, or you Don't get the job.
I'm sorry to say that I can only really see one good reason for Ebay pulling this crap, to get rid of all the Little Sellers and let the Monster Sellers (who everyone can plainly see are some of the Very Worst Violators when it comes to policy, But who Pay HUGE Seller Fees)...Run Wild,and do whatever they want.. All their doing is turning it into the Mother of all Wal-Mart stores anyway. I'll sell only as long as I have to, and then I'm gone!! As a Seller and as a BUYER! SHAME ON YOU, for Destroying Ebay.

Comment left by: trevor

Sat Sept 1 2007 01:26:54

In UK we have a number of laws to protect consumers (private sellers)
For a cost of £40 you can take bay UK to county courts for ''lack of due care and dilligence in performance of duties '' Suggest you try it Ebay will probably settle out of court may reinstate

Comment left by: Rhoades

Sat Sept 1 2007 13:06:04

Why does eBay hold sellers accountable, when they don't hold buyers to the same standard. A perfect example is the feedback this buyer leaves frequently for his transactions. If Ebay wants to be fair, they should take the actions of buyers too in account. The link will show you clear abuse of the feedback system http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&ftab=FeedbackLeftForOthers&userid=wally513113&iid=-1&de=off&items=25&page=19

Comment left by: jsicolts

Thu Sept 6 2007 06:24:31

This right wing ebay email was received by us yesterday :
Dear jsicolts (jiavaro1@nycap.rr.com),

In order to maintain a safe trading environment, eBay may place selling limits on individual accounts. Your eBay account had been restricted per our Seller Non-Performance policy. We are pleased to inform you that you have successfully made the required improvements and your listings will no longer be restricted.

This restriction had been placed on your account because our records had shown that you generated greater than 5 percent buyer dissatisfaction based on negative/neutral feedback and Item Not Received complaints over the previous 90 days. eBay requires sellers to maintain minimum standards in buyer satisfaction. Our goal is to ensure that the marketplace is a safe and reputable place for our community to buy and sell.

What led to the restriction?

- Based on negative/neutral feedback and Item Not Received complaints over a 90 day period, your level of performance resulted in greater than 5 percent buyer dissatisfaction.
- Buyer dissatisfaction may be caused by:
- Item not received
- Item significantly not as described
- Item shipped late or packaged poorly
- Inadequate communication with buyer throughout the transaction
- As a result, your allowable GMV had been reduced to 75 percent of your previous 90 day completed sales.

What happens next?
Your account is no longer restricted; however eBay will continue to evaluate your account on a regular basis. Restrictions will be re-imposed if your customer dissatisfaction rate is again above 5 percent. By following the practices outlined below, we hope that you will improve your buyer satisfaction so that no further action will need to be taken. Please note that further restrictions may result in the suspension of your account(s).

What can you do to help avoid restrictions in the future?

- File Unpaid Item claims for transactions that received no payment. To do so copy the following URL into a web browser and follow the instructions provided on that page:
http://rebulk.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?CreateDispute&CreateDispute=&guest=1
- Settle open issues with your buyers. You can access disputes in the Dispute Console from My eBay.
- To better understand buyer concerns and how to partner with your buyers in order to resolve open issues you can do the following:
- View emails sent from eBay in My Messages
- See all open disputes in the Dispute Console
- Learn more about the Item Not Received or Significantly Not as Described Process by visiting our site at the following URL:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/tp/inr-snad-process.html
- Learn more about Mutual Feedback Withdrawal by visiting our site at the following URL:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/feedback/questions/mutual-withdrawal.html
- Describe your item’s condition clearly and accurately
- Show multiple original pictures of the item
- Package the item to ensure its safe delivery
- Clearly state shipping times to manage buyer expectations
- Proactively communicate with your buyers upon winning an auction, receipt of payment and shipment
- Reply to email and voicemail promptly and professionally

For more information about our Seller Non-Performance policy, please visit: http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/seller-non-performance.html.

If you require assistance with this matter, please contact Customer Support by replying to this message.

Thank you for your cooperation in this important matter.

Regards,
Customer Support (Trust and Safety Department)
eBay Inc

This is our response :
Topics

Message: We changed NOTHING. You should be ashamed of yourself. We send out orders with 1-2 days. The POSTAL SERVICE is the culpirit for delays and non delivery not us.
We did learn, however, there are alot of better selling sites than ebay. We will tell everyone and evry customer we have from now on what nonsense you pull on your sellers.
Sincerely,
jsicolts

Comment left by: vuong nguyen

Fri Sept 7 2007 07:29:33

I was suspended from ebay for SNP.

It was unfair. After 38 days from a reinstatement of my seller account, I was tacked with a SNP.

The 90 days span for the SNP overlaps with the period right after I was reinstated and during my suspension. There were weeks within the 90 days that I did received any feedbacks. Therefore, from my calculatin, I was tacked with a SNP not for the entire 90 days but only around 36 days.

Not fair. I tried to explain it to T&S but I am "forever" suspended. The sad part is that I am linked to at least 3 or 4 other Powersellers.

Comment left by: cassiano gomes

Fri Sept 7 2007 20:57:23

I was suspended after 6 years working only one ebay . Me and My wife lost both account because 3 negatives . One was fair , but I refunded . Another was because the customer did not like and regret and want a refund . Another , this guy came and want cause a damage . He bought 3 same guitars valued in 999 usd , left negative with 7 days . I mark unpaid , he denied he won . Ebay SNP me and my wife . NO job , no web site . We are fuc^%^* ed

I cannot see my life worse from now own . I am 100 % sure that life will give me another way less painfull more reliable .

I think I will set a new site ..www.exebayseller.com

they shooting their own feet

Comment left by: cassiano gomes

Fri Sept 7 2007 21:05:16

If any one is courious about what was our ebay ids ( 6 years seller ) , was hammocksbrazil ( 720) and brazildirectly ( 230) I think everybody should post your ebay id . I bet Mister Matt Halprin Might be courious about who are this people ?

here what ebay wrote me :
Dear Cassiano,

As was noted in our previous email, access to your account has been
restricted indefinitely for repeated violations of the eBay Seller
Non-Performance policy. As a result, you can no longer use this account
to buy or sell on eBay.

You were given a 30-day period of limited account access in order to
fulfill your obligations to your buyers. However, because this period
has ended without a substantial improvement in your account standing,
your account is now fully restricted from all use.

Our top priority is to ensure that eBay remains a safe and reputable
place to buy and sell. We don't permit members to continue selling on
eBay if they repeatedly fail to complete transactions.

Comment left by: Donna

Sat Sept 8 2007 08:13:14

So, has anyone found a lawyer who's willing to start a class action suit against eBay for this heckuva mess? I've even received veiled threats from eBay for trying to appeal this restriction on my account...told that writing to them again "will not do (me) any good." If I could just get one response that actually answered the issues I raised, I'd be happy. Hasn't happened yet.

Comment left by: Brent

Sat Sept 8 2007 14:44:09

This thing is crazy. I've got several accounts. One was just hit with a SNP over a month ago. I was able to finally get it reinstated.

If you want to see this policy change, stop writing on the message boards and start writing to the top investors of ebay. Here is a list of the real owners of ebay that have BILLIONS invested.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/mh?s=EBAY

If 100 people will send a letter to everyone on this list, explain what is going on, give your user ids, copies of emails, etc, this thing will go away by next week. PROMISE!

Funny thing is ebay has been calling me to ask me what they can do to help me sell more! They've also launched some new program to refer new sellers to the site. What a bunch of idiots.

Comment left by: cassiano gomes

Sat Sept 8 2007 21:23:55

Dear Cassiano,

Thank you for writing in to eBay in regard to your account status.

After further review of your account the decision has been made to
discontinue all appeals. At this time, your account will remain
suspended indefinitely.

Furthermore, you are hereby on notice that you are not authorized to
access or use our systems or web site in any way. Individuals who,
contrary to eBay's direction, register or use eBay after being suspended
from the service may be prosecuted under California Penal Code 502 , or
Title 18, United States Code, Section 1030 for their unauthorized
intrusion into our system. eBay will refer efforts by previously
suspended users to circumvent its registration processes to law
enforcement.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
Hakeem

SHOULD I BE SAD OR HAPPY?
ALL THAT TIME , MONEY AND INVESTIMENT
PRAISE , COMMENTS TO FRIENDS , CUSTOMERS THAT BECAME FRIENDS , NIGHT AND DAYS WORKING FOR A JOB THAT KICK ME OUT FOR
3 STUPID SELLERS AND SLOW SALES (90 DAYS PERIODS ) I AM A 1%

THANKS FOR ALL EBAY . YOU SOON WILL GET IT BACK
HAMMOCKSBRAZIL(720) AND BRAZILDIRECTLY( 230)
MY BOOK WILL BE READY SEPTEMBER 20
ERA EBAY - PORTUGUESE VERTION
SOON WWW.HAMMOCKSBRAZIL.COM
AND WWW.EXEBAYSELLER.COM

THANKS GUYS
CASS AND FAMILY

Comment left by: cassiano gomes

Sat Sept 8 2007 21:27:06

PS: stupid buyers ( I was a stupid ebay seller )

Comment left by: Silver PowerSeller

Sun Sept 9 2007 18:26:43

Cassiano gomes. I really don't see your argument. I visited your user id's and it's obvious that your customers are being taken for a ride.

And to everyone else. I was hot and cold on this issue. I definately back the principle, just not the delivery. After looking at some of the posters on this board that got the boot, I feel better about not being suspended. Ebay is axing some of the most careless, shady and irresponsible sellers. Some of these people appear to be profititing off their fine print, while others just don't get it. I hope the sellers that are wrongly targeted get their businesses back up and running.

If sellers like Cassiano gomes are no longer selling on Ebay, then I think both buyers and sellers have something to celebrate.

On the same note, if eBays goals are successful, I believe the customer service aspect of sellers will improve dramatically sitewide, just for the fact that you're monitored based on the whole. If the whole is improving and you're not, then your part of the food chain. With eBays new filters, the bottom 2% is always moving up. With this theory, you can expect unheard of customer service in about a year as the bar raises. Could see some new customer service tools and software emerge from this . Now every seller is your competition.

Comment left by: cassiano gomes

Mon Sept 10 2007 010:51:53

I take care of my customers and always deliver my goods. My problem is that my items are based in Brasil and we have a trash mail service ( brazilian mail service) . I had to start to use UPS paying large amount of money to have my goods delivered in 5 days and pray to then not damage ( that happen often). But my problem was not only the delivery . My problem was 3 unfair negatives in less than 90 days .

If someone ( your oponent ) take 3 ebay ids and purchase and left 3 negative, you will experiment the new ebay venomouns .

I glad that ebay is cleaning the house as well . But believe me '' You cannot count and base your business with the fear that one day you can be kick out and shut down for unfair negatives'' . One of the negative was even an retaliation and they just don't want to accept. So ebay team is not only taking off an ebay seller , but a food off the table of my family .

But I find a new way to get my money back from ebay . And I will move my store off ebay and will survive . Stick with your ebay store and pray every day ...

Comment left by: jsicolts

Tue Sept 11 2007 011:02:22

We too were affected by Ebay's malfeasance and heavy handed right-wing tactics.
What we did was SELL MORE on other sites, Biblio, Alibris, and even eBay' ugly sister Half.com ~ were THEIR listing restrictions are not in force.
We hate eBay & found other, better selling sites.

Comment left by: Bonnie Hamilton

Fri Sept 14 2007 11:00:36

I have been restrictited through no fault of my own!
PLEASE HELP!

This negative was decided in my favor (with Paypal) and after 2 months I still refunded his money, but he retaliated with a negative, because I did not refund his money back, it cost him to send the painting back to me.

!!!! ATTENTION!!!! Vend objet faux et n'assume pas tous les frais de retour. Buyer:
alain3820 ( 233) Jul-16-07 12:08
Reply by bonnietiques (Jul-16-07 18:51):What is this? I refunded his money even when paypal decided in my favor?WAS REAL
Quai Des Paquis, Geneva painting Original? NR (#260106754834) US $399.00

This was a negative, a winning bidder left, I never heard of until the day after her money was due. I emailed her 3 times. Sent a past due reminder, so I went ahead and sold it to the 2nd highest bidder. I refunded her money via paypal immediately.

FRAUD FRAUD FRAUD!!!! NEVER CONTACTED ME ONCE! LIAR LIAR! FRAUD! Buyer:
1sunset_blvd1 (private) Jul-23-07 11:31
Reply by bonnietiques (Jul-24-07 18:57):Sent 5 emails without a word back!10 days 2nd highest bidder wins! You're OUT!!
Follow-up by 1sunset_blvd1 (Aug-01-07 21:30):What A PURE LIAR!!!!!! I Paid & YOU KNOW IT!! BEWARE!!! FRAUD FRAUD FRAUD!!!!!
20'' AMER CHAR BABY DOLL DOUBLE JOINTED (#260136692542)

This negative is being investigated by paypal. I sent her package with delivery confirmation to her home address listed on her paypal acct. and she said, she never got it. She had moved and not changed her address, and I did not read the bottom of her email saying to send it to another. I have been to the Post Office and they said, the package would get to her in another week or so, as she did leave a return address.
I have provided paypal with all the info. I opened the case, because OF HER NEGATIVE.

I would like a full refund of 87.80,, I never received my product. Buyer:
marthaw7067 ( 916) Sep-01-07 09:04 Lot of 219 pieces of Nice Vintage Jewelry (#260148553495) US $75.00

Now my account is on restriction and I can not list ANY ITEMS due to negative reports that were not my fault.
I HAVE EMAILED EVERY DEPT. WITH NO ASISSTANCE! PLEASE can somebody, due justice for the HONEST EBAY MEMBERS, WHO FOLLOW THE RULES, AND GET LEFT HOLDING THE BAG!

All I ask is somebody just look these up and see what happened, and make things right! None of these were due to my fault. Paypal said, I should have never gotten the first one. Ebay TOLD ME THE SAME THING, ON Live help. Jesse R. and also the Power Seller Live help, Alexander K. I am emailing you, as I was told you are now, the only one that can help me. There is no where else to go! Bonnie L. Hamilton
Bonnietiques

My question is, why am I being punished for other people's actions. Three negatives, that I have been told by customer service Live help, I should have never gotten and also from the Power Sellers live help .
The feedback evidently is not going to be removed, but why am I on restriction? They give me no answer? Does anyone know how to get back in good graces with these people?

Comment left by: Platinum Powerseller

Wed Oct 3 2007 22:16:48

What a ridiculous arbitrary, no recourse, heavy fisted policy. It is because ebay and paypal are the same and only game. Member since 1999. I buy what I sell on ebay. My fees for this month are 4,500. I always wait till the last week to quit buying and bulidup funds to pay fees with. All of a sudden I am a bottom feeding 1% eaby seller and cannot sell to make my ebay fee payment. In July I had email and internet issues and 2 negatives and a neutral later I am F***cked. There was a non receipt for an item left on a Monday after auction was won three days before on Friday (there are some crackpots for sure) My overall is 99.1 which is not the best but almost impossible to maintain because we sell only high priced USED electronics which are a lot harder to support than selling new items (especially after being thrown around by overworked shippers). We refund and take the blame every day for buyers not reading ads or understanding what they are getting even though we beg them to read the ad before buying and understand what it is you are purchasing. We are subject to paypal jacking our account everytime someone sneezes and then holding the money forever while the appeals drag out forever. We have no recourse, no say and are in morbid fear our only livlihood is at the hands of a new buyer, vengeful competitor, or an arbitrary computer program that is ill conceived and designed by aloof policymakers that do not buy and sell on ebay (what MBA wants to be compared to the idiot buyers on the new ebay ads). I used to love ebay. Now they are lower on my list than the IRS. I do not know if I can migrate off ebay before I and my wife, five children are on the street. Here is what is happening. Ebay must continue to expand and the small to medium sellers that made this possible are not exploitable enough and now they are slowing ebays new business model and will be squeezed out eventually. I average BUYING 30,000 dollars worth of items off ebay to sell on ebay each and every month but that is not enough to get special treatment (no one should get preferential treatment). Never have I seen a company run so roughshod over its most loyal users. Guess Uncle Sam will have to step in and stop ebay or help me survive on welfare as I am disabled in a chair and ebay WAS perfect for me. The level playing field was tilted mightily by ebay/pals huge goose stepping foot to the fat cats who can handle all the lame buyers with ebays help. No due process period? WHAT THE HELL IS THAT FOR GODS SAKE! How unamerican are these policies...I am so frustrated I could puke. Could go on forever about their (ebay and paypal abuses) but I am going to go and try and get my ass moving in another direction before I am STOMPED FLAT.

Comment left by: R Badger

Tue Oct 9 2007 21:03:25

As a former seller I can tell you that this feedback “extortion" (waiting for feedback before I left feedback) was the only bone I had as a seller. I have had buyers, 4 months after I shipped, tell me they did not get the item...they waited 4 months to tell me & I had already left + feedback. As I have done many times I refunded in full, losing all my fees and making it impossible to have the commission refunded. This was a >$100 item. I have never understood why the buyer had to pay for insurance. Items over $50 I took out insurance, under $50 I self insured. If the item goes astray the buyer wants the refund right away, meanwhile the PO takes months to decide. If the item is broken during shipping the PO will say I did not pack it right; I still am going to refund the buyer. If the item is broken the buyer has to fill out the PO form for the refund. After I have mailed their refund out of my pocket, they are to busy to file and so I get stuck. People also will tell me after receiving the item, that this isn't really what they wanted, so I refund; sometimes it gets lost in the mail when they send it back…after they have their refund. For the most part people are incredibly honest, but you always have a few ringers and it seemed like it was the cost of doing business. As more people became sellers the market became tighter and there was a decline in return on investment but EBay without fail raised fees. Selling political memorabilia, rare books & papers, stamps, or coins and you have experts from the respective associations looking over your shoulder and rendering their opinions on whether it is a plate 4 or1 variation with the difference being a $1. If I guess wrong I lose customers, fees. What is really interesting is to go to some of these clubs meetings (what can I say I like going from room to room in a hotel buying Socialist presidential candidates pinbacks) only to hear an expert tell about how the price was driven down online so they got a steal. When I asked EBay if I had a question on an item could I submit the item for review before posting, they said nope we are not that kind of business. So if I make a mistake and the item is worth a 1000X what I list and the buyer snags it at a bargain I lose; but if the item I have is worth less than what I think it is I get to lose again. I am very, very conservative in grading; I want people to be pleased with what they won. Now, I not only have to pass muster with my customer, but EBay and then an expert as well. When EBay first started years ago it was a real treasure hunt, crushing the business of the local antique shops. EBay is just a business now. Recently EBay instituted the secret star feedback system one in which I am graded in 5 areas by my customers and after receiving 10 reviews I am graded, it only takes 1 bad mark to really bring you down and this is especially true if you are not selling a lot of items. One would think that seller would have the same benefit, no way. Arguing that it is secret and fair is to no avail. Systems were no one knows who left what is a good system, right? Not for me I am told. Wait a minute EBay; I am paying the bill I am taking the photos, writing the descriptions why am I left out? Digging at auctions, ads, book sales, antique shops, flea markets, tag sales to find one of a kind, really interesting items. Following up I researched my stuff and gave a ton of history and meaning to the item I was selling. Being more than generous I put it all in the description. Some of the information took months to put together but I thought it was really cool to share with someone who could appreciate it (sometimes a buyer, others just interested)afterwards if they had more questions I went out of my way to help them. When it came time to pack it, I bombed proofed it always losing money doing so. I would go out on Sunday to the local motorcycle dealer to get really prime shipping containers out of the dumpsters. Here I am an old guy looking through the dumpster with my cane, then having to explain to an incredulous policeman why the packages were so good. I ALWAzYS lost money on shipping, people just have no understanding how expensive and time consuming it is to ship. As a final note of irony, people always give you less than perfect marks for shipping, I mean always. I mistakenly thought those who bought from me were my customers not EBay’s, wrong. This all falls on deaf ears. I warned EBay that I had a better return and found it easier to sell through the Stamp Society, Political, and Rare Book, or what ever society. EBay said go ahead so I did. EBay took all the fun out of it, charged me more and more and left me with fewer services. I told them that it needed to change or I was going to quit...I left.

Comment left by: pissedoffseller

Tue Oct 16 2007 11:15:55

yeah that guy said nothing .. nothing worth listening to. he kept repeating him self.. " hmm thats a hard question... blah blah blah" oh well... I understand what they are trying to do.. but i think it goes allot further than crunching some numbers and saying oh hey this is where it is at.

They need to find the root cause for this problem and not use us small volume guys a a master excuse. I maintain a 99.3% over all and my lowest start is 4.5. Does that count for nothing. If it doesnt then why track it. Why not just track 90 days worth. The whole idea of a feedback system is a good idea if implemented correctly. I believe they are starting to realize that they have failed at this and now are trying to cover their a$$

Oh well. Maybe one day a smart company like google will step up and give the people what they want like they have always managed to do. Like the google check out. What a novel concept that makes sense. Oh wait it makes sense so ebay doesn't allow it!!!! Ebay is becoming more and more a product of corp. bs.. Oh well eventually they will fall and mr " oh that a hard question may have some really hard ones to answer from share holders...

Comment left by: auctionwally

Fri Oct 26 2007 20:51:15

Here's a solution to the new eBay feeback problem. Many negative feedbacks that are left are cases that would quickly and easily be found in favor of the seller with just a quick check of a delivery confirmation, a PayPal record of a delivery con, or the item description itself.
I think eBay should step in on a neg or a neutral if there is a legitimate appeal by the seller.
If a seller makes an unmerited appeal, they could pay a fee/fine to eBay and the feedback stays.

If eBay can't decide, then there is no fine, but the feedback still stays.
I think the most frustrating thing as a seller is to swallow bad FB that is undeserved and lose money at the same time. Many of these cases are easily proved by a delivery con., a Paypal record, or the item description itself. If so, this is manageable and remedied by the statements above. eBay should put some smart money down and throw together a couple of killer support teams to remedy this and other problems.
If they did that, no one will be able to touch them.
I'd be willing to bet that once people were trained that you couldn't just trash a seller w/ out due cause, that the number of frivolous bad feedbacks would drop, and the number of sellers who really are deserving of negative will be found out quicker and bear the brunt of responsibility more fairly, making eBay a fuzzier and safer place to do business.
Why keep trying to re-market something that the sellers supporting you deem unfair and don't want? That faulty procedure is costing you a lot more than a support team salary.
C'mon eBay, we know you've got the money to fix this, do you have the brains?
Auctionwally

Comment left by: auctionwally

Fri Oct 26 2007 20:53:28

Here's a solution to the new eBay feeback problem. Many negative feedbacks that are left are cases that would quickly and easily be found in favor of the seller with just a quick check of a delivery confirmation, a PayPal record of a delivery con, or the item description itself.
I think eBay should step in on a neg or a neutral if there is a legitimate appeal by the seller.
If a seller makes an unmerited appeal, they could pay a fee/fine to eBay and the feedback stays.

If eBay can't decide, then there is no fine, but the feedback still stays.
I think the most frustrating thing as a seller is to swallow bad FB that is undeserved and lose money at the same time.

eBay should put some smart money down and throw together a couple of killer support teams to remedy this and other problems.
If they did that, no one will be able to touch them.
I'd be willing to bet that once people were trained that you couldn't just trash a seller w/ out due cause, that the number of frivolous bad feedbacks would drop, and the number of sellers who really are deserving of negative will be found out quicker and bear the brunt of responsibility more fairly, making eBay a fuzzier and safer place to do business.
Why keep trying to re-market something that the sellers supporting you deem unfair and don't want? That faulty procedure is costing you a lot more than a support team salary.
C'mon eBay, we know you've got the money to fix this, do you have the brains?
Auctionwally

Comment left by: auctionwally

Fri Oct 26 2007 20:54:33

Sorry for the double post, the top one has an error please remove or disregard.

Comment left by: Silver Powerseller

Mon Oct 29 2007 029:52:45

I am happy to announce that I was accepted by ubid, and am now negotiating with Vista Print ''Who is involved in helping you get your own website set up'' I dont currently have any problems with eBay but I resigned from my Day job to go full time on eBay. Althought this new policy is not a problem to me now, it has me losing sleep. Its not hard to come by 5 people that may share differing opinions about any specific item when you reach just a little over 100 people every 14 days. Its a volotile practice, almost like playing russian rulet, out of 100 people its almost as if they are asking for 100% to be positive. Not all sellers that are bad get negative and not all negatives go out to bad sellers. This policy needs some revision but I cant wait around with the fate of my family at hand, they must be protected.

Comment left by: Joe

Thu Nov 1 2007 14:22:59

I do not agree with the seller non performace policy because it is unfair. eBay should not count a neutrals as a negative. A neutral rating is exactly that- neutral! If they are going to count neutrals as a negative (which they do) then ebay should elimanate the neutral feedback option altogether. We have had neutral comments left such as, ''Thanks''. How can eBay count that as a dissatisfied buyer?

Comment left by: jo

Wed Nov 7 2007 07:25:18

Hello

I'm alarmed by the lack of complaints about ebay's policies against sellers.

I'm a power seller who is now restricted and about to be thrown off just because a jealous buyer and her crony decided to launch a false and fraudulent goods not received dispute against me.

I've contacted ebay and they refuse to listen or help unless I get these individuals to drop the dispute (why would they want to do that when that was their purpose in the first place) or I will be suspended in 30 days.

Basically I am being held to ransom by a fraudster claiming she has paid for one of my items when she hasn't. She has no feedback and ebay are taking her word as gospel withoiut looking at any evidence.

This is shocking and making me look like the criminal!!!! The only thing left to do is go to Watchdog but I doubt that will work. Ebay is too powerful!!!!! and it answers to no one.

Comment left by: jsicolts

Thu Nov 15 2007 015:50:34

In respinse to the above comment - 1. Don't be alarmed by "lack of complaints" There are Many, many more, they just get deleted after time. 2. Why are you a Powerseller? We gave up that phont icon long ago & now sales went UP.

Comment left by: michael

Thu Dec 13 2007 15:09:16

My silver power sell account with over 12,000 feedback was recently non-registered due to being linked with an account that was seldom used and had a couple negative feedback and due to being linked to that account both accounts were suspended. If there is anyone reading this that has information on how to get the suspension lifted please contact me

Comment left by: GOLD POWERSELLER

Wed Jan 2 2008 02:02:43

Below is the letter we wrote to appeal our restriction. Please note to date we have not gotten a clear response to how the restriction is calculated nor consistent suggestions for improvement other than use the mutual feedback withdrawl and refund buyers regardless of the circumstance (this was a suggestion by not one, but two TNS Reps). Steve Oglethorpe of eBay responded to our email below suggesting in our auction policies stating that ''feedback will be left after feedback is given'' makes us a bad seller. This was written in our template to simply reduce the amount of emails requesting feedback. As a volume seller we use automated feedback (a tool provided by eBay and selling manager pro) to take care of this. If TRUST & Saftey really feels this makes us bad, then why does eBay offer it as a tool. This entire policy is shortsighted. I agree eBay needs to take proactive steps to make the marketplace better and think in theory this policy could work, however at its current state it is severely flawed. The other statistic no one is really looking at is the 1% of sellers are responsible for 35% buyer dissatisfaction comment. I beg of you to ask, how do they come to this conclusion? Do they include all registered seller accounts even ones that have sold 1 item in 5 years or even inactive accounts? Consider worldwide there are nearly 6 million (last i heard-i am sure it is up to nearly 8 million now) seller accounts. 1% of sellers is 60,000. I would suggest that 90% of the listings on eBay at any given point are listed by the 1% they are targeting.

EBAY MEMBER: GOLD LEVEL POWER SELLER

Monday, December 31, 2007

Re: Seller Non-Performance appeal and deplorable Trust and Safety representatives

As an active member of the eBay community, with an account in (otherwise) good standing, I am writing to
o Protest and appeal my account limitation
o Implore eBay to revise the criteria used in the Seller Non-Performance guidelines
o Bring to light the deplorable manner that some Trust and Safety officials have acted, treating valuable eBay sellers without respect or care.

In 2007, we have grown our eBay business 400% to approximately $230k, which has translated to nearly $40k in eBay fees paid this year. We expect this to grow 200% to well over $500K in 2008. Through some of our minor growing pains this year, we have kept the customer first and worked to make every transaction right.

While still in good standing with our Power Seller status, we have been classified as a ''non-performing seller'' under the new Seller Non-Performance initiative with a dissatisfaction percentage above 5%. We are writing to formally appeal this limitation and to have the restriction on our account immediately lifted for the following reasons:
o The metrics used to calculate this rating is flawed (see addendum)
o In the interim we have improved our rating to under 2%
o The restriction implemented is significantly more severe than intended (see addendum)

Additionally, our interactions with Trust and Safety representatives have left us appalled and discouraged.

The following details are pertinent to both my appeal and my disgust at the treatment received by Trust and Safety.

Thank you very much for taking the time to review this information. We appreciate your consideration and help in this manner.

Regards,

xxxxxxx
EBay ID: baxxxx (formerly xxxxxxxx)

I would like to start with a written description of this new policy. This description was written by policy_steve@ebay.com and can be viewed at http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?forumID=143&messageID=2006620982&anticache=1198939543518 :

Facts, Fallacies, and Points of the ''Seller Non-Performance'' (SNP) policy

Maintaining 95% Customer Satisfaction: The system used to calculate this is flawed as it does not calculate my true level of buyer satisfaction. In consideration of my own 1,184 completed transactions for the past 90 days, this calculation excludes the 36% of my buyers that did not leave feedback as well as the 60% of my customers who are repeat buyers. This means that my buyer satisfaction is only based on 454 transactions or 38% of my actual customers.
o Suggesting that eBay is an objective third party with the intent of maintaining a safe and fair trading environment, then all of my customer's transactions would be included when calculating my buyer satisfaction
o To wit, if my overall selling experience were negative, I would not have repeat customers. As it is, the calculation is skewed and not accurate.

Feedback not Qualitative. SNP considers only the Feedback rating with no consideration of the REASON for the feedback.
o Eg. One buyer won an item and wanted to pay with a Money Order. We only accept PayPal, but worked with the buyer to complete the transaction anyway. We received a neutral because he thought we should have shipped the item when he said he shipped the Money Order. Counting his neutral against us would intimate the buyer is always right and that all feedback left for a seller is justified and true.

Neutral counts as Negative. Neutral feedback is neither good or bad, however SNP considers neutral feedback as an ''unsatisfied customer.'' Eg. we've received a neutral because of USPS transit times, because the USPS lost a package, or because a buyer was unhappy after disregarding our payment instructions and trying to pay with a Money Order (which we ordinarily do not accept).

Mutual Feedback Withdrawal. Two Trust and Safety representatives suggested that we begin refunding unsatisfied buyers and asking them to complete the mutual feedback withdrawal process in an effort to improve our SNP rating. Facing further limitations and restrictions, we felt forced to follow this suggestion and have consequently provided refunds to customers who still have their product, but were unhappy with USPS performance.
o This sends the clear message to buyers – ''IF YOU WANT TO KEEP YOUR PRODUCT AND YOUR MONEY, GIVE A NEGATIVE FEEDBACK AND THE SELLER WILL HAVE TO CAVE OUT OF FEAR OF SUSPENSION UNDER SNP.''

SNP Conflicts with Power Seller. The SNP policy is in direct conflict with my Power Seller ratings. My account is recognized by the Power Seller program as being one of the top performing accounts on eBay in both sales and meeting buyer requirements, however, SNP has classified my account in the bottom 1% and has stated that my performance is deplorable. It just does not add up.

Uneducated Buyers Uneducated buyers account for a large amount of our customer service time. The previously used example of one of our buyers who requested (after end of auction) to pay with a Money Order, started a ''Item Not Received'' dispute in eBay when the item was not shipped upon her notification that she had sent the Money Order. She received the item and was happy with it, but forgot to close the dispute. To wit, she didn't know HOW to and found the process of closing the dispute difficult and confusing.

Volume Sellers. Assuming 3% of sellers on eBay are volume sellers (generally Power Sellers who are required to remain a 98% or higher satisfaction rating) who account for 80% of total eBay sales, then the assertion that 1% of eBay sellers account for 35% of dissatisfied transactions CLEARLY includes a large number of ''newbie'' and ''small time'' sellers that are causing the dissatisfied experience. However the calculation method of SNP unfairly targets volume Power Sellers who are in good standing.

PayPal Multi-Order Shipping . Trust & Safety intimated that that the majority of our unsatisfied customers over the past 90 days cited shipping delays. During this period, (approx late OCT to early DEC) Pay Pal Multi-Order Shipping (MOS) software was not functioning. MOS is a tool generally used by volume sellers to quickly and efficiently ship large volumes of products. Shipping these items manually can take 5-6x longer. Multiply that by several hundred items and we inevitably experienced delays. Neither eBay nor Pay Pal took proactive steps to inform customers of the problem or take any responsibility for delays. Sellers took the full force of this malfunction by dealing with unhappy customers, less favorable feedback, increased refunds do to irate customers, and now significant restrictions due to SNP.

PIERRE OMIDYAR. On February 26th, 1996 Pierre Omidyar announced the feedback forum. In his note he wrote, ''Along the way, I've dealt with complaints among participants. But those complaints have amounted to only a handful. We've had close to 10,000 auctions since opening. And only a few dozen complaints.'' Pierre views a few dozen complaints as a complete success for eBay and its users and appears to be overly pleased with this number. Since our first sale several years ago I to have completed 10,000 successful auctions and have had only a handful of complaints. The SNP policy now suggests that what was a good enough score for eBay and its founder, Mr. Omidyar, is not good enough for me. Were all of the original 10,000 auctions by unique users? If not, and if the SNP had then been in place, Mr. Omidyar's account would have been placed under restriction or shut down.

Down By The Numbers
As of December 20th, 2007, the lordrcolton eBay account has been restricted to ''75% of our historical weekly volume, based on our 90 day history of completed sales'' per the SNP policy. To date, not one eBay, Trust and Safety, or Power Seller representative has been able to
1) accurately or consistently describe the restriction, its method of calculation, or the exact reason that a Seller could be targeted
2) provide information as to the nature of our ''rolling account suspension'' which limits our sales. Furthermore the agents all state that the restriction is confusing.

It is important to note that on the same day that the restriction was put into place, our customer satisfaction score dropped well within the required level and after further effort is just over 2% buyer dissatisfaction as calculated by SNP. Removing the neutrals would put us well under 1% buyer dissatisfaction.

Unanswered Questions.
To date, these questions have remained unanswerable by eBay representatives regarding our SNP restriction:-
- Is the restriction based on a rolling 90 days?
- Is the 75 % based on a dollar volume or an item listed volume?
- Is the restriction based on all items listed over the past 90 days or just completed auctions?
- Are eBay Store items included in the volume listing restriction?

SNP Breakdown With Simple Math.
If the restriction is based on the number of completed auctions (as it has been intimated but not confirmed) in a rolling 90 days the penalty is much greater than 75% of 90 day volume. Consider the following information based on our account in the previous 90 days.
- We listed 2,522 auctions in the past 90 Days
- 46.9% (1,184) of those auctions sold
- If the SNP restriction is based on the number of auctions sold (not listings), then we are able to list 75% of the 1,184 completed transactions.
- Divided by 90 Days. 1184/90 x .75 = the number of listings we can list daily.
o In our case, we can list less than 10 items per day.
- Considering the historical data on our account 53.1% of our items do not sell. So we now are can expect to sell 4 items per day instead of 13, which means that we are realizing a restriction down to a debilitating 30% of historical volume instead of 75%.

SNP Extrapolation.
Extrapolating forward (this is my dual MBA's kicking in with forecasting) consider now how the SNP would play out based on our account and the use of rolling 90 day completed auctions.

Considering that
o Nearly 60% of our customers are repeat customers (their feedback doesn't count)
o We would be able now expect to sell around 4 items per day
We can extrapolate from historicals that we might get 2 new customers per day.

As the restriction ages, our number of allowable listings declines due to the rolling 90 days. Based solely on raising SNP consideration of buyer satisfaction, by the end of a 90 day restriction a seller would essentially be able to list 1 item per day, making it impossible to ever improve buyer satisfaction or increase there feedback percentage. This necessitates gratuitous (and often unwarranted) refunds and begging for mutual feedback withdrawal. Because volume sellers require a considerable amount of transactions/feedback to raise or lower feedback percentage.

Failure of Trust and Safety
Most appalling to this entire debacle is the lack of support and information available, and the deplorable amount of disrespect we have encountered when attempting to understand and resolve this issue with the Trust & Safety Department.

On three recent occasions, a representative from my company was on the phone with eBay's Trust and Safety department and each time was treated with significant disrespect to the point that he felt degraded. Whether or not our account is under suspension, my representative should be treated with respect and dignity. Please see below the names of the individuals we spoke to and a brief description of our communication with them.

TRENT – On two separate occasions, this member of the eBay Trust and Safety Department took a very smug attitude when our representative phoned to inquire more information about the (at the time) potential restriction. Trent was not able to provide a clear explanation of how the restriction was structured, how our account had been noted for review, the method of calculating satisfaction percentages, nor any help regarding the situation. His idea to fix buyer satisfaction was simply offer any person who left a neutral or negative feedback a full refund regardless of the circumstances. He then laughed, and said something to the effect of ''it is what it is, and you'd better deal with it.''

KAJA – The single worse contact that we have had with eBay in our several years of operation. Our same representative was on the phone with KAJA of the Trust and Safety Department after the restriction was put into place. She could not provide any information on the manner of the restriction (whether it is calculated in dollar volume, item quantity, value… or any pertinent information). When reviewing our account, She laughed when she said ''have you even ever read your feedback?'' She also suggested that based on her assessment of our account we are ''shafting'' customers and that we are among the ''worst 1% of all eBay sellers.'' She continually refused to offer any information regarding our current standing/percentage. She stated she did not have access to that information, yet Trent was able to supply the information. She continually interrupted and badgered my representative during their conversation. I would never allow anyone in my organization to treat one of my customers which such disrespect.

The attitudes and language of these representatives of Trust and Safety are very far outside the eBay ideal, and if a seller treated his or her customers in the way that these Trust and Safety reps treated my representative, that seller would be immediately suspended.

Comment left by: Gold Powerseller

Wed Jan 2 2008 02:05:33

Here is a very interesting observation for you to consider:

PIERRE OMIDYAR. On February 26th, 1996 Pierre Omidyar announced the feedback forum. In his note he wrote, ''Along the way, I've dealt with complaints among participants. But those complaints have amounted to only a handful. We've had close to 10,000 auctions since opening. And only a few dozen complaints.'' Pierre views a few dozen complaints as a complete success for eBay and its users and appears to be overly pleased with this number. Since our first sale several years ago I to have completed 10,000 successful auctions and have had only a handful of complaints. The SNP policy now suggests that what was a good enough score for eBay and its founder, Mr. Omidyar, is not good enough for me. I would ask, Were all of the original 10,000 auctions by unique users? If not, and if the SNP had then been in place, Ebay as a whole would have been placed under restriction or shut down.

Comment left by: Dave

Wed Feb 6 2008 16:27:43

I'm one of these so-called 1% bottom performers. It is funny though how I have a 98% plus feedback rating, and yet I'm in the bottom 1% of seller performance. How do you figure that one? When I have recently seen sellers with below a 95% feedback rating. what's the difference. They can afford "Ebay Stores" they're paying over-priced subscription prices for. So ebay doesn't want to bite the hand of the money makers.

Also it was not taken into consideration that during the last 5 months of being an active member of ebay my account was blocked for a total of 4 months of those 5 months. How is a seller to maintain performance and "improve" performance if they can't even access their ebay account or their "My Ebay" area to contact their buyers?

I think this whole new initiative is a bunch of bull crap, and just ebay's way of trying to cover their butts because they've lost control of their business. And they've kissed the butt of seller's with "Ebay Stores" for so long it is coming back to bite them in the arse.
Dave

Comment left by: marcus

Thu May 22 2008 20:05:44

I Agree with Kyla E-bay will Crash Eventually sellers feels has no right to protects there self any more ebay will keeps sellers with no prid I I Closed my store and started selling at Amzon and others Alibris and Abe Book no more cheep Ass Flea Markteer AlCheepo Customers who put the item on hold till I have to end item to give me started up price in the last minute what kind of losy system who isnt willing to bid and pay for Items Values and I think after these Changes of E-bay Policy of bunch of B.S This is the begining the down fall the 800 Lb Gorilla she gonna get skinny and set a round play with bunny lol

Comment left by: Brian Smith

Sat July 12 2008 012:30:02

I'm a small-time seller with only about 250 feedback over a 5-year-period, but these latest policy changes have made me decide to stop selling (and buying) on ebay altogether. Ebay's decision-makers and scamming buyers have ruined what was once a cool place to buy and sell stuff. Nice going guys.