eBay Sends Dire Warning about Seller Performance

by: yesmikan

This is Catch-22 trap for their current metric scheme. If you fall "below standard," they throttle your listings' exposure to buyers, and then you can't make the required sales to pull yourself back out of the slump. And then they slap you with that new 40% higher FVF when you do make a sale.

I know because it happened to me.

by: hopeforthebest

The throttling punishment has been around for several years. The fee increase is new.

by: pace306

subject to changes = even though we told the court we are "just a venue" (meaning we have nothing to do with your business), we will punish you as we see fit,  because we suck and are the worst ecommerce company on the planet (worse then that one thats on that remote island that has no internet services).

by: CanBrit

More automated eBay crap that the wizards probably don't even know are going out. That being said, this message will probably kick off even fewer listings being visible increasing the likelihood they will continue to fail.

Only in eBay land would they say, "You have do your job better but we're going to make that harder than ever to achieve." Idiots.

by: iheartjacksparrow

I'm guessing "subject to changes" means they will hide your listings more than they are doing now.

by: Snapped

Despite eBay's obvious intent to 'threaten', it's a sad fact these days that EVERY seller's account is ''subject to changes'' - every time their boardroom brain-farts another copycat 'innovation' intended to enhance the eBay 'experience'.  

Nothing anybody can do to avoid that either, short of bailing.  

by: toolguy

The eBay Handcuffs

eBay knows that most sellers who make a living selling on their site have no where else to go.

I have bills to pay and food to put on the table

No other site can do what eBay does for my used industrial items.

I would be kidding myself if I thought I could eat or pay the bills on Etsy, eCrater, Bonanza or any other site. . .

EBAY KNOWS THIS

I do the best I can with what I'm given to work with, I try to adapt to the many changes eBay has thrown my way.

On the bright side Social Security is only a few years away. . . .

by: sasikat9

Well we got the same notice. Trashed it and moved on. Greedbay can no longer hurt us anymore as we are almost ready to give em the finger.

by: Vernfern

What never seems to make sense with eBay is how they profit from listing and sales of their seller base... then punish them. If they punished the sellers who were truly bad, maybe the punishment would be valid. But they are intent on driving the good sellers away and keeping the lousy ones.

I have never seen a company be so intent on running it's customer base away.  

by: The End

Oh YA ?
I got TWO WORDS for ya :
"Carl Icohn".

by: P.Dorf

@Verfern

Don't forget Ratners.
Ratner himself, said on TV (I think, it's been a while), that
his jewelry was just cheap tat.
Didn't take long for Ratners to disappear.

From wiki:
This perceived lack of judgement and contempt for the customer gave rise to the expression "doing a Ratner".

by: 1st Armored Division 1971-1973

It is called self-deporting. You remember Romney the Bain Captial guy. Where do you think this comes from. It works just as well on immigrants as it does on ebay sellers.

by: songe-d-automne

They did this to one of my accounts - told me I was "below standard" (350+ feedback ,5 neutrals, no negatives, but apparent low stars) and gave me a set amount of time to "fix" it, but I just could not sell enough to pull it out and they banned it.

by: Marie

It is easy to blame Ebay for the seller finding themselves in the position that the email states.  But that requires assuming that it is in fact Ebay's fault and that the seller has not had issues with their account due to late shipments or other defects that a seller is subject to.

None of us here, from the information provided by the OP knows any of that information.  Certainly low sales could be involved, way too many of us are experiencing that, but it may or may not be Ebay's fault.  Or maybe it is a combination of Ebay and the Seller issues that the seller is finding themselves in this situation.

The OP countering that it is the slow sales is not doing themselves any favors.  The OP needs to take a close, detailed look at their dashboard to determine where the problem is and work from there.

I strongly suggest that the OP check their late shipments in detail as Ebay often gets these stats wrong and there might be some things the seller can get fixed in this area.

For those concerned about the Service Metrics causing issues for the OP, it isn't part of this.  The Service Metrics has nothing to do with the email the OP received.  The Service Metrics has NOTHING to do with your TRS status, only your search return status.

by: Marie

I got a similar notice today as well.  But mine was NOT related to my US status as a TRS seller, but to my Global status as a US seller.  And I can easily believe that as my international sales are not much anymore.

So be careful, don't assume if you get a notice like this that it is your US TRS status.  READ the email, it may be your Global status.

by: NoMoreEbay

Since ebay **forgot** to send this message to their partners in crime, allow me.

我們的賣家水平在美國的第二個週期低於標�
�。在您的銷售帳戶可能會發生變化之前，您還有兩個週期可以顯示改進

by: pace306

"It is easy to blame Ebay for the seller finding themselves in the position that the email states" - because its %99 of the time - eBays own fault.

"But that requires assuming that it is in fact Ebay's fault and that the seller has not had issues with their account due to late shipments or other defects that a seller is subject to." - caused bvy eBay itself making up ridiculous terms that even they themselves cant hold up to. And besides - its NONE of their business. Late things happen - ask USPS. LIKE happens - ask the idiot "seller Advocate Grifter".

"Certainly low sales could be involved" - thats a GENERAL issue, not a performance issue .... Oh BTW - hows YOUR Xmas sales doing? How was your Black Friday ???

"Ebay often gets these stats wrong " - they get MOST things wrong - %99 of the time. Mostly because virtually NO ONE at the company knows anything / has any background in - ecommerce.

"The Service Metrics has NOTHING to do with your TRS status, only your search return status" - if you pay to list an item - it makes no difference - eBays holding you back is FRAUD. McDonalds doesnt ask you if you were late on the mortgage last month. You pay your 99 cents then get your burger. Its not hard - unless you are a LAWYER.

by: pace306

@ NoMoreEbay

I wonder if eBay sends them out to the 1000s of people on their site that sells FAKES.

I found HUNDREDS of listings for fake video games when I was looking for 1 for my brother.

Every single 369 multi game cart on eBay is Copyright fraud - I wonder if those sellers get these notices ????????

by: Ichabod

Yeah, I got and have been getting similar emails from them. Here's the deal; they are so incompetent or dishonest or both, that they haven't given me credit for sales I made in June, July and August. First, someone tell me what the difference is between a transaction and a sale. Before they started jacking around with their porn hub page, I had 1050+ transactions but only high 800s in sales.What's the difference? Now that transaction number has disappeared. But, as I was saying, on the 1st of June, they had my sales numbers at 903. It is now at 918. I had about 25 sales in the previously mentioned June, July and August and another 15 in September, October and November, so far. And, as if that wasn't crooked enough, my transaction defect rate has gone up by a little less than half  a point in that time,  and I have had no complaints, no returns and I have 100% positive feedback. They are lying crooked, incompetent thieves. Wenig says they are a tech company. Seems if they are that they could afford a new calculator or maybe an abacus although there probably isn't anyone smart enough to use an abacus at ebay. Check your sales records for the last few months. If all you have is your last 90 days, go to Paypal and find your deposits there........assuming you use Paypal.  

by: comet

To #ToolGuy--- Better.watch who you vote.for and support, or Social Security might NOT be around.  The stated.goal of the outgoing Speaker of the House is to dismantle SS, and he is backed by virtually every ReThuglican in Congress.  Those of us.retired types need to be extremely aware of this and what we can do.  

And here's another ebay FAIL:::::

I sold an item to a.guy in the UK after he asked me about shipping  cost, and I supplied him with options.  Ebay only seems to show one extremely expensive amount for seemingly everywhere world wide, so I state in my TOS to please ASK.  The guy wanted to pay me directly via PP,.which I (sadly!!!) declined, and could not seem to grasp the concept of a "Just for you" sale where the shipping would be custom.  So he did a BIN, paid the exorbitant shipping, which is almost as much as the item for a lightweight parcel, and I refunded him the DIFFERANCE in the shipping within moments.  Shipped it, went to put Customs numbers in, nope!!! No can do.  Despite giving only a minor partial refund the item is now marked YOU ISSUED A REFUND--- and there is NO WAY to now enter the shipping info!!! I sent it to the buyer via .Messages, but now it looks as if I have in fact NOT sold or shipped!!!!  Extremely disconcerting.  Another stoooopid ebay blunder, to make it LOOK like a seller has failed.