eBay Is Not Offering Seller Protection as Promised

by: Fruitylovesyou

Can I ask, what is the 5 or 6% extra off of? Do you mean the listing or fvf from prior sales period?

by: iheartjacksparrow

@Fruitylovesyou - From the fee schedule:

"If your rate of 'Item not as described' return requests is evaluated in your service metrics as Very High in the evaluation on the 20th of the month in one or more categories, you will be charged an additional 5% on the final value fees for sales in those categories in the following calendar month. You can view your personalized service metrics on your Service Metrics dashboard in Seller Hub."

by: Alfacar

@ Fruitylovesyou
That percentage is charged from every single transaction amount after Ebay deems you are a bad seller.
“Bad seller” for Ebay would be someone who had about 10 alleged (buyer states not proven) not as described return requests in 12 months if you low volume small seller. If you sell more than 400 items (in 3 months) then they look at 3 months instead of 12. If you get more returns to keep you in high level (10) then you keep paying. They evaluate every month on the 20th and it is a nightmare for every seller I spoke to.
Not only you are subject to penalty fee on every sale till you improve but Ebay also reduces your items visibility on the platform which reduces your sales.
The problem is it is very hard to get out of it  once you fall- Ebay system is built to keep you there.
Ebay sells the seller protection (you need to be Top Rated and accept 30 day returns) from that (from making you high in service metrics - high in return snad requests) but it doesn’t work due to Ebay not wanting to do the job - probably because they benefit on it. How that should work is that alleged snad claims should not be counted against seller in monthly evaluation.
There are some categories that are prone to the issue (high volume of snad returns) more than others but Ebay has same rules for everyone.
The service metrics is dumb and should be abolish as it is not fair , not fair to small guys (the cost becomes more and they get less sales when in “probation”) and it causes a lot of dirty play.
I have noticed that Ebay doesn’t give a damn recently (since they mess with ads about 2 years) that seller is Top Rated and accepts returns , ships immediately (next day) offers free shipping , responds quickly, is helpful- the algorithm to boost visibility is broken and doesn’t work anymore to actually reinforce good behavior patterns. Ebay became unhealthy and  uncompetitive (at least in a positive way; some dirty tricks play) unfair and discouraging.

by: pace306

eBay isnt interested in helping you, they are interested in ONLY helping themselves.

"eBay allows buyers to open returns past 30 days seller return policy and past Money Back Guarantee (MBG)"

eBay also allows buyers (3) bites of the same apple and will keep letting a buyer "go" until they can find something on a seller.

You can (1) file INR even if it shows delivered (dumb - but this is eBay - its software should stop you from doing so - but they dont care. then (2) you can file a SNAD on that item. If/when you can prove the buyer is lieing and you win eBay then allows a buyer to open (3) a chargeback against you - for any reason a buyer sees fit.

This issue can drag on for 30+ days.

eBay also lets returns run for 7-10 days - business days - just to insure the seller is screwed.

eBay process its own payments and has a secret relationship with Adyen - they will do ANYTHING to insure that THEY like buyer - DONT LOOSE.

by: toolguy

"eBay then allows a buyer to open (3) a chargeback against you - for any reason a buyer sees fit."

eBay has NO control over Credit Card Companies!

Anyone can do a charge back on any company that accepts credit cards.

by: pace306

Retirement has not helped apparently

No they can not stop the buyer from physically doing so, but as they own part of Adyen they can “auto deny” it.

You knew that was what I meant (geez)

by: pace306

I'm guessing Captain Obvious didnt visit your house today.

Of course they cant PHYSICALLY stop anyone, but they CAN state that you dont A) get more then 1x to make a claim and that if you do, then B) it will autoclose since eBay and Adyen have full control.

I'll tell the Captain you said Hi.

by: Fruitylovesyou

Oh wow I did not know.  I think you should not play into their games. Or any of the marketplaces that treat you like their personal money tree. You are better than them, they don't want you to see that.

by: Marie

@Anonymous

Before I get into anything.  What I am going to explain are Ebay's rules and policies, NOT MINE.  I didn't write them or have anything to do with the approval process.

Ebay allows buyers to open claims past the 30 days after the ETA delivery date on the purchase or the actual date the item is received, whichever comes first because there are many sellers that offer 60 or even 90 day returns.

When you offer a 30 day return policy, it is your choice to process a claim that was filed outside the window, just make sure you have your window correct as I described in the above paragraph.

And you are correct, the protections under the MBG are for 30 days from the receipt of the item by the buyer.

The Service Metrics counts all INADs no matter the reason it is opened, except it is not suppose to count INADs that are opened past the 30 days after the buyer received the item.  And it doesn't count properly filed Buyer Remorse claims.

As for when the penalty percentage charged on top of the regular FVF, your comparison to your peers does begin once you have 10 INADs.  That does NOT mean the penalty fees start as well since you hit the 10 INAD mark.  You first are then compared to your Peers.  If this comparison shows you are lower in percentage of INADs to other in that specific category, then no penalty is imposed.  But if you hit in the HIGHER range when compared, then yes the penalty will apply.

It is important to remember this is Category specific.  So to hit that 10 mark, that would be in one specific category.  If you sell in multiple categories then you could have a problem in one category and not the others.  The penalty ONLY applies to whatever category you are too high in INADs.

I'm unsure about your report a buyer issue.  That isn't a problem that I'm aware of, so I don't want to add to your distress on how it is working for you.

by: Marie

@Pace
"You can (1) file INR even if it shows delivered (dumb - but this is eBay - its software should stop you from doing so - but they dont care."

That is a bit inaccurate.  There are some very good reasons for allowing this.  But of course if you have never been on the receiving end of a seller screwing with the system and scamming the buyer, then I understand why you feel the way you do.

But for those of us that have experienced sellers entering a tracking number on a transaction you had with them.  Then one day you find the tracking shows it was delivered and you know it wasn't.  In further investigation, you find that the package was shipped to your zip code, but not to you.  That sale is still going to show delivered.  Buyers need somewhat to battle this as it happens far too often on Ebay.

I personally had this happen.  When I contacted the carrier I was able to get the information that it went to another address, not mine and something important to get is the weight on the package.  In my case it was a 3 lb package delivered and if it had of been actually what I ordered, it would have weighed more than ten times that.

I filed an INR with the tracking showing delivered.  I gathered all my evidence I had collected, copied it into a Word file [Ebay claims only all for one attachment] along with a summary of what transpired.  A couple days later I had won that INR.  Now if Ebay didn't allow us to file a INR even though it shows delivered I would not have been able to win this claim.  I would have of course filed a chargeback, but I didn't need to as it turns out.

by: Marie

@Pace

You and Tool are correct on this one.  For different reasons, but you are both right.  

Ebay has no influence or control over the Chargeback System And yes Ebay can refuse to allow Chargebacks from being filed.

The bad thing would be that Ebay would have to then stop taking Credit and Debit card payments from buyers.  

So if that happened there would likely not be very many sales for any of us.

by: Marty2020

LOL...ebay protection? A good joke if you are a seller. A foreign buyer opened an INR case before the first estimated delivery date shown by ebay. I provided ebay with the tracking info showing the item was already at the local pot office. Did not help. After 7 days they decided in favor of the buyer, although it was STILL before the first estimated delivery date shown by ebay.

Another one, although I don't know if there is such a rule, but I remember something about buyer contacting the seller before leaving negative FB. I got one, there was no contact. Although, I admit, I just seem to remember that was the case in the past. Probably does not exist anymore, it offered too much "protection" for the seller.  

by: Marie

@Marty2020
Buyers are not required to contact the seller before leaving negative or neutral feedback.  They do however get a message on their screen before they can post it that suggests they contact the seller before proceeding with the FB.

I'm with you, I too wish they had to contact the seller first and then allow a reasonable amount of time for a response.

by: lenov

I had the opposite happen, I received an item advertised and labeled as the correct size I wanted, but when I received it, it was not actually that size, or even close. The seller may or may not have known it was not the size it was labeled as, but as the buyer, I shouldn't have to bear the loss in a situation like this. Can you imagine walking into a department store and putting on an item labeled as size 6 but having it actually be a size 12? No one would expect you to accept that. I had to fight with eBay for an hour to get a refund on an item that was useless to me.

by: DebraD

Ebay's return policy for items not as described is actually 45 days from the date of delivery, not 30, and a credit card company charge back is 90 days, and in some cases 6 months or more. Always include an invoice in your packages and clearly state your return policy. Credit card companies rely on a customer's invoice when determining whether to issue a refund or not. If the customer did not follow the policy, then no refund, but you must provide the policy on the receipt. For those of you having issues with packages being scanned delivered but not received. All carriers have GPS enabled scanning now. If your customer contacts you claiming tracking shows a package was delivered, but not received, contact your carrier immediately, including the post office. They can check the physical location of the delivery. I had to do this a week ago for a customer. The package was located.

by: Andy

> Buyers are not required to contact the seller before leaving
> negative or neutral feedback.  They do however get a message
> on their screen before they can post it that suggests they contact
> the seller before proceeding with the FB.

There is also a specific block on leaving Neutral or Negative feedback on Top Rated sellers (or whatever the official term is) before at least 7 days have elapsed since delivery of the item.

The message on the feedback form reads, ''You need to wait 7 days before you can leave neutral or negative feedback for this seller.'' Exactly when it is counting 7 days from is not stated, but the delivery date is tracked, so I would assume that's the point when the clock is started.

by: ySirTinLee

Why do people put up with Ebay?  I went to webstore.com and have no problem with plenty of sales.  If yu have a good product it will sell anywhere.

by: ySirTinLee

*you

by: Rexford

"I received an item advertised and labeled as the correct size I wanted, but when I received it, it was not actually that size, or even close. The seller may or may not have known it was not the size it was labeled as, but as the buyer, I shouldn't have to bear the loss in a situation like this."

Why would you receive a loss?  While you were likely disappointed it isn't like you had no protection.  You had two easy options: 1) open a return  2) file a SNAD for item not as described.   You had a 30 days window to do that.

by: Marie

@Andy

"There is also a specific block on leaving Neutral or Negative feedback on Top Rated sellers (or whatever the official term is) before at least 7 days have elapsed since delivery of the item."

That is the one leftover benefit from the Power Seller program that they rolled into the TRS program.  It is however 7 days from the date purchased.