About Defects

I recently read a comment by PJ in response to something or other (can't recall what it was), and I can't relocate the thread.

 

PJ's comment had to do with a new rating system which seems to go back to the old ways where sellers were penalized when buyer's simply filed a case.

 

I know that's very vague but is there a new/old rating system on the horizon?

 

 

 

 

Message 1 of 17
latest reply
16 REPLIES 16

About Defects

The comment may have referenced the new Service Metrics which will be applied beginning October 1st based on data eBay has been tracking since June 1st 2018.

https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Announcements/Service-Metrics-Reminder/ba-p/409308
Message 2 of 17
latest reply

About Defects

Thank You Kawartha.  I don't think that's what it was about.

 

I finally found the post by PJ and even though I didn't have time to ask about it right away it stuck in my mind.

 

I know that in the past SNADs counted counted against us but I thought that this had changed.  PJ's post makes it sounds like eBay is bringing the old system back????

 

There is no real way of knowing if you are being scammed or not.  You could ask for a picture of the 'damaged' item although the buyer isn't required to send one.     In the past I would suggest that you tell the buyer to open a return request, but now that snad's are going to count against us, that is something to think twice about.  If you truly think they are not being honest you could tell them to return for a refund and if they are just trying to get the item for free then they are less likely to open a return or to send it back for a return.   """"""""
Message 3 of 17
latest reply

About Defects

in the new service metrics every opened case against a seller will count, if you have too many items not as described you will face a final value fee increase of 4%, if you have too many items not received you will have time added to your delivery dates.?? whatever good that will do..

 

in short you want to avoid getting the items not as described defects, that is when ebay is going to go after your wallet, and too boot, they don't say how long these penalties will last..

 

Perhaps tylar@ebay can comment on the length of the penalty

Message 4 of 17
latest reply

About Defects

@tyler_ebay

Message 5 of 17
latest reply

About Defects

Kawartha was correct, that's what I was referring to. 

Message 6 of 17
latest reply

About Defects

Hi @esclyons - the new Service Metrics benchmark is evaluated monthly with the rest of your account (on the 20th). 

 

If an account is considered 'very high' for Not as Described requests and incurs the 4% additional Final Value Fee it would stay on the account until it is no longer considered 'very high' which at the soonest would be the next month's evaluation. 

 

I hope that helps clear things up @sylviebee!

Tyler,
eBay
Message 7 of 17
latest reply

About Defects


tyler@ebay wrote:

Hi @esclyons - the new Service Metrics benchmark is evaluated monthly with the rest of your account (on the 20th). 

 

If an account is considered 'very high' for Not as Described requests and incurs the 4% additional Final Value Fee it would stay on the account until it is no longer considered 'very high' which at the soonest would be the next month's evaluation. 

 

I hope that helps clear things up @sylviebee!


What, if any progress, is being made regarding the removal of defects for sellers in cases where they have objectively done nothing wrong. Case in point the one not received defect I have is from a buyer not entering their address correctly. At the moment we are being told tough luck, which is a bit ridiculous.

Message 8 of 17
latest reply

About Defects


@hlmacdon wrote:

tyler@ebay wrote:

Hi @esclyons - the new Service Metrics benchmark is evaluated monthly with the rest of your account (on the 20th). 

 

If an account is considered 'very high' for Not as Described requests and incurs the 4% additional Final Value Fee it would stay on the account until it is no longer considered 'very high' which at the soonest would be the next month's evaluation. 

 

I hope that helps clear things up @sylviebee!


What, if any progress, is being made regarding the removal of defects for sellers in cases where they have objectively done nothing wrong. Case in point the one not received defect I have is from a buyer not entering their address correctly. At the moment we are being told tough luck, which is a bit ridiculous.


Hi @hlmacdon - all opened Item not Received requests are counted in your Service Metrics - regardless of outcome. If valid tracking is uploaded your seller performance won't be impacted.

 

There are processes in place to protect member accounts in situations such as carrier disruption, eBay site issues, natural disaster, severe weather, etc. Any blanket protections like this will be posted as an Announcement. If you do run across a situation you think merits a site-wide adjustment please contact CS to report it.

 

Because Service Metrics are a peer benchmark, we don't remove questionable returns on a case by case basis. This helps maintain the integrity of the data we gather, as all members have returns that could be argued to be questionable.  If we find that a buyer has a history of questionable returns our Buyer Abuse team is able to automatically remove their return requests from all impacted sellers' Service Metrics.

Tyler,
eBay
Message 9 of 17
latest reply

About Defects

I'm going out a limb here, mind you a very large limb, but a very large percentage of these Service Metrics infractions are actually inaccurate due to the fact in those situations the wrong choice was clicked on by the buyer. Something a seller has limited options to correct in any way, shape or form and then get left hung over their head until they eventuallyyyyyyyyyyyyy disappear. Not the greatest of situations. Service Metrics and Global Warming...2 Swear words moving up the list very fast!!!

 

-CM

Message 10 of 17
latest reply

About Defects


tyler@ebay wrote:


Hi @hlmacdon - all opened Item not Received requests are counted in your Service Metrics - regardless of outcome. If valid tracking is uploaded your seller performance won't be impacted.

 

There are processes in place to protect member accounts in situations such as carrier disruption, eBay site issues, natural disaster, severe weather, etc. Any blanket protections like this will be posted as an Announcement. If you do run across a situation you think merits a site-wide adjustment please contact CS to report it.

 

Because Service Metrics are a peer benchmark, we don't remove questionable returns on a case by case basis. This helps maintain the integrity of the data we gather, as all members have returns that could be argued to be questionable.  If we find that a buyer has a history of questionable returns our Buyer Abuse team is able to automatically remove their return requests from all impacted sellers' Service Metrics.


These are not questionable situations. A buyer enters their address incomplete or incorrect and tracking shows the item as returned to sender. This is clear objective data which is independently verifiable by any customer service representative. If a buyer subsequently closes a request indicating the item has been received after a replacement shipment is sent to a corrected address and the messages exchanged in the request demonstrably show the buyer was in error by entering an incorrect address there is no rational objective reason why you would associate a defect with that.

 

No seller should be put into a situation where they are paying Ebay penalty fees for situations which they 100% have no control over. This is precisely why as you mention there are major disruptions for which ebay provides seller immunity from.  Instead of worrying about data integrity the product manager in charge of this and the associated executives approving this implementation should be worrying about the integrity of their business.

Message 11 of 17
latest reply

About Defects


@hlmacdon wrote:

tyler@ebay wrote:


Hi @hlmacdon - all opened Item not Received requests are counted in your Service Metrics - regardless of outcome. If valid tracking is uploaded your seller performance won't be impacted.

 

There are processes in place to protect member accounts in situations such as carrier disruption, eBay site issues, natural disaster, severe weather, etc. Any blanket protections like this will be posted as an Announcement. If you do run across a situation you think merits a site-wide adjustment please contact CS to report it.

 

Because Service Metrics are a peer benchmark, we don't remove questionable returns on a case by case basis. This helps maintain the integrity of the data we gather, as all members have returns that could be argued to be questionable.  If we find that a buyer has a history of questionable returns our Buyer Abuse team is able to automatically remove their return requests from all impacted sellers' Service Metrics.


These are not questionable situations. A buyer enters their address incomplete or incorrect and tracking shows the item as returned to sender. This is clear objective data which is independently verifiable by any customer service representative. If a buyer subsequently closes a request indicating the item has been received after a replacement shipment is sent to a corrected address and the messages exchanged in the request demonstrably show the buyer was in error by entering an incorrect address there is no rational objective reason why you would associate a defect with that.

 

No seller should be put into a situation where they are paying Ebay penalty fees for situations which they 100% have no control over. This is precisely why as you mention there are major disruptions for which ebay provides seller immunity from.  Instead of worrying about data integrity the product manager in charge of this and the associated executives approving this implementation should be worrying about the integrity of their business.


Just want to clarify that the Item Not Received service metric does not lead to higher fees for you. The consequence for being 'Very High' in that situation would be additional time added to estimated delivery dates. 

 

Buyers do make mistakes as you mention, and it happens broadly enough that it is factored into the thresholds for service metrics. If someone is considered Very High in Not Received claims and every single one of them is similar to your example, that would be something we'd want to review manually and get to the teams in charge of metrics to review as an outlier case.

 

For the vast majority of everyone else these types of situations should be unusual, and the parameters have been set to prevent a single case, transaction or buyer from pushing anyone over the edge.  

Tyler,
eBay
Message 12 of 17
latest reply

About Defects

This is going to be rough on allot of sellers and if you are low volume it is not going to take you much to put you over. I have allot of loyal customers that I have been dealing with for years so I am lucky that way. I have been on for 18 years and I can only remember one return and that was for Christmas Ornaments and they arrived after Christmas so they wanted to send them back and I gave them a refund and told them to save them for next year which they did.

All of my items are Free Shipping so I don't bother to send them Tracked as it is not worth while to bother with the high prices of CP

Message 13 of 17
latest reply

About Defects

There are no consequences until you have 10 inr's or 10's snad's and are over 1%.  That will help the lower volume sellers.

Message 14 of 17
latest reply

About Defects


@pjcdn2005 wrote:

There are no consequences until you have 10 inr's or 10's snad's and are over 1%.  That will help the lower volume sellers.


Sorry I made a mistake.  It should read There are no consequences until you have 10 inr's or 10's snad's OR if you are are over 1% in that category.  Here is the actual wording:

 

  • Item not as described: You're not performing as well as your peers in making sure that buyers receive the items they ordered as described in the listing, and in setting and meeting buyer expectations.
    If you are rated Very High in a category, but you had fewer than 10 'Item not as described' returns or your 'Item not as described' rate is under 1% in a specific category during the evaluation period, you will not be subject to consequences
  • Item not received: You’re not performing as well as your peers in meeting your delivery commitments.
    If you are rated Very High for a shipping category, but you had fewer than 10 'Item not received' requests, or your 'Item not received' rate is under 1% in a specific shipping category during the evaluation period, you will not be subject to consequences
Message 15 of 17
latest reply

About Defects

i had one package with 8 items in it, that the buyer said they never received. they opened 8 cases of items not received. i uploaded tracking, and all 8 cases were closed in my favor..  However, i have 8 items not received in my service metrics, which puts me in the very high  category.. I called C.S., and they can not and will not remove them, even though i proved they were delivered..  The service metrics follows what a buyer says, regardless of what you as a seller does.. period..

 

and it is wrong, and only a matter of time until this new system gets abused.. either by buyers or fellow competing sellers..

Message 16 of 17
latest reply

About Defects

I agree that it is ridiculous that an inr would be counted in that situation and that it would be counted as 8 items when it was all in one pkg. In the old defect system when snad's were counted against us, if we went above the maximum allowed but there were less than 4 unique buyers, we wouldn't be penalized. We'll have to ask Tyler next week if there is something similar with this system.

 

 

Message 17 of 17
latest reply