w~~_7.JPG "pjcdn2005"){kind=avatar}
You posted 10 minutes ago.
The negative feedback is already gone! 
Hi 'mj' -- I have to say, having read through this thread, that I completely sympathize with your sense of frustration with, and (for lack of a better word) betrayal by, eBay.
However, let me suggest that you take a deep breath and before abandoning this site entirely in one fell swoop, let the matter sit for a week or so to get some perspective. The reason I say this is that I've been in precisely the same place about a year ago (for different reasons, but the result was the same), but unlike my younger self, who might have made an impulsive move based on frustration and pique with eBay, I decided to postpone any action for a couple of weeks. At that point I felt I'd had time to gain perspective and make some choices from a more analytical and cost-effective foundation, rather than an emotional reaction.
What that experience did to me was to change me from an eBay optimist into an eBay realist. I grew a thicker skin practically overnight. It isn't pretty, but it has helped me carry on and take what I need from selling here.
I now accept, as a fact, for example, that "Customer Service" is going to be a frustrating, next-to-useless option, so I don't expect any help from that end. EBay's CS is, for the most part, merely lip service in my opinion. If eBay could replace the live bodies with canned responses and still get away with it, they probably would. This is no longer the eBay of 10 years ago where you could send a question in by email and get a knowledgeable response (from someone with both a command of eBay policy and a command of English).
However, the CS issue is just one aspect of my "new view" of eBay. Another is that I have to do everything possible to protect myself against defects, even if that means (as 'ricarmic' pointed out), trying to resolve a FB issue directly with a customer. My "new view" of eBay is that I am going to use this site now for my own benefit, as long as there is a profit to be made, without any expectation of assistance, accommodation, or concessions from eBay in terms of making it easier or simpler to sell here. As I've said on other occasions, my current attitude toward this site is "sauve qui peut" (every man/woman to himself).
I can understand the feeling of frustration and anger at having worked for years to maintain a perfect FB/defect record and then suddenly having an unfair negative FB comment appear. This did happen to me, and I (ever so politely) got the buyer to revise it. I don't think 'pj' was quite as cool about her experience at the time as she may now recall -- I seem to remember a number of upset and frustrated posts with Raphael over the issue. It does feel like unfair and arbitrary punishment when one tries so hard.
But this is the new eBay, and I stay now not because their policies and rules make selling here easier, but primarily because of the greater exposure here and because it still suits my purposes from a business point of view. However, it does make sense these days not to put all your eggs in one basket, whether here or elsewhere. I came to this conclusion too earlier this year and have been selling successfully on other sites, without all the garbage to deal with on eBay.
Still, I won't leave eBay as long as I can continue to make even a small profit here, and as long as eBay doesn't downgrade me into oblivion as a result of their new policies, because I believe every additional exposure is a good thing. Interestingly, I find for example that items which don't sell well on other sites sell better here -- perhaps a different demographic is involved. In any event, and for what it's worth, my advice would be to keep your eBay store open (perhaps on a month-to-month basis) as long as you can make a profit here, but try experimenting with selling products elsewhere as well. My guess is that you'll find the experience will give you a more clear-eyed and realistic, if not cynical view, of eBay that will help protect you against feeling betrayed and mistreated by this site. At least that's what it did for me.
I wanted to add that, at least in my opinion, you are in a somewhat more favourable position than many of us, in that you've mentioned you use tracked shipping quite a lot. This fact alone should help to statistically shield you against defects after February if you can hang on long enough to benefit from the new policy changes. In other words, your defect risks and worries will be a lot lower come February, 2016, so it may be worth sticking it out here past that point, even if you do set up on another site as well.
All of the above simply given in an effort to be helpful....
"...just before so many of the issues are about to be corrected..."
If that is how you see the changes announced in the Fall Update affecting your eBay business --- good for you!
While most American sellers will benefit from the changes, that is not how I see the policy changes for many Canadians.
Different strokes for different folks.
"What am I missing?"
Please take the time to read all questions, comments and inquiries on this thread by Canadian sellers
http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Updates/2015-Fall-Seller-Update/m-p/312578#U312578
While the changes may be favourable to you and your eBay business, the same cannot be said for many other Canadian sellers.
@sylviebee wrote:Also, it does look like eBay is backing off and working towards a fairer system and so there's a good chance they'll tweak the proposals before implementing them.
I'm not sure how you arrived at this conclusion. The new policy will only be fair for those who can afford tracking, or have a large enough volume to buffer against the total by which the new metrics will be calculated. It is certainly anything but an even playing field, and will seriously disadvantage smaller sellers simply because it's a numbers game.
As an example, a Canadian seller with an annual transaction volume of 5,000 and a FB rate of 50%, with a 50% response rate on the on-time delivery question will have a statistical base of 1250 transactions on which the late shipment rate will be calculated. At a maximum of 5%, that seller will be able to absorb 62 late shipment responses before losing Global TRS, or 112 late shipment responses to retain standard required seller performance status.
On the other hand, a Canadian seller with an annual transaction count of 200, and with the same FB and delivery response rates (50% and 50%) will be judged based on just 50 transactions on which buyers leave a delivery time response. 5% of those 50 transactions is just 2.5, so with just 3 postal mishaps or buyer misinterpretations or memory failure within a year, that seller will lose Global TRS. It doesn't take too many ordinary snowstorms each winter to slow down air traffic.
With 5 "no" responses, the 200 transaction per annum seller will fall below the required seller standards. At that point, according to eBay's details on this policy, eBay "may restrict the shipping options your listings can offer...", which I read to mean obliging the seller to offer tracked shipping only. How well will that work for Canadians?
So if you are one of the lucky few who can afford (or justify) tracking, or have a large annual transaction count then no, this policy is of little concern.
'toby' was quite right that currently, a buyer is asked to give a subjective rating for the shipping time DSR -- and the only rating that now counts as a defect is a "1", which would represent quite an extreme situation. By contrast, under the new system, buyers will have no choice but "yes" or "no". There's a 50% chance that those who don't, can't, or won't remember the delivery date accurately will choose no.
To have been fair to Canadians, the new policy would have taken the reality of our shipping situation into account, providing us with a much wider leeway for failure, say 10% or 15% (or perhaps even excused us completely). This is clearly a U.S.-focused plan, and will in any event make it far easier for sellers with higher volumes to maintain their seller status.
We should also recognize that the other nasty side of the coin of this policy (from buyers' perspectives) is that a lot of egregious behaviour may now be let loose on eBay that had been bottled up and fenced in by the existing defect system. Although the existing defect system created some unfair scenarios, it did have the desired effect of cleaning up some of the worst selling offences.
Basically, under the new rules, as long as a seller keeps items in stock, delivers on eBay's time schedule with tracking, and refunds promptly if there is a complaint (i.e. avoids cases being opened), there isn't much that can do his eBay seller status any damage. Consider what this will mean for the big-volume Chinese sellers who can afford tracking for $10 items. We thought they were getting away with murder previously.... 
Featured Posts
