response to a question about shipping "defects" asked by an ebay rep in the Wednesday board session

[faircrochet]

From the latest Wednesday weekly board session:

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Hi vintagenorth.

That's a fair point of view. I think that's one of the reasons we permit a certain number of "defects" in all cases.

Part of the point of our standards program is to be able to identify the sellers who are delivering the best possible buyer experiences, so the bar for top-rated is set quite high. But even there, sellers can have a few defects and still be considered among the best of the best.

The scenario you decribe is the kind of thing that can happen to anyone from time to time, no matter how terrific they are. But imagine hypothetically two sellers with otherwise identical records, except one seller has had a few of these specific cases and another has had none. Which one should we show highest in search results?

Even though this is typically not a "defect" that is within a seller's control, and even if the seller refunds the price to the buyer (thank you!), these are not good buyer experiences, and something we want to ensure doesn't become larger than a breadbox for any given seller. I hope that makes sense.

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vintagenorth wrote:

Well, I guess I have a "defect" question too.

Why is it a defect when a buyer doesn't receive their item due to it being lost in the mail and as soon as they open a case to let the seller know about the problem, the seller immediately refunds the buyer? I realize its a problem for the buyer, but the seller has done all they can to solve the problem. Somehow this doesn't seem fair to the seller, blaming them for what is a postal error.

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To answer the hypothetical question that the ebay rep asked - a good case could be made to rate the seller with "a few of these specified cases" as better than the seller who has had none.  When a seller has responded to a problem that was out of their control in a way which satisfied the customer (ie sending an immediate replacement or refund when a package was lost by the delivery carrier) they have demonstrated their commitment to customer service.  If a seller hasn't faced that particular problem yet you really don't know what their response would be.

My problem with the whole issue is that buyers don't even know they are opening a case.  When they click on the "contact seller" link they are faced with several choices - if they haven't recieved their item yet that's a logical line to select.  I just had that happen for the first time and the buyer was upset to find out she had opened a case and asked me should she close it.  People who sell more than I do have seen many more examples of this - buyers shouldn't be "defaulted" into opening a case when they hadn't intended to and didn't want to.

And while I'm on a rant, I'll join the others in asking WHY hasn't the DSR for shipping time been reworded so that it's clear to the buyer what is being rated?  Asking "how quickly did the seller ship the item" sounds like you're asking how long the shipping took, not how long did it take the seller to deposit the item with the shipping company.  And if a buyer clearly demonstrates with their feedback that they rated the shipping DSR low because the shipping company (or customs) delayed the package, why can't the DSR (and the feedback, for that matter) be removed?

Rant over, thank you for your time.  🙂

[rose-dee]

Well, I agree with you completely, but remember -- this is eBay we're talking about, a law unto itself. 

I have to ask myself -- What is their underlying motive?  I don't think it's to make all of us smaller sellers provide better customer service.  I think these rule changes are to make it easier for the really big sellers to do well on this site. 

At the Wed. open board this week, I raised the same issue as you mention concerning difficulties buyers are having in making easy, simple and direct contact with sellers to ask a question.  The answer (from Rodney) was enlightening, although I have to wonder if he said more than he intended.  Essentially his answer was that these policies were designed to make life easier (and less expensive) for big sellers, who don't want to have to pay people to communicate directly with their buyers. 

The same principle likely also applies to open cases (especially unintentional ones for INR, as you point out).  I think that load of double-speak you were offered by the eBay rep was nothing but smoke and mirrors to justify a programme that is not intended to assist every seller in providing the best customer service, but primarily those who are making the most money for eBay.  If that weren't true, like you I'd have to say that it makes no sense and the people who dreamt up these rules were missing a few marbles -- and I doubt that's the case.  We just can't see behind the curtain.

If you read through the posts that day, you'll see that I then asked if eBay could make it possible to offer a prominent "Ask Seller a Question" button as an option to be placed on listings, especially for eBay store owners who already have a number of customizable features available.  You might also notice there was no direct response to that suggestion. 

Personally I don't think eBay has any interest whatsoever in going back to the friendly, folksy, interesting place full of curiosities and unique things that it once was.  Although this site certainly had its problems and issues, I believe most smaller sellers who have been around here for a while would say it was much easier -- and more fun -- to sell on eBay even 3 or 4 years ago.  There was probably also, by and large, a different type of buyer than eBay is now courting. 

Despite proclamations by eBay about "raising the bar" for all sellers, and ensuring that buyers return to eBay,  I think the true purpose of these adjusted rules is to weed out a lot of lower volume or "boutique" sellers, or at the very least make them far less visible, while at the same time kissing goodbye the type of buyers those sellers were attracting. 

And who does that primarily benefit?  The biggest sellers (who can absorb a substantial number of defects without blinking), and by extension eBay itself, which is making the fastest and most reliable fees off those sellers.  With new search parameters possibly favouring high sales volumes, a very large volume seller probably doesn't have to worry about TRS placement boosts (who knows - they may already be getting TRS-equivalent discounts from eBay too), so 5% of say 5,000 transactions in a 3-month period, is 250 bad buyer experiences.  That's a fair number of unhappy customers. 

This, IMHO, is not all about better customer service. 

Two weeks ago, my theories were just that, but since Rodney's statement this week, I have had my doubts confirmed and now have a sinking feeling of being one of the unwanted many.  I suspect Rodney was only letting a small part of the cat out of the bag that day -- there's no doubt far more to it than we'll ever know.  My eyes are now open.  I have to admit it's depressing.

[cumos55]

Over the past 12 months many sellers have been removed from eBay..

Their removal was based on the parameters before this last Spring Update.

eBay's first clean-out

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Many sellers are trying to understand the implications of this last update....

For those sellers that have a very low number of defects... today...and based on the last 12 months,  transition to the new evaluation parameters should not be difficult.

What we are seeing is sellers examining their own way of selling....

Some are very paranoid... while others are prepared to move on.

There are many sellers  who will look back and say eBay no more... They were most likely the problem sellers.... or  sellers that are afraid to make adjustments, or just do not want to change their way of selling. 

The best anyone can do is to move on  and adjust selling practices ... and be aware of what constitutes a defect......  

eBay requires a measure of constant adjustment......  aim to continue to get better at selling on eBay.... before eBay enforces a change

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eBay is looking very closely at the reality of many, many and many more....  perhaps as much as 250 million listings  and more on eBay (from a report on eBay.com).

I foresee the time  when certain categories  will be limited to a specific number of listings..... New sellers are accepted by application....  or sellers will be limited   to a specific number of listings in that category....  sellers will have to rotate inventory on and off eBay

eBay is getting close to a situation where they could be overwhelmed by the total number of listings.

eBay is already saying not all qualifying listings  will be shown in every search report...

Internet selling will change over the next few years...

first ...in relation to postal rates

Second ... in relation to what can be sold profitably.

and finally .... third .... in relation to those sellers that provide the best of the best service on eBay, specifically.

If eBay goes to a zero listing fee environment... then  each seller will have to be given a listing limit ... and limits will be increased based on ... Defect history, perhaps....  

Top-Rated sellers will be promoted... more specifically those sellers with a low defect total...

Welcome to the reality of the eBay of the future...  

Work towards better selling practices... even before eBay brings in future updates...

What is next?

Where is my crystal ball?

Ooops!

Sold that many years ago!... and I did sell a crystal ball... 

[westernstargifts]

I have been thinking lately that all of these free listing promotions are really to test the sell-through rates of sellers as well as the level of service (no defects) given to customers.  They will weed out those who do not have a high sell-through rate by giving them less and less exposure in search. 

Having received several defects this past month for circumstances beyond my control I am also wondering if that is the reason I was not included in the latest listing promotion.  I usually receive an invitation to the majority of them.  My observations could be totally off the wall but that is the way I see it right now.

I plan to re-open my booth on the ranch later this year and ramp up my listings on another site where I also sell.  I am not planning to give up on eBay but, as people have been saying on here for year, don't put all of your eggs in one basket.  I don't have much faith in eBay these days. 

[faircrochet]

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eBay is looking very closely at the reality of many, many and many more....  perhaps as much as 250 million listings  and more on eBay (from a report on eBay.com).

I foresee the time  when certain categories  will be limited to a specific number of listings..... New sellers are accepted by application....  or sellers will be limited   to a specific number of listings in that category....  sellers will have to rotate inventory on and off eBay

eBay is getting close to a situation where they could be overwhelmed by the total number of listings.

eBay is already saying not all qualifying listings  will be shown in every search report...

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That's a very interesting thought.  It would seem odd that, on the one hand they are being overwhelmed with listings, while on the other hand they offer what amounts to a couple of unlimited free listing periods a month (I know, they have limits, but well beyond what most people could list in a week).

The free listing promos could be a test - what gets listed, what percentage sells, do defect rates rise.  For the bad sellers, a "give them enough rope and they will hang themselves" situation - give them enough free listings and they will 'defect' themselves right off the site.