Defect rate - from bad to worse

[rosscd57]

For those who have not seen this new eBay fiasco - here it is.

New way to measure performance rewards sellers providing great service

• Starting with the August 20 monthly seller evaluation, a new measure, the transaction defect rate ("defect rate"), will replace the current four individual detailed seller rating requirements in evaluating seller performance. This new rating may impact your status.
• The defect rate is simply the percentage of a seller's successful transactions that have one or more of the following transaction-related defects, the top predictors that a buyer will leave eBay or buy less:
  • Detailed seller rating of 1, 2 or 3 for item as described
  • Detailed seller rating of 1 for shipping time
  • Negative or neutral feedback
  • Return initiated for a reason that indicates the item was not as described
  • eBay Money Back Guarantee (previously known as eBay Buyer Protection) or PayPal Purchase Protection case opened for an item not received or an item not as described
  • Seller-cancelled transactions
• Starting with the August 20 evaluation, to meet eBay's minimum standard, sellers can have up to a maximum 5% of transactions with one or more transaction defects over the most recent evaluation period. A maximum 2% will allow a seller to qualify as an eBay Top Rated Seller. The  same requirements apply both to your Global and US seller performance  standards.
• The defect rate won't affect your status until you have transactions with defects with at least 8 different buyers (at least 5 different buyers to impact Top Rated status) within your evaluation period.
• Just as today, sellers can have a maximum of 0.3% of eBay Money Back Guarantee or PayPal Purchase Protection closed cases without seller resolution over the most recent evaluation period. That means the buyer opened the case, you weren't able to resolve it, the buyer reached out to eBay or PayPal to review it, and eBay found you responsible.
• Just as today, sellers with 400 or more transactions over the past 3 months will be evaluated based on the past 3 months and sellers with fewer than 400 transactions will be evaluated based on the past 12 months.

In general, the lower your defect rate, the better your position in Best Match search results

• By focusing squarely on what matters most to buyers, the new transaction defect rate allows eBay to recognize and reward sellers who consistently deliver the great service buyers expect—and to identify and respond to the experiences that erode confidence and drive buyers away.
• If you maintain a low defect rate, eBay will reward you with an enhanced position in Best Match search results, so your track record for great service can pay off in more visibility and potential sales.

[amw0825]

I think the part that bothers me most is the "seller cancelled transactions"  Two reasons for this. 

First, I do not feel that sellers should be penalized for cancelling a transaction if they find the sold item has damage that may have occured after it was listed, or while being stored.  Some sellers have items listed for months, even years before they sell.  At this point sellers will be on the hook no matter what.  Cancel transaction or ship not as described...no win situation

Second - I have noticed that even though ebay encourages us to use the bulk re-listing tool, if relisting an item that has a quantity of more than one, it will relist with original quantity, even if several have sold.  We have had many problems with this.  We try to check each listing now, but that defeats the purpose of bulk relisting!!

I feel better now, needed to vent!

[38e_avenue]

Wow, "Seller cancelled transaction" - I had 11 last week, because the buyer didn't contact me since one month! 

I didn't open "payment not received" because I was afraid, the buyer will leave 11 negative feedback.

[rosscd57]

The one that bothers me is the "returned Not As Described". Lets face it Not as Described is the catch all for returns for baloney reasons - ie. buyers remorse, bought it on a whim, does not fit, did not like it when I saw it, my kid did it, realized I could not afford it.

I take a great deal of time to describe my items to a tee and lets face it when someone says - Not As Described - even if the seller has done a magnificent description NAS is subjective and can not be defended.

This one is going to be trouble.

[dmil8030]

38e_avenue,

If you have had 11 unpaid items in a month and no response from your 'buyers', you really

ought to go for the Unpaid Item cases.

On the bright side, - buyers (or rather non-buyers) who do not pay and thus lose the Unpaid dispute

cannot leave any kind of feedback.  If they have left any - be it positive or negative - it automatically

disappears afterward.

Better still, - you get your fees back promptly.  See the following link from ebay about Unpaid items:

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/sell/unpaid-items.html

Filing a cancellation is good for those instances when the buyer asks to cancel and you've had a

pleasant exchange, or even if you find there is something wrong with the item before sending, etc.

There are oodles of reasons to cancel a transaction, but if you've got unpaid-for items and have

sent the buyers each a friendly reminder that they need to pay or you will be forced to open an

ebay case, when you get no response, - it is probably best for you to go for the Unpaid Item dispute.

Also, because non-payers tend to be repeat offenders, you can set your preferences to block

people with 2 or more past unpaid items:

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/sell/manage_bidders_ov.html#set

If you block too much and set your limits too tight you will simply reduce sales, - fine if you like

relisting unsold items as a hobby.  But to start with, block those 11 non-payers who didn't have

the decency to at least offer you outlandishly lame excuses.

And by filing unpaid cases against such louts in future, you also help other sellers (who have set up

blocks against non-payers) by restricting their access to these sellers' items.

Best wishes for increased sales in future. 

[38e_avenue]

Thank you for the advice!

Unfortunately, the situation was a little bit more complicated. 11 cases have been opened for one buyer only.

This buyer has also bought (and paid!) 8 items earlier and still didn't leave the feedback.

So why not contacting me after purchasing 11 more?

He felt probably offended by a refusal to accept his "best offers" - I got about 40 "one dollar" offers for 30-100 dollars items (imagine!!).

In that situation I decided to act carefully. Item not paid dispute is offensive - I wanted to avoid that.

[dmil8030]

Aaah, yes, well, you didn't say all that the first time.  Haha, you're quite right, - infuriating

as it is, few would dare to open unpaid cases on someone who could still leave feedback.

Well, all you can do is wait for those 60 feedback days to pass and then get him on your

'blocked' list.

It sounds like he's not a very serious buyer anyway, not with silly offers like that.

However, that said, you do not have to suffer silly offers.  You can set your parameters to automatically

reject those nonsense ones.  Have you already done that?  This link will explain all about doing so,

if you haven't already seen it:

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/sell/best-offer.html#work

Otherwise, if someone like that leaves a whole bunch of negs, you simply need to call ebay

and explain the situation to get them removed.  Ebay will be able to see that it is retaliatory

feedback and of no use to anyone.

So I suppose if you had loads of spare time and were concerned about the 'defect' cancellations,

you could always call ebay and point out that it was all for the one guy and hence that's really

only one cancellation, - and only because you didn't dare open unpaid cases when he can leave

feedback, adding that you are now concerned about the effect on your 'defect rate'.

After all, ebay creates these conundrums so they really ought to hear about them now & again.

[froogal_electronic_parts_and_overstock]

looks like ebay is pandering to the big sellers again. I do want to say that the one item of DSR of 1 for shipping time is about the only bright spot I see since it appears to say that anything above 1 will not be counted against you but the rest doesn't sound good. 

• Detailed seller rating of 1, 2 or 3 for item as described
• Detailed seller rating of 1 for shipping time
• Negative or neutral feedback
• Return initiated for a reason that indicates the item was not as described

Speaking from experience from getting banned before, ebay has a habit of punishing sellers multiple times for the same issue. In the past, I was limited due to 3 claims (when you were punished when a claim was just opened), then months later was suspended for a month because these 3 claims left low DSR's .....duh.

While it looks like this is somewhat mitigated by the 5 and 8 separate buyers clause, for anyone with under 400 transactions This is 12 months and over is 3 months. 

For me, say on average 150 sales per month X 30% FB left that means 1.33 per month allowed. 

The killer for me is Cancelled transactions. I can guarantee you I have at least 5 cancelled transactions per month. Even if they change how it's reported, I am pretty sure I make at least one mistake out of 100, probably more. 

This is definitely a big push away from selling used items, or items from your closet as ebay likes to advertise and a push to selling new items. Ironically, I just bought about 20 brand  new lenses from a camera store and 2 were damaged inside. 

I expect the small sellers, sellers of used items will dwindle due to these changes and sellers selling new will get priority. 

[femmefan1946]

• Negative or neutral feedback

Oh my sweet and fluffy Lord Buddha! We've already been through this neutral feedback thing!

Neutral is neutral. Not Good. Not Bad.

Not Fabulous Orgasmic Totally Rad! Not Soul Crushing Deep Seated Disgust.

Just 'meh'.

• Seller-cancelled transactions

What does this even mean?

Unpaid Item Disputes? Those are not the 'fault' of sellers. Why would sellers be penalized?

Mutual Cancellations? In addition to sellers asking for a cancellation because of problems like breakage, these are often initiated by buyers who learn of problems like sellers who prefer not to ship to Canada. And the decision to cancel is in any case mutual. There is no 'fault' here.

Or is eBay planning to allow sellers to formally cancel transactions without consulting the buyer? That could be worth risking a Defect strike for.

I would argue that it couldn't mean cancelling listings before they become transactions. And in any case, there already is a financial penalty for that. Or does eBay plan to drop the financial penalty on cancelled listings in favour of the Defect penalty?

[froogal_electronic_parts_and_overstock]

---

@femmefan1946 wrote:

• Negative or neutral feedback

Oh my sweet and fluffy Lord Buddha! We've already been through this neutral feedback thing!

Neutral is neutral. Not Good. Not Bad.

Not Fabulous Orgasmic Totally Rad! Not Soul Crushing Deep Seated Disgust.

Just 'meh'.

• Seller-cancelled transactions

What does this even mean?

Unpaid Item Disputes? Those are not the 'fault' of sellers. Why would sellers be penalized?

Mutual Cancellations? In addition to sellers asking for a cancellation because of problems like breakage, these are often initiated by buyers who learn of problems like sellers who prefer not to ship to Canada. And the decision to cancel is in any case mutual. There is no 'fault' here.

Or is eBay planning to allow sellers to formally cancel transactions without consulting the buyer? That could be worth risking a Defect strike for.

I would argue that it couldn't mean cancelling listings before they become transactions. And in any case, there already is a financial penalty for that. Or does eBay plan to drop the financial penalty on cancelled listings in favour of the Defect penalty?

---

neutral never meant neutral, and 4 stars is not a good rating. of course, i know you knew that. 

what ebay needs to do, IMHO, is come clean with what these things really mean. 

[femmefan1946]

Sigh. I know.

But there was a year or so ago a huge scream from sellers when for a few months or weeks neutrals were counted against our Seller accounts as negatives. Then sanity prevailed.

I'd be more exact , but I am both blonde and a senior, and those decades with Miss Clairol weigh heavily on my ability to remember anything.

Is eBay still telling Buyers that 4 is a normal Rating for an allright/nothing special sale? I'm scared to look.

[rose-dee]

---

froogal_electronic_parts_and_overstock wrote:

---

what ebay needs to do, IMHO, is come clean with what these things really mean. 

---

I think what they really mean is that eBay is abandoning the base that made it what it was, all those small, individual sellers who either didn't want to, or weren't able to, run a business, but to make some extra money from selling off their bits and bobs. 

What eBay wants is professional, commercial sellers -- and those with high volumes will benefit from these policies because their numbers will be able to better absorb any damage.  For those who sell thousands of items per year (over 400/month), their exposure will now only be limited to the last 3 months.  You can hide a lot of bad selling practices if your numbers are big enough.

I would, like 'femmefan' , love to know exactly what "seller-cancelled transactions" means in this new scenario.  Also, what's the point of even allowing "Neutral" FB if you're going to effectively treat it as negative for purposes of seller evaluation.  Why not just drop it altogether?  A neg is a neg is a neg.  The INR defect will be trouble for a lot of sellers -- there are already reports of scams and rip-offs by way of false INR claims that can't be proven unless you buy delivery confirmation (and sometimes not even then). 

Well, sellers complained so much about the DSR system, now we have this instead.  Time will tell.

[pocomocomputing]

It tools years with the DSR system to make tweaks by ebay to fix parts of it. Meanwhile some sellers were punished by DSRS until fixes were made over time.

How long will it take for the defect rate to be tweaked? How many sellers will be punished unfairly while they tune it up each year?

[dutchman48]

I asked some similar questions on the Weekly board and got a snide non relative response from Ebay staff. This defect garbage will also be retroactive for a year especially for small sellers, which Ebay of course wants to get rid of. Neutral will now mean hegative as far as defects. I guess we will all become defective and not just due to age

[cumos55]

Cancellation of transactions

If the buyer asks for a cancellation... no problem

If seller cancels the transaction  and not requested by buyer....this counts against the seller.

Neutral equals negative and is  equally bad for the seller.

----------------------------------

No one has mentioned anything about revised feedback.

If a feedback is revised to a positive... it no longer counts against the seller

BUT... the original negative or neutral feedback is still visible for all to see........ My reading of the change

[cumos55]

Revised feedback

What if I ask my buyer to revise negative or neutral feedback and the buyer agrees, will that transaction still count toward my defect rate?

If your buyer revises the feedback,

the revised feedback will not be shown to other buyers

but

the transaction will count toward your defect rate.

eBay research shows that even when agreeing to revise negative or neutral feedback, the mere act of having left the feedback is still a key predictor of reduced spending.

Correction......I was wrong... wrong... wrong     That will hurt

A neutral or negative feedback will always count as a defect.....  unless....

Any feedback removed by eBay will not count towards your defect rate.

Very important to read all of the answers to questions....

[froogal_electronic_parts_and_overstock]

holy chin. I'm done for.

Aren't all buyer contacts through the resolution center or eBay's member-to-member communication system counted as opened cases?

No, opened cases are only counted when the buyer chooses:

• "I haven't received it yet" or "I received an item that does not match the seller's description" in the resolution center

How many times is a case opened when the person is just asking where there item is? So much for ebay not counting resolved issues. Now if a person even opens a claim, even if just to find out where their item is, whammo!

[rainbow71113]

today I see a preview of the new defect rates and what has me worried is 

it is marking me 

for a case opened for item not as described that was someone who 

bought one pillowcase and didn't realize it was not 2- she closed 

the case when she realized her error and even bought the second case...

this case is counting against me along with all the ones with item not

received.  It moves me down the top seller bracket....so why would

this be fair...?  Also even if you do tracked packages you can still have

people opening cases early and this also counted against me- I think

I only had to resolve 1 of 5 cases that is showing...all the rest received

their packages shortly after opening the case because it opened a 

case instead of just letting them inquire about the whereabouts 

of their package. 

As for cancelling, if you cancel an item that the buyer changed mind that is 

not counting, if because of lost/broken that will and yes  some stock

that has been sitting around may not be in the same shape as it was when 

listed, I usually notify the buyer and ask if they want a discount or to cancel

the transaction...they should have another option that says "buyer agrees to 

cancel" that doesn't penalize the seller.  

[art-in-the-making]

be advised - I suspect that ebay is somehow inciting buyers to "open a case" for item not received, as I recently had three of these suddenly in a two week period, after never having had one ever!

Turned out, in all three cases, tracking had already been uploaded and the buyer just hadn't noticed it, nor, apparently the email I send thru Canada Post. BUT these so-called defects still count against us!

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

Argh, the cancelled sale is gonna hurt me. I do a few of these a year... because I didn't realize that I no longer own that item / I couldn't find it in my storage room. The buyers I had were always nice about accepting the mutual cancellation or take my offer of getting a different item with a discount. Never had a problem and I still have my 100% and 5 stars DSRs.

eBay, stop creating new problems for us