Link gives item numbers attached to defects

[pjcdn2005]

http://eshopping.promotw.com/globalsellerapp/view/us

Some sellers have said that it isn't 100% accurate. It doesn't give the item numbers associated with low DSR's yet.

[cumos55]

How are buyers going to feel about the new reality... Sellers will know who left the low ratings  that caused a defect.

Sellers will know  but still should not contacts buyers who left low ratings.

No more "anonymous" ratings.... buyers will no longer be able to hide from sellers..... Report a Buyer  could become a very active function.

This last Update will also affect how buyers evaluate sellers...  An anonymous "defect rate for buyers" ...  IF .... buyers are reported by sellers....

[cumos55]

The following statement was found on eBay.com

Weekly Chat about Seller Performance Standards - April 14, 2014

In terms of which defects on transactions that are already more than 90 days old, sellers on a 12-month look back will be protected until the March 20, 2015 seller evaluation from selling limits or restrictions as a consequence of falling below eBay’s minimum standards strictly because of one or more of the defects that were not previously counted in standards:

• Opened cases
• Detailed seller ratings of 3 for item description
• Returns because the item was not as described
• Negative or neutral feedback
• Seller-cancelled transactions

link to 

http://community.ebay.com/t5/Weekly-Chat-with-eBay-Staff/Weekly-Chat-about-Seller-Performance-Standa...

[cumos55]

For those of us that are evaluated on a 12 month basis....

March 20, 2015 will be an important day..

Sellers have 12 months to make adjustments  if a look back to March 20, 2013 added defects that were not there based on  the before March 20, 2014 evaluation protocol.

If a seller does visit the eBay.com boards,  one should be careful of the information presented 

A seller will find links such as the Weekly Chat Session where there was someone to provide the correct information.

In contrast, there are the discussions that feed upon paranoia....Something no one needs

[bb_cool_stuff]

Happy Easter Everyone.

We did the Family Thing yesterday.

IND will be a problem for a lot of sellers.

An IND is launched by buyer, seller offers Full Refund & Return Shipping upon receipt of item.

Buyer wants Partial or Full Refund without returning the item which in turn has the seller questioning the legitimacy of their, so called, Item Not As Described.

Buyer doesn't return Item, but the Seller has a Defect on their record & some Low DSRS.

Trust me, It happens, in my case more than once over the years.

[rose-dee]

---

@pjcdn2005 wrote:

I decided to live dangerously and clicked on the link in  'pj's post

1) Do you seriously think that I would post something that might be dangerous without a warning? Sheesh

2) Why are you so worried about the defects? You have 0 for the last year. Do you think the coming year is going to be much different?

---

1)  It was supposed to be humorous (i.e. a joke) -- try to lighten up a little! 

2)  Actually I am a bit concerned that the coming year will be different.  Keeping my current 'clean' rating has come at a cost, both in monetary terms and in terms of my time.  More of both will be needed now I think -- there are 8 potential areas to be mindful of now, as opposed to 4 previously (DSRs). 

What you don't  see in my current seller ratings are the opened cases that were closed by buyers, my seller-cancelled transactions, and a couple of erroneous neutral FB that I had buyers revise over the last year or so.  Granted, there weren't many of each of these, but certainly enough that if the present system had been in place, I would have racked up enough defects to put my TRS in jeopardy (or worse).  As you pointed out, buyers (and sellers) do make mistakes on occasion, but when that happens now, it may easily create a defect. 

Monitoring my defect ratings is now going to be an important part of my weekly routine.  With a fairly low volume business like mine, I really can't afford to be blasé about any potential defects. 

The game is not quite so easy as it was, and a little more vigilance is in order.

[cumos55]

The following link should be available to everyone....  a constant source of information

http://pages.ebay.ca/sellerinformation/news/springupdate2014/sellerstandards.html

From that link

• Cases found in your favour don't count. Any case that escalates to eBay or PayPal for review and is found in your favour, or found to be no fault of the buyer or seller, won't count against your performance rating. It won't be counted as a defect and it won't count toward your percentage of cases closed without seller resolution.

The critical factor is .. Who does what,  and what Paypal or eBay do  with the case....

If a not as described case is opened... it appears as a defect.... that is a reality 

If the case is closed in the seller's favour it does not count as a case not resolved by a seller.

It is more critical for a seller to resolve the case in order that it not be a part of the 0.3 % percentage of not resolved cases....

than not to have the ... not as described case .... be classified as a defect..

[widgetc]

Hmmm...I have 5 "defects" None of the buyers contacted me before opening a case. 3 are for INR. One was to Russia without tracking and it could have been lost but it was a low feedback buyer from a risky country. One was an item sent to the Maldives. The buyer opened an INR without contacting me, I refunded. A bit later he repaid because the item arrived. Another was INR opened without contacting me. Another opened INAD without contact saying the stamp sheet was not the one shown. It was the same one. He returned and I refunded, he could have returned  anyhow as I have 14 day returns. The 5th item does not show up when I search the number.

There should be no defects if the buyer has not contacted the seller.

[cumos55]

We look back to the last 12 months to determine what could have happened in relation to defects.

We look forward from today to determine what should be done to limit the occurrence of defects...

Perhaps... More importantly... we have to know what NOT to do

We should also remember that a buyer can create several defects in one transaction....  However, the official count is one defect per transaction...

[rose-dee]

---

@cumos55 wrote:

It is more critical for a seller to resolve the case in order that it not be a part of the 0.3 % percentage of not resolved cases....

---

I'd like to see some adjustment made by eBay to this defect concept so that a case which is opened by a buyer can be closed by the buyer without generating a defect for the seller.   

People make honest mistakes, or act prematurely and then reconsider.  These things do happen.

[cumos55]

The 5th item does not show up when I search the number.

Check your records for the date of transaction..

Transactions with problems were tracked by me through the date of emails for sold items received from eBay

What  was first seen as a wrong ID number... was in fact correct.  It appears that ID numbers are re-used by eBay after a transaction has been completed...

[rose-dee]

---

@cumos55 wrote:

The following statement was found on eBay.com

Weekly Chat about Seller Performance Standards - April 14, 2014 

In terms of which defects on transactions that are already more than 90 days old, sellers on a 12-month look back will be protected until the March 20, 2015 seller evaluation from selling limits or restrictions as a consequence of falling below eBay’s minimum standards strictly because of one or more of the defects that were not previously counted in standards:

• Opened cases
• Detailed seller ratings of 3 for item description
• Returns because the item was not as described
• Negative or neutral feedback
• Seller-cancelled transactions

---

'cumos' - This is good news - more time to prepare and adapt to the new system -- but will it apply to Canadian sellers as well?   I'm wondering if you've seen a similar statement on the eBay.ca boards, or by eBay.ca staff? 

[cumos55]

From an earlier reply.....

If a not as described case is opened... it appears as a defect.... that is a reality 

If the case is closed in the seller's favour it does not count as a case not resolved by a seller.

There is a lot of discussion on eBay.com about the fact that buyers wanted to ask a question.... but opened case in error.... Something that eBay will have to adjust......so that sellers are not set up for failure.....

[cumos55]

 a similar statement on the eBay.ca boards

Clarification/confirmation  required this coming Wednesday, perhaps.....

[rose-dee]

---

@cumos55 wrote:

From an earlier reply.....

If a not as described case is opened... it appears as a defect.... that is a reality 

If the case is closed in the seller's favour it does not count as a case not resolved by a seller.

There is a lot of discussion on eBay.com about the fact that buyers wanted to ask a question.... but opened case in error.... Something that eBay will have to adjust......so that sellers are not set up for failure.....

---

What I'm wondering is whether "closed in a seller's favour" means that it must be escalated and found by eBay to be in the seller's favour, i.e. not simply closed by a buyer who opened an erroneous case (for whatever reason). 

I definitely agree that this is something eBay needs to look at and adjust.  I expect it may be one of those circumstances that wasn't fully considered when the defect system was designed.  EBay tends to forget about honest human errors. 

All it may take is for sellers to bring it to eBay's attention - perhaps over and over.  I do intend to ask about this at the next Wed. discussion. 

... and I'll make a note to ask about whether the March 2015 date applies to .ca sellers as well

[cumos55]

Adjusting the....  

will not ship to list of countries.....

and ....

shipping internationally with tracking

or  ...

shipping internationally with quick delivery  ... such as delivery via airmail within about 14 days and with no tracking

resulted in no opened cases of non receipt....  no defects.... over the past 12 months....

[cumos55]

A clarification  ---

no opened cases of non receipt --- from international buyers....

[bb_cool_stuff]

Are we putting too much stalk in all of this ?

We are talking just 20% off Final Value Fees & supposedly a Lower Placement.

We already have a lower placement in relation to US TRS Competitors anyway, Don't We ?

I have Two Friendly Competitors out East who don't have TRS Status & yet continue to sell a ton of product in saturated markets.

Are they really concerned about 20% off FVF ?  Not at all.

Obviously they have been doing something right....for years.

[froogal_electronic_parts_and_overstock]

I am sure ebay discussed it, but it seems a bunch of BS to me. 

They say that these things mean a buyer is dissatisfied with the transaction and makes them less likely to buy. Even if the  buyer closes the claims themselves? 

I have over 34 'defects' of which the first 20 I checked, the INR - 7 out of 8 were all closed by the buyer who were just panicking because it didn't arrive in a week from Canada to the US. The one that wasn't actively closed by the buyer, just ran out. 

If the buyer closes the claim, doesn't that mean they are satisfied and that they realize that the shipment arrived as it should? How is that a defect? I know ebay has their reasons, but it seems pretty spurious. This again points to their desire to have only tracked shipments, as most of these were sent Airmail. 

Obviously for me to lower this issue I have to send tracked which means increasing prices or decreasing or eliminative the more marginal sales. 

I believe we will see ebay back track yet again on a poorly thought out system of measurement.

My prediction is the very least modification they will do is eliminate an item as being a defect for INR and possibly IND if the buyer closes the  claim on their own, or lets it run out. Which I think is as it should be. 

[rose-dee]

---

@cumos55 wrote:

Adjusting the..

will not ship to list of countries.....

and ....

shipping internationally with tracking

or  ...

shipping internationally with quick delivery  ... such as delivery via airmail within about 14 days and with no tracking

resulted in no opened cases of non receipt....  no defects.... over the past 12 months....

---

I do the same, and have not had an INR case yet.  On the shipping side it does cost me some money out of my own pocket because I often "subsidize" buyers' shipping costs in order to be able to ensure fast and efficient delivery. 

That sort of trade-off is what I consider to be one of the costs of doing business on eBay and retaining a good seller reputation. 

We have arguably the biggest market in the world right next door (U.S.), with sophisticated buyers who are used to purchasing online and we have good shipping services to that market at fairly reasonable rates. 

Yet I see many beginning sellers who fail to appreciate that they can cultivate that market and avoid unnecessary shipping issues, while at the same time not shipping to every conceivable country in the world.  It takes some experience to master international selling and shipping on eBay to the best advantage.

[rose-dee]

---

@bb_cool_stuff wrote:

Are we putting too much stock in all of this ?

We are talking just 20% off Final Value Fees & supposedly a Lower Placement.

We already have a lower placement in relation to US TRS Competitors anyway, Don't We ?

---

'bb' - There are times I've wondered if you're right.  Yet that 20% made a big difference for me.  Combined with the lower Cdn$, it helped me be able to continue to offer good shipping services (often upgrading to a tracked service if I thought it advisable), which in turn has helped me keep the 20% TRS discount.  I sell quite a number of items in the $200-300 range, and that discount can add up to significant savings (now I'm sounding like eBay - whoops!!).

On the other side of the coin, I really don't know whether to believe eBay when they say my TRS/TRS+ status will help to boost the placement of my listings.  You might have seen my other thread on this ("Are We Invisible?").  If that were the only perquisite of the TRS programme, I probably wouldn't bother. 

The other aspect that is important to me -  probably because I have advertising and marketing experience in the "real world" - is that the US TRS+ 'seal of approval' that is shown next to my listings on .com (where most of my buyers are) may give some confidence to US buyers that a Canadian seller is as reliable and professional as the best of the US sellers.  I see this as no small thing, especially in the line of items I sell. 

So I guess the bottom line is that, having scraped and scrambled my way to this point so far, I'll continue to try to hang onto my TRS status as long as I can.  I'm not so sure about the US TRS+ -- it's going to get expensive to maintain it with the new, stringent tracking validation and higher Canada Post rates.  I haven't quite decided yet.