eBay

cumos55 · ‎08-07-2013

Link to

http://www.examiner.com/article/ebay-blocks-15-000-sellers-from-listing

Who is next?

73rhc · ‎08-10-2013

A month max.

king_of_kings_1970 · ‎08-10-2013

I am so glad another member such as yourself sees what I am trying to say. I am not trying to complain, but it has become so exhausting to try to meet every single request set out by Ebay and to me, it has not become a level playing field between Buyers and Sellers. The last conversation I had with an Ebay representative, they stated that Item not as described complaints rose by 85 percent. I think that before I buy something, and I was unsure about the item, I would ask questions. If the seller does not want to answer, then the buyer should consider moving on. The ideal here now is that buyers jump in first and ask questions later and if they don't like the result, the file a complaint.

73rhc · ‎08-10-2013

I'm sure there are many more like us.

pierrelebel · ‎08-12-2013

eBay confirms the crackdown:

http://www.ecommercebytes.com/cab/abn/y13/m08/i12/s01

73rhc · ‎08-12-2013

No confirmation needed. Just read the boards herein!

pierrelebel · ‎08-12-2013

"Just read the boards herein"

Maybe reading the boards is good enough for you.

I am an old man and know better than believing everything I read online, more so when it comes to eBay discussion boards. Too often substantial relevant information is left out or taken out of context.

73rhc · ‎08-12-2013

Never said it was good enough for me. But I can clearly see that there is discontent because of this. I can agree with you on a couple of points that you have raised. 1) the old man part 2) I believe the lack of substantial relevant posts, including yours.

rose-dee · ‎08-12-2013

@king_of_kings_1970 wrote:
I am so glad another member such as yourself sees what I am trying to say. I am not trying to complain, but it has become so exhausting to try to meet every single request set out by Ebay and to me, it has not become a level playing field between Buyers and Sellers. The last conversation I had with an Ebay representative, they stated that Item not as described complaints rose by 85 percent. I think that before I buy something, and I was unsure about the item, I would ask questions. If the seller does not want to answer, then the buyer should consider moving on. The ideal here now is that buyers jump in first and ask questions later and if they don't like the result, the file a complaint.

Hi king-of-kings: Yes, IMO things have definitely become more difficult around here for sellers, particularly in the last year.

Maybe I'm still missing something, and sorry to ask again, but looking at your profile (at least the Cdn one), you've got good stats, only 1 negative in a year, and over 4.8 on all your DSRs.

Why would eBay limit you with that kind of history? That seems crazy and counter-productive for eBay itself -- and actually a little frightening. It's beginning to feel like a good old fashioned Soviet-style purge -- make everybody nervous and afraid, and we'll all keep quiet. .

Or do you have another ID that isn't visible here that eBay cracked down on?

pierrelebel · ‎08-12-2013

king_of_kings_1970 - Is it possible the selling restrictions are a result of the feedback you post for your buyers, inviting them to buy directly from your website, bypassing eBay ?

rose-dee · ‎08-12-2013

@pierrelebel wrote:
eBay confirms the crackdown:

http://www.ecommercebytes.com/cab/abn/y13/m08/i12/s01

Wow! Two things struck me in the face from this article:

(1) " One reader who said eBay had blocked him from listing as part of the crackdown said the cut-off was Below Standard - "aka 1 or 2 star ratings on 1 or 2% of your transactions in any of the 4 DSR categories," he said.

When asked how sellers would know what the limits were, Moore did not give specifics about eBay's criteria, but wrote, "If eBay lowers a seller's limit, it will be communicated through email and My Messages. Sellers are encouraged to reference their Seller Dashboard to manage their selling limit and identify opportunities to improve their selling performance."

So, this means we have no idea what the boundaries are until they're breached, when it's too late? How absurd. Essentially this means that as a seller, you'll always be nervous and worried unless all your performance is 100% all the time. This also means that one slip-up (or one nasty customer) in an otherwise perfect reputation (unless you're selling thousands of items a year) can drop you over the edge. Crickey. This tends to reinforce my opinion that eBay doesn't want smaller sellers anymore.

And (2): the "rumour" noted further on in the article that eBay may be evaluating sellers' performance based on their participation in the Discussion Boards! I can only hope this is indeed a rumour.

pjcdn2005 · ‎08-12-2013

@rose-dee wrote:
@pierrelebel wrote:
eBay confirms the crackdown:

http://www.ecommercebytes.com/cab/abn/y13/m08/i12/s01
Wow! Two things struck me in the face from this article:

(1) " One reader who said eBay had blocked him from listing as part of the crackdown said the cut-off was Below Standard - "aka 1 or 2 star ratings on 1 or 2% of your transactions in any of the 4 DSR categories," he said.

When asked how sellers would know what the limits were, Moore did not give specifics about eBay's criteria, but wrote, "If eBay lowers a seller's limit, it will be communicated through email and My Messages. Sellers are encouraged to reference their Seller Dashboard to manage their selling limit and identify opportunities to improve their selling performance."

So, this means we have no idea what the boundaries are until they're breached, when it's too late? How absurd. Essentially this means that as a seller, you'll always be nervous and worried unless all your performance is 100% all the time. This also means that one slip-up (or one nasty customer) in an otherwise perfect reputation (unless you're selling thousands of items a year) can drop you over the edge. Crickey. This tends to reinforce my opinion that eBay doesn't want smaller sellers anymore.

And (2): the "rumour" noted further on in the article that eBay may be evaluating sellers' performance based on their participation in the Discussion Boards! I can only hope this is indeed a rumour.

Your dashboard gives you the requirements to be a standard seller so anything below that would be below standard and then there would be a possibility of being limited / blocked. The .com requirements are higher than the global requirements. The requirements are also at http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?SDStandards&spsProgram=US&spsThreshold=STANDARD

I don't know if all of the sellers that were limited had number lowser than the standard sellers requirements but if not, I would think that they are awfully close.

rose-dee · ‎08-12-2013

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
Your dashboard gives you the requirements to be a standard seller so anything below that would be below standard and then there would be a possibility of being limited / blocked. The .com requirements are higher than the global requirements. The requirements are also at http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?SDStandards&spsProgram=US&spsThreshold=STANDARD

I don't know if all of the sellers that were limited had number lowser than the standard sellers requirements but if not, I would think that they are awfully close.

I'm thoroughly familiar with seller requirements, but the dashboard is simply not enough to rely upon - I think it gives small sellers a false sense of security. Big sellers don't need to care quite as much, which IMHO, is precisely where eBay wants to go.

I've discovered this from my own experience in being downgraded twice for a reason that was not only not disclosed in the dashboard or eBay's seller requirements, but was erroneously applied by what I assume was either an eBay robot programme or a badly trained employee. It took a week of communications with one of the "Pinks" to get it sorted out and remove the block. And yet my FB score was at 100% and DSRs at 5.0.

That sting of punishment can come from anywhere eBay chooses. In this sense the seller requirements only disclose what eBay is willing to make public -- EBay is under no contractual obligation to their sellers to disclose what all of their obligations are. This is legally absurd and ethically wrong, but most of us live with it as a practicality so we can continue here. Other infractions are hidden from view until you cross one of those lines. The quote by the eBay rep in the article posted by Pierre essentially confirms this is the case, and I'm not surprised to hear it from the horse's mouth.

My point is that this "crackdown" just appears to be another step by eBay in the direction of big eCommerce: sellers without the high volume can't afford to absorb a couple of mistakes. However I'm sure eBay sellers with 10,000 transactions a year won't need to worry if they have a few go wrong, and will be happy if eBay weeds out some of the little guys.

king_of_kings_1970 · ‎08-12-2013

No second account, just this one for 10 years. It is a sub category with the USA having a lower DSR Rating. It is 0.62 percent of what it should be. Overall I have good ratings, It all hinges on that one particular rating.

king_of_kings_1970 · ‎08-12-2013

Nope. It is a low DSR rating due to shipping rates based to the USA. Ebay knows I state my website if they want better rates.

rose-dee · ‎08-13-2013

@king_of_kings_1970 wrote:
No second account, just this one for 10 years. It is a sub category with the USA having a lower DSR Rating. It is 0.62 percent of what it should be. Overall I have good ratings, It all hinges on that one particular rating.

And this is exactly what all of us who are smaller volume sellers fear, that one rating that ruins everything we've worked to build up! With my volume of sales, all it would take is one bad day. I do sympathize. If this scenario happens to me after all the intense effort I've put into trying to cope with eBay's rules and regulations, I will likely either want to, or have to, go elsewhere.

As I said earlier, I think eBay is beginning to give its small sellers the old "bum's rush". Right now it's a few infractions that cause limits to be imposed; soon they'll oust us if everything isn't perfect 100% of the time.

EBay now has bigger fish to fry (pardon the mixed metaphors) and the small independent sellers who made eBay what it was will soon be more or less dispensible. All it will take is another Target-like retailer or two to sign on. So sad - it used to be a lot more fun and friendly here for us little guys.

Leaner, meaner eBay...