eBay going after CANADIAN SELLERS via SNPC notices

Just wanted some input from the community regarding the latest events with two fellow powersellers that have received notices from eBaY that their accounts have been RESTRICTED for 30days for voilation of the SELLER NON-PERFROMANCE POLICY.

Below is a copy of the email notice they received out of the blue.

Dear (ebay USERID),

You are suspended from eBay as a result of your violation of site policy on Seller Non-Performance. Specifically, you have generated unacceptable levels of buyer dissatisfaction in your transactions. Based upon inputs from the buyers who have interacted with you, one or more of your accounts falls into the bottom 2 percent of all eBay sellers with regard to buyer satisfaction.

Warning notification was provided to you earlier regarding the need for significantly improved performance. This improvement did not occur, and we have taken action in accordance with that warning.

As a result of this suspension, you are prohibited from using eBay in any way including using another existing account or registering a new account.

If you have questions regarding this suspension, please reply to this email. Questions through other channels will not be reviewed.

Please be advised that without compelling evidence that we are mistaken with regard to your performance, we will not accept appeals for reinstatement.

Any seller fees owed to eBay are immediately due and payable. eBay will charge any amounts you have not previously disputed to the billing method currently on file.

Regards,

eBay Trust and Safety



Ok so you would think that to get this kind of action taken against you would require the seller to be doing something dramatically wrong and have tons of negative feedbacks right?

Well, the strange thing here is that both sellers have less than 1% negative feedbacks in the last 90days. Infact one seller has only 4 negatives in the last 6months and of the 4, 3 are from non-paying bidders and the 4th was for long shipping time to California, USA (12days).

Anyhow, when they both contact eBaY Trust & Safety to find out more specifics about the action, the response they got was this:

Thank you for writing to eBay. I will be happy to assist you further regarding your account restriction.

There were no initial about this account restriction. Your account was restricted on (DATE). Please note that as mentioned in previous communications, the status of your account will not be reviewed until at least 30 days have passed. Your account is still pending review.

Please note that, although we will read future appeals that you send us, we may not respond to all your inquiries. Please refer to our previous emails for the information you need to successfully appeal this restriction.

I appreciate your patience and understanding in this matter.

Kind regards,

Lindsay L.
eBay Trust & Safety


When both of them pressed eBaY for more information they were denied and information whatsoever as the nature of complaints that eBaY has received (ie: email vs Telephone) and or the number of complaints.

One of the sellers involved actually took the initiative to contact 90% of the past buyers via email and telephone and all of them said the same thing -- "If I was unsatisfied with the transaction I would have left either a neutral and/or negative feedback".

How is it that a seller with 98.8 or higher feedback rating could have this done to them -- anyone else out their heard of this action taken against other sellers in the past?

Your comments and feedbacks are greatly appreciated.

TIM @ FTL
Message 1 of 37
latest reply
36 REPLIES 36

eBay going after CANADIAN SELLERS via SNPC notices

*** UPDATE ***

One the sellers involved just sent me an email update and according to the email it looks like eBaY has unofficially told them that they MUST clear up and resolve all negative feedbacks and open disputes covering a 6month period and either use the MUTUAL AGREEMENT TO WIDTHDRAW form and or contact the parties concerned via email and ask them to remove the negative.

It is up to the sellers to do what it takes to get the negatives removed and open disputes resolved.

So basically, the seller is being strong-armed into resolving the negatives they received and open disputes they have regardless of whether or not the buyer did anything wrong.

Can you believe this CARP!
Message 2 of 37
latest reply

eBay going after CANADIAN SELLERS via SNPC notices

whoscloset
Community Member
It isn't exactly carp. It happens to U.S. sellers too. It is ebay's way of trying to ensure the site is a safe environment for all...which can only benefit honest sellers in the long run.

A seller with anything below a 99% rating is someone I would avoid like the plague. I can just imagine how many people have had an unpleasant experience and haven't left a neg due to the fear of retaliation.

JMHO

Monique

Message 3 of 37
latest reply

eBay going after CANADIAN SELLERS via SNPC notices

jakeeangel
Community Member
The number of negatives is relative to the number of transactions. 6 months, 4 negs in 1000 sales is still a bit high but not too bad but 4 negs in say 20 says is high yes.

I don't doubt it's upsetting to say the least to have your business shut down but why are disputes going unresolved in the first place? There is a problem if they're getting that many disputes or negatives. Yes you'll run into nutbars, I did just today but that many would indicate a problem of some sort. Maybe item description, maybe communication with buyers, maybe language or tone of emails. Who knows.

If it's an issue of the type of goods being sold that attracts the wrong people maybe the seller has to do something to better describe the items being sold so there is no reason for a dispute. Maybe the buyer thought they were buying brand new but instead got a refurb. I don't know. Maybe the listing wasn't as clear as it could have/should have been.

I'm sorry but I too have to agree that 98% isn't that great. :(



Come See What Else We've Got Up For Auction!
Message 4 of 37
latest reply

eBay going after CANADIAN SELLERS via SNPC notices

katiusciav
Community Member
something doesn't make sense with the whole picture. if ebay is going to send out an email like that and actually suspend a seller's account, the seller would have had to do something (or multiple things) serious enough that they themselves would know. you're saying the seller has no idea why they've received such an email?? i'm assuming ebay doesn't send out these emails to everyone with 98% feedback? surely the seller should have some indication of why their account has been suspended...???
Kat
Message 5 of 37
latest reply

eBay going after CANADIAN SELLERS via SNPC notices

whoscloset
Community Member
Kat,

ebay looks at the seller's that score in the bottom few percentage points in customer satisfaction over the past few months. They then inform those sellers that they must try to resolve these issues or their account will be suspended.

They are trying to protect the community from the type of ebayer who opens an account, builds feedack, than defrauds multiple customers in a short period of time before moving on to another account. It is not the 98% that is getting them in trouble...it is the fact that they have had an unacceptable level of customer complaints filed with ebay in the past few months.

Monique

Message 6 of 37
latest reply

eBay going after CANADIAN SELLERS via SNPC notices

katiusciav
Community Member
but how come the seller 'apparantly' doesn't know??? that's the part i don't understand-shouldn't he know what the problem is/has been? according to futuretech, he emailed/called his buyers and didn't find anything wrong? does ebay thoroughly investigate before suspending?
Kat
Message 7 of 37
latest reply

eBay going after CANADIAN SELLERS via SNPC notices

whoscloset
Community Member
Let's face it...a seller who has been getting multiple complaints filed with ebay KNOWS what is wrong. They will have received contact from their customer prior to a complaint being filed. They just refuse to address the customers issues and blame the customer for not reading the description, not buying insurance, etc.

They are suffering from a victim mentality and refuse to take responsibility for their customer service/product quality/misleading description issues.

Monique

Message 8 of 37
latest reply

eBay going after CANADIAN SELLERS via SNPC notices

Both sellers HAVE NOT RECEIVED any prior email notices whatsoever and BOTH sellers are very reputable to say the least - if getting one (1) negative a month out of 1000 or more transaction is considered unacceptable by eBay then that is pure nuts.

Both sellers have been on eBaY for well over three years so they are not fly-by-night operations.

If 98.8% is not and acceptable percentage level then there are alot of powersellers that are going to be racked over the coals.

"Let's face it...a seller who has been getting multiple complaints filed with ebay KNOWS what is wrong. They will have received contact from their customer prior to a complaint being filed. They just refuse to address the customers issues and blame the customer for not reading the description, not buying insurance, etc.

They are suffering from a victim mentality and refuse to take responsibility for their customer service/product quality/misleading description issues.


Monique, you seem to think that eBaY is this perfect company that is known for its excellent communications and customer service. Right away, in your eyes, the seller MUST be doing something wrong since if a customer leaves a negative for an unvalid reason then of course you would expect the seller to bend-over-backwards to make the customer (aka NUTBAG) happy rather than leave the appropriate feedback that is warranted. Both sellers that I am refering to go out of there way to resolve issues before hand and the odd one that cannot be resolved because either the buyer did not pay, etc they will leave a negative feedback.

If you think that is being harse and uncustomer friendly then so be it. I just think the whole process is discriminatory and highly unethical and unacceptable business practices on the part of eBaY.

In the real world if you are charged with a crime, you are presumed innocent and then proven guilty - in the eBaY world you are GUILTY AS CHARGED - PERIOD!
Message 9 of 37
latest reply

eBay going after CANADIAN SELLERS via SNPC notices

whoscloset
Community Member
No, I do not think ebay is perfect...and no, I do not think that all negs are valid (I have a few of those myself, LOL).

BUT...you don't rack up a less than 99% FB rating AND end up on ebay's bottom 3% of sellers for complaints over the past 6 months without reason. I find that a lot of sellers assume that a customer is just trying to rip them off immediately and respond as such. Poor customer service to say the least.

And customers who "just don't pay" don't file complaints with ebay and rarely leave negs. In fact, if they fail to respond to the FVF filing then their FB is automatically pulled.

If you are dealing in a category that has a lot of fraud from customers in it then CHOOSE TO SELL SOMETHING ELSE!

Monique

Message 10 of 37
latest reply

eBay going after CANADIAN SELLERS via SNPC notices

Monique, sounds like your real fortunate to have not experience alot of NUTBAGS. And in reality some do leave negative feedbacks - thats why their NUTBAGS.

Also, changing products is not the solution as the old saying goes you do not tear down all the trees just because of a few dead ones.

Nothing wrong with eBaY going through the sellers and picking out the ones that are not doing a good job - its the whole approach that needs fixing.

Why pick on a seller with under 10 negative feedbacks in 6 months when there are tons of larger sellers with 100's of negatives.

In your eyes which seller would warrant having their account restricted:

SELLER (A) - Has 10 negatives in last 6months and has received 1500 positives.

SELLER (B) - Has 100 negatives in last 6months and has received 6000 positives.

Which one of the above sellers is actually doing a better job and which one of the above sellers has LESS dissatified buyers. If you look purely at the numbers, then seller (B) looks much better then seller (A) when infact seller (B) has 10x more dissatisfied shoppers.

All i am saying is that the formula eBaY uses does not apply fairly and if they rely solely on a computer to choose who gets targetted that is not right.
Message 11 of 37
latest reply

eBay going after CANADIAN SELLERS via SNPC notices

jakeeangel
Community Member
Tim are you talking about your account here?

Maybe the problem is with your descriptions as I suggested before. Unfortunately many sellers who sell returns encounter what you are. Maybe you need to make some changes. If you can't test something, chuck it. Why sell it? I've never understood that. Even at garage sales. At my own when I sold an electronic whatever people would ask does it work. Of course it works, why would I sell you a non working answering machine or tape recorder. That's what the garbage is for or it's clearly marked as not working.

If it's a return or if you want to sell an untested whatever you need to make that much clearer in the listing that that's the case. Looking at your listings its not clear what it is the buyer would be getting. I don't personally like this part and would never buy from someone who puts this in a listing.

-Any parts you see in the picture or description are NOT included unless they appear in the WHAT's INCLUDED section below.

-Any parts that normally come in the original manufacturer packaging are NOT included if they do not appear in the WHAT's INCLUDED section below.

-We are under no obligation whatsoever to research & make known every single part that may be missing from the package.

If something is not included with the product, don't put it in the picture or description! It's misleading and very confusing. Coming back and then arguing with the client about it is wrong in my opinion.

Yes frankly I think you are under obligation to let the buyer know what they're getting for their money. Absolutely you are! That's like selling a car but not telling the buyer it doesn't come with an engine or tires. You are absolutely obligated to tell them that info.

I don't understand how you or anyone else thinks that you're not obligated to tell the buyer what they're getting with their purchase. If something doesn't come with the remote, power cord or manual, say it. To save confusion and keep it positive not negative (by saying not this and this and this) only show a pic of what they're getting and say the item is the unit only.

That's just my 2 cents but that's what I want when I look at electronics. I don't want to see a bunch of disclaimers about what the seller's not responsible for. Those sellers don't get my money.

It's probably not what you want to hear and I'm sorry if I've hurt or offended you but maybe it's something you should know.



Come See What Else We've Got Up For Auction!
Message 12 of 37
latest reply

eBay going after CANADIAN SELLERS via SNPC notices

whoscloset
Community Member
Amen

Monique

Message 13 of 37
latest reply

eBay going after CANADIAN SELLERS via SNPC notices

whoscloset
Community Member
Your comments and feedbacks are greatly appreciated.


Be careful what you ask for...you might get it. Seriously, if you don't want dissenting opinions then vent to your dog.

Monique

Message 14 of 37
latest reply

eBay going after CANADIAN SELLERS via SNPC notices

katiusciav
Community Member
i don't think its future_tech, as he's still up and running...
i don't know, if what future_tech is saying is true, i would tend to agree with him, that many negetives out of that many positives just really doesn't satisfy an account suspension, in my opinion...and we've all seen other sellers with much more negetives, still up and running. i do agree that while ebay is trying to wean out the bad sellers (and so they should), they should probably investigate more thoroughly, and more on a seller by seller basis, i get the impression that ebay's approach to many things is very 'programmed' and computerized...
Kat
Message 15 of 37
latest reply

eBay going after CANADIAN SELLERS via SNPC notices

whoscloset
Community Member
It has nothing to do with negatives. It has to do with the number of buyer complaints ebay/PayPal has received with regard to your account.

Monique

Message 16 of 37
latest reply

eBay going after CANADIAN SELLERS via SNPC notices

jakeeangel
Community Member
Kat, restricted accounts are very different from NARU'd accounts. What a restricted account means is that you cannot list any new items. If you have items currently on the site whether through a store or auction, they permit those to continue but you cannot list new items.



Come See What Else We've Got Up For Auction!
Message 17 of 37
latest reply

eBay going after CANADIAN SELLERS via SNPC notices

Jackangel - I agree that many sellers do not properly represent their items but I can assure you in our case we do not do this...most of the items we sell are tested and functional. We do however sell some items that are not tested for many reasons, ranging from missing critical parts to something simple as a missing AC Adapter.

As for the disclaimers you referenced you obviously do not understand the implications behind selling electronic items and the complexities involved with some items we sell. There is no way we can full explain each and every functionality. As for the picture disclaimer if you look closely we do infact provide 3 main pictures plus other pictures within the product description. In the case of laptops, we normally have more than 6 pictures.

We do list all that is included in our WHAT's INCLUDED section so I do not know what your talking about here.

With respect to selling items listed in AS-IS condition and or UNTESTED the one thing you fail to realize is that in the electronics industry -- PARTS is a big business and the demand is quite high when it comes to IPOD, MP3 PLAYERS DIGITAL CAMERA's, LAPTOPS and COMPUTERS in general. So we are merely catering to this marketplace and not trying to sell something that is pure scrap/junk.

I value your comments and remarks you have some valid points however I hope you have a clearer understanding of our business and the marketplace we serve.

As for Monique's comments - "Be careful what you ask for...you might get it. Seriously, if you don't want dissenting opinions then vent to your dog.

A nice remark from a real classy lady - thanks again.

Oh, and NO it is not our account that is restricted - as I clearly indicated it was two of my colleagues accounts.
Message 18 of 37
latest reply

eBay going after CANADIAN SELLERS via SNPC notices

It has nothing to do with negatives. It has to do with the number of buyer complaints ebay/PayPal has received with regard to your account.

WRONG WRONG WRONG MONIQUE. Check you facts cause you are dead wrong.

eBay uses negative feedbacks, plus unsettled disputes, paypal disputes, items significantly not as described plus items not received disputes when determining who gets restricted. The process is AUTOMATED and once a certain threshold is met then your account is flagged.

According to the latest news, this a policy that eBaY has had in place for some time and only recently have they begun to enforce it with a desire to make eBaY a much better and safer place for buyers.

Call your account rep and check for yourself.
Message 19 of 37
latest reply

eBay going after CANADIAN SELLERS via SNPC notices

whoscloset
Community Member
eBay uses negative feedbacks, plus unsettled disputes, paypal disputes, items significantly not as described plus items not received disputes when determining who gets restricted. The process is AUTOMATED and once a certain threshold is met then your account is flagged.

Exactly. So why are you using the 1 neg in 1000 as a reason they should not be flagged. It IS an automated system that takes all the factors into account. If you are in the bottom 2% you need to correct some issues.

Monique

Message 20 of 37
latest reply