21 day hold on top rated seller

[incogneato60]

I felt that seller's needed to know this.

This is not my selling ID but I do have one and have been selling on Ebay since early 2007.  I have over 25,000 feedback with star ratings for the year all at 4.9 and 5.  Ratings for the past 3 months are all at or over 4.9 with the exception of shipping time which is at 4.85 even though we ship the same day or the next day.  Most of the time we've been top rated seller's.  If we ever missed that rating it had to do with shipping time.  We've had one buyer complaint with Ebay and one Paypal complaint in the past 3 months.  (not counting the paypal reversals done by the buyer's banks).

Last month we got hit by 4 negs and 5 neutrals.  This is extremely unusual for us.  With the exception of one of those negs, none of the buyers had contacted us.  Most of it had to do with buyer's not buying the right size for themselves.  We have a 14 day return policy so there wasn't any excuse for not getting the right size for themselves.

Although we've not rec'd any info from Ebay on the exact reason why, we now have a 21 day hold on all money from sales, I'm assuming it has to do with the sudden negs and neutrals.  We've also been dropped from a top rated status to a below standard status.

This action taken by Ebay was, in my opinion, extreme.  It would be different if we had been new seller's without much of a history but we are far from new and have excellent ratings.  Our compliancy is rated high as well.

We're currently 2 weeks into the hold so we've been shipping with our own money.

I felt it was important to put this out there for other seller's to know.  Everyone needs to make sure they have back up funds for shipping in the event you get hit with a bunch of bad feedback in one month because your history of great ratings is not going to matter so don't figure that there is any security with this.  In our case it's not an issue since we have a brick and mortar store that covers the cost but many seller's live month by month.

[pocomocomputing]

You most likely exceeded the number of low DSR's (1 and 2) allowed in a 12 month period. Because you have so much feedback and DSRs that are good, your year average DSR's will not tell you that DSRs are the problem.

Go to My eBay -> Account -> Seller Dashboard  -> Summary top right, click on Performance.

Check out the Low Performance DSR table for what % you have and what is allowed.  To see when the low DSRs were received, on the right in blue is a hyperlink caller View 12 month Trending Data.

The 12 month data will show you what will be rolling off soon from 12 months ago. Hopefully what is coming off will low the allowed % to drop and your status will be back above normal.

[incogneato60]

Hi poco

Perhaps because of the type of store we have those details don't come up the same way as you described.

Here's a copy and past of what we see.

Seller performance numbersUpdated daily3 months (01/07/12 - 30/09/12)12 months (01/10/11 - 30/09/12)Transactions: 8820
See your reportsAverage detailed seller ratingsYour averageLow ratings(1s and 2s)Item as described4.910.35% (31)Communication4.920.23% (20)Shipping time4.860.48% (42)Shipping and handling charges4.990.01% (1)Ratings are based on your feedback received globally

This is what shows for 1 year

[pocomocomputing]

What is your allowable percentage in each?

The other thing to check is how many cases were opened against you. That is also in the performance page I mentioned in the seller dashboard. It also has allowable cases and percentages to meet.

(Why you can't see that performance page, I do not know.)

Perhaps someone else can comment and offer suggestions.

Here are you numbers cleaned up to be easier to read.

Seller performance numbers

Updated daily 3 months (01/07/12 - 30/09/12)  12 months (01/10/11 - 30/09/12)  Transactions: 8820
See your reports

Average detailed seller ratings    Your average    Low ratings(1s and 2s)

Item as described  4.91   0.35% (31)
Communication     4.92   0.23% (20)
Shipping time        4.86   0.48% (42)
Shipping handling  4.99   0.01% (1)

Ratings are based on your feedback received globally

[pjcdn2005]

incogneato, I think that you are missing a step which is why you don't see what poco is describing.

You are looking at the box that says Seller Performance Numbers. To the left of that box is  the summary. The first line in that box is performance. Click on the rectangular box next to performance...it should say Top Rated, Above Average, Average etc.

That should take you to the Daily Performance page..The boxes there should compare your ratings to the ratings required for different selling categories.

That will show you the global requirements. If you click on the U.S. flag at the top of the page, it will show you what the seller requirements are on .com

[incogneato60]

Ok, thanks. When I do that this is what i get.

Low detailed seller ratings
3 months: Jul 01, 2012 - Sep 30, 2012Your performance
[ Show count ]Top-rated seller requirementsStatus

Item as described 0.34%0.Allowed 0.60%

Communication 0.30% Allowed 0.60%

Shipping time0.43% Allowed 0.60%

Shipping and handling charges0.04% Allowed 0.60%    Average detailed seller ratings
3 months: Jul 01,...

[Anonymous]

eBay determine on our DSRs really STINK like rotten fish!!

Why the heck must we have to abide or bow to eBay regarding those petty little things that are unwarranted.

No matter what mostly buyers would never be happy with shipping charges regardless of what unless they are in our shoes.  So we are always in "trouble" with eBay in that area regardless of what.

DSRs need to be retired and eBay stop "controlling" or "telling" us how to run our own businesses!!

[pocomocomputing]

Check the allowable dispute cases on that page also. maybe that is the reason.

[incogneato60]

Nothing comes up about buyer disputes but we only had one with Ebay and one in Paypal.  We've had more than that in the past in a given 30 day and 3 month pieriod and it never affected us.

[recped]

This is not my selling ID

Why not? You want people to explain what's going on but they can't because they can't see what you are doing.

You say you are "below standard" yet you say your dsr's are within the TRS allowable range..........

We don't know what you are selling, did you just start listing very high value items or items in a high fraud category?

.

[incogneato60]

recped,

I didn't ask for help, I already know why Ebay did it.  It's in my origional post.  Pls read it again if you need clarification.

I am not in a high risk category and did not recently start selling high value items.

[pjcdn2005]

I didn't ask for help, I already know why Ebay did it.  It's in my origional post.  Pls read it again if you need clarification.

Your OP said that ebay didn't explain why they were doing the hold but that you were assuming it was because of negs and neutrals. That doesn't sound right because we're judged on our star ratings, not negs and neutrals.

I'm confused about your current status.

From your OP....We've also been dropped from a top rated status to a below standard status.

From post 5...Your performanceTop-rated

[incogneato60]

Hi PJ

Ebay didn't say why exactly.  The other day I got a standard email from them saying that it could be a few reasons.  TSRs, too many claims, bad feedback.  Since I knew it wasn't our TSRs and I knew we didn't have a bunch of claims the only other explaination was the bad feedback.  This was why I wanted to put this post out there.  I use to think that the 21 day hold would only apply to seller's without a history with Ebay and  with bad TSRs in risk categories.  I was surprised when it happened to us.  If it can happen to us it can happen to anyone that gets hit with a bunch of negs at once.  We're still getting hit...these hits have to do with ppl not buying the right size for themselves.  Like I had said, we have a return policy and these ppl are not contacting us first...this is unusual for us and I don't know why ppl aren't contacting us to try and resolve problems. We aren't doing anything different than we have in the past so it just seems like there's a mood in the air.

Yes, we've been dropped in our status and yes it was done even though we have a top rated status.  That was why I had said that the action taken by Ebay was extreme.

I didn't post my seller ID on here because I watch these boards a fair bit and see that it just would have turned into a conversation about our negs and would have taken away from the bigger issue..being that your TSRs don't matter and it can happen to anyone so if Ebay is your only income source you need to have back up.

[incogneato60]

hmm ok, I might have found something.  I went back and took another look at the 1 buyer complaint we had.  The buyer wanted to return the item for a refund.  We agreed to it.  The buyer didn't provided any tracking but claimed they had returned the item.  I was good with that though so I waited for the return to arrive.  The case was closed before I got the return back.  This is a copy of the email I got from Ebay

eBay Customer Support has reviewed the case and made a final decision.Decision:
This case was decided in the buyer's favor. Although you won't have to reimburse your buyer for this transaction, the case will still be counted when determining your seller standing.

Comments:
The buyer returned the item without authorization and did not provide tracking information for the return. You don't need to do anything else.

It says it affected our standing.  Funny thing is, we got the item back a while after the case was closed and we refunded the buyer.

[pjcdn2005]

eBay Customer Support has reviewed the case and made a final decision.Decision:
This case was decided in the buyer's favor. Although you won't have to reimburse your buyer for this transaction, the case will still be counted when determining your seller standing.

Comments:
The buyer returned the item without authorization and did not provide tracking information for the return. You don't need to do anything else.

It says it affected our standing.  Funny thing is, we got the item back a while after the case was closed and we refunded the buyer.

That doesn't seem fair that ebay would count that against a seller considering that the buyer did not return the item with delivery confirmation.

Chances are that ebay refunded the buyer already. That's why they said they found in the buyer's favor but didn't make you do the refund. It sounds like the buyer may have been refunded twice...once by ebay and once by you.

[froogal_electronic_parts_and_overstock]

That's just ebay being ebay.

You might have luck calling but I doubt it. Most employees I have spoken to are intent on having themselves replaced by algos.

[pjcdn2005]

slyh92,   I realize that the hold is frustrating but you only have 5 feedback for selling so you need to be patient until you have a track record as a seller.  When you started selling and buying on ebay, you agreed to their User's agreement which states that there may be a hold.

I don't know if you have looked at the information about holds but if not, there is info on the following link  

https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/security/ebay-payments-learn-more

What they are doing is a direct Violation  of our  rights under the Canadian Sales act .

You are posting on ebay's site so you have to follow their rules. There is no violation of rights. If that were true then credit card companies would have to reimburse retailers immediately, not make them wait for 30+ days.

[kitzkrieg]

you NEED to get ebay on the phone every time the buyer leaves a feedback to have them release your cash, bug the crap out of them, this is pure BS that ebay can hold our cash, how do they expect the average seller to make money, if they cannot access funds? the other thing you should be doing is using paypal to pay for and print your shipping, then the shipping fees will be released right away from your paypal account! more sellers need to get on the phone with ebay and complain, like really complain about this BS.... who gives them the right to hold our cash? when it comes time to pay them, they take it, no matter how we feel we have been treated by them, lol

Fight back guys, call and complain, it is the only way to change things, if you sit back and say nothing, then nothing gets done, because with the silence, one can assume nothing is wrong, or that we accept this treatment, which we do not! I mean if anything ebay should drop the 'shipping/handling' section of the DSR, it is totally bogus; since holding the funds will not change what we are charged by Canada Post, all it does it allow ebay to make more interest on our funds (as a whole).

I have had funds on hold for almost 2 months now; and a few of the transactions have had pos. feedback left over 3 weeks ago, and I use paypal to print all my labels, which means that the tracking number is automatically added to the details for both me and the buyer, but still they hold my money...

[pierrelebel]

"who gives them the right to hold our cash?"

YOU did when you signed the User Agreement.

By the way, there is nothing illegal about the "21 day hold".

If sellers do not like PayPal terms, they are free to offer their buyer credit card processing themselves through their merchant accounts. Guess what?  Most of them also have "holds" for newer accounts or accounts with history of chargebacks and their fees are generally higher than PayPal..

[kitzkrieg]

Pierre.... Why is it, any & every time someone says something against ebay and their unfair terms, you seem to jump to their defence? I am not even exaggerating... I have even posted on here, to hold a carrot to your nose, and you have proven, that you come to their defence every time. you may be the lucky seller, that has enough sales to keep you from being in that percentage; that has their fund held, but some of us do not, and it hurts our growth as a seller, some of us newer sellers, need that cash freed up, and my beef with ebay is this:

they hold my funds because my shipping and handling portion of my DSR is low, so what the hell does holding my cash remedy? it is not going to change what I am charged by Canada post, so it will not fix anything! if I have low ratings due to "not as described" or "shipping time" or "communication" then YES! by all means, hold the funds until I can prove myself! but holding the funds due to shipping fees; does not fix anything, it just ties our hands, and it is ridiculous, due to the fact that I have 2 credit cards attached to the account (one is a gold visa) and 2 bank accounts, so if for some reason a refund needed to be issued, then I think with my history; showing that I take care of any issues should show something to my credit (or other sellers in the same situation), I have never not sent an item, and it is always sent quickly, I always respond to emails from buyers within hours of receiving them, so why does ebay jump on us for 1 area of a DSR? (a term that fits here is "the punishment, does not fit the crime"). I am certain, absolutely positive, if you were is this same boat; with us, you would be just as pissed off, at your dear ebay.

I have said this before, if other posts, do you work for ebay? lol, I mean really?!

Let's be honest Pierre, are we supposed to just sit back at accept something we do not agree with, just because it is written? plenty of things in this world have changed; only because others stand up and speak out, or am I to understand that if you have ever had an issue with ebay, or lets put it this way? IF you ever have the misfortune of having your funds held, would you just sit their and accept it, or would you take steps to fix the issue?

if you say that you would do nothing, then I am sad for you... because that is being a puppet. and just because ebay provides us the venue to sell our items (which I appreciate), it does not mean we must accept whatever they wish to do to us as sellers, because WE; as sellers pay them directly, we are the customers of ebay, we pay for a service, and like any other company we may deal with in our day to day, we can challenge their policy's if we feel they are unfair... why not here? and again I ask you, why do you get so butt hurt; when someone challenges ebay and its policy's? you seem to take it personal, and none of these complaints are directed at you (other then your fear of change), lol