ebay scamming sellers so they dont get there 20 percent discount

[aubreyclay56]

this new seller dashboard is a great way for ebay to scam top rated sellers wow how engeniose,two items get stolen by postal workers or customs,at christmass time,i get two strikes againt me, one item got broke so i had to cancell the aution,another strike againt me, get 3 item not as described with numerouse pics,what is going on here,this is a total scam by ebay to take away top sellar rewards,bad enough you get ignorant customers but ebay has to give you item strikes for things out of your controll,wow ebay is goin to the dogs for sure

[Anonymous]

AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dianequeenofstuff]

That is why it is so important to keep your customers happy.

I had two items stolen over Christmas too, sent them full refunds, cheaper then my power seller site losing it's 20%.

Any complaint from a customer and they get refunds. I only have a few per year and it goes into the expense of doing business on line, column. Always a good idea to ask them to cancel the sale after you send the refund so you can recoup your FVF.

We sellers are walking a taunt line and rightly so. There are a lot of scammers out there and the honest pay the price. 

[mr.elmwood]

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@aubreyclay56 wrote:

this new seller dashboard is a great way for ebay to scam top rated sellers wow how engeniose,two items get stolen by postal workers or customs,at christmass time,i get two strikes against me, one item got broke so i had to cancell the aution,another strike against me, get 3 item not as described with numerouse pics,what is going on here,this is a total scam by ebay to take away top sellar rewards,bad enough you get ignorant customers but ebay has to give you item strikes for things out of your control,wow ebay is goin to the dogs for sure

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I would never use words or phrases like that.

[aubreyclay56]

my two got refunds it makes no difference to ebay,a strike againt you stays there,and cancelling an auction when hve a bid is another strike,contacted the bidder and told him one of the 3 glasses he was bidding on got broke and asked if ne would except a similar one,and he wasnt interested,so i had no choice but to cancell the auction.,that strike also came from ebay,you call them and that is a waste of time,the rep is from another country and hard to understand,now thats a comunication problem,strike against ebay,he did say that they were getting lots of calls about this new seller standards thing,but it will be august before they can fix it?so basicaly they just dance around the issue.,had a strike againt me for comunication a lady bought a bar towell,the customer thought it said bath towell,customer didnt want there money bck,another strike against me,how rediculouse is that?sold a lighter to a guy,add said i didnt no if it worked or not,well he said it didnt told him id give him his money bck and he could keep the lighter,he said he liked it and it wasnt about the money,another strike for item not as described,some people you cannot make happy,hence another strike?do you see where im going with this? its a scam

[froogal_electronic_parts_and_overstock]

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@dianequeenofstuff wrote:

That is why it is so important to keep your customers happy.

I had two items stolen over Christmas too, sent them full refunds, cheaper then my power seller site losing it's 20%.

Any complaint from a customer and they get refunds. I only have a few per year and it goes into the expense of doing business on line, column. Always a good idea to ask them to cancel the sale after you send the refund so you can recoup your FVF.

We sellers are walking a taunt line and rightly so. There are a lot of scammers out there and the honest pay the price. 

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per other poster. the 2 stolen items are defects. You get penalized for that.

Any complaint from your customer. If you refund in full, that's a defect. I am not sure on partial refunds. 

Neither of those actions will protect your TRS status. 

There are not a lot of scammers out there. The vast majority of sellers are honest. new sellers are usually the problem. 

It is easy to see that ebay has increased the difficulty to get TRS and the discount, while decreasing the threat of suspension. The 5% tolerance is pretty high. 

My take away from this is ebay is trying to have less top rated sellers without losing sellers. This means more revenue for them and also helps out larger sellers of new items that do not usually have the same issues with defects that a smaller seller has. 

[mr.elmwood]

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@froogal_electronic_parts_and_overstock wrote:

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@dianequeenofstuff wrote:

That is why it is so important to keep your customers happy.

I had two items stolen over Christmas too, sent them full refunds, cheaper then my power seller site losing it's 20%.

Any complaint from a customer and they get refunds. I only have a few per year and it goes into the expense of doing business on line, column. Always a good idea to ask them to cancel the sale after you send the refund so you can recoup your FVF.

We sellers are walking a taunt line and rightly so. There are a lot of scammers out there and the honest pay the price. 

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per other poster. the 2 stolen items are defects. You get penalized for that.

Any complaint from your customer. If you refund in full, that's a defect. I am not sure on partial refunds. 

Neither of those actions will protect your TRS status. 

There are not a lot of scammers out there. The vast majority of sellers are honest. new sellers are usually the problem. 

It is easy to see that ebay has increased the difficulty to get TRS and the discount, while decreasing the threat of suspension. The 5% tolerance is pretty high. 

My take away from this is ebay is trying to have less top rated sellers without losing sellers. This means more revenue for them and also helps out larger sellers of new items that do not usually have the same issues with defects that a smaller seller has. 

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Froogal, i have been chanting that for a long time. TRS does eBay no good at all, none. Why they ever started it, I have no idea. All it means to eBay, is reduced revenues. So now, they are moving that bar even higher to stop those from reaching up, and, removing those from above.

Yes, the 5% is pretty high. To exceed 5% you pretty much have to decide to mess up.

So, harder to get suspended equals more sellers. Removing the TRS equal more revenues. More sellers providing more revenues. I have been saying that for a long time.

[rose-dee]

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@mr.elmwood wrote:

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So, harder to get suspended equals more sellers. Removing the TRS equal more revenues. More sellers providing more revenues. I have been saying that for a long time.

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Yup, that's pretty much how I see it too.

With the corollary that almost all of the policy/rule changes in the past 2 years have been designed to accommodate eBay's largest commercial sellers and make it easier for them to operate as they prefer -- minimal direct customer contact, as much of the process automated as possible.

[rose-dee]

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@froogal_electronic_parts_and_overstock wrote:

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Any complaint from your customer. If you refund in full, that's a defect.

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According to the 2014 Spring Seller Update, the reason for a return must be that the item was not as described in order to generate a defect, i.e.:

- Missing parts or pieces

- Damaged during shipment

- Item defective

- Item expired

An item returned for the following reasons won't count as "item not as described":

- No longer want the item

- Found better price

- Wrong size or doesn't fit

Nonetheless, it isn't clear exactly how eBay is going to determine which return falls into which category if a case isn't opened (i.e. if a seller refunds immediately and voluntarily upon the buyer's request). 

There's been some suggestion that you'll get a defect regardless, then have to have it "reviewed" to remove it.  Refunds are no longer as simple as just ensuring customer satisfaction. 

[recped]

Nonetheless, it isn't clear exactly how eBay is going to determine which return falls into which category if a case isn't opened (i.e. if a seller refunds immediately and voluntarily upon the buyer's request).

eBay has made it VERY clear how they will deal with this.

If you give a buyer a full refund where no case has been opened it will be a "defect". You can avoid this defect by doing a cancellation in addition to the refund and specify the correct reason for the refund. The correct reason is "buyer made a mistake" or "buyer changed their mind", anything else will be a defect.

[recped]

Refunds are no longer as simple as just ensuring customer satisfaction.

Is anyone in the habit of giving a full refund to a buyer at their request but not filing a mutual cancellation to get their fees back? Given all the screaming about eBay fees I don't understand why anyone would let eBay keep fees that are refundable.

[i*m-still-here]

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@recped wrote:

Is anyone in the habit of giving a full refund to a buyer at their request but not filing a mutual cancellation to get their fees back? Given all the screaming about eBay fees I don't understand why anyone would let eBay keep fees that are refundable.

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I'm constantly surprised at the number of sellers who never file to recover fees.

I don't think that the regular posters to this board are aware of how many sellers just don't know any better, and eBay is certainly not going to educate them.

Trying to imagine the amount of money eBay makes as a result of this is difficult, but I'm pretty sure it's staggering by normal standards and I can't help but wonder if these recent changes are designed to increase that number.

[rose-dee]

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@recped wrote:

Nonetheless, it isn't clear exactly how eBay is going to determine which return falls into which category if a case isn't opened (i.e. if a seller refunds immediately and voluntarily upon the buyer's request).

eBay has made it VERY clear how they will deal with this.

If you give a buyer a full refund where no case has been opened it will be a "defect". You can avoid this defect by doing a cancellation in addition to the refund and specify the correct reason for the refund. The correct reason is "buyer made a mistake" or "buyer changed their mind", anything else will be a defect. 

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From recent comments by sellers, it appears some of them are getting a defect counted against them merely for making a refund, even when a cancellation followed.  In other words, the defects are issued immediately and presumably - according to recent comments from the eBay.ca people at the Wed. discussions -  have to be "appealed" to be removed later (based on the fact that a mutual cancellation was done).   I can't see how this is going to work well. 

There have been a number of contradictory and unclear statements regarding returns and cancellations made by the "Pinks" at the Wed. discussions, some of which were later revised and some that were admitted to be initially wrong.  It seems even eBay insiders still don't quite have a handle on this.  Based on some of those comments, I doubt it's going to be quite as simple and straightforward as we hope. 

It remains to be seen whether defects issued for returns that are no fault of the seller (buyer changes his mind, found better price, doesn't fit, etc.) are in fact removed automatically by eBay once a cancellation is agreed to by the buyer.  Apparently (according to the "Pinks") they are going to look at communications between buyer and seller to make a determination.  How this will all play out in practise in a few months' time should be very interesting.