http://shop.ebay.com/qsterstuff/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=50
Ok, here's what happened to me.
Leading up to October of last year, we were selling a lot of very heavy items. People were knocking us on shipping charges every now and then, even though we ate the cost of the boxes and packing supplies. Too many people were giving us 1's and 2's on shipping and sure enough, eBay told us our DSR's were too low, and put us on a 75% selling limitation.
So, we put our heads together on this, and decided to stop selling those heavy items. It was just too risky. We couldn't risk getting more 1's and 2's on shipping. That was our first decision.
Our 2nd decision, was to sell a ton of our other smaller items, to improve on our DSR's, like eBay asked us to. We did great. We flooded eBay, and our DSR's were steadily improving. Primarily we were working on our Shipping DSR, which was over the 2% allowance. Ours was up over 3%.
So, towards the end of December, our Shipping DSR was at 2.09%. We could see we'll be under 2% without much more effort, so we decided to bulk up our inventory. So, we took off January, to really stock up inventory. One of us even went out of the country, to get some items we know always sell well. Bottom line is, we were ready to hit eBay hard, and really move some items once the 75% restriction was limited.
Then, Feb. 1, we get a MC999 notice from eBay!
In part, this notice reads:
"Unfortunately, your eBay account has been restricted indefinitely from selling because your performance has not met the standards required to sell on eBay."
I called eBay and asked them what on earth happened? We hadn't even listed a single item in Jan., so we know we didn't get some rogue negative from anyone, or some weird 1 or 2 in our shipping DSR, so this made no sense.
eBay told us that we too too long to improve our DSR. They gave us 90 days, and since it didn't get below 2%, they figured we gave up....so they restricted our account from selling indefinitely!
I asked the guy to look closely at our account. We were at 2.09%. Prior to Jan. we were on steady improvement. We took of Jan to build up inventory. In addition, I pointed out, that when we were initially told we were being placed on a 75% limit, nowhere in that message does eBay state that we have to get back under 2% within 90 days.
The guy agreed, that it looked as though all we'd have had to do, is sell just a handfull of more items in Jan. and we'd have fallen under their 2%....but, alas, that didn't happen. He said there is nothing he can do.
So, my question is: Can anyone offer any insight for me on this? Is there anything we can do to get the restriction lifted? We literally have thousands of dollars of new inventory we planned on moving. This just seems so hard to believe. If we'd have know it was REQUIRED to get under 2% in 90 days, we would have never gone and beefed up our inventory untel we were under 2% !!
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The logical conclusion is that dings generated by past holiday season are now nipping eBay in the bud. Be on the lookout for venue reforms when income hits low enough threshold and shareholders start to panic.
ReplyDeleteGOT OFF EBAY NOW !!!! STOP SELLING AND BUYING with eBay, it is now a SCAM !!! eBay is a SCAM !!!! Great sellers like you and I are hurt--- also ---- even better, BUYERS ARE ALSO HURTING as the items they paid for are being ended right in eBay, really pissing off BUYERS TOO!! Buyers are contacting me directly to buy, SO, USE YOUR OWN WEBSITES, USE CRAIGSLIST, USE OTHER SITES, and due to poor management shit=heads at eBay, pull the PLUG ON eBAY and DONT GIVE eBay another DIME! DONT BUY, DONT SELL on eBAY, SPREAD THE WORD ALL OVER THE INTERNET and soon, they will fall like an injured duck that is dying dead and will eventually DIE !!!!!!!!! Its official, eBay is SCAM !!!
ReplyDeleteAny luck sg51? I'm afraid I've had a similar experience. i HAVE 100% positive feedback, however, BUYERS were leaving feedback saying "quick shipping", but not ALSO leaving stars (DSR ratings). So this lack of star ratings did not offset the few people that thought the ship time was delayed. So out of 1200 transactions, 8 people thought ship was delayed and the many who thought ship was fast didn't leave the DSR rating (stars). THIS IS A SERIOUS GLITCH IN THE SYSTEM AND EVERYONE VICTIM TO IT SHOULD LET EBAY KNOW THAT THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE. I had 4.9 % in communication, s & h charges, and item as described plus 100% positive and this was my fate--indefinite restriction. Not one warning from EBAY that I had 90 days to reach some 2% that is not easily even understood. Not one offer of help from EBAY to assist in helping rectify the situation by providing solutions as to what a person could do. It was only at the last hour after three separte phone calls in the last 3 months that I made that finally an ebay rep said to ask the buyers to leave the stars. This info should have been offered by EBAY without my solicitation and certainly as soon as the restriction was placed. As soon as I learned that, I started doing this, however, not in enough time to beat EBAY's #'s game. I've sold with them for 5 years and paid countless fees, even went to EBAY Live last year. This was very disappointing to see how they treat their sellers. No help offered, just simply emails about account status. I would have appreciated a 1-1 discussion with an ebay rep that could have given pointers and tips on how to beat their numbers game-- ask customers to leave 5 stars, not just positive feedback. That is KEY.
ReplyDeleteand the many who thought ship was fast didn't leave the DSR rating (stars)
ReplyDeleteThe denominator in that 2% is transactions, not dsr ratings or even feedback.
ask customers to leave 5 stars, not just positive feedback. That is KEY.
No star is the same as a 5 star.
I do deplore the sudden bolt from the blue as the reaction.
ReplyDeleteSellers are being IS'd that would have become better if they realized the gravity of the situation.
It has been proven through studies conducted that people are reluctant to leave the best possible mark/comment, for example if a survey has good - very good - excellent, it has been shown that no matter how satisfied the customer/user is they will tick the very good option more than the excellent one.
ReplyDeleteAnd that is probably what accounts for sellers who have continous praise for speed of posting and yet have less than 100% DSR.
It has been proven through studies conducted that people are reluctant to leave the best possible mark/comment, for example if a survey has good - very good - excellent, it has been shown that no matter how satisfied the customer/user is they will tick the very good option more than the excellent one.
ReplyDeleteNot when:
1. rating another person, as compared to rating some institution or company
2. there is no cost to the top rating.
We make it in life, and even more in business, by saying nice things about each other. By being sociable.
It's a mathematical certainty that somewhere above 75% of all ebay DSRs are 5's.
All that said, the DSRs resolve to only two possible results: positive or negative. All that really matters is avoiding negs, not whether one gets 3s or 4s.
Seems Ebay is using the star rating as a way to make their fees higher for the small businesses, and ultimately, eliminate us from competing with big sellers, like a Walmart. Eliminate the little guy then prices can go higher. We had the same thing happen as the sellers commenting above.sold on Ebay for 10 years, and out of the blue, got the Ebay "warning" We busted our humps to get 100% customer satisfaction, and did, closed our store for 5 days to reset inventories exactly to avoid any late shipping, and they shut down all our listings in 2 hours-We had 5 star performance for 20 days after their "warning". when I called CS, the girl told me an individual reviewed our account and made the decision they didn't want us selling on Ebay anymore. However, with the increased fees, we couldn't make the profits we once did, so we're heading on a little vacation and selling the old fashioned way, face to face. at festivals and such. Thanks Ebay!!
ReplyDeleteEBAY IS CLEARLY ON BORROWED TIME. YOU CAN'T WORK SO HARD TO GET SO UNPOPULAR AND EXPECT TO REMAIN AT THE FOREFRONT OF POPULARITY. LIKE ALL "GOT TOO BIG TO STAY REAL" COMPANIES - THEY WILL FALL,...AND FALL VERY HARD INDEED. A FEW YEARS BACK - THEY ONLY JUST MANAGED TO SQUIRM OUT OF THE SELLING COUNTERFEIT GOODS RAP,...BUT THE "WATCHERS" ARE STILL WATCHING, AND I AM ONE OF MILLIONS AROUND THE WORLD, WHO WANT TO SCOFF, WHEN THIS COMPANY GETS WHATS COMING. AL CAPONE WAS FAMOUS FOR A WHILE, BUT HE WENT DOWN THE PAN TOO!
ReplyDeleteI don't observe ebay to be failing.
ReplyDeleteI do observe them to be misplaying a very powerful hand.
I too just got an indefinite restriction about an hour ago. I make and sell Renaissance costumes. I have 365 feedback and 4 negatives. One was from a person that was not happy because I did not answer her e-mail in less then 12 hours, even though I had answered all of her other e-mails in the same day. Another one was from a truck driver who had told me to send her dress to her dad house while she is gone,which I did. Her dad left her a message to let her know the dress was there. She came home, did not see the package and left me a negative and low stars. The third one was from a 21 year old male that thought it had taken too long for me to make a different color skirt then what was listed, for his girlfriends costume. The last one was actually my fault.
ReplyDeleteI was restricted to 6 listings a month. I listed around 3 or 4 items because when you are restricted, E-bay puts your listings at the bottom of the list. I sold a few things but none of them bothered to give me feedback. December and January are really a slow time of month for costume makers as well.
I called customer service after my 5 listings were taken down and they said I was indefinitely suspended because my account does not have any improvement. Um, how can I have improvement to my feedback when I am only selling a couple of items because I am only allowed to sell 6 items a month and E-bay puts my items at the bottom of a list that has over 9000 items?
The kicker is that I just spoke to a person in customer service last Friday who told me that 2 of the low DSR's were falling off in 10 days and I would be a top seller again!
I really think the E-bay is cutting off their nose to spite their face. They can not keep closing down sellers left and right because eventually they will run out of new sellers and the buyers will go somewhere else because there will be nothing to choose from anymore.
Ebay's error is in their rating system, which based on a very few negative ratings.
ReplyDeleteIt's part of the culture of person-to-person ratings. People are very reluctant to downrate another person.
That yields most sellers with near perfect scores, and the only way to identify "bad" sellers is by a slightly imperfect score. The result is a combination of bad luck, small errors, and cranky buyers; then wham, a seller is judged totally undesirable.
The real losers are specialized businesses, such as custom costumes. The business model just isn't as precise as shipping an item from stock, and such businesses end up with the slightly imperfect scores which yield permanent restriction.
Ebay has tried to break that cycle, but never showed the determination to actually break it.
Solution, in the abstract:
ReplyDeleteQuantify negatives in a way which doesn't count simple cranks or small, fixed mistakes.
Identify the bad actors for permanent suspension, and leave those sellers who really are trying to do a good job alone.
We to have 100% positive feedback but received low DSR ratings in shipping!
ReplyDeleteThus Ebay put us on a limited selling restriction!
So we just stopped using the account for several months & then after letting the low DSR.s fall off & build back upto good standings we discovered Ebay decided to place our account in a indefinite suspension status!
When We called them about this they tell us it has been decided & nothing more can be done!
If some buyers are unhappy with purchasing something from you they should make it be known & it could be dealt with!
Not smile in your face & then stab you in the back!
Obviously buyers dont understand that ebay will kill the seller from making a living just by whispering a low DSR to them behind your back!
Another way the economy is destroyed & honest american family's have a hard time providing!
It is funny these indefinite suspended accounts are always still allowed to make purchases on ebay! Hum wouldn't want to completely loose income!
Signed 100% positive Ebay feedback Crap!
PS: I suggest for those of Us that actually have a worthy decent account & are getting the raw end of business management should band together in a class act against ebay & the new DSR policy!
Perhaps there is a law suit waiting in our favor!
Anyone interested could start by posting there Ebay user ID & we could all start contacting each other!
I am interested. Is there a lawyer we can contact? We would need one to get this going.
DeleteYou hope to sue ebay?
DeleteOn what grounds?
One of the biggest problems with organizing any effective seller influence over ebay is that some sellers want protection where other sellers have no sympathy.
ReplyDeleteProtection from the consequences of overpriced shipping is a good example of a divisive issue.
Buyers hate it, and are more likely to leave ebay, causing other sellers to lose.
hi sg51, are you able to sell on ebay after one year of restriction?
ReplyDeleteI had a similar experience recently. I sold about $6k worth of gift card in one month and requested to raise my selling limit. However, the lady receiving my call immediately put a selling restriction on my account, and I was asked to fax receipts of these gift cards. After faxing the documents, another email arrived saying an indefinite selling restriction was put on my account.
I am confused at the time and called in, this time, they told me to fax the credit card statement of these purchases. I did what they said, and showed them it's profitable since these were bought during holiday season when they were on sale.
However, no news after a week. When I called in the third time, I was told the account was restricted indefinitely, and they refused to give me any reason for that. I had 5 year relationship with them, 100% feedback for all time, sold over 5k per month during the summer. Now I am deprived of one of my income source. My guess is that the first lady receiving my call consider me suspicious of fraud selling that much gift card. And they never cared to see my receipts and statements after reading the note.
Anyone has some advice on this? I can sell elsewhere like amazon, but losing the ability to sell on ebay cause 20k loss in income each year. If I knew they treat seller like this, I would never have called in to talk to their rep and get myself into trouble.
Tony: the problem might be that they never heard of gift cards which could be bought on sale.
ReplyDeleteHow does that work?
There are more than 50 people selling the same gift card, from people with just a few feedback to powersellers with thousands of feedback, and many of them sell thousands worth of GC per month. It doesn't seems eBay has problem with that. I even faxed them the receipt and credit card statement to prove that it's a profitable sale.
ReplyDeleteLike I said, I had 100% feedback, 5.0 DSR's for all categories, didn't have any claims against me. I guess I am restricted simply because I contacted them to raise my selling limit, and incidentally talked to a super suspicious representative, who quickly put down some adverse comment on my account.
And the bad part is, once you account is labeled indefinite restriction, they won't bother to listen to any explanations from you anymore. After calling them several times trying to explain the situation patiently, most reps just wanted to finish the call quickly after seeing the restriction on my account, and the only answer I received was "It's an indefinite restriction, you won't be able to sell on ebay anymore, and we cannot tell u the reason we restrict the account." Only one of them suggested it's because they consider my business model's risk too high. When I told them there are many other people selling the same items, they never gave a reasonable explanation, someone even hung up directly.
Anyway, I do not recommend others to contact ebay if that can be avoided. You may run into some unintelligible dilemma as I did.
So, have you been able to resume selling on ebay again, sg51? Any helpful tips would be appreciated. Thanks.
Hi, Tony,
ReplyDeleteI was never suspended, and I do continue to sell.
It sure seems that the CS rep thought your business model sounded fishy. From the outside, you sure look at it and think "something is wrong in there".
Ebay has been bamboozled before, and they're scared of getting on the hook for a bunch of returns.
One thing you might consider if you get something going again: don't remove the money from paypal for six months. Sellers who leave little money in their paypal account, combined with what looks to be a screwy business model, don't look like good business.
If you'd like, I'll investigate and post a blog, if you can give me some clue via private email as to where to find this type of product.
These days, eBay has been suspended anyone and everyone. It is only a matter of time before each and every seller moves to Amazon.
ReplyDeleteThese days, eBay has been suspended anyone and everyone. It is only a matter of time before each and every seller moves to Amazon.
ReplyDeletesame stuff happened to me too 10 years ago. Couldn't get back on eBay until I found Aspkin ebay and paypal stealth forum
ReplyDeleteReally saved me and managed to put food on the table again almost immediately.