eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown

Subscribe to our 2 FREE Newsletters!

Web AuctionBytes

Home

Subscribe

Blog

Letters to Editor

Podcasts

Forums

AuctionBytes TV

ABU Back Issues

Sponsor

COOL TOOLS

Calendar

eBay Fee Calculator

Collectors' Links

eBay Promo History

Bookshelf

Fraud Resources

Auction Site Fees

Auction Management

Payment Services

Storefronts Chart

Sniping Chart

Consignment Services

Drop-Off Store Laws

Ecommerce Resources

Photo Tips

Marketing Inserts

Yellow Pages

Classifieds

AUCTIONBYTES

Our Writers

Write For Us

Partners

Press

Advertising

About Us

Link To Us

AuctionBytes Blog
News and insight focusing on
ecommerce and the online auction industry
by Ina Steiner, Editor of AuctionBytes.com

June 25, 2007

eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown

By: Ina Steiner

Mon June 25 2007 15:06:13

Sellers are reporting that they are being targeted by eBay for seller nonperformance ("breach of non performance policy"). While this may or may not reflect a new policy, it seems the level of enforcement has increased in the past week or so. As with other recent Trust and Safety initiatives, eBay has not announced anything about it, at least from what I can see.

Here's an example of just one of many threads about the issue.

As you can see, this seller has no telephone number to contact eBay. It appears to me that recent T&S initiatives (beginning last fall) have increased the demand for customer support, but from my understanding, capacity has not increased.

Making the site safer by cracking down on sellers sounds like a sensible idea, but eBay sellers know that unscrupulous buyers can give them unjustified negative feedback. By going purely on raw feedback, and not taking into account circumstances like deadbeat and newbie buyers, some good sellers may get caught in the net. And as usual, sellers are left wondering if eBay exempts their top sellers from such crackdowns.

I have inquiries pending, in the meantime, let me know if you have been affected by this issue by posting a comment below, or calling the AuctionBytes Hotline (see this page for the toll-free).

Comments (179) | Leave Comment | Permalink

Readers Comments

eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown

by: Joe Greenberg

Sun Aug 19 12:24:12 2007

Read what some sellers have said about what has happened. I sell and buy too. My experience with many high powered sellers hasn't been exactly nice. Most don't answer my emails, so even if I want what they have to sell, I don't buy if possible. Most times they ignore me. I would guess some people would just buy from them to give them a negative feedback. I rather not waste my time and money doing that. Some people forget that this is a business and business people should look on customers as always right even when wrong. I bend over backwards for my customers and wonder how some of those power sellers got to be power sellers cause they couldn't care less for some of the buyers, so maybe it's time ebay did something and is and so you hear the complaints. If these people were so good, ebay would help them but if they are not doing their job, then they reflect on all of the sellers on ebay and ebay itself and evntually they will destroy ebay. Ebay knows this and they don't seem to know it. It's the same old story with people who don't want to follow rules and want to do things their way. It's always been that way and always will be that way. If people don't like it let them not be an ebay seller.

eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown

by: Bob H.

Sun Aug 19 13:03:14 2007

For ''Another wronged seller'' -- Come on! Get real. You have alienated 13% of your buyers in the last 90 days (and 6.5% before dropping the previous 3 months worth of FB) Buyers don't care as much about the previous 120 feedbacks. What are you doing different NOW to irritate your buyers? Here's a good question for you --- would YOU buy from somebody who had 87% FB during the last 90 days, regardless of their previous history?

What I don't understand about these ''whining'' eBay sellers is HOW and WHY they get these negs/neutrals from their buyers? The proper way to do business is to COMMUNICATE, describe accurately, ship what you are supposed to ship, ship it FAST, and use DELIVERY CONFIRMATION to prove that they got it!

Yes, eBay has changed. The ''old'' eBay allowed sellers to ship their used household items that nobody wanted to some grandma-type buyer in middle America. Grandma would wait 7-10 days to get it and be happy. Today's eBay has buyers that see businesses selling items and they want to know when it was shipped and they want it FAST. This is especially true when you RIP THEM OFF on the shipping charges. If you're going to charge $5.95 to ship something that costs you $1.31 to ship, then at least get it out the next day!

For ''Joe Greenburg'' --- THANKS! I can tell from your posting that you are one of the better sellers.

eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown

by: Vi

Sun Aug 19 15:11:17 2007

Bob H. is right. There are far too many poor sellers who blame everyone but themselves for their feedback problems. Sure eBay's automated "bad seller catcher" is going to catch some people unfairly and there should be some form of appeal or support, but getting rid of bad sellers is good for everyone. It may sound harsh, but buyers don't care if your car died and you can't get to the post office or if you have personal problems of any kind. They just care about getting their stuff at a good price and in a reasonable time frame.

eBay is in a tough place. They get grief if they don't fight fraud, but in doing so, they get grief from sellers. It's a tough line to walk. Business is business, for eBay as well as buyers and sellers. You need to be a professional if you hope to succeed, even on eBay.

eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown

by: 1998 ebayer

Sun Aug 19 19:55:26 2007

I don't understand it. There are so many comments on this board from sellers who have been caught in the net. However, I just looked at the nortica 500 list. Out of all the top sellers, I don't see any of them suspended. Most have pretty crappy feedback ratings. Why haven't any of those sellers been suspended?

eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown

by: Jim

Sun Aug 19 21:38:40 2007

I applaud eBay's action. eBay is no longer the ''Wild West'' of the internet auctions. Buyers expect ''Excellence'' from vendors or sellers. Excellent is almost perfect. The sellers who hold their buyers ''Hostage'' before leaving feedback or try to make a profit from shipping should be held accountable for their poor business practices.

eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown

by: concho

Sun Aug 19 21:48:51 2007

I'm really surprised how many Pollyanna comments I see over this issue. It's as if those that come to the boards with opinions in favor of the policy, have not extrapolated the policy to it's conclusion. "I'm at 100%! I'm so good! eBay is right to get rid of those with negs"

Folks, don't you understand that those you criticize can spend a couple of bucks on your 99 cent stuff, leave you a "no appeal" negative and drag you right in the pool with them?

I believe eBay is in a free-fall decline which will probably only be fully noticed by the average joe and Wall Street after this years holiday season.

Specialty web sites and amazon style 3rd party venues are gaining inertia.

The reputation for fraud and scams aside, there are too many entities involved in a typical eBay transaction - eBay, seller, Paypal, seller's check-out providers, buyer's CC disputes ETC. The model is simply passe'. Intelligent buyers want to shop where there is a someone (some single entity) who will step up and take responsibility!

eBay may know full well that they are going to loose many sellers over the next year and just be trying to push the worst ones over to the competition ASAP. Certainly, If I could wish my troublesome customers on my competetion, I would! The difference is that I know who my bottom 1% PITA customers are but eBay doesn't have a clue! LOL

eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown

by: Patty R.

Sun Aug 19 23:59:17 2007

I found the Nortica 500 list rather interesting ... it took a little further manual research, but it seems that 37%+ of those sellers with the worst feedback ratings have either halted sales or are NARU. I only looked at those bottom 60, but that seems like it might be indicative of the whole. Clearly, the "August 2007" listing of the "top 500 eBay members based on feedback ratings" is not corroborated by current status. In fact, several went NARU many months ago - although their stupendous rating total has kept them in the Nortica list. Frankly, the concept of millions of transactions a year having been "set free" from these slimy sellers and into the market of other, far more reputable, sellers is heartening.

while scruple-free sellers could hold "hostage" the feedback, shouldn't it be the buyer who should leave appropriate feedback first? This would signal the completion of the transaction. If both sides are communicating as they should, then there should never be a negative. I find the "statement" made by sellers who leave feedback upon receipt of payment as a bit crass - "Thanks for the money! I'm done with this transaction, even though I haven't even shipped it yet"

Finally, I trust the comment on shipping is a generalization of abusive practices. In actuality, companies operate by making profit. Handling to accomplish shipping utilizes labor and material resources the company must make a profit on ... unless they're some fantasy altruistic non-profit, of course. The smaller the eBay-ing operation, the higher the handling fee should be expected - if it is going to reflect he true cost of that operation. There are no economies of scale for the mom & pop operation - like toting 2 or 3 versus hundreds of packages to the post office each day. Our job as sellers is to be reasonable but, of course, it should also be our choice.

And, to all the posters: Thank you for such a thought-provoking and informative range of discussion!! Of course, thanks to Ina for having brought this up in the newsletter ... I was living under a stone, apparently. ;p

eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown

by: Another Wronged Seller

Mon Aug 20 01:46:28 2007

To: ''Bob H'' While I appreciate your position, clearly you don't fully understand the point I was trying to make.

The percentages I quoted and you commented on are purely related to the timing of when the feedbacks were left not when the transactions actually occurred.
I have another business that doesn't always allow me the time to sell on ebay. So frequently I have a high sales volume period followed by an almost non-existant sales period. I use ebay to even out my workload during less then peak periods at my primary business.

So, if you agree that satisfied customers are more prone to leave a fast positive and customers with a problem might wait to leave the neutral or negative. Because of the wide 90 day window ebay allows to leave feedback you might get an accumulation of negatives in a slow sales period when your positives aren't high enough to offset them.

BTW, if you took an average on my ''buyer dissatisfaction'' for the last 120 to 150 days my percentage would fall between 2 to 3%! Just over 1% if you only look at negatives. It is only because of the timing of the feedbacks and the 90 day cycle ebay arbitrarily chose that causes my percentages to seem high.

The reverse can also be true. A seller can generate a lot of negatives in one slow sales period but then if it's followed by a high sales volume period with a lot of positives, it can negate the effects of the ''bad feedback'' during the slow period.

In an ideal world the feedbacks would be counted in the same time period as when the sales were generated not when they were left.

The real result of this is that some sellers are being disciplined for no other crime then to not have the same sales volume year round AND have feedbacks left equally timewise thruout the year.

eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown

by: Paul

Mon Aug 20 04:38:27 2007

To Bob H,

I read your comment and want to say congratulation to your current account status. Likely it will still be alright for a while...

But in case some day in the future you got that Seller Non-Performance warning from ebay please remember to let us know here. I eager to see that day comes.

I am not a native English speaker. Sorry for that and I may mis-spell some words or using some broken grammar. But don't worry I will try putting some more commas in between...

However I believe I communicate ''fairly well'' to certain extend...

But what?! I still got that seller non performance warning limiting my max sales transaction to 75% of my previous month.

You have done a great job in the feedback scores mathematical now we know how the percentage is calculated....

But let me tell you here, I know some mathematics too... let's say I got 100 units revenue last month and then i got a warning because of 5 negative, this month i will get max 75 units due to limitation, and i will have to get my 3 month historical -ve feedback below 5% in order to lift it. And then if that failed, I will get 100*75%*75% limit on the 3rd month, and then 100*75%*75%*75% next and so on.

And do you know how they evaluate their so-called ''rating''?? It counts your past 3 months feedback scores. So on the 2nd month evaluation your 1st month rating is weight heavier because you sell less on the 2nd month. The 3rd month evaluation you got 1st month weight damn heavy and 2nd also quite heavy because you sold further less!!! Eventually just get a single -ve feedback your account is doomed and you simply can't sell anything!!!

You see the point? It is deadly for small scale sellers! Given that my a/c on average getting 5% negative every month and got limited on the first month and can't get away from the warning, basically it is done.

It is a sux policy though I can understand why they impose this policy.
(1) They want to get rid of most part-time sellers because those guys don't pay huge amount of fees comparing to those shooting-star large scale sellers.

(2) Small scale sellers harder to be controlled. They are agile to change the listings and escape even they got complains from buyers.

Can you see why so many people posting in this page? Are you sure they are all bad rubbish sellers as you said? Think about what's going on before blah blah blah here... Good luck and god bless your accounts survive slightly longer than ours.

eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown

by: Paul

Mon Aug 20 05:19:14 2007

Bob H,

one more thing, as you said you have "guts" here in your previous post
===
I'm one of the few people on this forum that has the guts to say this to the rest of you --- you are on this forum because you are in trouble or fear that you will soon be.
===

Why don't you post your account name here and let us buy something from you and see how it goes? I am willing to spend money and buy things from you and kill your accounts.

Any account is okay, even low volumne or high volume one. Just one down is enough, the rest of yours will be gone sooner or later.

eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown

by: Paul

Mon Aug 20 05:28:59 2007

well... I bet you will post other sellers' account hough... LOL

eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown

by: Kathy

Mon Aug 20 18:30:38 2007

Well, I closed my account. For anybody who is interested, my eBay nickname was stillmee. I am checking out alternative venues (perhaps one that is sincerely interested in a level playing field).
That being said... I am not criticizing anyone else posting here. However, in defense of myself, I will say this... The current standard that eBay is using assumes that the buyers are absolutely telling the truth. In fact, they don't even take in to account eBay's sanctions against some of those same buyers. For example, one of my recent feedbacks, which was used to restrict my account, was from a buyer who said that she never received an item. Interestingly enough, she found the item the day I filed a complaint with the IC3. I also filed a complaint with eBay, and supposedly, they sanctioned her (though they never really tell you what that means). Imagine my surprise, when her complaint was used to determine that I was one of "the bottom feeders." That's okay, though, as it is great fodder for a class action suit against eBay. So, who did you say is handling that suit????

eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown

by: Bob H.

Tue Aug 21 04:31:42 2007

For those of you who are whining about buyers deliberately leaving you a negative, I just have to ask...WHY would anybody leave a negative to ruin your business just for the fun of it? (Unless you're Paul, who admits he would leave me a negative because he can't handle the truth of my posts here).

Take care of you customers by running a proper business in a professional manner and you'll be fine. Why is it any different than running a brick and mortar operation? The answer...it shouldn't be.

There's an old saying...If the customer is happy, he might tell ONE person about his good experience. If the customer is unhappy, he'll tell TEN about his poor experience. Keep them happy and you probably won't get negative FB. PIS* the customer off on eBay and it hurts your future business (or even puts you out of business)!

There are thousands of sellers with 100% FB who must be doing something right. And, I'm not talking about them giving away merchandise or refunding money to keep from getting negative FB. Their buyers wouldn't even think about leaving negative FB because they are happy with the transaction.

Too many of the whiners on this blog try to justify their poor FB ratings. Come on, get real. For example, when is 5 negatives out of 150 sales good business? Especially if 3 of those are within the last 20 sales.

There are thousands of sellers out there who agree with me. But most of them won't post here because they don't have anything to worry about concerning the crackdown on sellers. So, this blog ends up with being filled with rants and ravings from sellers who are being held accountable by eBay. Most of you ARE in the bottom 2% whether you believe it or not! And, it doesn't matter HOW you got there.

At least eBay is giving you a chance to redeem youself by improving your business practices. If you were in the bottom 2% of MacDonald's franchises, you'd risk being cut off. Why shouldn't eBay be able to do the same thing?

For ''Another Wronged Seller'' you said

''BTW, if you took an average on my ''buyer dissatisfaction'' for the last 120 to 150 days my percentage would fall between 2 to 3%! Just over 1% if you only look at negatives. It is only because of the timing of the feedbacks and the 90 day cycle ebay arbitrarily chose that causes my percentages to seem high.''

Do you really think that having 2 to 3% buyer dissatisfaction is OK? Why are you getting ANY negatives?

eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown

by: Lynn

Tue Aug 21 07:53:05 2007

Ebay needs to be an EXAMPLE to there sellers and give great customer service before they go tell sellers how to give great customer service

eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown

by: Reed

Tue Aug 21 08:58:21 2007

I think it is about time eBay did something about non-performing sellers. My only regret is that they don't seem to include mutually withdrawn f/b in their calculation.

I know a powerseller who gives a retaliatory neg to an honest neg from a buyer. Seller sends poorly described or completely mis-described merchandise. Buyer tries to contact seller who ignores the communications. If buyer persists, seller's response is: ''we can exchange negative f/b.''

Buyer gives up trying to resolve the problem and leaves a neg. Seller immediately (in one case within 16 minutes) leaves a retaliatory neg. Then two/three days later the seller sends out the mutually withdraw f/b request. The seller, however, NEVER does solve the original problem. The seller got to have his cake and eat it too.

eBay doesn't address this situation and they should. Time for seller's to step up to the plate, provide exemplary customer service, and act like the professionals they claim they are.

eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown

by: Bambi

Tue Aug 21 12:14:37 2007

"The proper way to do business is to COMMUNICATE"

Bob H
Here's a question for you - Does the proper way to do business also apply to EBAY?

How well did Ebay COMMUNICATE it's new policy to it's CUSTOMERS (sellers)?

eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown

by: roo

Tue Aug 21 12:25:17 2007

For some time now, many of us have been complaining to eBay to DO something about fraud on the site. When I was first asked to join Voices of the Community in 2003, I made a very simple point - the problem at it's core is ANONYMITY.

The people who intentionally cause problems on the site do so because the can, and they can because they can join anonymously. If eBay punishes the ID, the PERSON comes back with a new ID.

I have been told for all of this time that eBay CAN'T require people to positively identify themselves because it would affect membership numbers. This is only important to two groups - eBay and Stock Holders. The membership metric is one that is followed by Wall St. closely, and why eBay touts over 200 million accounts, when it is really only 40-70 million users that are "active".

This latest dragnet will fail, as have all other T&S initiatives aimed at removing or reducing fraud on the site.

Simple logic has been given by eBay for all of this: 1% of the sellers are causing 35% of the problems.

So, even assuming that by enforcing an arbitrary standard of removing those with 5% combined negative and neutral feedback sellers will remove this 1%, YOU STILL HAVE 65% OF THE FRAUD ON THE SITE!

Meanwhile, you now have the additional friction created by literally ruining the lives of GOOD people who have done nothing more than opened their doors to buyers who are themselves part of the problem. I contend that part of the reason BUYERS leave unwarranted non-positive feedback is BECAUSE THEY TOO ARE ANONYMOUS.

Until someone at eBay wants to deal with the 600lb gorilla that anonymity is, all of this is just further destroying the good will between people in the community and eBay staff, and destroying what was once the shining star of the Internet.

It is so sad.

_roo

eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown

by: maxx graphix

Tue Aug 21 14:39:54 2007

Just another example of poor management by Ebay. I wish all those who have lost, the best of luck on your new business venture. We do not have to endure this. Start another store somewhere else. Your own website should present it self as a professional business. Just accept CC's. Visa or MC or Discover and AMX will do more to protect thier clients than PayPal or FeeBay anyday of the week. Ebay, your services are no longer wanted.

eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown

by: miss understanding

Tue Aug 21 17:48:24 2007

Its a two way street between sellers and buyers. I've been selling on ebay since 1998, I have thousands of positive feedbacks, with only 7 negative feedbacks for the entire 9 year period. Those negatives came from folks who basically left bad feedback, and never contacted me to let me know there was any sort of problem. When I tried to contact them, I never received any sort of acknowledgement. I'm not in the bottom 1% of users being affected, but quite honestly, Sometimes sellers really AREN'T the problem. They just got involved with newbies, or folks who were looking for a $100 item for $1.50. When they didn't get it, they left negatives.

eBay Sellers Complaining of Crackdown

by: Bob H.

Tue Aug 21 18:23:39 2007

Bambi,

A lot of people have gripes with the way eBay does business. There are some things that I wish they would do (or do better). BUT...I can't control that. It's eBay's sandbox and they can kick me out anytime they don't want me to play with them or change the rules so that I will want to leave.

However, I can control what I do and how I do business on eBay. That's what my posting are all about. There are far too many unprofessional sellers on eBay and I'm happy to see them leave or be forced off. Unfortunately for them, some of them are too blind to realize that THEY are the ones that need to changes their practices or go off and start their own website business...LOL, like they'll do any better there!

Click to view more comments
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 [Next Page]

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Archives


Site Index Copyright 1999-2009. Steiner Associates LLC. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy.