Very Harsh transaction defect rate (0.5%) !!

[starwood2111]

The new seller standard have caused me to lose my top rated status and thus lose my Ebay premium badge stamp on my listings ! This has greatly reduced my sales.

Because we run a physical street store as well as an ebay store sometimes items sell on ebay that have just sold in our street store and we have not had a chance to adjust the quantity on Ebay. So we have to cancel the ebay order due to being 'out of stock' . But the threshhold for top rated seller is only 0.5% meaning we can not cancel more than one transaction in every 200. This is very difficult to achieve even though we are seen as one of the very best service stores in our field. 100% positive feedback..

This costs me alot of sales and ebay will get less from me as well. Tough !!

[pennyforum14]

It doesn't seem like a lot, I'd agree.  However, the rules say you are not supposed to list the same items in eBay as you have for sale in your shop, precisely to prevent the out of stock situation.  You have chosen to disregard the rule, and you take a risk when you do this, which in your case has not paid off. You could always quarantine enough stock to fill the advertised eBay sales as they occur so that you will not be faced with the situation of having to cancel an eBay order because you are out of stock.  Then if you run out of an item in the B&M, you should adjust available stock numbers in eBay before taking that stock to sell in the shop.

EDIT>  Too quick for me stawks, lol.

[starwood2111]

Could somone please point me to where it says you cannot have items listed for sale on ebay that are also available in your B/M shop ? I can't see that...

[lane-ends]

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@starwood2111 wrote:

Could somone please point me to where it says you cannot have items listed for sale on ebay that are also available in your B/M shop ? I can't see that...

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and does harvey norman comply with that i wonder?

[imastawka]

I'm pretty sure they removed that policy some time ago.

But if you can't manage your numbers, then you get defects.    

[starwood2111]

Yep point taken and thats what ebay are saying too ! Their business their rules.....

[harley_babes_hoard]

why don't you try the stock/inventory control management software available on the internet for free.

[robinsonmarineparts]

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@starwood2111 wrote:

Yes thats my point . I don't think one error in 200 sales is unreasonable. I have over 1700 items available at this moment.

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I also have www site and sell to the trade, so i do know about your problem.

What i do is keep a few items aside, eg. if i have 10 of a particular item for sale i'll only list say 7 of them, if i have 200 of the same item for sale i'll list 150 of them, that way it gives me a chance to add or delete amounts from my ebay listings,(if you know what i'm trying to say) lol.

I sell item X thru ebay and it says Y available i can double check stock and adjust if need be.

[elusiveeditions]

The above idea is great if you've got multiples.

I used to have a shop & web sales like yourself OP, and gave up on having internet stock available on the shop floor. Not only do you have the odd item sell simultaneously in the shop and online, you risk internet stock being shoplifted, damaged or just moved so as you can't find it when it does sell online.

It doesn't sound like you're having that many problems but if there's any way you can seperate out your web stock I'd do it.

[clarry100]

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@robinsonmarineparts wrote:

I also have www site and sell to the trade, so i do know about your problem.

What i do is keep a few items aside, eg. if i have 10 of a particular item for sale i'll only list say 7 of them, if i have 200 of the same item for sale i'll list 150 of them, that way it gives me a chance to add or delete amounts from my ebay listings,(if you know what i'm trying to say) lol.

I sell item X thru ebay and it says Y available i can double check stock and adjust if need be.

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We kinda follow this model. Depending on the lead time of the item from the manufacturer we only list 70%-90% of the items we have at hand. That way as listings get near to or at ZERO we have time to order more stock and/or adjust the listing quantity's. We never list more than we have on ebay.

We used to list exactly the qty we had on hand until we got caught with an out of sock problem. When we went to make up the ordered item colour we found that the flowers we did have in stock were actually unusable. So we were unable to supply in the buyer's chosen colour. We explained to the buyer what had happened and gave them the option to either cancel of choose another colour. They chose the latter and were happy in that instance.

We also sell on etsy and our own website so need to monitor stock levels closely. But by managing it closely we have never gotten an out of stock defect.

[starwood2111]

Alot depends I think on what type of things you sell. We mostly sell shoes and one listing can have up to 8 colours and then up to 12 sizes in each colour. So there can be 96 variations on just one item. So this I think greatly increases the chance of error. Also shoe factories are often supply incorrect sizes or for instance 2 left feet instead of a pair. 

Perhaps as suggested by others that I am better to send these out regardless and avoid a defect. Rather than be honest and avoid wasting the buyers time........