topic Re: Very Harsh transaction defect rate (0.5%) !! in Selling

Very Harsh transaction defect rate (0.5%) !!

starwood2111 — Sat, 27 Feb 2016 03:04:23 GMT

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 !!

Re: Very Harsh transaction defect rate (0.5%) !!

ourphonecase — Sat, 27 Feb 2016 03:20:04 GMT

Interesting, I had badges here and there and then removed and I literally don't even see the difference in sales at all. I think its just there to make sellers proud of themselves. Break out of that mentality and perhaps you may realise it doesn't do much.

Also why dont you just list the exact stock you have? Wouldn't it be better than canceling orders? Thats what I do all the time (as well as turning on the out ot stock option so I don't lose my listings.)

Re: Very Harsh transaction defect rate (0.5%) !!

starwood2111 — Sat, 27 Feb 2016 03:44:37 GMT

For me so far it has effected sales alot. Maybe that will improve over time but only time will tell.

We of course ONLY list stock we have on hand but the problem arises if the item sells in our street shop and similtaneously on Ebay.....

Late shipping has a threshold of 5% but in the case of out of stock the threshold is ten times harsher at just 0.5% doesn't seem to make sense....

Re: Very Harsh transaction defect rate (0.5%) !!

lane-ends — Sat, 27 Feb 2016 03:45:01 GMT

Try offering buyers an alternative and ask then if that would suit or would they prefer it if you cancelled the order. ie word it so they ask to canecl the order and then you can select that option rather than go direct to cancel order option.

At the end of the day as far as Ebay is concerned better sellers either send out damaged stock/wrong stock/empty box/"loose" it in the post and fix it later IF buyer complains. Bad sellers are honest and tell buyer upfront they are out of stock or damaged. Go figure..

Re: Very Harsh transaction defect rate (0.5%) !!

harley_babes_hoard — Sat, 27 Feb 2016 03:59:00 GMT

sorry I don't see how it is harsh. You ran out of stock. At the end of the day you know how many items you have in stock so list less on ebay.

Re: Very Harsh transaction defect rate (0.5%) !!

davidc4430 — Sat, 27 Feb 2016 04:04:23 GMT

i think the buyer recieving an email saying the item they thought they had bought is "out of stock" is one very unhappy buyer. its happened to me a couple of times and left me feeling cheated by a seller adverising items they didnt have. your story is believable but you have to see it from a buyers perspective. do you mention in your listing the buyer might not get the item as its for sale in a B/M store and nay well sell before you get time to end the listing?

Re: Very Harsh transaction defect rate (0.5%) !!

phorum_junkie* — Sat, 27 Feb 2016 04:16:01 GMT

Try reading the ebay policies, terms and conditions you agreed to when you opened your store. One of those rules is that you should not list anything that is available elsewhere.

As items being out of stock is one of the things that really annoys buyers ebay have quite rightly decided that being out of stock is a very good reason to give a seller a defect, each disappointed buyer is one who may never come back to ebay screwing things up for the rest of us who abide by the rules.

I doubt if you will get any sympathy from either buyers or sellers except of course others like yourself who think the rules don't apply to them..

Re: Very Harsh transaction defect rate (0.5%) !!

lane-ends — Sat, 27 Feb 2016 04:19:45 GMT

I think it is harsh, not so much for having it as a defect but the allowable % is too low, as it is accidental rather than outright bad performance. I had two of these once and they were due to accidental duplicated listings. Dissapointing for buyers yes but hardly a seller who needs to be hit with a hard stick. There are a lot worse things that happen that dont even rate a defect these days.

Re: Very Harsh transaction defect rate (0.5%) !!

starwood2111 — Sat, 27 Feb 2016 04:50:19 GMT

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

Re: Very Harsh transaction defect rate (0.5%) !!

imastawka — Sat, 27 Feb 2016 05:02:00 GMT

You have a B & M store and an ebay store.

Why keep your ebay stock at the store?

If you have items listed on ebay, then keep them at home or somewhere

else besides the B & M

If you need more at the B & M then adjust your ebay stocks and take

them the next day

I really don't see how hard it can be. Just don't have your ebay stock

at the street store

edit: mind you, I hadn't looked at what you sell when I typed that reply.

But you get the drift

Re: Very Harsh transaction defect rate (0.5%) !!

pennyforum14 — Sat, 27 Feb 2016 05:03:13 GMT

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.

Re: Very Harsh transaction defect rate (0.5%) !!

starwood2111 — Sat, 27 Feb 2016 05:07:13 GMT

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...

Re: Very Harsh transaction defect rate (0.5%) !!

lane-ends — Sat, 27 Feb 2016 05:09:31 GMT

@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...

and does harvey norman comply with that i wonder?

Re: Very Harsh transaction defect rate (0.5%) !!

imastawka — Sat, 27 Feb 2016 05:21:00 GMT

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

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

Re: Very Harsh transaction defect rate (0.5%) !!

starwood2111 — Sat, 27 Feb 2016 05:29:30 GMT

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

Re: Very Harsh transaction defect rate (0.5%) !!

harley_babes_hoard — Sat, 27 Feb 2016 05:31:46 GMT

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

Re: Very Harsh transaction defect rate (0.5%) !!

robinsonmarineparts — Sat, 27 Feb 2016 08:22:18 GMT

@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.

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.

Re: Very Harsh transaction defect rate (0.5%) !!

elusiveeditions — Sat, 27 Feb 2016 20:38:19 GMT

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.

Re: Very Harsh transaction defect rate (0.5%) !!

clarry100 — Sat, 27 Feb 2016 23:05:49 GMT

@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.

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.

Re: Very Harsh transaction defect rate (0.5%) !!

starwood2111 — Sat, 27 Feb 2016 23:44:57 GMT

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........