below standard performance rating

[groundwork_au]

I recently had a period where i was waiting for new stock to be delivered, if i couldnt fulfill an order i refunded buyers through the system  thinking this was the correct thing to do - i used the ' i cannot fulfill this order due to low stock". I didnt realise that every refund was a defect on my account. All of a sudden my sales stopped on Ebay, this was due to Ebay changing my account to a ' below average performance", i had been a power seller before this and have a 99.5% positive feedback score. I am now at a 2.75% defect rate when i should be below 2% due soley to refunding buyers.

I have spoken to cusomer services on numerous occasions tryng to explain my situation and prove that i now have stock to fulfill orders but they will not help me at all. To get my store operating at under 2% defects i have to sell 177 items ...my sales have dropped from 5-10 per day to 1 item per 2 weeks. I have just invested heavily in a new shipment of stock to sell on Ebay and i cant make a sale due to my store drop in visability and limitation on listings. This is causing me a lot of stress! 

Does anyone have any advice on how to resolve this issue? Any advice would be much appreciated. I honestly thought i was doing the right thing, but i have been informed that i should have updated my inventory. 

Thanks

Rebecca