GENERAL RANT about seller standards and limits on free listings - ebay policy

[circletek]

WARNING : GENERAL RANT AHEAD.

Hi I just wanted to congratulate eBay on gradually alienating me from using their service, 

and driving me in other directions.

The day when ebay is no longer the monopoly and other sites like alibaba and other free sites for local commerce gain more global ground will be a very happy day, and I will never look back to ebay.

I got headaches from ebay a while ago and  eventually stop selling anything through them for a couple of years.

I've recently returned and was happy to see there is definitely some improvements for sellers,

I suspect to encourage some other irritated sellers to return to eBay.

Things like numerous free listings per month are great

[for months previously I was paying more in listing fees and other fees than I was profiting : ie. running at a loss through ebay].

Taking the final value fee IF an item sells is much better.

Also automatic relistings is great.

But my account has recently been limited due to cancelled transactions.

Note , I have received no negative feedback apart from one man a long time ago, and an inexplicable neutral rating, but otherwise, all my customers are satisfied with positive feedback.

Note : Almost no expressions of disappointment.

And yet , ebay rates me as "below standard".

They then limit the amount of free listings I can have per month, and the total number of sales in dollar-value I can list [thereby limiting their own takings for some unknown reason].

Guess what ?

This means I go through OTHER avenues to sell my goods, and the fee-money does not pass through ebay's hands. 

In many other instances, I simply give away certain goods, or in many instances dispose of them , rather than go to other efforts and avenues which create too much difficulty for the reward involved.

Good job in reducing your own profits , ebay !!!

btw. if I was to rely on ebay for my income, I'd go broke within a week.

Don't think I'm going to struggle too hard to regain some apparently arbitrary status with your business. 

Ebay is and always has been extra pocket-money for me for the most part, aside from very occasional larger sales. 

Meanwhile, scammers and fraudsters and other such people are always setting up fly-by-night temporary accounts.

Dear ebay : Go worry about some  more important issues plaguing your site than mutually-agreed cancelled transactions between buyers and sellers, and honest dealings.

My account is in good standing for over 7 years as both seller and buyer. 

I'm not impressed.

Rant over.

[horizon1907]

---

@thatthingguy wrote:

WARNING : GENERAL RANT AHEAD.

Hi I just wanted to congratulate eBay on gradually alienating me from using their service, 

and driving me in other directions.

The day when ebay is no longer the monopoly and other sites like alibaba and other free sites for local commerce gain more global ground will be a very happy day, and I will never look back to ebay.

I got headaches from ebay a while ago and  eventually stop selling anything through them for a couple of years.

I've recently returned and was happy to see there is definitely some improvements for sellers,

I suspect to encourage some other irritated sellers to return to eBay.

Things like numerous free listings per month are great

[for months previously I was paying more in listing fees and other fees than I was profiting : ie. running at a loss through ebay].

Taking the final value fee IF an item sells is much better.

Also automatic relistings is great.

But my account has recently been limited due to cancelled transactions.

Note , I have received no negative feedback apart from one man a long time ago, and an inexplicable neutral rating, but otherwise, all my customers are satisfied with positive feedback.

Note : Almost no expressions of disappointment.

And yet , ebay rates me as "below standard".

They then limit the amount of free listings I can have per month, and the total number of sales in dollar-value I can list [thereby limiting their own takings for some unknown reason].

Guess what ?

This means I go through OTHER avenues to sell my goods, and the fee-money does not pass through ebay's hands. 

In many other instances, I simply give away certain goods, or in many instances dispose of them , rather than go to other efforts and avenues which create too much difficulty for the reward involved.

Good job in reducing your own profits , ebay !!!

btw. if I was to rely on ebay for my income, I'd go broke within a week.

Don't think I'm going to struggle too hard to regain some apparently arbitrary status with your business. 

Ebay is and always has been extra pocket-money for me for the most part, aside from very occasional larger sales. 

Meanwhile, scammers and fraudsters and other such people are always setting up fly-by-night temporary accounts.

Dear ebay : Go worry about some  more important issues plaguing your site than mutually-agreed cancelled transactions between buyers and sellers, and honest dealings.

My account is in good standing for over 7 years as both seller and buyer. 

I'm not impressed.

Rant over.

---

Good Point thatthing, can I ask, why you cancelled the transactions. These days, that Whoops a defect onto you and most likely that has cause the Limitations.

[circletek]

Thanks. 

Sure, you can ask.

There are sometimes various reasons, but in general / frequently, if a buyer is dissatisfied for whatever reason, I cancel a transaction and refund their money.

Not every buyer knows how to cancel a transaction, and sometimes it's also just quicker and more service-like if the seller does it for them.

In any case, I can't see why a mutually and happily agreed-upon cancellation of a transaction leads to a lowering of a seller's "standard" and rating [when there is no negative feedback] and why one should then be treated with contempt as a "sub-par seller", and various "severe" limits and restrictions imposed [such as free monthly listings reduced by almost half].

It's very off-putting for me, and apart from that, reduces ebay's fees they would otherwise get from me by this same percentage-margin .

So basically : It's bad for everybody , without sufficient reasoning [I believe]. 

Quite a ridiculous "tactic" for some inconceivable end.

And it implies the strange idea that I am going to "work extra hard" to regain this very arbitrary standard from a small money-earner on the side of my daily life?
Get real, ebay.

I have an actual job and life that requires attention. 

When things go well here, ebay is a great money spinner, and a good way to clear up space from things I don't need.

But.....

If I can't transact quickly and easily through this service, it very quickly stops being worthy of my time and energy !!!!

And it is easier to find other quicker ways to unload goods with minimum hassles, as I often have to [often charity or disposal ! ].

Then I go off it for a long time, and might check back later a few months later [by which time you've lost many sales and fees from me].

Just my input into a section of the service-structure currently implemented / imposed on sellers.

[phorum_junkie*]

If the buyer wants to cancel then you choose that option and you will not get a defect.  If you want to cancel then you quite rightly get a defect as you cannot or will not go through with the sale.

[circletek]

To Phorum_junkie.

No. Not "Quite rightly defected"

I suppose the situation could be considered this way :

/ The equivalent from a "physical" sales perspective :

If  I were a brick-and-mortar store, and a customer walked in and expressed  dissatisfaction with the purchase and had a receipt,  and I then immediately offered to refund them, without requesting any fuss or effort on their part, and reached into the till and gave them the money thereby cancelling the transaction in a quick / efficient manner, would this make me a bad seller , or a good seller?

I would say a good / honourable seller.

Why should I be penalised / defected for this action ?

I initiated the mechanics of the refund, which they were expressing interest in, without forcing them to go through labours to receive their refund.

IF I had negative feedback from these cancellations, I would understand a defect / penalty from an overseer, and would agree with you that I "quite rightly" received a defect [and would therefore not be making a public community post about it, which would make me look a bit silly!].

In two instances, I was unable to complete / honour the transaction, but this is not ALL of the instances in question, and for the other instances, where I am acting at the customer's convenience, in my opinion does not warrant a "defect" or penalty.

.............

Today, I would have had approx 25 free listings left this month, 

but instead I have been limited to about 5 or 6 which I have just used.

This being a public holiday here in Australia is one full day I have to make listings.

Therefore, ebay has just lost a percentage of 20 of my listings, and only have a chance at taking a share of 5 or 6 listings.

For what reason ?

People are not dissatisfied with my business.

This seems like bad business-sense to me by ebay.

[outright dumb, actually].

I'm not sure if ebay's profit figures are public or private [probs public], 

but I would not be at all surprised if ebay's profits have taken significant dives  at certain points due to their policies toward sellers who make periodic exits from the system.

Note this is [I think?] my first community post in 7 years.

Normally I just make a quiet / silent exit from this system of selling and go elsewhere for long periods, when things give me irritations / inconveniences.

But figure I might as well express something that is silly.

Maybe somebody of some influence will read it.

[mitty_2010]

Thanks for your rant it made me feel like I am not alone , I think its great that sellers can come here for some release , help and encouragement when needed , I have seen so many of my favourite sellers leave ebay the last 6 months its really sad , there was a thread here sometime late last year buy a buyer who had not used ebay for a couple of years and when they came back they were surprised by the low choices of item given in the search engine , they said previously there was hundreds if not thousands of choices given as to 10 choices they were given for the common house hold item they were searching for here ,I think many companys have their own web sites now , anyway wish you all the best .

[i-love-my-sheep]

It depends on the reason you select for the cancellation as to whether you get a defect. If you select out of stock, defect. If you select buyer changed mind, no defect.

[lane-ends]

I can see the principle they are applying, they want you to provide a service so that a customer does not become dissatisfied in the fiirst place and hence want a refund.

HOWEVER, having said that it is the real world not utopea, you cannot satisy everyone all of the time. So the margin is simply too narrow to be practical.

As pointed out there is no reward for prompt resolution over making it hard for customer. It is the defects that get you restricted not whether you get a neg or not

[circletek]

Hmmmmm.....

another month and I've decided to give ebay another go with another round of listings.

Seems I'm still severely restricted.

I got something like 5 listings, and am no longer allowed to list more than that [I was previously at 40 free listings].

I guess ebay doesn't want my money / doesn't like the money I'm generating flowing through their system and through their hands.

I'm not sure if they ever reset all the defects, or if you have to make sure no transactions are cancelled to become undefected.

The fact is , I've encountered plenty of "buyers" who do not even KNOW how to cancel a transaction [this includes non-payers / people who bid "by mistake", and there are quite a few of those], and therefore I have to do it for them to avoid being charged final value fees for payments which I never received in the first place !

In any case, it all seems like a bit much work to get a pat on the back from ebay and not worth my efforts, when I have almost no negative reviews.

I'm glad there are a couple of people here who see my points.

It's really looking like I need to look at other avenues to sell odds and ends of things.

Ebay is always a waste of time now.