Isn't that going to "wipe" out a large number of Chinese sellers?

[*stuff*books*]

The defect rate is the percentage of transactions that have one or more of the following transaction-related defects – the top predictors that a buyer will buy less or leave eBay altogether:

• Detailed seller rating of 1, 2 or 3 for Item as described,(there are a number of those).
• Detailed seller rating of 1 for Postage time,(it's why they have free postage).
• Negative or neutral Feedback,(they get lots of those)
• Return initiated for a reason that indicates the item was not as described,(they are safe from those as they generally offer a
• a partial refund instead)
• PayPal Purchase Protection or eBay Money Back Guarantee case opened for an item not received or an item not as described (only used for US, UK and German seller standards programs)
• Seller-cancelled transactions

Starting with the evaluation on 20 August, to meet the minimum standard to sell on eBay.com.au, you can't have more than 5% of transactions with one more transaction defects over the most recent evaluation period. Transactions with buyers from Australia and overseas (except US, UK and Germany) are counted.

What are the standards?

	Top Rated Seller	All sellers
Maximum defect rate	2% (from at least 5 different buyers	5% (from at least 8 different buyers)
Closed cases without seller resolution	<=0.3%	<=0.3%
Transactions & sales	100 sales and US$1000	NA
Listing requirements for additional eBay premium service benefits
0-1 day handling	Yes	NA
Free shipping	Yes	NA
Fast shipping	Yes	NA
30 day money back returns	Yes	NA

So in effect that should mean that any TRS that falls below 98% will get punished?

A high number of them will be Chinese sellers.

Will it be enforced or will they have an out? 

[phonebite]

If the past shows anything, it means they will probably increase their efforts to give less defects in order to maintain TRS.

5% defect rate is way too much already for any company to have a busniess on..

[beach_and_home]

The main problem the Chinese sellers have is the postage time. They send everything as Free Post by the absolute cheapest method and it takes a month to reach Australia. The other problem is the quality of the goods. The quality has definitely improved. 10 years ago whenever I imported anything from China I would throw away approx 10% due to defects. I would say nowadays the rate is probably 5%.

[davewil1964]

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@sophie3stephen wrote:

If the past shows anything, it means they will probably increase their efforts to give less defects in order to maintain TRS.

5% defect rate is way too much already for any company to have a busniess on..

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But they are not necessarily defects. They are what eBay DEEM to be defects. Like 3 stars or a neutral or refunding a customer.

[*crikey*mate*]

They're preparing for the Resurrection

[*crikey*mate*]

*makes note to turn to last page before responding*

[qualfit]

I think Chinese sellers may not necessarily be hit if they honestly specify their item location. If you now check the shipping time from China you will see that they allow 1 month to reach Australia and in majority of cases it is more than enough. Buyers will not be able to open "I have not received my item" case before the estimated date has passed, i.e. 1 month later.

Who will be hit (hopefully) are those dropshippers who claim the items are in Australia even if they are not. Any contact by buyers where they choose "I have not received my item yet" option will count against those sellers regardless of the final feedback. Good thing in my view.