New Seller Dashboard

I just spent a reasonable amount of time with eBay's customer service department attempting to clarify how the new seller dashboard will operate and was told some things I didn't understand before.

 

On looking at the pop-up page i was surprised so see that I had an open case against me that I had never been aware of. I was told it was from May 2013 and which sale it related to. The sale in question related to a new garment which the seller found had a damaged press stud. She contacted me, I immediately offered a partial refund to have it repaired, or an immediate full refund. She chose the full refund which I processed immediately through Paypal, and posted her an addressed pre-paid satchel to return the item, which she did. Apparantly she also opened an item not as described case (which I was never informed about - possibly because the money had already been refunded), and the record remains against my account as an "unresolved  case". When I complained about this I was told to talk to Paypal.

 

My next question was about the defect rate for "items out of stock or sold to someone else". I had already spoken to them about this because I had some recorded, when I had never given this reason for refunding, mainly because I don't carry lines of stock, or sell anywhere else.

 

It was explained to me that from now on, ANY refund through Paypal will automatically count as a defect against the seller, ANY case open against a seller - no matter whose favour the dispute is resolved in - will be counted as a defect against the seller, AND the buyer can still go on and leave negative feedback. The person I spoke to could not give me an example of a case where such a dispute would NOT count as a defect against the seller.

 

I was told this system was to encourage sellers and buyers to resolve issues themselves. I said "But if I do that and refund all or part of a buyer's money, I still get a defect for processing a refund through Paypal, and if I don't refund and the buyer opens a case, I get a defect automatically - regardless of the outcome". CORRECT.

 

She also told me that there was no "work around" of this in a case where the seller is not at all at fault.

 

In the past I have given people their money back for whatever reason, just to keep the peace and my feedback intact but right now I don't know what to do. If someone asks me to cancel a transaction - I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't....

 

I don't know about the rest of my fellow travellers in the selling game, but this scares the bejesus out of me....

 

Marina.

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New Seller Dashboard

That's why I've decided to abandon my previous "refund for any reason to keep everyone happy" policy in favour of a "If I haven't done anything wrong - no refunds" policy. At least if I phone eBay I have some chance of having an unfair negative removed.

 

I honestly wish that if eBay want to get rid of smaller sellers like myself, that they would just say so or give us 6 months notice to quit. Anything would be better than this death of a thousand cuts! Damm you eBay.....

 

Cheers,

Marina.

Message 11 of 29
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New Seller Dashboard

IMO making such decisions that will significantly lower your customer service standard based on advice provided by an eBay customer service rep that is inconsistent with any published information is highly risky and IMO foolish.
Message 12 of 29
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New Seller Dashboard

Quote: ANY case open against a seller - no matter whose favour the dispute is resolved in - will be counted as a defect against the seller,

To the OP - Have you read this?

http://sellercentre.ebay.com.au/ebay-for-business/seller-performance-standards

Note this part:

Cases found in your favour don't count. Buyer protection cases are used for the US, UK and German seller standards programs. Any case that escalates to eBay or PayPal for review and is found in your favour, or found to be no fault of the buyer or seller, won't count against your performance rating. It won't be counted as a defect and it won't count toward your percentage of cases closed without seller resolution.
Message 13 of 29
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New Seller Dashboard

eBay reps on the US boards have confirmed numerous times that items cancelled and refunded at buyers request should not count as defects.
Message 14 of 29
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New Seller Dashboard

Qutie:In the past I have given people their money back for whatever reason, just to keep the peace and my feedback intact but right now I don't know what to do. If someone asks me to cancel a transaction - I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't....

From the seller dashboard - new seller performance standards
"Cancelled transactions (out of stock or sold to someone else)

This refers to any transactions you have cancelled - either on eBay or through Paypal - because you don't have the item anymore or you chose not to post the item after it is sold."

Nowhere does it say this applies to the buyer reason options for cancelling a transaction, e.g. Buyer bought item by mistake.

Which makes sense, it is disappointing to buyers to be told after the sale..item isn't avail now..it was sold elsewhere, stock levels were wrong.
Message 15 of 29
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New Seller Dashboard

And I discovered another ebay/paypal scam:

 

YOU DON'T GET YOUR FVF BACK FROM EBAY, AND DO NOT GET A FEE REFUND FROM PAYPAL, ONCE A CASE HAS BEEN DECIDED AGAINST YOU.

 

So I lose money out because the post office lost my item, and then ebay jumps in to grab their share of the booty.

 

Off now to Financial Ombudsman office to get my money back. You will be surprised how quickly things are rectified once the notice from FOE office goes to Paypal. Try that 🙂

Message 16 of 29
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New Seller Dashboard


@am*3 wrote:
Qutie:In the past I have given people their money back for whatever reason, just to keep the peace and my feedback intact but right now I don't know what to do. If someone asks me to cancel a transaction - I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't....

From the seller dashboard - new seller performance standards
"Cancelled transactions (out of stock or sold to someone else)

This refers to any transactions you have cancelled - either on eBay or through Paypal - because you don't have the item anymore or you chose not to post the item after it is sold."

Nowhere does it say this applies to the buyer reason options for cancelling a transaction, e.g. Buyer bought item by mistake.

Which makes sense, it is disappointing to buyers to be told after the sale..item isn't avail now..it was sold elsewhere, stock levels were wrong.

The point I am trying to make is that regardless of what eBay says in its seller guides, the system is (at present)  AUTOMATICALLY imposing a "defect" for any partial or full refund put through Paypal. This is backed up by what I was told by customer service yesterday, 2 weeks ago, and by the fact that I have 4 defect notices for "item out of stock or sold to someone else".

 

I don't have stock lines - I sell new oddments and used items - virtually every refund I have ever given has been for a sizing issue (customer didn't check measurements given, or for the usual excuses for buyer's remorse) - the customer service rep even checked my defects and said "oh yes, they are all about sizes - the system has marked them automatically as defects and there is no work around to fix that".

 

The other issue was the so-called "open, unresolved case" against me, about which I was totally unaware. A year ago, a buyer contacted me about a problem with her purchase and apparently opened a case for "item not as described" at the same time. I immediately offered her apartial refund to cover repairs, or a full refund which she accepted. I processed the refund on the same day and was never advised about the case, presumably because the refund had gone through. Yet it sits there as another "defect" as unresolved case.

 

I'm also very concerned about the fact that I have lately been giving partial refunds to people who have made multiple purchases and therefore paid too much postage (I have done free post for quite a while now). Sounds like these are all going to be logged as "defects" too, even though I was prepared to wear the extra FVF on the postage cost.

 

Again, according to what I was told yesterday, the system is AUTOMATICALLY logging "defects' and there is nothing you can do about it, regardless of what the seller guidelines say. I have always worked very hard at customer service, and it now seems that everything I have previously done to keep the customer happy is going to go against me. This was confirmed by 2 different eBay customer service reps.

 

Marina.

Message 17 of 29
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New Seller Dashboard

Very alarming.  I often do partial refunds for overpaid postage or for bulk pricing discounts and am also concerned that these customer service oriented business practices may actually be punished under the new defect system.  It's just counter intuitive, damaging to sellers and I can't see how it can be any help to buyers either if it results in sellers feeling reluctant to provide refunds/ returns etc to avoid a defect.  I did a partial refund today and I'm just waiting to see if it shows up as a defect.  

Message 18 of 29
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New Seller Dashboard


@nevillesdaughter wrote:

@am*3 wrote:
Qutie:In the past I have given people their money back for whatever reason, just to keep the peace and my feedback intact but right now I don't know what to do. If someone asks me to cancel a transaction - I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't....

From the seller dashboard - new seller performance standards
"Cancelled transactions (out of stock or sold to someone else)

This refers to any transactions you have cancelled - either on eBay or through Paypal - because you don't have the item anymore or you chose not to post the item after it is sold."

Nowhere does it say this applies to the buyer reason options for cancelling a transaction, e.g. Buyer bought item by mistake.

Which makes sense, it is disappointing to buyers to be told after the sale..item isn't avail now..it was sold elsewhere, stock levels were wrong.

The point I am trying to make is that regardless of what eBay says in its seller guides, the system is (at present)  AUTOMATICALLY imposing a "defect" for any partial or full refund put through Paypal. This is backed up by what I was told by customer service yesterday, 2 weeks ago, and by the fact that I have 4 defect notices for "item out of stock or sold to someone else".

 

I don't have stock lines - I sell new oddments and used items - virtually every refund I have ever given has been for a sizing issue (customer didn't check measurements given, or for the usual excuses for buyer's remorse) - the customer service rep even checked my defects and said "oh yes, they are all about sizes - the system has marked them automatically as defects and there is no work around to fix that".

 

The other issue was the so-called "open, unresolved case" against me, about which I was totally unaware. A year ago, a buyer contacted me about a problem with her purchase and apparently opened a case for "item not as described" at the same time. I immediately offered her apartial refund to cover repairs, or a full refund which she accepted. I processed the refund on the same day and was never advised about the case, presumably because the refund had gone through. Yet it sits there as another "defect" as unresolved case.

 

I'm also very concerned about the fact that I have lately been giving partial refunds to people who have made multiple purchases and therefore paid too much postage (I have done free post for quite a while now). Sounds like these are all going to be logged as "defects" too, even though I was prepared to wear the extra FVF on the postage cost.

 

Again, according to what I was told yesterday, the system is AUTOMATICALLY logging "defects' and there is nothing you can do about it, regardless of what the seller guidelines say. I have always worked very hard at customer service, and it now seems that everything I have previously done to keep the customer happy is going to go against me. This was confirmed by 2 different eBay customer service reps.

 

Marina.


Mine was showing the same defects for refunding when the new dashboard came out, but not any longer and I usually do a handful of refunds each week so my guess is that they are fixing this.

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Message 19 of 29
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New Seller Dashboard

I really hope so because this bothers me way more than the FVF issues - in 10 years on eBay I have NEVER told a buyer that I don't have their purchase item for ANY reason, but according to my dashboard I've done it 4 times in the last year!

 

Cheers,

Marina.

Message 20 of 29
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