Taking it to the media will give ebay sellers a bad name, especially those who support other sellers who've done the wrong thing.

Basically, a petition to do away with the defect system is saying that sellers think they shouldn't have to be responsible for their actions - not a good advertisement for the site.

Below is a copy of what I have written elswhere.  I don't wish to inflame this discussion but I don't see how this will give Sellers a bad name, nor do I see it as showing my support for Sellers who have done the wrong thing.  And I most certainly do not think that sellers shouldn't have to be responsible for their actions.  I just happen to think the system seems unfair and gives little or no opportunity for revision or re-assessment of Suspensions.  I bend over backwards to offer good Customer Service and I post within 24 hours.  To the very best of my knowledge I have never and will never list an item I do not have stock of, I actually endeavour to maintain back-up stock to cover any cases of Items lost or damaged in post.  Having said this, and slightly off track, sorry, I did have issues at one time when re-listing before I realised the system re-listed the original listed quantity and did not take sales from the original listing into account.  Fortunately though, it never caused any issues as I never sold out completely of any items.

For me now, it's not so much whether the OP was guilty of intentionally listing knowing he didn't have stock, it is what stems from that  :-  the issue that the system does not appear to treat all equally and with at least some consideration of past trading history.  There are many reasons, both valid and invalid (eg.  Buyers being vindictive or spiteful, or simply not understanding how the system works) which can effect a Seller's Rating and this is what I think is unfair and needs to change.  It also concerns me that it can happen very easily to anyone of us no matter how hard we try and do the right thing  - NO QUESTIONS ASKED - NO WARNINGS - JUST   YOU'RE GONE !

It seems eBay no longer maintains an equal playing field for all Sellers, which I find totally unfair.

Dishonest, unscrupulous Sellers who blatantly violate policies and who have been reported on more than one occasion are allowed to remain, when one who has done everything possible to make the best of an unprecedented & unexpected situation has been unfairly crucified and they are not the only one affected by this new system.

If the new Defective Rating system must remain (although I do not believe it should), then it needs to be clearly spelt out to Buyers as they leave their Feedback - not in some convoluted automated general message that they will probably never read anyway.

Buyers need to be made very clearly aware that a 3 is NOT NEUTRAL, which is what they are still led to believe, it is NEGATIVE

If I were not a Seller as well as a Buyer, I could see easily how a Buyer might leave positive comments but with a 2 for item description if the item was not Received - how can they say it was As Described if they didn't get it. That would be the sort of logic I would apply as a Buyer. I would leave positive Feedback, because I would be happy the Seller contacted me and offered Refund, but could not honestly say Item was as Described, I also couldn't/wouldn't say 'Item Posted Quickly', so that would be another Defect. I would not realise the damage this could cause a Seller’s Account.

So the only way, in my opinion, for the Defect system to make any sense to Buyers is to spell it out when they actually leave Feedback - maybe a 3 Star Rating needs to be removed altogether - so it's either Negative or Positive ! Which would also need to be made clear 1 & 2 is Negative 3 & 4 is Positive

To quote just 2 Sellers who have been adversely affected (by which I mean they have been permanently suspended) as a result of this new defect system of rating :-

Seller A • Feedback of 99.8 and only 11 neutrals and 2 negatives over the last 12 months with over 1300 positives. Called 3 times, finally spoke to a Supervisor and still got nowhere. I am not aware of the reason for this suspension, but the point is this new Defect system does not allow for individual assessment or consideration of a members previous good standing and history.

Seller B • Loyal eBay customer for 10+ years. Paid all fees (approx. $500.00 per month) on time, had feedback of >99% and DSR's of a high standard all 4.9 and above. Mentioned that rating changed on 20/08/14 and had 20 days to try and fix before account was suspended. Response to this from Customer Support “we understand but the decision is final". My understanding is this suspension resulted from cancelled transactions.

Again, my point being the new Defect system does not allow for individual assessment or consideration of a members previous good standing and history.

Please eBay, show some compassion and consider these cases individually, you are dealing with people’s livelihoods !