2007 July 13

eBay Restricted my Account for Seller Non Performance

July 13th, 2007 |

Author: admin

Dear eBay Queen;

eBay restricted my account for "seller non performance." I received an email from eBay that says I had a "high percentage of complaints" and I had fallen to the "bottom 1% of eBay sellers." I have a 99.2% positive rating, 2513 positive feedback, and my stars are above 4. How can I possibly fit into that category? I have responded to the e-mails eBay sent me. I have asked for clarification. I have not received any yet. I am hoping you can shed some light on this.

Why has eBay come after me? There are other sellers, that have a feedback score of 90%, and have had over 1000 negatives in the last 30 days! I am not exactly sure why they suspended me. I am so upset I can hardly see straight. I am ready to throw in the towel. I don’t understand what I did wrong. Please help me out.

Jenn

Dear Jenn;

I am so sorry. I know this is a nightmare for you. I don’t have any great advice that will make this any easier. eBay’s Seller Non-Performance (SNP) has been in effect for a long time, they just recently started stringently enforcing it.
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/seller-non-performance.html.

This SNP is strictly a numbers game. It’s not just about your total feedback score or even your feedback percentage. It’s how many item not received disputes, negative and neutral feedback in the most recent 90-day period compared to the positive feedback you received over that same 90 days. So, if during the last 90 days, you received 100 positive feedback, you could receive a combination of 4 any of the following: item not received, negative or neutral feedback. Once you received your 5^th buyer complaint, negative or neutral feedback you would then be at a 5% buyer dissatisfaction rate, and subject to the Seller Non-Performance.

If this had happened to me I would take this 14-day “time out” as an opportunity to look over my current selling policies and email the eBay users who have not given me feedback yet. The new feedback you receive from the people that have not left feedback yet will boost you above that 5%. I would also try to write up as much stuff as I could to have ready to put back on eBay, when the suspension time is up.

The enforcement of this policy has come to the forefront of eBay because eBay users are complaining that sellers who don’t follow through with the transactions are ruining eBay. I don’t think you are one of those people. I know that any one of us could fall in that bottom 5% if we had a run of bad luck. I am hoping this policy truly weeds out the sellers that are making eBay a precarious place to shop. I know this seems unfair. I wish there was something I could do for you. This is just another factor to keep in mind while building your eBay business and setting your seller policies.

Dear eBay Queen:

I have 1 day, 21 hours left on my 3-day listing. Is there a way to edit the duration to make it a 7-day listing? When I click on "revise listing" it does not give me the opportunity to edit the duration. I remember doing this a few months ago.

Confused

Dear Confused;

eBay recently changed the policy on extending auctions, and no longer offer extensions on any type of listing. http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/duration.html This new policy took effect sometime in May 2007. eBay found there were too many sellers taking advantage of this policy by extending their auctions to get them “back on top” of the searches.

Strange eBay item of the week: eBay item 200124779501 (enter this number in the eBay search box in the top right corner of the home page)Sometimes I am really surprised at what an item sells for on eBay. Other times I am surprised at the item that is selling. I’ll let you decide which is most surprising to you, the price for this Orchid, or the fact they are selling a potted plant.Cattleya warscewiczii ‘Helena de Ospina’ orchid species

SOLD $611.00 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200124779501

Suzie Eads is a nationally known eBay marketer and eBay trained Education Specialist. She lives in Rantoul. Do you have a question for the eBay Queen? E-mail: questions@asktheebayqueen.com.