Hot W/F Block Listing... Dang... Almost $3k In Bids...

Don, the metrics on ebay are changing August 20th. disi123's link at the top of this page has full details, but here's some highlights -

•Starting with the August 20 monthly seller evaluation, a new measure, the transaction defect rate ("defect rate"), will replace the current four individual detailed seller rating requirements in evaluating seller performance. This new rating may impact your status.

•The defect rate is simply the percentage of a seller's successful transactions that have one or more of the following transaction-related defects, the top predictors that a buyer will leave ebay or buy less: #9702;Detailed seller rating of 1, 2 or 3 for item as described
#9702;Detailed seller rating of 1 for shipping time
#9702;Negative or neutral feedback
#9702;Return initiated for a reason that indicates the item was not as described
#9702;eBay Money Back Guarantee (previously known as ebay Buyer Protection) or PayPal Purchase Protection case opened for an item not received or an item not as described
#9702;Seller-cancelled transactions

•Starting with the August 20 evaluation, to meet ebay's minimum standard, sellers can have up to a maximum 5% of transactions with one or more transaction defects over the most recent evaluation period. A maximum 2% will allow a seller to qualify as an ebay Top Rated Seller. Only transactions with US buyers count.

•The defect rate won't affect your status until you have transactions with defects with at least 8 different buyers (at least 5 different buyers to impact Top Rated status) within your evaluation period.
•Just as today, sellers can have a maximum of 0.3% of ebay Money Back Guarantee or PayPal Purchase Protection closed cases without seller resolution over the most recent evaluation period. That means the buyer opened the case, you weren't able to resolve it, the buyer reached out to ebay or PayPal to review it, and ebay found you responsible.

•Just as today, sellers with 400 or more transactions over the past 3 months will be evaluated based on the past 3 months and sellers with fewer than 400 transactions will be evaluated based on the past 12 months.

In general, the lower your defect rate, the better your position in Best Match search results

•By focusing squarely on what matters most to buyers, the new transaction defect rate allows ebay to recognize and reward sellers who consistently deliver the great service buyers expect—and to identify and respond to the experiences that erode confidence and drive buyers away.
•Buyers won't see your defect rate. Buyers will continue to see what they see today. But if you maintain a low defect rate, ebay will reward you with an enhanced position in Best Match search results, so your track record for great service can pay off in more visibility and potential sales.


I'm sure it's not a perfect system, but I hope it's a step in the right direction. As an ebay seller myself, I hate bad sellers because it gives ebay a bad reputation that affects all of us.

Agreed, small step in right direction. But folks have a lot of motivation, time, and $$$ to figure out exploits. IMO it is a lot like US income tax laws, they really reflect the fact that so many people use 'creative' ways to avoid paying the tax; we end up with a 60 page instruction book on how to fill out the income tax form. ebay erects these rules and policies and they only serve to make it harder for the legitimate sellers to do business.

ebay has an incredible infrastructure. No other, and I mean no other, online resource can accept new records and add them to their search index in virtually real time. The scope and breadth of their abilities is astounding to me, and I have been an IT professional for 2 decades. You can literally make a listing and have it show up in the search within seconds. Google, Amazon, and Microsoft don't do it this fast. But many seem to think that ebay cannot offer ways to report bad listings? Or deal with shill bidding?
Don

Don... you can call ebay on the phone
and report this... 866-495-3229

But click on the 'Customer Support' link
in the top left of the your ebay Summary...
which will give you both the phone number
above, and a passcode which will be supplied,
which will both pre-identify your account, and
cut your waiting time to under 3 minutes...

We have had action taken against sellers
quite successfully by using the telephone...
the internal reporting system will take
forever (if at all) to get a response as
you have experienced...

I can't venture a guess as to the success
(or lack of it) you will have in the stamp
arena, I can only hope it would be the case...

This system works best when there are multiple
complaints against the same seller(s) by
multiple ebay sellers calling in, so it would
be a good idea to gather up some team players
to call in...

When the customer service agent gets on
the line, ask for the Listings Dept... and
you will be able to talk to the direct people
with the power to review and take any action...

Randall

Here is a copy of the last communication I had with ebay about contacting them about deceptive, misidentified or problematic listings (read from bottom up);

Thank you. But you did not answer my question about the Managed Account issue? Also, since the way you recommend I contact you pretty much guarantees I will talk to someone different each time, will they know about my expert status - or will I need to provide background for every contact? Further, this method of reporting listing problems is cumbersome, time consuming and ineffective since none of your reps will be experienced stamp people. I urge you to reconsider this terrible reporting system.

Bill



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 4 Jul 2014 08:43:29 -0700
From: customerhelp@ebay.com
To: wrw43@hotmail.com
Subject: RE: who's in charge?? SR# 1-29873869027





ebay ebay sent this message to weiss, william (wrw1943).
Your registered name is included to show this message came from ebay. Learn more about how to tell if an email is really from ebay.





RE: who's in charge?? SR# 1-29873869027






Hello wrw1943 (wrw43@hotmail.com),

We understand that you have some concerns about reporting violations to ebay.


To better serve you and your account, you no longer have a single person contact here at ebay. Instead you have access to a dedicated staff available 7 days a week from 5:00am to 10:00pm Pacific time and we would be happy to answer any questions.


To contact us please:


1.Click the Customer Support link on the upper right side of almost any ebay page.

2.Click the Contact ebay tab at the top of the page, you may be asked to sign in. (This helps us find your account information.)

3.Select the topic that best matches your issue from the option menu.

4.We'll show a quick way to resolve your issue yourself, or we'll show you the best way to contact us and when we're available.

5.Click the Call us link on the right side of the page.


We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience. Thank you for being a valuable member of the ebay Community!


Sincerely,

ebay Customer Support

Of course what is terribly wrong with their suggestions is simple - *TIME*! With the old peer-review SCW/EMR Programs a member of either had a special web form and the Reviewer(s) would automatically examine any report that came from a member of the team, which meant that problems usually received prompt attention and resolution. The "new" system is, as I said, cumbersome, time consuming and impersonal. It pretty much guarantees that anyone wishing to report DETAILS of a problem (such as those being discussed in this thread) will be forced to spend anywhere from 10 minutes to 30 minutes explaining the problem to a customer service rep. who has NO philatelic knowledge at all. None. Trust me, I've done this, and I've done it recently, so I understand the drill. The guy I talked to - located somewhere in Asia and with a very heavy accent that was barely understandable - admitted that he had no knowledge of stamps as I tried to explain to him that a stamp sold as "NH" was actually "PH" so I wanted a refund. Further, it was bought from rushmore_bargains, located in the UK, but was sent to me by ordinary domestic (US) first class rom somewhere in Danbury/CT and/or Westchester/NY (it had both postmarks) so I wanted to be able to return it to a US address, not the UK address supplied by rushmore. The rep agreed with me and advised me to escalate the case and when the seller failed to provide a US address as requested, I received the refund. Which is not the point. That call took at least 20 minutes of my time. So imagine me trying to report numerous bad listings in this way? Give me a break! This new ebay system is designed to put honest members in a position where they have these choices; CAVEAT EMPTOR or endure the time-consuming requirements inherent in the system. My guess is they are betting that 95%of their members will NOT want to be bothered with such a tough system and will simply forget about being a good citizen and will walk away.