Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking

[dreenagh]

Hi
I just joined this forum. Because of illness, I did not send them some items and was also unable to deal with problems in a timely manner. My Ebay sales are way down because my seller level is below standard. It had previously been above standard for years. Has anybody else had this problem and does anybody have any solutions?

[JamesNorth101]

Welcome to the forum

I hope your feeling better now!

All you can do it sell items to get it back up to above standard again. I would look at super cheap 99p items with first class post. That should do the job!

[PhillyGuy]

Originally Posted by dreenagh

Hi
I just joined this forum. Because of illness, I did not send them some items and was also unable to deal with problems in a timely manner. My Ebay sales are way down because my seller level is below standard. It had previously been above standard for years. Has anybody else had this problem and does anybody have any solutions?

What is your below standard rate ?? 6% ??

You need to sell loads of items

I went below standard and my rate was 6%, i had to sell about 300 items to bring it to 2.21%

Your sales will drop drastically making it impossible to achieve this, your listing will be lost in the search engine

Good luck with that

[rsot]

Welcome to the forums - as James stated, sell cheap items with free shipping to increase your metrics

[dreenagh]

James & Phillyguy
Thanks for the advice, much appreciated.

[PhillyGuy]

Originally Posted by dreenagh

James & Phillyguy
Thanks for the advice, much appreciated.

Have you sorted things out on your account ??

[james13v]

Originally Posted by PhillyGuy

What is your below standard rate ?? 6% ??

You need to sell loads of items

I went below standard and my rate was 6%, i had to sell about 300 items to bring it to 2.21%

Your sales will drop drastically making it impossible to achieve this, your listing will be lost in the search engine

Good luck with that

I keep seeing people say this. But any time my account went below standard ( usually only for a month), my sales increased. When I got my above standard or top rated back, my sales went down
If it weren't for this new policy that increased the FVF for below standard, I would actually prefer to get below standard every now and then as a boost for my business lol

Kinda like how new sellers get better results. It's almost like ebay doesn't want me to leave, so they inflate my sales.

[PhillyGuy]

Originally Posted by james13v

I keep seeing people say this. But any time my account went below standard ( usually only for a month), my sales increased. When I got my above standard or top rated back, my sales went down
If it weren't for this new policy that increased the FVF for below standard, I would actually prefer to get below standard every now and then as a boost for my business lol

Kinda like how new sellers get better results. It's almost like ebay doesn't want me to leave, so they inflate my sales.

Lol
How do you go below standard ?? Cancel some transaction ??

So there's no repercussions for going below standard ?? I thought you will be banned

[james13v]

Originally Posted by PhillyGuy

Lol
How do you go below standard ?? Cancel some transaction ??

So there's no repercussions for going below standard ?? I thought you will be banned

My issue has been cases closed without resolution. can only have like 3 a year. and so far, no repercussions. Supposed to be lowered search results. And if you mess up again, then you can get in trouble.

[stressed08]

When this happened to me, I did the math and it was not possible to recover with any realistic number of .99 items. I built another account back up instead, and now a year later after the defects fell off I have two top rated accounts. The year FLEW by... I didn't even notice a difference once I got back up and running on the new account/device.

No real advice other than determine if its possible to recover. If its not.. spend that time gettng on a new account. You are allowed to have two accounts anyway... so you're not breaking any rules.. and if you follow the techniques of the forum you wont get linked.

An eBay CSR actually told me "do you have another account you can use, or maybe a family or friends account?" I asked her won't I get linked... and she said probably not. I made a few mistakes, and I was still never linked.. I believe they look at below standard sellers much ore leniently than suspended or banned users.

edit: I also had 3 in a year, but my number of sales wouldn't allow me to recover from that. I'd have to sell 470 items a month when my average was 60/month.... as every month those 60 would fall off, and I'd have to sell those 60, plus another 410 to recover.

[james13v]

Originally Posted by stressed08

When this happened to me, I did the math and it was not possible to recover with any realistic number of .99 items. I built another account back up instead, and now a year later after the defects fell off I have two top rated accounts. The year FLEW by... I didn't even notice a difference once I got back up and running on the new account/device.

No real advice other than determine if its possible to recover. If its not.. spend that time gettng on a new account. You are allowed to have two accounts anyway... so you're not breaking any rules.. and if you follow the techniques of the forum you wont get linked.

An eBay CSR actually told me "do you have another account you can use, or maybe a family or friends account?" I asked her won't I get linked... and she said probably not. I made a few mistakes, and I was still never linked.. I believe they look at below standard sellers much ore leniently than suspended or banned users.

edit: I also had 3 in a year, but my number of sales wouldn't allow me to recover from that. I'd have to sell 470 items a month when my average was 60/month.... as every month those 60 would fall off, and I'd have to sell those 60, plus another 410 to recover.

If you are selling the same types of items on a second account, then yes, you are breaking the rules, and that CSR is ignorant. But hey, I'm all about breaking ebay rules, so what do I care? lol

[stressed08]

Careless yeah, but she was trying to help me get back selling while ignoring the typical eBay script which I'm also all for her breaking her employers rules lol.

I sell only used items, so since no two items are identical I think it would be hard for them to say anything... it's not like I'm wholesaling the exact same products off of amazon or something

[jakobrockz]

In personal experience... it is decently easy to get defects/feedback removed from your eBay account. I had multiple "item canceled because out of stock" defects and I simply emailed (off eBay) each buyer and simply asked them if they could respond stating that they agreed to cancel the purchase. Boom... got 5 defects removed instantly by calling eBay.

That's just an example and it's kind of not following their rules, but it still works. Ha!

[PhillyGuy]

Originally Posted by james13v

My issue has been cases closed without resolution. can only have like 3 a year. and so far, no repercussions. Supposed to be lowered search results. And if you mess up again, then you can get in trouble.

I got defects because i cancelled 6 transactions for being out of stock

My defect rate was 6% and i thought i would be banned for being below the standard rate

I now have a defect rate of 2.21%

So there are no repercussions for being below standard ??

[jakobrockz]

Originally Posted by PhillyGuy

I got defects because i cancelled 6 transactions for being out of stock

My defect rate was 6% and i thought i would be banned for being below the standard rate

I now have a defect rate of 2.21%

So there are no repercussions for being below standard ??

Try out what I did ^^^^

And I believe if you are below standard for 3 months (?) your account can be permanently suspended from selling. At least that's what I recall.

[james13v]

Originally Posted by jakobrockz

Try out what I did ^^^^

And I believe if you are below standard for 3 months (?) your account can be permanently suspended from selling. At least that's what I recall.

They can suspend you any time for anything. But, if you are below standard, they won't suspend you IF you show improvement from one month to the next. That is, not getting anymore defects. They seem to not want to suspend people anymore.

[james13v]

Originally Posted by PhillyGuy

I got defects because i cancelled 6 transactions for being out of stock

My defect rate was 6% and i thought i would be banned for being below the standard rate

I now have a defect rate of 2.21%

So there are no repercussions for being below standard ??

I hope you learned your lesson. NEVER cancel a transaction for being out of stock again, EVER. Always say buyer asked to cancel transaction.

Don't get anymore defects, and you should be fine.

[PhillyGuy]

Originally Posted by james13v

I hope you learned your lesson. NEVER cancel a transaction for being out of stock again, EVER. Always say buyer asked to cancel transaction.

Don't get anymore defects, and you should be fine.

I've learned my lesson

I did that because i was new on eBay and didn't know the rules

[ghostdude]

Originally Posted by rsot

as James stated, sell cheap items with free shipping to increase your metrics

How do you get free shipping with proof that you actually sent it out? Whats stopping a buy from filing a claim if you cant prove delivery.

If you go through paypal ship now or even post office, its $2 to ship with tracking. So if your selling a cheap item for $0.99 free shipping....how are you suppose to make that work?

[rsot]

Originally Posted by ghostdude

How do you get free shipping with proof that you actually sent it out? Whats stopping a buy from filing a claim if you cant prove delivery.

If you go through paypal ship now or even post office, its $2 to ship with tracking. So if your selling a cheap item for $0.99 free shipping....how are you suppose to make that work?

Depends on the buyer but most buyers won't say much if you are selling something dirt cheap with free shipping e.g. cheap sports card or some trinket.

Yes you might lose a bit on this sale.

[dallis]

I've never successfully recovered an account that fell below standard by selling .99 items, and every time I tried it was mathematically impossible.

However, I have done as one of the others said, and stopped using the account, and waited for the year until the low ratings dropped off and the account became usable again.

[PhillyGuy]

Originally Posted by dallis

I've never successfully recovered an account that fell below standard by selling .99 items, and every time I tried it was mathematically impossible.

However, I have done as one of the others said, and stopped using the account, and waited for the year until the low ratings dropped off and the account became usable again.

When you say below standard, what was your percentage of below standard