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Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

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?

Re: Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

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!

Re: Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

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

Re: Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

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

Re: Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

James & Phillyguy
Thanks for the advice, much appreciated.

Re: Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

Have you sorted things out on your account ??

Re: Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

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.

Re: Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

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

Re: Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

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.

Re: Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

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.

Re: Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

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

Re: Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

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

Re: Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

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!

Re: Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

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 ??

Re: Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

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.

Re: Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

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.

Re: Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

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.

Re: Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

I've learned my lesson

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

Re: Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

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?

Re: Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

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.

Re: Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

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.

Re: Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

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

Re: Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

It's been a few years, I don't remember exactly, but it was something along the lines of double my allowable rate, I had a freak surge of 2-3 defects all at once.

They've eased up a bit since then, but what used to happen was they'd reduce your limits when the account fell below standard, and it would be impossible to sell enough to raise your defect percentage above the bottom limit.

It really is easiest to just wait and use one of your backup accounts in the meantime. I don't want to touch anything if I'm not making good money on it.

The very best thing is to stop using the account if it gets close to dropping below standard so it doesn't get limited at all.

Re: Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

I just cancel buyer issue with address and email them directly. Usually offering 50% off anther item or once its back in stock. Give them something to make them happy in the end.

Re: Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

anytime i went below my selling limits dropped way down fromm 1000/10000 down to like 25/1000 and even when i got back above water limits never increased again

Re: Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

that is no longer the case

Re: Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

What's the case now ??

How do they handle below standard now ??

Re: Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

They lower your search results. That's about it. They decided that lowering limits, kills sellers. So now they are going to charge people the same amount, and not give them good search results. AND soon they will be charging an extra 4% FVF.

If you don't get any more defects, you will be good. Even if you get defects, there are ways to not be hurt by it.

The question is, is it worth selling on a below standard account?

Re: Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

Wow
It is worth selling on a below standard account if it's not a stealth account

Don't you think so ??

Re: Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

I've also noticed that a lot of accounts I thought were long dead and gone years ago have been getting emails lately saying "Congratulations! Your seller ratings have improved and you are welcome to begin selling again!"

I've been going back through my dead account list lately and successfully restarted a number of them and am selling on them again.

They must be getting desperate. LOL!

Re: Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

Hahahahaha

They must be so desperate

I noticed that they don't ban people anymore for some silly reason

Re: Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

A theory I have that might be happening is eBay is changing their policies a bit; perhaps adjusting the search results for some sellers listings that fall below a certain performance threshold. In other words, instead of limiting/suspending those "less than perfect" sellers, eBay would give their listings lower priority in search results, or rather, "lower visibility".

For example, if you sell iPhones and search for the term "iPhone 7", you will likely see the TRS and "great sellers" first, and the "crappy (below standard) sellers" at the back of the line...

Just as Google has a secret method of displaying search results (page rank) eBay is likely playing that game, too. I seem to recall a memo stating this would be happening sometime in 2017.

Re: Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

And water is wet ;). :welcome;

Re: Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

you think they would reset it if you fixed the issue that caused it for a few months. It basically is a shadow ban.

anyways all you can do is wait for it to reset or sell the account and start over.

Re: Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

People are saying this is no longer the case.

I have noticed, though, that when they lower you in search, things never seen to rebound for me with that account, even after years.

Maybe that's changed too.

The only thing consistent on EB is that they're always changing everything.

Re: Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

Ebay isnt like amazon and need us. This is why they cannot afford to cut their nose despite their faces. You kill the sellers, how does ebay make money? They own little to no stock.

Re: Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

Don't give them any ideas... I'm sure they'd love to start stocking inventory as well. And steal our suppliers...


"to spite"

Re: Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

What are you talking about ??
Did he mention his suppliers​ ??

Re: Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

What are you talking about?

Amazon not needing sellers, was the topic. They don't need sellers, because they have their own stock of products. They have their own stock of products, because they have their own suppliers. They have their own suppliers, because sellers give them every tiny bit of detail about how they run their business, so amazon doesn't need them anymore.

Re: Ebay Seller Level Below Standard; sales tanking
 

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