Seller Performance - Defect Rate Transaction Dilution

[Dancoop]

Hey guys,

New member here. Been lurking for some time but only recently took the plunge to join. I was wondering if anyone has any experience with how eBay's Seller Performance policy works.

I recently found out that Seller Performance is what eBay looks at and unfortunately my projected Seller Performance is Below Standard in next evaluation with a 10 percent defect rate. Many of the claim open were for not receiving item simply because a few customers were impatience and open the claim even before the state expected delivery time. I handle the claims very well, all customers were very happy with the resolution. Often I gave them a refund even though they got the item a few days later which they were very appreciative.

Anyways, the question I have is really the following two.

1.) Since defect rate is looked at as a percentage of transaction. Does that mean that one good transaction like if a buyer buys say 50 different items in your store. (You send the one combined shipping invoice and they pay once.) This is equivalent to 50 separate transactions from different buyers? Hence having one large transaction where the buyer is satisfied can help you greatly in diluting defect rate however if he is dissatisfied basically you are screwed for life. Is this how it works?

2.) What happens when you are below standard? Do you have a chance to improve and if so how long? Also is there a guideline say at what defect rate you get delayed payment, what defect rate you get suspension and etc.

Thanks in advance guys.

[Artann]

1) One buyer = one defect regardless of how many items they bought

2) the account will become history in near future unless you do something fast to make changes.

[Dancoop]

Does 1 buyer multiple items mean multiple transactions though?

Say 1 defect, 5 sellers and 20 separate listing sold. Is that it

1/20 = 5% defect rate
1/5 = 20% defect rate

I am confused because what I read on eBay policies seems like it would be 5%

[Haidukken]

Originally Posted by Dancoop

Hey guys,

2.) What happens when you are below standard? Do you have a chance to improve and if so how long? Also is there a guideline say at what defect rate you get delayed payment, what defect rate you get suspension and etc.

Thanks in advance guys.

This is a tricky one to answer because I've had differences that seem to have no connection between them.

Currently I have one account that has had a below average score for 4 months now and I've got it down from 8% to 5.4% and next in couple of weeks time I'm back to "normal"
This account started off as 100/3k and first two months I had no restrictions on my account, then they bumped my limits down to 75 and then a month later they bumped them down to 65 items.
It has not affected my withdrawl time.

But I've had accounts where 2 weeks after falling below average they just get banned right off the bat.

I guess if you constantly improve your standard and don't get any new defects, whilst having a strong account to begin with, you seem to be given a bit more slack.

Still, I would never advise anybody that it's "safe" to have below average score and I'd never take the liberty to say that nothing bad can happen.
All I'm saying it, it seems to vary from account to account and I have perhaps limited experience.

[defon]

YOu are done for on that account.

You must keep under 5% on defect rate.

If this is from March sales, which it is most likely.
YOu can't change it.... it is so unfair is jacked up. The worse thing to happen to EB policy in years.

You will find you have to sell BS items that make no profit.

If you sell 30 items and refund 10= YOu will have a 10% defect rate
if you sell 30 and 5 arrive broken becuase of UPS damage, you have a 5% defect rate and you are done.

They will not CLOSE the account, but they will limit your selling limits often, PUT A 21 DAY HOLD on future sales via PP... they will slwo your traffic down.

I have had accounts selling 20K a month and when the defect rate is over 5% coming the next month on the 21st of the month, I will drop to $4k to $5k a month in sales AND have to front tons of money since PP no longer gives me instant funds.

I have lost 8 accounts before I learned how to play this stupid game with EB.

YOU MUST sell ebooks and recieps or cheap socks from walmart for ZERO profit.

If you sell 30 REAL profitable items I suggest selling around 15 BS items.

I see many people selling like 5 receipes a day. That is 150 sales a month...
If you sell 150 receipes a month and 30 real sales, you can have about 8 ****ed up orders and keep a 4.4444% defect rate. This rule sucks.

I use to give refunds to keep customers happy, now I can't becuase my giving a refund will affect my defect rate and I can lose the account 2 to 6 weeks later. Bad for sellers and bad for buyers. EB sucks

[dallis]

One buyer, multiple transactions within 7 days, counts as one transaction, no matter how many dings.

Plan on this account being toast. Unless you have a ding that's nearly a year old that will drop off when they recount defects, you're probably doomed.

I've never had one go 4 months below standard.

Problem is that ( for me ) once they slip below standard, if they don't come back up by the end of the month, they start cutting your selling limit, and often they cut it so much that even if you sold 100% of the limit and got no dings, you still can't get back above the below standard rating.

Your best bet is to have other accounts working, and if you take a beating on one and your rating drops below 4% ( 5% is the bottom threshold ) stop selling on it, and wait for some of the poor ratings to drop off and your ratings to come up before you start selling again.

[rsot]

Relying too much on just one account, it seems

[mchgrt]

How many stealth accounts do you operate at once, and how many do you have in reserve?

[muzzie]

5 working, 5 in reserve

[Lost in the Supermarket]

There is a problem here. I get a message every month telling me how ebay has protected my account. Usually says how many 5=star ratings I got for shipping becasue my shipping is free. Sometimes they say the disallowed "item not received" claims because the buyers didn't wait long enough. I think this is usually just buyers hitting the "item not received" button when asking an innocent question.

I say you should get yourself together and spend time researching the feedback, DSR, and TSR system to find out what is what. Then check your listings and say you have 3 day processing instead of a shorter time. That will buy you some time. There is a chance you put one day shipping on your listings and are not making it happen.

Lower your customer's expectations and then exceed them so they will be happy with 8 day delivery (instead of 10) instead of mad at 5 day delivery when promised 4.

[dallis]

I get those "we've protected your sellers account" messages on an account I have where there's been no activity for 6 months, so I've always thought they're probably typical EB lies, like "lowest fees ever". :(