eBay's new BBE (Bad Buyer Experience) and how they affect your selling limits

[imjustme]

I thought I would share this with you guys. Have you ever gotten this message when trying to sell?

At this time, you can't list any more items with this account. We're sorry for the inconvenience.

eBay occasionally places limits on accounts in order to help keep our community safe. This limit isn't a reflection on you -- these same limits apply to many sellers.

I got this on some accounts that have 1000+ feedback with 200 items sold in the past 90 days. I've done some researching and found that it's a BBE thing. What's BBE? It's called "Bad Buyer Experience". eBay has a BBE rating that you can't see anywhere. If your account goes above 3% BBE, you will receive that message. Here's what eBay considers a Bad Buyer experience (BBE):

- Low DSR.
- Not-Received or Not-As-Described Disputes (not even necessarily escalated to claims).
- Neutral Feedback.

So if you receive 1 low DSR, 1 dispute and 2 Neutral Feedbacks out of 100 transactions, eBay will calculate that as a 4% BBE and limit you from selling.

And the BBE rating stays for 60 days (2 months). These limits are usually checked around the 20th of each month, the same day as Seller Performance evaluations (which are obviously related) are done.

[cardfelon]

Wow that is a new one. It doesn't surprise me that Ebay has multiple different ways to rate a account.

[imjustme]

What I forgot to mention, according to one eBay chat representative, even the amount of unpaid item disputes you open are counted and taken into consideration. Not sure as to how much influence they have, but I would say it's an awful decision on eBay's part that they would count unpaid item disputes against the seller, even though the buyer is the one that bought and didn't pay.

[TGMT²]

Originally Posted by imjustme

according to one eBay chat representative

So this is where you acquired this information? A chat representative?

[imjustme]

No, it's collected from different sources. eBay's Trust and Safety, phone calls to eBay, chat representatives and there was even an informational email sent out to Chinese eBay sellers explaining the new BBE rules. But I've seen the same applied to US sellers, UK sellers, and others. You can look up the listing limitation message on Google and do your own investigating. Everyone who got the error message and contacted eBay was told that it was due to low buyer satisfaction and that their accounts would be reviewed on a monthly basis automatically.

I'm not going to explain how I got each of the information, because I don't have the time to be honest. But I've spent days researching it and if you look at my past activity on these forums, I know my way around eBay quite a bit.

Just as an example, if you look around on Google, everyone that got this message got it exactly around the 20th of each month, which is when the buyer performance reviews are done. And everyone who got it lifted, also was able to sell again around the 20th of 2 months later. How do I know this? Because those people complained all around the internet about not being able to list for 2 months, then suddenly on the 20th after 2 months, they were able to list again. And at the same time, an eBay chat representative told a seller that he was restricted for 60 days due to low buyer satisfaction and that he couldn't appeal, that he would have to wait for it to be lifted automatically ..and that seller had 5.0's and 4.9's for all DSR.

But now I'm going into too much detail which I didn't want, since I don't really have the time for it, but I just thought I'd let you guys know. Believe it or not, do your own research if you want, it's just free friendly advice.

[cardfelon]

I don't think anybody was questioning what you posted. Just that is something new we have not heard about before so we are curious as to how you found out. I could see Ebay having another system to measure performance that we aren't aware of.

[holyhell]

Hasn't been the case with me, at least not yet. I have an account with a negative and a neutral, and I'm allowed to list 100 items per month. The account is less than two months old. All my problems are with Paypal, Ebay has left me alone for almost six months now.

[oompaloompa]

yes I had noticed it, an account that is previously selling at a high limit, can suddenly get that message, I deduced it had to be to do with this, even one case, not escalated, limits your selling, a neg or even a neutral fb - more than a corresponding account, without a case open, and we are talking about cases where they have jumped the gun and opened it just for a return and refund, which I would do anyway if they just emailed me. I have exact same types of accounts runnng concurrantly - so yes I have noticed, IJM yes its an automatic review, and there isnt much we can do about it really.....

[pod]

Originally Posted by imjustme

1 low DSR, 1 dispute and 2 Neutral Feedbacks out of 100 transactions

Seriously. If you look at those numbers from a NON EBAY standard there is nothing wrong. 100 transactions with a couple bumps. The neutral can mean bloody anything. Needs to be bumped from equation! Low DSR from one buyer out of 100 sound so awful??? The buyers are not always right to give you a 3 because they are unreasonable. The only thing even remotely close to "bad" is the claim. And one out of 100 can most certainly be a buyer problem

eBay needs to get their heads out of their ass and stop with the magic math they come up with. They are essentially asking for perfection when a half dozen things out of the sellers control are in play...

Considering falling below what is basically 99% customer "pure elation" is a bad seller is just plain stupid

The only reason 80% of sellers are not tossed off eBay is because 99% of the buyers are completely indifferent to the stars and just give 5. Do they really think the buyer actually thinks the item and process was "perfect"?? Come on.. The only saving grace we have against this absurd math is buyers mostly don't care...

[Bang]

Originally Posted by pod

Seriously. If you look at those numbers from a NON EBAY standard there is nothing wrong. 100 transactions with a couple bumps. The neutral can mean bloody anything. Needs to be bumped from equation! Low DSR from one buyer out of 100 sound so awful??? The buyers are not always right to give you a 3 because they are unreasonable. The only thing even remotely close to "bad" is the claim. And one out of 100 can most certainly be a buyer problem

eBay needs to get their heads out of their ass and stop with the magic math they come up with. They are essentially asking for perfection when a half dozen things out of the sellers control are in play...

Considering falling below what is basically 99% customer "pure elation" is a bad seller is just plain stupid

The only reason 80% of sellers are not tossed off eBay is because 99% of the buyers are completely indifferent to the stars and just give 5. Do they really think the buyer actually thinks the item and process was "perfect"?? Come on.. The only saving grace we have against this absurd math is buyers mostly don't care...

Gratz on your 2k post.

also I agree with everything you said, it's crazy but we have to suck it up.

[pod]

2k? good god I need to work more....

[imjustme]

Originally Posted by pod

Seriously. If you look at those numbers from a NON EBAY standard there is nothing wrong. 100 transactions with a couple bumps. The neutral can mean bloody anything. Needs to be bumped from equation! Low DSR from one buyer out of 100 sound so awful??? The buyers are not always right to give you a 3 because they are unreasonable. The only thing even remotely close to "bad" is the claim. And one out of 100 can most certainly be a buyer problem

eBay needs to get their heads out of their ass and stop with the magic math they come up with. They are essentially asking for perfection when a half dozen things out of the sellers control are in play...

Considering falling below what is basically 99% customer "pure elation" is a bad seller is just plain stupid

The only reason 80% of sellers are not tossed off eBay is because 99% of the buyers are completely indifferent to the stars and just give 5. Do they really think the buyer actually thinks the item and process was "perfect"?? Come on.. The only saving grace we have against this absurd math is buyers mostly don't care...

Exactly. I have this limitation on 1 account where I sold only about 70 items, but I received 1 dispute with the buyer asking "has it been shipped yet?" which is ridiculous, and was closed without a claim when he received the item. And then the account also received 2 neutral feedback, one which was because the item had a defect, but I replaced it free of charge, okay, that's acceptable as a neutral ...but the other neutral said "great item, but my post office didn't inform me for 2 weeks that I had to come claim it". Like that's my fault? And what does eBay do? Limit me from selling for 2 months, because of this stupid BBE rating, because they consider the account a bad seller, for having 2 neutrals and a ridiculous dispute that just asked if it has been shipped yet, out of 70 transactions.

But if you look at the overall eBay and their tactics lately, they're struggling left and right to make everything automated, even if it means suspending good sellers, simply because they have gotten too big. That's the main problem. It's humanly impossible for eBay to keep track properly of all sellers.

[pod]

Neutrals need to not count. Period. Nothing more to say. there are so many things wrong with a neutral and it can mean so many different things to different buyers it has no place counting anywhere

A PP dispute that is removed by the buyer means they are ok now and almost certainly jumped the gun. That needs to be removed from the equation as well. Stuff happens and it was fixed. Enough said. Thats the way the world works. There is no perfect world....

Only thing that should hurt you [If that seems to be their goal] Is a dispute that they had to resolve or you didn't. A negative feedback BUT they need to make it easier for buyer to change that if they wish at free will. No certain amount a year or any requests or hoops to jump through. A button right beside it they can click and change

If DSR is consistently bad, ya you gotta go. For sure. But one or two transactions out of 100s??? Have they ever met people? Do they not understand that some people are just plain miserable?

They can make it automated better and still be fair... Its not all that hard

[mosguy]

imjustme , do you mean 2 months later, those accounts can sell again?

[imjustme]

Originally Posted by mosguy

imjustme , do you mean 2 months later, those accounts can sell again?

Myself not yet, because it has only been limited for 1 month so far. I'll know around the 20th of January. But I've seen at least 2 other people who complained on the eBay forums since October 20th that they couldn't list, and they just put their first items for sale again yesterday, after 2 months of selling nothing, and one of them wrote on the eBay forums that he can finally sell again.

[Hercules]

^^^^If that criteria you present is correct that puts ALL sellers on the list for limitation. Even if you're selling socks the same " moron buyer percentage" comes into play all over ebay. I think they're giving you lip service for something else.

[imjustme]

I doubt it. I've seen top-rated sellers with 5.0 for item described and shipping fees, and 4.9 for the other 2 DSRs and they got the limit too. When they contacted eBay, they were told specifically it was due to "low buyer satisfaction". They couldn't believe it because their DSRs are 5.0, 4.9, 4.9, 5.0 but eBay just told them to "wait it out for 60 days".

[pod]

Originally Posted by imjustme

I doubt it. I've seen top-rated sellers with 5.0 for item described and shipping fees, and 4.9 for the other 2 DSRs and they got the limit too. When they contacted eBay, they were told specifically it was due to "low buyer satisfaction". They couldn't believe it because their DSRs are 5.0, 4.9, 4.9, 5.0 but eBay just told them to "wait it out for 60 days".

eBay may as well just make it simple. One buyer, ever, is mildly unhappy you're gone. Who ever sets these standards has obviously never ever once dealt with any form of sales or customer service... The standards are getting so high its actually on the cusp of impossible now. Pretty soon no accounts will last more then 10 sales

[imjustme]

Originally Posted by pod

Pretty soon no accounts will last more then 10 sales

Isn't that happening already? The MC010 message, 5 minutes after listing your first item. :D

[holymoly]

All this BBE sounds like grade A BULL%^$ seriously...eBay is getting more fanatical everyday!

[hingwhh]

I have a accounts is 2000+ feedback. Top-rated seller. Good DSR's, received one netgative and one netural feedback last 30 days. I got this limits for about 2 months, and I was able to list it 3 days ago. But now, I got this limit again . Do you think I should contact ebay ? Or wait ?

[Melissa1971]

Originally Posted by imjustme

I thought I would share this with you guys. Have you ever gotten this message when trying to sell?



I got this on some accounts that have 1000+ feedback with 200 items sold in the past 90 days. I've done some researching and found that it's a BBE thing. What's BBE? It's called "Bad Buyer Experience". eBay has a BBE rating that you can't see anywhere. If your account goes above 3% BBE, you will receive that message. Here's what eBay considers a Bad Buyer experience (BBE):

- Low DSR.
- Not-Received or Not-As-Described Disputes (not even necessarily escalated to claims).
- Neutral Feedback.

So if you receive 1 low DSR, 1 dispute and 2 Neutral Feedbacks out of 100 transactions, eBay will calculate that as a 4% BBE and limit you from selling.

And the BBE rating stays for 60 days (2 months). These limits are usually checked around the 20th of each month, the same day as Seller Performance evaluations (which are obviously related) are done.

is filing an unpaid item claim considered a dispute?