Dropship News: eBay Fall Seller Updates---Stop the Insanity!
Posted by Amanda Brooke on Thu, Jul 15, 2010 @ 05:13 PM
As most eBay dropship sellers know by now, more changes are coming down the pike and scheduled to go into effect this coming September.
There is a new twist to the latest and possibly one of the worst, most truly mind-boggling changes made since CEO Donahoe’s reign of terror---this one is retroactive.
Yes! Believe it or not, eBay is actually going back a year for smaller sellers and their stats during the past year will count against them, for a period of time before they even knew about the change. It would be funny if it wasn’t so awful.
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The newest change: Starting in September, sellers will have yet another flaming hoop to jump through. The new policy says that a smallish seller cannot have more than .05% of “open cases” filed against them in a twelve month period.
Remember that number. One-half of one percent.
That equates to approximately two opened disputes for Item Not Received or Item Significantly Not as Described in a years time. Anything over that and a seller will lose their Top Rated Seller Status, be demoted in Search, and according to some of the eBay “Pinks” or employees who fielded a few questions on an eBay discussion forum this week---these horrible sellers who exceed two opened cases in a year might have to receive “coaching” to help them shape up.
One must wonder how on earth eBay, who seems completely unable to provide even the bare bones of a Customer Service department, is going to come up with someone bright enough to coach sellers.
Be that as it may, the totally ridiculous part of the new policy is that it makes no difference how a case was resolved, the seller---even if clearly shown to be innocent of any wrongdoing---is still considered guilty by eBay by virtue of having a case opened at all.
Here is a quote from an eBay employee on the above mentioned discussion forum:
“We count opened cases, because it is an indication of how well a seller is both setting and meeting buyer expectations.”
Huh?
Incredible, isn’t it?
So, if a buyer gets a seller mixed up with another seller and files an Item Not Received in error, and the accused seller furnishes a Delivery Confirmation number that proves the item was, in fact, received; it is still a strike against the seller!
One of the goofiest things about this new policy is that during an eBay webinar back in April when this upcoming policy was discussed, one of eBay’s own employees said that “only about 1% of buyers are problems.”
So, eBay acknowledges that 1% of buyers are problems, and yet sellers are only allowed HALF that percentage before they’re sanctioned?
What is wrong with this picture? Does nobody at eBay see how ludicrous this is?
Let’s apply the warped reasoning behind the new change to an automobile driver we’ll call John Q. Seller:
Mr. Seller has been driving for years and has never had an accident or gotten a ticket for anything. He observes all of the safety rules of the road and does his best to be a defensive driver.
However, one day Mr. Seller is stopped at a red light when a vehicle driven by an escaped lunatic---drunk and on drugs---and who also has never driven an automobile before in his life; rear ends Mr. Seller’s car.
11 months later, Mr. Seller is proceeding in a safe and orderly fashion down the street when suddenly, a car driven by a fleeing felon who has just robbed a bank careens out of a side street and T-Bones Mr. Seller’s vehicle.
Now, if the Department of Motor Vehicles, insurance companies and law enforcement followed eBay’s convoluted logic, John Q. Seller….even though totally innocent and obviously the victim in both of these mishaps….would have his drivers license revoked, his auto insurance canceled and be thrown in the slammer for 30 days to boot.
Why? Because---based on eBay’s reasoning---for John Q. Seller to be involved in two incidents within a year, it is a clear indication that he must be doing something wrong.
There doesn’t seem to be any difference between this scenario and eBay’s latest policy change!
And the hits just keep on coming……
If you are a dropship seller, or any kind of eBay seller, good luck on making the newest and most unrealistic cut!
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