There have been a fair few changes to eBay seller protection over the past few years, so with the launch of the new eBay Seller Protection Overview Portal we though it was time to take a look what Seller Protection means today.
eBay Seller Protection covers Feedback and detailed seller ratings; Resolution cases opened against you; and Unpaid items.
The main things eBay now do for sellers come under the Feedback Removal Policy, Automatic Five Star DSRs where the seller qualifies and protection in resolution cases from buyers. Of course eBay to expect the sellers to fulfil certain criteria, but increasing eBay are taking action with no intervention from the seller themselves.
A common complaint is that often when a seller reports a buyer they see no action taken (similarly actually to when buyers report sellers or sellers report other sellers!). However the flow chart to the side shows what actions eBay take when you do report a buyer.
eBay have included the pictures of the Seller Protection Team on the new portal. I do like the way that eBay are starting to show the faces of their staff. If you view the new seller portal you’ll get to see the people (pictured above) who are actively investigating buyers and protecting your account.
41 Responses
15 years a full time ebay seller ,
we can honestly say now more than any other time in the last 15years
we feel very vulnerable and unprotected.
on our past experience with them we call ebay support only if its a dire emergency
oGOOH DEAR
The flowchart leaves off the final box. Then they shaft you.
There is still not enough action taken against non-paying bidders. It should be 3 strikes and then out.
just 5 people a few of them look as if they may have just recently qualified says it all really
More proactive than Amazons seller support, if indeed there is a department within Amazon!!
I have recently received a 1 star (Negative) on Amazon from a customer who bought the following item:
ASIN B008HPT57Y
Enesco Where The Smart Money Is Bass Amp Money Bank
They left the following comment on my feedback:
The seller sent me a piggy bank, when I thought I was getting a bass amp. The seller is operating a scam
I have contacted the buyer but have yet to receive a reply but when contacting Amazon Seller Support I received the following reply:
“We have reviewed your request for feedback removal on order ID (removed) and understand your concern. We appreciate your effort in maintaining your high ratings, however, upon reviewing the feedback, it was verified that the comment is pertaining to an item which is different from what was ordered. Therefore, we sincerely apologise but the feedback you received does not meet the criteria for removal as per our feedback removal guidelines.
Please note that as per our feedback removal policies, if just any part of the feedback is in reference to the item not as described, the feedback cannot be removed”
I replied that the customer received exactly what they ordered, but unfortunately not what they expected as it seems they had not read the item title, description or details.
I then got the following response:
“I understand the frustration that this situation may have caused you.
As much as I would like to remove the feedback, we have a feedback removal policy to follow. As per policy, if any part of the comment talks about the item being not as described, the feedback is not eligible for removal.
I understand that the listing says “Moneybox in the shape of a bass amp” and because of that the buyer expects that the shape of the item was a bass and not a pig”
It was at this point that I realised that the phrase “Piggy Bank” was the issue (There is not a money box in this range that is shaped like a pig), and I had and still do, a different understanding of the buyers comment, but Amazon Support looked at it differently from me, if it was a case of wrong money box sent then I do think the word Scam would have been used either, but that may just be me.
With a bit of luck the buyer will reply to the email sent, which also informs them that they are able to return the product!
Lee
lets not delude ourselves there is no discretion or natural justice only data and check boxes
eBay are full crap, seller protection, ive never in my life heard such rubbish.
lets get this right.
Your new stupid dsrs lets the buyers know weather you have a business or not, even royal mail can decide the fate of your business due to how lazy they are, i lost my top rated status due to false dsrs for dispatch time i believe.
Its so easy to to destroy a seller, in my trending data i have 30 bad dsrs for august yet i only get 2 negatives and 2 neutrals, meaning people were leaving bad dsrs with positive feedback.
How do you even to work anything out with a buyer if we do not know where the problem is coming form, the site is a joke, there losing sellers every day because of other jealous sellers.
Another one i may point out, if some one makes a vero claim they can be anyone and they dont need to provide any certicate, meaning jelous sellers could make vero claims all day to get your account banned.
Lovely site, i went and spend a lot of money of stock, now im not top rated i cant make the sales, i was working hard for my kids future.
Loveley website, very caring to sellers.
This site is running its self into the ground, amazon runs the show now, and soon others will also.
Im sick of how we pay there wages, and they treat us like crap with all there rules and changes every few months, the images were a classic example, how much time and money this has cost a seller becuse they want a clean image like amazon, eBay will never have a clean image, its a site for chavs who know how to get free items by making false cases.
Im done with eBay and soon 80% of sellers will be also.
I said it before and I’ll say it again. Not sure if it’s just me but i’ve seen a dramatic reduction of item not received claims recently even though sales have been up. Am I really the only to feel that way? I feel as though the report a buyer feature has had positive effects and got rid of a lot of fraudulent customers.
One thing I would like ebay to look at is the VERO program. Trademark owners can deliberately remove listings and penalise sellers even when they have no ground to do so. Good luck to appeal against penalties. I’ve been lucky recently but had problems and selling restrictions in the period leading up to Christmas last year which damaged my business. I always worry it could happen any time.
At the end of the day, buyers are more important than sellers and ebay are right to recognise that fact.
if these people are really interested in seller protection nip over to tonys office and have a word lol ,because ebay seller protection really means buyer money back guarantee
I have a non-payer I will be reporting on Thursday. I’ll report back..
Hi
I ordered this item
THEN DECIDED TO GO ON HOLIDAY FOR 3 WEEKS.
It hasnt arrived and thats why its been 3 weeks since i emailed.
I want my money back.
Thanks
Dave (lovesebay)
Ps dont report me. (Well u can if u want, but ebay wont do anything) Ill just day the items didnt arrive cause i was on holiday.
Pss Bet no ones heard of anyone getting banned as a buyer.
PPSS if you believe this pack of junk, then you deserve to be scammed.
PPSSS Hurry up and refund me or ill open a case.
The other classic goes like this
Buyer
I ordered the item xxx for a friends Birthday and its now passed item hasn’t arrived and I want my money back.
Seller ask 2 questions to himself
Q1..Is he a seller ????
Answer…yes
Q2…Has he got previous form..Look at his feedback.
Answer… yes
Seller actions 1
Give him his money back hes going to rip you off anyway as he got form and will leave bad feedback and bad dsr if u dont
Seller actions 2
Reports to Ebay. Nothing is done scammer makes a few good transactions and then does it again. The one in four cycle continues.
Note been doing Ebay 4 years got a list of at least 100 customers who do this regular and have been doing so for 3 + years to my knowledge
Buyer: Opens case. I want my money back
Seller: Please send item back for a refund.
eBay : The buyer has escalated the case, please refund within 48 hours unless you dont want this case to count against you.
PRODUCT GONE… MONEY GONE. SELLER GETS + PLUS NEGATIVE
CHEERS EBAY !
Ebays beedling and blaming sellers, when they have done nothing wrong. Theres hardly any margin on ebay, because ebay allows tax avoiding, non fee paying sellers from asain markets top promotion.
How many Chinese companies have i seen ‘based in the UK’. No address no vat no business details on ebay 100s.
eBays killing the British, Honest tax paying seller. Then rubbing salt in the wound.
This is why I will be looking at Amazon in the near future and having a better go at my own website. My livelihood depends on ebay at the moment and that can’t continue (especially if they keep having tantrums, and blame sellers for buyers mistake and never seem to do anything about rude, stupid, scamming buyers) . Their discount has got smaller but yet are now harder to achieve. In all this improving the buyers experience, a lot more sellers are going to look else where to sell.
I have just had someone claim they got an empty box. The are brand new and have feedback of zero.
They got a full refund of £72.99. I image a negative feedback is on the way as well.
I have launched an appeal but as it I in America I can not call them.
Not impressed.
I had great hopes that ebay were finally doing something when they rolled out report a buyer.
I have had instances where I have been able to provide proof of delivery and still got shafted.
I’ve given up poressing issues it is clear the rule is the buyer is right regardless.
Shameful. I’ve just given up and refund in all instances even though I am completely in the right.
Looking at the number of posts on ebay business forum about suddenly resricted accounts I think we can see what the Seller Protection Team remit is…
Ebay..ebay…ebay.
You have the power…yes but you know…you are earning moneys from sellers.
So, you can publish FALSE ADVERTISEMENT with FAKE estimate deliveries that you publish on your own. Then when a customer ask where is my items (if it hasn’t been delivered on the day falsely promised…you take the money from paypal).
Because obviously we are always GUILTY :)!
Then by LAW Royal Mail will not consider a parcel lost or delay before 15 working days, but you give us 7 days to reply a claim or we can get a MARK on our account.
I thought FALSE ADVERTISEMENT was forbidden in the UK (Trading Standard).
So Royal Mail can ruin our reputation and business and Ebay is always right.
the best is that on my other store (not on Ebay) I never have a problem, and attract people that are always happy.
Ebay…ebay….ebay…ebay
what’s going on with buyer protection cases? , twice today we have had customer whose goods have been sent and have opened cases . We have communicated with the customers along the usual lines of asking them to give it a few days and promised to send out replacements if not recieved etc Both cases were escalated by the buyers to customer support and we had a message saying you have 48 hours to respond , and basically both were closed instantly in favour of the buyer with no time at all to respond and make a refund not even a minute , so both will count as non resolved strikes against our account
With a limit of .03% on these cases this will cripple us and any business surely if it continues?
any one else experience this?
it’s a complete sham, so many cases are now opened by people just asking” has it been posted yet “/”any idea of when this will arrive” etc . You can provide all the great customer service you like along the lines of providing details of when posted &tell them to let you know when goods arrive and maybe offer them of course a replacement if it doesn’t etc etc but you are now faced with having to have to refund each and every case to be on the safe side or sit in terror thinking that the customer merely has to escelate to instantly be refunded but more worryingly to instantly place a black mark on your account which will we all now lead to restrictions from listing demotion in rankings etc etc. When & why did this change ? Ebay used to send a message saying we will get back to you in 48 hours and this had the option of you processing a refund yourself so to avoid a non resloved strike on your account? How can Ebay possibly resolve instantly ?No human could possibly read the transcript between buyer and seller to decide the outcome in the space of a few seconds? In many cases the seller may have told the customer to check with the local sorting office or that they have sent out a replacement etc Maybe someone from Ebay will clarify that if a case is opened sellers are now supposed to process an immediate refund or face sanctions!
Agreed that buyers don’t know how to communicate with sellers as ebay offer way too many options for this. And how does an ebay auto response directly to and in favour of a buyer protect the seller?
Any ebay auto response should be channelled through the seller first to enable the seller to have some input. After all whose goods are being sold?
Had a buyer say they wanted to return an item today as they said that the box looked cheap. I replied and said it as an official licensed product (which it is) and that she could of course return it to us for a refund. When she realised that she would have to pay the return postage, she opened an IND case and said that the item was fake and that we should pay the return postage costs.
The resolution centre doesn’t have an option for this, and it was clear that the buyer was abusing the process, so with this “increased seller protection” I thought I’d test it out and give eBay a ring to see what they thought. The response? Pay the return postage or she’ll leave you negative feedback and we won’t be able to remove it. Nothing’s changed at all, as we suspected.
anyone have any evidence or tales of a seller being protected ? , or any 50/50 decisions actually being made in the sellers favour?
they have actually now made it easier for scammers , if a seller is aware that whatever the communication all the buyer has to do is escelate to customer support to be instantly refunded and the seller gets a low mark on the unresolved cases ,most sellers rather than have that will refund regardless.
I had a low mark from a case opened and found in favour of buyer for a cheap untracked item I contacted the customer she said oh they arrived later that week and agreed they had just been delayed in the post. She spent half an hour on chat and then another half an hour on the phone to ebay telling them the seller was not to blame and they shouldn’t have a low mark against them and she wanted to pay for the item now it had arrived. ebay told her there was nothing could be done , I contacted them sent copies of the messages she had sent me , told them she had rang and given a statement to this effect and they wouldn’t do anything about it said the low mark was staying and that was that .
Another item I challenged the closed case found in favour of the buyer by sending tracked postage which clearly showed the item delivered and signed for and they rejected the appeal still finding in favour of the buyer. Selling on ebay has become a complete nightmare all new stock we recieve is listed on amazon now less compliacted no constant hoops to jump through and exposure and sales are not up and down depending on what buttons some cretin in ebay land is pushing.
Well I have just discussed a case with them where the buyer has feedback that suggests they have been doing claiming a lot.
Their response, send a refund and we will give you your final value fees back.
Wow, thanks ebay.
Just had a huyer claim item not received eventhough we can clearly see that the item has been received because they are stupid enough to list it for sale on their ebay shop! Ebay would not do anything about it. Nightmare and stupid.
Case opened this morning.
Buyer demanding a refund as they have waited over a week.
Paid 19th Nov.
Total joke.
what kind of screwed up system even allows a not recieved case to be opened 4 days after payment ??