Most Dissapointing and Unprofessional Trust And Safety Team!!!!

[creative_pursuits]

Dear Friends,

I am A Powerseller on ebay for the last 2 years with a good record.

Recently,due to unavoidable circumstances,as my mom was critical and i was busy,there were a few instances(11 to be precise) where the item cud not be despatched on time and the buyers had opened disputes,lodged negative feedbacks etc....I can understand that this led to me coming into the bracket of a Non-performing seller and With due respect to the ebay policies,i accepted it and took all possible measures to resolve disputes and all the disputes have been closed except two(one feedback related and the other case is where the INR dispute has not been closed by the buyer yet.

I have already despatched the item to the buyer on 1st august and it has been received by the buyer on 3rd august and the most important part is that after receiving the product,the buyer has left me a positive feedback...IS THAT NOT PROOF ENOFF FOR THE TRUST AND SAFETY TEAM THAT THE ITEM HAS BEEN DELIVERED?????EBAY shud realise by now that Buyers sumtimes just dont bother to close disputes once they get the item..they dont really understand the gravity of the seller's situation.There has been open appeals for dispute closure and the appeals have not been responded...can't ebay see this????

About the feedback issue,The buyer had a grievance that the saree sent did not have the blouse piece and i very well know that it did have the blouse piece.Inspite of that ,i offered the buyer full refund or exchange offer but he has turned a deaf ear and just not replying back.

Now where am i at fault???Dint i do the best possible???

There are records on ebay where i have communicated with the buyer...Is that not enoff proof for ebay that the buyer is non-co-operative???The buyer probably wants to damage my reputation and nothing else???Isnt that obvious from his silence???

Thanx to ebay policy that they dont interfere in such matters to have a safe neutral trading environment!!!!I have also contacted the buyer on telephone but everytime he just says there was no blouse and bangs the receiver down without even accepting a refund or exchange.so now the only resort is Third party ODR india, the great!!!!

The best part is i have already initiated the filing of this feedback related case with ODR INDIA by paying the requisite fees thru online transfer and emailing ODR INDIA the full details on 15th august.After several email reminders to ODR INIDA(its gonna be almost a month now),they have still not even acknowledged my mails,leave the payment part....what am i to do if all the system is so weak!!!!!If ODR India itself is such a problem giver where do i go further to resolve issues????

Now the Award bestowed upon me by Ebay for all these efforts is SELLING RESTRICTION due to seller Non-performance!!!!!!

I wrote to ebay Trust and Safty team twice indicating the status of my disputes and explaining the steps taken and also about the odr thing but both the times i received a really annoying mail which provided tutorial of how to close disputes,how to manage feedback issues etc....Sumtimes i feel these are automated mails and there is no person who actually looks into the matter....!!!

The team can very well scrutinise the dipsute console page and see the status of the disputes and calculate the percentage if the seller performance still exists. They can probably call the buyers and make sure if they dont rely on their own records!!!!What proof do they need beyond this??? .

Its really unprofessional and very unfair on the part of Trust and Safety team....I want a clear and precise reply to my case as to what action is required and how the team is going to investigate this and re-store my selling privileges.

Please do address this immediately and come out with a reasonable solution.I am tired of explaining again and again...so i thought i will make it Public for other sellers to have their views as well....

The need of the hour is flexibility in the Trust and saftety proceedures and clarity in the mails that the team sends in response to seller's mails...They need to be specific to the case and not generic stating the same old measures ...etc.....

It has taken hours and hours of hard-work and efforts to reach this stage and there is a sentimental value attached with Ebay which makes me Stay here inspite of all this...Else i am really dissapointed and have almost lost interest trading on this platform.

Regards
Mala

[coolbrasco]

Hello creative_pursuits,

Sorry know about your mother was not well.

There is a option by name "Shop vacation settings", you should written about situation about your mother's condition and left phone number only for emergency contacts. This can save your feedbacks, if customer see this message he would definitely understand your situation and waiting for comeback.

Other facility is in Gmail. If you use Gmail there is option to auto reply to a customer, with a message saying you are in trouble, and should have given phone number for emergency contacts.

Definitely customers understand and they give you sufficient time.

Even i put holiday message in shop and in gmail when i go on vacation like a week or more. I tell them, even if they buy a item i will only ship after a week. So it is up to them to buy and wait.

It is very fracturating when customer paid he took full advantage on us. Even i received a -ve feedback recently after 18 months of doing eBay with out a -ve. It was not my mistake the item missed in transit. He did not contact me or does not gave me a chance to solve the problem and left -ve with out contacting. He thinks he is very smart by doing this, he is a new customer. The item is on the way second time to his address, he agreed to remove -ve when received, i hope he will do that.

As you said eBay should give us some time when a customer try to leave -ve feedback. Probably eBay show our contact info, or eBay support for the issue, then they should allow them to leave -ve. Leaving -ve feedback is not a computer game, customer should understand that.

Goodluck next time.

Kind regards,
CoolBrasCo.

[creative_pursuits]

Dear Cool Brasco,

Thanx for writing ur views....U have rightly pointed out about the Vacation feature but the thing is we never expected that things wud grow so serious as my mom was hospitalised only for Weakness initially...and when complications developed one after another,i hardly had any time because me and my dad were the only ppl around and had to be shuttling around the hospital and home....and when things were a lil better and i found sum time to come online,it was too late as already all customers had left their complaint.

I am not blaming them because if i were in their place even i wud have done that.I am not blaming Ebay also because they shud stick to their policy...But when majority of disputes are already closed,how can they still treat it as seller non performance????

Also the feedback case is such that the person has already recd the item(saree) and is claiming there is no Blouse...when i offer exchange or full refund,he is not ready to accept anything!!!

I only hope things get resolved as soon as possible because the feedback issue can be tackled only thru ODR now and they are also very slow....

Thanx for letting me know about the Gmail automated mails....i was not aware there was such a feature...

Regards
Mala

[nvid@ebay.com]

Hello creative_pursuits,


First of all, we would like to wish your mother a speedy recovery. We would also like to thank you for your continuous efforts to resolve these issues with your bidders.

As you may already know, we have begun enforcing our Seller Non-Performance policy in different ways than in the past by considering a seller’s buyer dissatisfaction rate. The restriction based approach, as opposed to suspension, will give sellers more time and opportunity to improve their business practice and create a strong business on eBay.

As coolbrasco pointed out, you may want to consider using the “Shop vacation settings” and proactively reach out to your bidders to let know of possible delay due to this unforeseen situation. For more information, please follow the link below:

http://pages.ebay.in/help/specialtysites/placing-store-vacation.html

We would also like to remind you that your account will be reviewed 30 days after the initial action. It is very important to provide us with your situation at home when replying to our email, so that we can take it into consideration with reviewing your account status. We can definitely understand how it may impact your overall services to your bidders.


For more information on our Seller Non-performance policy, please follow the link below:


http://pages.ebay.in/help/policies/seller-non-performance.html

http://www2.ebay.com/aw/in/200708.shtml#2007-08-14152500 Regards,
Vidmay

[sapana@ebay.com]

Hi Mala (creative_pursuits),

I am so sorry to hear about your mom. I hope she recovers soon and is home amongst you all very soon. Do convey her our best wishes.

Seema (Your account manager) told me that she had been working closely with you to get the issues resolved, however, she has lost touch in last few days. It will be great if you could get in touch with her.

I am sure you will soon tide over both your personal and professional problems.

Best Wishes and Regards,
Sapana

[runalaila_in1]

If i remember correctly ... i had seen a video
of " creative pursuits " about her ebay experience and how it helped her.
I feel that if a person is fit enough to be featured as a role model for new Ebayers
She definitely comes into a valuable customer bracket for Ebay.
A little extra effort on part of ebay should go to help such a person
to come out of the unforeseen crisis ... It Wont hurt anybody if some special relaxations are given out considering her genuine problems

[creative_pursuits]

Hi Vidmay,

First of all Thanx a ton for those wishes for my Mom…By Gods grace she is back home and is recovering steadily.

As I indicated earlier also in reply to cool brasco,It was too late before I cud set the vacation settings.Also after this experience, I will definitely keep this thing in mind for the future,shall keep the shop on vacation even if it were a matter of just couple of days because u never know about what might develop.

I have indicated in all my mails my situation at home and also my account manager is quite aware of my crisis.Even the dispute console has explanations to customers explaining my situation.

I have come to understand from ur mail that my account will be reviewed again in 30 days time after the date of initial action….But my problem is that on the day of initial action itself all the disputes except 3 were closed which includes the two cases that I have mentioned about repeatedly, out of which for one already the buyer has given positive feedback so it is as good as closed……and for the other,I have initiated action on 15th august itself with odr.My account was restricted on 23rd august!!!

Neways, the 30 days period ends on 22nd sept….I hope at that time,the trust and safety Team will consider all these closed issues and review my account keeping in mind that for the negative feedback…already case filing has been initiated and ODR is yet to respond and regards the one open dispute….the buyer has already left positive feedback.

However,I am also scanning a copy of the proof of delivery for the one open dispute and sending it to my account manager today so that things are more clear and easier.

Regards
Mala

[creative_pursuits]

Dear Sapana,

Thanx for ur wishes.My Mom is Now back home and recovering steadily.

I will get in touch with seema(account manager) again regarding this and hope that things wud get resolved as soon as possible.

Regards
Mala

[creative_pursuits]

Dear Runalaila,


It feels really encouraging to see that there is a friend who understands ur situation and sincerley wishes for a good outcome.

Thanx and Regards
Mala

[skygiftworldwide]

Hi Mala,

It is very sad to hear about all your troubles. I understand your frustation in various matters. You are genuine in your matters and so is eBay as I think.

Hope your Mom recovers soon and your business in eBay resumes sooner.