Seriously complicated that it is. I have been reading all about the new trust and safety policy seeming to suggest that now neutrals are classed as negatives on Scot Wingos Blog. He has now followed up on this article with more information.
eBay’s Chatter has tried to clear up the issue:
Q: Are you now considering a neutral a negative? If so, why continue to have neutral feedback?
A: No, it’s more accurate to say that we treat neutral feedback as not positive. For instance, neutral comments alone do not trigger an SNP action. There is a negative feedback threshold of two which neutral comments do not count towards.
BUT also in the article:
There are two thresholds we use to determine which restrictions are most appropriate. Most sellers who fall into a category of SNP enforcement are there due to feedback rates, so I’ll use those in my examples.
Greater than 5% buyer dissatisfaction rate: A seller must have more than 5% negative and neutral feedback, as a seller, over the last 90 days to qualify, and must also receive a minimum of two negatives from unique buyers in the past 90 days.
Greater than 10% buyer dissatisfaction rate: A seller must have more than 10% negative and neutral feedback, as a seller, over the last 90 days to qualify, and must also receive a minimum of three negatives from unique buyers in the past 90 days.
There are different restrictions (described below) for buyer dissatisfaction rates of greater than 5%, and greater than 10%, and for low-volume sellers.
So restrictions are placed on ‘buyer dissatisfaction over the last 90 days’ which includes negative and neutrals.
Oh but there is more, there are ‘groups’ of sellers:
Low-volume sellers: Low-volume sellers are those with no more than 2 negative feedback, no neutral feedback, and less than $3000 sales volume over a 90-day period, would typically receive a 14-day full selling restriction. After the 14-day period has passed, selling privileges will be automatically reinstated. (As with all selling restrictions, the seller can continue to bid and communicate.)
Higher-volume sellers: For sellers who are not low-volume sellers ( Edit: Is that not why they are called high volume sellers?) and who have a buyer dissatisfaction rate of greater than 5% (but less than 10%), the restriction is a reduction in sales volume. Sellers will be able to continue selling and listing items, up to 75% of their historical weekly volume based on their rolling 90 day history of completed sales. (This is based on dollar sales volume, not on number of items sold.) We manually review restricted accounts after 30 days to determine if there has been improvement in their satisfaction rates. If a seller’s buyer dissatisfaction rate is brought down to less than 5%, the restriction will be lifted. If the buyer dissatisfaction rate remains greater than 5%, the sales volume will continue to be reduced. Additionally, sellers whose performance substantially worsens during this restriction period may be subject to more significant consequences.
Sellers who incur a buyer dissatisfaction rate of greater than 10%, with at least three unique negative feedback, will receive a full selling restriction. – Edit:Yeah, this is OK 3 strikes and your out. The only bit that make sense!
OK, so as a low volume seller myself, and lets face it there are alot of us that make up eBay, how am I supposed to track my rolling 90 day customer dissatisfaction rate to make sure I am not going over 5%? Will sellers have a ‘buyer dissatisfaction meter’ in myeBay?
Negative/neutral feedback activity and Item Not Received rate is used to determine level of buyer dissatisfaction, sellers need a method to track their performance as this is getting a very sensitive issue.
