Talk about insulting!

[Fred]

I was fired from eBay today. They told me I couldn't list anything for sale because I was among the worst 1% of eBay sellers. I should be an expert at how to get into the bottom 1% but in truth I have no clue how it's done. I took it as a serious insult and closed my account. Only a month ago they were pestering me to be a power seller. I was an eBay seller for over 10 years. Life goes on.

[Octaveman]

Sorry to hear that but it's kinda funny. I mean, there's always going to be a bottom 1% sellers despite how many people they fire so at what point do they draw the line at the bottom 2%?

[AlanSellers]

Some of the more recent rule changes on eBay have seemed poorly conceived to me, I wonder what the criteria is for establishing the bottom 1%, did they tell you what the actual reason was?

The benefit in using eBay is being slowly eroded by the increasing charges but other changes like limiting feedback options for sellers make it less and less appealing to me, I do have an account but I don't use it very often at all.

[Erik Kolm]

I don't know what direction eBay is trying to go. But it sounds like they don't want the occasional sellers anymore. I don't sell as much as I used to...I don't really care for a lot of their policies.

[Fred]

No, I think the occasional seller is are what they want. I had over 5000 transaction on eBay over the past 10 years and had a feedback percentage of around 99%. Very few weeks went by without my listing something. I guess that's pretty meaningless if it's in the bottom 1%. I have no clue and no explanation. I just got an email that said I couldn't sell on ebay because I was in the bottom 1% of sellers and they would "review" the account in 30 days. I told them not to bother and closed the account. I'm not the sort to hang around where I'm not wanted. So it goes. Perhaps one day a competitor to Ebay will show up.

[AlanSellers]

It's a pretty poor show to not even give a reason for taking that kind of action against a long standing member, to be in the bottom 1% of sellers would imply to me that the sellers in question are guilty of some very poor conduct and in that case they should make it clear to you what you have done wrong to be in that position so you can respond to the claims or adjust your own behaviour.
It seems to be a very good example of how thier policies are beginning to fail the members, the affect might be showing more if there were a serious competitor people could turn too.

[VHo]

you said you had 99% feedback. does that mean 99% positive feedback?
or what did the feedback say? I know nothing about ebay.

[Erik Kolm]

Fred, I know what you mean about eBay hounding you to be a Powerseller. I was one a few years ago and remember there was that constant pressure to meet their quota. Funny thing is; I don't really know what's the real benefit of being a Powerseller.

Anyway, it wasn't worth it to me so I let it drop off. For me, eBay is a place to sell a few things a month to come up with some extra cash for bills, or even a night on the town for me and my wife. If I have knives or other household goods/collectables that I no longer want, I'll usually list them on there. I never set out to make it a full time business. (Although it did come in handy a couple of years ago when I was out of work!)

The weird thing is...if you're not allowed to sell, what are they going to "review" in a month? (if they're not going to allow you to try to get your numbers up.)

The same can be said about Paypal. Without any governing body over them, they can freeze your account anytime they feel like it. Anyone who's gone through that knows what a nightmare it is!

[DwarvenChef]

I go years between mass sales. Never got emails or pestering jibs. I've gotten spam claiming to be Ebite but I never read them. Just trash it than go to the site to see if anything is posted there. So far every Spam I got was just that... While I don't care for Ebite much or the direction it has gone, I still check out my search feature about once a month.

I never keep $$ at paypal, or the bank account it's attached to. Just in case...

[Fred]

Yes, VHO, 99% positive. I don't have any answers and I won't get them since I've closed the account. I was pretty insulted but I'm over it now. I think it would make sense for Ebay to get rid of a healthy percentage of sellers mostly because the prices are too low. That means too much supply and not enough demand. So, I'll just suggest that they are doing the right thing.

[VHo]

I hate injustice. that must be infuriating. so sorry.

[Rob Babcock]

Of course, with you & your fellow "1%-ers" gone, a new batch of sellers will have fallen to the bottom 1@!;) :D

[kcma]

i stopped using ebay long ago, and paypal. i refuse to have anything to do with either of them.

[Fred]

Of course, with you & your fellow "1%-ers" gone, a new batch of sellers will have fallen to the bottom 1@!;) :D

Yep. A lot less riff-raff on Ebay now. ;)