eBay Takes Aim At INRs With New Shipping Performance Policy
eBay is implementing a new Shipping Performance Policy aimed at cutting down on item not received cases and holding sellers accountable for timely shipping, effective July 24.
While the announcement does not specify specific countries this new policy will apply to, the fact it was posted on the eBay Exports site indicates this policy is likely meant for global sellers who sell on eBay.com but are not based in the USA or Canada.
As noted in eBay Exports News:
Shipping Performance Policy — Item Not Received Rate
Starting from July 24, 2023, eBay will launch the Shipping Performance Policy – Item Not Received Rate.
Sellers with a higher than market average “Item not received” rate may be subject to a range of actions, such as eBay ending or removing your listings, enforcing buying or selling restrictions, adjusting your selling limits and/or suspending all relevant accounts.
eBay
What you need to know
Starting from July 24, 2023, eBay will launch the Shipping Performance Policy – Item Not Received Rate.Sellers with a higher than market average “Item not received” rate may be subject to a range of actions, such as eBay ending or removing your listings, enforcing buying or selling restrictions, adjusting your selling limits and/or suspending all relevant accounts.
Evalutions will be based on buyer reports that an item did not arrive or wasn't available for collection.
Evaluation metric
The "Item Not Received" or “INR” rate, namely, the percentage of transactions where a buyer reported that the item didn't arrive or was not available for collection.How are you being evaluated
Evaluation Frequency: Monday on a fortnightly basis.INR Evaluation Window 1: All paid transactions during a 31 day lookback period commencing 45 days before the evaluation date.
By way of illustration, where the evaluation date is Monday 27 March, we will review all paid transactions during the period commencing Wednesday 8 February and ending Friday 10 March.
INR Evaluation Window 2: All transactions with an estimated delivery date that falls within the 31 day period commencing on the immediate past Saturday before the evaluation date.By way of illustration, where the evaluation date is Monday 27 March, we will review all transactions with an estimated delivery date falling within the period commencing Thursday 23 February and ending Saturday 25 March.
eBay will evaluate the seller's INR% for deliveries to specific countries (US, UK, Germany, Australia, Other) as well as the total performance across all countries.
Evaluation will begin on July 24 and will not include transactions before July 2.
Evaluation result
- Action taken: INR% of window1 or INR% of window2 is higher than corresponding market average INR% and eBay decides to take action.
- Non-compliant: INR% of window1 or INR% of window2 is higher than corresponding market average INR% but eBay will hold action this cycle.
- Compliant: Both INR% of window1 and INR% of window2 are lower than corresponding market average INR%.
Please note that eBay will start implementing the above evaluation from July 24, 2023. Transactions before July 2, 2023 will not be subject to the evaluation.
Sellers will be emailed a copy of their evaluations so they can keep track of their performance.
How can I check my performance?
The evaluation result will be sent to the accounts which are evaluated in each evaluation cycle by email. Please check your accounts status from time to time for any updates.You will see the evaluation result on a fortnightly basis after this policy launched:
The Status of Shipping Performance Policy – Item Not Received Rate: Action taken
Evaluation Status: You may have all of these three status in one evaluation, and multiple actions may be taken. The most serious status will be selected as the result of this evaluation cycle.
Action taken: INR% of window1 or INR% of window2 is higher than corresponding market average INR%.
Non-compliant: INR% of window1 or INR% of window2 is higher than corresponding market average IN% but eBay will hold action this cycle.
Compliant: Both INR% of window1 and INR% of window2 are lower than corresponding market average INR%.
If a seller faces restrictions due to not meeting performance requirements, eBay will automatically remove the restrictions once performance improves.
What should I do if my account has been restricted due to performance issues? Will the actions be removed if my INR% improves in the next evaluation cycle?
eBay will still evaluate the INR% performance of your accounts as long as there are eligible transactions. The restriction will be removed automatically once your INR% performance is lower or on par with the market average in subsequent evaluation periods.
Sellers are discussing the new policy in the eBay community, with some suspecting this move may be a step in addressing the massive amount of dropshipping from China on the platform.
What do you think of eBay's new Shipping Performance Policy? Let us know in the comments below!
