How to annoy your users.

1. Use percentages to decide if a seller is "top rated" or "below standard".  Never mind that fact that a high volume seller can create 100 unhappy customers without even dropping a feedback percentage point, and keep their "top rated" status, but just a couple of mistakes by someone who manages to sell a few dozen times a month means they are damned for all eternity.  Where does "protecting the customers" feature in that?  High volume = piss off as many people as you like; we don't care.

Particularly annoying since the mistakes were caused by a third party (official!!!!!) software we used over-selling items. I could thus justify a "Not Our Fault" as it's not easy to keep track of over 1000 items manually, which was why we wanted to automate it!

2. Stop that small seller from listing any more items, so they don't have a hope in hell of raising their performance levels again whilst still charging them £60 per month for the shop they now can't use.

3. Restrict the seller's own personal account as well, because they are "linked" even though they are plainly used for totally different purposes.

4. When the seller attempts to contact you about the personal account, reply back telling them that their user-id violates their user-id policy, despite it having been used unchanged for nearly 15 YEARS, and if  they don't change it immediately, it will be changed for them, and cannot then be changed again for a further month.

I think that after 15 years, it is at the very least an implied contract term that they find the name acceptable.   Particularly as we have been in contact several times before this incident over unrelated matters!

5. Refuse to discuss even the possibility of compromise.   Refuse to even close the accounts when asked to do so.  Because they can't close an account that is restricted until it's performance is raised. Which it can't do because WE CAN'T SELL ANYTHING!  aaarrrrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhhh!!!!


I'll have to add up the figures, but I think the business actually LOST money trying to sell on eBay recently.  Sales have been low, with not enough gross receipts to even cover their fees, never mind cover the cost of the goods sold and make a profit out of it.  


I want to swear very loudly and break something.  This post will have to do for now.