eBay promoted us to silver Powerseller status, only to take away the promotion. A few months later eBay promoted us again. I knew eBay would take back the promotion again, sooner or later. Below is my reply to eBay, and eBay said they would respond in 24-48 hours. eBay never replied.

We were upgraded once before, and lost the status, going back to bronze. Please do not bother with upgrading us again. Unless sellers maintain the promotion there is nothing but frustration when sellers are demoted.

After 25 years in the Marine Corps, and my wife with 20 years in the U.S. Army, we learn to accept promotions with pride, since they indicate a true career progression. With eBay, we have no desire to lose the promotion to silver powerseller, thus being reduced in rank once again.

Unless the promotion is permanent we don’t want it. We work just as hard either way. We ship the same day, take a loss on bubble wrap and peanut padding, and never charge a handling fee. Our merchandise is driven by what is available at freight recovery, and our sales are effected by the economy.

As intelligent individuals we do not put ourselves at risk relative to areas over which we have no control.

Even as a bronze powerseller, our monthly (daily) status shows we are eligible for a 20 percent discount, but when the eBay invoice is prepared we are dropped to a 5 percent discount. Due to that experience we begin to regard the powerseller program and eBay accounting with a small sense of distrust.

One would also think we would receive an email or phone call from a powerseller rep if we accidently list an item that the manufacturer objects to for some reason. That is not the case. Instead, we receive a violation and the item is ended by eBay. That is a strike against us, while we did nothing intentional, nor did we have any idea before hand.

Shouldn’t eBay software catch the error before the item is listed? Shouldn’t we receive some notification so we can end the item without a strike? Intelligent business practices tell me so, but unfortunately that is not the case.

Rather than a pat on the head, an upgrade to silver, and a few other ‘perks’, I highly recommend that eBay should work on a real professional powerseller program. Keep our promotion for now, demote us back to bronze, and let me know when you have a professional program in place that respects sellers as the real people that make money for eBay.

Today I received the demotion notification, demoted back down to bronze Powerseller status. Today is September 19, 2009.

We were promoted to silver status by eBay on August 11, 2009. The reply printed above, to which eBay never replied, was sent to eBay on August 11, 2009.

eBay continues to anger the sellers they value most. Powersellers carry the backbone of eBay and generate the most profits. When eBay forecasts earnings, or prepares forward-looking financial statements, our performance is part of the equasion.

Perhaps I am annoyed by eBay’s lack of a reply, even if a reply took longer than 24-48 hours. Lack of a reply implies a pat on the head, and a “They will get over it” attitude.

What eBay failed to anticipate was my reaction to their failure to reply. Everything in my store was sent to auction in the past week. I can shut down my eBay operation in an instant.

By the way, immediately after our demotion we received a monthly invoice from eBay. I owe them another $175.

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