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“How often you receive buyer requests for “items not received.””
This one really bugs me. It’s not my fault if the USPS is slow sometimes.
As long as I ship within my handling time, have tracking, and use the same class of service that the customer selected (or better), why blame me for “item not received” cases? I had one a few weeks ago for a first class item that just got stuck somewhere along the way for a while, and then later started moving again. How is that my fault?This seller metric just isn’t right and does not make sense.
Luckily this situation doesn’t happen very often, so I’m not going to worry about it too much right now, but after a while all of these “well, it shouldn’t happen too often” issues are going to start to pile up.
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If eBay isn’t careful, they’ll end up imposing so much structure that sellers will meet the Labor Dept’s definition of “employee”.
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Luftmentsh,
I had not thought about that. Are there any specifics you could share?
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I was mostly kidding. Although open to interpretation, the definition basically distinguishes an employee from a contractor on the basis of the amount of structure imposed on the performance of the work, such as:
Work location
Work schedule
Work process
Tools to be used (including software)The DOL started cracking down during the Obama era on employers abusing the practice of treating employees as 1099 contractors, thus offloading the burden of payroll taxes and other benefits onto workers.
I think it would take a very labor-friendly administration (Sanders?) to find that sellers met the definition of employee, unless eBay sets up seller offices and requires us to list specific items during specific hours.
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Sure thing. I worked a couple of 1099 jobs over the years that were really just direct employment. Employers count on workers’ ignorance, but a good DOL action has a way of getting their attention.
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Here’s an article about the suit that sought to get Uber to provide drivers “employee” status:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-uber-lawsuit/u-s-judge-says-uber-drivers-are-not-companys-employees-idUSKBN1HJ31I
I hadn’t heard there’d been a ruling, but had ruling gone against Uber, it probably would have increased the likelihood of eBay sellers being redefined as employees. But unlike Uber drivers, I think most sellers would not want “employee” status.
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Come to think of it, eBay may well have sold PayPal partly to avoid being in the position of paying sellers themselves, lest it be seen as fee-for-service employment.
But this has become an extended off-topic thread, sorry.
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Luftmentsh, The “employee” argument has been brought up many times on the ebay boards and elsewhere. It’s a fun jab at ebay’s rules, but it has no support in the law.
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I don’t doubt it’s been discussed. I’m not a lawyer, but as a 1099 contractor I have studied the FLSA, and I woudn’t say “no” support. I’d argue that some of the structure eBay imposes meets the FLSA tests, there’s just not enough structure to put them over the threshold.
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