OCTOBER 2014 eBay's new demerit system for sellers, has changed the status of hundred's of top sellers to "BELOW STANDARD" sellers. UNFAIR, Fraudulent, no resolutions for sellers, ebay contact us services not even available unless you wait on hold for literally from 1 HOUR to over 4 HOURS in my case just to begin a conversation with a real person. BEWARE SELLERS BEWARE!!!! Recently ebay changed the star rating for a seller to a type of "demerit" system. Even if something isn't the sellers fault ANY problem or contact what so ever between a buyer & seller during a transaction is a demerit for the seller. ebay feels the buyers should not have to contact a seller about anything. Any contact between the buyers & the seller during a transaction, like a question or comment, even a good one is a demerit on the seller. ebay feels the buyers shouldn't have to worry about or contact sellers about the transaction & since ebay does not have the resources to read all the comments they have made a blanket rule- any contact & it's assumed it's a problem & sellers get a demerit- sellers are only allowed 3 demerits a year in different categories before they are deemed "below standard". I don't know about other sellers on ebay but I can assume there are more like me that take GREAT OFFENSE to being labeled "BELOW STANDARD" I have never been below standard in my life! Problem is in initiating this new evaluation system ebay goes back a year & uses all resolution center, messages, feedback, etc. the seller has acquired for that year. SO WHAT.... OK, that's FINE IF they would have got the infrastructure shall we say correct first on this new "system" before BAM!!! charging foul on sellers & rating them to the point where sellers status was changed, holds put on sellers sales funds they earned, limits on pricing of items, monthly allotment amounts & numbers of items sellers can list per month etc. with many of the incidents charged as demerits not being accurate. However no resolution is in place for sellers to have a incorrectly charged incident resulting in a demerit changed or removed. WHICH AFFECTS OUR LIVLIHOODS!!!, and our ABILITY TO DO BUSINESS- Which is absolutely against the LAW. Since the change of seller evaluation technique, it has been impossible to reach ebay. They are inundated with phone calls to the point that during a call I initiated to them I left the phone open & on speaker for over 4 hours, listening to "your phone call is important to us please stay on the line", until it was finally answered by a person, "thank you for calling ebay, may I help you! WOW, Has anyone ever been treated this poorly by a company before? I have been a "in good standing" top seller for over 12 YEARS!!!! Please this is ridiculous. SELLERS we need to stand together & demand fair and just business practices from ole' ebay inc.!!! HOW IN THE WORLD DOES EBAY GET AWAY WITH THIS- A buyer wants to return something, ebay just get into our pay pal accounts & holds & takes OUR money- not theirs. If ebay thinks we've been "naughty", true or not, ebay they just places a HOLD on OUR money in OUR pay pal account, this is not their money, this is not eBay's account. There is no regard to seller's need to pay their mortgage, bills etc. GET YOUR STINKING HANDS OUT OF MY MONEY ACCOUNT EBAY!!!!!!! This is simply stealing. If anyone else just got into your bank account & took out money without a release from you- wouldn't that simply be stealing?