Welcome to Sportlots Sellers User Guide - Issues

This is how to best resolve issues buyers have with orders from sellers. If the seller selects options that are considered by Sportlots to be good customer support, Sportlots will adjust the orders without impacting the seller's inventory accuracy ratings on their report card. While negative feedback cannot always be prevented, providing good support during issues can also help avoid negative feedback from customers.

Order Questions
Order Not as Described
Order Not Received
Seller Issue Levels
Buyer Issue Levels

Order Questions

Sportlots provides the ability for buyers to ask sellers questions regarding orders placed. These may be just questions regarding status or may be issues/problems regarding orders received.

Buyers are not required to submit questions prior to filing a formal issue. But if the buyer does submit an informal question, it's in the seller's best interest to try to communicate with the buyer to try to answer any questions or resolve any issues prior to a formal issue being submitted.

Order Not as Described

Sportlots allows a buyer to file an "Order Not as Described" issue if they did not receive all the cards in the order from a particular seller or if the cards are damaged or incorrect.

The buyer can select which item(s) within the order are "Not as Described" or "Not Received" and either request to return the item(s) for a full refund (including their shipping costs) or try to come up with a settlement offer to avoid having to ship the impacted cards back to the seller. Here are more details based on each possible scenario:

There are items within the order that are both "Not Received" and "Not as Described"

There are only items within the order that are "Not as Described"

There are only items within the order that are "Not Received"

Order Not Received

Sportlots allows a buyer to file an "Order Not Received" issue if they have not received their order after 10 days from the ship date. However, if the buyer and seller are from different countries, the buyer must then wait 17 days before they can file this type of issue. Once a buyer files an issue, the system will automatically generate a message to the seller informing them that the buyer has not received their order. The seller then has 5 days to do one of the following. If the seller fails to respond to an open issue after 5 days, the buyer will automatically receive a refund for the missing order.

  • Refund the Buyer: When a seller selects the refund option, the buyer is given a credit that is deducted from the sellers account. If the seller selects this option, it will not impact the seller's inventory accuracy rating as a result of the adjustment.

  • Request an Additional 5 Days for the Order to Arrive: If the seller chooses this option, the seller has 5 more days for the order to arrive. 5 days after the seller's response the buyer will have an additional 5 days to request a refund from the seller. If the buyer doesn't respond during these additional 5 days, the issue is closed and assumed that the buyer has received the order.

  • Submit Delivery Confirmation: When a seller enters a delivery confirmation number, the issue is resolved and no refund is provided. The buyer will be supplied the delivery confirmation number and it is up the buyer to confirm the delivery confirmation is both valid and accurate. The delivery confirmation number must be validated online within 48 hours of posting or the refund will be given to the buyer at their request. Delivery confirmation proof is the only way to avoid potentially fraudulent charges by a buyer. Legally, the seller has the burden of proof that the item(s) were successfully delivered to the buyer. Without that proof, Sportlots must rule in the buyers favor.

    ** Important Note: Under no circumstance should a seller ever submit an invalid delivery confirmation number in an attempt to avoid a refund. If the buyer reports this to Sportlots, we will review the case and if we feel this was done intentionally, Sportlots will close the seller's account.

    Seller Issue Levels

    Each month, Sportlots will notify all sellers who have an issue percentage greater than 15%. Sellers that receive this notice will be required to make improvements on this percentage. As long as progress is being made each month toward bringing their account back to an issue percentage less than 15%, the seller's account will remain open; otherwise, Sportlots will close the sellers account if their percentage continues to climb.

    Sportlots will also send out an email each month if the seller's percentage is between 10% and 15%. Again, at this point this is just a notice to the seller on where they stand and that they are fairly close to the threshold. Sellers in this category should also strive to improve this rating so that another issue or two doesn't put them into this category.

    This is only in effect for sellers who have 30 or more orders since 1/1/2008 since fewer orders would only allow for one or two issues before hitting this criteria.

    Buyer Issue Levels

    It is Sportlots responsibility to provide sellers with data to help them make the best decisions for their business. As a result, Sportlots provides sellers with a list of buyers that we feel have an unusually high percentage of issues filed as it relates to the total orders the buyer has placed. If the buyer matches this criteria, their Sportlots account ID will be posted on the Sportlots sellers pages. This can be found by clicking on the "Buyers w/ High volume issues" link under the "Sell" tab on the Sportlots menu bar found at the top of every Sportlots screen.