Quote:
Originally Posted by Buythatcard
I am curious to hear what others think about the following.
eBay offers discounts on their seller fees if you meet certain requirements to become a Top Seller.
1. Transaction Defect Rate must be less than 0.50 %
2. Late Shipment Rate must be less than 3.00%
3. Cases closed without seller resolution must be less than 3.00%
4. Tracking uploaded and on time must be greater than 90%
5. Must have more than 100 transactions per month
6. Must have $1,000 in sales each month.
I have been selling on eBay for 14 years and have always had 100% positive feedback. When someone pays for an item, I will pack it up the same day and drop it off at the Post Office the next morning at 6 AM on my way to work. Since the Post Office is closed, I place it in their drop off chute. This is where my problems begin. I have found that many of my packages do not get scanned right away or not at all. Since eBay got this stupid rule (#2), if it is not scanned within a certain time frame then package will be considered late.
I have met all of eBay's requirements except #2. I called them up and complained and they pretty much didn't give a crap. They told me to bring it up to the PO counter and ask them to scan it. I explained to them this is a stupid rule, I don't have time to stand on line for 30 minutes a day. Besides, I have a full time job and when I get home, the PO is closed.
Why should a Seller be penalized due to the actions of the Post Office?
But know what gets me even more pissed off. There are sellers on eBay who have been accused of cheating buyers. There are sellers who have hundreds of negative feedback. Yes, you guessed it, they all have Top Rated Seller status.
I pay over $1,000 a month in fees and saving a few hundred dollars a month would help me make a profit.
I question myself many time. Is it worth my time anymore to sell on eBay?
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I am knocking on wood when I say this, but I drop in a blue box most mornings on my way to work and over the years less than 1 out of a 1000 mailings have not received an origin scan leaving my local area causing my shipment not to meet eBay's shipping expectations. If I have time during the day or have large boxes going out, I stop at a "contract" (privately run) USPS post office and they scan it. Very friendly folks who allow me to bypass any line, hand them my outgoing and they scan when they are free.
But I agree, ebay could care less if USPS missed an origin scan and the package was first scanned arriving at it's destination across the country 3 days later(meaning it mailed in their time frame).
With the requirements for a TRS becoming even tougher (95% tracking uploaded) and the TRS discount being cut from 20 to 10%, my guess is many more sellers will throw in the towel on staying a TRS seller as there is almost NO incentive anymore.
A few years back, a tracking upload glitch caused me to lose my TRS status. The worst part of losing this status was, my sales fell off for the 2 months I was not a TRS. At that point it was explained to me that one of the benefits of being a TRS is placement of your items in searches. I believe that not ranking high in the "best match" search due to not being a TRS did constrict my sales as they rebounded once I was reinstated as a TRS. This search ranking benefit appears to be more important than any other TRS benefit IMO.
For me, keeping my ranking earned for being a TRS is my main incentive for keeping this status. However, once there are so few TRS, it may not matter to non-TRS where they fall in the "best match" searches.
IMO, the "newly listed" and "low price +s/h" searches are the searches that are equally as important to rank highly on.