OT: eBay's Top Rated Seller Qualifications Suck

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

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 within 12 month period
6. Must have $1,000 in sales within 12 month period

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?

I lost my top rated status for the same reason after MANY years.

[Buythatcard]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

I lost my top rated status for the same reason after MANY years.

Scott, join the crowd. So, the lesson that we learn from all this is the better we treat our customers, the worst that eBay will treat us.
I dream that one day there will be a better place for us to sell our cards A place where the good sellers are respected. A place where the bad sellers are blocked.

[Exhibitman]

I do the same as most posters here--ignore the qualifications and use a shipping window that works for me. For the relatively low $$ volume I do, the discount is not worth getting all bunged up about.

[Luke]

Question for you guys:

Is there a way to see if you are getting discounts?

I decided not to offer 30-day returns and I thought that made me ineligible for discounts, but since I wasn't sure, I have been using a 1-Day shipping window just in case I still qualify for something.

If I'm not getting any discounts, I'd prefer to dial back the shipping window a bit.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by Luke

Question for you guys:

Is there a way to see if you are getting discounts?

I decided not to offer 30-day returns and I thought that made me ineligible for discounts, but since I wasn't sure, I have been using a 1-Day shipping window just in case I still qualify for something.

If I'm not getting any discounts, I'd prefer to dial back the shipping window a bit.

Go look at your last detailed Ebay invoice. All discounts and credits should be listed on there.

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by Luke

Question for you guys:

Is there a way to see if you are getting discounts?

I decided not to offer 30-day returns and I thought that made me ineligible for discounts, but since I wasn't sure, I have been using a 1-Day shipping window just in case I still qualify for something.

If I'm not getting any discounts, I'd prefer to dial back the shipping window a bit.

Why would you decide not to offer 30 day returns? You have no choice if they pay by paypal.

[jhs5120]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

Why would you decide not to offer 30 day returns? You have no choice if they pay by paypal.

I don't offer returns either. When a customer goes to return something on eBay to me eBay will tell them that I don't accept returns except for certain reasons. I have no idea how many customers decided it wasn't worth the effort.

[Luke]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

Why would you decide not to offer 30 day returns? You have no choice if they pay by paypal.

I just think it's a terrible policy for the things I sell. A buyer can freeroll a seller by buying something, trying to sell it for more somewhere else, and then returning it if they can't sell it for a profit. It's unlikely someone would do this (especially on a BIN - which is how I sell on ebay), but the possibility is enough to make me not want to offer returns.

I'm open to reconsidering. The discount on fees would be nice of course. I just think ebay shouldn't expect antique dealer or baseball card sellers to accept 30 day returns.

[SMPEP]

The part that sucks for me is ... when I lost top rated status ... I lost all the free listing promos I used to get.

I don't have enough stuff to sell to justify a store ... but enough to say that I would have 200-300 items listed at any given time if they let me.

With the free promos, once a month (or once every other month at worst) I could get 500 listing and keep my stuff listed.

When they made the changed, I'm limited to 50 per month ... and since you can only store past listings for 2 months ... that's 50-150 listings I've created that just got deleted.

Thanks Ebay! Not like that took me any work to create those listings.

[megalimey]

Originally Posted by Luke

I just think it's a terrible policy for the things I sell. A buyer can freeroll a seller by buying something, trying to sell it for more somewhere else, and then returning it if they can't sell it for a profit. It's unlikely someone would do this (especially on a BIN - which is how I sell on ebay), but the possibility is enough to make me not want to offer returns.

I'm open to reconsidering. The discount on fees would be nice of course. I just think ebay shouldn't expect antique dealer or baseball card sellers to accept 30 day returns.

I have been a Top Rated seller now for 6 years unbroken, when they changed their return policy to 30 days I did the bean count. i have had 7650 transactions with only 12 returns , so I can live with with the rare return , offering no returns will cost you more in the long run , and lets face it buyers have a huge advantage if they want to nit pick an item as not as described ebay will back them 99% of the time, with or with out a return policy
if there was a better option to cost effectively sell online we would all take it in a heart beat , but ebay knows there is not , so they keep doing what their doing slowing getting their pound of flesh , squeezing you for every cent they can till you burst.

[bobbyw8469]

Originally Posted by Luke

Question for you guys:

Is there a way to see if you are getting discounts?

I decided not to offer 30-day returns and I thought that made me ineligible for discounts, but since I wasn't sure, I have been using a 1-Day shipping window just in case I still qualify for something.

If I'm not getting any discounts, I'd prefer to dial back the shipping window a bit.

You aren't getting discounts....You MUST accept 30 day returns to get the discount.

[glchen]

Howard, there is a quick way to fix your problem so that you can continue to maintain the ebay Top Rated Status. You need to change your Domestic Services Shipping Timeframe from Standard Services (1-5 business days) or First Class (2-5 business days) to Economy Shipping (1-10 business days). Ebay looks at two things when determining if you meet the late shipment rate condition. Either the tracking needs to be scanned within 1 business day of the when buyer pays or the package is scanned as delivered within the shipping timeframe that you set. Therefore, if your package does not get scanned when you drop it off, it just needs to get scanned when it is delivered. If you do Standard Services, you only get 5 business days, which a package can easily miss. However, if you go Economy, you get 10 business days, so this is able to catch that virtually all packages are scanned. By doing this, I have continued to easily maintain my Top Rated Status on my ebay store.

[Buythatcard]

Originally Posted by glchen

Howard, there is a quick way to fix your problem so that you can continue to maintain the ebay Top Rated Status. You need to change your Domestic Services Shipping Timeframe from Standard Services (1-5 business days) or First Class (2-5 business days) to Economy Shipping (1-10 business days). Ebay looks at two things when determining if you meet the late shipment rate condition. Either the tracking needs to be scanned within 1 business day of the when buyer pays or the package is scanned as delivered within the shipping timeframe that you set. Therefore, if your package does not get scanned when you drop it off, it just needs to get scanned when it is delivered. If you do Standard Services, you only get 5 business days, which a package can easily miss. However, if you go Economy, you get 10 business days, so this is able to catch that virtually all packages are scanned. By doing this, I have continued to easily maintain my Top Rated Status on my ebay store.

Hey Gary,

You always seem to give good advice. I will look into this tonight. Will change it to see if this makes a difference for me.
Thanks!!

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by glchen

Howard, there is a quick way to fix your problem so that you can continue to maintain the ebay Top Rated Status. You need to change your Domestic Services Shipping Timeframe from Standard Services (1-5 business days) or First Class (2-5 business days) to Economy Shipping (1-10 business days). Ebay looks at two things when determining if you meet the late shipment rate condition. Either the tracking needs to be scanned within 1 business day of the when buyer pays or the package is scanned as delivered within the shipping timeframe that you set. Therefore, if your package does not get scanned when you drop it off, it just needs to get scanned when it is delivered. If you do Standard Services, you only get 5 business days, which a package can easily miss. However, if you go Economy, you get 10 business days, so this is able to catch that virtually all packages are scanned. By doing this, I have continued to easily maintain my Top Rated Status on my ebay store.

I did not realize this was a workaround. I always offered 1st Class Mail as my first, cheapest option..........but for some reason is supposed to be delivered faster then Priority Mail, if a package gets it's first scan later then the 24 hour time frame.

So, if I just offer the generic Economy shipping, and then ship out via 1st Class Mail, they give a longer time frame for it to get where it's going?

Seems pretty half-assed by Ebay......but it IS Ebay, so I guess I shouldn't be shocked.

[savedfrommyspokes]

Originally Posted by glchen

Howard, there is a quick way to fix your problem so that you can continue to maintain the ebay Top Rated Status. You need to change your Domestic Services Shipping Timeframe from Standard Services (1-5 business days) or First Class (2-5 business days) to Economy Shipping (1-10 business days). Ebay looks at two things when determining if you meet the late shipment rate condition. Either the tracking needs to be scanned within 1 business day of the when buyer pays or the package is scanned as delivered within the shipping timeframe that you set. Therefore, if your package does not get scanned when you drop it off, it just needs to get scanned when it is delivered. If you do Standard Services, you only get 5 business days, which a package can easily miss. However, if you go Economy, you get 10 business days, so this is able to catch that virtually all packages are scanned. By doing this, I have continued to easily maintain my Top Rated Status on my ebay store.

Using the economy option has worked well for me (even saved me a few times) on the small amount of mailings that did not receive an origin scan. However, do not forget that the other end of this is you will still have to create/print your label within the TRS 1-day handling time even though you may not drop the package off within the stated handling time in order to stay qualified for the TRS benefits.