OT: eBay's Top Rated Seller Qualifications Suck

[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?

[jhs5120]

I find that my life is much less stressful when I stopped pursuing the "Top rated" status. I changed my listing "shipping and handling time" to five business days and just live without the fee discount. I haven't received a complaint yet.
Edit to add: I don't think you need the item scanned, just the label printed.

[Buythatcard]

I also thought that you just needed to print a label but that's not the case. It needs to be scanned in.
I also thought about what you said and not care about this discount. Why rush to get my shipments out every morning when it really makes no difference if I wait a few more days? There are days, where I am really pressed for time but I always made sure that I got my packages to the PO. It's not worth it.

[jhs5120]

Originally Posted by Buythatcard

I also thought that you just needed to print a label but that's not the case. It needs to be scanned in.
I also thought about what you said and not care about this discount. Why rush to get my shipments out every morning when it really makes no difference if I wait a few more days? There are days, where I am really pressed for time but I always made sure that I got my packages to the PO. It's not worth it.

Well if that's the case, it certainly isn't worth the headache. I'm honest with customers, it'll ship within five business days. It'll usually go out within a day or two, but sometimes life gets in the way. Like I said, no one has complained to me about shipping time since switching two years ago.

[bobbyw8469]

Originally Posted by jhs5120

I find that my life is much less stressful when I stopped pursuing the "Top rated" status. I changed my listing "shipping and handling time" to five business days and just live without the fee discount. I haven't received a complaint yet.
Edit to add: I don't think you need the item scanned, just the label printed.

Same...I still only have one business day handling, as I pride myself on shipping fast. But, excuse my French, I have stopped giving a flying fuck about Ebay's "Top Rated Seller" and their discount. All my customers know what a quick shipper and good seller I am. That's all I care about. Sure the extra discount would be nice, but I gave up chasing that carrot long ago.

[savedfrommyspokes]

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?

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.

[slidekellyslide]

My mailman picks up at my shop every day and scans them before he puts them in his truck. Only occasionally do I have to call the PO and remind them to pick up, but my regular mailman is really good at letting his fill in people know they have to stop back to my shop to pick up.

[Piratedogcardshows]

I actually just purchased some car items from top rated seller and had to do a return. When I was in that process I noticed they had over 140 negatives within the year. I have to agree some of the requirements are a joke.

[JustinD]

Originally Posted by savedfrommyspokes

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

I cannot believe that anyone would be so inept as to let themselves use that best match crap. The moment they came out with that it was an obvious attempt to take advantage of the technology challenged segment of society.

[savedfrommyspokes]

Originally Posted by JustinD

I cannot believe that anyone would be so inept as to let themselves use that best match crap. The moment they came out with that it was an obvious attempt to take advantage of the technology challenged segment of society.

I can't believe anyone would use that ranking either, I NEVER would. However, I have NO other explanation as to why my sales were down those two months other than not placing high enough on this ranking.

I received a large amount of GTC this past fall. I normally use 30 day listings, so none of my listings are ever over 30 days old. Last fall I did not relist my GTC listings and my sales plummeted again, IMO due to the lack of fresh listings....I started manually ending and relisting the GTC listings and my sales rebounded back up.

So while I know of no one who utilizes the best match searches, but many (including myself) who use the newly listed search ranking, these two searches have both had negative impacts on my results when I do not rank highly on them.

[bobbyw8469]

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.

^^^^^ You are playing with fire...I had one card not get a scan dropping it in that unattended blue box. I don't know if a postal employee took the card, the winning bidder got the card and took advantage, or what......all I know is I gave away a card and that damn thing still hasn't received a scan. That was enough for me.

[megalimey]

Originally Posted by savedfrommyspokes

I can't believe anyone would use that ranking either, I NEVER would. However, I have NO other explanation as to why my sales were down those two months other than not placing high enough on this ranking.

I received a large amount of GTC this past fall. I normally use 30 day listings, so none of my listings are ever over 30 days old. Last fall I did not relist my GTC listings and my sales plummeted again, IMO due to the lack of fresh listings....I started manually ending and relisting the GTC listings and my sales rebounded back up.

So while I know of no one who utilizes the best match searches, but many (including myself) who use the newly listed search ranking, these two searches have both had negative impacts on my results when I do not rank highly on them.

if your listing a buy it now item on ebay if listed correctly there is one thing and one thing only that truly matters , That's the asking price , the educated buyer obviously has saved searches which are specific , If they get a hit
and item is bargain or low priced it will sell very quickly , if it is like like a lot of pipe dream prices being asked on buy it nows you get to keep it.

same with auctions if it is a quality item "low starting bid" no reserve & listed correctly , it will meet fair current market value 90%-100% of the time
truly rare items can go through the roof if listed right.

I have been buying on ebay for over 15 years never once looked up "best match" , all I care about is newly listed under priced bargains , not some item that is a best match that has been relisted a 10 times due to joke asking pricing , your inventory and pricing dictate your sales revenue 99% of
the time , the other 1% is just luck

[savedfrommyspokes]

Originally Posted by bobbyw8469

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.

^^^^^ You are playing with fire...I had one card not get a scan dropping it in that unattended blue box. I don't know if a postal employee took the card, the winning bidder got the card and took advantage, or what......all I know is I gave away a card and that damn thing still hasn't received a scan. That was enough for me.

I have been dropping mail like this for the past 15+ years....a handful of lost pieces locally(far fewer than the # lost with a scan after leaving my area), a very small pct not scanned at origin (but scanned upon arrival) are what I have had to deal with in all that time. Trust me when I say, if there was a problem or one develops, I would not continue dropping my mail in a blue box.

Any higher priced items, parcels etc are either dropped off at the contact office and scanned, or I have the mailing picked up by my route carrier and scanned in front of me. However, I will continue to take my chances dropping a 1st class package with tracking containing some $2 card in the blue box as in 15+ years it has not been a problem. I understand shippers in other cities/towns have had different experiences dropping in a blue box, but I, to this point, have not.

[ibuysportsephemera]

#5 from the OP... When did they add 100 transactions a month? I have never seen that before and I have been a TRS for as long as they have had the program. I rarely hit 100 completed transactions a month.

Now that the discount is 10% I will probably stop jumping through hoops and change all of my returns to the shortest allowable period.

Jeff

[ATP]

Originally Posted by ibuysportsephemera

#5 from the OP... When did they add 100 transactions a month? I have never seen that before and I have been a TRS for as long as they have had the program. I rarely hit 100 completed transactions a month.

Now that the discount is 10% I will probably stop jumping through hoops and change all of my returns to the shortest allowable period.

Jeff

I believe it is still 100 transactions over a twelve month period as the requirement.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by ibuysportsephemera

#5 from the OP... When did they add 100 transactions a month? I have never seen that before and I have been a TRS for as long as they have had the program. I rarely hit 100 completed transactions a month.

Now that the discount is 10% I will probably stop jumping through hoops and change all of my returns to the shortest allowable period.

Jeff

I believe #5 and #6 is an either/or thing, and it's an average taken throughout the last year.

#3. Is certainly the hardest to keep up with, as it's the most unforgiving and relies heavily on Post Office pick-up times and scan reliability. A snow storm and no pick-up on the wrong day can pretty much crater you for the year.

You can luck out and still have your packages delivered on time, but I wonder if anybody realized that Ebay changed their formula for late deliveries with late origin scans.

Ebay gives more time for Priority packages to reach their destination then they do for 1st Class Mail. It's basically a built in penalty for not using Priority Mail, and giving Ebay and even bigger cut of the S&H pie.

[rjackson44]

Feeebay

[Buythatcard]

My mistake.

#5 & #6

To be a Top Rated Seller, you must have at least 100 transactions and $1,000.00 in sales during the past 12 months

[bobbyw8469]

Originally Posted by savedfrommyspokes

I have been dropping mail like this for the past 15+ years....a handful of lost pieces locally(far fewer than the # lost with a scan after leaving my area), a very small pct not scanned at origin (but scanned upon arrival) are what I have had to deal with in all that time. Trust me when I say, if there was a problem or one develops, I would not continue dropping my mail in a blue box.

Any higher priced items, parcels etc are either dropped off at the contact office and scanned, or I have the mailing picked up by my route carrier and scanned in front of me. However, I will continue to take my chances dropping a 1st class package with tracking containing some $2 card in the blue box as in 15+ years it has not been a problem. I understand shippers in other cities/towns have had different experiences dropping in a blue box, but I, to this point, have not.

Understood. The majority of my cards ARE NOT $2 cards. If they were, I would be more lenient.

[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.

[Exhibitman]

Scott, in terms of a store, I thought long and hard about it then decided to do it. I opted for the basic at $19.95/mo for a year. The results after about two months have been better than I'd hoped. eBay really has its s**t together as far as what it offers sellers who opt for the store; the value is there, believe it or not.

The seller analytic tools on eBay are really quite advanced and useful, so much so that there is really no excuse for a seller not understanding their margins (except, of course, stupidity). I was able to confirm my gut read that the all-in cost of eBay retailing is within a few points of the commission for most AHs. The big variance has been rate of return on the sales. My inventory, like my collection, tends to be large amounts of modestly priced items. When I consigned these sorts of things it drove me absolutely nuts to see these items lumped into massive lots and sold to dealers at a pittance who'd break them up and retail them. What I'd make on sales of graded higher end cards would be chewed up in losses on the large lots that were being blown out. Basically, I've turned what were losing consignments into profitable retail sales.

The other issue is time management for non-pro sellers. This is a part time business for me, a downtime supplement to practicing law, ideally profitably. Without the store I found it to be a real time suck to do more than a handful of listings each week. The listing and fulfillment tools offered to stores are such a vast improvement over the freebies that I have been able to generate a work flow of 5-10 listings per work day with about the same time and effort. Re-listings go very fast with the listing utilities that allow mass edits. I can drop as many re-lists as I want virtually instantly. There are also sales functions that allow discounting of items with great flexibility.

Shipping was another PITA that is greatly improved with the store. The ability to fulfill multiple orders with a few clicks is there with a postage utility. It cuts my fulfillment time down to virtually nothing. Another perk of the store is a quarterly coupon for $25 in free packing materials from eBay. That allows me to purchase 100 padded mailers and have them delivered for free, each quarter. Really simplifies the packing process because I am working with uniform, self-sealing materials instead of scrounging packaging. It goes much quicker than it used to. I do the actual work of packing the orders as a break from lawyering; moving around and doing something physical rather than intellectual is a nice afternoon break each day, so the time spent on the project has been pleasant.

There is always the question of returns--we all face jackhole customers. My view has been that I will take a return for as long as eBay says I have to but I won't offer free shipping returns. If you are selling modestly priced items, very few people will opt to return them. I've had one disgruntled customer so far and he opted not to return the card--I think he was just trying to get a discount.

[D. Bergin]

Yup, store is a must if you are doing any amount of listings on a regular basis. For 20 bucks a month it easily pays for itself, if you are attempting to list without the store benefits.

[Exhibitman]

So irony of ironies a few hours ago I get an email from eBay congratulating me on top seller status.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

So irony of ironies a few hours ago I get an email from eBay congratulating me on top seller status.

Congratulations! I hope you got all your shipments out the day before today.

[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.

[glchen]

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

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.

Exactly. Offer generic Economy and ship via First Class. eBay is trying to solve the issue where customers think their packages are arriving late. However, if customers don't expect to receive the package for two weeks but get it in one, then they are pleasantly surprised. The flip side is that you may lose a handful of customers who want their package by a certain date. (For a Birthday present for example). They may not buy from you because they think your package would arrive too late although it would have arrived on time.

[Buythatcard]

Originally Posted by glchen

Exactly. Offer generic Economy and ship via First Class. eBay is trying to solve the issue where customers think their packages are arriving late. However, if customers don't expect to receive the package for two weeks but get it in one, then they are pleasantly surprised. The flip side is that you may lose a handful of customers who want their package by a certain date. (For a Birthday present for example). They may not buy from you because they think your package would arrive too late although it would have arrived on time.

If you still ship out within the next day, you customers will keep coming back. If this brings back my Top Rated Selling status and saves me money in fees, I think its worth a gamble. It won't be long till eBay changes its requirements once again. But for now this is a great plan.

[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.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

wow, if this works I owe you! I won't pay you, but I'll owe you!

[glchen]

Just showing a screenshot of the part of the listing in ebay where you set the shipping to Economy.

[ngnichols]

The standards for Top-Rated are pretty easy to maintain for me outside of 100 items in 12 months. Selling for me can be a seasonal thing so some months are HUGE and some are sparse. I was Top-Rated for a while, but lost it due to that specific criteria. I've just now gotten it back this coming month.

The problem lies in that eBay does not do enough to reward people for having to maintain those high standards, especially if you go even farther and do Top-Rated Plus. If I have to give someone 30 freaking days to possibly return a card, all sorts of things could happen in that time-period that are fraudulent. I also know that cuts both ways in that I could possibly take a raw card and have it quick graded to see if it will meet my standards. If it does, I keep it, if it doesn't then I just return it for a refund. It just keeps the seller hanging out in the wind and that's just not cool. I don't offer refunds to people I've sold to at shows and then take the cards home. Once it's out of my hands, it's yours. Same goes for eBay in that I have a "no return" policy.

The fact that they are getting a 10% cut of my sales is almost ridiculous as I can come on here and other places and sell pretty much just as effectively and safely and only take the 3% hit from PayPal which is a much more modest and reasonable transactional fee. The fact that I'm potentially paying eBay $300 on a $3000 item is insane and they certainly did not do $300 worth of work to assist me in selling that item AND having to go through all of the things they require to maintain ratings.

In regards to late shipment issues, I simply go inside and put it in the mail slot that's for regular mail. They usually just grab those bins once they get full and then scan the items. That eliminates the waiting in lines for a PO worker to scan it in and also eliminates the lag of putting it in the outside drop which is only collected at the very end of the day. I also maintain a stock of bubble mailers and a small digital scale so I can weigh and package everything at home in my own time and drop them off. If you can't get to the post office within 24 hours of someone handing you money, something is wrong with you and not the rules eBay has on that. That is insane to me that someone couldn't take 5 minutes to put the stuff together and drop it off at a post office somewhere along their day.

Another trick I've learned long ago is to offer free shipping on all of my items. I just build it into my asking price. When I first started doing eBay I was adamant about buyers paying the shipping, but it just got to the point to people were haggling about paying me $3 for postage and supplies and I got tired of it. By offering free shipping it eliminates them being able to mark you down on star ratings for that category when they're leaving you feedback and it honestly can win you some customers over someone else who has a similarly priced item, but is charging for shipping. I know it's small, but people are cheap too.

[buymycards]

Hi Howard,
The clerk who picks up the mail from the collection box is REQUIRED to scan the packages that are in the collection box. There should be no exceptions.

If I were you, I would ask for an appointment with the Postmaster and talk to him/her about it. If the Postmaster drags his feet, ask for the telephone number for the Postal Operations Manager, who is the Postmaster's boss.

It pisses me off when the clerks are too lazy to do their job correctly, and it causes a lot of problems down the line when a package is late or missing. The Postmaster is responsible for making sure that the employees are doing their job correctly, but the Postmaster won't know this is happening if you don't make him aware of it.

Rick

[Luke]

Question for you guys with ebay stores:

I decided to give 30 day returns a try in order to get the 10% off final value fees.

I thought I had done everything I needed to, but my discounts still show as "NONE". Can you see what I am missing here? If I'm missing some info I can look it up and post it.

Thanks!

[bobbyw8469]

I don't offer refunds to people I've sold to at shows and then take the cards home. Once it's out of my hands, it's yours. Same goes for eBay in that I have a "no return" policy.

I bought a card at a show one time. A 1960 Topps Mantle. It looked so nice I didnt bother taking it out of the Card Saver for fear of messing it up. It was a fake. According to your policy, I would not be due a refund.

[thecatspajamas]

Originally Posted by Luke

Question for you guys with ebay stores:

I decided to give 30 day returns a try in order to get the 10% off final value fees.

I thought I had done everything I needed to, but my discounts still show as "NONE". Can you see what I am missing here? If I'm missing some info I can look it up and post it.

Thanks!

If I recall correctly, the Discount bar you are looking at reflects your status as of your last monthly evaluation, which may not take into account recent revisions you have made.

[Luke]

Ah, that's good news. Thank you Lance.

[Bigshot69]

Originally Posted by bobbyw8469

I bought a card at a show one time. A 1960 Topps Mantle. It looked so nice I didnt bother taking it out of the Card Saver for fear of messing it up. It was a fake. According to your policy, I would not be due a refund.

I agree with your logic. I have offered 30 day returns for some time now. I feel cutting the TRS discount to 10% is cuthroat but I still choose to do it as I feel it's found money. If someone receives an item they are not happy with I don't want to pee in their Wheaties. I'd rather take it back and have it eventually go to a new home. My return item % has not been impacted whatsoever. Aside from carrying a slighly higher reserve in my PP account nothing has really changed.