From Top Rated Plus to Above Standard for Late Shipments

[sandjllc]

Hello,

I've been in complete freak out mode for the last couple weeks frantically trying everything I could to adjust my late shipment rates for the February 20th evaluation. I didn't realize (I'm about a year old in Ebay) until the beginning of last month that I had to personally stand and watch my packages get scanned at the post office to ensure they were accepted and registered into the system. All of 23, I never did that and late shipments rarely happened. Most months I didn't even have any late shipments. However, here in Houston, our two shipping hubs that filter everything going out of town, experienced extreme backlogs. They were getting new mail sorters installed - or that's the story I've been told - and something broke down in that process. It put all orders going out of Houston on a 2 to 4 week backlog. It got so bad that all the major news stations as well as state and local politicians got involved to figure out why all the mail was so delayed. My highest late shipment percentage of any month in 2023 was 1.5%. I never came close to hitting the 3% threshold. But, I also never stood in line. I always dropped the packages off into the pull slot and walked away without a receipt. Alot of the times I also had the mail person pick up the packages from my porch. In the time window of mid-December through January 21st, I received a late shipment percentage of 19%. My orders were sitting at the post office for 5-14 days, just sitting there not being scanned, and the packages were showing up at the customer's houses at a minimum of two weeks  behind. I did everything I could to answer all the messages, send tracking updates, call Ebay, send screenshots of tracking updates, refunds in some cases, and got Ebay to remove a lot of the late shipments to send the percentage down to 4.37%. I must have called Ebay at least 20 times to see how many late shipments I could get overturned. After all that, the best I could get was 4.37%, which is way higher than the required 3% or less. 

As a result, yesterday my account officially downgraded from Top Rated Plus to Above Standard. I feel disgusted and very concerned. I'm a full time reseller and everything is tight right now because I just started full time January 1st. Obviously, I learned about mid way through this chaos that I was supposed to be watching them scan my packages so I started doing that as soon as I found out. It was much too late though because the damage had been done. 

I tried one last ditch effort on the phone with Ebay yesterday, but nothing budged. So, all I feel like I can do is reach out on here for experience and hope. I take care of my family through Ebay. I've been on Ebay for about a year, but I was doing it part time. I used Ebay to pay all the bills, and used my day job paycheck to build the biggest and fastest store that I could. Now that the Ebay is the only job now, my store is in maintenance mode instead of grow mode, but I'm worried that since I've been downgraded, my sales are going to tank. 

I'm not really sure what all the ramifications are from going down a tier as a seller, but I know that there is no longer a 10% final value discount. But I have a lot of worrisome questions that I hope someone can answer in a somewhat detailed fashion:

1. Are my listing going to be suppressed?

2. Does it even make sense to promote anymore if nothing will get the listings ranked above sellers who are top rated and top rated plus?

3. Are customers able to see that I am above standard? 

4. Is there some kind of notification on my listings that warns customers of late shipments?

5. What exactly am I losing going from top rated to above standard?

I hope I'm just worrying way too much and everything is going to be fine, but it would be nice to hear from someone who has been in my shoes and made it to the other side. Thanks for any feedback!

[gator08041971]

Its not that bad.

I have dropped once from TRS to Above and then back up again.  In my case my volume went below the threshold.

Its really no big deal.  It seems like one, but what hurts you more than anything are account defects and a string of similar bad feedbacks.  I haven't looked at yours, but overall, I wouldn't panic too much.  All you can do is your best to ship within a day and stay positive.

[gator08041971]

1. Are my listing going to be suppressed?

2. Does it even make sense to promote anymore if nothing will get the listings ranked above sellers who are top rated and top rated plus?

No more than anyone else's.  Here's my take on that.  If everyone is TRS, then you are still competing with a lot of sellers.  If everyone is using promoted listings, you are still competing with others using promoted listings.  I don't even worry about those things, and I still sell a lot.  Been averaging nearly 1 item a day, and I'm doing this as a side gig.

3. Are customers able to see that I am above standard?

Only if:

They look at your profile page.

Or look at your listings that you offer free returns on.

Not like being above standard is a bad thing anyway.  Lower than that, yes.

4. Is there some kind of notification on my listings that warns customers of late shipments?

Not really no.  But what I do is touch base with my buyers if I see their package is going to be delayed.  I have had one that I reached out to 3 different times as it took nearly 10 days to get there.  They never replied once, nor have left feedback afterward. Figures.

5. What exactly am I losing going from top rated to above standard?

Just the badge on listings that you offer free returns on, and a 10% discount on fees with those listings.  That's it.

[selsa84]

Don't look to much into it. Trs is pointless in most sellers view. I was a trs back in the day but got tired of jumping thru hoops for it. It really doesn't mean anything. Just keep listing and doing as u have been. 

[martin2001]

The above standard level means that you are meeting ebay requirements. You need to be somehow worried not to be downgraded again to below standard. I copied below a summary of the consequences of a below standard account. ebay does not show the status of your account if you are above or below standard. Right now you shouldn't worry what you are 'losing"with the downgrade. Your main worry should be not to be downgraded again.

You need to make sure that you keep your late shipment rates at least above standard. You either have to stand in line again or if you can ask your letter carrier scan your packages (many are not willing to do that), you can schedule a pick up. I wouldn't even use a SCAN sheet for a while. I am not sure if ebay considers such a scan as a full proof of mailing.

The consequences of falling Below Standard can include:

==================================

Your items may be placed lower in search results

eBay may limit or restrict you from selling on your account and related accounts, or from registering a new account

Funds from your sales may be held

You'll be charged a higher percentage rate for final value fees

You will be blocked from using the Promoted Listings tool, and will not be able to create new campaigns or edit existing campaigns

eBay may downgrade your eBay Store to the Basic level if you've been Below Standard for more than 60 days

You'll be unable to access the partial refund tool

Usually, eBay will only apply permanent selling restrictions when your account has been evaluated as Below Standard for at least 2 consecutive months. However, eBay may take action at any time if it has urgent concerns about your account; for example, if eBay has detected fraud or if your selling practices pose a threat to the buyer experience. The actions eBay takes will be proportional to the nature of the issue eBay has identified and what is reasonably required to protect the interests of all eBay users and eBay as provider of the services.

[powerdriveracing]

It's hard to get an accurate gauge of the impact from a downgraded seller rating.  Last month and this month have been slow compared to last year by a huge margin, and the seller rating didn't seem to make a difference.   Last year I was an Above Standard seller.   Finally, we are back to Top Rated Status.  Holidays, effected our seller status the last time, from receiving inaccurate information about weather or not there would be shipping activity at the post office for a few of the extended holiday weekends.  

      The 1st 3 quarters of last year I didn't want to be pressured with a one day turnaround.   Therefore ineligible to be a Top Rated seller.   My business was steadily growing, but my profit margins were not what they could have been.  I have several loyal international buyers who like to give me a shopping list to fill.   Usually, they would win an auction and would ask for more time for other auctions to end for a combined order.  I had no problem with that, but it didn't look good as far as my turnaround time.    We have to make some exceptions for them, so we don't miss the deadlines. 

     Until the mail situation is straightened out in Houston, relax your shipping deadlines/ handling time until you can be confident the post office won't let you down as before.  I feel for you, it's not going to kill your business, and be careful with your promotion dollars.  10% is a big deal for our bottom line, so Godspeed with your Top Rated status.

[mr_lincoln]

devon@ebay , kyle@ebay 

Do you know of any "protections" eBay is levying or considering for Sellers in the Houston area with regard to that one bulk center?  I know it has been talked about on more than one thread and as the OP states, in the news in Texas.  I would think there would be something in place for Sellers to have late shipping defects expunged from their accounts as the result of the carrier's "known and publicly admitted" internal issues.

[devon@ebay]

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@mr_lincoln wrote:

devon@ebay , kyle@ebay 

Do you know of any "protections" eBay is levying or considering for Sellers in the Houston area with regard to that one bulk center?  I know it has been talked about on more than one thread and as the OP states, in the news in Texas.  I would think there would be something in place for Sellers to have late shipping defects expunged from their accounts as the result of the carrier's "known and publicly admitted" internal issues.

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Hey @mr_lincoln! What I would say that has happened in this case is that sellers that have been impacted by this in the Houston area that have reached out to customer support have been assisted on a case by case scenario. So if there are any seller that have gone through those shipping delays with USPS in the Houston area I recommend to reach out to customer support to see what can be done for their account(s). 

[mr_lincoln]

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devon@ebay wrote:

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@mr_lincoln wrote:

devon@ebay , kyle@ebay 

Do you know of any "protections" eBay is levying or considering for Sellers in the Houston area with regard to that one bulk center?  I know it has been talked about on more than one thread and as the OP states, in the news in Texas.  I would think there would be something in place for Sellers to have late shipping defects expunged from their accounts as the result of the carrier's "known and publicly admitted" internal issues.

---

Hey @mr_lincoln! What I would say that has happened in this case is that sellers that have been impacted by this in the Houston area that have reached out to customer support have been assisted on a case by case scenario. So if there are any seller that have gone through those shipping delays with USPS in the Houston area I recommend to reach out to customer support to see what can be done for their account(s). 

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devon@ebay   My sincere thanks for the reply.  The OP has tried that so perhaps they can try again.

@sandjllc   Per Devon's reply above you may to try and reach out to eBay again to see if any of the defects can be removed.

[sandjllc]

I appreciate your response!!

[sandjllc]

I appreciate your answers!

[sandjllc]

Thank you. That's really all I can do is just keep the train moving. It sounds like I was making way too big of a deal about it.

[sandjllc]

Below standard would be horrible. Is the kiosk scan at the post office not an acceptable scan for Ebay??

[sandjllc]

I appreciate it!

[sandjllc]

Thanks everyone for the input. It turns out that promotions keep the listings at the top regardless of seller status. I also learned a couple things:

1. Scanning is insurance against late deliveries. 

2. If the package is not scanned, but arrives within the estimated delivery range, then no problem. 

I like #1.