Top Rated Seller Status

[smileyshideaway]

Is it just me, or are all the Top Rated Sellers dropping like flies?

What is the deal? Am I missing something here?

I try to watch the majority of my top competitors in varies categories and they all seem to be moving to "Above Standard". 

We all know eBay sucks lol... but why give up your 20%?

[z50com · Accepted solution]

My guess would be "Late Shipments"

The Holiday season is brutal and I'm glad it's almost over. . .

[luckythewinner]

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@smileyshideaway wrote:

why give up your 20%?

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OP, 

I am a TRS and have been since the program started, and I have always given up my 20% because I have 3-day handling.  

Why? Because I have a life and do not want to be married to eBay 24/7. I want to go away for a long weekend without having to plan around it. I want to skip the post office for a day without agonizing over what it will do to my shipping metric. 

20% of the item FVF translates to 2% of the selling price. That may be a lot for a seller who only clears 10% of his selling price, but mine is 75-80%. If peace of mind only costs $20 per $1000, it's a bargain IMHO. 

Lucky

[tunicaslot]

I feel like lucky - with possible bad weather in the NE - it's not worth it to keep 1 day handling to save a few cents and use 3 day during the winter months. I do try and mail daily but don't have to risk driving on icy roads just to fulfill my Ebay obligation.

Another problem that has been popping up again is the ghost listings - I had 6 just this past month and took a hit for 1 that sold. I use the duplicating search tool once a week but those pesky ghosts snuck by.

[oleander1993]

I would like to keep my TRS status but people are not seeing, and thus, not buying my items. My oldest account will go back to above standard in January because my level of sales over the past 12 months fell below $1000. I give good service, ship next day, and when I have customers, they are happy. I am a small seller who is going to give 2017 a chance but I may not be listing for much longer. It's not much fun this way. With the end of the year I'm examining my items and may donate a lot of them rather than try again to sell. EBay might want out of the 20% but it's shortsighted because 20% more of nothing is still nothing.

[myboardid]

The holiday season is always a rough time for keeping up with TRS requirements because the shipping volume goes up so much.  I know that doesn't affect everyone, but if you are normally moderately busy, then all of a sudden you have much more to pack, much more paperwork or computer work, much more to get to the carrier.  I have maintained my TRS and see no problem in continuing to do so, but it required several nights up all night & dealing with quite a few buyers who were impatient about delivery times, usually because the post office was backed up, as usual, before Christmas.  And I made a few mistakes, which may come back to haunt me later - don't know yet. 

[luckythewinner]

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@oleander1993 wrote:

I would like to keep my TRS status but people are not seeing, and thus, not buying my items. My oldest account will go back to above standard in January because my level of sales over the past 12 months fell below $1000. I give good service, ship next day, and when I have customers, they are happy. I am a small seller who is going to give 2017 a chance but I may not be listing for much longer. It's not much fun this way. With the end of the year I'm examining my items and may donate a lot of them rather than try again to sell. EBay might want out of the 20% but it's shortsighted because 20% more of nothing is still nothing.

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oleander1993, 

Or looked at from another angle, ebay is rewarding sellers whose list items generate sales and discouraging sellers from listing items that languish. 

Lucky

[smileyshideaway]

Very true and be safe up there this winter! Happy New Year!

[sockmonkeydave]

@smileyshideaway

With ebay counting monday holidays, look for more to drop.

I lost mine 2 years ago when my sale rate dropped.

[klassic*kids]

I am TRS but only list my auctions as TRS+ listings wherein I offer a 1 day shipping time.  I usually set them up to end Thursdays, the customer usually pays right away and I am able to have some control over when I have to make a run to the PO.  The bulk of my other listings are BIN and I don't offer 1-day on them so they aren't TRS+ listings and I do not take advantage of being a TRS as I don't want to be constantly running to the PO.

[double2trouble]

TRS+ does not make financial sense for me. I would have to wait in the crazy line(which has been insane this holiday season since the closed the next closest PO last year, and reduced the operating hours at the one they left open) at my PO with a scan sheet. That would be a Min 40 minutes, to easily over an hour 3 to 4 times a week. So an easy 12 hours a month. My Nov fees were $255, the 20% would be $51, that's $4.25 an hour to stand in line.

Instead I went to 2 day handling. kept my 14 day returns. I drop the stuff in the bin they have, everything goes out same or next day, everything gets scanned in the 2 days, no more late tracking, no 12 hours a month standing in line.

Sorry, $4.25 an hour/half the minimum wage is a pretty pathetic carrot on a stick for TRS+.

[david*42]

Can't you get Carrier Pickup?

[double2trouble]

And then I have to wait around for pickup. I am in and out all day long, I have a business to run. All my customers, whether on eBay, or elsewhere, get my same top notch customer service and attention to detail. I do not make extra trips to the PO, I go there on the way elsewhere. 2 day handling works withing my system. Everything goes out same or next day. eBay wants to slap my hand like a child and take my 20% because other sellers are printing labels and letting things languish, whatever, that's their prerogative.

I will continue to do business on eBay and provide the best customer service and experience I can, until such time that they deem my business practices unacceptable, and which point I'm sure eBay will discard me. Ebay's policies and practices have caused me to continually re-evaluate what I sell here on an "don't sell what you can't afford to lose here" basis, and I reached the point were the sales volume and total percentage of my business done here caused me to stop asking how high when eBay yet again said jump.

2 days handling, 14 day returns, it works for me. So far the buyers of my stuff have been happy. Donahoe's "noise" comment just confirms what I already knew. I am inconsequential to eBay. eBay is not a community of sellers, it is a giant corporate machine that seeks to make profits to meet the financial goals and expectations of the shareholders, or whoever happens to be pumping and dumping or shorting the stock to make a killing. As such, I will continue to sell what I can and will here, with no expectations of anything more.

[slippinjimmy]

eBay wants to slap my hand like a child and take my 20% because other sellers are printing labels and letting things languish, whatever, that's their prerogative.

eBay closed that gaping loophole a year ago, to get the discount you need to do more than simply print the label, you now also need a scan from USPS WITHIN your stated handling time which for the TRS Plus discount would be 1 day.