Why does Research have a Top Rated filter, but shoppers still DON'T??
Summary: gurlcat discusses a filter feature in eBay that highlights 'Top Rated Plus' listings, noting its availability in the Research tool but questioning why it isn't available for buyers when shopping. They argue that such a filter would benefit both sellers and buyers by showcasing listings from trustworthy sellers with reliable handling and return policies. gurlcat expresses curiosity about why eBay hasn't implemented this feature for regular shopping searches, suspecting there may be deliberate reasons behind it.
I don't know if this is new or something I just never noticed before, but it sure made my eyes bug out when I spied it today.
To clarify for anyone who doesn't know: this filter should really say 'Top Rated Plus' because 'Top Rated' is just a label that applies to sellers, whereas the 'Plus' means the LISTING is from a TRS (Top Rated Seller) AND it has Free Returns and 1-day or less handling time. (A TRS doesn't have to make all, or any, of their listings '+' if they don't want to).
And just to make sure I wasn't misunderstanding this filter, in the Research context, I gave it a test drive, clicked the 'Show only ...' choice, and YES, all the results are TRS+ listings.
Okay, cool. But to be honest, I can't think of any reason why I'd want to narrow results in that way when researching Solds, for instance. Maybe someone else would, IDK. But here's what I have ALWAYS wondered: Why doesn't eBay offer a TRS+ filter for BUYERS to use in a shopping search??
Mind you, I don't just want that as a TRS seller who could potentially benefit from that exclusive visibility -sure I'd like that, and yeah I would feel "entitled" to it, go ahead and ask me why, LOL. But I would also like it as a pretty frequent BUYER on eBay. When I search for something that has a bazillion results, it would be great if I could narrow then down to listings by the most (statistically) trustworthy sellers, who won't sit on their butts for days before shipping, and who would not charge me for a return, should I need to do that. YES, there is already a filter for Free Returns, but none whatsoever regarding handling time. And if I could have only 1 of those, I'd take the handling time one. But eBay could just make it so easy to include both AND funnel business toward sellers with good Performance, by simply offering a TRS+ filter for buyers.
I feel like there must be some reason why they don't, but I have never been able to guess what. And now seeing that the idea DID occur to them for the Research tool, that just makes me all the more convinced it's not just absence of mind that it's not available in regular search. They purposely withhold it, but why???
mam98031
·2 weeks agoAll benefits of being TRS is experienced by these sellers with this status even if they do not have any TRS+ listings.
As you know the only thing the TRS+ does is give the seller a 10% discount on their FVFs and the badge on their listings.
So a seller is a TRS even if they don't have a single listing that complies with the requirements to get the discount. So even without qualifying for TRS+, all the listings are from a TRS.
I can see the value in this type of research. For those that are not TRS it can give them some important info on how there types of items will do even though they haven't achieve the TRS status.
You do pose some great questions.