Are you more concerned with no restocking fee and shipping discounts or losing top rated plus badge

[waterbed_bigfoot]

So 2 days away to the new policy beginning.  On June 1st we have to decide if we want to give up top rated plus and continue our policy on buyer pays return shipping on a remorse buy.  We also will lose the restocking fee and we offer free shipping on our listings.  I've been reading here a lot of top rated plus sellers are willing to forgo the discounts on shipping and the rebate of the seller fees.  But we also give up the ability to charge a restocking fee soon as well.  We have been lucky and not had too many returns at all.  We provide good customer service and have a lot of repeat buyers on here.  I know as a top rated plus seller not only do we get the badge but we get a discount on those pesky fees.  So the last I read on the shipping discounts;

Based on negotiated Commercial Plus pricing available via eBay Labels to all eBay Top-rated sellers and sellers with an average of 300 or more transactions per month.

For our store personally we don't always sell 300 per month.  So not only will we lose the badge but we will lose the shipping discounts for the best rate as well.  

So if you don't sell 300 items in a month and you drop your top rated plus badge you also probably will lose the commercial plus pricing on shipping.  That could be huge.  Please let me know if you know something different about this one.

Most of the few returns we have had in the past have been opened and out of their original packaging with the free returns we could get up to 50% and eBay says they will protect the seller.  However the last return we had not only was opened but clearly used for 30 days.  eBay did help us with that one and if that were to continue we could at least get our shipping back both ways this way.  

So what are you going to do I'm asking because I want to figure out for us if this new free returns is the way to go or not.  

[castlemagicmemories]

From what I have read, I would have to say that I think most are more concerned with losing discounts than with losing the TRS badge.  I could be wrong, but that is what seems to be indicated.

The consensus also seems to be that most buyers don't think TRS means anything.  They know that they have no greater chance of a successful transaction with a TRS than they have with a rank amateur newbie seller, no offense to any TRS that may be reading this.  But this statement appears regularly on both Boards.

[keziak]

I haven't had too many returns on ebay but since Amazon went to automatic returns with seller-paid shipping labels my return rate is up. This includes remorse returns: "no longer wanted". Well sure, once they have read the book or taken the course or watched the DVD. At least on Amazon I can charge a restocking fee for remorse returns.  I don't see opening the door to free returns here being in my best interest. 

As a buyer I do not pay any attention to badges and Top Rated Seller labels. I look at price and condition.

[dougsue123b]

"The consensus also seems to be that most buyers don't think TRS means anything.  They know that they have no greater chance of a successful transaction with a TRS than they have with a rank amateur newbie seller, "

I am one of them,  trs badge doesn't mean jack to me.

[castlemagicmemories]

It also seems that many TRS sellers are the ones who send strings of abusive, hostile, accusatory, profanity laced messages trying to intimidate a buyer into abandoning a return because they don't want any returns and there is no such thing as a legitimate SNAD, to them.

Again, no offense to thos TRS who are not like this.

[electrola_man]

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@waterbed_bigfoot wrote:

So 2 days away to the new policy beginning.  On June 1st we have to decide if we want to give up top rated plus and continue our policy on buyer pays return shipping on a remorse buy.  We also will lose the restocking fee and we offer free shipping on our listings.  I've been reading here a lot of top rated plus sellers are willing to forgo the discounts on shipping and the rebate of the seller fees.  But we also give up the ability to charge a restocking fee soon as well.  We have been lucky and not had too many returns at all.  We provide good customer service and have a lot of repeat buyers on here.  I know as a top rated plus seller not only do we get the badge but we get a discount on those pesky fees.  So the last I read on the shipping discounts;

Based on negotiated Commercial Plus pricing available via eBay Labels to all eBay Top-rated sellers and sellers with an average of 300 or more transactions per month.

For our store personally we don't always sell 300 per month.  So not only will we lose the badge but we will lose the shipping discounts for the best rate as well.  

So if you don't sell 300 items in a month and you drop your top rated plus badge you also probably will lose the commercial plus pricing on shipping.  That could be huge.  Please let me know if you know something different about this one.

Most of the few returns we have had in the past have been opened and out of their original packaging with the free returns we could get up to 50% and eBay says they will protect the seller.  However the last return we had not only was opened but clearly used for 30 days.  eBay did help us with that one and if that were to continue we could at least get our shipping back both ways this way.  

So what are you going to do I'm asking because I want to figure out for us if this new free returns is the way to go or not.  

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I'm a TRS, but have never been TRS+.  The little percentage off the little percentage selling fee doesn't entice me.  I plan to remain TRS, and as a store owner, get the shipping discount.  I'm even less likely to strive for TRS+ now, with the new requirements.  I have a "No returns" policy (and I know I take an occasional fraudulant SNAD one), and I allow myself two days handling, even though I typically ship within one.  I sell used merchandise, and this is right for me.  It may or may not be right for you based upon your business model.

[luckythewinner]

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@waterbed_bigfoot wrote:

So if you don't sell 300 items in a month and you drop your top rated plus badge you also probably will lose the commercial plus pricing on shipping.  That could be huge.  Please let me know if you know something different about this one. 

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Can you point us to any sort of announcement from eBay that suggests this might be the case? I have never seen anything suggesting that shipping discounts are tied to the TRS Plus badge. 

[waterbed_bigfoot]

@castlemagicmemories  I've read that too but as a buyer and a seller on eBay I do like seeing the badge and am very hesitant to buy from sellers that don't offer returns.  Most of all I look at the feedback though.  I never buy something thinking I will return it but sometimes I get sent the wrong things.  Most of the sellers have been very good about this and that is why I like eBay as a buyer.  I should knock on wood now but I've never had a problem with a top rated seller.  I hate to hear that any seller would be negative to a customer in any way.  The discounts will be huge for us to lose.  We get a lot of really good postage discounts since most of our best sellers are priority mail.  That 3% difference on shipping for us will make a difference in our bottom line.  I really don't want to raise prices again to cover the difference.  But maybe you are right and we should try our store without it for a month or two and see if our sales fall or stay the same.   Or we could try the free returns since we have less than 1 return a month and if they return the item all used and not in the packageing we could at least recoup part of the costs.  

I know we have to keep returns since as a buyer I don't even buy it even at a good price without having that peace of mind that it could be returned if needed.  

[lintbrush*]

"...eBay Top-rated sellers and sellers with an average of 300 or more transactions per month."

You're not reading it correctly.  Nothing has changed.

TRS receive Commercial Plus pricing; and

Non-TRS who sell 300+ per month receive CommPlus pricing too.

The CommPlus discount used to be good, but for the past few years it's only 3% off CommBase Priority.

[waterbed_bigfoot]

@luckythewinnerYou are right the discounts are for all top rated sellers.  I just clarified that so we would still be top rated.  It just wouldn't show up on our listings like it does now.  I'm also a little concerned about the search results since we have a long history and offer free priority shipping on a lot of our items we show up on the first page when we search for our items a lot. 

[waterbed_bigfoot]

@lintbrushYou are correct and what I just read says we will still get the commercial pricing as a top rated seller.  And our savings on fees are only about $50.00 a month.  I'm also worried about the search results since we offer fast shipping on most of our items and free shipping and the badge is there if we go off of top rated plus will our listings fall to the bottom of the best match search which is eBay's default.

[waterbed_bigfoot]

@keziakWe used to sell on Amazon too.  We never bought their store and the fees without a store there are really high.  We don't sell there anymore since it was cost prohibitive to make any money.   We do a pretty good business on eBay though and we are concerned since the restocking fee is gone now that if we don't offer free returns our listings will fall to the bottom in searches.  I used to link eBay to my website and took those links down since we were driving our other customers to eBay and the fees here are high too.  But we sell enough here to make a profit so we plan on staying.   We don't have a lot of returns here either and we will definitely stay with a return policy of some type.  We aren't sure if the free returns will work for us either but we might try it.  At least for a month or two to see if things change.  At least with that option we can have an option to recoup at least 50% if they return open used items that are missing things for buyers remorse.  

[lintbrush* · Accepted solution]

I am not going to worry about the badge.   I'll either keep it or I won't.  It may take a little experimentation.

Since I sell quite of few in the A&C Category, I do have the option for 14 day free returns to keep the badge.

I'm still weighing my options.

I've had 2 remorse returns in the past 200 sales.  It's not a lot, but still I wonder.

Will the loss of the TRSP badge somehow affect my sales (exposure)?  I imagine lots of other sellers will give it up too so the boat, if I board, will be full of company.

Will returns go up and thus cost me more than the FVF discount gives?  

I could always try Free Returns with the First Class items to test the waters.

[luckythewinner]

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@lintbrush* wrote:

The CommPlus discount used to be good, but for the past few years it's only 3% off CommBase Priority.

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For the 8 oz first class international rate, I believe the discount is 10% ($11.97 vs $13.30). For the 2 lb first class international rate, I believe the discount is also 10% ($20.10 vs $22.33). 

That is a $1.33 or $2.23 savings on every single FCI package I send. 

That dwarfs the 15 or 25 cent discount I would get for TRS Plus. 

[waterbed_bigfoot]

This really makes sense.  I could also start with the few listings we have that are first class since the shipping costs are low and I could add in the ones we've never had a return on.  We've also only had a few buyers remorse about the same as you.  But your solution would let me check our listings under those catagories and see if the other ones move to the bottom of the barrel or not.  We can't offer free returns on items that cost a fortune to send out but we could do that on items that don't .  I could also track our best sellers next month and see if losing the badge makes the sales go down or not.  I've heard some sellers that are offering the free returns are looking at the return rate and raising the price.  Our listings in waterbeds have a lot of competion out there and I just put a 30 days sale on some of the items that the sales are down on to see if the little discount will bring those sales up.