Below Standard Sellers

[jadod_8820]

I am smaller single person Seller. Essentially Ebay says they do not want me here. I try to work with customers to package up and consolidate items they purchase. This takes longer shipping time. As a result, I am now punished for this, despite having a n impeccable defect %. I see top rated Sellers peddling junk on here running negative feed back percentages as high 5% or more.  The negative feedback is for returns and defective product. Let me get this straight.... It's okay to peddle junk defective product as long as it will ship on time?

High volume junk defective sellers  are not penalized with a 6% cost increase?

When I asked their customer service rep to explain this to me. They stated I was being abusive and hung up.

Sadly, it's clear Ebay does not want small sellers on their platform anymore.

[s.scharmu0]

HI!

     Can you change your shipping times?  That might help a little bit.  Do not fret over what CS did to you. More than 1/2 of them have no idea what is going on anyway. Good luck to you😊🍀

[fashunu4eeuh]

Just about anything can be sold on eBay. So yes, a seller can peddle junk, have poor feedback (which has no bearing on seller metrics), and will not be penalized if they ship it on time.

[candd205]

That's a good idea to change your shipping times to a little bit longer, that way you will be able meet your shipping times, which yes, is very important to eBay.

[mega-ma-roo]

eBay is clear on the performance metrics used to evaluate sellers and the impacts of not meeting those metrics. This is nothing personal about you. It is nothing about small sellers. There are tens of thousands (maybe 100's of thousands or millions) of small sellers doing quite well on eBay.

If you can't meet your stated handling time, make your handling time longer.

[earthdreamer]

The simple answer is to extend your handling time.

I have mine set to 3 days, and this gives me quite a lot of leeway.

Additionally, if you only have one or two days ticked in the “Set your working days and order cut-off times” preferences, this will add an extra few days to expected delivery days.

You may lose some sales due to length of shipping time on your listings, but your repeat customers will know you ship quicker, and new customers should be able to tell by your feedback that you do your best with shipping times. 

 

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@jadod_8820 wrote: .... I try to work with customers to package up and consolidate items they purchase. This takes longer shipping time.....

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You simply made a bad choice: Delaying shipping beyond your handling time. Don't blame eBay; they have clearly stated the evaluation parameters.  

You need to either extend your handling time; refuse to combine purchases; and/or state right in your listings that you will only combine purchases that are paid-for all together on one invoice.

[Anonymous]

I understand your concern, but today buyers want their item yesterday.  On another website, they can get their item in one day.  One of the biggest complaints from buyers is long shipping time.  To rectify your situation, extend your handling time so that items will not ship late.

[pjcdn2005]

@jadod_8820 

It is very important that you ship within your handling time. But are you sure that you are below standard for late shipments?  That would be unusual.  

If you look at your seller dashboard, what does it say next to  'transaction defect' rate and next to 'cases closed without seller resolution'?  Those are the two categories that are most likely to cause you to go below standard.  You can check those numbers here...

https://sellerstandards.ebay.com/dashboard?region=US

Having a high number of not as described return requests in seller metrics can also affect you.  You can check that here...

https://www.ebay.com/sh/performance/service-metrics

[pjcdn2005]

@nobody*s_perfect 

Has something recently changed regarding late shipments? In the past, the help pages did state that too many late shipments would result in ebay changing the sellers handling or delivery time.  I can't seem to find that info today so they may have removed it or I'm just looking in the wrong place. 

eBay specifically mentions that a seller can become below standard for unresolved cases and seller initiated cancellations but it doesn't say that will happen with late shipments.  Do you know if they are actually making a seller below standard now  for too many late shipments?  I wonder if this is one of their 'unwritten/at our discretion rules'?

[nobody*s_perfect]

@pjcdn2005 

I think the OP  lost their TRS status over late shipping and are complaining that other sellers don't lose their TRS despite getting negs?  The original post is very emotional and contains a lot of speculation and irrelevant information. I think his reference to 6% is about those TRS with lot of negs, not that the OP themselves has been rated Below Standard.  In sum, he doesn't agree with eBay's seller performance criteria.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/seller-levels-performance-standards/seller-levels-performance-stan...

[tdrake]

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@jadod_8820 wrote:

I try to work with customers to package up and consolidate items they purchase.

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And we don't?

.

[toybrats]

The answer is to extend your shipping time. I have mine set for 3 days.  Ebay can stuff their tiny decrease in fees if I jump through a flaming hoop and ship within a day.    Also ,  make sure that you have plenty of different sizes boxes around so you do not have to "hunt" for a box inorder to save the buyer money on shipping.  You can order postal supplies at www.usps.com.  You can order boxes here or other websites.  You can also  get lots of small boxes by going to stores like Dollar Tree or CVS in the morning.  ANY box is good as long as it does NOT say flammable or perfume. I avoid any box that has stuff like coffee or air fresheners  (any box that might have a strong scent.)  Keep them somewhere where they are handy and this will save you alot of time.  Get free bubblewrap too from Dollar Tree or autobody shops or furniture stores.  They throw it out.   Having what you need near you saves lots of time in shipping.  Goodluck.

[pjcdn2005]

Thanks. I read that in a totally different way. I was probably too focused on the title of their thread and assuming that they were the one who was below standard.  

[firesteel_surplus]

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@nobody*s_perfect wrote:

@pjcdn2005 

I think the OP  lost their TRS status over late shipping and are complaining that other sellers don't lose their TRS despite getting negs?  The original post is very emotional and contains a lot of speculation and irrelevant information. I think his reference to 6% is about those TRS with lot of negs, not that the OP themselves has been rated Below Standard.  In sum, he doesn't agree with eBay's seller performance criteria.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/seller-levels-performance-standards/seller-levels-performance-stan...

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Same thought  here. I lost my TRS because I wasn't meeting a metric or something. So...off to sell another 100 items and $1000 in a certain time frame. I'm not sure where I'm at but the fault lies with me. I did not go out and look at my competitors and see what the were selling and whether they had their TRS badge. But the point is we need to get @jadod_8820  focused back on HIS sales and figure out how to get back on track. We're wasting time and resources pointing fingers at stuff that is not helping to fix things.

I do know he needs to fix his handling times on his sales.

I know there are sellers here that will disagree but I would recommend to change the "No Returns" to "30 Day Returns Accepted".  The OP is going to do returns whether he wants to or not under specific circumstances. So just as well accept.

Mike

Firesteel Surplus