Ch-ch-ch-changes.....DSRs changed.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

Whenever I've asked ebay to make changes, I've always been told that, even if my idea is good, ebay makes changes based on Priority.

So, here's a new change, which I suppose reflects ebay's Priorities. There are changes I've been hoping to see in time for Q4. I confess, this wasn't one of them. But, here it is:

If you look closely at your Detailed Seller Rating, you'll notice that :

Item Description is now "Accurate Description"
Shipping Time is now "Shipping Speed"
Shipping and Handling Charges are now "Reasonable Shipping Costs"
Communication is now "Communication"  (apparently the team could not come up with a change here, but I'm sure they tried their hardest)

So, Thanks ebay! I imagine our Q4 sales will skyrocket now that you took care of this!

(Apologies for the snark....I'm not in a real good humor this afternoon)

[retro_entertainment_collectibles]

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kyle@ebay wrote:

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@wastingtime101 wrote:

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

DSRs changed

Shipping and Handling Charges are now "Reasonable Shipping Costs"

I still think that one shouldn't exist. Buyers don't know what's "reasonable" most of the time when it comes to shipping costs - unless they regularly ship items, they have no concept of actual shipping costs.

Earlier this year I asked kyle@ebay  to send in feedback requesting they replace shipping cost DSR with a rating about how well something is packed.

As a buyer I can decide for myself if I'm OK with the shipping costs by viewing the listing. DSRs will not influence my buying in that respect. But what would influence my buying is knowing if the seller has a habit of packing well or packing poorly.

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Hey @wastingtime101 I will be glad to pass this along again to the proper teams!  

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The reality is shipping expense is going to continue to rise as there is no way legislators are going to back off the USPS needing to stop bleeding revenues.  To meet the 10 year requirement set down in the Trump years those rates are said by some to need near double on the high volume under 5 lb parcels.

There comes a point where the low-ticket high volume merch is no longer attractive at all due to the combined total and some say we are already at that point.  eBay needs IMHO to look at the fee structure and in some way reduce the burden of price to the end customer.  Sellers will try manipulate whatever they can in order to capture sales in competition with one another but as we all know that doesn't tend drive a balance on the consumers side.

Now I don't know what such a mechanism might look like albeit I've several ideas the need is on the horizon to be sure.  There are sellers who offer up free shipping that is truly free, the instant line item write off such as Staples Corporation for example does but most sellers bump the price making free shipping not free at all and it gets reflected in higher pricing.  It's all a conundrum to be sure yet somehow on the consumer side of transactions something is going to need to take place to offset USPS rising costs or eBay is sure to loose transactions due to it.

[mam98031]

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@maccnc11 wrote:

eBay is all in DEI with Buyers, equal opportunity for Con Men, Scammers & Fruitcakes, like the rest of the World anything goes if your a buyer.

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That is just so ridiculous.  Those that want to steal from others is NOT limited to buyers.  Sellers do it too.  It is a huge reason why many buyers feel unsafe shopping here.  So if you think this issue is one sided, you are seriously mis-informed.  

[mam98031]

 eBay needs IMHO to look at the fee structure and in some way reduce the burden of price to the end customer. 

Why would Ebay be the one to foot the bill on carrier increases?  While Ebay is not the cheapest site, it also is not the most expensive.

I don't understand your reasoning for the site to take less for their services so the members can help offset the carrier increases.  That doesn't seem like a good thing for Ebay or their shareholders.  Ebay is a for profit corporation just like any other Marketplace or Corporation that is not 100% charity.

[maccnc11]

I've been on here 13 years and have never been Scammed by a Seller, but Buyers I've been Scammed, Conned, Attempted Scammed Dozens on times, and I'm not the only one, just ask around then you'll see, eBay is lacks on Buyers, they can get away with anything.  

[mam98031]

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@maccnc11 wrote:

I've been on here 13 years and have never been Scammed by a Seller, but Buyers I've been Scammed, Conned, Attempted Scammed Dozens on times, and I'm not the only one, just ask around then you'll see, eBay is lacks on Buyers, they can get away with anything.  

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I've been here even longer [almost double] and I've been scammed by two different sellers just last year.  

Because it hasn't happened to you does NOT mean it doesn't happen to others.  I have tried to help many buyers on this very subject work towards resolving issues that are all about a misbehaving seller.

[valueaddedresource]

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@mam98031 wrote:

 eBay needs IMHO to look at the fee structure and in some way reduce the burden of price to the end customer. 

Why would Ebay be the one to foot the bill on carrier increases?  While Ebay is not the cheapest site, it also is not the most expensive.

I don't understand your reasoning for the site to take less for their services so the members can help offset the carrier increases.  That doesn't seem like a good thing for Ebay or their shareholders.  Ebay is a for profit corporation just like any other Marketplace or Corporation that is not 100% charity.

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@mam98031  yes, eBay is a for profit company, but that doesn't preclude the possibility they may make business decisions to make less profit for some amount of time and/or on some transactions in order to accomplish some larger over all goal.

There are lots of examples one could give of when eBay has done exactly that like:

No selling fees for private sellers in all categories in Germany and in clothing categories in UK

Eating the cost of returns for EIS

eBay funded coupons/discounts (whether sitewide or in select focus categories)

I'm sure we could come up with even more examples but clearly eBay is willing to pull certain levers at certain times that may reduce their profit on some transactions if/when they believe it might help drive more volume, increase GMV, bring in more new and/or reactivated buyers, or any number of other outcomes they might wish to achieve.

I wouldn't say eBay necessarily has a moral obligation to do something about increased shipping costs, nor do I think @retro_entertainment_collectibles said anything like that (as you implied).

But there's nothing wrong with suggesting that it's obvious that shipping costs eventually are pushed in one way or another to consumers, that at some point those costs can and do get high enough to impact consumer shopping habits on this site and that of everyone involved, the multi-billion dollar corporation in the room is best positioned to be able to alleviate some of that price pressure to possibly stimulate more overall sales by pulling some of those levers in their power whether it's through fee adjustments, discounts or some other mechanism.

As far as whether that would be in the best interest of shareholders - if executed well, bringing GMV, Active Buyers, and over all revenue due to increased volume up, my guess is the shareholders would be just fine with it and if not well executed....they'll probably find a way to sort that out too like Elliott Management did in taking Wenig to task for the sitewide discounts that created all those "one and done" buyers back in the day.

[mam98031]

I know you like correcting me, but I'm fine with what I said and I'm fine with you having a different opinion.  It doesn't make either of us wrong.

[itsjustasprain]

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@maccnc11 wrote:

eBay is all in DEI with Buyers, equal opportunity for Con Men, Scammers & Fruitcakes, like the rest of the World anything goes if your a buyer.

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What is your understanding of what DEI means?

[maccnc11]

That's something that you and Pretty much everyone on eBay doesn't understand, a Buyer can't get Scammed on eBay unless he Allows it, a buyer can cry NAD, and send you an empty box back, get All of his money back including shipping and keep the item, AND GET AWAY WITH!!! and eBay will do absolutely NOTHING, are you Aware Of That? There is no Future As A Scammer Seller on eBay,

[valueaddedresource]

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@mam98031 wrote:

I know you like correcting me, but I'm fine with what I said and I'm fine with you having a different opinion.  It doesn't make either of us wrong.

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@mam98031 it was not a correction, just a different perspective. It's also not personal - I would have written the exact same response to those comments if they had been posted by any other member of this forum but they were posted by you, so naturally my response was to you....nothing more to it than that.

If you truly  don't understand why someone would suggest eBay could and maybe should at least consider doing something to help offset rising shipping costs then I would have to assume you never run any discounts or promotions in your store or send or accept offers because....it's all the same thing when you get down to it.

eBay isn't immune to the idea that sometimes choosing to take less profit in some scenarios can be a good business decision if it helps achieve overall greater goals and saying so doesn't mean someone thinks eBay doesn't deserve to earn a profit or should be run like a charity any more than suggesting that running a sale in your shop to clear out old inventory would.

[maccnc11]

With in a Woke System, all aspects including eBay are Afflicted by it, I was being sarcastic.

[mam98031]

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@maccnc11 wrote:

That's something that you and Pretty much everyone on eBay doesn't understand, a Buyer can't get Scammed on eBay unless he Allows it, a buyer can cry NAD, and send you an empty box back, get All of his money back including shipping and keep the item, AND GET AWAY WITH!!! and eBay will do absolutely NOTHING, are you Aware Of That? There is no Future As A Scammer Seller on eBay,

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That is CLEARLY NOT true.  While you may not have experienced it many other have and buyers get scammed all the time on this site, sadly.  It is one of the biggest reasons why we can't seem to attract a lot more buyers.  It is common knowledge for most people.

Now most of the sellers on Ebay are wonderful, honest people.  But as in any large group, there are bad apples.

[chapeau-noir]

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@maccnc11 wrote:

With in a Woke System, all aspects including eBay are Afflicted by it, I was being sarcastic.

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Define "woke".

[maccnc11]

It's the opposite of being Politically Incorrect.

[mam98031]

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@maccnc11 wrote:

It's the opposite of being Politically Incorrect.

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That is not the definition of WOKE beyond being the past tense of wake.  This explanation goes a bit further than what you will find in the dictionary.  But IMHO it is better and more complete.

Woke is an adjective derived from African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) originally meaning alertness to racial prejudice and discrimination.[1] Beginning in the 2010s, it came to be used as slang for a broader awareness of social inequalities such as racial injustice, sexism, and denial of LGBT rights. Woke has also been used as shorthand for some ideas of the American Left involving identity politics and social justice, such as white privilege and reparations for slavery in the United States.[2][3][4]

The phrase stay woke has been present in AAVE since the 1930s. In some contexts, it referred to an awareness of social and political issues affecting African Americans. The phrase was uttered in recordings from the mid-20th century by Lead Belly and, post-millennium, by Erykah Badu.

The term woke gained further popularity in the 2010s. Over time, it became increasingly connected to matters beyond race such as gender and identities perceived as marginalized. During the 2014 Ferguson protests, the phrase was popularized by Black Lives Matter (BLM) activists seeking to raise awareness about police shootings of African Americans. After the term was used on Black Twitter, woke was increasingly used by white people, who often used it to signal their support for BLM; some commentators criticized this usage as cultural appropriation. The term became popular with millennials and members of Generation Z. As its use spread internationally, woke was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2017.

By 2019, the term was being used sarcastically as a pejorative among many on the political right and some centrists in Western countries targeting various leftist and progressive movements.

Subsequently, terms such as woke-washing and woke capitalism emerged to criticize organizations who advertise their commitment to social justice for financial gain, also referred to as "performative activism".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woke