Higher Final Value Fees for Below Standard Sellers due to not tracking is purely a cash grab

[daley_planit]

I'm selling low value items with buy it now, so I'm assessed a final value fee.

Ebay has assigned me a "below standard" rating - and it appears to be driven by the fact I'm not shipping items with tracking (less than 10% of my shipments have tracking). 

Ebay recently announced "Starting March 1, 2022, we will increase additional final value fees from 5% to 6% for Below Standard sellers."

That's a draconian policy that disproportionately affects on sellers of low value items. It's simply a squeeze on small sellers that does nothing more than equate to a cash grab just because  we're not charging buyers for tracking. 

/end rant

[stainlessenginecovers]

You don't have to use tracking to avoid falling to 'below standard'; you DO have to mark your items shipped within your stated handling time. Tracking is required to show delivered by XX date to maintain 'Top Rated' but not for 'Above Standard' which does not charge the additional 6%.

Are you marking items as shipped? 

Also Defect Rates (returns, cancel for 'out of stock) and

Cases closed by ebay and not by seller 

[downrightspecialkids]

It looks like you sell cards. Do you know you can ship them with tracking now? It's under 1.00 for the standard envelope, but like the poster above said, not adding tracking doesn't take you to below standard. 

Look at your performance summary and see what caused you to fall below standard. 

[monroe67]

So far this year my selling ID has been about 50/50 on sending items with and without tracking.  
And I have not wavered from my Above Standard Rating.
What am I doing different?
I check the little box that says "shipped" when I send my sold items without tracking.  

[pjcdn2005]

I suspect that your below standard status isn't associated with tracking or lack of tracking.  When you go to sellers hub, click on performance then seller levels.  It should show there if you are below standard in certain areas. Also check your service metrics.

[inhawaii]

Purely a "cash grab" and has nothing to do with your poor performance as a seller. 

[luckythewinner]

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@daley_planit wrote:

Ebay has assigned me a "below standard" rating - and it appears to be driven by the fact I'm not shipping items with tracking

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No need to guess the reason. Your seller dashboard will tell you exactly why you are below standard.

And if you look at it, you will see that lack of tracking by itself will not put you below standard. It must be something else.

[onlinecentral]

If a buyer clicked on Wheres My Item before 2013, they would be directed to the Message Center where they could compose an inquiry to send to the seller.

Then an unannounced change was made and the inquiry started an INR case instead. Harsh.

The lack of tracking numbers caused me to lose all of the Item Not Received cases and accumulate Cases Closed Without Seller Resolution too numerous to tabulate.

So I fell below standard and had my selling limits reduced dramatically.

I started putting a tracking number on all packages and my selling limits eventually increased to $2 Billion and 2 Billion items.

So this tracking requirement is certainly not new.

At this time or at some point in the future, you can get into compliance with the tracking requirement for less than a dollar with the eBay Standard Envelope. Here are links to study the program.

eBay standard envelope
https://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/shipping/ebay-standard-envelope.html

eBay standard envelope | eBay
https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/shipping-items/setting-shipping-options/ebay-standard-envelope?id=...

[my_boston_baked_beans]

My monthly breakdown shows no problems YET I am forecast for *above average* instead of *top rated* go figure why as the report runs for  November 2021 to present day April 2022 without any problems!

[pjcdn2005]

I don't know exactly what the rules were when you were below standard but if the same thing happened today, you would not be below standard because there was no tracking. You would be below standard because you did not resolve the cases before ebay stepped in.

[my_boston_baked_beans]

Since I am forecast to drop from top rated to above standard without any problems all tracking loaded earlier than my stated timeframe, no NASD, no returns no nothing; I can only assess that the drop is because I am not SELLING ENOUGH?? 

[pjcdn2005]

You should be able to tell if you go to your seller level dashboard. If the last 12 months shows under 100 sales  or less than $1000, that would be why you are going to above standard.

[wastingtime101]

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@my_boston_baked_beans wrote:

Since I am forecast to drop from top rated to above standard without any problems all tracking loaded earlier than my stated timeframe, no NASD, no returns no nothing; I can only assess that the drop is because I am not SELLING ENOUGH?? 

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Correct. Bookmark this link: Seller Dashboard

[poke-5118]

I completely agree. eBay has increasingly taken away incentives for smaller seller. Too bad they don’t actually listen to feedback 

[kh-cathy]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.