LOSING MY TRS STATUS FOR VACATION SHIPPING!

[vintageista]

I am a long-time eBay seller since 1998 & depend on my eBay income to supplement my SS, which is my only other source of income. None of my family lives very close to me so I'm very limited in the time I get to spend with them. My daughter lives in OH and I had not visited her for 9 years, but was finally able to save enough money to visit during Easter week when she was off-work (she is a teacher). My dilemma was; do I put my store on vacation and miss any sales for a week, (which I really can't afford to miss), or do I risk late shipping & inform my customers that I am away and their items will be shipping as soon as I return, which is what I chose to do. I was fortunate enough to have over 30 sales during that week away , actually more than I expected!

Only one customer complained & it was for an item that had been purchased a few days prior to my leaving & I had sent 2 messages to this customer about being away, with no reply. No one left me bad FB for late packages! I returned on a late red-eye flight and worked hard all the next day to get all of the orders shipped out. But, of course, they did not meet eBay's guidelines for shipping. Now I have lost my TRS status on one site & am in danger of losing it on my primary site.

I realize I made the decision I did, but it does seem rather harsh as it is eBay that seems to care more about the ON TIME shipping than the customers! I broke their rules & am now being punished! I would have to have an awful lot of sales to off-set the late shipments from my vacation time, have been extremely careful since that time, but probably won't be able to make it up, which means I will also lose my TRS on the primary account too. Since they lowered the discount to 10%, it isn't quite as meanful as before, but still seems somewhat unfair! Guess this is just a rant as I doubt if eBay will do anything but stick to their rather harsh rules!

[kavi1030]

Hi

So sorry this happened to you. When your going to be away for a week, you can put your handling time up to 10 days or more to cover you when items will be shipped out.

Example: If you have one day handling now, and your going away for a week, you can change your handling time to 10 days or more and that will cover you for shipping out time.

If you put your store on Vacation mode, you will need to make sure that your items are hidden from being purchased, OR put your handling time up to 10 + days.

I did this back in Jan. Went for a week, put my handling time up to 10 days. Everything was fine.

[pantlandia]

Vacation doesn't overrule TRS requirements.

[tamaralea]

There isn't much you can do about it at this point, but with a few changes, you can do what I did.

I changed my handling time to 3 days and my returns to 14 days.  This slower is so much more relaxing.  You can always go back to the mad rush and high stress TRS in the future, when you get back to 95%.

[amfbestdeals]

Sorry this happen to you....here is what I did when I went on vacation, I called CS spoke to them which they placed a note, I placed my store on vacation mode with sales still allowed, and emailed my customers with the expected shipping date, CS rep agreed that as long a informed them aside from the flag on the listings that when I returned to call CS again and they would remove the late shipments on for those dates I was gone.......Surprisingly it all worked out and in fact they were removed........and I didn't lose my status...... 

[castlemagicmemories]

I understand that you didn't want to miss sales, so you did not hide your listings so they would not be able to be purchased.

Just extend your processing/handling time, to cover the days you will be gone.

Another poster suggested 10 days, but you can choose an even longer time frame.  Choose whatever will suit your situation.  I think it can go up to 30 days.

Not changing the handling time puts you at risk for the situation you are now in.

For example, if you say you ship in three days, and you don't, you are now shipping late.  Just having the seller is away and there may be a delay in shipping your item notice at the top of the listing does not really address the concern.

Good luck to you; sorry this happened.

[victorjunkman55]

I closed my eBay store last year, just before the price Increase. I too may lose TRS soon but could care less. I do not agree with eBays forever changing policies. I feel Great !! Selling on eBay is stressful to say the least, It takes up to much of my time for very little in return. When you are so wrapped up into this that you are missing out on life itself ( have not visited your daughter in 9 years ) It's time to stop and smell the coffee. I do Flea Marketing as a vendor, and it will outsell eBay all summer. I feel refreshed, I took my life back, There is more to life then eBay. Good Luck to you.

[sharingtheland]

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@amfbestdeals wrote:

Sorry this happen to you....here is what I did when I went on vacation, I called CS spoke to them which they placed a note, I placed my store on vacation mode with sales still allowed, and emailed my customers with the expected shipping date, CS rep agreed that as long a informed them aside from the flag on the listings that when I returned to call CS again and they would remove the late shipments on for those dates I was gone.......Surprisingly it all worked out and in fact they were removed........and I didn't lose my status...... 

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No kidding, surprisingly.  Glad it worked for you but I would still never, ever rely on anything CS told me re "placing a note" and "call back" when it involves my account and money.  Especially since this is not stated in any ebay policy.  Whew.

[vintageista]

Gee Thanks! Wish I had thought of that...it would have helped!

[vintageista]

YES, that is a good idea, wish I had thought of it before! I did notify my customers just as soon as I had made a sale as I had access to a computer, but not my inventory while I was away, guess that kept me from getting any negatives anyway!

[vintageista]

You know the funny thing is, I am still above 90% but they changed the rules again, now making it even harder to maintain that TRS status, eBay obviously doesn't like to give discounts!

[golfingaddict]

If Top Rated Seller is important to you then you need to know the rules.

The shipping on time upload and validation is nothing new.  Shipping on time has a very obvious place in the dashboard and has been discussed over and over in the fall/spring updates.

As others have pointed out, you have to take control of your situation if you want to remain a Top Rated Seller and receive the benefits.  Leaving for vacation and hoping your customers understand is just not enough.  You can hide your listings or you can change your handling time. 

But what you did is to you tried to fool your customers and you made the assumption that it would be ok to ship late and keep the benefits of being a "top rated seller"

A lesson learned.  You have to pay attention to details and be upfront and honest with your customers.  It's just not good business to put off shipping for a week if you did not change your handling time to note that.

[vintageista]

Thanks for all the nice replies and good suggestions! If I get another chance to travel, I will certainly remember those suggestions. Actually, if eBay had not JUST CHANGED the requirements AGAIN, it would have been okay as I am still over 90%, but now they want 95%. Seems I can't win for losing...!

I think the real thing that is hurting is that they probably lowered my place in search due to this situation, my sales are off since I have been back & the late shipments were recorded. It was a struggle at the end of last month and worse this month. I know we are going into the slow season & it really has me worried, when your budget is as tight as mine, every little bit & discount helps!

[fern*wood]

Glad you got to visit your daughter, nice that you had good sales while away, sorry about the late shipment hit to your account.

It would be nice if ebay would add a clear blurb about the choices available when using vacation mode.  If the risks involved and the easy fixes to avoid said risks were clearly stated, then maybe fewer sellers would have this issue.

[garymi6]

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@vintageista wrote:

I am a long-time eBay seller since 1998 & depend on my eBay income to supplement my SS, which is my only other source of income. None of my family lives very close to me so I'm very limited in the time I get to spend with them. My daughter lives in OH and I had not visited her for 9 years, but was finally able to save enough money to visit during Easter week when she was off-work (she is a teacher). My dilemma was; do I put my store on vacation and miss any sales for a week, (which I really can't afford to miss), or do I risk late shipping & inform my customers that I am away and their items will be shipping as soon as I return, which is what I chose to do. I was fortunate enough to have over 30 sales during that week away , actually more than I expected!

Only one customer complained & it was for an item that had been purchased a few days prior to my leaving & I had sent 2 messages to this customer about being away, with no reply. No one left me bad FB for late packages! I returned on a late red-eye flight and worked hard all the next day to get all of the orders shipped out. But, of course, they did not meet eBay's guidelines for shipping. Now I have lost my TRS status on one site & am in danger of losing it on my primary site.

I realize I made the decision I did, but it does seem rather harsh as it is eBay that seems to care more about the ON TIME shipping than the customers! I broke their rules & am now being punished! I would have to have an awful lot of sales to off-set the late shipments from my vacation time, have been extremely careful since that time, but probably won't be able to make it up, which means I will also lose my TRS on the primary account too. Since they lowered the discount to 10%, it isn't quite as meanful as before, but still seems somewhat unfair! Guess this is just a rant as I doubt if eBay will do anything but stick to their rather harsh rules!

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Hmmm. Why did you not ship their item if it was ordered days before you knew you were leaving for vacation? If I was that guy Id likely complain too.