Losing Top rated status over tracking?

[lovecraft68]

Last couple of weeks my sales have slowed down drastically. I'm not a high volume seller, but its been crickets for two weeks. This morning I received an e-mail from E-bay talking about a grace period on my top seller status. I have two months to make sure I upload tracking to 90% of my sales

I print all labels through e-bay and always have and I believe the tracking is automatically sent to the buyer, just as I receive it when I buy something, so I do not understand this at all. 

As for other things, I have not had a negative feedback in well over a year, no cases opened against me, no complaints or any other issues

But I listed a comic last night and it didn't show up on the list until page 5 and no longer says top rated even though if I go to my sellers dashboard it says I still have that status.

Any ideas or suggestions? 

[mtgraves7984]

For what it's worth... I still see TRS on your profile.

To address the eBay message, follow what they recommend. I lost my TRS a couple of years ago (no 100 sales in the previous 12 months), but would have kept it if sales had only kept going. The 'Grace period' is a good thing. Good luck.

[lovecraft68]

Thank you for the reply, for some reason I didn't see it, maybe something on my end.

The message is a good thing except I'm confused about the reason, is tracking no longer automatically uploaded when you print a label, do I need to do something manually? 

[lacemaker3]

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@lovecraft68 wrote:

...

But I listed a comic last night and it didn't show up on the list until page 5 and no longer says top rated even though if I go to my sellers dashboard it says I still have that status.

Any ideas or suggestions? 

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The comic book listing doesn't qualify for TRS+ badge because it doesn't have free returns on it (or any returns). Only listings that qualify for TRS+ status get a badge shown on the listing, or in search results.

[sapphire_studio]

Are you sure the reason isn't not selling 100 items within a 12-month period? That happened to me on another account I have and at first I thought it was due to tracking but when I talked to someone from eBay I found out it was not selling enough items.

[lovecraft68]

Oh, yes, you're right, I don't have the all around top listing because I won't do the returns. Reason being most of my comics aren't expensive and if someone has an issue its cheaper to just refund them which I've done a few times over the years. To send them a label that's going to cost $4.50 for a comic they bought for $3 doesn't make sense. 

That solves that, the tracking is still the thing that I'm not understanding. 

[nobody*s_perfect]

If your policy is to accept returns, you can just issue a refund without issuing a return label, as you have been doing. So you can go ahead and change that policy. Another requirement for showing the TP-Plus badge on a listing is that you must offer same-day or 1-day handling; the comic has 3-day handling so you'd have to change that, too.

The TRS requirement is not just about uploading tracking -- it also must get  scan within your handling time, unless there's a delivery scan within eBay's estimated delivery dates. Read about 'late shipment" criteria here:

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-policies/seller-standards-policy?id=4347#section3

[ittybitnot]

I have two months to make sure I upload tracking to 90% of my sales

@lovecraft68 

Not sure it is related to your problem, but there is no more 1st Class Mail.  It was changed to Ground Advantage, but not automatically updated by eBay.  Sellers had to change their own listings.  

[reallynicestamps]

but when I talked to someone from eBay

The phone reps have a terrible reputation for getting you off the phone as soon as possible even if that means giving you the advice you want to hear instead of the advice you need to have.


https://www.facebook.com/eBayForBusiness/ — Message button in upper right on landing page.

https://twitter.com/askebay?lang=en


https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/How-do-I-contact-Customer-Support/m-p/32016431#M1783851 -> Automated Assistant, type AGENT -> enter. You will then get more options.


The social media Chat accounts are covered by trained eBay employees with some authority.
And you get a transcript so you can compare what you heard with what you were told.
 

[lovecraft68]

Yes, moving forward I'm adding that in my listings, but haven't gone back to fix older ones yet. 

But I think the tracking uploads the same. But...one never knows, any changes made here seem to have a weird domino effect to something else. 

[lovecraft68]

Thank you for replying.

I know about the one day turn around, but I don't want to commit to it. I work full time, have the e-bay store, I'm a self published writer and my wife is going through some health issues so I don't want to add that responsibility, at least not now. 

Thank you for the link, I'm off to check it out now. 

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@lovecraft68 wrote: ... I know about the one day turn around, but I don't want to commit to it.... 

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That's fine, and a longer handling time won't endanger your TRS status; it just means your listings won't show the TR-Plus badge.

[gloryglorygifts]

If you look on your seller dashboard you can see your ratings for each of the specifications for TRS. I know that you can click on report under tracking to see what you are getting dings for. If you feel they are unjustified (  weather, holidays) and they are less than 3 months old, they might remove them for you. Maybe having some unjustified ones removed will help.

Good luck to you. 

[sapphire_studio]

This was a phone number they gave at eBay open for concierge service and it was only American reps who are always extremely helpful (unfortunately, last month they discontinued this phone service). And he was correct the reason I was losing top rated status was not selling enough on that account. I just remember the email was confusing and I assumed at first it had to do with uploading tracking on time but I was wrong. 

[gloryglorygifts]

Even though the tracking is uploaded using the ebay labels, it also has to be picked up and scanned by the post office within a certain amount of time. (I can't find it in the policy but I'm pretty sure it is the same day.) You will also get defects for not having items delivered on time by the carrier.  Late delivery will show up even if you mailed it and scanned it on time, which i hate.