Maintaining TRS Status without tracking numbers???

[gozhven]

Here is a situation that is odd.  I'd really love to hear the feedback of the community.

I have been selling for 18+ years and have Top Rated Seller Plus status.  I do enjoy the discounts and privileges this gives me.  I do however have a new situation.

I have a very large stamp collection that i will be listing soon.  I think it may be between 200 and 400 listings.

I want to offer free shipping.   I could save an ENORMOUS amount by using an envelope with cardboard protection and then adding one or two forever stamps for postage.  (basically under $1.00).  That is a LOT cheaper than the minimum First-Class postage of approximately $2.66 to $3.58.

But mailing with the envelope with a forever stamp, I will not have a tracking number to upload.  That will destroy my TRS status.

So am I stuck paying 2.5x to 5x the amount for shipping in order to maintain my status?

I care very much about creating fantastic experiences for my buyers as much as I care about my status, but I wish there was a way around this.

Any thoughts?

Thank you.

[luckythewinner]

I wish there was a way around this.

There is . Simply create a separate selling account for the untracked items. 

[remote_controls_and_more]

Use a second account to sell all your items that don't have tracking numbers.

[twnpopcards · Accepted solution]

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@gozhven wrote:

Here is a situation that is odd.  I'd really love to hear the feedback of the community.

I have been selling for 18+ years and have Top Rated Seller Plus status.  I do enjoy the discounts and privileges this gives me.  I do however have a new situation.

I have a very large stamp collection that i will be listing soon.  I think it may be between 200 and 400 listings.

I want to offer free shipping.   I could save an ENORMOUS amount by using an envelope with cardboard protection and then adding one or two forever stamps for postage.  (basically under $1.00).  That is a LOT cheaper than the minimum First-Class postage of approximately $2.66 to $3.58.

But mailing with the envelope with a forever stamp, I will not have a tracking number to upload.  That will destroy my TRS status.

So am I stuck paying 2.5x to 5x the amount for shipping in order to maintain my status?

I care very much about creating fantastic experiences for my buyers as much as I care about my status, but I wish there was a way around this.

Any thoughts?

Thank you.

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As the others have stated just create another account and ship all the items in the PWE without tracking. That is how I do things on lower cost cards and have had a lot of success doing things this way.  Luckily in my category most buyers of the low end items are not scammers so I have not had any INRs in over 2 years doing this.  I did link the accounts together, which is a bit risky if the new account falls below standard as that will effect the other account also.  But by doing this I was able to get around the 21 day holds on funds with Paypal as well as get a large enough selling limit, both in quantity and in dollars.  Best move I have ever made on ebay as more and more buyers do not want to pay $3.50 to $4 for shipping one sports card because of the increases in the USPS rates recently.

I would check with others that sell in that field by checking some of their listings and their feedback to see if it is feasible in that category.

[gozhven]

That is great insight.  Thank you so much.

So you are saying that I can create the new account, link it to my existing paypal to overcome those initial limits, and then just make sure the new account never goes below standard, and my primary account will keep its TRS status?

[vivabe]

I mail postcards in an envelope reinforced with card stock for $0.55 (1 forever stamp). I used to be TRS years ago when I was selling high end items (pottery, etc.) and used tracking shipping. 

I now use tracking and a rigid mailer only for postcards of higher values.

[twnpopcards]

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@gozhven wrote:

That is great insight.  Thank you so much.

So you are saying that I can create the new account, link it to my existing paypal to overcome those initial limits, and then just make sure the new account never goes below standard, and my primary account will keep its TRS status?

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You set it up to your other paypal account or you can even set this up as a new Paypal account with the new account being a MicroPayments account.  If your average sale is going to be under $12 then Micropayments is the way to go.  If not then I would use just the one Paypal account.  As for the linking of the 2 accounts that was done through Ebay and can have 2 separate Paypal accounts or the same one, your choice.  The only advantage to linking the accounts is for the higher selling limits initially and earlier release of your funds from the Paypal.  Hope this clarified things a bit for you.

If you handle things correctly your TRS status shows up as normal on the old account and your new account should say it is above average.