03-22-2017 05:15 AM - last edited on 08-06-2017 09:43 AM by chichille77
Its important. Its bound to drag exposure for regular listings down even further. Now that the TRS discount is slashed in half, its not worth having 1 day handling for many sellers (like myself) anymore. Not everyones orders go in bubble wrappers and small boxs. Its just not worth it if your packing heavy or big, time consuming orders anymore. Dropping TRS and not opting into this new program thats horrible for average to medium sized sellers, will push listings further and further down the page for otherwise great sellers.
As the article im posting a link to at the bottom mentions, ebay does intend for us to pay for the shipping refund a buyer gets if their package is past the guaranteed date. Money will come from our pockets. So if your not big enough to absorb the losses, or sell items with many many multiples where its finacially worth it to do everything to stay on the top of the list. For the average seller of single item listings though, your getting the shaft.
Ebays new changes make it so you have to jump through hoops to get the TRS exposure (because the discount is almost useless now). Take 30 day returns and ship next day for peanuts, but if you dont, exposure goes down. Now with this and the new promoted listings, you will have to pay ebay way more in for the listing, AND have to refund shipping (or take it back if they want) if it doesnt make it in 3 days.
So, if we dont want to get buried by big business compitition, and continue to get the same exposure we get today, we would need to continue to jump through hoops for the now useless TRS Plus listing discounts, pay extra for promoted listings, and offer 3 day guaranteed delivery or the shippings free. Just to end up at the same exposure. As it sits now only bigger companies can afford to absorb all these expenses. Its just wrong.
Is this the new direction the new young CEO wants to go? Hes dong a major diservice to many of his best sellers. He seems to forget that unlike Amazon (Amazon Prime - which is what he is attempting to compete with), ebay doesnt have a warehouse full of employees to expidite shipping. Plus they dont own the merchandise, nor have 3rd party items in their possession. Its not their guarantee to make, and to then make US refund shipping if its a day past their made up date!? Ridiculous.
Am I alone on this one?
Under the new eBay program, if a product doesn't arrive in the guaranteed time, both eBay and the seller will chip in to refund shipping costs. If an item was shipped for free, eBay and the seller will provide an eBay coupon, expected to be $5, Lawton said. Two-thirds of the products on eBay include free shipping, according to the company.
Solved! Go to Best Answer
03-22-2017 07:49 AM
I agree, I doubt the reps fully understand, since the initial annoucement didn't even address who would be on the hook for the shipping reimbursements. It sounded like a scramble to come up with an answer as an afterthought. That's why someone's answer sounds wrong, but who knows for sure which one.
03-22-2017 07:54 AM
What got me was the part where they said they would take weather and disasters.
into consideration.... right
Like last month when 30 tornados ripped across the USA.... nope.
Entire east coast under 8 ft of snow this winter... no
Tropical storm floods from Fla to maine, PO's under water.... no
1.5 million acars of the mid west on fire... no
Dam breaks out west... no
California slides into the ocean.... Who knows.
Most events are localized, and even if it makes the national news.
often it is only for one news cycle.
When you have to flee with the clothes on your back.
A few years back we had an in land huracane straight line wind 100mph.
The path was only 20 miles wide, but went through MO ILL and Indiana.
Did it make the news, who knows, millions were a week with no power.
03-22-2017 08:02 AM
Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. - L Tolstoy
"You are entitled to your own opinion, you are not however, entitled to your own facts."
03-22-2017 08:03 AM
Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. - L Tolstoy
"You are entitled to your own opinion, you are not however, entitled to your own facts."
03-22-2017 08:07 AM
@hollysfinds wrote:I for one will NOT be joining that ridiculous program.
Let the chips fall where they may.
As others have said, the P.O. doesn't even guarantee
the delivery, so why would I.
You know, Holly, initial knee-jerk reaction was that I would not take part in it. When I thought about how few problems I have been lucky to have, it made me think twice.
Also, considering I sell in a lot of categories that regularly come up against the likes of that certain china replacement site, the company selling here whose name starts with Pf, and the company with the nearly unbreakable stuff that's nice and lightweight (did I skirt it well enough? - ha!)...the only way I might even remotely have a chance to have my items seen is to be included with the extra search filter.
Sales have been pretty bad, and to get dropped even lower in search would not be a good thing. With all that said, if I get burned JUST ONCE...I'll drop out.
03-22-2017 08:12 AM
Agree. Maybe they have time to play Groundhog Day games but I don't.
They killed another technical thread discussing why some of us have no bulk relist on some IDs. The mods finally came on and said it was deliberate to force us to use the seller hub. The the next day - poof - no record that the thread existed.
Supreme waste of time. They glean what we need and hit the mute button.
03-22-2017 08:18 AM
@ymeagainlord wrote:
I'm at a loss to understand why eBay doesn't understand that they're trying to compete against similar services which actually either charge the buyer (AMZ Prime) OR have a $ value criteria.
that's the selling point............for the buyer there are NO costs...............
03-22-2017 08:18 AM
ok right now i do 1 day handling and print a label with tracking for every order and have been lucky recently with getting the acceptance scan. What more does ebay want me to do? now i am on Ebay almost 24/7 waiting for the orders to come in so i can them asap. I cant do anything else. Guaranteed delivery... i do my part.
As far as opting in, is this like opting in to the GSP program? I didnt and it hasnt affected me at all.
So if i dont opt in to this will I be penalized in some way?
My 2 cents is that all of these things complicate life too much. I just want to sell my stuff and make my buyers happy thats it. As far as search placement goes what I have found is price is the key to it.
03-22-2017 08:32 AM
lol when they rolled out GSP they opted us all into it with no notice, and wiped excluded list.
Most new things ebay, we are opted into by them.
This new thing, no thanks.
03-22-2017 09:24 AM
@ymeagainlord wrote:
It is ridiculous.
We had a thread discussing this - "community team" comes along posts a Hot Topic thread and says "discuss it here" then locks it.
Par for the Course.
I also wondered what was up when they started another thread when one already existed. Why didn't the ebay people just post to the thread already started if they were just gonna eventually lock the one they started and really not respond much?
03-22-2017 09:26 AM
One thing that makes me not interested in participating is the lack of transparency in announcing new programs. If the details aren't known, then wait until they are. I read the announcement with no indication of what it will cost me, so naturally as a seller, I figure it is on me.
Later an ebay rep posts a hot topic thread to answer any questions. Then the thread is locked after some answers are attempted, but not pinned to the top of the board, so off the radar it drops. Again, sellers can't find answers and think the worst. Articles are then printed by 3rd parties stating different guesses as to how this will work since nothing official is posted.
It seems like ebay has a pattern of trying to do things but trips all over the "sell" so that no one trusts them.
03-22-2017 09:35 AM
@llllady wrote:
@hollysfinds wrote:I for one will NOT be joining that ridiculous program.
Let the chips fall where they may.
As others have said, the P.O. doesn't even guarantee
the delivery, so why would I.
You know, Holly, initial knee-jerk reaction was that I would not take part in it. When I thought about how few problems I have been lucky to have, it made me think twice.
Also, considering I sell in a lot of categories that regularly come up against the likes of that certain china replacement site, the company selling here whose name starts with Pf, and the company with the nearly unbreakable stuff that's nice and lightweight (did I skirt it well enough? - ha!)...the only way I might even remotely have a chance to have my items seen is to be included with the extra search filter.
Sales have been pretty bad, and to get dropped even lower in search would not be a good thing. With all that said, if I get burned JUST ONCE...I'll drop out.
I 100% guarantee you will burned.
That seems like the point of this- to have the seller refund the purchase price while eBay refunds the shipping cost- in order to attract buyers.
If my STR increases significantly and I make more $ then FOR ME, I will pay a certain price for that. I would consider ths program a loss leader if they can deliver buyers.
BUT that's the gamble.
Will it deliver buyers? I don't think so, but that remains to be seen.
03-22-2017 10:11 AM
I just signed up for the 30 day free trial Prime account. I resisted when their fee was 99 for the year but now it's down to 55 so I may keep it. Already saved 24.00 in shipping. Their movie/TV channel that comes free with Prime is worth it to me. Not having to get cable now (or a TV) so that's a big savings.
03-22-2017 10:28 AM
Got this reply this morning on an inquiry submitted a few days ago:
"Sorry for the delay in this response and for the delay in the delivery in your parcel. When I checked the scans on the tracking number it appeared to go to address encoding - the machines could not read the bar code. We also had a delay in mail due to the storm Stella. The package has been delivered - 3/20/2017. If you have any other questions feel free to call (518)"
Hmmmmmmm...........guarantee?? NO WAY, NO HOW!!!!
03-22-2017 10:40 AM
@megadestroyers wrote:Got this reply this morning on an inquiry submitted a few days ago:
"Sorry for the delay in this response and for the delay in the delivery in your parcel. When I checked the scans on the tracking number it appeared to go to address encoding - the machines could not read the bar code. We also had a delay in mail due to the storm Stella. The package has been delivered - 3/20/2017. If you have any other questions feel free to call (518)"
Hmmmmmmm...........guarantee?? NO WAY, NO HOW!!!!
Wow
just out of curiosity when did you ship it?