Top rated seller changes ?

[kissshotbilliards]

Is it true that Ebay is going to be  changing top rated requirements in a bit and also be lowering top rated seller discount from 20 % down to 10% If so, it hardly seems fair since last year when they had top rated sellers make all of there returns 30 days to qualify !!!

[ki_korners]

Yes, read the 2017 spring update to get all the changes.

Ebay doesn't have to be fair. It's their website.

[rw011164]

EBay originally created the TRS program in order to offer incentives for sellers to fall in line with what they believed ebay buyers wanted. The program worked very well and may have exceeded their expectations with sellers working very hard to earn their discount. They altered how they were doing business in order to better align themselves with ebays model.

Now, several years later, eBay consider those standards just that...standards. The need to creative the incentive is no longer there, it is expected as a standard. The new change reflects that position.

Many sellers came to rely on those discounts and built them into their own business model so much so that they are actually harmed by this new policy. The smart sellers just considered the discount a bonus and did not count on the discount to make their business work.

I have to admit that I am not at all pleased with this part of the update and it will impact our business. We do have a few months to make some corrections to limit the effect.

Frankly, they could have easily just raised fees across the board and it would have much more negatively impacted all sellers. All in all the adjustment to the discount and modest increase is actually better than raising fees across the board. I had bigger concerns that they would have done that. Most businesses have done that so after much reflection on the matter I actually prefer the way they handled it.

For many sellers it is no longer reasonable to Chase after such a paltry discount now. Our plan is to set our business standards up to provide the best service possible to our buyers...discount or not

[kissshotbilliards]

Yes I read it. I could not believe my eyes !! That is why I started the discussion ( I have never started one before)All top rated sellers work hard and always do the right fair thing in eBay's eyes for the seller, and this is the pay off you've got to love it, it's a big hit for me and I'm sure a lot of other TRS. It's not even like they lowerd it a couple of percent, they just went and dropped it 50 percent right off the. At

[klassic*kids]

@kissshotbilliards  There were countless discussion threads opened up on this subject the day the new announcements came out.  You can search through threads for more information.

[fort2b]

interesting thread.

[johnrj1226]

My take on the discount cut is while the percentages seem large the net benefit is  small.  The 20% discount on FVF  was equivalent to 2% of the items  selling price.  The reduction to 10% discount is 1%.  Certainly, if one sells items with a small profit margin this may have an impact.  In my opinion one should  not rely on incentives to  achieve profitability as incentives can be taken away as fast as they were given.  Best advice is set up your profit targets and selling price as  if there were no  incentives.

[kissshotbilliards]

I understand the concept of not counting on a discount to be profitable and I do not need the discount to be profitable  but looking at the amount that I pay in final value fees that I pay, it is a nice chunk of money to lose at one time wether I am depending on the money to turn a profit or not. 

[steveswholesalehardware]

A price increase is a price increase, simple as that. For me this adds 1.1% to my selling fees and will cost me 500.00 over a years time. Yes, it is their website and they can do with it as they see fit. As a seller I have to accept the added costs as move on. However, ebay is not the only avenue for selling product these days so I would encourage everyone to diversify by exploring other sites to sell on.

[theeasyedge]

I don't know whether to be irritated or relieved.  I’ve been a TRS for years, and it’s not an easy job.  I’ve adjusted to and tolerated all of the requirements, many of which have been more than a little stressful.  As distrustful as many people seem to be, I don’t think being a TRS has helped my sales much.  Most are pretty surprised to see there item within a couple days, which is gratifying. 

The downside is the post office!  Most of my products go out USPS.  They’re a government-run operation, so quality service is not very high on the list if it’s even on the list.  I can’t tell you how many times they’ve missed scanning/tracking my shipments.  Unfortunately, the initial scan is the one most often missed.  To overcome this shortfall, I have to walk each piece up to the counter for a verified, manual scan.  The lines can be long, so I have to take 10 or 15 minutes out of my day, because the deadbeat who’s supposed to scan stuff with a guaranteed job and a fabulous pension can’t expend 4-seconds scanning my package.

I’m not going to worry about it any more.  It’s definitely not worth the hassle.  I’ll just raise my prices, and people can get their stuff in the same time as they always do.  This is just what the folks at eBay want anyway, right?  Now they can have my 10% or 20%, wherever it ends, AND they can pick up the extra cash from my price increase.  The only loser is the customer, and that’s the shame of it all.

[llllady]

With eBay's typical short-sightedness, it is unlikely that they have taken into account their loss of even more credibility with sellers.

The next time they want sellers to buy into one of their incentives or benefits, sellers will be thumbing their nose at eBay saying, "Fool me once..."

[press-start-gaming-electronics]

Individually, I don't have a problem with any of the upcoming changes to the Top-Rated program. After all, Ebay is running a business, and obviously they feel it would be best to tweak a couple aspects of the program in order to stay competitive and meet certain expectations. Yes, it's going to sting for awhile, but it's not the end of the world. What I do have a problem with is the fact that all of these changes are being made in one fell swoop, essentially blindsiding sellers. Had they rolled out each of the coming changes as part of separate updates it would have been one thing, but to lump them all together in a single update without doing anything to improve the seller experience just comes off in very bad taste. It's hard to argue that this was not poorly executed from a PR standpoint.

Moreover, when you consider Ebay's history of friction with sellers due to years of unfair policies that did not adequately protect sellers while excessively catering to buyers, you would think it should be a priority for Ebay to maintain the goodwill they have built in the recent past through improving upon and/or fixing many of these broken polocies. Now, all of that is going to be undone in a hurry, and I can't blame sellers for being upset when you consider this news in the greater context. 

[beachsellerpro]

I closed my Ebay store because of this and decided to sell a much smaller amount of items, if at all.

[victorias_gifts_n_treasures]

Yeah, I have fast shipping and a 60 day return policy. But that has nothing to do with the top rated seller status. I do it cause I know that's what customers want. I really don't care what ebay wants, it's my customers that I work for. I see plenty of sellers that aren't top rated and still get good sales becaue they take care of the customers. As you said, some sellers just looked at the discount as a bonus. That's the way I always looked at it. If I keep my top rated seller status that's fine, if I lose it, that's fine also. I've only got so much energy and I want to put that on my customers not jumping through hoops for ebay to keep a status that doesn't even matter much anymore.

[boomccalmon]

Yes, I just saw that too. It's not really worth it any more between shipping going up all the time & E-bay always wanting more of our profits...I just can't find any where to sell my items that's this easy. Etsy is such a pain & won't let me sell just anything. I do try to complain when I call E-bay about these changes. Doubt it helps though 😞