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 !!!

[artfromthebark2]

Just got TRS a few months ago as a low volume seller and lost it next month due to ebay rules.  Some items I sell are  for hobbyists convenience and I add $1 to my selling price and send item to  them as letter mail or a flat.  Buyer pays from $2.75 to $5. shipping included.  If I pay the package rate instead of FLAT or Letter rate to get tracking plus Ebay plus PayPal I'd actually lose money on these transactions.  I'll settle for "above Standard", I have increased handling to 3 days, and quote economy shipping.  This is an adjunct to our "Brick and Mortar" studio and I have a lot more to do than worry about Ebay.  My customers shop for price, seller reputation in feedback, and convenience.  (i.e. - they could drive 60-70 miles to get my $2.75 item for $1.50 - but the gas and vehicle cost ???)  They'd forego it at $5.25 to pay package rate w/tracking.

I have had tracked USPS packages not receive a scan until the destination sort facility.  How they got to the right part of the country from the origin facility without a scan is a mystery but it happened.

[bmaverick53]

10% discount is hardly worth all the hoops you have to go through now. Greed

[bmaverick53]

Agree, no longer worth it.

[bmaverick53]

Agreed. No longer worth the stress of going through all the hoops. Greed

[tunicaslot]

For years many sellers here proclaimed that the 20% discount wasn't worth it. The discount was a bonus - but it's not a make it or break it deal for me. Try selling on other sites where the FVFs are much higher and the sales just as slow.

[hawkwind5454]

No matter how one colors, or candies,  the rationalization of the reduced TRS discount, it STILL all boils down to the money...Have you any idea how much money a TRS seller discount reduction of half, saves ebay? With millions of sellers, it's a tidy sum. I lost my TRS, because ebay will now NOT consider signature required, or insured item number, as a speciffic "tracking number".  Even though, they parlay parcel movement information, in the same fashion.  So, in trying to save my [higher ticket] buyers the added expense of an unnecessary tracking number, I shot myself in the foot.

[u_cant_take_it_with_u]

---

@hawkwind5454 wrote:

 I lost my TRS, because ebay will now NOT consider signature required, or insured item number, as a speciffic "tracking number".  Even though, they parlay parcel movement information, in the same fashion.  So, in trying to save my [higher ticket] buyers the added expense of an unnecessary tracking number, I shot myself in the foot.

---

I, also, discovered that the hard way. Before, at time of posting tracking info, one would recieve an ebay notice, that the "other" numbers were not a tracking number, but they would let it slide. Like I've always said...  Once, in a blue mood, ebay will do somethingnice for it's sellers...  But it ALWAYS does something nice for ebay.  

[oaklandmaryland]

I believe Ebay will keep piling on the requirements and dropping the discount until all TRS are gone and they no longer have to give any discount.
I have had several Ebay reps (the ones I have established a rapport with) tell me they just expect all sellers to be TRS. Dream on is what I say.

[clothescloseouts4u]

---

@rw011164 wrote:

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

---

Yes, I quit chasing after the discount a long time ago.  Just wasn't worth the hassle.  I don't think you can trust Ebay anyway on the way the Search program works.  They are not upfront about a lot of things. 

[holdonloosely]

WOW! I agree theeasyedge! Relieved is correct. eBay has evolved so much and I think away from the original business model that I wonder how long they will exist. (Not that I think the original business model was great to begin with. Which is, of course, for people to "clean out their garage".)

[waterhunter123]

So stop selling on ebay. Sellers make there money not the **bleep** buyers!

[waterhunter123]

So stop selling on ebay.