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Smaller sellers don't have a chance.

I've been selling on ebay since 2001 with almost 6000 completed listings and have to agree with another member that the last two years have been a nightmare.

-First of all, requiring that we accept returns even when items are exactly as described and pictured especially in the categories that I sell in (antiques, collectibles, pre owned jewelry).  I also have a brick and mortar store and all sales are final.  If descriptions and pictures are accurate, it should be the responsibility of the buyer to check out the details before bidding.

-Next, allowing buyers to rate us on whether shipping charges are reasonable when they often know little to nothing about shipping requirement or restrictions.

-Allowing buyers to post any ratings in secret.  If they want to be upfront, then replace positive, negative with the star system.  When you have a 100% feedback rate and yet are rated lower on items as described, it is impossible to know how to improve or to offer the customer an adjustment in price if something was overlooked.

-Not providing provisions for cases where customers pick up items or they are delivered locally.  These count as defects because tracking information cannot be verified.

-I have to send someone to the Post Office with my packages to get a receipt so that I can be assured that the Post Office does their job of scanning the packages into the system.  This adds time and cost to the process.

-The ridiculous amount of detail that is required to list an item.  My titles and descriptions are very comprensive but I have to enter details over and over.

-Policy violations are not applied consistently and perfectly legitimate licensed items are disallowed even on appeal.

-Although ebay claims that the "bumps" given in the search process to Top Rated sellers are minimal.  I have been in both categories and I know that my sales decrease greatly when I am above standard vs top rated* and I am paying higher fees that the Top Rated sellers who get discounts.

*When I am in the Above Standard ratings, it has been due to the Post Office not scanning in tracking info OR customers picking up items OR items delivered locally OR because I allowed customers to return something (customers who left positive feedback).  At present, it's because I refuse to offer returns through the 31st of January.

-Failure to back up the sellers.  I received negative feedback from a buyer who was making every excuse in the world not to pay and even requested that I drive 1 1/2 hours to pick up the payment.  I finally told him that I would offer it to the next highest bidder if he had not made payment by a certain date.  He said that I had "threatened" him.  I asked eBay to remove the rating because I was well within my rights to demand payment by a certain date.  They ruled that he was stating his opinion and they would not remove the negative rating.

-Another negative feedback was placed by someone who later agreed to remove it but didn't.  Even though he had violated many eBay policies and they had all the correspondence in their files, they refused to remove it.

Fortunately, I have a brick and mortar store as well and have been exploring other sites so I don't rely on them completely.

-Back for a minute to the "bumps" given to Top Rated sellers.  As a buyer, I want to see everything that is available and make my decisions whether to buy or not based on everything that is available.  I can decide if I only want to buy from Top Rated seller but I want to see all the offerings.

etc.

etc.

etc.

 

 

 

 

Message 1 of 6
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Smaller sellers don't have a chance.

Well said.   Your frustration is obvious as is for a lot of other sellers.  As a Top Rated Seller myself, I have experienced all of what you mention.  The last year in particular has been very difficult.   In my opinion, the defects ratings and not being able to leave neg feedback for a bad buyer is the biggest annoyance.  Once they were put into place, my unpaid items increased dramatically.

 

Unfortunately, as they say "You can't fight City Hall", so it goes with eBay policies.  Until something else comes along that gives us such a large audience for our items, we will have to put up with them.  Fortunately, in my case anyway, my wonderful buyers far out number the bad apples.

 

Good luck and Happy Holidays.

 

 

 

Message 2 of 6
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Smaller sellers don't have a chance.

Thanks for the reply.

You are right that we can't fight them but I am going to be more inclined to sell in my brick and mortar store than on line.

I have had some success with Etsy and have friends who like Ruby Lane.  However, the former wants you to use them exclusively.

I have had some great experiences with my buyers as well as other eBayers who have been willing to share their knowledge and experience.

I'm just really discouraged at this time.

Message 3 of 6
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Smaller sellers don't have a chance.

I've been selling on ebay since 2001 with almost 6000 completed listings and have to agree with another member that the last two years have been a nightmare.
We’ve been selling about the same length of time. My situation has been perhaps a little more difficult because I ship from Canada, where postal rates are much higher.
On the other hand, my purchase prices are often lower. At the moment the Canadian dollar is about 85 US cents to the loonies.
-First of all, requiring that we accept returns even when items are exactly as described and pictured especially in the categories that I sell in (antiques, collectibles, pre owned jewelry).  I also have a brick and mortar store and all sales are final.  If descriptions and pictures are accurate, it should be the responsibility of the buyer to check out the details before bidding.
It could be argued that requiring the unhappy buyer to return the item for a refund is one way to prevent or minimize these problems.
We had (until we retired a couple of months ago) a collectibles B&M (stamp dealers). I don’t understand refusing to take returns. I’d rather take an undamaged return and keep the customer. 

Of course, on a face to face basis, we can adjust our prices to suit the likelihood of return. We have had at least two customers

who would spend $100-$200 a week on stamps and return about $50-$100 on the next visit.  Not a problem. (They were both very honest, just absent minded. )

If descriptions and pictures are accurate, it should be the responsibility of the buyer to check out the details before bidding.

That's a very big if.

The buyer is completely in the hold of the seller's description. Even a further question will only get an answer based on the seller's honesty and/or knowledge. I recently saw a ring offered that was described as Art Deco from a Victorian mould.
-Next, allowing buyers to rate us on whether shipping charges are reasonable when they often know little to nothing about shipping requirement or restrictions.
See above note on Canada Post. It costs $12 to ship an inch thick paperback book to Alberta from Ontario. We have no media mail anymore.
-Allowing buyers to post any ratings in secret.  If they want to be upfront, then replace positive, negative with the star system.  When you have a 100% feedback rate and yet are rated lower on items as described, it is impossible to know how to improve or to offer the customer an adjustment in price if something was overlooked.
I agree that Detailed Seller Ratings should be attached to the poster’s name.

And it should be made clear that Four Stars is only used when there is a problem,not as eBay does now, tell buyers only to use Five Stars for exceptional service,
-Not providing provisions for cases where customers pick up items or they are delivered locally.  These count as defects because tracking information cannot be verified.
Literally as defects? Or are they just not counted towards your tracking percentage?
Again because of the high cost of tracking in Canada, I just don’t track.  I shipped out a lot yesterday  (value $170.00) for $1.20 that would have cost $14.00 to track within Canada. More to the USA.
-I have to send someone to the Post Office with my packages to get a receipt so that I can be assured that the Post Office does their job of scanning the packages into the system.  This adds time and cost to the process.

But it is your choice to have your employee do this.
-The ridiculous amount of detail that is required to list an item.  My titles and descriptions are very comprensive but I have to enter details over and over.
I have a cut and paste on all my descriptions giving the information that is repeated. All that is required is a Word or TextEdit document, suitably marked up with HTML.
In addition, for some of my repeated listings (postage lots, popular books) I keep the same description in a desktop folder for reuse when needed. Saves a ton of time.)
-Policy violations are not applied consistently and perfectly legitimate licensed items are disallowed even on appeal.
True.
-Failure to back up the sellers.  I received negative feedback from a buyer who was making every excuse in the world not to pay and even requested that I drive 1 1/2 hours to pick up the payment.  I finally told him that I would offer it to the next highest bidder if he had not made payment by a certain date.  He said that I had "threatened" him.  I asked eBay to remove the rating because I was well within my rights to demand payment by a certain date.  They ruled that he was stating his opinion and they would not remove the negative rating.
Wrong way to deal with the problem. This should have been a simple Unpaid Item Dispute and could have been completed in a week. Sometimes communication is a bad thing.

With a UID, not only does the deadbeat get a Strike which is useful to all sellers, but neither party can leave feedback.
Fortunately, I have a brick and mortar store as well and have been exploring other sites so I don't rely on them completely.
At it’s very very best, eBay has never been more than one third of our monthly sales,and usually less than 10%. Often our own website (with 35 years in business we are well known) or even ZoS (American Philatelic Society site) has done better than that.

Mind you, our shop was in a prime shopping area with a lot of foot traffic and tourists.
-Back for a minute to the "bumps" given to Top Rated sellers.  As a buyer, I want to see everything that is available and make my decisions whether to buy or not based on everything that is available.  I can decide if I only want to buy from Top Rated seller but I want to see all the offerings.
There are something like 800 million listings each day on eBay. Not everybody can be on the first page. We Canadians lose placement for both high shipping costs and for not using tracking to the USA. (eBay doesn’t seem to care about Canadian or overseas tracking.)

 

There's been some chat on the eBay Canada Seller Board, and our general conclusion is that if an item cannot be profitably sold without any of the eBay inducements (TRS, Free Auction promotions, etc) then it is better not to list it. 

Message 4 of 6
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Smaller sellers don't have a chance.

I've been selling on ebay since 2001 with almost 6000 completed listings and have to agree with another member that the last two years have been a nightmare.
We’ve been selling about the same length of time. My situation has been perhaps a little more difficult because I ship from Canada, where postal rates are much higher.
On the other hand, my purchase prices are often lower. At the moment the Canadian dollar is about 85 US cents to the loonies.
-First of all, requiring that we accept returns even when items are exactly as described and pictured especially in the categories that I sell in (antiques, collectibles, pre owned jewelry).  I also have a brick and mortar store and all sales are final.  If descriptions and pictures are accurate, it should be the responsibility of the buyer to check out the details before bidding.
It could be argued that requiring the unhappy buyer to return the item for a refund is one way to prevent or minimize these problems.
We had (until we retired a couple of months ago) a collectibles B&M (stamp dealers). I don’t understand refusing to take returns. I’d rather take an undamaged return and keep the customer. 

Of course, on a face to face basis, we can adjust our prices to suit the likelihood of return. We have had at least two customers

who would spend $100-$200 a week on stamps and return about $50-$100 on the next visit.  Not a problem. (They were both very honest, just absent minded. )

I wouldn't have any objection to accepting returns for regular customers. 

If descriptions and pictures are accurate, it should be the responsibility of the buyer to check out the details before bidding.

That's a very big if.

The buyer is completely in the hold of the seller's description. Even a further question will only get an answer based on the seller's honesty and/or knowledge. I recently saw a ring offered that was described as Art Deco from a Victorian mould.

If something is described incorrectly, the buyer should have the right to return it.  I'm talking about things that are fully described with measurments, flaws noted and age/style correctly applied.
-Next, allowing buyers to rate us on whether shipping charges are reasonable when they often know little to nothing about shipping requirement or restrictions.
See above note on Canada Post. It costs $12 to ship an inch thick paperback book to Alberta from Ontario. We have no media mail anymore.
-Allowing buyers to post any ratings in secret.  If they want to be upfront, then replace positive, negative with the star system.  When you have a 100% feedback rate and yet are rated lower on items as described, it is impossible to know how to improve or to offer the customer an adjustment in price if something was overlooked.
I agree that Detailed Seller Ratings should be attached to the poster’s name.

And it should be made clear that Four Stars is only used when there is a problem,not as eBay does now, tell buyers only to use Five Stars for exceptional service,
-Not providing provisions for cases where customers pick up items or they are delivered locally.  These count as defects because tracking information cannot be verified.
Literally as defects? Or are they just not counted towards your tracking percentage?
Again because of the high cost of tracking in Canada, I just don’t track.  I shipped out a lot yesterday  (value $170.00) for $1.20 that would have cost $14.00 to track within Canada. More to the USA.

Literally as defects because tracking was not added within the promised shipping time.
-I have to send someone to the Post Office with my packages to get a receipt so that I can be assured that the Post Office does their job of scanning the packages into the system.  This adds time and cost to the process.

But it is your choice to have your employee do this.

It is not a choice but a requirement because the Post Office doesn't always scan the packages in.  Granted this is not an ebay issue but their dogged tracking of our every move is overkill.  If the customer is satisfied with the delivery time, they shouldn't worry about it.
-The ridiculous amount of detail that is required to list an item.  My titles and descriptions are very comprensive but I have to enter details over and over.
I have a cut and paste on all my descriptions giving the information that is repeated. All that is required is a Word or TextEdit document, suitably marked up with HTML.
In addition, for some of my repeated listings (postage lots, popular books) I keep the same description in a desktop folder for reuse when needed. Saves a ton of time.)

Of course I use cut and paste as well as product templates.  I'm talking about the item details they require.
-Policy violations are not applied consistently and perfectly legitimate licensed items are disallowed even on appeal.
True.
-Failure to back up the sellers.  I received negative feedback from a buyer who was making every excuse in the world not to pay and even requested that I drive 1 1/2 hours to pick up the payment.  I finally told him that I would offer it to the next highest bidder if he had not made payment by a certain date.  He said that I had "threatened" him.  I asked eBay to remove the rating because I was well within my rights to demand payment by a certain date.  They ruled that he was stating his opinion and they would not remove the negative rating.
Wrong way to deal with the problem. This should have been a simple Unpaid Item Dispute and could have been completed in a week. Sometimes communication is a bad thing.

With a UID, not only does the deadbeat get a Strike which is useful to all sellers, but neither party can leave feedback.

How is a strike helpful? 
Fortunately, I have a brick and mortar store as well and have been exploring other sites so I don't rely on them completely.
At it’s very very best, eBay has never been more than one third of our monthly sales,and usually less than 10%. Often our own website (with 35 years in business we are well known) or even ZoS (American Philatelic Society site) has done better than that.

Mind you, our shop was in a prime shopping area with a lot of foot traffic and tourists.

My shop is also in a prime shopping are with foot traffic and tourists.  We handle a large amount of merchandise and it easier for me to work online because I am disabled.
-Back for a minute to the "bumps" given to Top Rated sellers.  As a buyer, I want to see everything that is available and make my decisions whether to buy or not based on everything that is available.  I can decide if I only want to buy from Top Rated seller but I want to see all the offerings.
There are something like 800 million listings each day on eBay. Not everybody can be on the first page. We Canadians lose placement for both high shipping costs and for not using tracking to the USA. (eBay doesn’t seem to care about Canadian or overseas tracking.)

I didn't know you could lose placement for high shipping costs.  The fact that they aren't using Canadian standards for shipping costs is ludicrous.

However, it doesn't matter how resonable you are, I am very careful to enter correct measurements and weight and ust the shipping calculator.  I only charge a small handling charge to cover materials but people still complain.  (back to my earlier comment about buyers rating whether shipping costs are reasonable).

 

There's been some chat on the eBay Canada Seller Board, and our general conclusion is that if an item cannot be profitably sold without any of the eBay inducements (TRS, Free Auction promotions, etc) then it is better not to list it.

Why would anyone list anything that is not going to be profitable?

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Smaller sellers don't have a chance.

Interesting discussion!

 

With a UID, not only does the deadbeat get a Strike which is useful to all sellers, but neither party can leave feedback.

How is a strike helpful? 

Most sellers have set an automatic Block against bidders who have 2 or more Strikes. The bidder can't get far enough to make trouble. Another Block some sellers like is against bidders who do not have active Paypal accounts, but since most of these are newbies, I don't use that one.

And no feedback from an unhappy buyer is sometimes a godsend. Personally I just look on the seller's wish to leave negative feedback as unprofessional.
Fortunately, I have a brick and mortar store as well and have been exploring other sites so I don't rely on them completely.
At it’s very very best, eBay has never been more than one third of our monthly sales,and usually less than 10%. Often our own website (with 35 years in business we are well known) or even ZoS (American Philatelic Society site) has done better than that.

Mind you, our shop was in a prime shopping area with a lot of foot traffic and tourists.

My shop is also in a prime shopping are with foot traffic and tourists.  We handle a large amount of merchandise and it easier for me to work online because I am disabled.

Which also explains the employee going to the PO for you. We had five to ten employees depending on how you counted. How many do you have? While Ottawa -Gatineau has a population of over one million, Canadian cities are far apart and we have no 'hinterland' consumer base. Unlike say Boston to Washiington.
-Back for a minute to the "bumps" given to Top Rated sellers.  As a buyer, I want to see everything that is available and make my decisions whether to buy or not based on everything that is available.  I can decide if I only want to buy from Top Rated seller but I want to see all the offerings.
There are something like 800 million listings each day on eBay. Not everybody can be on the first page. We Canadians lose placement for both high shipping costs and for not using tracking to the USA. (eBay doesn’t seem to care about Canadian or overseas tracking.)

I didn't know you could lose placement for high shipping costs.  The fact that they aren't using Canadian standards for shipping costs is ludicrous.

However, it doesn't matter how resonable you are, I am very careful to enter correct measurements and weight and ust the shipping calculator.  I only charge a small handling charge to cover materials but people still complain.  (back to my earlier comment about buyers rating whether shipping costs are reasonable).

High shipping = low DSRs = loss of placement.  Personally I think the Shipping Cost DSR should be there for the buyer's comfort, but not counted. Same goes for Shipping Time, which all too many buyers think is the time it takes the PO to get the item to them instead of the time between purchase and shipping.

 

There's been some chat on the eBay Canada Seller Board, and our general conclusion is that if an item cannot be profitably sold without any of the eBay inducements (TRS, Free Auction promotions, etc) then it is better not to list it.

Why would anyone list anything that is not going to be profitable?

The average IQ is 100. Which means that half the population is below that. Explains a lot really. About pretty well anything.

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