eBay have been trying for years to keep sellers offerings up to the best ecommerce standards offered by competitors and retailers. Measuring negative feedback worked (sort of) for many years. Measuring high DSRs didn’t differentiate the best sellers significantly so eBay started to focus on the bad experiences measuring low DSRs and opened resolution cases.
In this seller release they’re doing what we’ve predicted and starting to focus on service and it’s not really a surprise that .
New Top Rated Seller requirements
To maintain Top Rated Seller status you’ll need to carry on providing the best service possible and Top Rated Sellers will continue to receive a boost in Best Match search sort. However you’ll only get the Top Rated Seller badge on your listings and discounts on final value fees if you meet the account level requirements AND offer the following services on your listings.
It’s important to realise that you don’t have to meet the requirements for all your listings, you can pick and choose which listings you want to be promoted. However the discounts and benefits will only be received on those listings which meet the following criteria:
Listing Requirements
- Offer a minimum 14 days returns period using the new field on eBay to specify your returns policy. (NB specifying returns within your listing description will not count!)
- Offer a 1-day or same-day despatch
- Offer at least one Express Delivery option with 24 hour delivery
- Offer at least one free postage option
Account Requirements
- Minimum sales of £1,000 in the last 12 months to UK and Irish buyers
- Minimum percentage will be 0.5% or 2
135 Responses
FFS.
effin double FFS with bells on
Offer at least one free postage option – fee hike in disguise anyone?
I’ll offer a free postage option the day eBay give me free postage label.
… the end.
Any idea if they are reducing the minimum ammount of items sold requirement? I comfortably meet every single required for top seller status other than items sold as I sell a relatively small ammount of big ticket items.
Free postage is a fees hike, intentional or not, but I can’t see anything in the announcement about a hike in discounts to compensate. eBay are doing a magnificent job of squeezing their most loyal sellers.
I took my business away from eBay around 3 years ago (we just have a few eBay listings per month nowadays). Even after allowing for the money I have spent to develop and market my own website, I am many tens of thousands of pounds better off as my business has grown much faster than it ever did on eBay.
Is eBay working for you, or the other way round?
Put simply, this is a joke.
Not happy with this at all.
As ever Ebay just sweep everyone up with the same brush, they need to start realising that different sectors offer very different things.
Ebay and Paypal fees will soon be approaching 15% for us, luckily our margins are high, I just cannot see how many Ebay traders will be able to swallow these changes when trading on such small margins.
As ever Ebay want it every way under the sun, i.e. the seller has to provide a better service (for some that is not possible), lower prices, quicker turnaround times, what is in it for the seller though, more and more money is going back to Ebay.
I owe a fair bit to the Ebay platform however sooner or later I will focus my efforts elsewhere.
Further to my previous message, if I don’t offer the new requirements will I still get a boost in the best match search ?
From the press release I presume I will.
That is more important to me than the FVF discounts at this stage.
Can anyone confirm this ?
Thanks
Only giving TRS status and discount if you offer free shipping is a significant fee rise.
How can this work with 99p start auctions?
Do DSR and feedback ratings play any part at all in the new TRS status arrangements?
I’ve never been a fan of free postage because as we all know, it isn’t free. I currently send all my items first class recorded, due to the alarming increase in non-recorded parcels that mysteriously ‘didn’t arrive’ – it was approaching 50% by last summer and of course, eBay just refunded all those buyers… Since I went ‘all recorded’, not a single parcel has gone missing – what a surprise. But I digress. Here’s how free postage would work for me:
One of my items currently sells for £19.95, with £2.95 first class recorded delivery, £7.95 international signed for to Europe, £8.95 for outside Europe. If I change that to, say, £22.95 selling price, with free postage, that seems fine, but it means if a UK buyer purchases several items, they are paying several lots of postage too, included in each item, though I would post everything in one parcel of course. (My items are generally quite small and light – I could probably post 6 for £3.95 but the buyer would have paid £17.70 for postage as it would be included in the price for each!)
And an overseas buyer is subsidising that UK free postage ‘cos they’ll have to pay £22.95 for the item PLUS their postage on top, in other words they are paying the cost to have it posted in the UK on top of the item’s actual price.
How does that make sense?
And am I supposed to offer Special Delivery (next day) as well as first class recorded? If my first recorded cost is included in the item price, do I charge the full amount (£6 or whatever) to upgrade to Special Delivery, or just the difference in price between the two??
I’m confused 🙁
Funny how ebays ‘fashion outlet’ stores don’t have to meet these ridiculous requirements and yet remain at the top of the pile all of the time.
There will be very few TRSs remaining. we are not going to absorb these costs on top of RM price hikes and the new scammer-rewarding ‘query’ scheme ebay introduced recently, which allows buyers to get refunds before they’ve given adequate time for delivery (especially overseas buyers). So we will forfeit the badge and the discounts and the benefits. We may not be top rated in ebays eyes but at least we will still be making a profit. Those that manage to remain top rated I suspect will be out of business before they make it to ebays next ‘update’ with new hoops.
ebay claim they want to harmonise fees globally but try telling that to the mail companies. UK shipping charges are high by global standards so basically UK sellers are penalised by this harmonisation process.
Wonder how the Irish ebayers are taking it?
does buyer can collect count as free postage
lol
I agree with you Jane. I sell tableware and if customers buy more than one plate it could double the price that they pay! It can cost £5 to post one plate but posting 6 is the same price!
Like most here I am absolutely disgusted by this – as happened with the Powerseller programme gradually us top sellers are being squeezed and squeezed and squeezed. PLEASE, PLEASE! – CALL EBAY and register your disgust – I have just been on to them for 15 mins and they are hearing this over and over with annoyed sellers today, the more of us call and register our annoyance the more chance they will pass it on to the big knobs and re-consider as they have in the past with other issues, tell as many people as you can to call them.
They are aware of the Royal Mail increases so to force sellers basically to offer free shipping or loose top seller status is just ridiculous. As is all the pointless tinkering with photos etc.
This has effectively killed my business. I started two years ago and comfortably met top rated seller status. But this latest trick by ebay along with the coming changes in postal charges is just too much for a small business to swallow. What exactly does ebay want to be? For anyone trying to start a new business this really is the final straw.
in simple terms TRS status is now not worth the pain or effort ,ebay are not giving enough in return,to make TRS worthwhile,
“Free postage” would cost us at least £3000 a month[and thats without the increase in royal mail costs]
we dont think this would gain us enough extra sales and discounts to justify offering the option
With postal fees going up and eBay announcing their seller changes, maybe we as sellers should say enough is enough. Start up your own website, use the fees that you would normally pay eBay to market your website. Use the business knowledge gained from trading on eBay to further yourself. If eBay wants to loose us as customers, let them. As they say ‘action talks’.
IF ANYONE OUT THERE AGREES WITH THIS, THEN PLEASE JOIN THE REVOLUTION (I KNOW THIS SOUNDS A BIT MAD, BUT WE CAN’T CARRY ON BEING TRODDEN ON)!
I’ve been multichannel retailing for only 3 years but in that short space of time I have never been as incensed by a policy change as I have been wish this one.
I am absolutely seething whilst typing this.
This is a ****** **** of ****!
At the risk of repeating others, and if I have understood this correctly, to achieve the all TRS benefits you have to offer “free” delivery. This will not actually happen because as we know, delivery will just be added on to the price. EBay are kidding nobody. There’s nothing free. It is actually a lie to say the shipping is free as it will be included on to the total price. How does lying to your customers provide the highest standard of excellent service to them?
With a higher price, there’s a higher FVF fee.
So sellers pay more to get the TRS benefits. Basically a subscription club.
If you want the TRS benefits you pay more to eBay to get them.
You’re not prepared to pay (the higher FVF fees)? Tough on you. You won’t be seen as fully fledged TRS seller.
In effect this makes a mockery of the TRS scheme where sellers who offer the greatest service are not on the same playing field as sellers who offer the greatest service AND free shipping. I would argue that by offering free shipping to a customer who wanted to purchase multiple items, then you are offering BAD service and are a lesser TRS seller than one who was upfront about their charges and offered multi-purchase shipping discounts.
This greedy, fool-hardy, short-sighted move will back fire on eBay, I am sure.
I think I need to go for a short walk outside in the cold night air to calm down.
Rant over.
“Offer a minimum 14 days returns period using the new field on eBay to specify your returns policy.”
Where is this in my ebay? I cannot find it anywhere to set it to 14 days?
“Offer a 1-day or same-day despatch
Offer at least one Express Delivery option with 24 hour delivery
Offer at least one free postage option”
Is this on all listings or just 1 listing… ??
Express delivery seems a bit too much at least for the things I am selling.
I suggest that we all forward these concerns to Ebay by email. I have been doing this already via the following email address:
[email protected]
Make reference to UK Business Seller News 2013 and TRS Status.
I am also of the opinion that these are the worse changes Ebay has made for its true and hardworking sellers for years.
Maybe we can get something changed here.
I have sent the following email to Ebay today via the following email address. I suggest other sellers send similar emails to Ebay via [email protected] making reference to UK TRS changes.
Email as follows:
Dear Ebay Team,
I have taken time to read the Seller Update which was released on 19. March 2013
I (and as far as I can read on TRS Forums hundreds of other Top Rated Sellers) am astounded and extremely disappointed by the changes to TRS that have been announced.
I feel that the people making these decisions are neither Buyers on EBay nor have they ever been a TRS and dont know what hard work, sleepless nights, and in many cases, unfair handling against buyers misusing the system, it means to be a TRS on EBay.
Firstly it should be considered that you have already reduced our FVF discounts a time back from 25% to 15%
Secondly the FV Fees have been increased in most categories.
Thirdly EBay is now increasing Store Subscription costs.
Now EBay is looking to completely remove FVF discounts for sellers who do not meet the new requirements as well as removing our TRS badge and reducing the visibility of our items in Best Match Search.
EBay.com offers 20% FVF Discounts when the requirements are met. (and not 15%)
The name TRS means “Top Rated Seller” which means we have obtained this through hard work, satisfying customers on giving accurate item descriptions, good communication, fast dispatch etc.
TRS should not mean that we have to give out items away for free. It should not mean that we increase our item prices to include postage cost.
As far as I can see, the effect of these announced changes will mean less business for ebay and not more business.
Sellers will now need to increase prices to compensate the loss in FVF Discounts when it is not possible to meet the new TRS requirements, this means that buyers will look for other platforms to buy their items.
EBay has not taken into consideration that a lot of non UK (International Sellers) list on EBay.co.uk. These sellers will not be able to meet these new requirements and therefore are being discriminated against.
When I look at the major aspects of remaining a TRS:
• Offer a minimum 14 days returns period
• Offer a 1-day or same-day despatch
• Offer at least one Express Delivery option with 24 hour delivery
• Offer at least one free postage option
I would like to comment as follows as I feel that some of these areas have not been properly considered:
On point 1 and 2 I have no comments
Point 3: Express Delivery
International Sellers from outside the UK will not be able to offer this and therefore not remain TRS. Why have EBay not considered that there is a large percentage of Sellers outside the UK. Of course it is possible to quote a 24 hour delivery option for example from France to UK for a T-Shirt would be a good 42€. This will just clutter up the postage options.
Point 4: Free Postage
In my opinion this has not been correctly thought through by EBay.
EBay has not considered that a buyer in many cases buys several items from the seller.
This applies to either several of the same item or also adding several items to their basked (for example 3 different T-Shirt designs)
Example: I sell T-Shirts for GBP 12.00
So to remain a TRS I need to add GBP 3.00 postage cost to the item cost to remain a TRS
The T-Shirt now costs GBP 15.00 (the seller is not getting POSTAGE FREE they are just paying more for the item and EBay is earning a hidden bonus to FVF on the increased item cost)
Now the buyer wants 3 T-Shirts from my Store. Ok, generally I would have revised the postage cost as I would be able to send all 3 T-shirts for the same postage cost that the buyer would pay for one T-Shirt (satisfied happy buyer!!)
Now: The buyer is paying GBP 9.00 postage cost for 3 T-shirts instead of the GBP 3.00 he should be paying.
It is not possible on EBay to apply a discount against the item total (only on postage totals)
How is ebay taking our general postage discounts into consideration on this (i.e. spend a certain amount on items and postage is free or spend GBP 10 on postage and all other items are postage free)
EBay has not taken into consideration that we buyers do buy several items from one seller!
With these new regulations we will be “cheating” our buyers which is certainly not the way to go as a TRS!
Furthermore it needs to be considered that the International Buyers now see this higher selling price (including postage) but they do not see a “free postage” badge and will be put off buying the item.
Free postage is not helping the buyers unless they are just buying a “one off” item.
For example, I have some heavier items such as shoes. When a buyer buys a pair of shoes the postage cost of GBP 10.50 is applicable. For all other items they want the postage cost is FREE due to the maximum postage costs I have set up in my postage discounts. EBay has not considered this in the new requirements.
As I can see, these new requirements will force sellers to move to new platforms, to run their own web-shop which in the end means less revenue for EBay.
I would ask EBay to seriously re-consider the FREE Postage option as being a requirement for remaining a TRS
Thanks you for your time and attention to this matter
Christian Lane
(Seller ID oxbloodoi)
Please see the special discussion board which was started on Ebay regarding this topic.
This is a “monitored” board by Ebay so I hope it will help us to forward our feelings and thoughts to Ebay on this topic.
Please add your thoughts to this (as well as reading other users comments and disgust about these changes):
https://community.ebay.co.uk/topic/Business-Seller-News/Excellent-Fulfilment/1700122367
Another piece of interesting information related to the TRS Status and Discounts.
For Ebay.com and Ebay.de (Germany) if you meet these new requirements you got a 20% FVF discount!!!!!!
and ebay.co.uk 15%?????
My personal opinion: Is it worth all the effort?
Final Value Fees: Increased!
Final Value Feed Discount: Removed!
Shop Subscriptions: Increased!
Power Seller Discount: Reduced from 25% to 15%!
Free post is not an option for me so bye bye TRS and fee discounts.
I don’t want to put buyers off from making multiple BIN purchases.
And I like starting my auctions at 99p.
I am now to receive exactly the same ebay benefits that a private seller receives who sells 10 items a year.
In most other businesses customers who generate reasonable turnover for that business are valued.
Over the past year I have also sold on a non-business eBay account using a local youngster to list and process. I paid him a commission so he could “learn” eBay without having to buy stock. It worked well for both of us as he was already selling a little.
At the peak I was selling more through him than through my store account. He was charging postage – I was FREE. He was not a TRS/PowerSeller as I was. I had 10,000 feedback – he had a tenth of mine.
Do discounted invoices and cheaper listings make up for not actually selling anything? Does any kind of status impress buyers to buy from me without my own marketing?
When I had REAL shops I always sold more in the shops where I paid the highest rent so I should certainly be looking at selling on my own website (and be happy to pay the costs there to develop my own site rather than give it to eBay shareholders)
When I started on eBay it was run by people who understand the small seller mentality and needs. It is now firmly a corporation and will never be like that again. Use the good bits of eBay and forget any loyalty – eBay certainly have forgotten their roots and who put them there!
Under the new system it is the item that is “Top Rated” not the seller.
Does this imply that the rosette has a new meaning – “ebay top rated seller” suggests that the item is popular.
It does not suggest anything about the qualities of the seller.
It all suddenly becomes clear!
Hi,I am a seller from Inverness (highlands)
Could someone please tell me how am I supposed to sell items on a 1 day delivery day when Royal Mail only can give us a 48 hr delivery time slot.
I was on the cusp of TRS but I think that this has gone for good!!!!
Ah well.Can see no-one selling to people in the Highlands or the outline islands!.
WARNING: Fishing Emails
Received an email today from eBay [email protected] stating
“Your account still doesn’t meet the eBay Top-rated seller requirements under the UK seller performance standards programme.”
It looks like it is from ebay but it is not. Be careful.
Re the new postage hikes and eBay’s Free shipping insistance. Royal Mail as of 02/04/13 will have priced themselves out of the market with us for UK deliveries, we also use Parcel2go and up until now 90% of our shipments have been through RM but as of this date it will switch the other way and 90% will go via P2g, they charge £2.75 + vat (which you can reclaim if vat registered)plus tracking is included. If you require a signature it will cost you an extra 85p, delivery is 3-5 working days including Saturdays 8am-8pm, you can download your ebay sales directly into their system for shipment processing. We started with Free Shipping a couple of years ago after eBay started pushing it hard, they have been ripping off the sellers for years now and do not take any notice from us at all, they are only driven by the bottom line. They give all to the buyer who contributes nothing and take all from those who pay their wages. We do have our own website aswell and would be grateful for advice on how to promote it properly from anyone that may have that sort of knowledge. We are desperate to get away from eBay but at present it is where most of our revenue comes from.
Hmm, I’m not going to play ball on this one.
1. Offering free postage will hike my ‘selling’ price up to much and make my top line price uncompetitive. I’d have to put our prices up to include the postage plus the FVF we would be then paying on the postage.
2. If Royal Mail cock up and fail to deliver a parcel the next day – who gets it in the neck !?
I’d rather carry on as I am and concentrate on building my website business up. I don’t get hit for 10% on anything I sell on that !
Don’t get me wrong if our revenue from eBay drops I’ll reassess the situation, but for now I ain’t changing nowt.
How do you financially justify free postage on an auction?
You can increase the starting price, but that just bumps up the fee …… oh I understand now …..
It seems that there are VAT accounting issues with this new “Free shipping” fee discount set up as ebay invoices cannot be adjusted against cost entities where fees are paid and so false invoices are sent out if subsequent credits are given against overpayments by buyers.
Currently ebay shipping cost entities can be changed as required but not the product cost entity.
For those who are VAT registered this could present an accounting nightmare if implemented. ebay may be breaking tax laws with this arrangement.
Sorry to butt in, but have you tried thinking about managing your postage costs across your business, i.e. not just on individual items?
You could offer a free slightly slower option, a standard option which is slightly more expensive to offset some of the free cost and the express option could be as expensive as you feel is fair, again offsetting more free cost. This would save you having to pay out more monies to eBay and mean you could be one of those who benefit?
Am I missing something, but I dont think its that bad?
“•Offer at least one Express Delivery option with 24 hour delivery” + “•Offer a 1-day or same-day despatch ”
Does that mean an item bought on Wednesday can arrive Friday and an item on Friday can arrive Tuesday?
Having just checked the current delivery options on items I can see that there is the following option:
Economy Delivery from outside the UK (10 to 22 working days)
If I put my 1st class, 2nd class and Special Delivery options first (all chargeable) with the aforementioned Economy Delivery as FREE further down the list then would this count as offering FREE delivery?
I can’t see many customers wanting to wait 10-22 working days for their purchase and for the rare occasion that a customer would choose this option I would contact them to make sure they were aware of the slow delivery with the hope of them changing their mind.
I guess this would not work and someone will almost instantly shoot down my crack-pot idea in flames within minutes 🙂
Ebay only get away with treating their customers(the sellers) like something on the bottom of their shoe because of lack of serious competition . With the global boom in internet shopping and with ebays growth over the last few years I just cannot understand where the big players are ?Come on Tesco , where is T-Bay, or Mr Branson how about V-Bay.We are all waiting to jump ship so get your fingers out!
Just found the answer:
“If I offer express delivery do I need to complete handling and post the item within the 1-day limit?”
“No. The express delivery time is considered in addition to your handling time which can be either 0 or 1 day. This makes the total time a maximum of 2 days.”
So 24 hour delivery doesn’t actually have to be 24 hour delivery, which is fun.
I haven’t been a trs since the scheme launched. It think its a joke and makes no sense nor did it when it came out. Plus I knew the goal posts would move again and again.
I am not a donkey and I don’t like carrots.
Instead of trs I focused on devloping more business off ebay. At the same time I didn’t login into powerseller ebay forum, which is full off muppetts. The energy off focusing off ebay than focusing on trs has been worth it. We sell higher priced, higher quality goods now. Because we don’t need to focus on ebay short sighted bargain hunters.
Our business is much better as a result of not focusing on trs. We may focus on trs if we feel our off ebay activites are limited. But it doesn’t look it will happen anytime in my lifetime. Effort , stress and hassle are not worth it for people who sell 150-250 feedbacks per month. For a sellers who’s churning out 1000+ sales a month then trs is almost gauranteed. Despite their service being average at best.
What doesnt ebay just make returns 45 days, as paypal policy. Not like a seller ever wins a paypal case anyway
Are ebay them selves scared it will create too many returns ?
No one gives a hoot about what written at the bottom even ebay. Everyone knows you can get your money back as long as you can open a case.
what a joke, insulting really ebay play these games and give an impression of freedom for sellers.
I’ve been trying to work through a few scenarios and can’t make the figures add up. If I’ve got this right, we sell an item for £10.00 + £3.50 P&P and pay 10% FVF. We don’t qualify for TRS as we don’t offer “free” postage and pay so eBay £1.00.
If we sell the same item for £13.50 with “free” P&P we qualify for TRS. We pay the 10% FVF, so £1.35, but get a 15% discount (20p). Hang on a moment… that means we pay eBay £1.15 – an extra 15p for the privilege of being a Top Rated Seller and providing their “excellent fulfilment”? Really? We’re expected to accept that?
we are quite looking forward to not being held to ransom by DSRs though we like to think we would give the same service with out the Dsr knife at our throat ,in reality we wont ,our customer service is bound to suffer, ebay should be bring more into the TRS not alienating many
When does all this start?
Buyers will avoid TRS sellers as that will mean “freepost” seller. They will look elsewhere for a better deal.
TRS will in future mean “avoid me as I am expensive”. This is fantastic news for those without TRS status! 🙂
Oh i have found the date – Autumn 2013
AUTUMN 2013
Key dates
The new eBay Top-rated seller listing-level requirements will apply on eBay.co.uk.
TRS status was the only thing that kept our postage charge as low as it is, we have now just doubled and tripled our postage fees, were going to milk our TRS status for the next 3 months as we will lose it anyhow
As you say puddleglum no point now in subsidising shipping. If you are going to loose TRS anyway just as well bump it up now as DSR’s are no longer important. And by increasing shipping prices you can reduce sale prices making items even cheaper and giving ebay even less in fees. So the overall ebay fee bill remains the same even with loss of TRS discount! 🙂
COME ON GOOGLE ! Please open up a marketplace !
Another benefit of loosing TRS is that you don’t have to have all the claptrap in your listings that you require to cover ebay’s system failings and hoop failings. Listings look much cleaner and more attractive without the claptrap.
Assuming of course that you actually have any listings as ebay have this habit of removing them willy nilly.
For those interested, there have been now 187 answers on the official ebay discussion board and more to come hopefully.
However without a single reply from Ebay who actually started the thread…..
https://community.ebay.co.uk/topic/Business-Seller-News/Excellent-Fulfilment/1700122367
We have not had the private seller update yet. Mark my words when I offer a prediction that private sellers will in their update be offered flat 10p listing fees 24/7 but final value fees will rise to 12% or more. That should calm the frayed nerves of business sellers. And it might encourage some of the “private business” sellers to move to the dark side.
This has been posted on the ebay message board:-
“Simple calculation.
Old system
Annual ebay sales = £40k out of which shipping is £6k.
Fees paid on £34k = £3400 less 10% TRS discount = net £3060
New system
Annual ebay sales = £40k including free postage
Fees paid on £40k = £4000 less 15% TRS discount = net £3400
Don’t offer free shipping
Fees paid on £40k less £6k shipping = £34k at 10% = net £3400 no discount
There is absolutely no difference in fees paid for the seller who has around £40k of total sales. Overall fee rise is £340 whatever.
Now given that there is absolutely no financial benefit of being TRS and in fact I can now raise my shipping fees to a more realistic level probabaly increasing margins as a result by more than £340 and given all the hoops to jump through to achive TRS why bother with all the grief?
Simply have a chill pill and take it easy and forget TRS ever existed. It has no meaning. ebay basically have stuffed themselves!!! We sellers can now relax and forget about all the hoops.”
Offer “free” P & P – Over my dead body!
When I can go into a Post Office and send something truly for free I will offer Free P & P. This is such a rubbish decision by ebay I hardly know where to start.
And what is the point in making a seller offer “Express” delivery for low value items ? Cheapest “Express” delivery by RM is around 6 quid – on a £3.99 Item ?? Get out of here !
They say TRS listings (does that even make any sense) will have ‘increased best match visibility’ ie: more of a best match boost than listings that aren’t TRS.
How much more? Are they talking sh*t just to make us comply?
If everyone stopped chasing TRS standards then the benefits would not matter anyway. In fact to me there are NO benefits to be a TRS unless ego counts.
It’s like if all tobacco advertising was banned all that would happen is companies would not spend ££££ on advertising, thus actually saving money….
If its due to bigger sellers come in, the economic down turn, or ebays changing policies. But one things for sure, ebays hardly worth getting upset or dedicated all of your effort 100% of the time too.
Our sales have been pretty poor for ages. Compared to past records and sales on other platforms.
Margins on ebay are dire and only cheap items sell, Anything of decent quality sells much slower than other platforms.
Is this a way to get around the same day dispatch? If I offer same day dispatch with 2nd class free postage but actually post the next day 1st class it will arrive the same time.
What eBay are doing is making it near impossible for a one man show to run a TRS business on eBay.
In order to dispatch every day it means at least an hour travelling to and from the PO with waiting time in a queue instead of listing on eBay. That’s an extra 3 hours a week not listing on eBay which means less extortionate fees for eBay’s bank account & less sales for sellers as well.
We all know that eBay love the big high st shops with a large workforce & so many feedbacks that even 50 negs a month does no significant damage to their TRS rating. My DSR rating is 100% & I am being penalized for not having the cash to pay several workers to meet the ridiculous requirements for a measly 10% discount on my fees & negligible placings in search results.
TRS will soon mean High Street Stores only.
A 25000 positive feedback score does not mean 100% perfect service.
I see many high feedback scores with 20 or 30 negs a week BUT no replies to the negs from the seller!
What message does that send to buyers?
It says “we are too busy & ignorant to care about your complaint”.
can somebody tell me what this means, i got it today
“We know you work hard to deliver great service to your customers – and to keep the well-deserved benefits associated with your seller performance rating. That’s why we have clear policies in place to make sure the system works as intended, and why we remove any impact from your record when we know a buyer did not adhere to these policies.
We wanted you to know that in the last 1 month – prior to your March performance evaluation now reflected in your Seller Dashboard – we took the following action to benefit your account:
Your Top-rated seller status in the UK programme is in a grace period for 4 months.”
I for one will not change the way I trade on ebay to chase the TRS,
I will still run with 2 working days handling time,
Only offer 2nd class postage, and charge for postage on all my listings,
As I print order pages from Paypal transaction details and you have to copy & paste the item number and then check which service they have bought, this is where mistakes are made so I only run 2nd class,
By charging for postage I save £160.00 per month in additional fees each and every month guaranteed,
Offering free postage will increase an item cost by 20p + additional price of the postage chosen by the buyer, a lot of my lines only sell if I’m the cheapest, so 2nd it stays,
I will not be told how to run my business,
It looks like there will be a lot less TRS sellers so it will become more of a level playing field anyway, especially as it will be a listing by listing basis,
The only way they will get me to use free P&P is to force everyone to do it, it is coming but until then I will keep the £160 per month.
4:12 pm on March 26th, 2013
HI everyone, feel in exactly the same position as you all do. A lot of people have raised the issue that we need to get eBays attention on this matter. I for one know that I wont be able to keep my eBay business running, and definitely not TRS because of these ridiculous changes; even though all of my customers are happy. Therefore, Ive put together an online petition – if everyone could sign it it we may actually be able to get eBays attention and make a difference!
The link is here:
https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/2013-spring-ebay-seller-updates-excellent/
All the best with the business and good luck in the future!
For anyone who reads this and feels the same please promote and share the petition, if we all work together we can really make some ground on this issue!
Cheers, Mike.
I’ve no issues with the free shipping requirement as I’ve offered this for years. I don’t like that it means paying a final value fee on the shipping portion of my prices, but as a low volume, high value item seller it isn’t the end of the world. I greatly sympathise with sellers of lower value items as this constitutes quite a cost for them.
The problem I now face is that I must offer a 24hr shipping service. I’m based in Northern Ireland and can ship up to 30kg for under £12 on a 48hr service. To offer a 24hr service would cost £60 – £100 on the average item I sell! On some items I can not offer a 24hr service at all as no carrier will provide it, due to size & weight constraints for airfreight.
I welcome any efforts by ebay to improve standards maintained by sellers, but greatly resent when ill conceived and poorly developed changes are foisted upon us. There is no doubt that many sellers do not make much of an effort and could vastly improve their listings and service. However it is reprehensible to make changes to the site, that can have such major impact upon sellers whose accounts are maintained in accordance with all requirements and often far exceeding what is these requirements.
To put it simply; it is high time that ebay paid attention to sellers that consistently provide buyers with the expected experience. Encourage all sellers, not just those that under perform. At the very least stop discouraging us and building feelings of resentment towards the site that we provide with so much revenue!
Hi
I know I’m probably a bit late on this post but just have a quick question I hope someone doesn’t mind answering for me perhaps?
I’m only just coming back to eBay after a long time away (great timing with all the RM changes as well!!).
I want to get things set up so that I am ready for becoming a TRS once my volumes are high enough.
In order to be recognised as offering both a 1-day despatch and one Express Delivery option with 24 hour delivery how are these ‘monitored’.
Is it simply by offering these on listings or does a tracking number have to be provided in order to confirm that they have actually been provided?
I plan on using RM48 as a free delivery option with shipping within 24hrs, and then a courier for Express. I won’t get a tracking number with RM48 though so just wanted to check this!
Many thanks in advance!!
Phil