ebay changing again for sellers

stevek

Yea, like anyone is gonna have a 4.9 on shipping? - I doubt it. I only have a 4.8 and do everything perfectly - very low shipping rates, and I still only have a 4.8 - ridiculous. why not offer some "reasonable" goal for a 20% discount? But that's ebay.....Oh well.

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Seller Update: confident buyers, more seller rewards
We're working hard to give sellers the most vibrant marketplace on the Internet. Towards this end, we're making changes to improve the eBay experience for sellers and buyers and some of these changes may impact your selling.

Rewards for sellers with high buyer satisfaction.
You're delivering great buyer experiences and we're taking our commitment to reward sellers to new levels:
PowerSellers
20% Discounts for 4.9 DSRs
New PowerSeller Diamond level
Additional UPS discounts--the more you list, the bigger your discount
"Grandfathering" current PowerSellers with improved DSRs

All Sellers
Improved PayPal seller protection for all US sellers registered on eBay.com
Advantage in Best Match search results for more sellers
Confident, satisfied buyers: We're making changes to help ensure buyers enjoy shopping on eBay and can buy with confidence--which will make the marketplace more robust for sellers.

Buyer protection--"Pay with PayPal and you're covered." See eligibility.

Making eBay safer: New safety measures include keeping member email addresses anonymous, controls on user-generated "active" content, stronger verification of new sellers, and verifying the identity of sellers listing from an unrecognized computer.

Better shopping experience: redesigned item page with bigger pictures, countdown timer, more merchandise, and sellers' critical item information right upfront.
For more details on how these changes affect your selling, watch a webcast replay of the keynote speech from eBay Live!, and read recent announcements from eBay executives.

ndleo

Ebay is acting like a true monopoly, which means that you will only see small incremental changes to the current issues. They have no incentive to be proactive since they are basically bidding against themselves.

Until their auction business drops significantly (which may actually be in their business plan) or another serious competitor shows us, Ebay will only give the sellers crumbs.

envoy98

just beg buyers for a 5.0 rating in your auctino description, then via email after they win the auction, then again when the item is dlvd. My wife buys lots of scrapbooking stuff and baby clothes and she gets the "please leave us 5 stars or nothing at all" emails, all the time.

ndleo

Buyer may take that at as a 5 or 0.

dontippet

<< <i>Buyer may take that at as a 5 or 0. >>



You can't leave 0. 1 is the lowest.

Leiascards

Problem is like with feedback if you beg for it you are liable to get just the opposite of what you want.

stevek

<< <i>Problem is like with feedback if you beg for it you are liable to get just the opposite of what you want. >>



That's a good point, and besides I think it detracts from the auction seeing all that "begging" for 5 stars. Buyers who are not interested and don't care about the selling situation on ebay, and aren't familiar with the rules changes, must wonder what the heck is going on with some sellers....I want my potential buyers focusing on the product in my auctions, not wondering WTF is this guy talking about with the 5 stars thing.

Leiascards

<< <i>

<< <i>Problem is like with feedback if you beg for it you are liable to get just the opposite of what you want. >>



That's a good point, and besides I think it detracts from the auction seeing all that "begging" for 5 stars. Buyers who are not interested and don't care about the selling situation on ebay, and aren't familiar with the rules changes, must wonder what the heck is going on with some sellers....I want my potential buyers focusing on the product in my auctions, not wondering WTF is this guy talking about with the 5 stars thing. >>



Its like I always tell my employees when they start making excuses if service is slow or something.. The customers just want something to eat they really could care less about reasons why. Making up excuses only makes the situation worse.

Allen

I have 4.9/4.9/4.9/4.8

Yankeeefan

I had a 4.8 for shipping and handling charges about 2 weeks ago. It's now done to 4.6... the problem is, my shipping was FREE.

Go figure...

Leiascards

It has been shown in several studies that free shipping usually ends up costing the seller more. A seller would benefit more by raising his shipping 25 to 50 cents instead of trying for the % discounts. If you get too high though you start running the risk of getting 1 and 2s in the DSR.

Biggest problem with the DSR is Ebay is telling buyers one thing and telling sellers another about their meaning.

thenavarro

My ratings are at:

4.9
4.9
4.9
4.9

I typically charge $5-$15 shipping on everything and always ship Priority Mail and most of the time use the Priority Mail flat rate envelopes and boxes. I generally get my items out no later than the next day after payment and quite frequently the same day. (that's just something I can do because I only live about a mile and a half away from where I work and the post office is between us and I can make a quick post office trip as stress relief) A lot of my customers are repeat buyers and they know that sometimes I make a few bucks on shipping and sometimes I lose a few bucks on shipping so the costs typically wash out in the end. Thankfully, I haven't had any complaints when I only sell one card and charge them $5.00. Probably because it gets there quickly, arrives in a Priority Mail flat rate envelope, packed properly and includes delivery confirmation (which is free if you use paypal shipping).

Sometimes, if I'm in a good mood and they spend over $1,000, I may only charge $5.00 to ship and I'll send it out Express Mail the same day and they get it the day after they paid for it. That's reserved for my good customers though, I lose about $15-20 that way on shipping and insurance, BUT, I gain it back tenfold in repeat business and happy customers and good will. Sometimes you have to give up some short time dollars to make long term dollars.

Mike