I just had to laugh at a ebay rep on the phone about the Top Rated Seller requirements..

MinorLeagueSource · December 22, 2009 1:03PM

So I was wondering why I'm not a top rated seller?? So I couldnt figure it out on my own so I decided to call them.

I get a rep on the phone & she starts with my dashboard. She tells me its an avg of 12 months. Shes tells me I'm not qualified because my shipping time is at 72%. I go ok so what does that mean?? She said that 3 people out of 417 buyers rated me a 2 on shipping.

I said only 3?? Thats right 3 of my 417 transactions for the year!!!!!

She said yes thats why. I said when was it? She said in May. I then told her I was on vacation then & I told my buyers I wouldnt be able to ship to I returned. She said they still left 2's.

Then she tells me that I wouldnt be qualified for a top rated seller til May. I said I have had 4601 transactions & only one neg. The only neg is a buyer who I sent the same card to 3 times, then a whole ML set (with same card in it) & a full refund. The card was $3.65. He also recieved it twice because I sent it with del conf. With a 100% positive rating now.

She then explains to me a person with 100 feeback can be top rated. Then after she gave her explanation I laughed at her. I told her again ebay has no clue. Then I said thanks for giving me a holiday chuckle.

I just dont get ebay????

DrJ · December 22, 2009 1:10PM

Typical big business which is run by policy and procedure and not common sense. She couldn't help you out if she wanted as it is against the company "rules".

DrLou · December 22, 2009 1:10PM

C'mon, clearly you should have forgone your vacation to meet the Top Rated Seller standards

vladguerrero · December 22, 2009 1:17PM

Ebay has never invested in their people and will continue to put it off until they have to...

MULLINS5 · December 22, 2009 1:18PM

I'm a powerseller

earned that distinction at around 400 feedback...although I am very sore in certain areas of my body

storm888 · December 22, 2009 1:18PM

ecrater.com + some click-ads = EBAY is redundant.

hammered · December 22, 2009 1:49PM

You don't want to be a top rated seller, trust me.
If the Ebay gods ever bestow me with the honor, I'll try to get it removed.

bbuckner22 · December 22, 2009 2:01PM

Had the same exact conversation with Ebay about a week ago. I have over 10,000 transactions in the past year, no negs, and all high DSR's. But, since 4 people left lower than 4 stars on shipping time (since when do sellers have any control over how slow the post office is?) I am not considered a top rated seller either. They are amusing, except when I have to pay them their fees every month.

VintageCardLover · December 22, 2009 3:46PM

while you may bash the top rated seller/ power seller distinction. Im happy to get the 20% savings off my invoice, rather the money in my pocket than theirs. Also you get more visibility in the rankings and searches, ive noticed selling items for more than I should (buy it nows with best offers) I cant complain about the program.

thedutymon · December 22, 2009 8:22PM

<< while you may bash the top rated seller/ power seller distinction. Im happy to get the 20% savings off my invoice, rather the money in my pocket than theirs. Also you get more visibility in the rankings and searches, ive noticed selling items for more than I should (buy it nows with best offers) I cant complain about the program. >>

Morning,
I had my Top Rated Seller distinction removed recently (Three weeks ago) because 4 Buyers recently dinged my Shipping (Had an issue with Paypal notification of payments, gave the items for Free/Shipped for Free, the A$$wipes still dinged my shipping because it took 7-14 days, if I could figure out who did it, they would be on my BBL), out of 5000 transactions. KMA E-bay, I am still a Powerseller and get the 20% discount, and have had the best December I have ever had Sales wise, so keep your Top Rated Seller BS.

Neil

lsutigers1973 · December 22, 2009 10:42PM

My shipping charges DSR was at 4.8 for a long time when the others were at 4.9 or 5. That 4.8 kept me from getting the PS status and the 20% discount for a long time. All my items have free shipping.

VintageCardLover · December 22, 2009 11:22PM

the free shipping mentality is a waste of time. Or do your raise the price on the item to cover the cost? Doing that, Ebay gets more in their pocket via fees.

lsutigers1973 · December 22, 2009 11:38PM

<< the free shipping mentality is a waste of time. Or do your raise the price on the item to cover the cost? Doing that, Ebay gets more in their pocket via fees. >>

Exactly, but now that I have the PS status my fees are 20% less. I also list my BIN's OBO at a higher price. Most of the crap I actual sell are $5-10 cards with BIN OBO at $24.99. Eventually someone comes along and offers me $10-15.

Bunker · December 22, 2009 11:41PM

<< You don't want to be a top rated seller, trust me.
If the Ebay gods ever bestow me with the honor, I'll try to get it removed. >>

I am not a Top Rated Seller or a Power Seller, but I am curious as to why you would not want to get a 20% discount?

bbuckner22 · December 23, 2009 12:04AM

Even though I'm not a top rated seller, I'm still getting 20% off of the fees. The DSR concept is ridiculous anyway...gotta wonder when someone offers free shipping and he's still not at 5.0

hammered · December 23, 2009 12:33AM

<< 

<< You don't want to be a top rated seller, trust me.
If the Ebay gods ever bestow me with the honor, I'll try to get it removed. >>

I am not a Top Rated Seller or a Power Seller, but I am curious as to why you would not want to get a 20% discount? >>

This is my opinion only and it's difficult to articulate. But from my perspective, the TRS program is designed to recognize the big seller on ebay and that is a group to which I don't care to belong. If I was selling iPods or cell phones, then yes I'd want the designation by my name - because it indicates (often wrongly) that the buyer can bid with more confidence.

But in the area of sports collectibles, it is the smaller seller that often offers the unique items. It is the small seller that lists his father's old mint Topps sets he found in the closet. And it is with that type of seller that I do 95% of my ebay shopping. TRS seems to be another attempt by Ebay to squeeze them out.

Many TRSs who carry a large inventory do not sell what I'm looking for. I don't buy cards from TRSs who carry an inventory of 10,000 ninety-nine cent cards.

I'm not knocking anyone who has earned the TRS, it's just not a route I want to take. And no, I'm not bitter for not getting it. I do have a successful selling history that goes back to 1999. And on the type of items I sell, I can't imagine the TRS helping me make sales.

As for the discount, sure another 20% would be nice. But I wouldn't alter my selling practice to get it. I'm happy with Bing, ebay bucks, and other discounts I've taken advantage of. You can keep the TRS.

Again, just my personal preference.

tedh111 · December 23, 2009 12:51AM

<< ecrater.com + some click-ads = EBAY is redundant. >>

Storm, it is really not that easy at all for sportscard sellers. I have had my site for over a year, I spend about $30 per day on adwords, i get about 200-300 visitors a day, and my sales have not even come close to what i was doing with my ebay store before I closed it. Card buyers, esepcially serious ones, are very much tied to ebay to do the majority of their card buying.

thedutymon · December 23, 2009 1:20AM

<< 

<< 

<< You don't want to be a top rated seller, trust me.
If the Ebay gods ever bestow me with the honor, I'll try to get it removed. >>

I am not a Top Rated Seller or a Power Seller, but I am curious as to why you would not want to get a 20% discount? >>

This is my opinion only and it's difficult to articulate. But from my perspective, the TRS program is designed to recognize the big seller on ebay and that is a group to which I don't care to belong. If I was selling iPods or cell phones, then yes I'd want the designation by my name - because it indicates (often wrongly) that the buyer can bid with more confidence.

But in the area of sports collectibles, it is the smaller seller that often offers the unique items. It is the small seller that lists his father's old mint Topps sets he found in the closet. And it is with that type of seller that I do 95% of my ebay shopping. TSR seems to be another attempt by Ebay to squeeze them out.

Many TSRs who carry a large inventory do not sell what I'm looking for. I don't buy cards from TSRs who carry an inventory of 10,000 ninety-nine cent cards.

I'm not knocking anyone who has earned the TSR, it's just not a route I want to take. And no, I'm not bitter for not getting it. I do have a successful selling history that goes back to 1999. And on the type of items I sell, I can't imagine the TSR helping me make sales.

As for the discount, sure another 20% would be nice. But I wouldn't alter my selling practice to get it. I'm happy with Bing, ebay bucks, and other discounts I've taken advantage of. You can keep the TSR.

Again, just my personal preference. >>

Morning,

I agree with everything that hammered says about Not wanting to be percieved by my Buyers as some Big Time Dealer with 10,000 items. 60 % of my customers are repeat business and they want to buy from somebody that they have confidence, an ongoing, personal relationship with, by somebody who treats them well and treats them like an individual. So when E-bay took away my TRS, so what, and bottom line or clarification at least, you don't have to be a TRS to get the discount, I am only a PowerSeller Only and consistently get 20 % off my invoices.

As we all know the whole Shipping DSR's thing is laughable beyond belief, Free shipping gets you below 5's...Whatever!!! 3-4 below perfect, out of 5 or 10 thousand transactions gets you booted out of their TRS program for 12 months!!
For that, Thank You E-bay....solved my problem of how to get out of it!!!!

Yeehah

Neil

thedutymon · December 23, 2009 1:22AM

storm888 · December 23, 2009 2:56AM

<< 

<< ecrater.com + some click-ads = EBAY is redundant. >>

Storm, it is really not that easy at all for sportscard sellers. I have had my site for over a year, I spend about $30 per day on adwords, i get about 200-300 visitors a day, and my sales have not even come close to what i was doing with my ebay store before I closed it. Card buyers, especially serious ones, are very much tied to ebay to do the majority of their card buying. >>

//////////////////

$900 a month is an awful lot to spend, w/o getting good results.

It is VERY true that many card-buyers are "married" to EBAY. That
marriage can be chipped away at, but it is NOT easy.

Only a tiny portion of my ecrater experience has been with cards.
Other collectible items and general merch DO work much better than
cards on ecrater.

Pricing, obviously, is also very important.

.............

You note that "...I have had my site for over a year...".

Is the "site" an ecrater store, OR a free-standing site?

The indexing by google of an ecrater store is done by
a substantially different criteria than are sites that have
been independently SEOd. The google-checkout partnership
with ecrater makes a BIG difference in how search results
are returned.

Google also still seems to disadvantage ecrater listings that
offer "free" shipping.

...................

ecrater is NOT a perfect solution, but it is ONE alternative.
It is labor intensive, but the experience is MUCH less
stressful than is dealing with EBAY.

...........................

mtcards · December 23, 2009 3:24AM

Ebay has confused the populace of ebay with the terms "Powerseller", "Top Rated", "DSR's", "12 Month Feedback" and other nonsense which does nothing to show the better sellers at all. I have seen just as many Powersellers that are con artists as those who are not. Its a bunch of nonsense that ebay does to try and make you think that they are doing something for YOU.

stown · December 23, 2009 8:35AM

If you don't like their rules, don't play their game.

Gosh, is it really just that simple?!?!

swartz1 · December 24, 2009 8:16AM

many people complain, and yet keep going back...

in the grand scheme...not a big deal...

but for the love of ___ dont offer free shipping...regardless of what happens...

bobbyw8469 · June 25, 2010 9:22AM

lol..is losing TRS a big deal??

diamondman · June 25, 2010 9:42AM

I just lost my TRS all because of shipping time even though I ship 5 days a week and usually within 24 hours of receiving payment.
I think one of the low ratings came from a newbie who paid me with e-check, and thought I should ship before the check cleared.

So today I sharpened my dog's teeth and sicked him on the postman for good measure, that will teach the post office for taking to long to deliver.

and for the newbie I sent him a bag of apples with razor blades inserted in the apples. please take a big bite.

so I am happy today got my meds and beer and then called a couple girls to see what they want to trade for beers and a couple pills.
Party time

JHS5120 · June 25, 2010 10:15AM

After reading this thread I kind of feel bad. I just became a TRS and my feedback is 192 and I have a 4.7 shipping time. Sorry, but YAY for me!! lol

Boopotts · June 25, 2010 10:33AM

<< After reading this thread I kind of feel bad. I just became a TRS and my feedback is 192 and I have a 4.7 shipping time. Sorry, but YAY for me!! lol >>

You'll notice the TSR thing will come and go. I have I think a 5,5,5,4.9 rating and that doesn't qualify me for the TSR, although I've caught it for a week or so a couple of times in the past when my DSR scores weren't as high.

The people who care about this stuff are either a) people who do exceptionally high volume, or b) the people who used to get motivated in 2nd grade by the prospect of getting gold stars put on their assignments by their teachers. I don't fall into either camp, so I could give a flying fondue.

JHS5120 · June 25, 2010 10:40AM

<< 

<< After reading this thread I kind of feel bad. I just became a TRS and my feedback is 192 and I have a 4.7 shipping time. Sorry, but YAY for me!! lol >>

You'll notice the TSR thing will come and go. I have I think a 5,5,5,4.9 rating and that doesn't qualify me for the TSR, although I've caught it for a week or so a couple of times in the past when my DSR scores weren't as high.

The people who care about this stuff are either a) people who do exceptionally high volume, or b) the people who used to get motivated in 2nd grade by the prospect of getting gold stars put on their assignments by their teachers. I don't fall into either camp, so I could give a flying fondue. >>

WHOSE GIVING OUT GOLD STARS?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

bobbyw8469 · June 25, 2010 11:25AM

<< After reading this thread I kind of feel bad. I just became a TRS and my feedback is 192 and I have a 4.7 shipping time. Sorry, but YAY for me!! lol >>

Don't worry! You won't have it long...lol!

Also, I think the main benefit is an extra 20% off fees.......no TRS badge.....no 20% off!

41GoudeyGuy · November 3, 2010 1:51PM

My turn to gripe. Today I had a seller leave me 8 separate 1 star ratings for shipping costs. Apparently he feels that $6 to ship 9 slabbed cards insured for $200 is too much to pay. Now I get screwed out of my 20% discount because of one idiot.

Anybody have ebay's TSR phone number? I hate the idea of losing that 20% discount (which works out to over $200/month for me) because of one idiot.

bbuckner22 · November 3, 2010 2:02PM

I'm going to jump in too, had one buyer who left me multiple low DSR's on shipping costs. So I lose the top rated seller status that I can give a rats *ss about, except for it'll cost me about $500-600 a month more in fees. I'm sure it was the guy who complained to me that he had to pay for shipping since he bought quite a few cards.

I just had to laugh at a ebay rep on the phone about the Top Rated Seller requirements..

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