ebay top-rated seller rant

OK,
I knew it was probably coming but with 400+ eligible transactions and 100% feedback (2500+ as buyer seller) I have gotten my 3rd low DSR for shipping costs and will lose my top-seller status and 20% discount at the end of June. What annoys me is that all charges have always been clearly defined and I am in line with both other sellers and the realities of rising shipping and handling costs. What this does allow me to do is quit walking on eggshells when setting S&H, take advantage of the 50 free listings per month, and keep putting up less expensive items (clearing out collection) where my ebay costs will be less.
I have tried the free shipping on some items but where multiple bids will result in combining items (I think I got dinged by one guy who didn't realize I had refunded part of the double shipping he paid before I invoiced him) or where you are dealing with a heavy but low-cost item it just doesn't make sense. It is ridiculous that ebay expects that 99.5% satisfaction (which I know they probably don't but they like to promote this as a great seller tool) especially when you are dealing with a lot of different human beings with varying agendas and opinions.
Thanks for listening. It feels good to vent.
I knew it was probably coming but with 400+ eligible transactions and 100% feedback (2500+ as buyer seller) I have gotten my 3rd low DSR for shipping costs and will lose my top-seller status and 20% discount at the end of June. What annoys me is that all charges have always been clearly defined and I am in line with both other sellers and the realities of rising shipping and handling costs. What this does allow me to do is quit walking on eggshells when setting S&H, take advantage of the 50 free listings per month, and keep putting up less expensive items (clearing out collection) where my ebay costs will be less.
I have tried the free shipping on some items but where multiple bids will result in combining items (I think I got dinged by one guy who didn't realize I had refunded part of the double shipping he paid before I invoiced him) or where you are dealing with a heavy but low-cost item it just doesn't make sense. It is ridiculous that ebay expects that 99.5% satisfaction (which I know they probably don't but they like to promote this as a great seller tool) especially when you are dealing with a lot of different human beings with varying agendas and opinions.
Thanks for listening. It feels good to vent.
0
Comments
Don't let the dingleberries get you down. Ultimately, they are dingleberries.
Bosox1976
I was going to lose my 20% discount and started a thread a couple months ago and found out that a buyer who ended up purchasing 18 items off of me during a 1 month period left 1s by mistake on a couple auctions.
I had to beg for eBay to correct it on top of having a message within the eBay PM system from said buyer saying they never left me 1s or 2s as feedback. eBay could see they said that and it still took 3 reps before it was corrected.
1 other person who left me neutral w/ 1s I told them I would give them a full refund for them to leave me legit feedback (they received item as described within 72 hours of paying but just didn't read the damn auction) and they must have felt bad for screwing me they changed the feedback without wanting a refund.
Fight for it.
F%%%% eBay!
No big deal as I am still getting my 20% discount, but it really sucks that 1 or 2 dingbats, idiots out of hundreds/thousands of satisfied customers can ruin your ratings and cost you money plus future sales are also affected because of lower ratings,lower visibility, ect ect. I would love to meet some of these people face to face.
I complained to ebay that it was my competition screwing with me and identified who left me the 1's , so that is what saved me.
So if you can identify who did it to you , ebay might overlook it , like they did for me.
1 guy left me 3 2's for shipping and all 3's for the other categories and positive feedback. I said the same thing that he is deliberately trying to hurt sellers. I mean come on , how can you leave positive feedback saying "great item" , then leave a 3 for as described. or say slow shipping when the item was shipped the same day it was paid. some people are just miserable and figure they need to make other people miserable.
I have 5 low ratings in 780 transactions for the 3 month period , the other 2 came on shipping of 2.50 on raw cards where shipping costs me 1.75 plus a bubble mailer.
It sounds like you don't sell too much so the 20% discount off final value fees isn't that much money. Then you've got to deduct the money you lost at times on S&H trying to keep the real cheapskate buyers happy. You'd be far better off saying "F" the 20% and raising your S&H to a non-offensive more profitable level. Do the math. How much is the 20%, and divide that by the number of sales. You might only need to add $1 to your S&H to end up making more money than you could have made with the 20%. You could qualify for the 20% again in the future and then you'll get a double bonus.
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<< <i>OK,
I knew it was probably coming but with 400+ eligible transactions and 100% feedback (2500+ as buyer seller) I have gotten my 3rd low DSR for shipping costs and will lose my top-seller status and 20% discount at the end of June. What annoys me is that all charges have always been clearly defined and I am in line with both other sellers and the realities of rising shipping and handling costs. What this does allow me to do is quit walking on eggshells when setting S&H, take advantage of the 50 free listings per month, and keep putting up less expensive items (clearing out collection) where my ebay costs will be less.
I have tried the free shipping on some items but where multiple bids will result in combining items (I think I got dinged by one guy who didn't realize I had refunded part of the double shipping he paid before I invoiced him) or where you are dealing with a heavy but low-cost item it just doesn't make sense. It is ridiculous that ebay expects that 99.5% satisfaction (which I know they probably don't but they like to promote this as a great seller tool) especially when you are dealing with a lot of different human beings with varying agendas and opinions.
Thanks for listening. It feels good to vent. >>
Keeping shipping charges in line isn't always enough. We had our shipping rates at the same as the likes of 4SQs (even slightly lower) and package our items even more securely. But that wasn't enough.
Eventually we realized that we had to lower our shipping costs to be BETTER than the competition while maintaining the same level of quality our customers had gotten used to expecting from us.
Ultimately it's a long run game and don't let a few dings or dents get you down. Maintain your professionalism, keep your quality up, and improve your service regardless of the once in a while negative buyers you run into.
What's your eBay user ID BTW? Would be curious to see your pricing structure.
Cheers >>
We've had similar experiences as well. I never know how/what other Ebay sellers are seeing and doing, so it's nice to see that our respective marketing and distribution teams are on the same page.
I wish I could say the same for us. Unfortunately, we had to downsize and eliminate our QA department altogether, which really put a burden on Human Resources. Luckily, our sales dept has picked up the slack and our bottom line is maintaining.
when i start hallucinating, we'll be back to discuss how things are going for us in Research and Development.
That made my morning!
"Molon Labe"
"Live everyday, don't throw it away"