ebay sellers may want to read this

[maxpower]

I've read this entire thread and have a mixed reaction. I understand the perceived injustice. I do have a question. The people who are banned or the people with 4.8's as an example.... quote their shipping price but not what they charge for each additional item. I think your combined shipping policies may be where your problems come from.

I sold a person 31 cards this week. I charge $2.00 shipping, no matter how many cards you win. My cost to ship those 31 cards with delivery confirmation was $1.94. Many sellers charge up to $1.00 for each additional item. Shipping fees for each additional card are where most sellers problems exist and are the cause for the low ratings. Like I said, I charge a flat $2.00 unless it's a high dollar card and my rating are 5.0 5.0 4.9 4.9 and I RARELY take a loss on shipping. Disclaimer: I do repurpose bubble mailers, top loaders, team bags, etc. and I buy my packaging tape at the dollar store.

Tom

Not sure why you would have a mixed reaction. It's BS, plain and simple.

I charge $2 and I've received 4 low DSRs over the past 3 months. No extra charge for additional cards. You haven't gotten dinged yet, so there's the temptation to feel like you're doing something right and others are doing something wrong. But I speak from personal experience when I say that you can get low DSRs and do absolutely nothing wrong. Feel free to quiz me on all my shipping habits: $2 shipping fee (DC included), new top loaders, taped closed, team bag on the top loader, padded envelope, and ship within 48 hours of payment.

Low DSR buyers are like any other kind of unreasonable buyer... you can do everything right, but eventually you'll run into them. There's no avoiding it.

 

[ChasHawk]

to answer Tom Oates, i charged $2.99 and .50 for additional. point is, if buyer does not agree or like the shipping charges, they should not bid. and again, i was not left negative for any transactions, just low dsr scores which should not affect anything since it is only someones opinion. i got banned based on the opinions of 21 buyers who left low dsr scores for me as well as positive feedback. that makes sense.

just playing devils' adv. here, but if I bought 5 cards from you and you charged me $4.99 s&h.
if I get the mailer and see it cost you $1.47 to ship, that's when a buyer has every right to give a less than 5 DSR

doesn't make eBay's actions right, but I get tired of all this "you knew the shipping charges" BS

 

[maxpower]

Also, I suspect that some buyers here will be silently cheering this development. Perhaps they're the same guys who are leaving sellers unwarranted 1s and 2s.

But I predict that this won't end up saving buyers any money and may end up costing them money. Some sellers will move to a 'Free Ship' model, but will simply add $3 to the price of each Fixed Price listing. Others simply won't list low value items for auction. eBay may be the only game in town, but even a desperate seller won't list items that are going to lose money once shipping is taken into account. It will probably be much more difficult than it already is to find low value cards for anything close to a reasonable price.

 

[Tom Oates]

to answer Tom Oates, i charged $2.99 and .50 for additional. point is, if buyer does not agree or like the shipping charges, they should not bid. and again, i was not left negative for any transactions, just low dsr scores which should not affect anything since it is only someones opinion. i got banned based on the opinions of 21 buyers who left low dsr scores for me as well as positive feedback. that makes sense.

Understood and agreed. I'm not saying it's right or fair. I'm just saying that it is possibly the cause. IMO - your shipping fees are way too high. Using my 31 card example, you would have charged the buyer $17.99. We all know that is not reasonable for a purchase that only cost you $2.00 to ship. You would be making a hefty profit on the shipping. I'm speculating, that is what eBay is trying to crack down on. Even though the buyer agreed to it, you know that they are going to feel cheated and mark you down when they leave feedback. Your shipping policy affects your feedback ratings, plain and simple, right or wrong.

Tom

 

[Tom Oates]

I've read this entire thread and have a mixed reaction. I understand the perceived injustice. I do have a question. The people who are banned or the people with 4.8's as an example.... quote their shipping price but not what they charge for each additional item. I think your combined shipping policies may be where your problems come from.

I sold a person 31 cards this week. I charge $2.00 shipping, no matter how many cards you win. My cost to ship those 31 cards with delivery confirmation was $1.94. Many sellers charge up to $1.00 for each additional item. Shipping fees for each additional card are where most sellers problems exist and are the cause for the low ratings. Like I said, I charge a flat $2.00 unless it's a high dollar card and my rating are 5.0 5.0 4.9 4.9 and I RARELY take a loss on shipping. Disclaimer: I do repurpose bubble mailers, top loaders, team bags, etc. and I buy my packaging tape at the dollar store.

Tom

Not sure why you would have a mixed reaction. It's BS, plain and simple.

I charge $2 and I've received 4 low DSRs over the past 3 months. No extra charge for additional cards. You haven't gotten dinged yet, so there's the temptation to feel like you're doing something right and others are doing something wrong. But I speak from personal experience when I say that you can get low DSRs and do absolutely nothing wrong. Feel free to quiz me on all my shipping habits: $2 shipping fee (DC included), new top loaders, taped closed, team bag on the top loader, padded envelope, and ship within 48 hours of payment.

Low DSR buyers are like any other kind of unreasonable buyer... you can do everything right, but eventually you'll run into them. There's no avoiding it.

It sounds like you are doing everything right and still got the short end of the stick. Your shipping policy sounds like the same as mine and yet our ratings are different. I cannot explain that one. I've been selling on eBay since 1998 and yes, I've received unreasonable negatives. Last March I sold a certificate for a free round of golf at Marriott golf resorts around the world. My shipping terms state 7-10 business days. I shipped in 5 days. The seller left me a negative. eBay doesn't care and won't do anything about it. I'm not trying to climb on a high horse here. I'm just sharing an idea that might explain to some of the people who get bad ratings why it may have happened.

 

[Tom Oates]

to answer Tom Oates, i charged $2.99 and .50 for additional. point is, if buyer does not agree or like the shipping charges, they should not bid. and again, i was not left negative for any transactions, just low dsr scores which should not affect anything since it is only someones opinion. i got banned based on the opinions of 21 buyers who left low dsr scores for me as well as positive feedback. that makes sense.

just playing devils' adv. here, but if I bought 5 cards from you and you charged me $4.99 s&h.
if I get the mailer and see it cost you $1.47 to ship, that's when a buyer has every right to give a less than 5 DSR

doesn't make eBay's actions right, but I get tired of all this "you knew the shipping charges" BS

Also a good point. When a buyer agrees to the shipping fees, they assume quality shipping methods in line with the costs. If I agree to $2.99 shipping, I assume bubble mailer etc. If I receive my card in a PWE with a .42 cent stamp, you bet I'm marking them down even though I agreed to the shipping fees.

Good discussion going on here guys. Sharing different perspectives adds value and knowledge. Especially for the people who are newer to our hobby.

Tom

 

[craiger122003]

To me its plain and simple offer free shipping
When free shipping is offered you automatically get 5 stars
This is what ebay wants and until you do it you will be
subject buyer ratings

 

[bozemanbreaker]

To me its plain and simple offer free shipping
When free shipping is offered you automatically get 5 stars
This is what ebay wants and until you do it you will be
subject buyer ratings

To be clear, ebay's policy is....

You will automatically receive a 5-star shipping time detailed seller rating if:

* You specify 1-day handling.
*You upload U.S. Postal Service, UPS, or FedEx supported tracking information by the end of the next business day* Pacific Time after the buyer's payment clears.
*Delivery Confirmation or tracking shows confirmed delivery 4 business days from when the payment clears—or—within your estimated delivery time if it's less than 4 days (for example, overnight shipping).

In some instances, there may be a delay in processing your shipping details, and buyers may be able to leave you a detailed seller rating for shipping time. If you have met the automatic 5-star shipping time requirements, your rating will be adjusted to 5 stars.

* A business day is a normal weekday. Saturdays, Sundays, and major holidays are not business days.

 

[ChasHawk]

^^ that's for time.

there is a seperate DSR for s&h charges, which is autom. 5 stars if you ship free

 

[joey12508]

there will be less casual sellers on ebay because of the dsr system. i dont think its fair that the seller should bear the whole cost of shipping. i use to sell a lot on ebay but now just once in a while. if you ship in a bubbler mailer, top loader,penny sleeve with dc and charge 2 to 3 dollars for shipping to me thats not to much. jmo. if you own a business or a store then i would agree about the free shipping.

 

[craiger122003]

Thank you Chas

 

[craiger122003]

Also I try to avoid Ebay when selling if at all possible
Soon I bet they want to bill themselves as all free shipping auctions
That way it will end all of the shipping price bitching at the sellers cost

 

[jaderock]

Recently a buyer bought a bunch of different items from my store, around 22, I think. He left positive feedback for 11 of them without leaving any more. Then I noticed he bombed my DSR's and I suddenly had 11 new 1's or 2's (I had 1 from a diff buyer months previous). It's against Ebay policy to leave good feedback but bad DSR's, so I went through the online waste-of-time-help-assistant and then called a week later and got 11 DSR's removed.

Secondly, Ebay's combined shipping can create problems when people buy multiple items from different listings. So if you charge $3 for the first item and .25 for each additional and the buyer buys 2 different items and pays $6 for shipping before you can invoice them for $3.25 for shipping, you can easily forget if you are moving through a good quantity. An honest mistake that can get you low DSRs for shipping. Even if you refund the difference the buyer might not notice and still think he didn't get discounted.

For Ebay to be unaware that people will leave bad DSR's hidden behind good feedback is redorkulous. And as long as whatever you buy does not arrive in a PWE, there should be no penalty for shipping charges under $3. Seriously, should there be THAT much of an issue over less than a dollar to get a buyer to ding your DSR's from 5 to 1? Over 50 or 75 cents?

For a buyer to be aware of the shipping charges BEFORE making a purchase, then receiving his item packed and protected securely in a new bubble mailer with D/C, shipped to his door in a timely fashion, should not be the one to have the power to get a good seller kicked off of Ebay.

I didn't know that you could get those low DSRs removed.
---
As for your combined shipping example, it is 100% accurate! Some people just buy one item and then pay and then see another item and pay again (each time pay full price on shipping). Even after a polite email and a refund on the excess, they probably will not remember especially when you go and leave feedback and the screen says "$3 s/h paid" on both items.
---
It really is a crap shoot on buyers especially if you have a couple that are anal or unreasonable. Just one or two buyers can really screw up those low 1s and 2s....and THAT FULL YEAR for it to DROP OFF is a REAL LONG wait!
---
I don't think "FREE" shipping is the absolute answer, but it certainly cuts the buyer off from leaving a s/h low DSR - but they can still ding you for everything else.

 

[G $MONEY$]

FCB Marketplace!!! We need to make it happen!!! We don't even need to list auctions. Just a markertplace where sellers can list BINs in a "store" and every ones store is searchable by key words.

 

[bozemanbreaker]

This about sums it all up for me guys (note there is some language in this clip)...

[youtube:3ipc9s0q]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsx2vdn7gpY[/youtube:3ipc9s0q]

 

[Lifelongfan]

I had this happen to me as well after 7 years of selling and a whopping 2 negative feedbacks during that time. I respect Chris and the powers that be on these boards and I understand that having Ebay on your side may make financial sense----but I always thought that FCB was started "By Collectors For Collectors". There is always talk on these boards that FCB is a big collecting family--Well when someone or something does harm to your family---You protect family! I had brought up awhile back about wanting this community to help the people who had been kicked off of Ebay---to help establish new feedback---I was told that might offend a certain company.

What makes FCB a really cool place to be is that "The Man" or in this case "The Bay" does'nt dictate---Lets keep it that way!

 

[rsmath]

This is horse shat. Simple to understand that Ebay does not care about sellers. They never have. (...)
Its only a matter of time before Ebay realizes the mess they are creating and then does something stupid again just to make things worse. If there was only some other real competition to Ebay...

As long as EBAY puts out great guidance and has great quarters, I don't think EBAY is going to change what they are doing. It's going to have to hurt them in the financials and affect their stock price for them to try to do anything different than they have.

And I think they can run EBAY into the ground but still be fine as a company because it's PAYPAL in the driver's seat of that company. When the earnings are announced, the analysts seem to want to know not how Ebay auctions did in the quarter, but how was Paypal in the quarter. As long as Paypal is really popular and continues to grow in ecommerce outside-ebay usage, the Ebay company will continue to post higher guidance and beat the estimates.

 

[reljac]

to answer Tom Oates, i charged $2.99 and .50 for additional. point is, if buyer does not agree or like the shipping charges, they should not bid. and again, i was not left negative for any transactions, just low dsr scores which should not affect anything since it is only someones opinion. i got banned based on the opinions of 21 buyers who left low dsr scores for me as well as positive feedback. that makes sense.

just playing devils' adv. here, but if I bought 5 cards from you and you charged me $4.99 s&h.
if I get the mailer and see it cost you $1.47 to ship, that's when a buyer has every right to give a less than 5 DSR

doesn't make eBay's actions right, but I get tired of all this "you knew the shipping charges" BS

First I realize you are playing devils advocate.

But if you read the auction and knew you were going to pay $4.99 shipping and handling then why? You don't know how the seller arrives at those charges.

Personally I spend quite a bit of time packaging each of my items, large scale operations like 4sc probably has staff that assists in packing and have to pay them a salary. Time is not free, nor are the bubble mailers, nor are the hard plastics, nor are the penny sleeves, nor is the ink to print the label, nor is the paper to print the label, nor is the tape to package the item, I cut up cardboard boxes for additional protection and those aren't free either.

In regards to my time packaging said item, gas to take it to the post office, etc. It's not free, I really don't understand why the buyers feel they have right to question shipping pricing, when stated in the auction. I even go as far to state in my auction how that they will be shipped in bubble mailers. And although I allow for 3 days handling time before I ship, I generally stay up late (even though I have a 2 year old and a 1 year old at home) in order to get peoples packages out next day after payment.

I mean the title is shipping and HANDLING Charges
from dictionary.com "3. a. the process by which a commodity is packaged, transported, etc b. ( as modifier ): handling charges"

Yet despite all that I have been dinged on shipping charges (not low DSR, but still not a 5).


Buyers are apparently so ignorant sometimes they think that shipping & HANDLING charges are the same thing as shipping charges and ding your auction accordingly.

 

[nyc3]

Buyers are apparently so ignorant sometimes they think that shipping & HANDLING charges are the same thing as shipping charges and ding your auction accordingly.

And so are sellers who feel the need to tax everything on (at max price and exaggerated of course) in an attempt to make a point and a few cents, in your case dollars. Its quite simple if you cant afford to ship dont sell on ebay and make 55 excuses on why you are making ANY money on shipping.

If you ship 55 packages in one day you made something like $110 dollars IN SHIPPING alone. For something that literally take 10-20 mins at the post office or 5 mins at your house at the computer. But as with most who are nickel and dimming they HATE the ship at home option as they cant charge you for the sandwich on the way to the bank.

If you want to open a shipping business go ahead but you arent you are selling cards on ebay.

 

[elainebenice]

Anyone else block all international buyers due to this? I sell a lot of cards from time to time but I mostly sell larger items that are made to order. I can't offer first class shipping for international orders since people get impatient and ding shipping time. I only ship Priority and am surprised how many people will pay $30-40 for an item that costs about the same, sometimes less. I figured a DSR ding was worth the sale of that item.

Now I blocked all international buyers since I'd rather keep my account active than risk not being able to sell at all. This is a $300-400 loss monthly in sales for me.

yep, I did