Ebay looking to get rid of small sellers?

[Prince Namor]

[The Less Blob]

mess if that's what ebay calls a small seller, we're all !

 

Well, that's the weird thing, when they restricted me to $8K a month 3 or 4 months ago i was also restricted to 90 auctions/fixed listings a month...so unless I was only selling $100+ stuff there was no way on earth I'd get anywhere near $8K. More than half of my sales are $5-$20 items. Honestly, I don't think I ever did more than $4K in a month and that was when I was hurting for money paying two mortgages waiting to close on selling my apartment after buying my house, more like $500-$700 typically, which can come in handy.

[youmechooz]

if you ship it out in the specified ship time, doesn't it automatically give you 5 stars?

[dopy02]

if you ship it out in the specified ship time, doesn't it automatically give you 5 stars?

 

no

if you offer free shipping you automatically get 5 stars for shipping charges

[InvstmntComcSuply]

if you ship it out in the specified ship time, doesn't it automatically give you 5 stars?

 

Per eBay:

"Buyers will not be able to leave a score less than 5 stars for shipping time when:

1 You specified 1-day or shorter handling

2 You uploaded tracking information by the end of the next business day Pacific Time after the buyer's payment clears.

3 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)."

[Point Five]

I have just had my ability to sell on ebay revoked after 10 years with 1300+ perfect feedback (I had a negative a few months ago, but the buyer decided he was a person_who_is_obnoxiously_self-impressed and removed it). I got three slow shippings from the same buyer (2 of the items got delivered before ebay's estimated time for delivery, one was a day or two later) and a 4th from I don't know who. Everything else is fine (descriptions, communications, etc.). I received a warning from ebay a few months ago after the guy left 3 slow shipping reviews, but after being on the phone with a rep, he reassured me it was something that could be fixed. So now, ebay says, even though I have improved, I haven't gotten the slow shipping numbers down to less than 2% of my feedback for the last year, so I'm done. I just haven't sold a ton in the last year, maybe 100+/- transactions (although many of them were over $100). They ignore your overall history.

 

SO, basically, one guy who decides you don't ship fast enough (even if you get the stuff to him before ebay's estimated delivery) can effectively get you kicked off ebay after 10 years. Amazing.

You may not want to hear this, but further reflecting on this... If keeping star ratings above 4.3/etc is the name of the game, you may need to lay off those mystery box auctions. Since I know you I'm sure the value is there on the books you're sending, but it's easy for me to imagine a buyer saying "ehh, 4's across the board" if they didn't get a Hulk 181 or whatever.

 

I agree that it's ridiculous that ebay would ding you given the facts you've laid out.

 

 

It was the slow media shipping (and the 1 star three times from the same buyer) that got me on those (and remember, only one of the packages actually got delivered AFTER ebay's estimated time for delivery!). I only got one "not as described" on those (which is a pretty decent ratio...like 1 in 35 on a mystery box were unhappy? and he was apparently not unhappy on the other two boxes..go figure) actually, the name of the game is avoiding 1s and 2s. I don't think the other stuff matters except for the discount you get, your placement in search results, etc.

 

The key is to not have more than 2% of your feedback in any "star" category consist of 1s or 2s. you can see how one or two disgruntled buyers (of multiple items, in particular) can really kill someone who only sells 10-15 items a month. and comic buyers are easily disgruntled (or are permanently disgruntled to start with)

Gotcha, understood. So just replace everything I said with "You may need to lay off Media Mail shipping."

 

 

It seems like too much ratings risk riding on things that are out of your control.

 

 

[Speedy-D]

So i am not the only one , Ebay is treating me like mess , new policies against me ,defending abusive buyers and thiefs and sadly i am still paying them their comisions.

 

I think Ebay doesn´t want me anymore , i am not the kind of seller bay wants so they are doing everything to discourage me.

 

Looks like they stole some of your letters too!

[youmechooz]

if you ship it out in the specified ship time, doesn't it automatically give you 5 stars?

 

Per eBay:

"Buyers will not be able to leave a score less than 5 stars for shipping time when:

1 You specified 1-day or shorter handling

2 You uploaded tracking information by the end of the next business day Pacific Time after the buyer's payment clears.

3 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)."

OP, if you are able to start selling again, maybe only list something to sell if you can do a 1 day handling time so you can get the automatic 5 rating. do whatever it takes to have someone only be able to rate the item as described part of seller ratings.

[mysterio]

 

It seems like too much ratings risk riding on things that are out of your control.

 

 

This has long been a big problem with eBay. Once they gave ALL the power to buyers this became even more true.

[Mijael.Levy]

We have the power to decide not to buy at ebay , a lot of sellers can be reached via sites or mails .

[Passport Comics]

We have the power to decide not to buy at ebay , a lot of sellers can be reached via sites or mails .

 

Yep, if a seller has their own storefront, this is how you really support them and help them to stay around, not just sticking to EBay where they get to hand over 12-15% of their sale to EBay/PayPal. Goes for any seller, not just myself.

[loadstone]

Is there any way to automatically get 5 stars for any/all of the other categories through meeting some draconian requirements in your listing/sales?

 

Item as described: this one is so subjective I can even understand when selling a graded CGC book people may still not be satisfied with the CGC grading or case condition. Even if you were to severely undergrade the item and state item is PR/FR for a CGC 9.8 it would still technically be "Not as Described". this is pretty much the buyer's primary loophole and safety net.

 

Communication: I've seen where this is sometimes not an option to rate as a buyer. Does this automatically get you 5 stars if you message the seller/buyer and get a response prior to the sale.

 

Shipping time: Does this relate to time between payment and postmarked with tracking or time between payment and item delivered (postage method of choice)? Would 2-day shipping get you an automatic 5 stars?

 

from the sounds of it, the blob, it seems that after reaching some long time membership milestone they expected you to operate at a higher level but saw that your sales were for $5-20 items when they were hoping for $100+ items. were you getting any special discounts on listings that got discontinued when your restrictions took effect? I'm new to ebay selling and it definitely seems like they are more forgiving with newcomers but of course they don't give any discounts. The only thing I've seen is an increase in free listings per month. Perhaps they expect newcomers to be more in the $5-20 range and feel like they get the most fees out of the new sellers but to motivate long time sellers to increase their dollar to listing ratio they start using disincentives to downgrade their accounts and force them into the regular 10% fee.

 

We really do need a "competitive" alternative but how. I would expect Amazon to be that alternative but their fees and long holds on payments to sellers seems like a turnoff. Any other site that comes along and tries to replicate ebay as it was in the early days with low fees, fair feedback, and exposed names will probably result in short term success but once they get big enough, the headaches from claims and open cases, returns, feedback will force them to hire more staff requiring higher payroll costs necessitating a higher fee structure. Is it possible to achieve an ebay level of customer base with a sole focus on just comic books? I know sites like CCL and Mycomicshop that allow you to consign or directly sell already exist but could there be a way of creating a hybridized CCL with individual BIN or auction listings without the headaches of ebay?

 

[mycomicshop]

Automatic 5 star DSRs

 

Automatic 5-star DSRs for free, fast shipping: When you offer free shipping and we know the buyer chose that option, you’ll get an automatic 5-star DSRs for Shipping Cost. If you upload tracking information within one day of receiving cleared payment and your item shows a delivery time of four days from receiving payment, you’ll get an automatic 5-star rating for Ship Time.

 

Automatic 5-star DSR for Communication: When you specify 1 day handling time, upload tracking information within 1 business day, and there is no buyer or seller initiated communications in the eBay messaging system and no requests for contact information - a buyer will be unable to leave a Communications DSR of less than 5. Note: Operational emails such as invoices and invoice requests even if they contain messages added by the buyer or seller, and Best Offer communications are excluded from consideration and you will still qualify for an automatic 5 star DSR for Communication if there is no other communication between buyer and seller.

[InvstmntComcSuply]

The way I see it, with automatic 5 stars, if the buyer feels wronged or is just a nutjob, he is just going to take it out on the other stars.

[Mijael.Levy]

In my opinion Amazon is not the answer , we need a site as good as ebay technologically and design speaking , focused in comics . I am not against the Paypal.

 

My comic Shop and Comicconnect are good alternatives but not for international sellers ... .

[Jiminy_Cricket-migration]

The way I see it, with automatic 5 stars, if the buyer feels wronged or is just a nutjob, he is just going to take it out on the other stars.

 

A few months ago I had a buyer in CA purchase a bunch of moderns. I packed them up real good and mailed (for free) a 12 pound box via media mail, from NJ to CA. The package went from east coast to west coast in only 4 days, to my surprise and delight. These moderns were listed as NM or better (most being unread, in the 9.8 range), and had new bags and boards. I get positive, glowing FB from the guy. I run a report (as I always do) to see if he left less than 5 stars for anything. Since there was 1 day shipping for free and no communication, I get automatic 5 stars for all categories except Item as Described. I found out he left a 4 for that category. I emailed him, asking why, since they were better than NM. His reply...

 

"Everything was great. I just never leave more than 4 stars for all categories cause nobodys perfect. I thought about giving you 3 stars for item as described to make up for the fact that I couldn't leave 4 stars for the other categories, but that didn't seem fair. So I did leave 4 stars for item description."

 

Ummmm, well thanks, I guess.

BBL, you go.

[Sqeggs]

C'mon, folks.

 

The handwriting was on the wall 5 years ago.

 

First the masking of ID's on high dollar transactions made tracking shills difficult.

Next ALL ID's got masked and shill bidding went through the roof.

Then all the horsepuckey about StarThis and StarThat for feedback made it tough indeed to keep on the good side of our eBay overloards.

Finally, everyone was forced to take paypal (and cough up another slice of profit) whether they wanted to or not.

 

Screw 'em. I buy stuff to read, an occasional reference book, and that's it. Haven't listed anything in years and I don't miss it.

 

Walk away.

 

Yep. Did a lot of selling on eBay for a while, but haven't sold anything on there for years.

[krighton]

If Ebay could figure out a way to have all Buyers and No Sellers, I think they'd do it.

[InvstmntComcSuply]

The way I see it, with automatic 5 stars, if the buyer feels wronged or is just a nutjob, he is just going to take it out on the other stars.

 

 

 

"Everything was great. I just never leave more than 4 stars for all categories cause nobodys perfect. I thought about giving you 3 stars for item as described to make up for the fact that I couldn't leave 4 stars for the other categories, but that didn't seem fair. So I did leave 4 stars for item description."

 

 

This qualifies under the nutjob category (thumbs u

[passion4comics]

Selling on EBay is a potential nightmare; always. Buying on EBay is like walking through a minefield. My opinion has changed since reading all of the nightmares on this board. During the Wild West days of EBay where it was based on feedback, unfiltered, unregulated, it was safer than it is now. EBay poofs auctions that were scams. Allows buyer to hold sellers hostage for feedbacks wanting a % of their money returned. Shills are all over. It’s created an environment where you can’t trust anyone.