US TRS Status, beyond frustrating! Continued Part 2

[threebears63]

Hi all,

I apologize in advance for starting a new thread on the same topic. For some mysterious reason neither of my id's has been able to reply to topics on the discussion board for about three days now, however I discovered that I can use the new topic link, so I am continuing my thread here.

I did call ebay regarding the problem of being penalized for not using tracking on shipments that were not shipped to the US, but were perceived by ebay as being shipped to the US.

I got a lovely girl on the phone, nice, very polite, but clearly without ANY understanding as to how ebay works. (Where do they find these people and why don't they train them properly?)

I clearly and thoroughly explained the problem to her and the first thing she asked was how long was my handling time? I told her it is one business day. She then told me that is why I've lost my TRS badge, it's because my packages are not arriving in the US in one or two business days. Umm...no. First, how would she be able to tell how long it is taking for my packages to arrive, and secondly we are talking about packages that are NOT being shipped to the US.

I spent about 45 minutes on the phone with her, it was clear to me more than once that she was making answers up as we went along, they often made no sense and had very little to do with the problem.

She tried to tell me that one of my customers had no address in Canada registered with ebay. I said that is absolutely impossible, I am holding the invoice in my hand, it was printed directly from the ebay website and it is a Canadian address. After putting me on hold (for the third time) she discovered that there was indeed a Canadian address for this customer. However she told me that both of the customers in question, the one in Canada and the one in the United Kingdom also have US addresses registered.

Obviously this is the crux of the problem, ebay is using the US as the default shipping destination for buyers with more than one address registered, even if the ship to address used is in another country. 

The requirements for US TRS status (badge, boost and discount) is that 90% of the items SHIPPED TO THE US have tracking uploaded in the required handling time. So why can't ebay tell where the package is being shipped?  I print the invoice, they supply the address, I get paid through PayPal (owned by ebay) the invoice on PayPal has the same address listed, so why doesn't this information register in whatever computer program they are using to follow tracking requirements?

Anyway, after too much time trying to get help from the CS rep I told her simply, I want my TRS badge and boost in search back, and if you can't help me please put me through to your supervisor. On hold again, then I was told no one was available and someone would get back to me within 24 hours. The next day I got a fifteen second phone call, and was told that she would pass it on to the technical department.

The next day I got this oh so helpful email:

Dear Heather,

Thanks for contacting eBay in regard to the Top Rated Seal which is not appearing on most of your listings. I'm happy to tell you more about the eBay Top-rated seller program.

Top-rated sellers enjoy a number of privileges and benefits including:
-- Recognition on your Feedback profile
-- United Parcel Service (UPS) discounts
-- Improved search standing for fixed price listings in Best Match search results
-- 20% discount on final value fees (only for listings that include 1-day handling and a minimum 14-day return policy with a money-back option)
-- A seal on qualified listing pages (only for listings that include 1-day handling and a minimum 14-day return policy with a money-back option)

To learn more about becoming a Top-rated seller:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/top-rated.html

If you are confident that your listings are qualified to have a Top Rated Seal, please let know so we can have our technical team check on this.

I hope this is helpful and wish you all the best on eBay in the future.

Sincerely,

eBay

Gee....thanks!

I will try to be online at one tomorrow and bring it up at the board hour (thanks for the suggestion PJ). I am not however holding out much hope for a solution, I think they like things a bit skewed around here.

Heather

[Anonymous]

I listed my items on eBay.com and I kept receiving message saying that I need to upgrade my listings in order to keep my TRSs.  Unfortunately I may lose my TRS soon as I absoutely refused to offer a 14-day returns as all my items are very easily copyability.

eBay should include any items such as photos, negatives, slides, transparencies in eBay;s policy that they cannot be accepted for 14-day returns, same as panties, earrings, etc.

It is insane that eBay thinks we would sell any items and then they can copy them and then return for refund?  No thanks to eBay! 

[recped]

Unfortunately I may lose my TRS soon as I absoutely refused to offer a 14-day returns as all my items are very easily copyability.

Lots of sellers resisted offering returns, almost all who did have not seen ANY increase in returns and that includes the obvious things that can be copied (music, movies etc.).

This is 2013, you hardly need to buy something have it shipped to you, copy and then pay to send it back when you can find just about anything you want online that you can download for free. In any event if a buyer wanted to do this they only need to file a Not As Described claim which completely negates your "no returns" policy.

I sell records and cd's, I offer 14 day returns (always have offered at least 7 days) and for the past two years I've offered to pay return shipping.......My 14th year on eBay and still I have not had one single return except for a few where I sent the wrong items or completely screwed up the grading in the description.

Buyers actually want stuff, they are not interested in playing return games just for the sake of it.

[froogal_electronic_parts_and_overstock]

I like the canned response. While consciously CS are not trying to work themselves out of a job, that's just what they are doing. Whether you are overworked, or untrained or whatever, when you hit F8 or whatever hot key to send a canned response, you show that you are no better than a computer..... and much more expensive.

I gave up on TRS for the US. To try and keep up with Paypal not linking shipping info to ebay and echeques not being notified by email, the cost of tracked items, etc. etc. etc. 

While ebay is the only game in town, they are showing how shoddy of a company they are with outsourcing and poor training of customer service, numerous glitches and more.