shipping ratings

[angelski]

Why do sellers have a 'shipping' rating when the cost and shipping time is determined by the carrier we use?  I have no control over the price of shipping, the post office does.  I have no way to change the time it takes for a package to reach the customer.  It seems unfair to use these ratings that are not within our control.  I always ship an item within 2 days of payment.  After that it is out of my hands and yet I'm being rated on that service.

Canadian rates are higher than the states.  International rates from Canada are higher than the states.

I think the shipping rating should be removed from the sellers ratings.

As well, when I ship overseas some packages take months.  I often don't know if the package was received because it disappears from my listings after 60 days.  Can this feature be extended to 90 days?

[reallynicestamps]

You are preaching to the choir. This has been a complaint ever since the Detailed Seller Ratings came in.

It is worth noting that if a Seller is able to upload a tracking number within 24 hours of payment, that she gets an automatic Five Stars for shipping time.

However, tracking is expensive.

On my main ID I sell inexpensive books, mostly paperback. I am willing to ship them by inexpensive LetterMail which is Air Mail to overseas and quite efficient within North America. However, this service is neither trackable nor insurable through the Post Office.

I could use a third party insurer*, but that would add to the shipping cost.

Mostly I self insure, which means adding a few pennies to every shipping charge (or to the asking price of the item)as a virtual insurance premium and using those premiums to refund the very rare loss or damage report. Keeping eBay and Paypal out of it.

The point is that we don't have to follow eBay's guidelines if they do not seem appropriate. It is very important to our buyers that they receive their items promptly. So,no, allowing a longer delivery time would not help. Your buyer would still be complaining. If you sent money to someone in Australia on the first of June, would you be happy if you still had not received it?

Use Air Mail.

Self-insure.

Use Free Shipping for Canadian purchasers. Why? First, Free Shipping means you include the cost of shipping in the asking price of the item.

Which is cheapest:

$10 with $15 shipping

$15 with $10 shipping

$25 with Free Shipping?  Even smart buyers like the last one best. Bonus, most people think the more they pay for something the better it is. Look at sports cars and perfume.

Then, even if you charge the rest of the shipping cost to foreign customers, you get an automatic Five Stars for Shipping Cost. And you pay no shipping FVF on that expensive overseas Air Mail postage.

You don't just have to think outside the box, you have to run the box through a wood chipper and use it to mulch the garden.

*My product line on this ID is higher priced and I do use Hugh Wood Insurance for those.

[reallynicestamps]

Not much you can do about it but, the more items you sell, the less important any given feedback or DSRs are to your account.
A low feedback seller, or more exactly a low volume seller, is very sensitive to low DSRs. A single One Star rating probably caused that 4.3, and the buyer was complaining that he bought in early July only to wait until late August for his book. Did you use Air Mail? If not, was the price difference worth the result?