On the other hand (I wanted to add), what other "carrots" do they have for us these days? It seems to me that for even the best, most diligent, most careful smaller sellers, its 95% stick, 5% carrot -- and they snatch that carrot away pretty darn quickly if you make just a couple of minor, even inadvertent, mistakes.
I'm always keenly aware now that with my rather low volume (not necessarily low dollar volume, just low # of transactions), I could go from 0 defects, TRS, 100% positive FB, almost 5 stars across the board, with 7 years of continuous selling on eBay, to no TRS, below standard status, possibly with restrictions, and drop to near the bottom of the barrel, with just 5 (for TRS) to 8 different "defective" transactions over a whole year.
At the moment, in my own situation that TRS discount is critically important because it helps fund the shipping subsidies or free shipping I provide to my buyers, which in turn help to boost sales. It probably also gives me decent search placement (I'm guessing). Once it's gone, selling would become a lot more difficult, visibility and placement would slip, sales would probably drop, and recovering the same status again might never happen for the likes of me. It would be a cascading downward fall, no thanks to eBay. I'm not a natural worrier, but the fact that some of the parameters are out of my direct control makes the whole current eBay punishment system a constant concern.
I hope you can claw your way back up the TRS slope again soon!
