CANADIAN POWERSELLERS... PREPARE TO LOSE YOUR STATUS IN JULY! DTR RATINGS

[g-manthebossman]

Looks like Ebay is going to ignore the conditions Canadian power sellers face regarding shipping costs and shipping times. As any Canadian seller knows we pay through he nose to use Canada Post compared to fees our American counterparts pay for USPS. In addition shipping times take longer for most packages because they have to cross the border (If you are like me 99% of your sales are USA bound). As a result DTR ratings in shipping time and cost categories are lower for most Canadian power sellers. For example my feedback rating is 99.2% my DTR ratings for item as described and communication are around 4.8-4.9 but my DTR ratings for shipping cost and time are 4.2-4.3 As an average I fall above the 4.5 DTR requirement but as individual categories I fall short on two of them. This has had two effects on my store... #1 I am not qualified to take part in the 1 cent listing sale and in July new rules take effect that say sellers with a lower than 4.5 DTR rating in any category will lose their power seller status!!!! HOW IS THIS FAIR TO CANADIAN POWER SELLERS?

I WELCOME ANY HELP, ADVICE OR CORRECTION TO THESE UNFAIR RULES! AND DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED N THE LOSS OF OUR FEEDBACK RIGHTS THERE GOES THE RATINGS THERE AS WELL BECAUSE BUYERS CAN LEAVE WHATEVER THEY WANT WITHOUT FEAR OF REPRECUSSION FOR UNFAIR TREATMENT TO SELLERS.

[g-manthebossman]

what does that have to do with this i am confused there are a set of rules that powersellers have to follow to retain their staus most are fair but i really have a problem with this new dsr rule coming in in july

[westernstargifts]

Nothing. But it is happening on this board.

[mobilekingking]

I beleive majority of the power seller are going to be having this problem, im new just got a powerseller status last week, but keeping a DSR of 4.5 is very hard unless you are just shipping in Canada, but Majority of our clients are in USA and they recieve item much slower then in canada. If we stop Selling to the US we stop making money, becuause majority of our customers are from the US.

[g-manthebossman]

you got it

[mobilekingking]

I beleive this is one of the worst things ebay can do, I wouldnt be surpirsed if ebay loses tons of sellers. And then the buyers wont have no where to go. Especially when the buyer has evertyhing in control if he hates you he'll screw you nicely.

[snoopwiz]

but keeping a DSR of 4.5 is very hard unless you are just shipping in Canada,

I will respectfully have to disagree with that statement. 90% of what I sell goes to the States, and my ship rates are anywhere from 25-50% higher than what my competition in the U.S. shows yet, I have maintained a 4.8 DSR on shipping almost since the stars inceptions. My 30 day rolling star is at 4.9, sometimes dropping to 4.8.

I am a firm believer that your ship star is directly related to how your buyer feels about the transaction as a whole. If they are pleased with the item. pleased with the communications, pleased with how quickly you prepared and shipped it, odds are, they will NOT ding your ship star. Same holds true if they are unhappy with one or more of the first three stars. They will not only voice their opinion for those, there is also a good chance they WILL ding you across the board. Just my theory of course. Mileage may vary. 🙂

[recped]

Just my theory of course. Mileage may vary. 🙂

I think your theory is very accurate and I also agree maintaining 4.5 is not at all difficult and relative to maintaining 4.8 for the max discount it's VERY easy.

One thing for sure, if you leave eBay simply because you can't keep your powerseller status there are big problems with your business model since the only true advantage to being a powerseller is access to this board, semi-lame phone support and a relative pittance of a discount.

My worst number is for shipping time (4.6) but consider that 60% of my sales are overseas, 38% are to the USA and at BEST I ship only once a week.

[mobilekingking]

Hey Snoopwiz I have looked at your auctions you are selling, which are are high valued items, basically 50 to 100$ or maybe more, while sellers like us who are selling charges are making 2 to 3 $ a charger with so much competition to keep our prices competitive we have to offer regular shipping postage or expidite with tracking, wehre majority pay the cheaper regular postage option, where it does take longer times in the US at times, If Canada Post Had a better value in shipping i bet we could all ship as fast as USPS, but I dont know they is just my theory. my 2 cents basically.

[snoopwiz]

Mobilekingking. I do understand what you are saying and your points are totally valid. However, the reality is that the venue you are using to sell your chargers in will not change to accommodate you. Canada Post will not change to accommodate you. I know eBay Canada has been in talks with Canada Post for a long while now and apparently, there has been no progress. Yes, I would love to see eBay make concessions for Canadian sellers who are obviously disadvantaged however, i just don't see that happening.

If your current business plan does not fit their mould (not the other way around) then you seriously need to re-think things. At the end of the day, or month, or year, if the only ones making money is eBay and Canada Post, with you doing the bulk of the work well, hey, you need to step up to the plate with a better business model. One in which you take home the fruit of your own labours.

I know you work hard, and would like nothing better than to see you and all the others that are putting their hearts and souls into their business, succeed beyond their wildest dreams. But again, you need to take the first steps. Peace.

[dipmicro]

At the end of the day, or month, or year, if the only ones making money is eBay and Canada Post, with you doing the bulk of the work

Funny you say that 🙂 CanadaPost got around $1000 from me last month, eBay around $300 ... But I don't think CP is making too much money of me, because we mostly use lettermail and Light Packet 🙂

[g-manthebossman]

and the abuse of sellers is all set to begin may 20th, 2008

[moltencore]

from what I've seen over the years on this board, recped seems to like to stir things up. I wouldn't take his comments too seriously.
contrarian would be the word.

B-)

I just would like to know how neutrals are counted the same as negatives and how though while I have 1007 positives in the last 12 months, plus 2 neutrals and 1 neg my feedback percentage is calculated using only 701 positives. The new math?

[coxengines]

The new math?

I think this has to do with counting only weekly repeat FB as opposed to total FB.

I only got credit for aprx. 50% of my FB.

Xena

[pickastitch]

In order to keep my DSR's where they need to be, I have worked hard to keep my customers informed that their item is coming from Canada and charge no extra shipping costs. I did receive a neutral from a buyer who recieved their parcel (by air to the US) in 8 business days and complained it was the slowest shipping they had ever encountered. There are times when we can do everything we can, yet the customer will never be satisfied. The human element comes into play here - we will never be able to fully satisfy everyone.

[coxengines]

It's not a perfect world!

I regularly get the "where is my shipment" after 3-4 days even though I have transit times posted in my store and on each and every listing.

Even across the USA (originating from the USA), packages take a week and longer.

Nothing one can do but stay polite:-D

Xena

[pickastitch]

Hi Xena,
Yes, grit your teeth, sound a very sweet email and bang your head against the wall LOL. I think customer service is the biggest factor in any of the transactions - even the rudest people seem to react well to niceness.

[terrym5512]

It's Canadian sellers (or any other seller) that can buy their items for pennies, sell for a buck or 2, ship in an envelope for the cost of a stamp and never have their items go through US/Canadian or International customs. Their items will go anywhere in the world via letter mail max time a week 2 the most (that's to a delivery address somewhere in Siberia) that will be the only ones who will be able to keep up their DSR's.

Any seller who auctions off items that weigh in the pounds, need to get shipped in a box (which costs big Canada Post bucks to ship) and have to go through US & International Customs (and we all know that Customs are jammed packed with anal retentive guys with an authority complex - they only time items go through very fast is if one greases the palm of Canada Post & pays for the more expensive but faster shipping) will eventually get their DSRS lowered a bit.

Anyway, personally, eBay can take away my DSR's and my power seller status, customers can give me negs & neutrals because they happen not to bother to read any at all that is on the listing - I don't really care anymore. We all know eBay only thinks of the money lining their Swiss Bank accounts, raking in big bucks from most of the sellers of which I might add approx. $1,800 a month is from me (which really isn't all that much - but at least it is enough for a mortgage payment) treating sellers like second class citizens, and their customer service reps only give out usless canned information.

We can't do anything about Canada Post shipping rates nor can we do anything about how fast an item gets to the winning bidder.

eBay is the place to make fast easy money, nothing else, it's not a place where one makes long term plans or commitments. Maybe they are doing us a favor and saying in their own little way "out, out you little birds, fly away and make for yourselves a true and viable business for have we not taught you patience, prudence and to be able to withstand blood & bruse from banging ones head upon the wall."

[pierrelebel]

"eBay... not a place where one makes long term plans or commitments."

More experienced sellers may have a different point-of-view. I have been selling on eBay since 1998 (last Century) and my long-term sales/marketing plans have not changed in ten years.

Every year I add about 800 to 900 new customers/collectors, many of whom will continue to purchase from me for years, either through eBay, my website or directly. That's long term planning and it works fine on eBay!

Over ten years, I have seen eBay fees going up (although not as much as the price of gas !), policies have changed, currency values have changed, shipping costs have increased, PayPal fees have gone down (due to high volume), methods of payment have changed, yet... customers/buyers keep coming back for more.

And that is the point of it all, is it not? 😉

PS -I have maintain my PowerSeller status regularly since March 1999 and do not expect a change anytime soon. .

[pest_java]

I'm a Canadian seller.
and i have trouble keeping my DSR for "shipping time" above 4.2
most of my customers are in the US.
US customers are accustomed to receiving items quickly from US sellers.
Something should be done!
i state the time it should take for an item to arrive. and 95% of my items arrive sooner, but still, cant get my "shipping time" DSR up to 4.5

[g-manthebossman]

welcome to the ever growing group of powersellers who are getting screwed by ebay's new feedback systems, this was not well thought out at all. it seems they thought it out as a USA based company not a company that is worldwide in scope!

And yes recped we know you have no problem keeping your up.