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.

[cgcgraded]

There are plenty of Canadian sellers who do very well in competition with American (and other) sellers.

All sellers who target US buyers face the same hurdles, there is nothing particularly onerous to Canadian sellers over sellers from other countries.

recped, I agree %100.

eBay is not helping Canadian sellers to overcome higher ship rates, so good amount of Canadian sellers must be performing well despite the "harsh conditions".

dipmicro, I agree %100 here as well.

From what I'm reading we all agree. There are obstacles that we need to overcome to be successful to sell in the USA. Unfortunately problems beyond our control are highlighted in the new DSR system. All to do with shipping. I am not complaining as much as I am explaining that "it is not an even playing field".
Maybe the DSR rating could be more wisely and accurately used if it were just based on sales in our own country.
I can dream I guess.

Andrew

[g-manthebossman]

wow i am glad this topic has struck a nerve, my intention was not to whine but to show the problem with using the dsr rating to determine power seller status, your right when you say that under harsh conditions i am doing well. problem is i have had to work very hard to get my power seller rating and i have earned every bit of it but now it is being made even harder and when does a Canadian say enough is enough. the product i sell is rather heavy (minimum 1.5 pounds) thus it is expensive to ship. due the the anal retentive customs officials who think a bag of dirt may be a threat to their national security the get further delays when going through inspection. neither of these conditions is within my control. I offer my products to my Canadian brothers and sisters but unfortunately it appears that it is not as appealing to them as it is to our southern friends, I have been innovative with my product and this is the reason i have been successful with it, in three short years i am at the top of the game with my competitors in gross volume sales i believe out of about 10-15 people offering gold pay dirt online i am 1st or 2nd in sales volume even though my product is priced on the high end. this has everything to do with innovation and marketing and quality. so a guess all i am saying is that i would like a playing field that takes all things to account and rewards sellers for a great product and great sales records and great feedback. these extra parameters are only going to be a dis-service to sellers who offer items similar in weight, and s/h costs to mine. if you can pack you wares in an envelope and it is light (ie... Lp records) than this will have little or no effect on you. so RECPED please look at the larger picture before passing judgement and telling people they should move out of the country (offensive) and to those who support my veiws i encourage you to write ebay and let them know. I have.

[ameroindustries]

Ya for sure the rateings are a stupid system and not even fair to canadian powersellers . Move to america LOLOLOL no thanks prolly get hit with the stupid stick on the way over .

I view ebay as a temporary occupation . At the rate of inflation with mailing and ebay's constant raises the future dont look to bright . Not to mention all the problems in the world / heavy handed Corporate government Control / financial collapse / black ops / war with iran / world wide famine (dont think its not coming to north america) ect ect . OH the future just looks peachy 😄

[dipmicro]

I stubmled upon this website and would like to share. This is not really related to the topic, but there were some talks about moving to US because they have cheaper postal system, so here is bunch of reasons why NOT to move to US to maintan quality of life ...

http://www.vermontcanada.org/reasons.html

My personal favourite:

In 2003 The U.S. incarcerated 715 citizens per 100,000 of population, Canada 116.

... tells you something

[westernstargifts]

Thanks for posting that dipmicro.

Makes you proud to be Canadian.:-)

[momoftwingles2]

Hi Everyone,

I know that I'm just a little power seller on this big board, but I do feel that this discussion has morphed into American bashing and/or United States bashing.

I would hope that we would all remember that there are Americans that live in Canada...who are now dual citizens of both country and proud of both!

Please keep this in mind. I can assure you that you wouldn't appreciate Americans bashing Canadians and/or Canada as you are proud of your country and heritage.

And, I'm proud of mine...being an American and a Canadian citizen. I have the best of both worlds.

The United States has gone through a rough 7 years. And, please remember that when you have unkind thoughts of Americans...that it's really not the American people in general that you are lashing out at...but more than likely the Bush administration.

And, beings that I am American...I vote in their elections as well and I'm PROUD TO SAY...that I've never voted for any Bush. Hopefully there will be a change for the good come November of this year!

I just ask that we all consider the feelings of all on this board! I've lived here in lovely northern Saskatchewan since the early 90's. It's my home. But, all of my family is still in the States!

Think positive! Let's be kind and reread what we write on this board before hitting *Post Message*.

Just my 2 cents worth!

Susan
momoftwingles2

[dipmicro]

Hi MomOfTwingles, sorry for bashing.

Someone mentioned company called unitedship.ca or something. I checked them out and they require 200 packages a shipment, but on their website they promised to provide a contact to their local big shipper who you can "piggyback" to. I tried to contact them to ask who I can "piggyback" to in my area, but they did not bother to respond.

How many PowerSellers are looking for a way to ship via USPS? If there is enough interest in certain geographics (e.g. I am in GTA), sellers in that geographic can form a non-profit group, few of them will provide a drop-off location, somebody can collect the packages once or twice a week, if there is enough volume - even daily from these locations. Some would join the group as shippers and they would pay into the pool/fund little above the USPS rate, others would join as providers (shippers, brokers, etc) and they would get paid from the pool/fund for their service. The only thing that is needed is enough interest, little organization and figuring out the legal form of such venture.

[bare_bright]

NON PROFIT it's bad enough lol

What do you mean by NON PROFIT

[g-manthebossman]

I agree with momo sometimes the quagmire that the bush administration has caused can morph into american bashing and i hope that this thread does not become that this was simply started to underline the fact that ebay needs to pay more attention to the international flavor of the site.

dipmicro i live in the vancouver area of b.c. and would love to join a group like you have described, please pm me if you should find one out on the west coast.

[dipmicro]

It was just a loose thought I blurped out. Let me elaborate before we start PMs. I might even be out of my mind.

Example:

1. Member A joins the group. He/she lives in Vancouver. She offers a drop-off location and weekly trip to USA.

2. Member B, C, D from Vancouver join the group. They like member's A drop-off location and they are fine with 1-per-week trips.

3. Member B prepares his batch of packages online and takes them to member's A location.

4. Member A signs a receipt (a form printed out from the system) and acknowledges the reception of this batch in the system.

5. All packages are now tracked in the system at A's location. Border paperwork is generated by the system from information entered during step #3.

6. Member A drives to USPS office which she/he has an agreement with and ships them.

-

This is without going to details like legalities, insurance (if A has an accident on the way, etc), brokerage, billing/payouts, and I cannot imagine what else.

The group would be somewhat centralized through a computer system, but once members B, C, D establish business relationship with member A, they can go on even if system is down. Although system automates their interactions, they can still go on without it if they need to. If the organization ceases to exist, they can still go on with the business. That's the beauty of distributed system. Can you use your local UPS store if UPS headquarters goes bankrupt? 🙂

Kind of "Shipping to USA" franchise if you'd like.

[g-manthebossman]

sounds like a great idea i only wish i had the computer skills to organize such a business!

[dipmicro]

Actually you don't need computer skills but organizational skills and some capital to pull anything off. There is LOT of people with skills, who cannot get things done by themselves (although they think they can). I have a friend a very good programmer, who always keeps saying "I am going to do this project" ... then you ask him in a month, and the project is sitting in his drawer unfinished. But he does not have any problem focusing and keeping up with assignments in his cubicle ...

As far as cost goes, I have seen a "eBay Clone" types of assignments being accepted for some $1,500 at Rent-A-Coder and they got a positive, don't remember which one it was though.

I am a computer programmer by trade and my educated estimate would be that if a detailed requirements are given to a few programmers in India or Russia and if you are lucky, they promise to deliver in a month, something will be working in two and you will have a usable system in 4 months. They will quote you $1000 but it will take $2-$3,000 to get to the usable system. Still much cheaper than if a big-fat corporation wanted to pull something like this, they would probably spend 1/2 mil planning and on the meetings, another 1/2 mil rolling out, then 1mil on advertising.

[westernstargifts]

I would hope that we would all remember that there are Americans that live in Canada...who are now dual citizens of both country and proud of both!

momoftwingles2.....My comment above was not meant to bash Americans. I hope you didn't take it that way. The article did point out a lot of good reasons to be Canadian. It made me stop and think of all the good things we have as Canadians.

I think sometimes what appears to be American bashing on this board is more frustration with eBay for not recognizing the difficulties that some of us have competing with the U.S. It is not meant to put down American citizens. I am sure that many of the sellers, like myself, have many good friends who are American.....:-)

Judy

[wendo99]

I am starting to feel that frustration, for some reason yesterday my DSR stars on the Seller Dashboard was a 4.8 for Shipping time, well today I have 5 more additional ratings added, feed back was awesome but on the Seller Dashboard my Shipping time Rating has dropped to 4.7.

I ship don't know what I can do any faster, I check my eBay twice a day (before and after work - well after work I am in here till bed time, than at it again in the morning). I ship as soon as payment is received and advise the Customer of this as well. To speed up my shipping I would have to ship prior to payment even being received, or better yet prior to the Purchase being made, hmm I must start trying to flex my ESP muscle (just a little joke).

I don't want to loose my discount, I have to figure out a way to have my Customer's give me a better DSR without sounding like I am begging????

Maybe a cute little map with an "I am here" and "you are there" star on it. Sometimes people don't even realize that I am shipping from another country.

Oh well.

Wendo99

[momoftwingles2]

Hi Wendo99,

Your comment: Maybe a cute little map with an "I am here" and "you are there" star on it. Sometimes people don't even realize that I am shipping from another country.

I think you've hit the nail on the head! Many buyers FORGET, and I don't think intentionally, about the fact that they are dealing with 2 postal systems and customs in between. Communication is the key so every chance that you get with your buyers let them know that you are in Canada and that while you ship out the same and/or next day, that it will take longer than if you were shipping within the States.

I send an e-mail letting every buyer know exactly what day their payment came in and what day their package or envelope went out. And, still...many buyers will send me an e-mail after two days and say, "It's not here. I'm worried. Is my package lost." A reassuring e-mail to them reminds them gently that their items are coming from Canada and that it make take longer.

Hand holding goes a long ways!

Think positive! Things will get better!
Susan
momoftwingles2

[westernstargifts]

I send an e-mail letting every buyer know exactly what day their payment came in and what day their package or envelope went out.

Great idea Susan! I had recently started including the shipping date in the email I send telling them that their item is shipped. I think I will start including the payment received date too. Many buyers that contact me asking where their parcel is have forgotten that it took them several days to pay. They just look at the auction ending date and calculate from there. If they buy on a Friday night they start counting the days from then, forgetting there is a weekend in there.

[momoftwingles2]

That's for sure, Judy! That's why I put the date that the payment was received in my e-mail to my buyers,

Another thing to let your buyers know that if they pay on a Friday is that post offices are closed in Canada on the weekends. Well...they are where I live! Not sure if that is true for everywhere else. Post offices are open and mail is delivered on the weekends in the States and they often don't realize that the services here are different.

Well, I'm off to watch American Idol!

Susan

[westernstargifts]

There is no postal delivery anywhere in Canada on a weekend because they are federal, not provincial.

I also remind customers of holidays and tell them the mail is usually slower after a holiday weekend and ask them to allow extra time for that reason.

Judy

[cgcgraded]

Hi Judy. Still kicking around I see. And being quite successful I must add...

I feel if your market is the US, that it is impossible to keep at least a 4.8(and a 15% discount) on your shipping time DSR. I ship within 12 hours(except on weekends) of receiving payment, and send 2 and sometimes 3 e-mails notifying buyers with tracking/shipping info and updates.
After all the communication, I have customers that tell me " I was unaware you were in Canada", or the one that really bothers me..... "I don't give 5's to anybody".
I find I have to bite my tongue or hit the "delete" button every now and then.

I now have silver PS status.... for this month anyway, and am going to be receiving the 5% discount. I would be getting the 15% discount if not for the shipping DSR.

Its April 2nd, -3 and snowing here... Maybe I will move to Florida!;-)

Andrew

[boneshakerscards]

I personally can relate to this message board about how sometimes the rating system is unfair having to ship from Canada. Many times my American buyers fail to remember that I do have to ship from Canada, hence the longer wait for their package to arrive.

Just recently I had a customer buy an item from me late Friday night and paid immediatly. Great for him. But I still can't ship that item out until Monday morning, plus with the customs wait, it will take about 2 weeks before he receives it! I even sent him a message after this purchase explaining this. Yet, before a week had even gone by he was every other day sending me messages demanding to know where it was!! THEN, when he did get it, left me horrible feedback about it being "damaged" and blasted my ratings for his wait time without even contacting me first!

I contacted him and tried my best to reason with him and let him know that his parcel had been insured by Canada Post being a light packet and if he returned the damaged merchandise I could get him a full refund. He refused because it would take another 2 weeks to send it back and even left me the insulting message, and I quote, "Does Canada even have a Post Office?" EXCUSE ME??? How does he think it was mailed to him then?

I've had many other experiences just like this, and fully agree with other posts on here that when alot of American customers fail or do not realize both the difference in shipping times and shipping cost to the States that it does result in unfair ratings when it only takes 1 grumpy and unreasonable person to give you a single star, and to ruin an otherwise perfect 5 star rating.