DSR shipping fees under 4.5 anyone else having problems ?

[dagr8_renaud]

here is what I will try in all my next lisings , I will add the followong message in all my auction , before you read it understand english is a second language for me so any input greatly appreciated ..

If all Canadain Power sellers write a similar note in all of our listing we will get way more Exposure ... I was thinking maybe someone could make a nice lookin HTML so that we could all have the same one this way even buyer who dont read auction would be curious at one point or another read it .

anyways here it is :

" A note about DSR ( Detailed Seller Ratings ) , PLEASE READ :



While it is very hard to achieve perfection in an online transaction eBay still requires Power Sellers like me to obtain a minimum of 4.5 / 5 on all ratings ... This means when you rate a seller under 5 in any categories it is exactly like saying he does not deserve to be a Power Seller . Recently I have problems obtaining rating above 4.5 in the shipping and handling fees category ( and only in this category ), hence the need to explain shipping fees :


The only way for me to obtain Insurance and tracking information FOR ALL INTERNATIONAL ORDERS is to use Canada Post' s Xpress Post to the US and Canada Post' s E.M.S for international orders . In the United States they have more options for shipping overseas but in Canada we do NOT .

My handling fees are flat fee of 3 $ on every transaction ( sometimes it covers packaging fees sometimes it does NOT )

If you think that is too much and know how I could lower these handling fees please kindly let me know, but please remember I sell sunglasses it is a fragile item and requires to be packed carefully .

Believe me I am aware that paying 60 $ for shipping a 300 $ pair of sunglasses anywhere in Europe or Asia is very frustrating. If I could lower my cost I would sell a lot more , I receive many emails from Italy, Thailand and all over the world to tell me if shipping was lower they would buy from me . Thank you for taking the time to read this and considering how to rate a seller's DSR . "


So what do you all think ? of course this one is personalized for my listing but you get my drift , thanks in advance for your inputs , if solution like this have been posted somewhere else I apologize and thank you in advance for linking me to those solutions .

[coxengines]

What kind of self serving drivvle is that... it doesn't even make any sense....

Perhaps not to you, and that's perfectly fine.;-)

The way a person is will be reflected in the way he/she does business.

On eBay it will permeate listings through TOS, descriptions, etc. One can "feel" it in listings.

Many of us eBayers pick up on this and, at a base level, refer to it as "gut feeling". It goes way beyond that, however.

Sellers' choice of words and the sentences they form are a direct reflection of their basic character traits.

And that is what I was trying to say:-)

However, none of this is helpful and has turned into a complaint driven thread rather than a helpful one...

Xena

[ampurtle]

You need to get out more because I am living proof that your perceptions are utter nonsense 😉

Listings on eBay are nothing more than a marketting excercise just like any form of advertising, and have absolutely no direct relationship to anything.

It's a well established fact that crimnals and perverts are just as effective at marketting as anyone else, so anything you think you feel in a listing is most likely attributable to preconceived notions and assumptions because thousands of unsuspecting buyers get fleeced every year on eBay...

Seller's choice of words and grammar have absolutely squat to do with character traits, at best they indicate the level of education a seller may or maynot have. If one thinks they can judge a person's character from an eBay listing, they are in desperate need of professional help, because that person is not living in the real world.

I hate to be the one to break the news, but eBay is nothing more than a collection of bits in cyberspace and as such has no relevance in real life. It's a nice place to visit, but anyone who lives here, speaks volumes with regard to their grasp of reality, or rather lack thereof.

[dipmicro]

It's not a rip-off. That's their business and that's what they charge.

Xena, I tend to disagree. Brokerage is a huge scam on Canadian consumers and there have been several lawsuits against this already.

The problem is that Canadian law requires consumer consent before performing any service. Courier and post office violate this law all the time. There is no mechanism for consumer to accept or decline the service, fill thepaperwork themselves, etc. The parcel comes already cleared. If you do not pay, they block the parcel, which is anothe violation of Canadian laws - a.k.a. extortion.

The third point - why some brokers (e.g. UPS brokerage) assert charges based on the value of shipment if there is constant amount of labour involved regardless of the quantity?

It takes them 5min to clear a paperwork with 1-2 items in it and they charge $29. Most lawyers charge less per hour. Let's not forget this job involves searching among the codes and assigning it to the goods, i.e. moderately trained 10-year old can probably do it with the help of a computer.

[dipmicro]

If their charges are a rip-off, then so are yours.

We can say the same about loan-sharks. This is still legal business in many countries.

[dagr8_renaud]

back on topic guys , or does anyone but me care about this ?

btw fedex brokerage fee does not block parcel they send you an invoice after you receved package , you can always not pay and wait for them to try and collect you but at least they do not block your parcel like UPS does by collecting yuo right away , lets say both are extortions maybe not rip ioff but bortherline ...

[ampurtle]

dipmarco
Years ago, UPS called you on the phone when your package arrived at the border and would ask if you wanted them to clear it and quote the cost, or you could have someone else do that. While that complied with the court ruling, it really didn't help the small importer at all.

The best method to avoid brokerage fees is to clear the shipment yourself, but that doesn't really apply to 99% of eBay transactions, so the next best option is to use the postal service because they charge very little if they have to clear customs.

There's no good reason to use a common carrier other than speed, which by it's very nature dictates that money is no object in the transportation of the item.

Brokerage doesn't qualify as a scam by definition, it's a cost of doing business, just like adding 3 dollars handling for placing something in a 30 cent envelope. If you don't like a supplier's prices/fees/service, then STOP USING THEM !

[dipmicro]

ampurtle, the most common argument against brokerage services is that the cost is inadequate

When you are shipping the goods, someone needs to print out the invoice, collect payment, pass invoice to shipping staff, goods have to be picked up, packed and physically shipped. This is the most labour intensive process, but fortunately for buyers, shipping dept. staff is making little more than minimum wage. Adding $3 or even $10 handling seems adequate.

Broker almost never sees the goods these days and most of the commercial goods have already good description, many already have HKSUS code. Broker types the description to the computer, locates HKSUS code (often wrong) and assigns duties and taxes. Never has to touch the goods, no risks involved with breaking the items, so no contingency is required, does not have to lift the butt from the chair.

The cost of admittance to a physician without health insurance used to be $30. 10-15min. This guy had to work hard to get to do what he is doing, is taking the risks of being sued for malpractice or acquiring some disease from some of the patients.

Broker perhaps needs a high school I guess. No special knowledge required. No risks.

The fees are not adequate. Why does it cost more to look at the invoice and find the bloody code than bring it all the way from California ?

[dagr8_renaud]

ampurtle

I agree with you witch is why eventho I could offer sightly better price for shipping items to my customer , I dont use UPS . I also return items to sender when Sellers use UPS eventho I told them I would NOT accept anything from UPS .

while you guys here do you support my action do you wanna get into this ? or you simply dont have the need to raise your DSR' s shipping and handling rating ?

[dipmicro]

dagr8_renaud, sorry for stealing your thread.

In my opinion, "educating the customer" might not be as effective as you hope.

The overall transaction satisfaction matters more than particular aspects of it. Treat customers like friends, not like potential fraudsters. Genuinely try to help them. Some of my best returning customers are people who originally did not buy anything from me, but I shown them where to get exactly what they wanted even from competitor.

Happy buyer will give you all 5s even if you took longer time to ship or there was a bit of handling cost. As long as you are within reason.

Some sellers reported they switched to free shipping and still failed to get S/H charges DSR up to 5. That confirms my theory that overall satisfaction is much more important.

[dagr8_renaud]

thx for your input , yes I am aware that seller offering free shipping still did not raise there DSR .

witch is why I try to come up with something :_|...

I think the reason why free shipping doesnt work is clearly because customer think it is included in the item' s price ..

when I shop for item form HK or China it is obvious free shipping is NOT free because other sellers even without free shipping offers better total price

Educating buyer doesnt seem that popular with my fellow Canadian powersellers and I agree that sometimes even small information is too much information , I just wish I could find a way to get the DSR I deserve .

[ampurtle]

It's not the seller's job to educate the buyer, your job is to provide a service, not classes designed to serve your interests.

Forget the DSRs and FVF Credits, you're placing to much importance on a rating system the buyer doesn't care about. Devote that time and effort to improving your business instead.

Everyone gets the DSRs they deserve from their customers, they just aren't always what sellers want them to be :-x

[dagr8_renaud]

well eBay tells me my PS status are in danger I couldnt care less about the FVF credit to be honest ...

Also I do not agree we all get the DSR we deserve .. I deserve way more 😛

[coxengines]

or you simply dont have the need to raise your DSR' s shipping and handling rating ?

Correct!

Treat customers like friends, not like potential fraudsters. Genuinely try to help them. Some of my best returning customers are people who originally did not buy anything from me, but I shown them where to get exactly what they wanted even from competitor.

100% the way it works!

Educating buyer doesnt seem that popular with my fellow Canadian powersellers

Since we changed the way we communicate with buyers, our DSR's have risen!

I just wish I could find a way to get the DSR I deserve.

You are getting exactly the DSR's that you deserve!
(no offense intended)

Everyone gets the DSRs they deserve from their customers, they just aren't always what sellers want them to be

How true!

:-x
Xena

[dagr8_renaud]

like I siad previously XENA , since you do not ship international with the need to insure and have a tracking number then you are not stuck with hoi shipping cost


I dare you to find someone selling items worth more then 200 $ internaionally with tracjking and insurance with better DASR


I believe I have good DSR everywhere ... I deserve them ..

I dont have good DSR in S&H COST ONLY BECAUE I HAVE NO OTHER OPTION

therfoere your statement is FALSE .

[faerywishes]

dagr8_renaud

I'm sorry if I gave you the impression I didn't understand that you are concerned with Shipping Cost DSR's. I did understand, I was only trying to show you that by me taking the bull by the horn and educating my buyers I took my Shipping Time DSR and raised it in two months to where I will now get the discount.

That said, big deal about the discount. It will never amount to much as I sell low cost items. The fact I worked my butt off to get it back up was a challenge I wanted to take. Only for my own self satisfaction, because I too believed I deserved them. But again obviously I didn't deserve them because I wasn't getting them. Xenalook is absolutely correct on that insight. It is how you sell your items.

I have a friend who is by far one of the best salespeople of our time. Years ago he was able to sell a vaccum cleaner to a couple that didn't even have electricity at the time and wouldn't have any for a few months yet. Our office couldn't believe he was able to pull that off. And no he never did attempt to sell ice to the Eskimos, but I have full confidence he would have been able to suceed at that as well.

By communicating the information at every opportunity I only not informed my buyers with simple, easy to understand sentences and with humor, I also increased my Communication DSR.

Obviously I was not doing what my buyers needed & wanted. So I did get the DSR's I earned not the ones I felt I earned.

I would assume that pretty much all sellers in high end sunglasses face the same brick walls. Don't find a way over the wall, Bulldoze through the bloody thing, be different than the others. Offer something to compensate. Anything to make you buyers excited to get their packages and your DSR's will increase no matter the shipping costs.

I go back to sellers time and time again because I am excited to get their packages. I don't care about the shipping costs. I don't ask anymore I just buy. All because they put more effort and show genuine appreciation. That's where you need to get too.

Good Luck!

[snoopwiz]

As a buyer I give three stars for all DSRs by default, which represents average.



Wow, just farkin wow. I am sure the sellers who hopefully gave it the little extra to make your experience in dealing with them to be, at the very least, satisfactory, and who knows, maybe even very satisfactory, yet you, by design, bestow an average upon them? I am so glad that your thinking in that regard is in the minority. A tiny minority at that.

Why should you care about the single mother raising her kid(s) on her own being lowered in search and perhaps losing a few bucks because one buyer felt no one and nothing on eBay is any better than average. Undirtyword believable. Peace.

[coxengines]

therfoere your statement is FALSE .

I am from overseas, having moved to Canada some years ago.

My overseas sales represent somewhere around 50% of my total sales by now. I also sell on eBay AU, UK, DE, with the merchandise originating from here.

Although most items are low-cost, the multiple purchases of such often drive the value of the package above $100 or even $200.

The items I sell off-eBay are pretty well all over $100, ranging into the thousands of $$'s. I never insure and have had one claim so far where I had to pay out of pocket.

I guess the difference is that I have no NEED to insure (I self-insure). Thinking "insurance" and prominently advertising this in listings is precisely what triggers untoward behavior in buyers (explaining this in detail exceeds the scope of this thread).

dont have good DSR in S&H COST ONLY BECAUE I HAVE NO OTHER OPTION

You have lots of options (one of which I previously mentioned) but you have chosen this circuitous route and are experiencing the fallout from such.

And... FAERYWISHES has "got it"!;-)

Xena

[dagr8_renaud]

faerywishes ,

Thanks a lot man , your the only one who replied in this thread with some hope , I guess you nailed the 'disease' and found a 'cure' to it , in your case it was shipping time , in my case its the damn international shipping cost , I guess I was already in the good direction with my first post , except its not worht it to post it in my listing but but rather remind my buyer everytime I talk to them like I been doing for the last week , I even have a few telling me they understand and that shippign wa smore then fair , I always had awesome comms , if you readmy feedback coments ppl take the time to specify it , beats me why I only get 4.75 ..

but yea thank you again for some positive thinkin

[dipmicro]

I hear you, CanadaPost is a pathetic excuse for a national postal service.

I was trying to ship 0.9kg parcel to Argentina with value $270. I think the only possible option was Purolator for some $150. No Airmail available for this value range.

USPS offers insurance as a separate product, so one can purchase any shipping service and add insurance up to $5,000!!! The cost was around $35-$37 flat rate box up to 20lb.

I told the customer I could not send the parcel to him and changed the listing from international to Canada/USA only.

Another one - parcel to Egypt. We use CP website calculator and get a quote of some $58 for Airmail. My staff tried to ship using EST - somewhat higher price so she took it to CP counter with other parcels that day, CP asked for $80, she showed them the printout quote from website, CP clerk refuses to honor the quote, apparently they are not allowed to do that. I instructed her to ship anyway, because I never change sale terms, but it's frustrating.

Yes, I hear you. I am sure if my items were in over $100 category, my DSR would stink.

[ampurtle]

I find most sellers to be average, or as you put it "satisfactory"... I expect a seller to do their job and not pander to buyers in an attempt to score points.

The seller sells, the buyer buys, there's nothing special in that, or do you spent 10 minutes at Tim Hortons while the clerk tells you what a wonderful job he/she is doing and please reward me because I did my job...

If a seller goes above the call of duty or disappoints, the feedbck is adjusted accordingly, but 90 % of my sales and purchses have zero personal interaction between the seller and buyer, which is the way it should be.

If you want to be loved, call your mother, it's not a buyer's job to stroke your ego, they are here to buy something, not make new friends....

If you don't like the concept of starting from the middle of the road aka 3 stars that's fine, but it does not impose a penalty on the seller so leave the violin in the case, it's unprofessional and unbecoming. You are absolutely right, buyers don't give a rats ass about your personal life, they are are here to buy something, not provide an outlet to a sellers personal drama.

Why are so many eBay sellers unable to grasp the concept that business is business, and the concept of community and shared experience is nothing more than eBays way of controlling you, or do you all spend your mornings at McDonalds wolfing down a Big Breakfast and listening to the trials and tribulations of the staff...

If you haven't gotten the point yet, ask yourself this, when was the last time you gave a clerk at Walmart a 5 dollar tip ?

But seeing as you brought up the subject of housewives/mothers, I much prefer to buy from them because they are hungry for the exact reasons you intimated and they are typically extremely ingenius because necessity is the mother of invention. The self proclaimed expert eBay sellers could learn a lot from them because a mother/wife trying to earn a few bucks to take the kids to Disney World has the best grasp on reality.