EBAY Spring Update - TRS gone forever ....

[38e_avenue]

http://pages.ebay.ca/sellerinformation/news/springupdate2014/sellerstandards.html

Our Canada Post "fake" small packet tracking number will not count anymore. I will forever lose my TRS status on US Ebay in a few weeks.

[dipmicro]

One more question about search visibility: two scenarios:

Canadian seller ships through several services - USPS to USA and CanadaPost to Canada and can get items in any continental US or Canadian buyer under 1 wk. In fact many Friday orders from US customers are delivered on Monday. But still cannot meet "FAST AND FREE" criteria of 1 day handling because does not have daily USPS drop, so uses "worst case" 3-day handling time.

Chinese seller ships same day but takes 2-4wks to USA by ePacket and 4-6wks to Canada by airmail.

Who has higher visibility? I only care about visibility, not the TRS discount.

[38e_avenue]

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@minorleaguemarvels wrote:

eBay had originally committed to leaving it in place as a recognition of our competitive disadvantage, then quietly reversed course.

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Yes, I remember that! A few months later they "fixed" that "error". It only proves, that IT'S POSSIBLE to make an exception.

I am definitely not a fan of conspiracy theories, BUT .......   

[rose-dee]

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@toby**bleep**zu wrote:

"I agree with you Rose-dee, the majority of my sales are craft books and patterns, and they go letter mail, there is no way to get tracking for them. If my visibility decreases, I am thinking it is not worth Canadians paying store subscriptions."

You don't have .com TRS+  now anyway, so the tracking number thing doesn't change anything. Lots of Canadians selling lots to USA without TRS+ all along

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You're right 'toby' for those Cdn sellers who don't currently have TRS+. 

Well, I do have TRS+ at the moment, it's been a great boost to my US sales, and I will stand to lose it, along with the first-page visibility it's given me.  I will also lose what in my view is a not-so-insignificant trust factor for US buyers seeing that designation on a Canadian seller's listings. 

This will all be gone soon, unless I'm willing to pay an extra $8 or $10 out of my own pocket for every $15-20 sale.  Some analysis may be in order here -- that extra $10 on all the smaller sales may be worth attracting the bigger sales on which I can afford tracking. 

Aha -- I get it!! This is not an eBay conspiracy, but a Canada Post/eBay conspiracy!!.  LOL (or Cry Out Loud).   

[38e_avenue]

Aha -- I get it!! This is not an eBay conspiracy, but a Canada Post/eBay conspiracy!!.  LOL (or Cry Out Loud).

It might be!

Technically, Canada Post was always able to offer a cheap tracking number. Until 2004, it was possible to send a Small Packet as "registered". The cost? Here is the calculation: Poland Small Packet: 11.43 + 15.25 (registered letter as of today) = 26.68. They charge 82.56 instead! This is a proof, that they CAN, but simply don't WANT to do that.

[rainbow71113]

I don't know that it's all that important, I have Top seller, power seller, 100% feedback and I'm STILL showing lower than other sellers that have less "status".....I've noticed that for a LONG time and my sales don't suffer, people will buy at the price they want, and the shipping that seems reasonable to them.  I know when I'm looking to buy something I go through the whole list, I NEVER look at just the first seller unless that's the only one that shows up.

[westernstargifts]

I remember when they made that change.  I believe that, when they were confronted with the question, eBay admitted that the reason they reversed it was the complaints they received from U.S. sellers.

I am disappointed that nothing has changed to give Canadians better visibility on .com without using tracking.  I never did have TRS+ because the majority of my sales are lower priced Light Packet items.  Visibility did suffer and sales are not what they were.

Because of the U.S. TRS+ requirement I can understand why we get less visibility on .com, but I have found that often there are many U.S. sellers who get better visibility on .ca than I do.  I have looked at there listings, FB, etc. and have found no good reason why they should have that visibility here,

[rainbow71113]

also it depends on how the buyer searches, I usually search new listings if I'm doing research for selling, if I'm buying I search by lowest price with shipping.  Each gives different results.  I just searched Special Occasion Designs & Borders and under best match I see 2 sellers with 100% feedback showing up under a seller with 99.9%

[pjcdn2005]

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@isis1313 wrote:

I don't know that it's all that important, I have Top seller, power seller, 100% feedback and I'm STILL showing lower than other sellers that have less "status".....I've noticed that for a LONG time and my sales don't suffer, people will buy at the price they want, and the shipping that seems reasonable to them.  I know when I'm looking to buy something I go through the whole list, I NEVER look at just the first seller unless that's the only one that shows up.

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The complaint is that some of the sellers will be losing their TRS+ badge on .com and that their search visibility will suffer on .com. You don't currently have that badge on .com so this particular change won't affect you at all.

[rainbow71113]

okay, just checked that same listing on .com and here's the results

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_sacat=0&_from=R40&_nkw=dale+burdett+special+occasion&_sop=12

my listing is showing up higher than the top seller badges....and this is under Best Match....

[bluedaisyclippings]

Everything I sell is via lettermail. Does ebay want Canadian sellers to fail?

[38e_avenue]

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my listing is showing up higher than the top seller badges....and this is under Best Match....

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We discussed that subject 100 times - Best Match, Cassini algorithm, TRS+ search results, etc.

The situation is different now.

Before this update we SUPPOSED we were not where we belong. 

Now, we will be excluded BY DEFINITION.

We get a CLEAR message: Canadians, go home!  

[dutchman48]

Read the .com boards, there is an uproar over the new defects policy and cases. Neutral feedback will now count against sellers as will all opened cases unless Ebay fins in the seller's favor or a no fault, even if opened in error.

Not sure how it will affect Canadians listing on .com but it will definitely affect Canadians with a US based Ebay account. Watch for more purges on .com with the new rules.

Ebay wants to become a commercial market place and eliminate all but the large sellers they are catering to.

[38e_avenue]

Until this update, switching to Light Packet helped. Not anymore. 

[38e_avenue]

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@bluedaisyclippings wrote:

Everything I sell is via lettermail. Does ebay want Canadian sellers to fail?

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Until this update, switching to Light Packet helped. Not anymore.

[rainbow71113]

I was pointing out that it WILL affect me because currently I'm having higher status than the top seller badges.  

[rainbow71113]

has anyone else noticed that lately whenever someone wants to just ask where their item is it automatically opens a case as item not received.  I've had a couple of buyers say that they only wanted to know more info and this was their only option.  

[38e_avenue]

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@isis1313 wrote:

has anyone else noticed that lately whenever someone wants to just ask where their item is it automatically opens a case as item not received.  I've had a couple of buyers say that they only wanted to know more info and this was their only option.  

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Exactly the same happened twice last month to me. One case is still open, because the buyer even doesn't understand he should close it after the item arrived (2 weeks ago). I wait until the case closes automatically (because of no buyer's response). 

[rainbow71113]

I think you can get ebay to close it if you have proof that the person got the item.   so how will this affect us, if every buyer who just wants to ask where their item is ...opens a case....this opens up a lot of issues- for instance - a buyer who may not normally file a case but is now doing so because this is their only option and panics when the time is getting close to the end of resolution- resulting in an escalation.  My worry is Russia, I have 2 customers that don't want refunds but one is waiting since October and the other November- their backlog is so big  with the Olympics, summits, firing of personnel etc.   I stopped shipping there but then some sneak under the radar because they are in the Ukraine or one of the provinces and I hate to penalize buyers because of conditions beyond their control but I had to stop shipping to Brazil for the same reason, EVERY package I mailed there requested a refund and only to find out they eventually got the item but do they offer to pay me back....no.....  

[pocomocomputing]

I am reading all of the complaints about Canadian Sellers selling to the USA and visibility. Why should a Canadian Seller get the same advantages on eBay.com as USA based sellers. It is a USA site for USA sellers first. USA sellers do not like sellers outside their country getting the same advantages as them on their own site.

eBay.com USA management knows this and has been giving eBay.ca sellers some perks that other international sellers do not get. eBay.ca management has tried to keep perks for Canadian sellers like fake tracking on Light Pack and Small Packet counting towards real tracking. But it is not fair to USA sellers.

eBay.com management is trying to make TRS Plus and its perks for USA based sellers, not international sellers.

Canadian Sellers have been lucky for a long time that they were able to get some perks pushed by eBay.ca management to help them compete with USA sellers. eBay.ca management has tried each year to help Canadian sellers but it looks like eBay.com USA is winning.

The reality is Canadian sellers are international sellers on the eBay USA site. Shipping to the USA is international shipping from Canada so Canada Post rates are high for all services and extremely high for a Delivery Confirmation service because it is international shipping. We are not part of the USA.

While I understand the concern in the change in rules, Canadian Sellers have to understand that they are International Sellers in the USA market and the competition cannot have the same advantages as USA based sellers.

I know this is not a popular comment to make here in this topic but it is reality.

[pjcdn2005]

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@isis1313 wrote:

okay, just checked that same listing on .com and here's the results

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_sacat=0&_from=R40&_nkw=dale+burdett+special+occasion&_sop=12

my listing is showing up higher than the top seller badges....and this is under Best Match....

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The search that you gave had just a few results so I don't think that necessarily reflects the typical best match search. How is your item placed if you search for Dale Burdett?

Search placement is based on more than one criteria and it often doesn't seem to make sense. However, I think that everyone wants to get the best placement possible and if the the TRS+ badge might make help then of course we don't want to lose it.