Your seller performance is below standard

[momoftwingles2]

Hi All,

Yes, I received two e-mails from our boss today. The first one states:

Alerts
•Your performance is below eBay standards in USA.

***Ship promptly and manage buyer expectations***
Shipping promptly means buyers get their item more quickly and are more satisfied.
- Include handing time in your listing to set buyers' expectations.
- Provide updates to the buyers once the item has shipped, including any tracking information (if available).

And, the second one stating that my listings will receive lower standing in search results.

I don't know how much lower I can get when I'm already at the bottom of the list most times! *LOL*

In my Dashboard it states: Your buyer satisfaction rating is Good
A buyer satisfaction rating of Good ensures that you are eligible for eBay incentives. And, one of those incentives is a one way ticket to the corner for timeout if I don't behave!

eBay US is on target though! I am the kind of seller that they want to shut down! I have been on eBay 10 years come this September. Currently I have 3980 feedback and have NEVER had a neutral or a negative. I have 19152 left for me. Yes, my buyers are UNHAPPY! I have never had a PayPal case against me. (Except that ghost one in PayPal that not even PayPal knows why it's there!) I have never had a case filed against me for anything!

The fact is....I'm in Canada! And, it is my US buyers that are hurting my business because they just fail to realize that Canada is not a part of the US.

I sell low cost scrapbooking items and I charge full price for shipping. The shipping charges within my listings are shown as PER ITEM but I actually weight and invoice each one of my customers' packages individually. And, they are always thrilled about the shipping cost and when they receive their items they write and tell me that they are shocked how quickly they received their items! And, that they noticed the postmark is the same day as the day they paid...except in those cases where they have paid on a Friday night through the weekend or on a holiday.

Yes, I am the proverbial bad seller out there! I am the one that is giving eBay a BAD NAME! And, all I can say is IF I'M AS BAD AS THAT RED TRIANGLE SAYS I AM....I would like to see what a REALLY BAD SELLER IS! I've thankfully never had that experience!

Oh, well....I must be doing something right! In December I had more than 4000 listings and now I'm at 1186 listings. And, no...I've not ended the listings....they were sold!

I find it ironic that my US customers are the one's who are hitting me and I say this becuase on the US Power Sellers list THEY WHINE AND COMPLAIN about their fellow Americans who hurt their DSR's regarding shipping time!

It's sad when I have sold a quantity of over 3000+ items that I am not meeting eBay's expectations. Thankfully these 3000 + items have brought in an equal number of sales elsewhere so my stock is dwindling down thanks to the suggestions from this board!

Okay....thanks for letting me vent! I had a RED MARK against me and I guess I'll look at it for the next month. Hopefully they will not take my premium store away. If they do then I'll close immediately without warning!

Now to watch GLEE from last night and get in a better mood!

Have a good one everyone! Those Americans can be tough and I say that lovingly because...I'm an American!

Susan
momoftwingles2

[jakeeangel]

I called support today and was given the standard line that buyers are allowed to say how they feel and they feel your shipping is too slow. Buh bye have a nice day ma'am. ffftt useless boobs!

I brought up the topics on the boards and asked to have the ratings looked into. She said she'd forward it, not that I believe her, but they do review the ratings daily and if they see a buyer routinely sabotaging sellers ratings they act. If it's a one of thing, then they chalk it up to their opinion and do nothing.

Frankly Surplus I don't think Flaktraps situation is similar to Recpeds or Susan's. He's got tons of low ratings all over the board and in many different numbers. He has a problem and his buyers are telling him something. Go read what he copied from his dashboard.

[surplusdealdude]

Well, i agree flaktrap has a problem - he's just mad all over and concentrating more on giving ebay a piece of his mind than getting the problem solved.

And we rarely get the whole story on these boards - he might be waiting a week-10 days to mail stuff, to circumvent the 21-day hold, for all we know.

But this is happening too often and all at once - there's a systemic problem here.

[surplusdealdude]

I had a look at his dashboard and I see what you're driving at, jakee - certainly, some improvement looks like it's needed.

But it clashes with his good feedback record and his 12 month DSR's, which are REALLY good - 4.9's and 1 - 4.8.

Hard to believe that he could suddenly be that terrible - I think he basically does a god job and got nailed for 1 month for some reason.

Very peculiar.

[jakeeangel]

You can't look at his dashboard. Only the account owner or whoever has the passwords can do that. Here's what he posted from his dashboard.

Evaluation period: May 01, 2009 - Apr 30, 2010Performance criteria for:Top-ratedAbove standard
Criteria Allowable low ratings *
(do not exceed) Current performance
[By %] [By count] Based on your 12-month ratings

Item as described 1.00% or (3) 0.21% (2)

Communication 2.00% or (3) 0.63% (6)

Shipping time 2.00% or (3) 0.32% (3)

Shipping and handling charges 2.00% or (3) 2.11% (20)

[surplusdealdude]

That's even stranger - they don't match up with the DSR's that show on his feedback page.

[jakeeangel]

Clearly they don't update the ratings shown on the feedback page as often as they do in the Seller Dashboard.

[surplusdealdude]

Perhaps I should word that differently - one would expect the DSR's on his feedback page to be lower with those types of 1's and 2's.

[momoftwingles2]

Perhaps I should word that differently - one would expect the DSR's on his feedback page to be lower with those types of 1's and 2's.

What OTHERS see on his feedback page are rolling 12 month DSR's. None of us have the ability to see the current month/3 months information that is on anyone's Dashboard...except our own.

I can assure you that I have only been hit with SHIPPING TIME.

I could honestly understand IF my US buyers hit me with SHIPPING COSTS...but they didn't! I think that is what upsets me more than anything.

I SHIP OUT THE SAME DAY 99% of the time! When a buyer pays after 3 PM...then it's the next day because our post office closes at 4! And, I have to be able to drive there in time! I'm 20 miles from the closest post office and right now with extremely soft roads in one direction and flooded in the other......I have to leave by 3 or I miss the postal run for the day.

Needless to say, I called support as well and was basically told they were sorry but that I apparently was not shipping out fast enough.

This is how support treats its sellers. This is how support treated me today and all I can say is...because of buyers....not because of my customer service, not because of my communication, not because of my item description, not because of anything other than buyers who DIDN'T get an A in Social Studies...I am, as well as others, being penalized in shipping and/or shipping charges for others.

It's a no win situation....only adds to my frustration.

I was sad to announce that I am closing my eBay store....but have come to realize that after almost 10 years of selling on eBay with 100% positive feedback..no negatives, no neutrals, no anythings other than hard work on my part to have a successful business....I will look forward to the future with a smile in my heart.

Whatever I end up doing....I will be responsible for myself and to myself.

Okay....I'm smiling now and promise to do so from here until my doors close!

And, by the way.....SALES ARE GREAT BOTH ON and in my loft!

Thanks surplus and all for your suggestions, comments, detective work and more!

This board has always been 100% supportive of me and I so appreciate it!

Have a good one!
Susan
momoftwingles2

[pierrelebel]

" they don't match up with the DSR's that show on his feedback page."

DIFFERENT sets of calculations.

Of the feedback page, DSRs are calculated like feedback - limit of one a week per buyer, regardless how many items were purchased durung that week.

For TRS calculation purposes, ALL transactions are counted.

[surplusdealdude]

As if things weren't complicated enough.X-(

[pjcdn2005]

For TRS calculation purposes, ALL transactions are counted.

So one buyer can affect your status? I thought they had rethought that...

[pierrelebel]

ALL DSRs are counted for TRS purposes. However, internal eBay policies require more than one buyer giving low DSRs before downgrading TRS status.

So if you have one buyer of multiple listings giving you 25 1s or 2s (for example) while all 25 low DSRs will be shown in your Dashboard, you will NOT be penalized since only one buyer is involved.

[pierrelebel]

On the other hand, even if you have relatively high feedback and high annual DSRs averages but often receive 1s or 2s from different buyers, yes, you will lose your TRS status and attached privileges.

So it is quite possible for some sellers to show DSRs annual average of 4.7 or 4.8 yet have enough low level of satisfaction (1s or 2s) expressed by several buyers to affect your TRS status.

That is the purpose of the warning - to tell sellers some buyers are not fully satisfied with an aspect of the transactions and improvements are required to maintain TRS status.

[femmefan1946]

Susan

The problem, for all of us, seems to be that Shipping Time is not clearly explained to buyers.

Perhaps if the name were changed to Mailed Promptly it would help.

Obviously your buyers are not worried about the cost of shipping. I find the same thing.

But buyers are sensitive to the time the parcel spends between us and them. And there seems to be no answer for that.

[pierrelebel]

The shipping question asked from buyers when posted DSRs is:

"How quickly did the seller ship the item?"

[surplusdealdude]

Most buyers couldn't find that information if their life depended on it, though, especially with stealth postage.

And I suspect a lot of them wouldn't care to make the effort - they only know if they received it in good time, "good" being measured by their individual standards.

[jakeeangel]

The shipping question asked from buyers when posted DSRs is:

"How quickly did the seller ship the item?"

IMO - that needs to be tweaked to reflect the sellers handling period. Did the seller ship within their posted handling period timeframe?

How quickly did the seller ship the item? They didn't! They took 5 days. Well great - I have a 5 business day handling period in my listing. Some people have to wait the 5, othes less and some same day.

eBay requires sellers to show a handling period, which I think is a good thing, yet doesn't explain what a handling period is to buyers and contributes to the misunderstanding by asking "How quickly did the seller ship the item?".

[surplusdealdude]

When all is said and done, though, I doubt if there is a perfect question.

It's like making something idiot-proof - someone always builds a better idiot.

[westernstargifts]

With every shipping confirmation I tell the customer that "shipping time" refers to the time it takes the seller to ship and not to delivery time. Although my shipping time DSR is up and down like everyone else's, I find that it does help to tell them. One customer, with over 200 FB, told me that she did not know that it meant the seller's ship time. Also I always overstate the expected delivery time.

But you always gets some, like the bozo who just left me a neutral, who either can't get the concept through their heads or they just refuse to use the rating system properly, for whatever reason.

[momoftwingles2]

The shipping question asked from buyers when posted DSRs is:

"How quickly did the seller ship the item?"

Hi Pierre,

Yes...the question is asked when buyers are posting DSRs. However...that question can mean did they *ship via a quick method" OR...*did they get it out the door quickly to you?*

The problem is that many Americans do not realize that the border is still a safe guarded place so there MAY be delays at times. Others know!

I state that I will ship within 1 day of receiving payment. However...I'm even faster than that...same day! But, that is what they are dinging me on. However, when I read my feedback....I know that I'm doing a great job.

My DSR for shipping time does not reflect what buyers are saying to me either in writing to me personally or in my feedback.

It's most definitely not a perfect system.

Think about it....now one doesn't just lose discounts on their fees....but their premium or anchor store may be downgraded because of what buyers rate a seller. This, to me, is not acceptable.

Susan