Does being TRS increase sales?

[rocketscollectibles]

I'm close to the top rated seller status i wonder if it's worth doing a push for it for the next update

I read on the net many saying it change nothing. But from researchs i personally think i see a tendancy in eBay searchs TPS are almost always upper. Don't eBay boosting them in the algorythm? From a buyer perspective i could see more confidence given to the badge too... If i had the choice to buy from a feedback 10 or feedback 2000 TRS the same item, it's obvious the TPS will have the sale. At the same time i see a lot of TRS providing bad services, standards to earn it are very low... I wonder how buyers overall perceive it

So i wonder what's your experience with it, i know about the fees discount, but does it increase sales and visibility?

Is it worth to push for it?

[ricarmic]

The mysteries of the search algorithm means that nobody really knows what all things make our listings more visible to buyers.

I think though it is safe to say that if ebay thinks something is good to do, and you are doing it, they will make sure they put you in front of more buyers.

They want us to be TRS, the discount is great but it also follows that it will also increase our ranking in the search algorithm.

I'm not sure what you mean in terms of is it worth it, if you are close, just keep doing what you are doing and let it happen naturally.

[msau4301]

I think it's always worth it to push for the next level, have a goal (I try to beat my sales from the month before!)

When I got my status several years back, I got a congratulation letter that said the rewards were:

!

1) Highest Final Value Fee discounts (I get 10% off fees)

2) "Promotion in Best Match search results on eBay.ca (I don't have the volume to be Top Rated in US only here in Canada)

3) Top Rated seller bade on listing and profile pages

That was a while ago, things may have changed, but I still say go for it! What do you have to lose!

[msau4301]

I just double checked my Dashboard and I have Global status but not US status. For US you need at least 100 sales to US buyers in a year, I'm only at 67. Maybe that should be my next goal!

[rocketscollectibles]

I'm not sure what you mean in terms of is it worth it, if you are close, just keep doing what you are doing and let it happen naturally

What i mean is that there is a few ways to ''force'' sales, but that are maybe not the most optimal in term of profit. Adding best offer, accepting/sending more or a bit lower offers, doing auctions, are the options quickly coming to my mind. Just wonder at the end if it's worth forcing a few sales and throw a few dollars to have the status as fast as we could

[ricarmic]

My own opinion, but I would spend as much time as possible listing new stuff including auctions*.

For sure consistently listing new items raises the visibility of everything you have, or at least in my opinion it has a positive impact.

If you list like crazy you'll have more stuff running and more stuff selling and how you are doing things appears to be working well, it might mean one more month before you're at TRS status, but that way it happens naturally and it doesn't cost you anything more than time you would have spent anyway.

Generally when I have quiet sale times, that is what I first do** I list as much as I can whilst I have time and then normally I end up with following sales increases that keep me hopping so I get behind again, things slow down, I list like crazy and the cycle continues....

*Note that when I run auctions I start them at the SAME price they will be if they do not sell and end up in my store, so I don't do the 99c auctions etc. When they close unsold (I never restart them as another auction), I simply relist them at the same BIN price. Note that this doubles the number of "new" items one has for the relisted ones, which makes one look like they're listing a lot more stuff in the "bots" eyes, something else that improves visibility.

**If that didn't work, I'd begin looking at ways/things to experiment with to restimulate sales. I haven't had to do that for quite a while, but someday I will have to again....

[msau4301]

To that I would say no. To "force" sales if it is by selling for less than you wanted for the sole purpose of having the Top Rated status isn't worth it. As ricarmic said just let it happen naturally. I don't know how much improvement (nor does probably anyone?!) your placement will be solely based on your status.

For me if I want to increase sales I don't decrease the amounts (unless it's something that's been sitting there a long while and I want rid of anyways), I list more items. At any given time I have a pile of stuff ready for "my next group". Most of my listings are auctions (I know I'm a dinosaur) but this way when my 5 or 7 days end, I can re-evaluate the items that didn't sell, sometimes combining them, etc.  

I only sell here on a casual/part time basis, others it is their full time business so they would do things differently.

[ilikehockeyjerseys]

People speculate that it improves search placement. If you have a large inventory (thousands of items), search placement can dramatically improve your sales. If you have a more casual inventory, you may not notice much of a difference. 

It is not difficult to become a Top Rated Seller. I think eBay intends for it to be that way. Because it is so easy to become a Top Rated Seller, the status doesn't do much to distinguish the quality or scope of seller you're dealing with. If you search a random item that is popular enough and scroll through the listings, more people are Top Rated Sellers than not.

In Canada, it isn't like the US where you can choose to become a top rated seller by changing the way you operate in order to comply with their standards. There are no real standards for the program in Canada, beyond resolve returns and meet eBay's requirement for 100 sales that total 1000 or more over a 12 month period. There is no tracking or handling restrictions in Canada like in the US. The US is a bit more complicated because you need to have 1 day handling on your items, and you need to ship all orders tracked.

[femmefan1946]

FWIW - the reason B&M merchants have sales is not what customers think .

• Getting rid of "deadstock" , items that have been in stock too long. Turn stuff into cash, even if you lose a little with the sale. This means more of your stock is saleable.
• Similar is seasonal merchandise. Selling the last of the bathing suits or BBQs by Canada Day, because there will be almost no sales of those in actual summertime.
• Bringing in sale merchandise. It's no secret that stores bring in lower value/special purchase merch. for Black Friday.
• Bulk and wholesale sales, where the customer who usually would only buy one package gets a special price on buying three or a dozen.  The merchant gets less per item, but sells more items.

We found in our B&M that December was a terrible month for selling collectibles. We tried discount sales, but learned that our sales did not go up, but our profits went down.

Because our hobbyist customer was using his December hobby allowance to buy gifts for others.

So we accepted that, then did Loyalty sales to our regular customers starting on Boxing Day. (Basically, we sent a flyer to our mailing list. We did not advertise to the general public.)

I can't think of how to translate our post-Xmas sale strategy to eBay. You could try sending a Message to all your 2021 customers with a coupon? You have their eBay IDs on file.

[rocketscollectibles]

It is not difficult to become a Top Rated Seller. I think eBay intends for it to be that way. Because it is so easy to become a Top Rated Seller, the status doesn't do much to distinguish the quality or scope of seller you're dealing with

I know and this is sad. Top rated seller should be for what it's stated, being a top rated seller. It should have higher standards to earn it. I bought things from top rated and had very bad experiences personally i know that it can be meaningless. I think that we still overall instinctivally are more attracted to buy to higher feedback scores

I have less than 50 positive feedbacks (many from purchases) with a basic yellow star, and i'm about to earn the status... This is actually hilarous. This also show how their feedback system is not working at all and how much buyers do not leave anything most of the time

[recped]

What does the feedback system have to do with TRS?

In answer to your original question, no TRS status won't do much of anything for you other than the fee discount.

If you are wondering why not, it's because the requirements to be TRS are minimal, basically you just need to sell 100 items/year so almost anyone who is a regular seller will be TRS. (unless they only sell 99 cent trinkets).

[rocketscollectibles]

What does the feedback system have to do with TRS?

Well it's two things that are and should be corrolated. They both have an impact on reputation and influence buyers decisions. And i personally think that feedback score maybe should be one more criteria to earn trs, like having a minimal score or minimal percentage positive. I mean think about it, i extreme the idea but in theory someone could have 0% positive transaction and be rated a top seller, how this makes sense. It just prove how the title is meaningless when you can be rated a top seller while having a basic star too

I just think that standards to earn the title should be higher imo

[femmefan1946]

At one time eBay did exactly that.

They removed FB as a criterion after years of complaints from sellers.

First, FB is an opinion. Your idea of wonderful tracking may be my idea of too little. This is especially true of sellers who reuse clean packaging.

Second, less than 40% of transactions ever got FB, and I believe most of that was left by sellers.

Third, buyers don't understand FB.

• They use it instead of the Resolution Centre to resolve problems
• They use FB as a review of the product instead of as a review of the transaction
• It is limited to 60 days from purchase, leaving some buyers embarrassed that they can't leave positive FB
• Sellers can only leave positives, which I agree with, and are heavily punished for leaving "false positives".

Basically, it's out of date as a method of assessing members.

The whole point of the TRS program is to make buyers feed protected. The only reason there are any limits is that if every seller were TRS ,  it would lose that cachet.

Remember everything eBay does is for the benefit of eBay.

EBay is not your friend. EBay is your landlord.

[ilikehockeyjerseys]

There is no point in eBay using feedback to evaluate sellers. eBay's goal is to create as much value as possible for buyers. They do this by trying to find ways to incentivize sellers to get buyers their items as quickly as possible. Also, they try to incentivize sellers to offer free returns (at least on the US eBay). Additionally, they incentivize sellers to handle returns promptly and to the satisfaction of the buyer, even if the seller doesn't agree with the buyer's interpretation of the issue with their item. The system in place ensures that a buyer is protected and in control if they perceive there to be an issue with their item. As in the buyer has full leverage to either get a generous partial refund, a full refund with the seller paying shipping, or a full refund without sending back the item because the seller has determined that is the cheapest route economically to resolve the dispute.

Why does eBay want to create value for buyers? Theoretically, because it helps sellers make more money. If you are a high volume seller, eBay being as attractive as possible to buyers is good for you. It means more buyers will be available. You will sell more items. Even if 1 percent of the time, you have to eat the time/cost of a return, you theoretically make up for that with the additional business eBay's buyer skewed policies bring you.

An example of this would be, you want to buy an item in a retail store. Store A says if there is an issue with the item, you have to deal with the manufacturer. You cannot return it in store. Store B says you can return the item any time within 30 days and they will give you a replacement or your money back. Where are you going to shop? If all other factors are the same (distance, price, etc), you're going to choose Store B. Additionally, you might even choose store B if factors aren't the same (farther from your house, slightly higher price, etc), because their return policy brings you more value than the cost of the additional time traveling or the additional price. Store B might have to eat the cost of a return once in a while, but the additional value that their return policy brings will get them more customers. This will more than make up for eating the cost of the return. That is basically what eBay's policies try to do. Create more value for customers, so that they will choose to shop on eBay, and the high volume sellers will make more than eBay's policies cost them in returns/general BS. 

The problem is, not everybody is a high volume seller. I think most people who are not satisfied with eBay's policies tend to be casual sellers who get unlucky with a bad transaction in a small sample size of sales. If you aren't a high volume seller, you do not benefit as much from these policies. It makes selling on eBay very risky for anyone who is casual, especially when you have very popular local classified sites as an option. If you do not have the high volume of sales to benefit from and cover the added cost of eBay's return policies, there is a chance you will eventually have a bad run of returns that make up a very large size of your sales during that period of time.

Going back to feedback, eBay cannot use feedback to evaluate sellers for the TRS program because there is no way to incentivize the seller to do anything with feedback. There is no if you do x, y, and z in the transaction, you are guaranteed positive feedback. That is why they have the defect system. The defect system is eBay's real feedback system that they use to evaluate sellers. They use it to incentivize sellers to operate in a way that delivers the most consistency and value to eBay's customers. Like I already said, it ensures that returns or disputes are handled according the standards eBay has set out. If you consistently do that, you get 10 percent off your fees and a badge on your Canadian listings. 

[recped]

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@rocketscollectibles wrote:

What does the feedback system have to do with TRS?

Well it's two things that are and should be corrolated. They both have an impact on reputation and influence buyers decisions. And i personally think that feedback score maybe should be one more criteria to earn trs, like having a minimal score or minimal percentage positive. I mean think about it, i extreme the idea but in theory someone could have 0% positive transaction and be rated a top seller, how this makes sense. It just prove how the title is meaningless when you can be rated a top seller while having a basic star too

I just think that standards to earn the title should be higher imo

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Fine but keep in mind that probably more than 90% of all (CA/US) sellers have 100% feedback.

I know when I am shopping on eBay I find it very rare to see a feedback rating of less than 100% and more rare if you go down to 99.5% or greater.

Feedback was ruined in the early days of eBay when buyers and seller conspired to make everyone's feedback meaningless.

Where out there in the real world does ANY company or merchant have a customer satisfaction rating of 100%. Is there anything is this world where 100% of people agree on anything and everything?

The only thing feedback on eBay ever did (past tense) was to potentially warn buyers of really really bad sellers. Everyone else from the pick of the litter to the reasonably good to the ok are all crammed in at 100% positive. Just not realistic and makes seller feedback rather pointless as a determinator of quality

I have a rating of 100% on all my selling id's and I know for a FACT that I do not provide the service level that many other sellers do so why am I 100% when I'm actually second (or third) best. All I really have to do is not blatently rid off my customers.

[parts_and_diecasts]

I'm waiting for you, what's taking you so long? 😋

[parts_and_diecasts]

what about TRS discount on FVF?