eBay Spring Seller Update

[tonysbricks]

tdw, you can specify that sets must be returned unopened and eBay will back you on that. Kids aren't going to wait to rip into their LEGO until Mom or Dad finds a sale after Christmas.

There is nothing stopping them from buying their presents from you, giving them to the kids, and then waiting for the re-stock / clearance cycle and returning the item they just paid 30% less for to you.

[Brickshopper]

There is no now I will see why you hate them....I still support the USPS we have been doing this 5 years and they literally have had a 99.9+ % success rate delivering our items and I appreciate their quickness and am amazed how they are able to accurately process so much everyday. that being said I feel you have some good points there customer service is most definitely lacking and of course they will lose damage or misplace packages. I wont start up the debate again just say for me it has been an absolute fantastic shipping option with an amazing success rate with over 15,000+ packages delivered. Ebay's updates are a different story and just always learn relearn adjust adapt. I like frogs points about how to look at it as an opportunity to outdo your competition. Good Luck All!

[justafrog]

There is nothing stopping them from buying their presents from you, giving them to the kids, and then waiting for the re-stock / clearance cycle and returning the item they just paid 30% less for to you.

 

 

Except that, again, the vast majority of buyers are too honest, too lazy, or too apathetic to bother.

 

It's annoying to get returns, but you'll find they're a drop in the bucket of your sales regardless of whether it's 7 day or 14 day or 90 day. It's probably hardest on the smaller sellers who might get an unlucky streak of them than a mid-sized seller like me or bigger sellers who can pretty much predict their return percentage month to month.

 

I remember booksellers freaking out when TRS started to require 14 day returns. OMG, the buyers were going to BUY our books and then READ them or PHOTOCOPY them and SEND THEM BACK. EEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeee! Run!

 

Yeah, it doesn't happen. Sellers of CDs and DVDs find that the majority of their buyers don't copy the movie or CD and then send that back for a return either. Even clothing sellers, those poor schmoes who get folks who don't realize they've gone up six dress sizes since high school, still make a living.

[justafrog]

Also keep in mind, eBay, like Amazon, tracks serial returners. They are not amused by them either. A buyer pulling the stunt too often finds their buying privileges restricted or rescinded.

 

Tempest, teapot. Mountain, molehill. It's all good most of the time.

[tonysbricks]

Interesting counterpoints, I see what you mean. As a hobbyist seller these changes scare me, but then again I don't plan to chase a 2% discount and bend to the TSP program so it becomes a non-issue anyway. Thanks for the additional info.

[justafrog]

No problem - and as a hobbyist/occasional seller you may enjoy a run of great luck or not so great luck, it's a dicier position to be in sometimes because if you do get a few bad apples you don't necessarily have the volume to recover the same way. I can understand the nerves.

 

Heck, sometimes I get a larger than normal number of dumbos in a month, too, and it's maddening, especially with eBay's wonderful new designation of Defective Seller.    I mean, I know some days the label probably applies to me but it's mean of them to call me names. 

[tdw]

frog -  I do agree with you that a lot of parents will be lazy or simply don't care about the money but as someone else has already said some parents will let the kids open the set they rx'd and then find it after xmas and send that item back to the ebay seller.  Even lazy has a $ amount where hey that is worth my while.  

 

I am not normally a flipper so I am not impacted much by this but I will have to think about whether to opt in or out on any sets that I would flip in Nov and Dec (I'm currently leaning towards out on any potential flips).  Who wants to sell the next minecraft which they paid $35 and sell it for $100 to return a month plus later when anyone can get it for the $35.  How about an AS that sold for $100-200 over MSRP during the xmas craze?  How many sellers would want those back if Lego made them available in Jan?  The seller is out any potential profit and now has to sit on the set until it is retired or the price goes up due to another shortage.  This should really cause a problem for the folks (game consoles, etc) where you are looking at $100s of dollars of a markup during the xmas craze.  I think even lazy parents become less lazy when they can buy the item at a local store or even online in Jan and return it to the ebay seller and save quite a bit even after losing out on postage (to and from).

[Migration]

frog -  I do agree with you that a lot of parents will be lazy or simply don't care about the money but as someone else has already said some parents will let the kids open the set they rx'd and then find it after xmas and send that item back to the ebay seller.  Even lazy has a $ amount where hey that is worth my while.  

 

I am not normally a flipper so I am not impacted much by this but I will have to think about whether to opt in or out on any sets that I would flip in Nov and Dec (I'm currently leaning towards out on any potential flips).  Who wants to sell the next minecraft which they paid $35 and sell it for $100 to return a month plus later when anyone can get it for the $35.  How about an AS that sold for $100-200 over MSRP during the xmas craze?  How many sellers would want those back if Lego made them available in Jan?  The seller is out any potential profit and now has to sit on the set until it is retired or the price goes up due to another shortage.  This should really cause a problem for the folks (game consoles, etc) where you are looking at $100s of dollars of a markup during the xmas craze.  I think even lazy parents become less lazy when they can buy the item at a local store or even online in Jan and return it to the ebay seller and save quite a bit even after losing out on postage (to and from).

Agreed, even many B&Ms don't have that long of a return window. 90 days is simply to long, even 45 days for a SNAD case is pushing it.

[justafrog]

Hey, anyone who disagrees is free to opt out of TRS plus for November and December. For me as for many sellers those are my two best months, so I don't mind at all how many of my competition fear the 90 day window  and give up their search position (and it's only 90 days if they buy on Nov. 1, it gets shorter and shorter as the season progresses).

 

In fact, in retrospect, you're all right - the eBay return window is FATAL. Be sure to opt out of TRS plus. 

[Migration]

Frog is right of course, we must accept any changes and updates that eBay throws at us without compliant or discussion because they know what's best for us and resistance is futile. Not that it really matters, but I've never been a top seller and after this update I'm pretty sure that I never will be. Buyers still manage to find my listings and I still manage to sell a large number of items, I just have to accept that while eBay charges me 10% other sellers who want to jump through all the hoops only pay 8%.

[justafrog]

I'm listening to eBay staff in a seminar right now, and it appears that the "new" tracking requirement is that you upload the tracking number within your handling time, but the "scan" requirement for the USPS can be at ANY point along the delivery time between you and the buyer.

 

I.e, if your post office misses doing an acceptance/departure scan and the item gets scanned two days later in the sorting center, or doesn't get scanned till it gets delivered, eBay is saying that will satisfy their requirement.

 

I hope that's right, it is straight from the horse's mouth (the guy in charge of shipping metrics at eBay).

[justafrog]

On April 16 they will have a preview of the new Seller Dashboard that will show the defect rate, etc.

 

On May 1 the first 3 month evaluation period (for those of us with a sales volume that puts us at 3 month eval, 400 items in the 3 months and at least $1000) starts, with August 20 being the first 3 month lookback evaluation. For those on the 12 month cycle, your evaluation period is in progress already, August 20 will be your first lookback.

[river41]

I'm listening to eBay staff in a seminar right now, and it appears that the "new" tracking requirement is that you upload the tracking number within your handling time, but the "scan" requirement for the USPS can be at ANY point along the delivery time between you and the buyer.

 

I.e, if your post office misses doing an acceptance/departure scan and the item gets scanned two days later in the sorting center, or doesn't get scanned till it gets delivered, eBay is saying that will satisfy their requirement.

 

I hope that's right, it is straight from the horse's mouth (the guy in charge of shipping metrics at eBay).

so sellers can still take a week to ship your package-it seems that they are trying to combat bogus tracking numbers and not late shipments??

[river41]

frog -  I do agree with you that a lot of parents will be lazy or simply don't care about the money but as someone else has already said some parents will let the kids open the set they rx'd and then find it after xmas and send that item back to the ebay seller.  Even lazy has a $ amount where hey that is worth my while.  

 

I am not normally a flipper so I am not impacted much by this but I will have to think about whether to opt in or out on any sets that I would flip in Nov and Dec (I'm currently leaning towards out on any potential flips).  Who wants to sell the next minecraft which they paid $35 and sell it for $100 to return a month plus later when anyone can get it for the $35.  How about an AS that sold for $100-200 over MSRP during the xmas craze?  How many sellers would want those back if Lego made them available in Jan?  The seller is out any potential profit and now has to sit on the set until it is retired or the price goes up due to another shortage.  This should really cause a problem for the folks (game consoles, etc) where you are looking at $100s of dollars of a markup during the xmas craze.  I think even lazy parents become less lazy when they can buy the item at a local store or even online in Jan and return it to the ebay seller and save quite a bit even after losing out on postage (to and from).

consoles have a unique serial number to each one similar to every appliance you buy so as long as you record the number you should be okay-as for your other examples anytime you are selling a item with that much markup i would disallow any return and for that item not receive the 2 percent discount

[justafrog]

I don't know how sophisticated the data gathering will get - if I print a label and upload tracking and then it shows an ACCEPTANCE scan 3 days later at my zip code, it might be quite possible eBay's bots can pick that up.

 

Or, you may be right, and it may simply just catch the outright scammers with fake tracking numbers at this point.

 

We will see once it goes into effect - or rather, you and I won't because we're not slow-shipping scam artists, but OTHER people will see. 

[river41]

I don't know how sophisticated the data gathering will get - if I print a label and upload tracking and then it shows an ACCEPTANCE scan 3 days later at my zip code, it might be quite possible eBay's bots can pick that up.

 

Or, you may be right, and it may simply just catch the outright scammers with fake tracking numbers at this point.

 

We will see once it goes into effect - or rather, you and I won't because we're not slow-shipping scam artists, but OTHER people will see. 

I may be wrong but i think the fake tracking numbers(I got one once) are not really scammers.They just aren't ready to ship the item but they want to maintain their top rated status. They don't know the weight etc. It also comes into play if you drop ship--there are many legitimate drop shippers that have contracts with the manufactorer but they don't ship out within the day so the seller makes up a tracking number and updates it once the item is drop shipped.

[justafrog]

To me, it's scammy behavior to provide a tracking number that you know perfectly well is not true and accurate.

 

Either follow the program, or don't follow the program, but lying about it to eBay and the buyer is sleazy.

[chinothegeeko]

Thanks for all the updates and your opinion frog. 

 

i'm not too concerned about this round of seller updates from ebay. The main bother is trying to keep up with them and adapting. I'm more excited to get my TRS back next month after losing it for 3 months over uploading tracking. 

 

Use vacation setting when going on vacation, doh!!

[Alpinemaps]

I'll toss this out there, too - I printed a shipping label on Tuesday night (auto add the tracking number).  Got to the post office on Wednesday, and realized I screwed up postage, and ended up buying postage (and a new tracking number) at the PO.

 

I'm a good seller, so I went back and changed the tracking number manually.  But entirely possible that someone could be lazy, and just not do that.

[StarCityBrickCompany]

Have people had the chance to check out their new Defect Ratings yet? So much is now out of the sellers control. Also, the new rules are retroactive, so many will now be punished for doing things that ebay had previously suggested that they should be doing.

 

I found an article that pretty much states that ebay management had previously been expecting only 25%-30% to qualify for TRS (under the old rules), but that the actual % was closer to 40% - They are now expecting the new requirements will bring that number down to the 25%-30% number that they were looking to have.

[justafrog]

I have my new dashboard and am well under 1% on defects, so as expected this change, like so many others, will have little effect on me.

 

It's only retroactive for those who don't sell enough to be on a 3 month lookback cycle. For those on the 12 month cycle, yes, it's retroactive. For me, my first period of time that will "count" is May 1 through July 31.

[holleman67]

I just looked at mine yesterday and need to read more about it. I just started selling in December and I have 6 defects which at least 2 were people opening cases for late packages during ups's shipping issues. It's nit enough to throw me out of yr running for trs yet but I'm on the brink. I don't fully agree with the new requirements as I feel like I have little to no say in what a customer complains about and it can easily affect my standing. I'm not that stressed about it but I would like to try and keep myself to a standard.

[justafrog]

There's a free webinar tomorrow regarding the changes and the new dashboard:

 

http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/sellingresources/webinars.html

 

The webinars are usually helpful to me - I am pretty up on this stuff, but I am usually able to learn one or two new things, or have one or two things clarified or verified, listening to them, and I can simply get on with my work while they're playing the background, like talk radio.

[holleman67]

I think I will try and take a look at this update. I am looking at my dashboard now and it is telling me out of the 107 transactions  I have, 6 are defects. It isn't giving me a percentage per say but it is telling me that 4 of them were due to cases that were opened for items not received. Knock on wood I have had pretty good luck with my carriers and the problems I have had were with UPS prior to Christmas when they screwed up and at some point shut down due to harsh weather. I think some may had to do with me not having a proper system in place to get my items packed, labeled, and dropped to the carrier in a reasonable time. (<24hrs) I will say in my area I have 98% of my shipments have been validated by a carrier. I recall someone mentioning that they were having some issues (DNIIM?) but nonetheless I am rather pleased as I use a mixture of USPS and FedEx for my orders. I tend to drop my packages at a third party shipping store in which I am told any FedEx packages that are picked up from that location are scanned before they are put on the truck which I am sure is what happens in the B&M FedEx drop offs but I have become comfortable with my drop offs and they make them convenient for my schedule. The USPSI am told is hit or miss if they scan on pickup but from my understanding when they go downtown to be processed and sent out they are scanned into the system. At this point and time, I am thinking the variable that needs some adjustment is myself in fulfilling my orders and getting them out the door in time. I am however still a little bitter about my 4 defects from customers that are a little trigger happy when they don't get their package in <2 days. I guess that is something that just comes with the business.

 

Side note: I am not an English major nor is it my forte, so please excuse any errors or run-ons!!!

[StarCityBrickCompany]

I think I will try and take a look at this update. I am looking at my dashboard now and it is telling me out of the 107 transactions  I have, 6 are defects. It isn't giving me a percentage per say but it is telling me that 4 of them were due to cases that were opened for items not received. Knock on wood I have had pretty good luck with my carriers and the problems I have had were with UPS prior to Christmas when they screwed up and at some point shut down due to harsh weather. I think some may had to do with me not having a proper system in place to get my items packed, labeled, and dropped to the carrier in a reasonable time. (<24hrs) I will say in my area I have 98% of my shipments have been validated by a carrier. I recall someone mentioning that they were having some issues (DNIIM?) but nonetheless I am rather pleased as I use a mixture of USPS and FedEx for my orders. I tend to drop my packages at a third party shipping store in which I am told any FedEx packages that are picked up from that location are scanned before they are put on the truck which I am sure is what happens in the B&M FedEx drop offs but I have become comfortable with my drop offs and they make them convenient for my schedule. The USPSI am told is hit or miss if they scan on pickup but from my understanding when they go downtown to be processed and sent out they are scanned into the system. At this point and time, I am thinking the variable that needs some adjustment is myself in fulfilling my orders and getting them out the door in time. I am however still a little bitter about my 4 defects from customers that are a little trigger happy when they don't get their package in <2 days. I guess that is something that just comes with the business.

 

Side note: I am not an English major nor is it my forte, so please excuse any errors or run-ons!!!

 

Yes, this is unfortunate. Many good people are getting hurt (some are being sent msgs about having their accounts suspended). The lack of an option of disputing defects, or removing any non issues is just unfair. But this isn't about being fair, or creating a better buyer experience. It is just about lowering the number of 20% discounts on fees. They have always made you jump through hoops to maintain the TRS , but now you are also blindfolded, and your legs are tied.