We have just lost our top rated seller rating after only 2 negative feedbacks in 12 months.

What protection is eBay managment giving to hard working small buisness that sell on eBay.....do we have a say?

We offer free postage and send most items the day they are purchsaed!

Is this fair?

I lost my Top Rated Seller Status a few days ago.  And I do understand that like any business there are ups and downs. I have felt the same way about buyers having so much control over your seller staus that it can cause one to feel angst.

There is less feeling of control on how one is to be perceived.  You think you are doing everything right, and then that dreaded email hits your mail box, item not as described, Ouch! what could be wrong, you ask yourself.  Didn't I describe everything to a T and w/ detail photos?  This aspect of selling on ebay, and not face-to-face, that can get one down from time to time.

If I sell an item SOLD-AS-IS and the buyer leaves low rating on item description because they bought it for a replacement part that turned out to not be what they wanted, and they have never bought on ebay before, then why should that take so much away from the hundreds of other sales that gave high description ratings.  Seems like regardless of the number of transactions you make that just 3 can knock down all your HARD WORK!  Buyers also usually don't realize that if you offer free shipping then that means the shipping price is included.  So they assume that the item is of higher quality because of listing price, even though the detailed description states sold as is.  I know that I have to keep working at it and make adjustments where I can and set guidelines for myself, so to keep cost low.  There are ways of making it work to your advantage, I'm just still trying too figure it out.  Like, how do I get my Top rated seller back now? Do I have to wait a month or what exactly.

There is only one reason Ebay has made all of the changes to sellers and shipping and that is so everyone will lose their discount, make Wall Street happy, the stock go up and the Board Members make millions off of the back of the sellers.  In the circle of life, what goes around comes around.  Give it time, they will get their due reward.  All sellers are looking for other avenues, and a lot will quit eBay, but the needle neck pencil pushers cannot think that far ahead.

I also had my rating drop this month because of 2 bad ratrings checking that my shipping charges were 2 high. I do not try to make money on shipping just try & not lose money. I have shipping charges posted on each of my over 1000 items. This is so unfair. Jane

My experience like all of yours has been frustrating. E-bay is a company that seems to opperate with the worlds worst customer service, They give you false information and actually lie to you without regard. Any other legimitate business would never survive with those kind of business practices. I'm convienced that the evil machine cannot be changed so I guess all that can be done is to promote action that negatively impacts e-bay just like they have done for all the honest sellers out there.

To grow with the curent seller base that they still have, all they would have to do is to be fair with the rules and listen to the complaints of the sellers and take positive action. Give someone in customer service the ability to make a decision other than "please let me put you on hold while I ask my supervisor brain"  I cannot believe that they have the success they have. They may think that they are the ony game in town and do not have to think about the mechanics of the business model but I think they are on the verge of colaspe. That is why I'm selling the stock short till they explode.

Even though they say that they record all of my phnoe calls I've never found any way to get their attention.

I lost my TRS status today for the same reason you did, were you ever able to resolve this, or is it not worth my time trying?

Ebay's system dosn't care about sellers and they are doing all to raise fees even if it is by taking our powerseller status away,

Very hard site to enjoy, it is almost scary to try to make a living.

@simplyglobo I think it might be 2 months before you are reinstated, the next evaluation should be for Sept-Nov so all those sales in sept will drag you down and then the following one will be for Oct-Dec and It seems to me that yoiu would be reinstated on that evaluation (DEC) but no one at e-bay can give you a straight answer to that. 

My strategy would be to not sell much during the time that you won't be getting the discount and resume after that. If you have an item that you sell to repeat customers continue with that one to keep that customer base but do everything you can to reduce your FVF's to e-bay. E-bay could care less about sellers and their customer service is a joke. You will waste a lot of time talking to chuckelheads who have absolutely no authority to help you.  Use the down time to expand other venues available to you to sell your goods, the more disappointed sellers e-bay creates by their bad policy's the more other venues open up.

My TRS status has been reinstated but I'm sure it's only a mater of time that they interpret the rules in their favor and take it away again.   

Hello,

We were a top rated seller as well until this month.  We had 3 listings that some how went into auction instead of the fixed price.  Then at the beginning of every month we have a new price tape, so prices change and usually go up...some do go down too.  My concern is that we didn't post any auctions, so how did they get posted as auctions.  The the parts sold and in no way can I sell a part for $51.99 when my cost is over $100.  This like I said happened 3 times this month and we got negative feedback on all three even though we sent messages explaining to the customer.  How can we get these taken off so we can become a top rated seller agan and get our discount back?  Not to mention how did the three items get on auction?  This does not seem right when we never posted anything as an "AUCTION"!!!

I've quit worrying about the Top Rated Seller thing...I've had it twice and both times ebay "raised the bar" for the qualifications. Have you noticed there is now a "Top Rated Plus"? Not having it hasn't affected my sales.

I ship free with an economy shipping and I get low ratings for shipping time, even though it is clearly described in big red letters in all my listings.

On the subject of negative feedback, I did recently manage to have a negative removed. I had received no contact from the buyer and ebay removed the feedback.

Indeed fleecebay offers seller no protection.  I have 1 negative in 12 months. All 4.9 or higher DSR ratings. But I got 3 "Item as Described" marks for a whopping point .67 percent DSR and I just lost my TRS after just getting the certificate in the mail that I had reached it yesterday.

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This change that cost me 20% discount will cost me maybe $300 over the next 3 months.

So I'm going to spend my time listing at the Ponderosa with Little Joe who can help me make up the losses and to grow my business elsewhere.

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I too also have my own website which is going to be getting a facelift.  I am also making a colorful flyer for every package I ship from ebay that will tell my buyers to look for me at the other auction site for better prices on other items.

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The other site hasn't screwed me. They charge me much less and have less intrusion into my business. EPLAY is no longer 'JUST A VENUE" they are the ugly partner in my business that I have to deal with.

Yes, I agree the stress of selling on ebay is quickly becoming a factor in continuing to do business on ebay.  A one day vacation from ebay wont work.  It needs to be a permanant move to another venue.

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Continues policy changes and rules that are unfair are the reason many are leaving. And yes I agree ebay bean counters have found a way to get the best top sellers off the discount rolls and paying more.