I buy lots and use the unwanted stamps as postage. So I never pay for postage...or paper for labels...or ink for labels...and so on.

So what if I lose my status....everyone else will also.

Ebay strongly encourages sellers to offer free shipping. So...an item sold for 99 cent, I'm expected to pay listing fee, ebay final value fee, pay pal fee, AND $1.64 for tracking. I would be better off giving the item away and send it regular mail. 

This is just another ploy ebay is using to not honor the 20% final value fee discount.

Ebay also strongly encourages the use of their labels with the benefit of lower rates and free tracking. You'll pay the same rates and get free tracking anyway using stamp.com or USPS.com.   

So tomorrow is the big day..... Evaluation day for July... Which means loss of TRS badge.  Keep hoping for a miracle.  Someone will get a clue... but then again look who we are dealing with.. ebay.

I have changed shipping terms and most of our customers understand. No bad marks in shipping yet. 

Still frustrating though to look at our feedback and see that we have approx 12000+ US transactions in the last 12 months and have received 6 low dsr..... but we still don't acheive TRS status.

This by far is the worse change they have made.  It sucks.  We now have to sell more to pay for the 20% increase in fees.

Well, good luck to all you excellent top rated sellers out there.  ebay may take away your status but your customers will still think your top!

Been at Delcampe for 6 months and have acheived Top store position #5 in  US - Philately.  Not a bad start.  Started auctions there last week.

Cobbie,

Awesome.  Think I will write something similiar.  I have been approached by someone at Linn's thinking of doing an article on how eBay changes effects stamp dealers.  Hopefully, he will do it.  Get it out there in a major publication. 

Maybe I will send him a nudge tell him this month is when the TRS status will be lost for many sellers.

At the end of day July 21, 2012. the number of eBay listings in Stamps > United States was 604,604 and only 97,111 (about 16%) were listed by Top-Rated Sellers. Soon, maybe no one will be left standing. This is like watching a train wreck in slow motion.

Clark

I have only recently read all of these posts. Like everyone else I'm a little "upset" about the tracking requirements, etc. I have been a stamp collector since the early 70's, a dealer part-time since the early 80's and full-time since the early 90's. I specialize in cinderella material but often handle postage stamps when they happen to come my way in a lot or accumulation. For a long time I have felt that eBay is a much better venue for buyers than for sellers. I have had good success selling some of my unsorted "overflow" material on eBay, primarily because I use low starting bids. My better material usually doesn't sell on eBay because I am not willing to sell a $50 stamp for $5. What this tells me is that most of the stamp buyers on eBay are looking for bargains. If I have to raise my starting bids on low value material just to be able to afford to comply with tracking requirements, then much of my lots will not sell. Not good for me, not good for eBay, not good for my customers. I agree with the many posters that eBay has painted with too broad a brush and assumes that all buyers are the same and have the same wants regarding their eBay purchases, but this simply is not true. When I send an eBay invoice I cannot even select my shipping method )first-class letter" because eBay has eliminated it from the choices. I would challenge eBay to provide any data that supports their claims that most stamp collectors want to pay more for their purchases, and get them mailed in larger packages with computer printed labels instead of stamps, just so they can be "protected" by eBay.  There was a time when I would see  a common modern postage stamp, torn off an envelope and offered as a "RARE OLD STAMP" with a high starting bid.Mostly that is gone because of the self-policing feedback system. I don't think the new tracking requirements add anything to the program. Sorry for the long rant.

-Ray Petersen (maerkat)

Connecticut Cinderellas

Hi Oggilby,

If there is a way to work around this new, very expensive shipping policy ebay has implemented for Top Rate Sellers to keep their status, I would really like to know it. Sorry to say but I don't think so. I had to relinguish my Top Rate Seller position because I refuse to change my free shipping and charge my customers a minimum of $1.64 or to raise my prices as both were sugguested to me by ebay. I want my customers to continue receiving stamps as postage. It is ridiculous to expect buyers to pay higher shipping cost than what some stamps are worth. This new policy is just another ploy for ebay to reap on final value fees since they profit from shipping charges and they also don't have to honor the 20% discount to very many, many sellers who have lost their status because, like me, have elected not to participate in this new costly policy. Top Rate status requirements should be seller's performance only. What shipping method sellers use should not be a factor. Ebay could at least have put a cap on the amount...for instance, delivery confirmation required if the item is over $25, etc.   

Just an update on the first class tracers.  I checked on purchasing some more online and received an email back stating that they have been put on hold until early 2013.  I was told the offices have sold out and they are not printing more until they do a system update to improve the tracking.

Just thought I would post the update on them.

As a postcard seller, this definitely affects me.  Since tracking is not even available for a First Class Envelope, and even though I have a 14 day return policy and I ship next day, I will never achieve top rated seller status because I cannot get tracking. There is no First Class Envelope listed on the page where you print your shipping Lable.  The Post Office will not track First Class Envelopes.

  So, even though I have 100% feedback and meet all other requirements, I will not get the 20% off final value fee or come up higher in the listings. Many of you are in the same predicament.

 This is through no fault of our own, folks, so I suggest everyone do as I did. it may or may not help but there is more power in lots of voices. 

 Call Ebay and ask to speak to a supervisor.  They will present your concern at a weekly  meeting so I was told by a superisor I spoke with today.  I would assume if they get lots of the same concern presented, they will take a look at making an exception to tracking for a First Class Envelope. (There is no such thing.)

  First you will be connected with someone that you may or may  understand and who may not understand you.  (I first talked to a man who never understood my concern even when I asked to speak to a superisor.)

 Then write a letter to Ebay about this situation. The address is:

Ebay, Inc.

2145 Hamilton Ave

San Jose, CA 95125

I knoe.... hope springs eternal.....but sometimes lots of voices can accomplish things so folks, raise your voices to ebay by letter or phone or both, not just on here because I dont think they read our posts on here

. 

Just like the other contributers I can loose my rating and be penalized unfairly by a loss of exposure on the site which high priced items have.

Like the others I have used real stamps for postage since 1999 with out any problem. As a stamp dealer it is almost sinful to use a label instead of a stamp

Could  eBay not put a value limit on the tracking requirement?

The problem has being running long enough to warrent some response from the originator

dublinjim

I see lots of names I recognise and I share your pain.  I am a buyer and not a seller. 

I posted an issue about a lost package on another board and will not repeat that here.  However, I wonder what tracking numbers accomplish.  I am able to show that my registered package was lost/stolen in New York.  I know the seller has done his job and is not responsible (forget what EBay says) and there is a thief in New York.  Quite a bit of money gone and no stamps.  The tracking knowledge is just that. 

As for stars, I have done what I can over 14 years to be understanding about late delivery, minor stamp issues, and damage in the mail.  With stars, that means everyone gets 5 stars or nothing.  The "nothing" usually occurs with very high P&H costs.  Am I right that "nothing" does not damage the seller's standing with EBay?

Lastly, I am as crazy about our hobby as anyone, but I do not save stamps on letters or parcels.  Dealers don't want them and they end up filling boxes in the closet.  So, labels are fine with me and may help by not drawing attention to the envelope.