posted on September 23, 2013 11:10:23 AM new
I just went through and viewed my status and ratings on our account. I've seen a slight dip in our DSR overall rating, but it is still very good.
Still perplexed how this doesn't qualify for a discount when I meet everything except the 14 day return policy. I even ship over 90% within a day, more like 50% same day as payment.
posted on September 23, 2013 03:08:54 PM new
You have to state in the listing that you ship in 1 day and then do it to get the discount for it. If you say you ship in one day and don't it a mark against you - too many and you lose your TRS status.
But if you say you will ship in three days and ship in one or the same - you get no discount for that - you may as well wait 3 days according to ebay.
This is what I was told a while back when they started the TRS stuff.
posted on September 23, 2013 04:25:51 PM new
You only get the discount if you are a Top Rated Seller PLUS. To qualify for that you must have 1 day shipping & at least a 14 day return policy.
posted on September 24, 2013 08:45:03 AM new
What I meant was that we work pretty hard to maintain these stats and in the end we get nothing.
I do realize we have to be set up for 1 day shipping and 14 day returns for the 20% discount on FVFs.
I have considered it, however my concern is generally the 1 day shipping when we travel because we mostly sell vintage and have to find it. I don't want someone to think it will be shipped one day when it may not happen for two-three days. We haven't traveled much this year, but just as I say that, things will change. If we sold new items only, it probably wouldn't be an issue.
The return policy is ok, only because we can charge restocking fees and require the buyer to cover return shipping... but that seems like it opens a whole can of worms in feedback, some buyers taking it out on us because it would cost them as much as 50% of the price (25% restocking + shipping costs). Maybe I'm wrong and someone could shed some light on that.
One other question I have is how does the vacation setting affect ratings? Is that even an option any longer?
[ edited by shagmidmod on Sep 24, 2013 08:46 AM ]
posted on September 24, 2013 09:55:40 AM new
I have a similar problem now that my husband is retired.
We spend time at our other property which is 2 hours away. We are there for a week sometimes and two weeks other times.
I do have a big box full of jewelry that I carry back and forth, but I can't take everything.
Before we leave, I go into ebay and bulk edit my handling time to 5 or 10 days so I'll be safe. Of course, my little TRS banner goes away and I get dropped lower in the searches. When I change it back to 1 day handling everything goes back to normal.
It has slowed my sales but I don't see that I have any other option.
Maybe you could try that and see how it works for you.
[ edited by ebabestreasures on Sep 24, 2013 09:56 AM ]
posted on September 24, 2013 10:28:26 AM new
I have a similar problem. I do have 1 day shipping and 30 day return policy but I refuse to up my prices to cover the cost of shipping postcards via package mail with tracking when a single first class stamp on an invitation sized envelope will do perfectly well. Makes me mad when eBay uses a one size fits all policy. I would say that a large percentage of the postcard sellers are not top-rated plus sellers, or even top rated for that matter since the tracking is required for both. I would like to send Michael Jones or whoever the fool is who dictated this policy a postcard using both methods and have him see for himself how silly it is. If eBay is truly a green company, they would not require sellers of flat items to ship in extra material that will be wasted. I ship my postcards in archival quality rigid plastic post card sleeves that can be used to store them safely. Does it make sense to ship them in padded envelopes to acheive the required thickness for tracking? Such a waste!
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posted on September 24, 2013 11:23:21 AM new
You cant have the cake and eat it too?
Either you stay glued to the PC and print label and ship package or hire someone to do so while you are away.
Or consider a fulfillment service,ship them your merchandise and they will fill the orders for you.
Also consider splitting your merchandise ,set up 2 shops and two warehouses ,that way if you are in house A you put shop B on vacation,if you are in house B,put shop A on vacation.
[ edited by lostmymojo on Sep 24, 2013 11:50 AM ]
posted on September 24, 2013 02:07:30 PM new
I had an employee but she quit so that was that.
I'm not trying to have my cake and eat it too. I'm just trying to eat - period.
Many of my items are very large and I don't think I would trust anyone else to pack them correctly.
I think what Shag and Neglus are saying is they are good sellers but ebay wants a one size fits all and it's just not going to work for everyone.
Anyway I'm working it out and I'll adapt to this just like I've adapted to everything else over the last 15 years.
posted on September 24, 2013 03:14:08 PM new
I am just going to start ignoring lost. Rarely do I get input worthwhile.
If you are set up for the discount and meet the "typical" requirements for TRS, etc including 1 day shipping and 14 day return policy AND you put your account on vacation with a dedicated return date, will that affect the discount eligibility?
posted on September 24, 2013 07:43:42 PM new
This is something I would like to do-
Someone looked into online reviews and said 20% of Yelps reviews are fake,folks from Bangla Dash and Philipines etc are paid $1-$10 dollars to give good reviews.
Now I could use that to get my Top rated seller status back.
posted on September 24, 2013 08:02:46 PM new
ebabe - In February of this year I ended all 9,000 of my listings because I knew I would be spending much of the winter away from home and couldn't bring 9,000 items with me. I am STILL working trying to put those items back up (thank god for all those free listings which should take me to the end of this year). I am trying to figure out what to do this winter! We are leaving soon for 1 1/2 weeks and I think I will put my store on vacation and let the chips fall where they may. I am bringing my auction items with me. Of course postcards aren't as much of a problem as other merchandise.
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posted on September 24, 2013 11:14:19 PM new
"ebabe - In February of this year I ended all 9,000 of my listings because I knew I would be spending much of the winter away from home and couldn't bring 9,000 items with me. I am STILL working trying to put those items back up (thank god for all those free listings which should take me to the end of this year). I am trying to figure out what to do this winter! We are leaving soon for 1 1/2 weeks and I think I will put my store on vacation and let the chips fall where they may. I am bringing my auction items with me.
posted on September 25, 2013 07:03:56 AM new
Lets look at this issue from a different perspective,
if you have 9000 items for sale ,you are a serious seller and most serious sellers are full time sellers dedicated to their trade,run it like a business and you will find your solution,hire an assistant,if you cant either due to budget or training,then stay put.
Folks who said they have other obigations like kids,elderly,travelling etc face the same problem.
Ask yourself ,if you care about your business and like the money you made,then sacrifice the rest,if you think you have other obigations more important than your sales business,then sacrifice your business.
Pity the brick and mortar retailer,they are there from 10 am to 6 pm rain or shine,sales or no sales,their kids may be sick,porridge on the table is getting cold,errands are not run,but they know bills have to be paid,so they are in their store waiting for customers,they know how to set their priority,it takes them 17 days of sales just to pay their overhead,they know how to prioritise.
Every morning I come to my PC , I tell myself how lucky I am ,I can work from home and I dont have the same kind of overhead.
[ edited by lostmymojo on Sep 25, 2013 07:30 AM ]
[ edited by lostmymojo on Sep 25, 2013 07:31 AM ]
posted on September 25, 2013 12:35:52 PM new
koz - I do store in boxes like that. I think this year I might ship everything to California if I end up spending so much time there again. Our plans are not yet certain. I think it might be cheaper to ship them in the large USPS Flat Rate PRiority boxes and fill the storage boxes when they arrive. I think I can get about 1,000 in one of those boxes. I might try to keep the store smaller though winter is typically my prime selling time.
Lost - I was a serious seller for many years. Truth is, I have been coasting for a couple of years. I left my full inventory on eBay for too long. I stupidly filed everything by eBay item number so was kind of between a rock and a hard place. If I ended my listings, I could just kiss all that work good bye because I never would be able to find anything again. I finally figured out a way to easily (more or less) change to another coding system and began working on converting during the summer of 2012 (meant more time not really listing!)So I was ready on first of Feb 2013 to flip the switch. It was weird to watch my numbers of items for sale drop! I had a wonderful, carefree winter without much thought about the headaches and heartaches of Ebay. Fortunately we do not depend on my ebay income to pay the mortgage. My youngest daughter graduated from college in 2008 (college tuitions were the reason I started selling in the first place). I think I really needed a break!
One thing I learned is that all those stinky old listings of perfectly fine postcards have not been getting ebay visibility for a number of years!Once the Google feed ended, they have been virtually invisible. I guess eBay kind of hinted at this and I tried revising, but as I said, I was more or less stuck because of my filing system. I was not able to reopen my store until June (had to help my mother following surgery for 2 months) so all of the listings disappeared from the eBay system after 90 days. Thankfully, they were all in Vendio but many have needed extensive revisions due to ebay changes. It's been a slow process to bring them back on the market. I have found that my older listings are selling about as well as the newer ones! Now that my husband is nearing retirement and I am a couple of years behind him, it looks like I need to get serious again! I am hoping eBay remains a viable marketplace because I have not had much success elsewhere.
posted on September 25, 2013 12:36:32 PM new
Since it appears eBay finally worked out the bugs on the Vacation Settings (where people were able to buy items from their watch lists), I put my store vacation if I can't ship with one day handling.
Often we are away for trade shows Thursday through Sunday. So I will close the store Thursday morning before we leave and reopen it on Friday, since anything paid for on Friday would only need a shipping date of Monday.
I don't really see any decline in sales. In fact, many times I have had a banner sales week after being closed a few days!
posted on September 25, 2013 12:44:23 PM new
wgonzales - There has long been a theory that putting your store on vacation causes the system to reindex your items. I think it's true - I also experience better sales when I use the vacation settings.
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posted on September 25, 2013 12:53:40 PM new
I once put my store on vacation but buyers can still place order,just that I wont be shipping until I return.
The buyer knows that but she negged me for shipping late,the truth is there are so many sellers to buy from,when buyers leave feedback,they dont remember what they said to whom?
My decision now is that I will just put the store on vacation,no buy and no shipping when I am away.
posted on September 25, 2013 12:54:54 PM new
Neglus,
have you considered selling wholesale,off ebay to someone who may want to start a business?
Just curious,how much fee do you pay to have 9000 items on Vendio and Ebay?
[ edited by lostmymojo on Sep 25, 2013 12:56 PM ]
posted on September 25, 2013 01:07:17 PM new
Lost - when I am done selling, I will probably do something like that. Right now, with the 25,000 FP listings and 1,000,000 auctions, my fees are lower than they have been in years. I probably will sell in lots on eBay as I get closer to the time when I am ready to retire. I have many times the number of postcards I have listed as inventory. We also have not liquidated my sister Jane's (pixiamom) cards but those in are in Oregon and I am in Minnesota.
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posted on September 25, 2013 05:41:48 PM new
If I remember, that is in Scappoose? We occasionally do a loop through Scappoose & St Helens on up to Longview and take I-5 back to Portland. I think we will start going up i-5 first in the future.
We used to stop at a store on the way back from Longview, but last time through they had gone out of business... big bummer because I found some great treasures there. We bought a Danish dining table set for $200 which I sold for $2400 two days later, and a clock for $10 I sold on eBay for $350. Will miss that place!
posted on September 25, 2013 08:22:25 PM new
My mom has Jane's postcards in Salem. Jane lived in Portland - most of the time by your retail store I think though she lived in Gresham the last year or so.
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posted on September 26, 2013 10:19:45 AM new
I know someone who has a second home in Portland OR,she always come back refreshed and happy with a glow.
Is there something about OR we are missing?
posted on September 26, 2013 11:04:07 AM new
Oregon is a jewel. The Coast is gorgeous with rugged coastline sprinkled with beautiful sandy beaches. There are high mountains with snow and high desert in the eastern part of the state where the sun is almost always shining. The Willamette Valley is lush with orchards bearing the best cherries and peaches I have ever tasted. Oregon strawberries and blueberries and marionberries are bountiful in season and most delicious! I love Oregon but don't think I could bear a winter of grayness! The summers and fall are usually sunny and warm (maybe not this year) - if you haven't been there, visit those times of year. Portland is a beautiful city with lots of things to see and do. The Oregonians want you to visit but not to move there. They have about the highest unemployment rate in the country and the highest percentage of long term homeless people (according to a chart I saw yesterday). Another bonus - no sales tax!
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posted on September 26, 2013 12:31:05 PM new
To be fair, the homeless tend to be from California or nomads escaping somewhere else and end up here because it is on Interstate 5.
I don't have issue with people moving here, except I do have issue with the 20 somethings that are driving down the labor market. Too many people with Masters degrees working at Starbucks, bars, restaurants. On the other hand, I really can't blame them if they are making Oregon minimum wage of ($8.95 plus tips which translates often to $25-35 an hour).
The other thing is that we don't pump our own gas. Maybe that is why she comes back refreshed... no inhaling gas fumes, which I imagine in Texas is pretty much in the air with the the oil rigs and refineries.
posted on September 26, 2013 02:12:01 PM new
"To be fair, the homeless tend to be from California or nomads escaping somewhere else and end up here because it is on Interstate 5. "
Oh yeah, if I were homeless, I would certainly leave the Mediterranean climate of Southern California, and head to Oregon, where I could happily push my carriage of stamps through the winter snow.
I'll bet that you make you own homeless in Oregon.
posted on September 26, 2013 03:17:18 PM new
I agree Koz - another thing about Oregonians is that they tend to blame everything on the Californians (my own mother and sister do that!).
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posted on September 26, 2013 05:28:07 PM new
I am afraid this woman could be having an affair with some one in Portland! while her husband toiled under the hot Texas sun !
Houston has its attraction!We have a few large supermarkets in Chinatown,everyone knows they have seafood,tilapia and cat fish and carp swimming in tanks,different varieties of turtles trying to climb out of the bucket,small,medium amd large live lobsters in cold cold water,from Canada,it used to be from Maine!
The large size lobsters go from 2 1/2 - 3 1/4 lb.
Dungenese crab live or frozen,blue shell crabs live or frozen,scallops from Japan and god knows where,frozen sea cucumber from China,fresh geoduck from Canada,fresh snails,razor clams,cherrystone clams,no oysters,what is that large clam size of cherry stone that you cut into strip to make chowder or fry it>
I tried the fresh cod yesterday for 6.88 a lb and it is delicous steamed ,it melts in your mouth!
Florida red snapper,seabass,rock fish,big mouth fish?,perch,German carp,grouper,the list goes on !
Another bonus,there is a restaurant in the same strip mall as the supermarket,for $6 you can bring them the meat or fish or crab and they will prepare it and serve it to you.
Last week,our party picked out 4 blue shell crabs and turned them over to the restaurant which stirfry them in scallion,ginger and wine!
Wonder what happens if you give them a live turtle,do they fix it for $6?
If there is a Chinatown in your city,venture into one of their large supermarket and see for yourself.
The blacks know this is where they can pick a fresh cat fish from the tank and ask them to skin and cut them into steaks,the hispanic love the steam table ,$3.50 you get a soup and eggroll,fried rice or plain rice and 2 meat and veggies dishes plus fortune cookie.
If you like Mexican food,we have them too,with plenty of tequilla to wash it down.
We have the largest Vietnamese population outside Vietnam,they are famous for their 'pho',they learn to make the base soup from the French with slow cooker and beef bones and their coffee is authentic European and you wont be able to sleep at night.
Dallas called Houston a blue collar town,they always said dont bring your idea to Dallas,it wont work ,but we sure have more fun !
Come to Houston,I 'll take you around.
[ edited by lostmymojo on Sep 26, 2013 05:29 PM ]
