Upcoming ebay changes for sellers (TRSs, DSR/feedback changes, pictures free & required, fees, return management, etc)

A bunch of upcoming changes were announced today that will impact many eBay sellers. Full details here.

A few of the notable items:

•Pictures/Photos
>Beginning July 2, up to 12 free pictures per listing for all sellers
>Beginning this fall, ALL listings will be required to have a picture, and there are standards for minimum size, no text other than watermark, no border, etc.

•Fees
>Free photos as above
>Maximum $250 final value fee on auctions effective May 1.

•Top Rated Sellers
>Effective June, Top Rated Sellers will be required to post tracking info on 90%+of transactions with US buyers
>Effective June 1, to get the 20% TRS discount, only listings that have 1-day or same-day handling and 14day or more return policy offering money back option will qualify
>March 1-May 31, TRSs get an extra 5% discount on top of their current 20% discount for listings that meet the new standard
>Annual sales requirement to be a TRS will be dropped to $1k

•Feedback/DSRs
>Transactions with same-day or 1-day handling and tracking info posted by end of next business day, AND that have no communication between buyer or seller will get automatic 5 stars on communication
>Sellers who use eBay checkout and an eBay approved payment method will now see automatic removal of feedback left by buyers when the transaction is logged as unpaid. No more having to use Unpaid Item Assistant.
>Any feedback left by international buyers solely referencing customs issues will now qualify for feedback removal.

•Returns policies and management:
>Options for 3-day and 7-day return windows are being eliminated, as are options for exchange and merchandise credit
>Effective May 2, you can set your return policy as no returns, money back, or money back or exchange.
>eBay will facilitate returns management, basically acting as a RMA hub, and providing shipping labels paid for upfront by eBay and then either charged to the seller or buyer depending on your settings. When you get the item you acknowledge receipt and process the refund and the FVF is automatically refunded back to you.

There's a bunch of other stuff in the spring update, but these were some of the more notable changes. The link at the top is well worth a read-through for all sellers, casual and otherwise, as we're looking at some significant systemic changes that will affect pretty much everyone to some extent.

The 1 day handling thing is going to cause a headache I ship fast, but sometimes I sell more than I can process in 1 day.

They (eBay) are trying to turn us sellers into Amazon Prime - off our backs, of course.

Oh, and eBay is reclassifying First Class Package from Expedited to Standard. Apparently eBay hasn't noticed that First Class mail sometimes gets delivered faster than Priority...

davef139 said:   ganda said:   Oh, and eBay is reclassifying First Class Package from Expedited to Standard. Apparently eBay hasn't noticed that First Class mail sometimes gets delivered faster than Priority...

isn't FCM the same as priority, just that PM is better branding

Yep, so it's nonsense for eBay to declare Priority as Expedited, and FCM as Standard. It's a complete waste of money shipping a <13oz package by PM.

Wreptyle said:   So I found the following for "handling time""

http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/contextual/domestic-handling-time...

I still don't get how they can "enforce" the handling time. Does this mean we have to print out label/tracking within 1 business day?

That's what I read it to be, and will be basing my strategery on. It just means easy to ship stuff will get shipped first. I will try to stagger the incoming PayPal payments by not sending invoices until the next business day.

Wreptyle said:   ganda said:   Wreptyle said:   So I found the following for "handling time""

http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/contextual/domestic-handling-time...

I still don't get how they can "enforce" the handling time. Does this mean we have to print out label/tracking within 1 business day?

That's what I read it to be, and will be basing my strategery on. It just means easy to ship stuff will get shipped first. I will try to stagger the incoming PayPal payments by not sending invoices until the next business day.

You mentioned you get a large volume, which is why it may be hard for you to fulfill this requirement. Is the shipping part the hardest? Because another easier way I would suggest is to either print out the labels (and ship whenever you want). I've had no issues printing out labels and ship a day or two later.

Me neither, and I do that sometimes. Printing labels prior to actually boxing up and shipping the item is fine if you're just shipping out the same widget 100 times, but most of my sales are unique items, and, while my shipping size and weight estimates are good, they're not 100%. I'd end up with a bunch of incorrect labels to process/cancel/redo and that would just be more wasted time

Yep, a dingbat question from a buyer would be one insisting on a packing slip.

There were 2 things that stood out to me

>Annual sales requirement to be a TRS will be dropped to $1k

The badge I have on my auctions because I am a top rated seller suddenly means alot less. Its relatively easy to sell $1000 worth of stuff a year, so everyone and their mother can easily become a TRS. Nice that more people get the discount, but it means that the fact that eBay claims to more heavily promote my items (as a TRS) suddenly doesn't amount to much.

The other thing is about the 1 day shipping. If a buyer pays by midnight PACIFIC time, I have to ship the next day. Since I'm east coast, that means anything purchased and paid for my 3am has to be shipped in the morning, which means I could potentially have alot of work to do before leaving for work at 6am.

I always put on my auctions 'ship the next business day', but since I worked at a bank a long time, in my head, a business day doesn't end at midnight. It ends at 3pm or 5pm, depending on the bank.

overclock said:   ganda said:   The 1 day handling thing is going to cause a headache I ship fast, but sometimes I sell more than I can process in 1 day.

They (eBay) are trying to turn us sellers into Amazon Prime - off our backs, of course.

Everyone wants things shipped for free nowadays. Us little guys don't have massive agreements like Amazon, QVC, and other e-tailers have with freight forwarding companies. And shipping has gone up steadily over the years. I was trying to sell something on a forum and a guy didn't want to acknowlegde that I was going to incur shipping and wanted me to eat the cost. Everything has a cost and shipping is one of them.

And if you want an example of how skewed eBay's sense of reality is when it comes to shipping just try selling books on half.com! half.com will only charge $3 for media mail shipping for somthing that costs $6 to ship and that's without the envelope cost. Most of the time I wind up shoving the book in a flat rate 2lb envelope and spending 40 cents more so I don't have to buy a $2 envelope.

RE:
Everyone wants things shipped for free nowadays.

On the eBay forums many sellers say that cannot ship for free.
Why not?
All who do have the s/h price in the item.

davef139 said:   isn't FCM the same as priority, just that PM is better brandingNo. It's the other way around. Priority Mail is First Class with a tighter delivery goal.

Treefarn said:   yesidonoitall said:   


On the eBay forums many sellers say that cannot ship for free.
Why not?
All who do have the s/h price in the item.

The sellers with free shipping don't ship for free. They factor that into the cost of the goods. As a seller, I've often wondered, if I'm putting up a 'Buy It Now', which would sell better, a $100 item with $5 shipping, or a $105 item with free shipping. I've been asking people the hypothetical, but I suspect their real world answers may be different in a real world test when they weren't consciously thinking of it. And I've gotten a mixed bag of answers to I don't have a clear cut conclusion. I'm sure that some company has done real world testing... just a question of finding the results online somewhere.

Is that not what I said?
and
All of my items are BIN and IPR (that gets rid of the eCheck artists)
and I am in the pacific northwest.....
I love the close to me buyers, I make more on those sales.....
Wether UPS or USPS

yesidonoitall said:   Treefarn said:   yesidonoitall said:   


On the eBay forums many sellers say that cannot ship for free.
Why not?
All who do have the s/h price in the item.

The sellers with free shipping don't ship for free. They factor that into the cost of the goods. As a seller, I've often wondered, if I'm putting up a 'Buy It Now', which would sell better, a $100 item with $5 shipping, or a $105 item with free shipping. I've been asking people the hypothetical, but I suspect their real world answers may be different in a real world test when they weren't consciously thinking of it. And I've gotten a mixed bag of answers to I don't have a clear cut conclusion. I'm sure that some company has done real world testing... just a question of finding the results online somewhere.

 

Is that not what I said?

I wasn't sure what you were saying. Your English isn't the best.

sechs said:   ganda said:   Oh, and eBay is reclassifying First Class Package from Expedited to Standard. Apparently eBay hasn't noticed that First Class mail sometimes gets delivered faster than Priority...In case you've been living in a cave, the USPS is having financial troubles and, among other things, slowing the delivery of first class mail. I suspect that this is just a preemptive change on eBay's end.

I do live in a cave. That probably explains why the USPS use Neanderthals to handle my mail.

ganda said:   Wreptyle said:   So I found the following for "handling time""

http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/contextual/domestic-handling-time...

I still don't get how they can "enforce" the handling time. Does this mean we have to print out label/tracking within 1 business day?

That's what I read it to be, and will be basing my strategery on. It just means easy to ship stuff will get shipped first. I will try to stagger the incoming PayPal payments by not sending invoices until the next business day.

RE:
I will try to stagger the incoming PayPal payments by not sending invoices until the next business day.

How many buyers pay without waiting for an invoice?

ganda said:   The 1 day handling thing is going to cause a headache I ship fast, but sometimes I sell more than I can process in 1 day.

They (eBay) are trying to turn us sellers into Amazon Prime - off our backs, of course.
All that is required is for you to enter a phony tracking number within one business day, 0000000000 will work, to satisfy eBay's requirement. eBay does not care when you actually ship the item. I have complained to eBay about sellers doing this to me and eBay does not care. And eBay removes your ability to warn other buyers about the slow shipping by the seller by preventing you from leave a shipping DSR. Don't trust a 5.0 rating for shipping time!

Treefarn said:   The sellers with free shipping don't ship for free. They factor that into the cost of the goods. As a seller, I've often wondered, if I'm putting up a 'Buy It Now', which would sell better, a $100 item with $5 shipping, or a $105 item with free shipping. I've been asking people the hypothetical, but I suspect their real world answers may be different in a real world test when they weren't consciously thinking of it. And I've gotten a mixed bag of answers to I don't have a clear cut conclusion. I'm sure that some company has done real world testing... just a question of finding the results online somewhere.
You do the opposite to what most of the sellers are doing. If most of the other sellers on eBay are offering free shipping, then I don't and vice versa. A big negative for free shipping is that buyers do not get a discount for buying more than one of your items.

Wreptyle said:   ganda said:   Good to know, thanks. I put my new strategy in place last week and it's working OK so far. Will be interesting to see what happens in the run up to Christmas though...

99% of my buyers unfortunately pay without me sending any invoice.

I have about a 50/50 split. Different kind of widgets no doubt!

Wreptyle said:   I just reread the upcoming changes. It looks like for TRS to keep 20% discount, they have to post tracking within end of next business day on 90% of the auctions. So if you sell 100 items a month, 10 of those can violate the handling time policy to still keep the 20%. But the key question is, what's to prevent me to put 99999999999999999999 in as tracking the moment they post payment and then later change it when I have a real tracking number?

Nothing I guess I ship through eBay so it would be a major PITA to have to go back and change all the tracking numbers, plus keep track of what I have actually shipped etc. Also, if I was a buyer, I wouldn't like to see bogus tracking numbers associated with my purchase, and I suspect your DSRs would start to reflect this. Just print out the real labels early. I just printed a few, to qualify for the 1 day handling, and I'll box them up over the weekend sometime when it's convenient.

yesidonoitall said:   See what some dumbell seller did to me,
printed label on the 17th, took it to the post office or put it out for pick up on the 22nd, 5 days later

9101150134711255215888

That seller did tell you in the listing he would ship within 5 business days of receipt of cleared payment. The package entered the mailstream the 4th business day after payment. You may not like it, but he did exactly what he promised to do in his listing, and you agreed that was ok when you clicked the bid button.

yesidonoitall said:   tlaxson said:   yesidonoitall said:   See what some dumbell seller did to me,
printed label on the 17th, took it to the post office or put it out for pick up on the 22nd, 5 days later

9101150134711255215888

That seller did tell you in the listing he would ship within 5 business days of receipt of cleared payment. The package entered the mailstream the 4th business day after payment. You may not like it, but he did exactly what he promised to do in his listing, and you agreed that was ok when you clicked the bid button.

Yes, but
not acceptable, label prepared, it goes into the mail system.
No reason not to.
Also po looks down on that practice, it makes them look bad.
While you can print for 3rd day from label order, certainly not the 5th.

Plenty of reason to do that. Print labels as soon as they are paid for and put them near your front door in the 'bring to post office' pile. But perhaps you only get to the Post Office once per week. You may not like the reason, but there IS a legitimate reason.

And why would a seller care if the PO looks down on that practice?

Item is showing in
purchase history
mailed on the 17th.
so no excuse for not mailing until the 22nd (regardless of 5 days to mail after payment on item page)
seller did not set label purchase for 3 days ahead.

Same day, the 17th another of the same item bought from another seller.....
purchase history
shows mailed on the 19th, and in fact it was

03120090000226870420
Priority Mail®

Delivered March 22, 2012, 1:35 pm
GRANTS PASS, OR 97526

Expected Delivery By:
March 21, 2012
Delivery Confirmation™

Out for Delivery March 22, 2012, 9:38 am
GRANTS PASS, OR 97526

Sorting Complete
March 22, 2012, 9:28 am
GRANTS PASS, OR 97526

Arrival at Post Office March 22, 2012, 5:31 am
GRANTS PASS, OR 97526

Processed through USPS Sort Facility March 22, 2012, 12:50 am
MEDFORD, OR 97501

Depart USPS Sort Facility March 20, 2012
ROCHESTER, NY 14606

Processed at USPS Origin Sort Facility March 19, 2012, 8:12 pm
ROCHESTER, NY 14606

Dispatched to Sort Facility March 19, 2012, 5:26 pm
NEWARK, NY 14513

Acceptance March 19, 2012, 9:47 am
NEWARK, NY 14513

JamesTKirk said:   LongDongSilver said:   How do you deal with the 14 day return policy in order to get the 20% discount? Is it going to be an open invitation to return abuse?

I added a restocking fee to maybe scare them off. I'm surprised eBay doesn't just make you do 45 days on returns since that is the effective return period anyway.

RE:
I added a restocking fee to maybe scare them off

Yes, that is one way......
Only once did I have a question on a return
(all items listed as not taking returns)

Buyer said, I know you do not take returns but................