pwrsellr

eBay Caps Shipping Rates: What Is the CEO Thinking?

Oh and the other catch 22? If you use media mail [to keep your costs lower] you will get dinged on SHIPPING TIME because BUYERS relate shipping time to how long it takes to RECEIVE the item...not when the seller SHIPS the item after it's paid for...and Ebay doesn't REQUIRE the buyers to make that distinction before living stars.

Don't get me started on the stars thing. With Ebay, MEETING customer's expectations is failing, exceeding is passing. That's like A+ passing and A failing. The only thing that differentiates a 4 and 5 star is the word VERY in Ebay's derfinitions. Ships QUICKLY...get a 4. Ships VERY QUICKLY gets a five. But according to Ebay's rules now, a 4.3 on ANY rating will cause you to NOT be able to list items again for up to 30 days! And Ebay doesn't give PARAMETERS to buyers as to what "quickly" vs "very quickly" mean. I have had cases where I have received a "4" on shipping time yet I shipped within ONE HOUR of payment!

Ebay is having buyers shooting sellers in a barrel.

I guess it will be E-BYE! for good sellers.

eBay Caps Shipping Rates: What Is the CEO Thinking?

lookwhatbobfound: I agree with your first point but not your second. The writer is intimating if you DON'T want to protect yourself against SNAD claims with Paypal,sellers will HAVE to pay for insurance themselves. If they REQUIRE the buyer to pay for insurance, then sellers run the risk of being non-competitive [with other sellers not requiring insurance] resulting in a no-sale. The seller could also be dinged for S/H charges in their stars for requiring insurance.

Ebay is trying to become Amazon...but Amazon 1) takes care of the payment process themselves and gives the seller their cut [ie provides SERVICE to sellers] and 2) TOTAL fees are 15%. With Ebay/Paypal, my fees last year were 22% and with the changes this year should be about 27%. With the new S/H charge limits I will have to raise my start price on CDS to cover what I am losing on shipping [what about shipping supplies and required trips to the Post Office] AS WELL AS the 27% Ebay/Paypal fees. That will only increase Ebay's listing fees as my initial start price will be higher resulting in less sales.

Before these changes, my sell through was 33% of units listed. Now my sell through is 15% of units listed. My average sell price has declined 30%.

Can't stay in business too long this way.