disgruntled seller

eBay Caps Shipping Rates: What Is the CEO Thinking?

At least CD's are easy to ship. I sell pottery, porcelain and glass collectibles, which are bulky, heavy and time-consuming to ship because they have to be carefully (and expensively) wrapped with thick layers of bubblewrap in oversized boxes filled with peanuts. Cheap newspaper padding is too heavy and unsafe for breakables. eBay's one-size-fits-all star scoring system unfairly penalizes sellers like me who have unavoidable high shipping costs due to this weight and bulk problem. If we skimp on weight, we risk breakage. If we need to improve our timeliness feedback score, we have to ship via Priority Mail, which then damages the shipping cost score because Priority is so much more expensive. Any handling charge is out of the question. It only takes a few clueless customers to leave moderate 3-star or (heaven forbid) 1-star shipping scores to completely ruin a small seller's average score. This makes the 20%, 15% and sometimes even the 5% discount on final value fees unattainable. It's a slap in the face to sellers who wrap carefully and ship within 1 day, doing everything they can to improve shipping service. Now, with the enormous increase in final value fees, my net hourly wages are shrinking to nothing. I'm working for eBay for slave wages. I agree with the others that small sellers like me who offer unique antique and vintage items on eBay are being driven away, replaced by huge companies selling generic mass-produced items. As a longtime eBay buyer, I've seen a real decline in interesting, unique merchandise in the past year. Donahoe doesn't seem to understand eBay's customers.