Dear eBay Queen;

Why does eBay dislike their sellers? I guess I am just SO FRUSTRATED I don’t know what to do.  To get Top Rated Seller status and the commission discount, eBay only allows up to .50% for DSR ratings in any one category. If a seller gets more than one negative from the same buyer within the same week, only one of the negative ratings will count against him.  BUT… If this same seller gets their DSRs dinged from this same buyer; ALL count against the seller. This is true even if the items were shipped together, all communication was about the same shipment, and all had the same shipping cost structure.

 

In other words, if a buyer buys 10 similar items (like all books, all DVDs, etc.) to be shipped together, he can give negative feedback for all ten items but it will only count once against the seller.  On the other hand, the DSRs left by this bidder will count TEN times against the seller.

 

Is this stupid, or what? This happened to me, and now I've lost my Top Rated Seller discount for the entire year and the commission discount, just because the USPS lost the package.  As soon as the buyer let me know he didn’t receive the item, through the 10 negatives he left me, I shipped another set of the DVD’s to him.

 

What do you think will happen once the unsavory buyers realize this?  I believe they will become AGGRESSIVE. I would hope that your readers would complain to eBay about their policy of counting all of the DSRs from the same buyer from the same transaction against the seller.

 

Paul; Nashville, TN

 

Dear Paul;

 

I understand your frustration.  I feel the same way about this policy.  I don’t believe eBay dislikes their sellers, I just think they have gone a little off track.   If you will remember a few years ago, eBay was the butt of a lot of jokes and scammers.  They’ve cleaned up the site, but I believe their ego is still a little bruised from the jokes.  I don’t know any place but eBay where 99% positive feedback and 4.8 stars out of 5 are bad.

 

You and I don’t have the power by ourselves to change eBay’s policy, but you do have the power to change your buyer’s mind about the negatives that were left.   If this were my transaction, I would email (or call); sincerely apologize for the postal error.  Ask if she has received the new DVD’s and if she would consider removing the negative.   To start this process go here: http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/feedback-removal.html 

 

Dear eBay Queen;

For my eBay store I am looking for a third party checkout. Can you recommend one?  Just to give a background, I started my eBay store about a year ago and sell about 350 units per month with average customer value around $120. Business is good however I am spending a lot of money driving traffic through Google Adwords.

With the current eBay checkout, I am unable to install any type of tracking code which can tell me whether this Adwords traffic is converting or not.  Hence, the reason I am looking for a third party checkout which can give me this information.

I look forward to your reply.

James

 

Dear James;

In June of 2009, eBay eliminated most third party check out for all but approved providers.  Here is a list of eBay's approved third party checkout providers:

·         4Seller

·         Afterbuy

·         Auctiva Corporation

·         ChannelAdvisor

·         Cultuzz Digital

·         Media Digital River

·         Kyozou

·         Sandbourne Systems

·         Vendio

 These providers (listed above), not only provide check out services, but list, keep track of sales, etc. They vary in price, and services.  I also found a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) about checkout and eBay: http://pages.ebay.com/checkout/faq.html

Congratulations on the great sales!  I hope you find the right provider for your needs.

Strange eBay item of the week: eBay item 26054716595 (enter this number in the eBay search box in the top right corner of the home page): Need to get rid of some perfume?  Check this auction out: 487 Perfume Bottles Old & New SOLD $1500.00 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=26054716595      

     

Suzie Eads is a nationally known eBay marketer and eBay trained Education Specialist. She lives in Rantoul. Do you have a question for the eBay Queen? E-mail: questions@asktheebayqueen.com.