topic Re: Top Rated Seller OR eBay Premium Service worth it? in Selling

Is Top Rated Seller OR eBay Premium Service worth it?

nwelectronics2014 — Thu, 19 Feb 2015 12:22:17 GMT

Is Top Rated Seller also known as "eBay Premium Service" even worth it? The pressure of near instant dispatch and arrival of goods sometimes outweigh the extra listing visibility and the tiny discount. We recently lost our TRS status and sales have been predominately the same and we don't feel as under pressure to deliver.

Re: Top Rated Seller OR eBay Premium Service worth it?

i-love-my-sheep — Thu, 19 Feb 2015 12:24:50 GMT

I wouldn't be in a hurry to try and regain it because apparently, as of yesterday (Wednesday), if you're a Top Rated Seller or a Powerseller, you lose the 3 free relists.

As a buyer, I couldn't care less whether people are TRS or offer premium service. As long as the seller has good feedback and they post within their handling time, that's good enough for me.

I actually upped my handling time to 5 days to take the pressure off. I still try and post same or next day, but due to the nature of my job, that's not always possible. It also fattens out that ridiculous delivery estimate that eBay puts in the listing. You know the one, it's the one that the buyers take as gospel.

Re: Is Top Rated Seller OR eBay Premium Service worth it?

saarzi — Thu, 19 Feb 2015 13:17:55 GMT

Im far to lazy to watch a 2 min vid, lol but...

I rarely relist. So, I dont care if the relist option is there or not.

No difference in terms of TRS. It appears buyers couldnt care less if I have TRS or not (its not something I care about when I buy either). I have tracked sales in Excell since the beginning and theres been no difference in sales between periods of having TRS and not having it - that includes taking into account seasonal variations in sales. If Ebay says there is a difference, its so small it doesnt reflect in my sales.

However, I have noticed theres a difference in terms of feedback score - the higher the percent, the more views and sales Ive received.

So, I wont be caring about maintaining TRS in the future, but will be careful with the overall feedback percentage. It seems like Ebay uses TRS to keep sellers in check (makes sense for them), but buyers dont really care about it up front.

Re: Is Top Rated Seller OR eBay Premium Service worth it?

imastawka — Fri, 20 Feb 2015 02:09:29 GMT

OP, you are registered in UK.

Are you aware that you posted on the Australian boards?

Re: Top Rated Seller OR eBay Premium Service worth it?

egglesdtp — Fri, 20 Feb 2015 03:50:28 GMT

@i-love-my-sheep wrote:
I wouldn't be in a hurry to try and regain it because apparently, as of yesterday (Wednesday), if you're a Top Rated Seller or a Powerseller, you lose the 3 free relists.

Where did you find this out?

Re: Top Rated Seller OR eBay Premium Service worth it?

meekamag2 — Fri, 20 Feb 2015 03:59:12 GMT

I'm not a top rated seller and I've lost them too.

Re: Is Top Rated Seller OR eBay Premium Service worth it?

chameleon54 — Fri, 20 Feb 2015 04:27:12 GMT

gtx305, you are probably right about the feedback score thing. I never check wether sellers are TRS and couldnt care less when buying. I do check feedback score and if there are a few comments regards slow postage etc. I,m happy to pay a couple of dollars more to buy from a seller with 100% feedback. I just dont need the headaches of buying from some-one whos a bit slack.

Re: Top Rated Seller OR eBay Premium Service worth it?

i-love-my-sheep — Fri, 20 Feb 2015 13:03:37 GMT

@egglesdtp wrote:
@i-love-my-sheep wrote:
I wouldn't be in a hurry to try and regain it because apparently, as of yesterday (Wednesday), if you're a Top Rated Seller or a Powerseller, you lose the 3 free relists.

Where did you find this out?

It wasn't hard, everyone that has tried to list/relist an item no longer has that option! I discovered last night that it's still available in the quick listing tool, so I am moving back to that while it still works.

Re: Top Rated Seller OR eBay Premium Service worth it?

meekamag2 — Sat, 21 Feb 2015 00:19:34 GMT

Unfortunately that doesn't work on all IDs either. Some just get a 'Create listings in bulk' option. No doubt they'll all be like that soon! And done by stealth, of course!

Re: Top Rated Seller OR eBay Premium Service worth it?

egglesdtp — Sat, 21 Feb 2015 00:26:35 GMT

@i-love-my-sheep wrote:
It wasn't hard, everyone that has tried to list/relist an item no longer has that option! I discovered last night that it's still available in the quick listing tool, so I am moving back to that while it still works.

I have no idea what the quick listing tool is.

I list initially from the Sell tab at the top, and from then on, use Sell Similar Item that shows once a listing is completed.

Re: Top Rated Seller OR eBay Premium Service worth it?

i-love-my-sheep — Sat, 21 Feb 2015 00:52:08 GMT

@egglesdtp wrote:
@i-love-my-sheep wrote:
It wasn't hard, everyone that has tried to list/relist an item no longer has that option! I discovered last night that it's still available in the quick listing tool, so I am moving back to that while it still works.
I have no idea what the quick listing tool is.

I list initially from the Sell tab at the top, and from then on, use Sell Similar Item that shows once a listing is completed.

If you click on sell similar on one of your items, up the top right of the listing page is a link to switch to the quick listing tool. The link wasn't there when I clicked on the relist option, it had a link to the bulk listing tool, but when I clicked relist just then to take a screenshot, the link to the quick lister was there. You can also access it by using the Sell an Item option from the menu on the left.

If you click on Sell Similar, this is what you see.

If you click on the Sell an Item link, this is what you see.

Once I listed that item last night using the quick lister, clicking on Sell an Item automatically took me back to the quick lister, so I didn't need to go through all the steps above to create a new listing. It doesn't carry over any of the listing details if you use the sell similar option, so make sure you have your descriptions handy so you can just cut and paste them into the description box.

Re: Top Rated Seller OR eBay Premium Service worth it?

i-love-my-sheep — Sat, 21 Feb 2015 00:53:41 GMT

@meekamag2 wrote:
Unfortunately that doesn't work on all IDs either. Some just get a 'Create listings in bulk' option. No doubt they'll all be like that soon! And done by stealth, of course!

You will see that listing in bulk item when you use the relist option. Try using sell similar or sell an item. See screenshots in above post.

Re: Top Rated Seller OR eBay Premium Service worth it?

meekamag2 — Sat, 21 Feb 2015 01:17:45 GMT

This is the only ID that gives the switch option. I also tried my daughters' IDs.

On all, I tried 'Sell Similar' on active, sold and unsold items and all just threw up the bulk re-list.

On this ID I did the same thing and found the switch option on all, including the Re-List (which wasn't happening yesterday).

The auto free re-lists is not on any, including this one.

I suspect they're gradually closing them all down.

Re: Top Rated Seller OR eBay Premium Service worth it?

cq_tech — Sat, 21 Feb 2015 14:40:51 GMT

if that's the case, it's one of the most counter-productive acts I've seen from eBay in a bloody long time. With sales at an all-time low, people aren't going to pay insertion fees, particularly on low-priced items which may require as many as a dozen relists before they sell, and even a grade 1 student with ADHD will tell you that fewer listings means fewer FVFs for eBay.

Back in the early days of eBay when almost everything listed would sell, nobody minded paying insertion fees but not any more. FGS, how many bites of the apple does eBay want anyway? Aside from insertion fees, there are FVFs, as well as FVFs on postage, which doesn't leave a whole lot for the seller who's doing all the hard work.

It would make a lot of sense if eBay were to abolish insertion fees altogether and allowed as many listings as sellers wanted to put up because the more items available for sale, the more eBay will recoup in FVFs. It's simple economics, and the only ones who can't see that are the idiots at eBay who clearly refuse to move with the times. Is it any wonder that eBay has been in a rapid decline for a couple of years now, and things simply aren't getting any better?