buyers gets free shipping, but ding me on the DSR? now my seller discount is only 5%?

mzedith

RMBR SKY
O.G.
Nov 9, 2008
4,630
129
venting :cursing:

ebay gives seller double power seller discounts for offering free shipping.

for some reason a buyer dings me on shipping charges 9of which they didn't even have to pay???) so i went from 20% to 5%?

excuss me? what is up with that? which means i lost even more $$?

i called ebay and they say they can't do anything about it. im so angry and confused?

ebay can't fix it. I pay out of pocket for shipping costs. and don't get my extra 20%. because some stupid buyer rated my shipping charges less than 5 stars? how can you rate a seller less than 5 stars on shipping charges if you didn't have to pay for shipping?

sorry im venting.............. im sick with a sucky bad cold and sore throat, mad, and want to kick some *bay butt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Buyers are brutal????????????

and i can't even find out what buyer even decided to mess up or even consider doing something like this.

im practically giving my precious bags away, offer free shipping and loose even more $ by that stupid DSR rating system.

Has this happened to anyone else?
 
I am sorry Mz ebay just want your $$ they dont give two hoots about us.

the DSR rating sucks to be honest, it serves nothing, I sometimes think buyers dont really pay attention to it, they just randomly click the stars like its a game.
 
AND did you know there is a little note next to the DSR reminding a buyer if free shipping was given...

Sorry sorry because that is a huge drop in discounts.
 
Yup, happens to me all the time...shipping is fast (Priority or First Class depending on item) and FREE and I still end up getting 4 out of 5 stars. Except in my case, I had only sold one cheap item out of the whole month and I went from 20% discount to NONE. It makes me angry but there's nothing I can do about it.
 
Right. Why would someone do that? Out of the eight, was any of the packages sent late or did any arrive late? Could that be it?

i ship free UPS, much better tracking system than the post office. all my listings state that. UPS even tells you the ETA of the package.

so none of my items arrived past the ETA. :shrugs:
 
AND did you know there is a little note next to the DSR reminding a buyer if free shipping was given...

Sorry sorry because that is a huge drop in discounts.

yes, the ebay rep told me that. He was awesome. although he could do nothing about what happened to me. i didn't give him an earful because it wasn't his call. he is just doing his job. nice guy.

he had some really good suggestions. of which i do.

With each sale i send a personal thank you note, i also include a special gift (im also a skincare and makeup junkie) so my buyers get tons of samples and maybe an item to match the bag.

I ask in a nice manner for high star rating and how it could affect my ability to sell on ebay. the rep does understand buyers do not know the reason for the star rating system.

and i know (read here on the forum) buyers get upset when sellers as for 5 star ratings. lol, he understood that as well.

so i will in the future re write my notes and "explain" in a nice (begging is more like it) to buyers what the DSR ratings mean to a small time seller like me.

anything i sell is from my personal collection. not a business for me. liquidate to get more bags. although, at the present i am liquidating to pare down my collection as i have way to many.

here is the big question? do i continue to offer free shipping and suck up the cost. or just let them pay for it.? thinking about it, i got a credit of $7 (that is my double power seller discount) total $14. Shipping 8 bags for free costs me $15 each, since i include ins & signature confirm. and UPS charges extra for residential delivery.
 
I feel for you! The same thing has happened to me. I'm starting to charge shipping again but at a discounted rate. So I'm charging less than what it costs to ship and advertising the discounted shipping in my listing. I'll see what happens DSR wise.
 
I know for a fact that eBay added that in the DSRs to get more money. They realized how many sellers were charging outrageously high shipping rates and having low opening bids so eBay would get a smaller cut of the total sale.

Hell, I've done it.

Since I have a scale now, I only tack on $1 to cover shipping materials. I've always sent messages to my buyers thanking them for the purchase, but now I've added a special section of the message dealing specifically with shipping because I'm fine in all other areas. Usually that works.

I've tried other sites, but eBay has the brand recognition. They're still cheap bastards though! :tdown:
 
My discount rate dropped down too last month and it is frustrating. I think that buyers often don't understand how the DSR's work and that the way the star system is set up is too subjective.

But what really bothers me is that ebay gives no information on how they figure out our ratings. At the end of the month they should at least tell us how many 5.0's in each category, how many 4.0's etc. But they don't so we are supposed to trust that their figures are right. For all we know, they have a set number of sellers each month that will get the higher discounts. even if more than that qualify.

I'm not totally against the DSR's but I don't like the way they are set up now and don't like the way that ebay doesn't give us the proprer information.

OP I hope that you get your full discount back soon!
 
anything i sell is from my personal collection. not a business for me. liquidate to get more bags. although, at the present i am liquidating to pare down my collection as i have way to many.

here is the big question? do i continue to offer free shipping and suck up the cost. or just let them pay for it.? thinking about it, i got a credit of $7 (that is my double power seller discount) total $14. Shipping 8 bags for free costs me $15 each, since i include ins & signature confirm. and UPS charges extra for residential delivery.


Wow, a powerseller just from selling your own bags. You must have an amazing collection. :smile:

As far as free shipping goes, i really think that most sellers just add it to the price that they are asking for the bag. So it may look like shipping is free, but it rarely is. If you are not comfortable with that, maybe just subsidize the shipping as another poster suggested. If shipping costs you $15, put half of that amount into the price of the bag so that way, only 1/2 is coming out of your pocket.