Top Rated Seller lost!

[greenfoxintl]

Hey everyone,
Bit frustrated here – I just lost my Top Rated Seller status on eBay UK, and I’m not even sure what I’m doing wrong…

I dispatch all orders made before 8PM the same day and drop them straight into a Royal Mail postbox. But eBay says my handling times are too slow?

I sell a lot of low-cost items (usually £3.99 or less), so I just can’t afford to offer tracked shipping on every single order – after fees, it wouldn’t make sense financially.

Feels like I’m being punished for Royal Mail being unreliable with scans or delivery times. Is there anything I can actually do about this? Anyone been in a similar situation and found a workaround?

Appreciate any advice 🙏

[technthread]

What I would do is change to 2nd class freepost, set a 5am cut off time for same day dispatch and physically post well before 8pm which you do currently, so it gets collected the same day. The best option is a delivery office by 6pm or priority postbox with a 6:30pm collection.

[greenfoxintl]

Thank you, I’ll try that.
Funny thing is, I’m using a priority postbox, but sometimes when I drop a Small Parcel there in the morning, it’s still sitting there the next day.

I’m actually able to see it when I take a picture (somehow ]).
It always seems to happen right after a bank holiday too.

[technthread]

I had a quick look at your listings and saw you used 1st class freepost. People reading may think after losing top rated why downgrade to 2nd class then..? At the moment at least, if you can get it collected same day I don’t think there is much difference in delivery time in reality vs if it gets collected next day with a 1st class label on. And the 1st class cost is so much more it must be hurting your profits. 

Royal Mail are frustrating, I posted 2 large letters to the same buyer on Monday. The 2nd class one got delivered on Wednesday, the Tracked 48 is still at their local depot so I’ll get a defect on that x10 as it includes 10 items. The more I use them the more I prefer using 2nd class. 

Maybe as your local collection is unreliable

id try to go to the delivery office then if possible. It is a pain but other than withholding tracking from eBay to avoid the defects you don’t have that many other options to try. 

[1902elder]

Going to delivery office is not usually a viable option, mine is open only from 8am until 10am. I have no problem posting from my local post office.

[technthread]

That’s not great. It seems the service is different in different areas so there isn’t a simple answer.

I went to a priority postbox last week just before 6:30pm, there were sellers with bags of parcels in their cars waiting for the postman to hand them over to as they had missed the delivery office closing time.

[gjalp]

And this is why I have set a 3 day handling time, cut off time of silly am and post 2nd class. If I send tracked, I buy from RM click and drop and don’t add tracking. I arrange for collection and unless I already have a collection arranged then it is collected the next day. On my private ID and SD, Im getting late marks where I have never had them before.

[oceanartsnorthdevon]

Any low cost item I send using 2nd class post, which usually in my case is a large letter, I buy the postage direct from Royal Mail and save a copy of the label to my file as well as printing so I have a record of the delivery reference if I need to check if it has been delivered.  I only mark item as dispatched with no upload of this reference but have it on file and can add if I receive an "item not received" and Royal Mails track and trace site shows it as delivered, you could also message the buyer this reference as assurance it has been sent without adding to dispatch details.  Royal Mail only shows confirmation of dispatch/delivery on large letters not standard letters and they are not always scanned which is a bit of a pain but the majority are.  This works for me as my seller level for late delivery is on 0% (unless of course it is made compulsory in the future to buy postage through Ebay at any point!).

Orders that are tracked I buy through here which adds the tracking reference, if dispatched on time is not an issue if delivery is delayed and should not raise any issues, if it does you can appeal if tracking shows item scanned on day dispatch in accordance with your dispatch times.

[technthread]

For me it is less likely that I’ll withhold any tracking now that eBay have started giving automated feedback. If I don’t upload the RM reference on those 2nd class large letters I’ll only get buyer left feedback. I’ve only received 40 odd automated feedbacks so far but it’s a good buffer if I ever get a negative. (Unless I start piling up too many defects), I think I value the automated feedback more. 

[oceanartsnorthdevon]

I can understand that, being a business seller if I do not upload delivery reference on 2nd class standard large letters it does not make any difference to me but of course that could all change as there seems to be something new being introduced every week.

[thetimetower]

Tbh i usually add "2 days to dispatch" cuz rm was not hitting any of what ebay expected and cuz theres no tracking they assume u just posted it late.

[the-nutwood-collection]

I buy my labels from eBay, and get a scan at the PO.  If it arrives late, I get a strike - but that disappears within a couple of weeks because the PO scan shows I despatched it on time.

Try using eBay labels and get a scan at the PO.

[technthread]

That counters the downside of using a postbox with no scan like I suggested. My parcel I’m expecting 10 defects on is actually 16 and will take me over 3% late deliveries. The first scan it got would be considered late… I’m pulling my hair out over it today. 

[thetimetower]

As others have said, they usually get removed. I only use a postbox for royal mail items but i will say any late deliveries with untracked do seem to fall off within 2 months. The ones that stay for a long time are the tracked ones where its obvious u did not hand to the courier on time. I accidentally was 1 day late with 6 or 7 items and they nuked my top seller. They dont look like theyre coming off anytime soon. All the untrackeds have come off tho.

UPDATE: Just had a look through my history and can confirm ALL my late deliveries that havent come off are from Evri/Inpost. Obv leaves a black mark when u send a tracked item late.

[the-nutwood-collection]

The other strikes that don't disappear are the ones where the buyer gave feedback and said it didn't arrive on time.  These stay for three months or a year, depending on the number of transactions processed.

Any buyer that marks the feedback as not arriving on time is on the fast lane to my BBL.

[thetimetower]

Yeh that makes sense and its always the extremely entitled buyers of the £1 items

[johnwash1]

Admittedly I'm not an average buyer (I hope!), but I'm in shock, reading this thread.  When I buy, I could care less about stupid badges.  I read some of the seller's recent feedback.  And I do mean 'recent', not the stupid 'relevant' feedback that I have to click to change.

Do sellers actually find the loss of such a badge makes a material difference to their sales?

[technthread]

There are perks to it. Eligibility for lower fees, increased seller protection and better visibility on eBay search. In theory they should bump us up (organically) higher than the average and below standard sellers.

[johnwash1]

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@technthread wrote:

There are perks to it. Eligibility for lower fees, increased seller protection and better visibility on eBay search. In theory they should bump us up (organically) higher than the average and below standard sellers.

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Thanks.

[technthread]

I thought I should come back to this and correct one point.

My local delivery office is open until 6pm but they have finally told me this week that their mail usually gets collected by 5:15pm. Anything I hand over between 5:15pm and 6:00pm is unlikely to move until the next day so I was advised to use the priority postbox outside with the 6:30pm collection  when I am arriving late. 

This may not be the same everywhere so anyone going to a delivery office late might want to ask them what the actual collection cut off time is.