is it now near impossible to have a small business on ebay?

fishybusiness

With only 5% of defects allowed meaning 20 out of all my sales, I think that will be used up by buyers who open a item not as described case because its not the exact col our they thought it was, or cases where the item arrived late due to the post.

The trick is to look at the possible problem areas for your business and find ways to 'fix' them before you have problems.

So....Not as Described....make sure you fully describe your item, accurately, fairly, including dimensions and colours.

Colour......take photo's and take more photo's until your they match the actual item.

Arriving late due to post.....does happen but not too often. Have a look at the postage options for your items...size/weight/value......some couriers are very close in price to Royal Mail for low weight items, and have trackable and reliable services.

After reading the new defect rating system it has me worried it'll be near impossible to stay on eBay

I disagree, it isn't easy, and as a seller you maybe have to up your game, but if you survive, it does say something about your business

keaton

I had a idea last night that may be stupid but thought I'd ask it anyway, what if in theory your a low volume seller (400 sales per year) and after you get a defect you use one if your different accounts?

I understand that in the old DSR ratings the closer it got to a year after the low dsr's they would become a higher percentage as the good dad's dropped off, but what if the feedback and stuff leading up to that defect in the days prior was perfect.

Is this a possible solution?

I don't plan on being a bad seller, far from it, but you can't please everybody, no matter how hard you try, and the 'opening a case when they just wanted to a ask certain questions' has me worried?

soolin

keaton wrote: »

I had a idea last night that may be stupid but thought I'd ask it anyway, what if in theory your a low volume seller (400 sales per year) and after you get a defect you use one if your different accounts?

I understand that in the old DSR ratings the closer it got to a year after the low dsr's they would become a higher percentage as the good dad's dropped off, but what if the feedback and stuff leading up to that defect in the days prior was perfect.

Is this a possible solution?

I don't plan on being a bad seller, far from it, but you can't please everybody, no matter how hard you try, and the 'opening a case when they just wanted to a ask certain questions' has me worried?

If you stop selling on an account that has issues with defects then the percentage defects will increase as the earlier food feedback/stars falls out of the calculation. Once that account drops to a restricted status you are likely to lose all your other accounts as well.

The worse thing you can do with an account hit by defects is to stop selling on it.

keaton

soolin wrote: »

If you stop selling on an account that has issues with defects then the percentage defects will increase as the earlier food feedback/stars falls out of the calculation. Once that account drops to a restricted status you are likely to lose all your other accounts as well.

The worse thing you can do with an account hit by defects is to stop selling on it.

Sadly that's what I thought, I really want my business to be on eBay when I'm ready to open, but a customer opening a case when they just wanted to asks something could be really tricky.

fromtheshires

We use eBay as our business uses it to sell the not required items. Due to the nature of the business I am in, a lot of other companies purchase through us. In the last few years we have had the odd case opened against us for 'defects' but since this new system was mailed out everyone we seem to be having at least one a week now and they are just asking questions or raising silly disputes. Call me cynical and all that jazz.....

Mistral001

Since Ebay was set up as an auction site and not a retail site, I think if you stick to auctioning items that you cannot sell retail, then you are probably using the site well and will be able to make some profit.


As to how can businesses make money on Ebay selling stuff at incredibly low prices, the guy in pub will tell you they buy a container load from China, but in reality the businesses themselves are the only ones that know how they make a profit.

fromtheshires

Mistral001 wrote: »

Since Ebay was set up as an auction site and not a retail site, I think if you stick to auctioning items that you cannot sell retail, then you are probably using the site well and will be able to make some profit.


As to how can businesses make money on Ebay selling stuff at incredibly low prices, the guy in pub will tell you they buy a container load from China, but in reality the businesses themselves are the only ones that know how they make a profit.

99% of our items are open boxed products that have been opened due to orders in error or pulled stock. We don't make money on eBay so to speak, just minimise loss by selling something cheap instead of disposing.

RFW

Mistral001 wrote: »

Since Ebay was set up as an auction site and not a retail site, I think if you stick to auctioning items that you cannot sell retail, then you are probably using the site well and will be able to make some profit.

Ebay revenue is weighted towards fixed price listings now, I don't know the figures but I do know auction revenue is falling in proportion and likely to be way below 25% now.

littleowl

In my experience hand made items are a better fit on Etsy