Ebay has changed seller feedback rules in such a way that affects also the buyers. For example, a buyer can leave separate ratings for different aspects of the purchase. Minor decreases in feedback left by the buyers result in major penalties. For example, less than 4.8 out of 5.0 in any aspect of the feedback ratings will make Ebay decrease the exposure of our listings, so clients may not be able to find a particular item when they do search.

Our feedback was 100% until Ebay decided to change the way it is calculated retroactively (!!!), and now it is about 99.8%. Our listings are no longer prioritized, since our rating average for shipping is only 4.6 out of 5. The irony is that we charge very little:  our shipping and handling charges are $6 to USA and Canada for ANY number of items. Within the USA, shipping is via USPS Priority mail, so very often our charges do not cover the cost of shipping, let alone the cost of packaging materials etc., especially after two increases in USPS charges, one in 2007 and one in 2008.

Also, because we have less than 4.7 average in rating for shipping, we are paying almost 20% more in Ebay fees. Eventually, these higher Ebay fees for lower listing priority will have to be reflected in prices charged to our clients.

What does this mean? The isolated neutral feedback left by a buyer, or a rating of 4.0 in shipping results in higher costs for us to sell on Ebay. 

We at Skin Actives Scientific want  our clients to know that we will continue selling on Ebay as long as we can but further Ebay penalties may force us out.  In the meantime, we will continue to provide Ebay users with our valuable technical and scientific guides on skin care.

We hope that our clients recognize our customer support efforts and high quality products, and we hope you will be able to find our products in Ebay listings despite the low visibility resulting from the new rules.

If you can't find a product you need, please write to me and I will email you back with the Ebay item number. We apologize for the inconvenience that changes in Ebay policy are creating for our customers.

Thanks for your continued loyalty

Hannah Sivak, PhD
Skin Actives Scientific

UPDATE 7/12/08: our search standing has been lowered yet again because our rating for shipping and handling charges is now 4.5/5.0. We still charge only $6 for shipping and handling for any number of items to USA (Priority Mail!) and Canada. Can you believe it?

If you can still find our products on Ebay, you are lucky!