Increase Your Star Rating Today

Ebay has given every seller a great reason to increase your STAR RATING.  With a 4.9 or better rating  you can get a 20% discount on Final Vaalue Fees.  A 4.8 rating gets you a 15% discount, and a 4.6% rating or higher brings you a 5% discount.  Read discount details.

For a Seller paying $1000 in final value fees, the savings can range from Nothing to $200.00 per month.  I don't know about you, but 200 bucks a month in my pocket sounds pretty good to me.  When the stars program first came out, I received a consistent 5% rebate.  Fifty bucks - Not bad.  And, my thought was - No one can score a consistent 4.8, and a 4.9 is just impossible.  Ebay is just dangling that one out there, because they know they won't have to pay it out.

But after awhile, I decided I would give the 15% discount a shot.  I was always real close to 4.8.  Why not just kick it up a bit, and score that extra 100 bucks every month.  To get started I studied my DSR's.  I already had it in item description. Communication and shipping time needed work, and shipping cost needed a lot of work. 

Here's what I did to raise those stars -

1. Actually answer those emails customers send me.  It's a pain, and it's probably my least favorite part of the ebay thing, but I try to answer everyone within 24 hours.  I also took a look at the questions people were asking, and tried to answer as many of them as possible in the listing, thus eliminating many of the questions before they came up.
2. Face it.  Ebay customers expect their items to arrive the day before they pay for them.  If you are holding items for more than 24 hours, your shipping time DSR is going to take some hits.  If you sell internationally you need to set expectaations in your listing.  I tell everyone that international deliveries normally take 10 to 14 days, and in many cases can take four to six weeks, due to the post office and customs.  Make sure you have something similar in each listing.
3. I am one of those guys who always charged more for shipping.  I pack everything in new professional mailers.  I don't want customers receiving their new purchase in the beat up boxes or wrappers many ebay users send me stuff in.  It's unprofessional, and it presents a bad impression of your company.  I print professional labels on Paypal, or full color labels for international packages.  It just makes a good impression on buyers.  I lowered my shipping over $2.00 per package to meet ebays new $4.00 limit in the media category (that one hurt - a whole lot).  More often than not, I will print the actual postage cost on the label.  That shows people they are getting what they paid for.

Let me tell you the payoff.  I have 90 % plus DSR's across the board, except in communication (Still need some work there).  As described is a 4.94, shiiping time is a 4.93, and shipping cost is a 4.90.  And, communication is not all that horrible - 4.88.  Each and every month, it brings me close to a $200.00 Powerseller Discount.  Nothing to sneeze at when you are looking at a $1500 a month, or higher ebay bill.

A Final Word Of Warning.  If customers think you are ripping them off on shipping charges, all of your ratings are going to suffer.  Several months ago I tried mailing items in stay flat mailers with custom printed stamps, and my DSR's took an across the board hit, really bad.    Don't try to make money on shipping.  You're going to pay for it in the long run.

One Other Thing You Must Do is to include a thank-you note.  Tell your customer that you appreciate their purchase from you, and that you hope they will be happy with their purchase.  Express your desire for 5 Star Feedback, and let customers know that if they don't feel you deserve it, to please contact you, and give you the opportunity to make it right.  If you do nothing else - do this. A good thank-you note can raise your DSR's on it's own.

Good luck selling, and if this guide helps, please rate it below.