Section 7.6. Become a PowerSeller

7.6. Become a PowerSeller

PowerSeller is the designation eBay gives its best sellersthe superheroes of the eBay universe. As you ramp up your eBay sales, you might be able to join their elite ranks.

This section describes how to qualify for PowerSeller status, what the program offers, and a couple of surprising reasons why some sellers choose not to participate in this popular program.

7.6.1. Join the Big Leagues

There's no charge to become a PowerSeller, but you do have to measure up in terms of sales, feedback, and customer satisfaction. Here's what you need to become a PowerSeller:

• An eBay registration at least 90 days old.

• Average sales of at least $1, 000 per month for three months in a row.

• A total of 100 or more feedbacks with a 98 percent positive rating.

• An account in good standing.

When your account satisfies these criteria, eBay invites you to become a PowerSeller; you don't have to do anything. You get a nifty PowerSeller logo to stick next to your eBay ID and add to your auction pages, along with some other benefits (Section 7.6.2).

Warning: One kind of scam making the rounds is a fake invitation to become a PowerSeller, providing a link you click to "accept" the invitation . In fact, the link leads to a phony Web site that tries to collect details about you and your eBay account. Don't become a victim. Forward any suspicious emails to [e-mail] . If you think the invitation is genuine , log in to eBay, go to your My eBay page, and check your messages. Official eBay communications appear there.

Once you've become a PowerSeller, you must maintain the high standards that got you into the program. If your sales volume or your feedback rating dips, you could lose your PowerSeller status.

7.6.2. Membership Has Its Privileges (and Problems)

Besides the cool logo, what does becoming a PowerSeller have to offer? Some benefits are open to all PowerSellers; others depend on the level. There are five levels of PowerSeller, as shown in Table 7-1, and the more you sell, the higher you climb.

Table 7-1. PowerSeller Levels

Level	Minimum Monthly Sales Volume
Bronze	$1,000
Silver	$3,000
Gold	$10,000
Platinum	$25,000
Titanium	$150,000

eBay makes the following benefits available to all PowerSellers (some are free, others aren't):

• Personalized sales and feedback information.

• A discussion board open only to PowerSellers.

• A monthly email newsletter and a quarterly print newsletter.

• Co-op advertising (eBay helps pay your advertising costs) for PowerSellers who are also Trading Assistants or own an eBay Store.

• Health insurance for PowerSellers and their employees .

• Free banner ads in eBay's Keyword Ads program (Section 6.2.3), up to $200 per quarter.

• PowerSeller logo merchandise and stationery templates.

Some benefitslike improved customer supportbecome available as you climb the PowerSeller ladder. (To get the details, go to Services PowerSeller Program Program Benefits.) All levels of PowerSeller receive priority customer support via email. Silver and above get toll-free telephone support. And gold and above also get a real, live account manager. Of course, as some eBayers have pointed out, if youve got eBay figured out well enough to make PowerSeller status, you probably won't need to call that coveted phone number for help too often.

Other benefits are less tangible . Some eBay buyers seek out the PowerSeller logo for assurance that they're dealing with a professional seller. All other things being equal (price, shipping cost, feedback rating), many buyers will choose a PowerSeller over a lower-volume seller. So joining the program can boost your sales.

On the other hand, some sellers who are qualified for the PowerSeller program choose not to become PowerSellers (or choose not to display the PowerSeller logo on their auctions). Why? They cite a number of reasons:

• Some eBayers have high expectations of PowerSellersthey want super-fast shipping and personalized service, and believe PowerSellers are just the ones who'll give them these things. But it can be hard to meet inflated expectations when you're dealing with many sales each day, so buyers end up disappointed and leave the feedback to say soeven when you've shipped their items as quickly as you could.

• Many eBay newbies are attracted to PowerSellers; they feel safer buying from someone with this recognition from eBay. While this is a great way to attract new customers, it can also be a hassle to deal with buyers who don't yet understand how eBay works.

• Other eBayers who've been around for a while feel, fairly or unfairly, that PowerSellers are the wrong people to rely on for customer service. They figure that PowerSellers do enough business that they don't care about whether or not a particular buyer is happy.

If you want to avoid these hassles, you can choose not to display the PowerSeller logo next to your eBay ID. From your My eBay page, go to Preferences Seller Preferences to hide the logo.

UP TO SPEED
Different Strokes for PowerSelling Folks

You might occasionally notice an eBayer whose feedback rating is below 98 percent but who still has the PowerSeller logo next to his ID. What gives?

eBay uses a different, behind-the-scenes method to calculate PowerSellers' feedback scores. To get the feedback rating displayed on a Member Profile page, eBay counts feedback from individual eBayers. So if you buy five items from the same seller and leave positive feedback for each one, that seller's feedback rating goes up by just one. The feedback score is the result of adding up all the unique positive feedbacks and dividing them by the total number of positive and negative feedbacks. That percentage is the number you see when you check someone's Member Profile.

Somewhere in the depths of its operations, eBay looks at PowerSeller feedback differently. The feedback score used for the PowerSeller program counts each and every feedback separately. So if you buy five items from a PowerSeller and leave five positive feedbacks, in eBay's eyes that increases the feedback score by five. You won't see that number on the Member Profile page, but it's how eBay keeps scorefor PowerSellers only.

eBay says that high-volume sales and repeat customers mean that PowerSellers deserve to have their feedback rating calculated differently. Happy repeat buyers are a good thing, and the eBay community should know about that by seeing who's earned PowerSeller status. On the other hand, some eBayers question why eBay should treat PowerSellers differently. Aren't happy repeat buyers a good thing no matter what your sales volume is?