Becoming an Ebay Power Seller

By Art Micklewraith
In Ebay circles much is made of the term power seller. In most conversations it simply means a high volume seller on Ebay. That is of course true, as far as it goes. On Ebay power seller has a very specific meaning that goes well beyond high volume. The get the official status of power seller on Ebay a seller must have an exceptionally good customer reputation, carefully obey the rules, and sell, sell, sell.

Ebay's website says that to qualify a member must be honest and promise to uphold Ebay community values, what ever that might mean. They must have an active account with a minimum of $1000 per month in sales for three months straight. They must also have had an average of 4 listings during the last three months. Before being accepted to the power seller program a seller must have a feedback rating of 100 and 98% must be positive. The account must be in good standing financially with Ebay.

The auction site reviews the power seller roles each month and will remove any seller who violate the rules, falls below the 98% total positive feedback mark, or owes Ebay money.

Not only are power sellers rated above regular ones they divided into ranks based entirely on volume of sales. The tier the seller is on affects some benefits given to power sellers. The five tiers are bronze for $1,000 a month in sells, silver for $3,000, gold for $10,000, platinum for $25,000, and titanium for $150,000.

Membership is free and each month when Ebay reviews the power sellers they will automatically send any qualifying merchant an e-mail informing them that they are eligible for the program. So a merchant need not even apply, however if you been doing business on Ebay and believe you meet the criteria you should contact them and look into it. Oversights do happen.

The benefits of being a power seller are prioritized support by e-mail and telephone. Here we see where the various levels of membership pay off. It is most likely that platinum merchants listen to less hold music than silvers. Power sellers also receive access to special power seller discussion boards and additional help with Ebay's resources. They receive special promotions from Ebay's allied businesses and can place a power seller logo on their listings. Perhaps best of all, they receive an official Ebay certificate of achievement from Meg Whitman, president of Ebay.

All jokes aside, shoppers on Ebay and other auction sites are hearing a great deal in the media about dishonesty and customer service problems associated with Ebay merchants. Having that power seller logo on your listing and storefront is big sign to them that they can trust your business. Systems like the power seller program will likely drive a wedge between big and small sellers and help create two very different online auction environments. While this might not be good for the small auctioneer in the long run at present the small auction site had better do what it can to make the power leap.