eBay and the star system...

[bigtruck260]

5 stars is perfect.

I totally understand that some folks might give you a "4" on Item As Described because there is room for judgement.
Same with shipping charges and communication.

HOWEVER, I have recieved a few 4's as of late on the shipping time.

I always ship the day after (and sometimes the day of) payment. I contact the seller, and tell them this. Then, the following day, I send them tracking information as soon as I have it. This means that the buyer is aware that I have shipped the item within 24 hours of payment.

In many cases, I ship the item and it arrives faster than they initially paid.

The only reason I am ticked about this is because my search standing just decreased because my STARS dropped from 4.9 to 4.8.

Someone please convince me that the new eBay feedback system is good.

Thanks for the vent. I feel better now.

[commando]

Some people will NEVER give a perfect rating.... It's just a strange conviction or principle some people have.

Kind of reminds me of the sportswriters who will never vote for someone their first year of eligibility. What's the deal with that???

[David]

Dave, I've heard the same complaint from other fast shippers. Penalized for shipping at fast as possible.

The current feedback is a crock and a sham. For example, a crooked scamming buyer turned new crooked scamming seller would have a 100 percent feedback because his feedback was gained as a buyer. Another example is if two sellers are equally as good, one will have a higher feedback because he buys on that account (accruing all those freebie 100% buyer ratings) while the other seller only sells on his account.

If the sellers are bank presidents and the buyer is John Dillinger, Dillinger will have a 100% buyer's feedback rating. If Charles Ponzi was an eBay buyer, he'd have a 100% buyer's feedback rating.

[David]

It should also be noted that most people who now ask for feedback from sellers are not buyers-only but people who sell with the account. Getting those freebie buyer's 100% ratings artificially boosts their account as a seller. Obviously this scews seller feedbacks.

If you're a buyer only, you don't care if you get feebacks, as your feedback is 100% and can't go below 100%. Whether you get one or 1,000 feedbacks makes no difference to your percentage.

[trsent]

5 stars is perfect.

I totally understand that some folks might give you a "4" on Item As Described because there is room for judgement.
Same with shipping charges and communication.

HOWEVER, I have recieved a few 4's as of late on the shipping time.

I always ship the day after (and sometimes the day of) payment. I contact the seller, and tell them this. Then, the following day, I send them tracking information as soon as I have it. This means that the buyer is aware that I have shipped the item within 24 hours of payment.

In many cases, I ship the item and it arrives faster than they initially paid.

The only reason I am ticked about this is because my search standing just decreased because my STARS dropped from 4.9 to 4.8.

Someone please convince me that the new eBay feedback system is good.

Thanks for the vent. I feel better now.

Here is the thing about this new system, they give a discount to your seller fees at the end of each month based on your overall Detailed Seller Ratings.

This is like rolling the dice. You can ship immediately, provide tracking numbers and still end up on the short end because people rate "Shipping Time" on when the post office (or other shipping companies) deliver the package, not on when they were emailed with tracking numbers. You can charge reasonable shipping fees, but people always think there is a cheaper way (there isn't) so they leave you low ratings in these catagories.

So, my DSRs are 4.9, 4.9, 4.8 and 4.6. I get hammers on the shipping and handling fees, as last month I needed a 4.8 to get a 15% discount, but I only came in at 4.7, so I only received a 5% discount.

I met with eBay during eBay Live in Chicago and told them this new discount system is a joke, that it is impossible to qualify for people rating transactions without even knowing what they are rating for. The system is tough, and I told them I didn't like it. I was told they have heard similar, but eBay's current trend is to support the buyers to make more people come to (or back to) eBay to buy again.

[David]

I have free ($0) shipping on all my auctions and BINs, so you know the rating system is broken if I get anything below a 5.0 for shipping and handling fees.

[momen55]

typical ebay. the seller makes them money, and there concern is the buyer?
ebay is well established to worry about buyers. sellers are the meat and potatos for them and they should be treated fairly, but unfortunately are not.

[trsent]

I have free ($0) shipping on all my auctions and BINs, so you know the rating system is broken if I get anything below a 5.0 for shipping and handling fees.

You can look at your Seller Dashboard and see your DSRs for the last 30 days from a drop down menu. It would be great if you gave us a report in 30 days how your experiment goes!

I just worry that offering free shipping will lead to lower final prices that won't make up for the shipping, so also let us know how you felt your final prices end.

[worldchamps]

I sold an item with FREE SHIPPING and I got 3 Stars from a buyer because i sent it with signature confirmation, and he was upset he had to go to post office to pick up!!!!

Sometimes you just cant win

[David]

My favorite was when I had eBay items with free shipping and a winner asked if he could get a discount on shipping since be bought two lots. I gave him 30 percent off.