DSRs - Discuss

flipper_2010

alfiesmum wrote: »

Most buyers are unaware that the rating has a effect on what fees are charged to a seller too. I post things day after payment without fail, I don't have 5 star for that either. I hate the ratings, I think they're just a way for eBay to get out of lesser listing fees.

Fees are different for different amounts of stars? Sorry if I'm being blond here!

Premier_2

bluebell_lily wrote: »

I also leave the communication part blank as a buyer....

Leaving a DSR blank as you correctly do if you consider the section not applicable is not the same as marking someone as neutral. Marking someone as neutral in DSRs implies you were neither happy nor unhappy with the specific. Being not happy is seen as a negative on ebay.

...The rating system is based on a one to five-star scale. Five stars is the highest rating, and one star is the lowest rating...

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/feedback/detailed-seller-ratings.html

Therefore leaving anything other than 5 stars (or blank if not applicable) means the seller will be penalised.
As you can see from the link, some sellers will suffer if their DSRs drop below 4.4 or 4.6. Giving someone 3 will, of course, drop the sellers rating down. Not scoring at all will not affect the sellers DSR.

Premier_2

flipper_2010 wrote: »

Fees are different for different amounts of stars? Sorry if I'm being blond here!

Detailed Seller Ratings and Shops

If you would like to subscribe to a Shop, you will be required to maintain the following minimum 12-month average DSR scores in each of the four areas:

• For a Featured Shop, maintain a DSR score of 4.4 or above
  
• For an Anchor Shop, maintain a DSR score of 4.6 or above
  

Note: Failure to maintain these requirements will affect your Shops subscription, and you could be downgraded to a lower Shop tier with a different fee structure. Learn how failure to maintain your DSRs could affect your Shops subscription fees.

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/feedback/detailed-seller-ratings.html

cyberbob

bluebell_lily wrote: »

I also leave the communication part blank as a buyer.



I was looking at my comms DSR and it is 4.7. It is weird considering for recorded, there are at least 2 emails: 1 from eBay, 1 from PayPal, yet some buyers still are not satisfied? Same with dispatch, (4.6) send it next day or the following and some buyers still think this is way too slow?

I think thats part of the problem some buyers may think that thats satisfactory which is 3 stars. Its all subjective really

Has the introduction DSRs reduced the amount of Negs and Neutrals Given as buyers have another way to show problems with the transaction?

I do think think another problem with them (now talking as a buyer) that if you mark someone down a poor rating and they are a powerseller it will not really have any effect as due to the volume of sales there has to be a lot of disatisfaction.

sequence

My DSR's are 5.0 5.0 4.9 4.9 . I only offer free postage so it should be 5.0 on p+p charges.

basilseal

The DSRs are a good idea in principal, but the problem is the disparity in what ebay tell buyers and what they expect from sellers.

DSR ratings need to be above 4.6 to qualify for powerseller discount, but buyers are told that 4 is a good rating, and feel that by leaving a 4 they are marking the seller up, when in fact they are marking them down, as the minimum required is 4.6. over half way between good and excellent.

the idea of DSRs is to give feedback a more detailed overview, rather than just positive and negative, with feedback we expect a seller to have at or near 100% +ve feedbhack, but any shop would be pleased with an 80% satisfaction rate from its customers, on ebay there is an unrealistic expectation of what feedback should be, a sort of feedback inflation, because no one left a neg unless the seller ripped them off or was extremely rude.

Now DSRs have fallen into the same trap, there's no way to say a transaction is ok, not out of the ordinary but perfectly acceptable, without potentially penalising the seller, so as long as the seller fulfills their obligations , i tend to leave them 5 stars because i'd feel mean doing otherwise, but it's subverting the point of the DSR stars in the first place.

Strapped

basilseal wrote: »

The DSRs are a good idea in principal, but the problem is the disparity in what ebay tell buyers and what they expect from sellers.

DSR ratings need to be above 4.6 to qualify for powerseller discount, but buyers are told that 4 is a good rating, and feel that by leaving a 4 they are marking the seller up, when in fact they are marking them down, as the minimum required is 4.6. over half way between good and excellent.

the idea of DSRs is to give feedback a more detailed overview, rather than just positive and negative, with feedback we expect a seller to have at or near 100% +ve feedbhack, but any shop would be pleased with an 80% satisfaction rate from its customers, on ebay there is an unrealistic expectation of what feedback should be, a sort of feedback inflation, because no one left a neg unless the seller ripped them off or was extremely rude.

Now DSRs have fallen into the same trap, there's no way to say a transaction is ok, not out of the ordinary but perfectly acceptable, without potentially penalising the seller, so as long as the seller fulfills their obligations , i tend to leave them 5 stars because i'd feel mean doing otherwise, but it's subverting the point of the DSR stars in the first place.

I think it's over 4.4 for Powerseller discount?

Anyway, it would seem from the comments already posted that DSRs don't mean a lot, because my P&P DSR is 4.7, yet I more often than not over-charge postage by at least £1-£2. Until buyers start marking me down or stop buying from me I'll carry on doing so and not paying eBay their cut. (Flame away, I'm impervious )

Smart_But_Casual

Mine vary between 4.8 and 5.

No matter what I do they yo-yo between those and like the majority I'm convinced it's because many buyers don't understand them and the actual programme is flawed in terms on a blank is defaulted as a bad thing.

StaffsSW

cyberbob wrote: »

If I hear nothing from the seller and the item just appears they just get a 1 from me. If they inform me of receipt of payment and dispatch they get a 5. Part of the problem is its all subjective

I'm not sure how I feel about communication as a buyer - sometimes you get swamped with emails - you've won (from ebay), you've won (from Auctiva), You've paid x2, your items been dispatched x2, then sometimes a feedback reminder.

Other times you pay, and the item arrives the following day with nothing except a paypal confirmation of payment.

As a seller I have a few automated messages set up - Thank you for your payment/custom, and a further one that sends a notification message when I mark the item as dispatched - this also copies through to the customers ebay inbox.

I've recently sold more items with inclusive P&P, than items with charged P&P, so my star rating has dipped to 4.78 - the rest being between 4.83 to 4.97. If I sell a few more items with charged P&P, this will creep up again.

I don't lose much sleep over it - I know what I'm doing is keeping my customers happy overall, and it earns me a bonus discount. I'm certainly not going to cut prices or increase my time/effort to get straight 5's.
My pricing is based on not receiving any discount, so it is a true bonus for me.

cyberbob wrote: »

Has the introduction DSRs reduced the amount of Negs and Neutrals Given as buyers have another way to show problems with the transaction?

Not that I've noticed, but I'll admit that when the feedback rules changed last year, I was concerned that more frivolous negs and neutrals would appear, but it has not affected me in the slightest, and from speaking to many other high volume sellers, it hasn't really had any noticeable effect on them either.

I've seen, and often posted on here, examples of some buyers leaving excessive negs and neutrals, but given the size of ebay and the number of sales completed, it's still a very small exception to a far reaching rule.

cyril82

cyberbob wrote: »

If I hear nothing from the seller and the item just appears they just get a 1 from me. If they inform me of receipt of payment and dispatch they get a 5. Part of the problem is its all subjective

So even if you bought something off a seller and he despatched it same day, you got it next day but he didn't email you to say he'd sent it he's getting a 1 Harsh, very, very harsh and this is the problem with DSR's, to stay within ebay's "acceptable" limits you have to avoid unreasonable people like this, but how do you do that???