How much seller feedback/ratings for successful selling?

Big_W

Hello all,

Although I buy a lot on eBay, I rarely sell, and have not sold anything at all since the current Detailed Seller Ratings system was introduced. Positive feedback accumulated over the years over my main account is 92 for buying and 13 for selling, with no negatives or neutrals.

I'm having a huge clearout, and so plan to sell quite a lot of stuff on eBay, including a few items expected to fetch £100 - £200 (I hope!!).

As I expect that my stuff is less likely to sell or will fetch lower prices if I don't have recent seller feedback, I'm currently selling some small computer parts at 99p BINs including postage. So far this is looking like more trouble than it's worth - as well as all the time and effort spent for no monetary gain, there's no guarantee the buyers will leave feedback/ratings at all. I've had one buyer already who I thought was going to be a problem, and there's a risk of stroppy buyers if the weather delays the deliveries.

So my questions to you all are

1) Is it really necessary to get some recent seller feedback to help my stuff sell better? If so, how many ratings should I aim for before attempting to sell the more expensive stuff? Am I maybe fussing too much?

2) How important are the DSRs from the buyer's point of view? Personally I rarely look at them as a buyer, concentrating more on feedback. I know some of you (especially Soolin) give them a lot more importance.

3) How important are DSRs from eBay's point of view? What ratings get you in the suspension zone?


Cheers,
Rob

cyberbob

DSRS from ebay if they go below 4.6 you then start to appear lower in searches if they go any lower you risk suspension. In some ways these are now more critical than feedback.

As a buyer I always look at DSRS. If they start hitting below 4.6 I start questioning whether I will be buying or not.

Your feedback sounds OK. As long as its not 1 or 2 it shouldnt have much effect on prices. As long as you do good accurate listings this will have more effect on prices

Big_W

Thanks for the reply Bob.

As a buyer who does look at DSR's, would you be put off by my having no visible ratings (only been rated once since DSRs came in), given my earlier feedback and the assumption that I'd do a good listing?

That also leads me to another DSR-related question. I've seen other references to these affecting how low down items are in searches. Would this apply to those doing what I do when searching - ordering by price, time, distance etc? I have sometimes noticed that if I do ordering by price (lowest first), near the end I may see some cheaper items AFTER the more expensive stuff - is this because of the sellers having low rankings due to poor DSRs?

steven_garner

I believe that eBay will only move sellers down the list in the "Best Match" filter.

Any other filter (ie Cheapest, location ect) should be unaffected.

soolin

I think the cost of the stuff you are selling makes a difference in whether you will sell easily with no recent detailed feedback. I'd probably buy low cost items from a newly restarted seller, but I certainly would not spend £100 + as it could well indicate and old lapsed account hijacked by a scammer.

Personally I would suggets that you spend 3 or 4 weeks listing the cheaper things, start to get rolling feedback in and then put the higher priced items on.

cyberbob

steven_garner wrote: »

I believe that eBay will only move sellers down the list in the "Best Match" filter.

Any other filter (ie Cheapest, location ect) should be unaffected.

The problem is best match is the default filter and the majority of buyers search that way

mikey72

I search by nearest, or price + p&p.
I read the feedback, rarely look at the DSRs.

dawyldthing

i always look for the time left, due to wanting to pick bargains up and it means that theres less chance of being out bid

Jacks_xxx

I search for price and P&P, then read feedback received, feedback left for others, and replies to feedback (both as a buyer and seller) and DSRs. I usually buy from the one who sounds like the most conscientious seller / most decent human being. I don't care how cheap it is - if they sound like an @r$ehole, I'm not interested.

I would be more cautious bidding on something from someone who has no FB from buyers, and would definitely advise selling some low value items first even if it is a faff.

Big_W

Thanks to all for the replies. Quite a few mixed opinions on the value of DSRs - but then that's probably to be expected.

Methinks, I'll plan keep selling the 99p stuff until I get 5 positives (I know I can't see the DSRs until 10). Then I'll get onto the lower value stuff that I expect to actually get some money for and hope I don't get buyers who make me lose the will to live before I get to the expensive stuff!!!!

I will also endeavour to appear like a decent human being!!! (Jacks post)

Just praying I don't get another buyer like the one a few years back that had to be chased for 2 weeks, then sent me an uncashable postal order (made out to my user id, not my name) AND didn't leave any feedback - all for £2....

soolin

Don't forget you don't have to wait 2 weeks for payment anymore. You can start an NPN as early as 4 days from auction end date.

Like you though I also had a postal order, mine was a US one though so it was doubly useless, made out to my user ID which at the time was something really silly like 'fluffybunny' or some nonsense.