What does leaving negative feedback and low stars for a seller do to their account

Bronnie

Re the Communication stars......can anyone advise is it people's expectation of a private seller that they should send an email to the buyer to say the item is on it's way?

My Communication stars have gone down to 4.7, I can't think of an instance where my communication has been lacking imo! I use my laptop regularly, am always pleasant and polite and answer queries usually within a matter of hours at the longest. I have had no "issues". I have also started leaving feedback immediately the buyer has paid (after advice from here).

I hardly buy at all from ebay, and assumed as a seller that clicking the "your item has been dispatched" icon would be sufficient. I sell a lot of lowish value stuff and it would be fairly time consuming to email every buyer to say their item is posted. Is this necessary, is this what has brought my stars down or could it be a buyer with their own interpretation of the use of stars?

Myyrrddyn

soolin wrote: »

Usually yes, but if someone took a week or more to despatch then there is hardly any point in contacting them really, they can't do anything about it?

Yes they can offer a refund in postage charges.

Myyrrddyn

Bronnie wrote: »

Re the Communication stars......can anyone advise is it people's expectation of a private seller that they should send an email to the buyer to say the item is on it's way?

My Communication stars have gone down to 4.7, I can't think of an instance where my communication has been lacking imo! I use my laptop regularly, am always pleasant and polite and answer queries usually within a matter of hours at the longest. I have had no "issues". I have also started leaving feedback immediately the buyer has paid (after advice from here).

I hardly buy at all from ebay, and assumed as a seller that clicking the "your item has been dispatched" icon would be sufficient. I sell a lot of lowish value stuff and it would be fairly time consuming to email every buyer to say their item is posted. Is this necessary, is this what has brought my stars down or could it be a buyer with their own interpretation of the use of stars?

It can be from a person who does'nt know what the stars are for or someone who was upset by what they received etc.
I always leave feedback as soon as the buyer pays. I have noticed since doing this i am getting more feedback than i was sending feedback after the buyer has.
Your emails can be automated 1 when they buy, 2 when they pay 3 when posted.:money:

soolin

Myyrrddyn wrote: »

Yes they can offer a refund in postage charges.

I would not be leaving stars though for postage and I'm not sure how I would feel about what is effectively a bribe to leave better stars? Stars are important so bribing anyone that complains doesn't really help future buyers to see how good previous experience has been with that seller.

macfly

burtons wrote: »

Thanks for your replys. So does it count for leaving low stars for communication as i never know what to leave. If i ask the seller a question and i get a good reply then thats full stars, or if i don't ask a question and they send a email so say they posted my item then thats full stars, I don't know what stars to leave when i don't ask a question or they don't say when my item was posted. So if it cost the seller more fees it's only going to cost the buyers in the end.

At last, an intelligent question from someone. As a buyer, I've had things arrive quickly without any email from the seller. I would rather they were out posting my stuff than mailing me, so I give 5 stars for comms.
I worry as a seller if I'm pestering someone by sending emails, so I leave the mark as dispatched unticked and send an email instead.
So, do worry about sellers. Ebay have piut a lot of power in a buyer's hands. Unfair marks will contribute to sellers disappearing.

terra_ferma

If you are dealing from a buyer you want to use again, and who you don't want to disappear from ebay, I'd be careful.
Small or new sellers are particularly vulnerable, for example ebay sets limits on new sellers and if their performance is not great they may decide ebay is not viable for them.
It's a good way of screening sellers, but on the other hand if someone sells stuff that is hard to get, or at a very good price, and they are not out to scam (maybe a bit late posting, or answering emails) we may want them to stay.

Also stars are not really anonymous, small sellers can tell easily, larger ones can run reports and sometimes pinpoint the bad stars.
I've blocked people because they gave very low stars (without giving me the opportunity to put whatever they thought was wrong right, or despite me giving a refund for the parcel being late).

Only ebay expects perfections, out there even Debenhams sends you damaged stuff, takes 3 days to respond to your request, and 2 weeks to refund....

PS before people starts making assumptions, my stars are all 4.9, fb 100%, no claims, but it's the pressure, having to worry about every little detail, and the feeling your account could be jeopardised by a small number of buyers that I don't like.

alx2010

when you mark an item as dispatched is there a way of sending an automatic 'dispatched' email to the buyer? I have been doing this individually up to now

soolin

alx2010 wrote: »

when you mark an item as dispatched is there a way of sending an automatic 'dispatched' email to the buyer? I have been doing this individually up to now

Not usually, but there is an option if you use one of the paid for auction management services.

I just have a cut and paste message, send it to every buyer when I ship their item, it really only takes 30 seconds at most.

Myyrrddyn

alx2010 wrote: »

when you mark an item as dispatched is there a way of sending an automatic 'dispatched' email to the buyer? I have been doing this individually up to now

If you are a high volume seller yes there is an automatic email that you can send. When you look at your items sold page. click on one of them in the tick box, then click on email top right. From there you can either send an email or play around with your emails. You can also do this from Selling manager pro.

chancesare_2

alx2010 wrote: »

when you mark an item as dispatched is there a way of sending an automatic 'dispatched' email to the buyer? I have been doing this individually up to now

It is certainly in Seller Manager Pro.

Seller Manager Pro Automation Prefs, Emails from you. Certain tick boxes.