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Oliver14

techspec wrote: »

Like you - i was unaware of the dashboard, until too late. I've been below standard for 3 months now - and have been threatened with selling limits. My items are bottom of best match.

I'm sorry DSRs have been in place for years now. You state you are an experienced seller but never new about the Dashboard? That just doesnt add up. One low DSR does not put your account in danger or possible limitations. It would have been more than one so 'as an experienced seller' you should have seen the signs and acted sooner.

As for your example of a 15 days dispatch time. Any Seller who dispatches later than 7 days loses all Paypal protection so has got to be a fool to want to send that late.

Online commerce has changed customer expectations are higher than they were a few years ago. Sellers need to mee these expectations or go into business doing something else its as simple as that

soolin

been wondering this myself soolin, our 4.4 rating for dispatch was there in april and hasnt changed since,

I am not surprised my overall headline figures didn't change, but my lowest score is 4.86 for post and packing (which ebay decided to round down to 4.8), yet even free post and packing maintained a daily average of 4.86..which is nonsense. Then when i started charging again for post and packing it stayed at 4.86..which seems to indicate that nothing at all I do affects the stars that people leave, and that can't be right. If It wasn't my business account I might have been tempted to add more to the p and p for packing to see if that meant the stars went down, but i don't want to risk it.

I do worry though that some sellers seem to be targetted for poor stars and there is the outside possibility that might indicate a general problem with the star system. My example would be the sellers that sometimes get highlighted on here that have used the 99p item and £10 basic postage for months yet manage to maintain a healthy 4.7 for p and p. Yet other sellers seem to attract buyers that leave low stars. Why do some sellers attract those buyers, is there anything at all that might indicate they are using that particular category to get back at you for any reason?

capeverde

Oliver14 wrote: »

I'm sorry DSRs have been in place for years now. You state you are an experienced seller but never new about the Dashboard? That just doesnt add up. One low DSR does not put your account in danger or possible limitations. It would have been more than one so 'as an experienced seller' you should have seen the signs and acted sooner.

As for your example of a 15 days dispatch time. Any Seller who dispatches later than 7 days loses all Paypal protection so has got to be a fool to want to send that late.

Online commerce has changed customer expectations are higher than they were a few years ago. Sellers need to mee these expectations or go into business doing something else its as simple as that

You appear to be the fool for not grasping the sitation here, its not about wanting to send something later than 7 days, its about hand made items that are manufactured to order. There has to be a system in place to differentiate between someone moving on a second hand pair of knickers they bought at a car boot and can be posted the same day as to a large item that has to be made from scratch, assembled, coated, dis assembled, packed and dispatched. Youre patronising to the extreme in your comment about how online commerce has changed and have your head in the clouds. If you want a cheap bit of whitewood furniture sprayed with a bit of laquer go to some home superstore. If you want a fine piece made to your specification you may often have to wait 6 months. This isnt what we do, but I use as an example. There are still companies cutting complicated joints by hand which can take days just for one part of the assembly and people are prepared to wait for the right thing. There isnt a black and white and for you to make the comments you did is nonsense. Stick to messing about with 10p items at car boots.

terra_ferma

cape I think you have a point, and oliver has too (although probably could have been worded better....)
It seems that ebay (Not sure about the oline word in general, but definitely ebay) is not the right place for the sort of items you sell, their strategy trying to push sellers performance up all the time, to accommodate buyer's wishes, doesn't suit your type of business.
As I said, I've seen a few sellers of bespoke items having their accounts closed simply because of the nature of their business.

I know there are some sites that specialise in made-to-order goods, like folksy and etsy, and I hear people do well on them, maybe there is something similar for furniture?

If you are succesfully selling through other platforms, perhaps you could use ebay as a marketing tool, as many do, to publicise your products, but choosing some that are quicker to produce, or have a limited selection of ready made that you know would sell?

On the other hand if your business is struggling in general, maybe the message is that customer would rather have something of lower quality now than wait for a better quality item, but I'm not familiar with this area so I can't really comment.

capeverde

terra_ferma wrote: »

cape I think you have a point, and oliver has too (although probably could have been worded better....)
It seems that ebay (Not sure about the oline word in general, but definitely ebay) is not the right place for the sort of items you sell, their strategy trying to push sellers performance up all the time, to accommodate buyer's wishes, doesn't suit your type of business.
As I said, I've seen a few sellers of bespoke items having their accounts closed simply because of the nature of their business.

I know there are some sites that specialise in made-to-order goods, like folksy and etsy, and I hear people do well on them, maybe there is something similar for furniture?

If you are succesfully selling through other platforms, perhaps you could use ebay as a marketing tool, as many do, to publicise your products, but choosing some that are quicker to produce, or have a limited selection of ready made that you know would sell?

On the other hand if your business is struggling in general, maybe the message is that customer would rather have something of lower quality now than wait for a better quality item, but I'm not familiar with this area so I can't really comment.

Thanks for your reply TF, I hear what you are saying and understand, but just to counter, one of our products is by far the biggest seller by volume in the catergory, despite being the most expensive. Everyone that has received them has been over the moon and our comments are backing this up. To that end, ebay is a good sales tool for both seller, me and buyers. Everyones happy. Its simply the despatch stars that is the problem as 4 people over a period of 6 months wanted things quicker, even though we were inside our deadlines. So the main problem is ebay as a platform and their interpretation and implementation of its rules.

Re the business, fortunately we are going from strength to strength. We have based our product ethos on quality and service and are one of the most expensive in the market, but it seems people are happy to pay for quality. Weve just taken over a second factory next door and employed another 3 staff. We also have many larger products that are engineered in the workshop and that cuts down on assembly time by days on site, which is the biggest cost. We are releasing a video soon of our latest items. I post a link in a couple of weeks if anyones interested.

I do tend to moan about perceived injustices in life, just my character and will always find a way around things as nothing tends to be straightforward. One of my biggest moans is that we dont tend to manufacture hardly anything in this country anymore, even though we have some of the best designers and workers. The emphasis is on cheap eastern imports. I could quite easily get my products made in china and bring over containers, but you do tend to lose control unless you know more or less exactly how many you will sell over a set period. Also you lose that personal touch and the ability to modify something to a persons exact specification. Im proud of the fact I employ good local people who have a genuine interest in what we build and are a credit to the company. It does rile me that this can be penalised even though customers are absolutely over the moon with the product.

chickaroonee

I don't know how sellers who make bespoke items can survive ebay DSRs. I bought a (fairly cheap) personalised item that was really beautiful and was delighted, looking at the sellers feedback everyone else was too. However their dispatch DSR was not good, despite it being clear on the listing it would take 7 days to make.

Part of the problem is buyers are asked "how quickly did the seller dispatch" not "did they send when they said they would". I also don't think most buyers know the importance of DSRs, I certainly didn't til I read this forum and realised my own P&P rating needed improving, and because I'm a small private seller, it's been hard to do.

Crowqueen

chickaroonee wrote: »

I don't know how sellers who make bespoke items can survive ebay DSRs. I bought a (fairly cheap) personalised item that was really beautiful and was delighted, looking at the sellers feedback everyone else was too. However their dispatch DSR was not good, despite it being clear on the listing it would take 7 days to make.

Part of the problem is buyers are asked "how quickly did the seller dispatch" not "did they send when they said they would". I also don't think most buyers know the importance of DSRs, I certainly didn't til I read this forum and realised my own P&P rating needed improving, and because I'm a small private seller, it's been hard to do.

I answered your thread just now but I will say that eBay is not an appropriate venue for many items to be sold and with things the way they are it's not an appropriate venue for bespoke items. I will also say that I am insulted by the assertion buyers are the ones who need to learn - they have the money that keeps both sellers and eBay going, and if the seller doesn't come good they can go elsewhere - so keeping that in mind, any attempt to "educate" people into leaving perfect stars when perfect stars are not appropriate strikes me as one good way to lose customers rather than to keep them. At the end of the day the site averages are not perfect - in the high 4s rather than 5 - because not all buyers mark 5 for perfect stars. But the average is high because many buyers do mark 5 for average transactions. That's just a fact you have to keep in mind, not something you can change at your own pleasure.

From your thread, you're doing fine - actually around average. I don't think you should be panicking too much. Just keep doing what you are doing and you won't get dinged for it.

chickaroonee

I'm sorry if you think I'm being rude about buyers, I'm really not trying to be at all. Perhaps I am extrapolating my own thoughts (before I started selling a bit more on ebay again and looked into the stars more) to other buyers too much. But the person I am talking about has really excellent feedback - all comments about how beautiful the items are, which was also my experience. I would hate items like this to be removed from ebay, where else would I buy them? For me, it's the only site I'm currently comfortable with using for this sort of thing.

I genuinely don't think it's necessarily a case of educating buyers - I think the ebay question needs to be changed. If the question asks - did they dispatch quickly - it's no wonder buyers answer honestly for things like bespoke items, ebay is encouraging that answer. I think it is ebay at fault, not buyers.

terra_ferma

Crowqueen wrote: »

I answered your thread just now but I will say that eBay is not an appropriate venue for many items to be sold and with things the way they are it's not an appropriate venue for bespoke items. I will also say that I am insulted by the assertion buyers are the ones who need to learn - they have the money that keeps both sellers and eBay going, and if the seller doesn't come good they can go elsewhere - so keeping that in mind, any attempt to "educate" people into leaving perfect stars when perfect stars are not appropriate strikes me as one good way to lose customers rather than to keep them. At the end of the day the site averages are not perfect - in the high 4s rather than 5 - because not all buyers mark 5 for perfect stars. But the average is high because many buyers do mark 5 for average transactions. That's just a fact you have to keep in mind, not something you can change at your own pleasure.

From your thread, you're doing fine - actually around average. I don't think you should be panicking too much. Just keep doing what you are doing and you won't get dinged for it.

I think sometimes we need comments from a buyers perspective (from someone who understand both sides of the coin), as us sellers tend to lose track of the fact that buyer's role is to buy and pay, not to leave good feedback and stars.

terra_ferma

capeverde wrote: »

Thanks for your reply TF, I hear what you are saying and understand, but just to counter, one of our products is by far the biggest seller by volume in the catergory, despite being the most expensive. Everyone that has received them has been over the moon and our comments are backing this up. To that end, ebay is a good sales tool for both seller, me and buyers. Everyones happy. Its simply the despatch stars that is the problem as 4 people over a period of 6 months wanted things quicker, even though we were inside our deadlines. So the main problem is ebay as a platform and their interpretation and implementation of its rules.

Re the business, fortunately we are going from strength to strength. We have based our product ethos on quality and service and are one of the most expensive in the market, but it seems people are happy to pay for quality. Weve just taken over a second factory next door and employed another 3 staff. We also have many larger products that are engineered in the workshop and that cuts down on assembly time by days on site, which is the biggest cost. We are releasing a video soon of our latest items. I post a link in a couple of weeks if anyones interested.

I do tend to moan about perceived injustices in life, just my character and will always find a way around things as nothing tends to be straightforward. One of my biggest moans is that we dont tend to manufacture hardly anything in this country anymore, even though we have some of the best designers and workers. The emphasis is on cheap eastern imports. I could quite easily get my products made in china and bring over containers, but you do tend to lose control unless you know more or less exactly how many you will sell over a set period. Also you lose that personal touch and the ability to modify something to a persons exact specification. Im proud of the fact I employ good local people who have a genuine interest in what we build and are a credit to the company. It does rile me that this can be penalised even though customers are absolutely over the moon with the product.

Well done, good to hear your doing well!

Customers like choice, and some like to buy the cheapest stuff made in China, other are happy (or can afford) to pay a bit more for better quality.
From ebay's point of view, the number of sellers of bespoke items must be so low that to them it doesn't matter if a few get caught in what they clearly seem to think it's a system that works well for them.
They make it very clear, from the way the treat sellers, that they hold all the power and that individual sellers are insignificant.
I've said that before, but it seems to me that in their business strategy sellers are seen as a go-between and buyers are all that matters. I've never seen a situation where a business pays a lot of money in fees an they receive such an appalling customer service, and have very little control over the service they receive.
The fact that so many seller use them regardless of their behaviour shows that their strategy is very effective, so can't blame them for doing it.

One thing is become more and more clear to me since I've started selling, you can never take your ebay business for granted, as even if you managed to do really well it would not take much to wipe it out almost overnight (depending on the business, a spate of bad weather causing postage delays, sudden illness, retrospective changes in regulations, unannounced changes to best match or how/where listings are shown).