listings page order

chickaroonee

I do think in some ways ebay is a lot better these days, I used to be a (very small scale indeed) business seller a few years back, and the number of scams and hacked accounts etc on ebay was unbelievable. Their strategy then seemed to be "we're just a platform, we don't get involved" whereas now, they really are trying to improve and make it a safer site for buyers, which I completely agree with.

However as a buyer I would really hate to see some sellers be forced out, as it just limits the choice on the site for me. I'm much more comfortable buying certain things on ebay than direct on different websites, I don't know why, maybe it's because I'm used to ebay, and like its buyer protection policies.

lucy247

i sold an item on ebay 2 weeks ago and the buyer left a neutral with this comment excellent quality item, fast delivery, highly recommend. I was bemused by the neutral so asked if there was a problem. He said he was new to ebay and had actually been leaving neutral for all his buys as he was satisfied and he was sort of saving the positives for things he was delighted with. It made me laugh because it reminded me of a teacher friend who says she would never give a student more than 95% no matter how good they were in case they got big headed

capeverde

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 agree with what you say in general, but think the point being made is that buyers need educating as to how the stars work. This in my opinion isnt the job of the seller though. The ebay cs guy the other night kept telling me to put in my listings about the stars and then in my despatch email. I have chosen not to do this as I dont think a buyer (myself included) wants to be told how to rate something. They do, in my opinion need to be given the information as to what their stars actually mean though. I would rarely give 5 out of 5 for anything in life, so why would your average joe. I personally think 4 out of 5 is a good score. Seems ebay is unrealistic as are a lot of people who trade there. Ive been in business all of my life and its inpractical to assume that you can keep customers averaging you at 99% in anything. People simply dont warrant those scores. As a layman, I would assume 1 = poor 2 = passable 3 = average 4 - good and 5 = excellent. To that end I wouldnt see the problem in averaging 4 as by those terms you would be above average in the ratings and yet a 4 on ebay will get you banned over a period of time. Crazy.

soolin

The counter argument though about buyers not understanding DSRs is that on ebay we all share the same pool of buyers. So why can some manage good stars and others not?

If everyone started to get bad DSRs then ebay would either have to ban us all, or drop the 'average' that they consider reasonable.

chickaroonee

But for bespoke items, the dispatch star is more likely to suffer, surely? Before I started selling more and found out how important the stars were, I probably would have left the seller I mentioned above a 3 or 4 (and I wouldn't have been at all displeased with the purchase, it would just have been, in my mind, a factual response to how fast it was sent). I actually left a 5 because he delivered when he said he would, and looking at his stars, I think he may be in trouble with ebay soon.

soolin

chickaroonee wrote: »

But for bespoke items, the dispatch star is more likely to suffer, surely? Before I started selling more and found out how important the stars were, I probably would have left the seller I mentioned above a 3 or 4 (and I wouldn't have been at all displeased with the purchase, it would just have been, in my mind, a factual response to how fast it was sent). I actually left a 5 because he delivered when he said he would, and looking at his stars, I think he may be in trouble with ebay soon.

If someone leaves a low star for bespoke items then we are back to the original point that regardless of what time to takes to prepare and send the goods, they are unhappy with that delay.

If we are saying that buyers generally leave low stars because they don't understand them then it would affect more of us.

chickaroonee

I don't know if they are unhappy though. I certainly can't speak for other buyers, but I know I would have left a 3 or 4 for a bespoke item, not because I was unhappy, but because I was answering the "how quick did the seller dispatch" question. I genuinely would not have thought it would have any impact on the sellers' business. Whether I'm in a minority or not is hard to say, but looking at the seller I was talking about, his feedback is excellent - lots of comments about how special the items were, one of a kind etc. He was quite new to ebay and selling at a low price to build up his feedback, I basically got a bespoke item for a bargain price, as have many others. It would be a shame for sellers like that to have to leave, as a buyer on ebay I love finding sellers like that rather than the argos/littlewoods etc type ones.

lucy247

HI there i really feel for you, i have actually been pretty lucky with ebay, my husband is a bit of a lets work out all the things that can go wrong sort of person. I used to sell stained glass items, mirrors, picture frames, suncatchers you know the kind of thing. Havent sold them for a long time, small kids and glass not a good mix. However I listed BIN and because they were made to order I did not accept payment until five days after the order, by which time item was more or less ready for dispatch. If I had a lot of orders I made it 7 days. Dont know if this sort of pre-order thing is against the rules but if not could it work for you.

soolin

lucy247 wrote: »

HI there i really feel for you, i have actually been pretty lucky with ebay, my husband is a bit of a lets work out all the things that can go wrong sort of person. I used to sell stained glass items, mirrors, picture frames, suncatchers you know the kind of thing. Havent sold them for a long time, small kids and glass not a good mix. However I listed BIN and because they were made to order I did not accept payment until five days after the order, by which time item was more or less ready for dispatch. If I had a lot of orders I made it 7 days. Dont know if this sort of pre-order thing is against the rules but if not could it work for you.

Whilst that is a brilliant business model for a stand alone website it cannot be enforced in any way on ebay of course. The clock starts ticking for buyers as soon as they confirm the BIN, they rarely remember when they are asked ot leave stars that they agreed to pay late, all they remember is that they won the item 10 days previously and it has only just arrived.

lucy247

Yep I think I slipped the net with that one before everything got tightened up.I make jewellery now but not to order. Hubby says if I fell in the Thames Id come out dry with a fish in each pocket. Its a pity there are so many problems for people who are after all only trying to run a business