What star ratings to leave?

melliott1963

Just after a other people's opinion as to how I leave stars for a particular transaction.

I purchased a bulk lot of items at a cost of £150 (from a private seller) which, for these items is about the going rate, although I know that some time down the line, prices will probably fall. however, it also meant that my collection would then be complete so I was happy to pay this. In the past I have been paying £2, £3 or £4 (if from abroad) per individual item postage. There were 26 individual items in this auction at a postage of £8, so clearly miles cheaper than me buying them one at a time. Payment, by Paypal, was funded by a credit card.

So I'm happy with the purchase price and was happy to pay the postage.

However, the only emails I received were autogenerated by eBay when I won the item, paid for it, and then when it was marked as despatched. Not once did I get any personal comment, even along the lines of 'thank you for your purchase'. As I'd spent a fairly considerable amount, I would have at least expected this.

It took 4 working days for the item to be despatched and it arrived the day after (today). This is within the 6-7 working days quoted on the auction.

Postage, in a jiffy bag with extra bubble wrap, came to £3.25, which is £4.75 less than charged.

So . . . . .

I'll obviously be leaving positive feedback as I got the items safely, within the timeframe quoted on the auction.

However, what about the stars?

Communication - basically there wasn't any!
If I compare this to a previous auction I won where it was stated in the auction that they could only post on a Friday or Saturday and also in a personal mesage sent to me by the seller. They then contacted me asking if I minded the item being sent in a Pampers box as that's all they could find at the moment (I was OK with this), and then followed up with another 'thank you' email once I'd received it, then quite clearly I don't think it deserves the full 5 stars I gave to this previous seller. The very least I expected would have been an email thanking me for my purchase and advising when they were likely to despatch it. I know they were able to get to their PC as they were continuing to post new items during this time.
So is it reasonable for me to leave 1 star?

Dispatch Time - slow but within the delivery time in the auction.
If the item was only a few pounds, I wouldn't worry about this, but as it was £150, I personally would have sent it quickly, or at least advised when it was going to be sent.
Really struggling on what to leave for this - 3 stars???

Postage and Packing charges - Happy with what I paid, but over double what it actually cost.
Again, struggling a bit with this. I know that if I had to buy each item individually, I could have paid anything up to around £80 in P&P, but is charging over double the actual price worthy of 5 Stars?

And finally (hooray I hear you cry!). The seller sent the items using recorded delivery. Should I email him to point out that, had they got lost, he would not have been covered for the full £150?

Sorry if I've rambled on a bit!

Brooker_Dave

melliott1963 wrote: »

Just after a other people's opinion as to how I leave stars for a particular transaction.

I purchased a bulk lot of items at a cost of £150

They arrived in the allotted time, well packed, and as described.

Why leave anything other than full stars?

These stars are only for the benefit of ebay/paypal BTW.

RainbowDrops

Sounds like you got a bargain post wise and the seller fulfilled their end of the deal.
As ebay does automated emails this day, what reason did the seller have to actually contact you personally? If your only gripe is that they didn't "thank" you for buying their stuff, I think it'd be a little harsh to mark them down on communications.

freddysmith

I don't see why you are bothering to find any reasons to give low stars. You have your purchase, the guy is a private seller and who know how busy his life is.
But one things for sure he sent and you received. Give the guy a break.

hermum

There have been threads on here where people mark down stars because of too many emails.
I would only ever mark down on comms if I had a query & the seller ignored it. But then I want the item I paid for & not a penpal.
Did the seller mark as despatched? If so you knew when it was posted.
It arrived within the estimated time so full marks to the seller.
The postage is a little high, but saved you £72. If I was to mark down it would be a 3 or 4 but only after contacting the seller to let them know that I was disappointed in the higher then paid p&p charges.
It could be that they went to the PO with lots of parcels & yours was accidentally sent the wrong postage & they don't even realise.
Did the seller stipulate a different postal method on the listing to recorded? They were silly sending something over £46 without the proper protection but the risk is all theirs.

melliott1963

OK, I'm with you all now. I think the only reason why I was uncertain is that, by comparison to how other sellers have treated me as a valued customer, even though what I've bought from them has been fairly low priced items, this seller doesn't seem so concerned.

Any comments on whether I should point out the errors of his way in sending a £150 package recorded delivery?

Starrystarrynight

I certainly don't give this much consideration to how many stars to leave when I've received the item, was happy with the price I paid and the postage costs. I don't expect personal messages from the seller, I just want to know that it's been despatched.
I'd give your seller full stars.

freddysmith

"Any comments on whether I should point out the errors of his way in send a £150 package recorded delivery?"

Personally No, did you know the method of delivery before hand?

melliott1963

freddysmith wrote: »

"Any comments on whether I should point out the errors of his way in send a £150 package recorded delivery?"

Personally No, did you know the method of delivery before hand?

Yes, it was quoted on the auction page.

Knowing that Recorded doesn't always get signed for, I feel that putting this on the auction could have opened him up to a scammer and that maybe someone (i.e. me) should mention this to him.

He's only got a couple of hundred feedbacks, of wich only around 30 are for selling, so he's not an experienced seller.

redcard

Too much spare time on your hands?

freddysmith

You should have taken up any concerns about postage with your seller before, that was their risk not yours.
The seller was good, give hime 5 stars all round and move on.