its just not fair

sniggings

Tbh I think the problem is some people either do not understand the star system and also will mark you down for silly reasons or stuff out of your control.

I have just started to understand the star system, when buying and asked to rate the sale, I had no idea what the stars were for, I thought it was more for ebay's benefit than for the seller as I was leaving feedback for the seller so why the stars, was my thinking, I always left 5 stars as all my transactions have been good but someone else could quite easily mark them down thinking they are not important.

I bet also some people are marked down on postage when Royal Mail deliver slowly.

joess

sniggings wrote: »

Tbh I think the problem is some people either do not understand the star system and also will mark you down for silly reasons or stuff out of your control.

I agree 100% with you on this one. I've got 4 1 or 2 stars this month for my dispatch time - I have my post collected everyday at 5pm so if I can physically get it in the post that day it goes, otherwise it's next day (unless a weekend). All my items go 2nd class, people mark you down for the amount of time it takes to get there not how long it took me to dispatch it.

I've had my 1st negative this week as well as someone bought an item on Sunday 1800 (ish), I posted Tuesday (due to bank hol) 2nd class, they got it Today and the Neg said my 'postage was very slow'. ebay wont step in either and take it off............

I think eBay normally side with the buyer but were quite happy to take £900 in fees off me this month!

pumpkin25uk

Right I think the general consensus here is that the whole rating system is very complicated. Reading between the lines at what EBay are saying they want us to reduce our postage or send it for free. Which ultimately means we have to cover the postage cost in our prices. Price goes up, more eBay fees. eBay have enough sellers to not really care if someone small like me closes their account or kicks up a stink. Like the customer service guy said to me on the phone, the UK has 30 million users, so really we don't matter to eBay. However the sad thing is that we are all going to start losing out, the sellers as only the big guys will be able to sustain the low fees of running a business and charge buyers what they want, or you buy it in their shops for the same amount. The small guy can't compete and we have to fold. So much for free enterprise hey. See we can split hairs over the percentages and costs, the bottom line is that eBay is the biggest online seller. It's called a monopoly and soon it will be for the select few only. Gotta love capatilism hey!

soolin

When the 'monopoly card' is played it is usually a sign that the argument isn't going well.

Just because eBay are better at the auction game than other sites doesn't mean they are a monopoly.

As I mentioned above I do not use free postage and neither do any of my competitors and all of us are still going.

pumpkin25uk

soolin wrote: »

When the 'monopoly card' is played it is usually a sign that the argument isn't going well.

Just because eBay are better at the auction game than other sites doesn't mean they are a monopoly.

As I mentioned above I do not use free postage and neither do any of my competitors and all of us are still going.

The only one arguing is you :rotfl:
The majority of posters agree with my point of view.
But hey, youre obviously a very successful seller, So huge thank you for sharing with us you're extended knowledge of ebaying.

soolin

pumpkin25uk wrote: »

The only one arguing is you :rotfl:
The majority of posters agree with my point of view.
But hey, youre obviously a very successful seller, So huge thank you for sharing with us you're extended knowledge of ebaying.

I am no different to 99.99% of sellers on eBay, most of the threads on here are isolated cases of issues that people have and are not reflective of the majority of sales on eBay.

pumpkin25uk

I didn't even start the thread so i would say I'm not an isolated case, and judging by the majority of comments on here they agree that the star system is crap.
Anyway have a business to run, and a day job so don't have time to write 44,000+ posts on the web.
Ta for youre extensive ebaying knowledge.

d123

pumpkin25uk wrote: »

Yet my feedback tells a different story.
Yes, that is far too many unhappy customers that are obviously all liars. Rather than get personal I suggest you look at the whole picture, eBay star system is completely contradictory to their feedback system. They do nothing to protect their sellers from that 1 percent of people that aren't happy with anything, or the people who continue to buy and not pay, which I might add we can't give negative feedback to.

I think you are confusing how many see the feedback and star systems.

As an example, I (as a buyer) receive the item and it is as described and I'm happy with it, so I then leave positive feedback for the transaction.

BUT

I notice the actual postage was £2 for 2nd class, but the sale p&p was £3, so profiteering on the postage will earn 1 or 2 stars.
I notice it took 2 days before it was posted, also worth 1 or 2 stars.
The seller took more than 12 hours to respond to an email, again a markdown is coming.

Buyers are becoming more fussy as eBay gets bigger and bigger and there are probably 10 sellers for every buyer for a specific item. That 50p profit on your p&p makes you look greedy compared to the other sellers doing free or at cost p&p.

sharpy2010

d123 wrote: »

I notice the actual postage was £2 for 2nd class, but the sale p&p was £3, so profiteering on the postage will earn 1 or 2 stars.
I notice it took 2 days before it was posted, also worth 1 or 2 stars.
The seller took more than 12 hours to respond to an email, again a markdown is coming.

2 days to post and thats worth 1 or 2 stars? THIS is the reason the star system doesn't work and/or causes sellers to fret. Some people do have day jobs as well (and to say that anyone with a day job shouldn't sell on eBay won't wash with me I'm afraid).

12 hours to respond to an E-mail? Thats not really too bad in the grand scheme of things; We don't all sit at the computer continuously. I do, but many don't. I understand and respect that not everyone wants to sit staring at a screen all day long just in case someone asks a question.

sharpy2010

The mere fact that so many arguments to/for the star system exist is testament to the fact that it is contentious at best. Soolin, for example, is an advocate of the system (at least I believe so). Others, such as the pumpkin25uk share my belief that the system is unfair.

Its obvious to see that no one agreement will ever exist on this issue.

Suffice to say, I've sold 400 items on eBay, I've had ONE low star rating, and eBay email me to warn me to up my game. 0.25% of customers moaning isn't bad, if you ask me. Its not like I didn't fix the moaning customers issue, I did, a full refund, immediately.

And anyone who says "oh you call customers 'moaning customers' you must have no respect for your buyers", I can assure you that is simply not true. I do everything I can for my buyers, but from time to time issues arise. Thats life.