Dispatch Time Stars

booter

jetplane wrote: »

I don't think there is any sense to the star system. I have just been looking at an item and checked the buyers feedback. They are a small seller and feedback is excellent with comments on fab condition, prompt delivery etc, the stars are 4.8 but the feedback suggests 5*. I just think some buyers will never click the very satisfied star.

That seller sounds like me I despatch within 24 hours (except Sat pm and Sunday obviously), charge either the exact postage cost (if re-cycled packaging used) or an extra 20p (if new packaging), keep buyers up to date (IMO great comms) and describe items really throughly, with loads of photos. So in theory, I should have 5* across the board - if only I agree with you jetplane - some buyers will never give 5* for anything. They're the type of buyer my OH calls "COT's" - they want everything with a Cherry On Top

porto_bello

If it makes anyone feel better, I sold an item at 4.30pm yesterday and took it straight to the post office, as at the time, I was unsure if I could get there this morning. So the item went yesterday, about 5pm, via 2nd class post - at cost.

And this morning, at 11am, the buyer left glowing feedback comments, with a comment about the accuracy of description and speed of delivery.

Great stuff!...

Well it isn't really, as all my stars have dropped from almost all 5.0 to almost all 4.95 ish! [It can only be this buyer's feedback reducing them, as nobody else has left feedback since].

So he must have given me 3 or 4 stars for everything, despite receiving the item in perfect condition, within less than a day and only paying for the cheapest p&p at cost price!

OK, it's not the end of the world and I can see there are no low stars, but this really illustrates how a few dodgy buyers can inflict severe - even permanent damage on a seller's account, without any justification and with total impunity.

soolin

Porto bello, the low stars can not have come from that buyer as they take a few days to upload. It was someone who left feedback in the last week that has knocked you back- and reports should give you a better idea.

porto_bello

soolin wrote: »

Porto bello, the low stars can not have come from that buyer as they take a few days to upload. It was someone who left feedback in the last week that has knocked you back- and reports should give you a better idea.

Thanks, I didn't realise there was a significant delay. Wherever the drop came from, it can only have come from one or more of several sources. Whoever they are, they paid postage at cost, and I despatched (at least by) next day, leaving confirmation feedback promptly... and, by the way, they left glowing feedback!

It's not a 1 or 2 star, as they still show 0, but it's rather annoying that some people routinely leave DSRs that undermine someone else's account.

Crowqueen

Some buyers leave 4s for everything, I wouldn't worry about it as they would probably be perfectly happy but simply reserve 5s for transactions they thought were exceptional (which is why the average is 4.X rather than straight 5s).

I made it a target when I was making enough sales to show visible DSRs/dashboard to hit a 4.8/4.9 target with a bit more leeway on the P&P stars. That stopped me obsessing over every sale but gave me a lead on anything that actually needed addressing without assuming the buyer was at fault for not thinking I was perfect.

3s all over is more worrying but if it is a once-off it will not unduly affect your account. Concentrate more on making sure you tick all the boxes in service and not on micromanaging individual sales - though I'm sure I don't need to tell you that.

In the end, control the things you can control and you'll usually do better. If you start getting angry at buyers for not marking you all 5s all the time then there's a danger you start on the slippery slope to too much frustration over the things you can't control.

Goldiegirl

I think the only thing you can do is carry on as you are - I think peoples expectations are getting higher, to the point their expections are unreasonable in some cases.

I always post same or next day, and to the three months to the end of August I had a dispatch star of 5.0, which I was thrilled with.

However, since then the rating has dropped - on 21st of this month I was down to 4.92.

I haven't done anything different, but for some reason my buyers have not been quite as happy.

Hopefully the score won't drop any further, but I will keep monitoring.

MadelinesMum

Thanks for all your kind and helpful comments. I've had a couple more good feedbacks and I'm at 4.7 now, so hopefully it's on the up. x

Soubrette

I don't sell much but about a year ago I sold about 10 things. One buyer bought two of those things without mentioning anything. I package up items and post them the day after payment (the same day if payment is made before 9am) and noticed that one person had bought two items. I sent a note explaining that I had noticed that she had bought two things so I was happy to send an invoice for combined post and packaging and, as I always so, refund any difference after posting as I only charge the actual postage costs as I recycle packaging.

She contacted me a few days later to ask if I was ok sending it to her ebay address which was different to her paypal address and that she wouldn't receive the item until she reached her different address in approx 2 weeks time. I was a bit worried about this but to be honest it was low value items and I was prepared to take any loss (less than a fiver), so I said that was ok. I posted the day after I received payment.

In the meantime all the others had paid, left feedback etc.

About a month after this, shortly after she left me glowing feedback, all my stars went down from 5s to 4.9s - every single one. I think the most likely explanation is that she'd left me all 4s.

I had a look on her account as she sells occasionally and all of her were in the low to middle 4s so I assume she just considers those kinds of scores normal. I was a bit disappointed as I felt I couldn't have given her a better service but just chalked it down to the fact that 4 stars is labelled as above average so for some people 5 stars is some kind of perfection and so something they'd never give.

techspec

Standard parcels are appaulingly unreliable. My loss rate was about 45%.

Try collect plus - then you can track them and see how long they take. Average is 3 days.

A lot of people don't like it - but its been ace for me.

Just tried Myhermes - and they lost one of my parcels already. I say lost - its sat on someone's porch - only they don't have one as i posted it to a business.

I always post next day - but my stars have fallen in recent days - probably due to slower post in build up to christmas.

But when was the last time ebay emailed everyone to point out that dispatch time was not the same as delivery time. Oh, they didn't - cos they don't give a s.......

soolin

I suspect the Christmas issues have started early this year . I take all my post to a mail centre, I usually walk up to the counter hand them a sack and they stamp my COP. they now have a queuing system and even at odd times of the day there are five or six people in there either collecting parcels or making complaints about losses.

This is incredibly early for these problems, and it looks like even parking is going to be a real issue as apparently on Saturday there was gridlock by 9am and council cars out ticketing everyone like sitting ducks.

Mind you, all my Amazon items bought last week and delivered by RM (untracked) have arrived, none of the courier tracked stuff is anywhere to be seen