getting fed up with ebay's new star rating

potsofmoney_(I_wish)

Hi all,
I've been selling and buying on Ebay for a while and just wondered what everyone else thought about the new star system. I am really anti people being ripped off with high postage and originally thought that the new system was a good idea. However on my last two feedbacks my score has gone down to 4.5 when I refunded excess postage on one item and the other one still owes me for not enough!.
I just think people are really nit picking and I don't think it is going to give buyers an accurate depiction of the seller.
All in all I'm not a fan. Just wondered how others are getting on with it.

frivolous_fay

Hm, I wouldn't be sending out goods to someone who hadn't paid enough postage.

I haven't actually sold on ebay in a few months. I don't think it's the Great Thing it used to be.

No cheap deals unless you're looking at tat
No chance of a bidding war if you're selling!

Can't win either way!

GregtheHammer

I am running at the 4.7/4.8 mark at the moment. I will be happy if it stays around that.

At the end of the day you cannot please everyone, there will always be one person to mark you down for no justified reason.

I would hope that the majority of ebay buyers will look at the feedback rather than just the star system

Cat72

No chance of a bidding war if you're selling!

Oh the glory days of bidding wars- they were brill.
However as for the system of stars its awful.I had a non payer totally destroy my star rating out of spite.And other non payers leaving a bad star rating becuase THEY were slow to pay and I started the non bidder process.( one took a month to pay )
I always email people to tell item despatched- post next day but nope couldnt get 5 stars if I gave them it for nothing and was their slave for a month!
Although I know you certainily cant please everyone it whether it does affect buyers - which it probably will.

gingercordial

As (mainly) a buyer I actually think these are quite useful. Not the be-all and end-all of how I look at a seller's feedback, but useful nevertheless.

And I do appreciate the ability to give slightly more detailed feedback - for example I bought something recently and had absolutely no communication from the seller whatsoever until the item turned up over a week later. No acknowledgement of my order and nothing to tell me s/he had sent it, so I was starting to worry a little. Nothing wrong with the item and all within eBay time limits so of course I gave a positive, but I was able to give a lower rating for communication than for the other factors. I think that's quite useful. And if I see a low communication rating with other sellers, maybe I won't worry so much that I haven't heard anything if the other factors are well-rated.

Of course I will be checking feedback comments as always, and certainly not just relying on the stars.

I have had some wonderful, helpful and communicative sellers over the bank holiday weekend, and I'm sure they'll be getting 5* for everything!

bella4uk

gingercordial wrote: »

As (mainly) a buyer I actually think these are quite useful. Not the be-all and end-all of how I look at a seller's feedback, but useful nevertheless.

And I do appreciate the ability to give slightly more detailed feedback - for example I bought something recently and had absolutely no communication from the seller whatsoever until the item turned up over a week later. No acknowledgement of my order and nothing to tell me s/he had sent it, so I was starting to worry a little. QUOTE]

I have to say I don't email my buyers after payment, otherwise I'd be there all day......I only message if there is some kind of problem, or if they ask me a question.....
However I do leave feedback straight away

rare_stuff

How the heck do you work out the decimal points on your stars? Can't find any breakdown of this at all!


After asking that dumb question I discovered if I hovered the mouse over it showed! lol

4.8/4.7/4.7/4.7/4.6
though someone didn't leave me feedback for item as described and p&p so the scores are out of 63/62 ratings. I'm sure I was at 5 on as described until I stupidly sent the wrong book to someone (very similair in same series) and they just negged me rather than tell me so I could have sent a replacement!
I offer free P&P on a lot of my items but still that doesn't make people happy!

Quackers

frivolous_fay wrote: »

Hm, I wouldn't be sending out goods to someone who hadn't paid enough postage.

But if the seller sets the postage price and the buyer pays then it is not the buyers fault if the seller has undercharged?

I was presuming that is what happened to the OP - otherwise how can someone still 'owe' some of the postage?


I always post the day after payment has cleared, always email the buyer to let them know when I've posted it & think I'm pretty accurate in my description but my star rating is still pants :rotfl:

Oh well, you cant please all of the people all of the time

frivolous_fay

If I'd underestimated postage, I wouldn't say they 'owed' me anything

StaffsSW

The star rating is up there in the league of top inventions like concrete crash mats and spherical doorstops.

It has no guidelines for usage and is simply based on buyers "Interpretation" of the transaction. I offer free postage on a number of listings, but still get marked down on P&P charges, and on a few occasions I noticed my despatch time drop when I received feedback from somebody who bought an item at 11am on a Tuesday, then received it by 9.30 on the Wednesday ?!!

I know the ratings are supposed to be anonymous, but if you notice a drop after 1 feedback has been left, it's safe to assume that they left a score that was lower than your average.

It's simply a gimmick to make eBay appear as if they actually care about things!

(BTW - my lowest star rating is 4.7! So I'm not griping over sour grapes!)

potsofmoney_(I_wish)

"If I'd underestimated postage, I wouldn't say they 'owed' me anything"

I agree with you and usually I'm pretty good, but in this instance it was a buyer in Europe and I didn't add the extra. TBH that's neither here nor there, I'm just miffed that they seemingly gave me a lower star rating as I'm very conscientious with postage costs. Probably too much in this instance as I lost money.