I give up !!!!!

Tirian

charlottevwa wrote: »

I dont even leave DSRs anymore... unless the seller was ultra fantastic, or utter crap. I cant be bothered wasting my time over them

Couldn't agree more. I only ever use them when I feel a seller has been particularly good, or particularly bad.

As for my own DSRs, I seem to be doing OK - but I agree it's probably luck on the whole. I have 4.7 or 4.8 on everything. For my main items I charge £2.00 p&p, which covers £1.45 postage, jiffy pack & any extra bubble protection (c £0.20) and Paypal fee (c. £0.05 on £2.00).

Kron

soolin - I accept that posting only once a week if you are a business might be considered poor. However I am a private seller and I specifically say I only go once a week. I do state that if someone wants an item quicker to get in touch and I'll do my best. I certainly wouldn't mark someone down if theyve done as stated. Its not like I'm leading them on to expect the item the next day.

I do agree though we your comment about the £6 postage that only cost £1odd.

I suppose thats the problem with the stars. They mean different things to people.

Karen

Premier_2

charlies_mum wrote: »

...
What is the point of the new feedback system if the buyers are too stupid to rate properly :mad:

How does the new feedback system affect how buyers award DSRs which have been around for some time now?

You can't expect to maintain 5 stars in all aspects unless you are providing outstanding service in all respects.

Ask a group of people to rate something on a scale of 1-10 and you'll probably end up with a rating of 7-8 overall, even when that something was infact very good. Why? because (a) that's just the way a lot of people would rate and (b) an award of 10/10 would imply that the something was perfect and could not/would not need to be improved (in the same way they would be reluctant to award 1-10 even when something was very bad, perhaps on the basis that at least an effort was made).

With the option to only offer 1-5 stars, some customers will undoubtedly only award 4 stars unless they believe the service was outstanding (i.e no room for improvement).

In respect of your example, if the person awarded you 5 stars, how would they reward someone who offered free p+p? Or how would they award someone if they had taken the time & care to professionally wrap the item rather than just stuffed it in a jiffy bag?

DSRs allow buyers to leave more detailed feedback and are a great improvement on the original good/bad option (since neutral is considered bad).

DSRs allow sellers to monitor their performance and take action if appropriate on any individual area that their customers feel requires attention.

However, whether you have 4.9 or 4.8 for p+p is not something to particularly worry about. If it continues to fall, that would be the time to worry.

Star ratings should be considered only as the average from a range of buyers (not individually) and I guess that is part of the reason they are not displayed until at least 10 buyers have rated.

charlies_mum

Premier wrote: »

In respect of your example, if the person awarded you 5 stars, how would they reward someone who offered free p+p? Or how would they award someone if they had taken the time & care to professionally wrap the item rather than just stuffed it in a jiffy bag?

The item was not 'stuffed' into a jiffy bag. I professionally wrap all my items, in this instance it was a book which I put into a plastic bag and then put into a jiffy bag.

How would you have packaged a book ?

imagia

Kron wrote: »

soolin - I accept that posting only once a week if you are a business might be considered poor. However I am a private seller and I specifically say I only go once a week.

This is where the DSR system falls down - it's totally biased towards powersellers and larger sellers and not people like you and me. Unfortunately, it's going to get worse. e**y will soon be making it compulsory for all sellers to have a 24hr freephone helpline. Of course there will be a fee for putting it on your "about me" page because it leads to direct sales.:rotfl:

RFW

imagia wrote: »

This is where the DSR system falls down - it's totally biased towards powersellers and larger sellers and not people like you and me..

Of course it is, it is also doing a good job (at least starting to) of weeding out the high volume sellers who have poor customer service and inflated postage. They are losing out in fee reductions (a big chunk of their profits) and having reduced visibility of their products.

Most people leave 5 stars across the board on DSRs (the averages tend to be in the high 4s). Personally when I rate things out of 5 stars I would reserve the top mark for exemplary service, so few would get it. The fact is that everyone has a different view of what to leave. As a fairly high volume seller (3-400/month), the DSRs have enlightened me quite a lot, my being marked down has led me to look at what I was doing wrong (yes there are customers who mark you down no matter what), with a few minor changes I've increased my ratings from 4.6/4.7 averages to 4.8/4.9 over a few months.....

Although I was a bit peeved that my average on dispatched items was marked down due to one buyer, paid Monday evening, delivered Wednesday morning, oh well

ikkle87

My DSR for dispatch time is 4.9 don't know how they expect me to send things out any quicker as if the auction finishes before 4pm and they have paid by then i send it that day otherwise its first thing the next morning.

pinkgem

ikkle87 wrote: »

My DSR for dispatch time is 4.9 don't know how they expect me to send things out any quicker as if the auction finishes before 4pm and they have paid by then i send it that day otherwise its first thing the next morning.

oops i didn't meant to thank you, i meant to press quote.

same here and i also have 4.9. i think some buyers probably forget how soon their item was despatched or how soon it arrives if they leave feedback a week or so after receiving the item and probably just put a score of 4.

eyelinerprincess

frivolous_fay wrote: »

I thought DSRs only showed up once you had 10 transactions rated with them? Am I confused?

Goofbay is your friend, Fay.

Premier_2

charlies_mum wrote: »

The item was not 'stuffed' into a jiffy bag. I professionally wrap all my items, in this instance it was a book which I put into a plastic bag and then put into a jiffy bag.

How would you have packaged a book ?

I'm not a prolific book seller, but was very impressed with the packaging of a recent book I purchased.

It was wrapped as follows:
a) placed inside a plastic bag
b) wrapped in tissue paper
c) placed between 2 pieces of strong cardboard
d) wrapped in bubble wrap
e) placed inside a strong cardboard box custom made/altered to suit the size of the item
f) wrapped in brown parcel paper

Ok, this may be considered a little excessive, but the 10 year old, unused and now out of print and sought after book was delivered in pristine condition. With such outstanding packaging I could only award 5 stars.

The problem with packaging a book as you have described is that it could still easily suffer slight damage to one of the corners. Of course this may not be of great significance in your instance depending on the condition of the book sold. Or, put another way, even if the book arrived undamaged, the manner in which you packed the book maybe adequate, but I would consider this to be the minimum acceptable standard. Whilst I'm certainly not suggesting it is poor, the DSR the buyer elected to award you in this respect was probably 4 stars, again certainly not poor.