FEEDBACK what does Good mean?
I notice on reading a lot of message boards, that there seems to be a lot of confusion about feedback and especially the DSRs, and how some types of stock seem to be having more trouble than others. Used and vintage items like those I sell being one of them.
On reading I find the main confusion seems to be in the use of DSRs or the lack of use in some cases.
And how important these are to a seller on ebay.
Basically due to the confusion around DSRs such as the term good, as with the fourth star, which buyers leaving feedback think is good, as that is what it says, but sellers are saying if it is good then why does getting too many goods lower their DSRs? I have looked into this, and it does seem to be lowering a sellers DSRs, so good is not always what it means, on ebay.
So basically, the way I will look at feedback in future is, as I did with the old feedback system.
Do I want to buy from this seller again? If the answer is yes then I will leave five star feedback right through but if not, and it is warranted then I may leave negative feedback and or low stars, as I tend not to be the type of person that leaves bad feedback for people, most of the time I would just leave none. But that is just me I know some sellers deserve bad feedback and that some buyers relish the chance to dish it out. Each to their own, so you do what is right for you if the circumstances warrant it.
The do I wish to buy from them again may sound drastic, but that is really the question I think I should ask, as I watch my favourite sellers disappear, or their stuff disappear back in the search so that some other seller can buy their goods at a discount and then sell it buy it now for an inflated price.
I also heard a lot of sellers have been saying, only fifty percent of people leaving feedback actually use the DSRs, which is not going to help the seller, as other buyers are saying they only use the DSRs to complain, and never see the need to leave DSRs they are happy about.
The way I am looking at it is that any of the sellers I buy from need my help, so leaving the five stars is the least I can do.
What effect do the Stars have on the seller?
The stars as I read it:
Can effect the sellers standing in search, making it less likely that you will be able to find their goods, and making it less likely that they will continue, as they are no longer getting a fair price for their products.
It also means you may end up having to pay another seller a lot more for the products they sell, and you will see later in some cases with a lot less information than you did from your favourite seller.
Can also have the seller removed from ebay, as even if the feedback is good, low DSRs are considered by ebay as poor seller performance, so they are kicked off ebay.
If they are power sellers the lowering of DSRs can reduce or remove any discounts they are able to get from ebay, which in these hard times will make the difference between survival of their sales or closing down.
So for me, when leaving feedback, I ask myself, is this seller likely to have something I will want in the future? If yes then it has to be five stars all the way....
There is also the other factors in this that I am hearing about that seems to be rampant in a lot of vintage/used fields, none more so than ladies fashion. This is the use of the DSRs and feedback to attack competitors.
Some sellers seem to blame other sellers for the fact that they are not getting sales. It has nothing to do with the poor quality photographs they produce, or the poor descriptions they use, or the fact they have no customer service. In their mind they are not getting sales because another seller is.
So instead of spending time fixing what is really wrong with them, they spend their time creating new accounts and using them to attack other sellers that they feel are their problem.
Now what difference does this make to the buyer?
One problem is that it makes your good five star feedback to be more important to your favourite seller than ever before, as just like the old feedback, your glowing greens swamp the bad feedback from those sellers, and your five stars feed the sellers rating, allowing ebay to see the truth.
There is also the point that your good seller is taking his time with you and has not got the time or the inclination to attack other sellers to make them all look equal, so all they have is their customers to protect them by leaving the deserved feedback required to protect them. I don't know I suppose as I said above, leaving five DSRs is the least I can do.
After all this talk of the DSR horror, I must say there are still a lot of good buyers out there, so please don't have nightmares. Or do if you are a seller one ebay....
If you would like to see how the DSR feedback works, then check out the auctiontrax seller rating tool linked to the right. Have a play, and see how hard or easy it would be to loose your favourite seller.
