Comments on: Feedback DSRs and how they'll affect you http://tamebay.com/2007/10/feedback-dsrs-and-how-theyll-affect-you.html eBay & ecommerce made easy Wed, 23 May 2012 09:16:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Feedback stars will now affect your placement in search : TameBay http://tamebay.com/2007/10/feedback-dsrs-and-how-theyll-affect-you.html#comment-2372 Feedback stars will now affect your placement in search : TameBay Tue, 04 Dec 2007 15:22:56 +0000 http://www.tamebay.com/2007/10/feedback-dsrs-and-how-theyll-affect-you.html#comment-2372 [...] Whether sellers will feel so happy at having buyers’ ratings directly affecting their sales potential is quite another question. When the majority of sellers have the majority of their stars at 4.8 , it seems that there is far too little differentiation between sellers for search-sorting on these criteria to be meaningful. Furthermore, the sorting should be under the buyers’ control: there are times when speedy dispatch is crucial, and times when it isn’t, just as there are items where you want cheapest postage possible, and other times when you’ll be more concerned about quality and care. We await the promised further announcements with interest. [...] [...] Whether sellers will feel so happy at having buyers’ ratings directly affecting their sales potential is quite another question. When the majority of sellers have the majority of their stars at 4.8 , it seems that there is far too little differentiation between sellers for search-sorting on these criteria to be meaningful. Furthermore, the sorting should be under the buyers’ control: there are times when speedy dispatch is crucial, and times when it isn’t, just as there are items where you want cheapest postage possible, and other times when you’ll be more concerned about quality and care. We await the promised further announcements with interest. [...]

]]> By: Percy Q Tedd http://tamebay.com/2007/10/feedback-dsrs-and-how-theyll-affect-you.html#comment-2371 Percy Q Tedd Fri, 12 Oct 2007 23:59:24 +0000 http://www.tamebay.com/2007/10/feedback-dsrs-and-how-theyll-affect-you.html#comment-2371 On the other hand, a quick scout round all the announcement boards for the English language sites shows some interesting discrepancies. The further east you go from Ipswich, the lower the averages become. When you think about it, this is blindingly obvious, because the major buying markets are in the west and the goods have further to travel, therefore items 3 & 4 take a hammering from the majority markets. Additionally, the further east you go, the lower the English skills of the sellers (English being the International language of trade etc), and therefore rating number 2 takes a hammering - thus automatically, 3 out of the 4 ratings are penalised just by geography. On the other hand ...... UK sellers facing banning or suspension, might be able to get themselves to the top of search by re-registering on eBay India, or Singapore, or elsewhere eastwards. Now there's a niche market - business accomodation addresses with mail forwarding from an address in Karachi, Kuala Lumpur, or Kong Hong, aimed specifically at eBay sellers. :)) On the other hand, a quick scout round all the announcement boards for the English language sites shows some interesting discrepancies.

The further east you go from Ipswich, the lower the averages become. When you think about it, this is blindingly obvious, because the major buying markets are in the west and the goods have further to travel, therefore items 3 & 4 take a hammering from the majority markets.

Additionally, the further east you go, the lower the English skills of the sellers (English being the International language of trade etc), and therefore rating number 2 takes a hammering – thus automatically, 3 out of the 4 ratings are penalised just by geography.

On the other hand …… UK sellers facing banning or suspension, might be able to get themselves to the top of search by re-registering on eBay India, or Singapore, or elsewhere eastwards.

Now there’s a niche market – business accomodation addresses with mail forwarding from an address in Karachi, Kuala Lumpur, or Kong Hong, aimed specifically at eBay sellers. :) )

]]> By: Richard http://tamebay.com/2007/10/feedback-dsrs-and-how-theyll-affect-you.html#comment-2370 Richard Fri, 12 Oct 2007 04:41:39 +0000 http://www.tamebay.com/2007/10/feedback-dsrs-and-how-theyll-affect-you.html#comment-2370 Far too many bidders think 4 is a good star rating when it is a very bad star rating... While I dislike the star system as a whole I think they need to add an A+ rating -- IE an "above and beyond" rating beyond the 5 that would count as say 5.5 and be for the special. These would help mitigate some of the hits sellers take AND would make it less likely that buyers would worry about giving the 5 rating on the assumption that nobody is perfect and they want to ding you in some way to show you how you should improve even though it is something anonymous. What scares me even more than the star system is the possibility that they will adopt the double blind feedback method they are testing in mexico. That would be a HUGE disaster. Far too many bidders think 4 is a good star rating when it is a very bad star rating… While I dislike the star system as a whole I think they need to add an A+ rating — IE an “above and beyond” rating beyond the 5 that would count as say 5.5 and be for the special. These would help mitigate some of the hits sellers take AND would make it less likely that buyers would worry about giving the 5 rating on the assumption that nobody is perfect and they want to ding you in some way to show you how you should improve even though it is something anonymous.

What scares me even more than the star system is the possibility that they will adopt the double blind feedback method they are testing in mexico. That would be a HUGE disaster.

]]> By: Steve http://tamebay.com/2007/10/feedback-dsrs-and-how-theyll-affect-you.html#comment-2369 Steve Thu, 11 Oct 2007 20:15:57 +0000 http://www.tamebay.com/2007/10/feedback-dsrs-and-how-theyll-affect-you.html#comment-2369 78% of people leaving feedback use them, but only 70% of people bother leaving feedback in the first place. So the specific adoption rate of DSR's is only 54.6% of all buying transactions. That's not what I would call a positve result, more of a lethargic result. The average figures quoted also show that the majority of scores left are straight 5's. Remember that buyers can only rate whole numbers, and given that the median score left in all categories is over 4.5, would indicate that the majority of people are leaving 5's rather than 4 or less. Even the bottom 10% of sellers are still rated 4+ !!! Combining this with the first observation, would indicate that around 1% of all buying transactions result in a DSR score of 4 or less. if 99% of people are leaving straight 5's, then why not extend the range? The more cynical amongst us will expect eBay to use this data to suggest that all is peachy in eBay-land and buyers are ecstatic with service levels, rather than apathetic about having to click a few extra buttons. 78% of people leaving feedback use them, but only 70% of people bother leaving feedback in the first place.
So the specific adoption rate of DSR’s is only 54.6% of all buying transactions. That’s not what I would call a positve result, more of a lethargic result.

The average figures quoted also show that the majority of scores left are straight 5′s. Remember that buyers can only rate whole numbers, and given that the median score left in all categories is over 4.5, would indicate that the majority of people are leaving 5′s rather than 4 or less. Even the bottom 10% of sellers are still rated 4+ !!!

Combining this with the first observation, would indicate that around 1% of all buying transactions result in a DSR score of 4 or less. if 99% of people are leaving straight 5′s, then why not extend the range? The more cynical amongst us will expect eBay to use this data to suggest that all is peachy in eBay-land and buyers are ecstatic with service levels, rather than apathetic about having to click a few extra buttons.

]]> By: Chris Dawson http://tamebay.com/2007/10/feedback-dsrs-and-how-theyll-affect-you.html#comment-2368 Chris Dawson Thu, 11 Oct 2007 18:41:23 +0000 http://www.tamebay.com/2007/10/feedback-dsrs-and-how-theyll-affect-you.html#comment-2368 Personally Kate I think everyone in the UK should hang their heads in shame that the US are 0.1 star above us in the UK, across the board :shock: I really wouldn't worry too much - the range is too small and the breadth of sellers and categories covered is too wide to be statistically relevant to any individual seller. What should worry people is if they are at the bottom of the bottom 10%. Other than that compare your DSRs with similar sellers in similar categories and worry about anything else in the future :-) Personally Kate I think everyone in the UK should hang their heads in shame that the US are 0.1 star above us in the UK, across the board :shock:

I really wouldn’t worry too much – the range is too small and the breadth of sellers and categories covered is too wide to be statistically relevant to any individual seller. What should worry people is if they are at the bottom of the bottom 10%. Other than that compare your DSRs with similar sellers in similar categories and worry about anything else in the future :-)

]]> By: Kate http://tamebay.com/2007/10/feedback-dsrs-and-how-theyll-affect-you.html#comment-2367 Kate Thu, 11 Oct 2007 18:32:03 +0000 http://www.tamebay.com/2007/10/feedback-dsrs-and-how-theyll-affect-you.html#comment-2367 Not sure what happens if you are in between - for example I seem to be mostly above average but not quite as good as the top 25% - 4.9, 4.8, 4.8, 4.7 - so where does that leave me? Should I be pleased or indifferent? Especially as there's hardly any difference between top and bottom! Not sure what happens if you are in between – for example I seem to be mostly above average but not quite as good as the top 25% – 4.9, 4.8, 4.8, 4.7 – so where does that leave me? Should I be pleased or indifferent? Especially as there’s hardly any difference between top and bottom!

]]> By: northumbrian http://tamebay.com/2007/10/feedback-dsrs-and-how-theyll-affect-you.html#comment-2366 northumbrian Thu, 11 Oct 2007 10:54:01 +0000 http://www.tamebay.com/2007/10/feedback-dsrs-and-how-theyll-affect-you.html#comment-2366 if being in the top 10% makes a real differance to search and resulting sales, I must have at least 3 or 4 ids on 20 or 30 feedback with 4.9/5.0 across the board, that have not sold enough to average out so the trick might be to have lots of ids and keep yourself high in the search results if being in the top 10% makes a real differance to search and resulting sales,
I must have at least 3 or 4 ids on 20 or 30 feedback with 4.9/5.0 across the board, that have not sold enough to average out
so the trick might be to have lots of ids and keep yourself high in the search results

]]> By: northumbrian http://tamebay.com/2007/10/feedback-dsrs-and-how-theyll-affect-you.html#comment-2365 northumbrian Thu, 11 Oct 2007 10:42:36 +0000 http://www.tamebay.com/2007/10/feedback-dsrs-and-how-theyll-affect-you.html#comment-2365 I am in the top 10% in just about all my ids for postage and dispatch time to up my prices and give myself less stress about catching the post, a few thousand quid a year postage costs, saved/creamed of the top. and AVERAGE WILL DO ME NICELY THANK YOU I am in the top 10% in just about all my ids for postage and dispatch
time to up my prices and give myself less stress about catching the post,

a few thousand quid a year postage costs, saved/creamed of the top.

and AVERAGE WILL DO ME NICELY THANK YOU

]]> By: Sue Bailey http://tamebay.com/2007/10/feedback-dsrs-and-how-theyll-affect-you.html#comment-2364 Sue Bailey Thu, 11 Oct 2007 10:34:15 +0000 http://www.tamebay.com/2007/10/feedback-dsrs-and-how-theyll-affect-you.html#comment-2364 Actually, I'm going to try to put a positive spin on this... Even the lowest scoring eBay sellers are (averagely) marked as good. This means that eBay sellers are, in general, absolutely superb at what they do, and that eBay is a great place to shop. I think that's what we should be emphasising. Actually, I’m going to try to put a positive spin on this…

Even the lowest scoring eBay sellers are (averagely) marked as good. This means that eBay sellers are, in general, absolutely superb at what they do, and that eBay is a great place to shop. I think that’s what we should be emphasising.

]]> By: Sue Bailey http://tamebay.com/2007/10/feedback-dsrs-and-how-theyll-affect-you.html#comment-2363 Sue Bailey Thu, 11 Oct 2007 10:31:26 +0000 http://www.tamebay.com/2007/10/feedback-dsrs-and-how-theyll-affect-you.html#comment-2363 Re. how the search results will work - they haven't made any kind of announcement of the details yet. We watch with trepidation. Re. how the search results will work – they haven’t made any kind of announcement of the details yet. We watch with trepidation.

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