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EBAY'S 5-STAR RATING SYSTEM: INFORMATION FOR BUYERS & SELLERS
PLEASE HELP ME WITH THIS PROBLEM!
Ebay has a new rating system that is optional for the buyer to use when leaving feedback for a seller. It is very confusing and unfair to the seller. They base a seller’s listing costs, search standings, and even my ability to continue selling on Ebay on these “optional” ratings. There are 4 different service categories, with 5 stars being a “perfect” score. HOWEVER, if you give me 4 stars instead of 5, it is the same as giving me NEGATIVE FEEDBACK!!
4-star rating for the 1st question, my item description was “accurate”. 4-star rating for the 2nd question, you were “satisfied” with my communication. 4-star rating for the 3rd question, the item was shipped “quickly”. 4-star rating for the 4th question, my shipping charges were “reasonable.”
Here is where the catch comes in. Because you gave me 4 stars instead of 5, a lot of bad things happen. For being accurate with my description, you being satisfied with my communication, I quickly shipped the item, and my shipping charges were reasonable, I AM ACTUALLY PENALIZED!! To get a reduction in listing rates, and a better search standing, all of the categories have to be 4.8 or better. If you give me all 4’s, which the average person would do if they were happy with the transaction, then my score for your sale is an average of 4. That is bad enough, but here is the real crazy part: If your average score goes below 4.3 on ANY of the four service categories, you are automatically KICKED OFF OF EBAY AS A SELLER, with no ability to review or protest anything about it. WHAT??? 4 OUT OF 5 STARS EQUALS NEGATIVE FEEDBACK!!!
As you can see, this is very unfair, the buyers don’t have a clue that this is happening, and I don’t know what Ebay is thinking. This is after giving themselves a 67% rate increase for sellers. LOOK AT THE BLOGS, EVEN EBAY’S DISCUSSION GROUPS. Millions of QUALITY sellers have left Ebay, or are about to, but that is not what I want to do right now. To be fair, it has weeded out SOME bad sellers, but the original feedback system was good enough to do that….
Just so you know, as a buyer, feedback scores come in one at a time, so even though Ebay says the scores are confidential, a seller can tell that it was you that gave them a low score.
PLEASE HELP ME OUT! If you can’t honestly give me 5 stars on all of the ratings, please contact me so that we can straighten it out. I didn’t get a 100% positive feedback score by not being sensitive to my customers’ needs, and quickly taking care of the rare problem that comes up! At the worst, don’t fill out the “optional” star questions if you can’t give me a 5-star rating, but I need all of the 5-star ratings that I can get!
Also, my shipping charges are quite reasonable, in fact, I sometimes lose money on shipping by miscalculating for Parcel Post, First Class Mail, and Media Mail, due to the fact that I forget to add the 20 cents extra they charge for those services. And then PayPal gets their “take” of my winnings as a SEPARATE cost for selling on Ebay. Also please note, since Ebay OWNS PayPal, they weren’t satisfied with the money they charge for listing your item and then taking a HUGE cut of your winnings, now I am FORCED to offer PayPal as my ONLY payment method (so I MUST pay AGAIN for EVERY transaction), as Ebay made it ILLEGAL for sellers to accept a CHECK OR MONEY ORDER!!
SHORT VERSION: 4 STARS = NEGATIVE FEEDBACK, PLAIN AND SIMPLE!
PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF I CAN HELP YOU IN ANY WAY!
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Also know that the NEW RATING SYSTEM requires me to ALWAYS LEAVE POSITIVE FEEDBACK FOR A BUYER. Buyers can NO LONGER RECEIVE NEGATIVE FEEDBACK FOR ANY REASON, NOT EVEN FOR NONPAYMENT!!! So the sellers who've managed to stay on Ebay are pretty good, indeed! I also have a 2nd Ebay account that I sell on, and it has a 100% positive feedback rating as well. I've been buying & selling on Ebay for over 10 years, and lately, the odds have been stacked against me!
While you're at it, as Americans, vote NO to ANY new tax that's on the ballot. Don't you think we've all been taxed enough to support the lifestyles of the rich and famous???
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