DBR is for Detailed Buyer Rating !

[purse_of_the_legionary]

Hi all,

I received an undeserved negative feedback from a buyer who is trying to get something free from me since the beginning of the transaction, so I am no longer 100%... Anyway, the point is, I thought a lot about the fact that we sellers are totally defenseless since eBay changed the feedback system. 😞

I was thinking about the fact that something no longer makes sense : buyers' scores doesn't mean anything anymore, as they are all 100% !!! And if I would try to inform other sellers about a bad experience by typing this information when leaving positive feedback, buyer can get this specific feedback removed by eBay (positive feedback should includes positive comment). It's like eBay telling sellers : SHUT YOUR MOUTH !

I understand that eBay succeeded with the new feedback system and got rid of most of the bad sellers (it was the intention), those using the old feedback system for extortion. It worked, as sellers are totally defenseless now. But now it's the opposite, buyers can do anything they want around here, they just have to find another way than simply saying "give me that or I'll leave negative" by email (I just experienced it).

The big question is, what tool do we have, eBay sellers, to protect ourselves against bad buyers ? Sellers have absolutely no way to exchange information about bad buyers.

I think the DSR (Detailed Seller Rating) system is ok, as it helps buyers to make a better decision to do business with a seller or not. But from my point of view, this is MY business and MY money I send to eBay each month, I think it's my decision to accept a buyer or not. For the moment, the only ways to get rid of bad buyers is the blocked list (but it's only after the damage that you can add a buyer to this list) and also the BUYER REQUIREMENTS when preparing a new listing. That's not enough, I need more control, more information, I want anonymous information about a specific buyer's habits regarding payment, communication, etc., nothing against the respect of privacy, just something similar to the DSR.

I would like to know other sellers opinion. What would you like to see in a "Detailed Buyer Rating" (DBR) tool ?

[pierrelebel]

" would like to know other sellers opinion. What would you like to see in a "Detailed Buyer Rating" (DBR) tool ?"

Like most retailers, all I expect from buyers is their money. I try my best to provide satisfaction but, at the end of the day, the only rating that counts is their ability to send me money.

eBay is no different from any other retail/wholesale business, some customers will never be satisfied, regardless of your efforts while a few others will try to take advantage or steal from you.

And life does go on.

Attempts to "rate" buyers is an exercise in futility.

[purse_of_the_legionary]

Hi Pierre,

Why not entirely get rid of the "positive/negative/neutral" feedback score / comments and only keep the DSR and the number of transaction so far (keep the score, but not the percentage) for sellers, with the 5 star rating showing right below the seller's name in items descriptions (no more FB page).

That would give a perfect idea about doing business with seller. Anyway, most sellers have 98/99/100%, it doesn't give a good idea as it only shows how many weird buyers a specific seller did business with (most of the time)... When I shop on eBay, I always check the DSR first, as I don't give a damn about one or two negative feedback because seller and buyer have not been able to fix a very specific issue. If the seller doesn't respond to emails, buyer will give 0/5 star for communication in seller DSR and after a few customers' emails not responded, other buyers will quickly understand in DSR that there is a problem with the seller's communication, and no more need to read the mutual insults when negative is left, then seller replies, than buyer follows up (which is a freak show on public place most of the time).

[pierrelebel]

"Why not entirely get rid of the "positive/negative/neutral" feedback score / comments and only keep the DSR and the number of transaction so far "

That may come eventually. Changing the feedback process is difficult for eBay as so many buyers/sellers have strong yet opposite opinions about it.

The introduction of DSRs two years ago was a first step to improve buyer's ability to judge a seller's reputation. The system is also used by eBay to reward sellers with superior DSRs with monthly FVF rebates.

Those incentives seem to be working as DSRs have generally improved overall over the last twelve months. If buyers perceive they have a more satisfactory transaction, more will come back for more and all sellers benefit! 🙂

[surplusdealdude]

Frankly, I think you've over-reacted, OP.

The neg is already off the first page, your DSR's are still EXCELLENT! and the buyer didn't hurt you.

So why do you want to change the whole system just because you got one wacko?

It was bound to happen eventually - the numbers catch up to you after a while.

Study after study after study shows that buyers are more likely to buy when there's a feedback mechanism in place where they can check with other people that have actually bought from this seller and see what their experience was like.

If they got rid of the feedback system, all of us would see a drop in sales because we'd be dealing with more nervous buyers. -------------------------------------------------------------------
Every day, a businessperson has to ask himself 2 questions;

Am I being paranoid? and
Am I being paranoid enough?

[bestbranddeals]

yeah your ratings look good.

I have had one buyer who threaten to leave negative feedback because he was so close to the address where the item was shipped from and he wanted the shipping fees reduced.

that was reported to ebay and accordingly it was against their policy and the user account was locked. So sometimes we sellers do get lucky in getting issues resolved through, but then 99% of the time we dont.