How effective is the five star rating system?

[wstamps]

I'm all for rating buyers and sellers on eBay so that one can distinguish the good buyers and sellers from those that are perhaps a little less professional.  However, I've had sellers ask me to leave a 5 star rating across the board, as they claim anything less is considered a negative rating.  Most sellers write thank you on the items they send but in many cases that's the only communication that you've had with them.  What does that warrant on the rating system to provide honest feedback?  When the description on an item doesn't really tell you anything other than say "old stamp".  How do you rate that?  It is an old stamp; so looked at one way the description is very accurate but it's not really telling you anything about the item..  

I may be a bit naive here but I've never seen a list of the criteria used to determine "very accurate", "very fast", "very satisfied" or "very quickly".  For the rating system to accurately reflect how good or poor the buyers and sellers are it needs to be objective.  That is to say that buyers and sellers must have a generally agreed upon statement of what constitutes the categories from 1 to 5.  After all one person's "very fast" (it shipped within a week) could be another person's "very slow".  Subjective ratings are open to interpretation and all one sees is the feedback comment and the ratings not how the person determined the ratings.  I think this is a discussion that would help to improve the feedback system and make it a more accurate reflection of how both buyers and sellers do business in this arena.

[snoopwiz]

Fact. If the seller and buyer do not communicate at all, the seller gets an automatic 5 stars. The buyer cannot over-ride that. For that reason alone, some/many sellers chose not to communicate with their buyers. Just ship the goods.

Many buyers like communicative sellers. And many buyers find extra communications from them to be a pain. Double edged sword syndrome for the seller in this case. 

If you are interested in a stamp and only see a description of "old stamp" the onus is on you, the buyer, to either contact the seller for further details or, hit the back button and look for the same item elsewhere.

I do not know if there is any actual criteria as to what defines what, in their star system so, I can only suggest that if the sellers ships the item out within the time span they specify (do not fault the seller for screw-ups by the post office) and the item is pretty much as described, you should give them 5 stars across the board.

Unlike a review you may leave for a restaurateur, a hotel, etc, leaving feedback for a seller on ebay can and does affect their ability to sell here, their search standings and a potential loss of discounts. Many are one person or mom and pop operations. Humans. And humans sometimes make little mistakes. Be kind to them when judging. Always give them a chance to make something right if it isn't before opening up a claim or giving your star selections. 

[reallynicestamps]

I've had sellers ask me to leave a 5 star rating across the board, as they claim anything less is considered a negative rating. 

And effectively that is true.

If a seller's DSRs drop below 4.3, the account may have a rise in selling fees (which can be as much as 20% of the payment), reduced visibility in Search, restrictions on the number and value of listings, or even being booted right off the site.

Some new sellers, who are particularly vulnerable to single unhappy or vicious buyers, are told to list with Free Shipping to repair trashed DSRs, since Free Shipping is another automatic 5 Star Rating.

If you are very unhappy with the seller, and he is refusing to cooperate with a reasonable solution, leaving a lower DSR is helpful to the entire eBay community. Including us sellers, since we don't like sellers who drive our potential customers away either.

Or you can leave no feedback or no DSRs, if the transaction was just 'meh'.

Feedback and DSRs are voluntary.

[afantiques]

I agree entirely with the OP, a five point scale where anything below five is a blow to the seller is idiotic.

Intuitively, 3 is OK, nothing special, 1 is lousy, and 5 is well above and beyond what might be expected are the intuitive values.

Trouble is the system is set in stone and I'd say it's there till the edifice crumbles. I suspect it originated in the US  habit of overpraising stuff, almost a cultural thing. Look at a lot of FB comments that would be more appropriate if you had saved their baby's life by dashing into a burning building than just supplying them with a widget in a cheap and effective manner.

[north45west73]

5 stars rating is junk ...  It means nothing really ...

Positive, neutral, negative ...

Recently I order 3 or 4 orders from a seller , space in 4 weeks time,  after 6 weeks of waiting for my first order, I sent a message to the seller asking if my item was post ? I wait another week and  i got the item in the post, so I let a neutral feedback, 

and  I was immediately  block from bidding or buying from seller's items... 

so it seems it is the new way to do business, neutral or negative feedback , you cut the problem at the source, removing the buyer...

Ebay should alloy to read feedback on an item instead,  of just see the number of item sold ....

New delays now...

It seems now that Ebay let now the sellers decide when it is ok to receive an item 

ex. I got another late item 6 weeks of waiting,  item bought on Feb16,  it seems that the item can be ok to be delivered (from the tracking info)  until April 22 !!

wow !!!  so now it is ok to wait now 10 weeks !!!

lol all my other china's items arrive here in 3 or 4 weeks  !

[reallynicestamps]

It seems now that Ebay let now the sellers decide when it is ok to receive an item 

Not exactly.

EBay removes Seller Protection if the seller does not ship within seven days. Which has been the policy for many years.

The delivery time is mostly due to the shipping service (China Post, USPS, Canada Post) although if an overseas seller uses Surface Shipping, he should understand that it will be on the high seas for six weeks to three months.

The 'expected delivery time' is given by the shipping service not by the seller.

Paypal is now allowing buyers to open disputes for up to 180 days**, in part as a reaction to unhappy buyers who have been hornswoggled into waiting past the former 45 day deadline for delivery.

So really, there is now more power in the hands of the buyer.

In my opinion, and I have lots of opinions. no buyer should wait more than 30 days for a delivery.

Normal delivery from Europe* is 10 to 15 days.

From Canada or the USA 15 to 20 days.

From Asia 20 to 30 days.

After that contact the seller and if neither tracking information nor a refund arrives within 24 hours, open a Dispute.

*European sellers use Air Mail as default. Asian sellers, especially those using Free Shipping, use Surface as a default. **(Or just don't ship at all and then promise a replacement which never arrives, but by then the Dispute period of 45 days has passed.)

[wstamps]

My apologies but you seem to be missing my point.  I am not suggesting that buyers and sellers should not communicate, especially if you require further details.  What I am suggesting is that there should be an objective standard against which a person can compare their experience to determine where it falls within the 5 star rating system.

As an example, try this scenario:  two people each purchase the same item (there are plenty) from the same seller.  The seller does not communicate with either buyer.  Buyer one wasn't really expecting any communication; so he's happy and leaves a 5 star rating.  Buyer two would have liked to know what was going on and isn't happy; so leaves a 2 star rating.  Which buyer provided accurate feedback

As the old expression goes you can't compare apples with oranges, they are not the same.  With the millions of people using ebay, I'm sure you'd never get full agreement on how to measure performance.  However, if all buyers and sellers were using the same criteria to measure performance, everyone: buyers, sellers and ebay would benefit and the rating system would become even more meaningful.

[wstamps]

I understand your points and don't disagree with them.  I'm simply suggesting that if there were defined measurement standards for what constitutes a 1 star, 2 star,... etc. rating it would help to make the rating system more effective.

Try this scenario: two buyers purchase items from the same seller.  The seller doesn't communicate with either buyer.  Buyer one wasn't really expecting any communication; so he's happy and leaves 5 stars.  Buyer two would've liked to know what was going on and isn't happy so leaves 2 stars.  Which buyer left accurate feedback?

One person's great is another person's lousy.  But if you had objective criteria that stated what was expected of both the buyer and seller for communication (or any other service) to be rated at a certain star level, it would become very easy to determine if those criteria were met and where to rate someone.  That would benefit the buyers, the sellers and ebay, which I see as a win all the way around.

[snoopwiz]

Buyer one wasn't really expecting any communication; so he's happy and leaves a 5 star rating.

Buyer one would not be given the opportunity to leave a DSR for communication if there was none. It gets grayed out. Automatic 5 for the non-communicative seller.

Seller who goes out of their way to "hand-hold," letting the buyer know, by messaging they buyer that their payment was received. Then another email letting the buyer know their widget was shipped by (carrier) on (date sent) and should arrive by X date runs the risk of getting a 5. Or a 4. Or a 3. Or a 2. Or a 1.

Personally, I have always been communicative and the vast majority of my buyers seem to appreciate it. I have, twice, received emails from buyers telling me to stop spamming them with such info.

[femmefan1946]

I understand your points and don't disagree with them.  I'm simply suggesting that if there were defined measurement standards for what constitutes a 1 star, 2 star,... etc. rating it would help to make the rating system more effective.

Not really.

BDR

Buyers Don't Read.  (Of course, we also see many posts here that show that sellers don't read either.)

I'd be happier if eBay went to a three star system.

5 stars- better than chocolate truffle cake.

3 stars - meh

1 star- ripoff by disgusting person who should rot in hell.

[snoopwiz]

Or, simplify it even further to say...

If this seller was to offer another item you were interested in, would you consider doing business with them again?

Yes?

No?

[tjawspackers]

Why is it you can not leave feed back on ebay itself??   I would rate them a minus 10 Their guarantees are not worth the type they put into them.  I requested a return for 5870 video card which was NEVER  installed because it does not work in a mac pro 1,1. This card is useless to my Grandson. No where in the description does this say it is for Windows only. I have left negative feedback with the seller also listing ebay as well. My grandson is new to macs therefore he does not realize what can work and what can not.  He read his emials from ebay this morning as he was out of town.  Come to find he had tried to get the seller to take this card back.  The seller had agreed to let him return same.  Ebay closed the dispute without his consent.  SO MUCH FOR EBAY.  DO NOT TRUST EBAY FOR ANYTHING

[pjcdn2005]

The title states that it is a Dell card and Dell does use Windows, not a MAC operating system. It also mentions in the listing  that it will work with drivers for various Windows operating systems so I can see why ebay would rule that it was as described. But what doesn't make sense is that if the seller said to return it for a refund, why ebay would rule in favour of the seller before the return was made.

Either way, based on the info that you gave it doesn't seem that the seller did anything wrong or deserve a negative feedback that will now hurt their account.  Since the seller did agree to a refund it's very possible that they would have been willing to still go that route regardless of what ebay had ruled. But the seller may not be willing to cooperate after receiving a negative.

I realize that it is frustrating and that it is a lot of money to be out but perhaps your grandson can sell it on locally on kijiji. It really was his responsibility to do some research before making the purchase.