eBay

musicyouneed · ‎01-26-2014

Someone left me a 1 or 2 for shipping time on my DSR, should I try to get it removed? I'm not responsible on how long the mail takes once it leaves my hand.

I send out same day or next day depending on the time of purchase. Most of my feedback reflects that I send out fast. How could someone give me a low score, if I ship out fast? I can't get any faster, sometimes it is within an hour that it is in a mailbox. If a buyer was upset on how long the mail took, then they should give the postal system the low score not me. The delivery delay might be weather dependant and should apply to me.

Would you pursue this? I don't want that low DSR to affect my TRS. It is the principle of the thing. That DSR question, should be reworded to ask "Was the item put in the mail to you without delay? Do not rate the seller on the delivery time of the mail system."

maggiebvintage2010 · ‎01-26-2014

In fact, that is what eBay asks buyers to rate sellers on - when they put the item in the shipping system. But most buyers don't care about that - they care about getting their purchase. eBay won't remove this unless you have provided tracking to prove when the item entered the system and when it was delivered. I had the same thing happen to me recently, and called eBay. I was told the customer is entitled to their opinion and is free to express it in low DSRs, that it did not qualify for removal or revision. They told me I was free to add a comment to the feedback. I decided against that, because any comment, even a dispassionate factual one, could affect me more and for a longer time than one low DSR. Forget about it, and go on to the next sale(s).

musicyouneed · ‎01-27-2014

Well after some investigation, I was able to determine who gave me a "2" for shipping time. It was a purchase from the Russian Federation. This is a translation of their feedback "great seller, good product, I am satisfied, will recommend" Why would they rate me a "2"?

This is the 2nd time I have got low ratings from a buyer from that country. I will not longer sell to the Russian Federation for that reason.

rose-dee · ‎01-27-2014

I, like many sellers, have excluded Russia from my "ship-to" list, for this sort of reason, among others. You may also want to check this recent notice/discussion:

http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/Russian-Regulatory-Changes/m-p/193495#U193495

Do you send a quick note to all your buyers letting them know the estimated delivery time? That could help to deflect some of the misinterpretation by buyers of the shipping time DSR. I find that if I want to avoid direct communication, it's helpful to put that information in the "Note" portion of the Paypal online labelling screen, or alternatively in the Sales Record "Note to Buyer" box -- for the latter, the buyer will see a notification on their purchase list indicating there is a message from the seller on the transaction page.

By the way (and likely needless to say) when I do state an estimated delivery time, I always over-estimate by a couple of days. Better to have a pleasantly surprised buyer than a disappointed one.

Unfortunately, in my view, eBay has done an extremely poor job of making it clear to buyers what that particular DSR is for, and its importance to sellers. They shouldn't label it "shipping/handling time", but something more precise, if they insist on keeping it. Actually, I wish they'd drop that DSR altogether.

My guess is though that the whole DSR system will be history soon, replaced by a "review" system. Let's hope it's no worse!

musicyouneed · ‎01-28-2014

After spending a few more hours trying to narrow down who gave me a 2. It turns out it was a fellow Canadian not the buyer from the Russian Federation. The buyer who gave me a 2 in shipping time, this was her feedback "Excellent in every way!Super fast shipping,fantastic communication Thanks!"

Item purchased Sunday Jan 19 and she left the feedback Jan 25, she lives in Quebec and I live in BC. She's a seller too, and has low feedback in the shipping DSR.

I'm definitely calling ebay on this one.

Lida

rose-dee · ‎01-28-2014

I'm with you -- if eBay will remove "false negative" positive FB left by sellers, why not "false negative" DSRs left by buyers? There is no reason a buyer should be able to leave exceptional positive FB, then strafe through the DSRs.

There is the possibility this was just a mistake on the part of the buyer -- a slip of the finger, mistook you for another seller, etc., or perhaps (if you're of a conspiratorial frame of mind), another seller retaliating for some reason.

In any case, it's worth the headache of calling eBay to see if you can get it changed (or removed). If they won't do anything, at least you'll still have the glowing positive FB sitting there for all to see, whereas the "2" DSR only gets mixed in statistically with the rest of the shipping time DSRS, and you're still at a 4.9 -- really not so bad.

theundercutter · ‎01-28-2014

I get burned out of TRS status every month because of shipping times

This month's review I was at 0.69% and needed 0.60%

I ship same day even when it's -60 degrees

not fair at all

musicyouneed · ‎01-28-2014

Thanks rose-dee, I was on the phone with ebay for 1 hour this morning. The first person at ebay I spoke to told me to call the buyer and ask them to revise their feedback. I said their feedback was glowing and that it was against ebay policy to call a buyer on DSR ratings. He then put me through to another person in trust and safety?, who understands my issue and he is going to be calling the buyer.

He will get back to me within a couple of days after he speaks to the buyer. I'll let you know. He also was of the opinion that there was something fishy going on, why leave glowing feedback saying my shipping was really fast, then give me a "2" for shipping time.

What may happen is that they will completely remove the feedback and DSR rating from that buyer. I can live with that. In the meantime I have blocked that buyer from purchasing anything more from me.

rose-dee · ‎01-28-2014

It sounds as if you're doing all the right things. I hope this works out in your favour.

And yes, it occurred to me that eBay might just remove everything -- which would probably be just as well. Blocking this person is a good idea too.

bargainbookscanada · ‎01-28-2014

I think Ebay is somehow encouraging it.

The moment one of my items sell and takes longer than 1 week to arrive - BINGO - case opened "Item has not been received".

brandeentertainment · ‎01-28-2014

If I could lend some not so helpful but truthful advise ...

It is what it is and in most cases just soemones personal opinion that us sellers can not change or do nothing about ...

Ask life for the few hrs back you toko to investigate and don't worry about it..

I used to do these things and fight tooth and nail to try and get them changed because it was not fair but it doesn';t change or help anything 90% of the time and If I had a dollar for every minute I spent on the phoone with ebay wasting my time when I first started I would be sitting on a couple $1000 ....

Good luck and remember your here to make money not for feedback so always way out what how much time and or effort you should spend addressing these issues because most of the time you will put time and effort only to run into a big old brick wall ..

femmefan1946 · ‎01-28-2014

The moment one of my items sell and takes longer than 1 week to arrive - BINGO - case opened "Item has not been received".

More likely it is the demographic you sell to.

Some cohorts are more demanding than others. Some are less patient. Some are more honest.

There may also be a problem with your relatively high shipping charges. I guess you are using Regular Parcel/ Small Packet? Can your vHS tapes go letter rate-- that is are they less than 2 cm thick? If so send them letter rate and add some self insurance against loss claims to your shipping and handling.

Your items are unusual enough that you may not find any price resistance.

If you are using Paypal labels, give the buyer the invoice number on the label, whether it is an insurance/delivery confirmation number or not. Honest but impatient buyers will be reassured and dishonest ones may be discouraged from phoney claims.

pjcdn2005 · ‎01-29-2014

There is no reason a buyer should be able to leave exceptional positive FB, then strafe through the DSRs.

The original idea of the DSR's was so that the buyer could make some sort of comment when they were not happy and do so anonymously. If they had to leave a neg or neutral feedback or a so so positive feedback in order to leave a low DSR then it would be even less anonymous than it is now.

I'm not saying that it is fair that we are rated on the actual shipping time rather than handling time..just commenting why they allow a positive comment with a low DSR.

rose-dee · ‎01-29-2014

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
There is no reason a buyer should be able to leave exceptional positive FB, then strafe through the DSRs.

The original idea of the DSR's was so that the buyer could make some sort of comment when they were not happy and do so anonymously. If they had to leave a neg or neutral feedback or a so so positive feedback in order to leave a low DSR then it would be even less anonymous than it is now.

I'm not saying that it is fair that we are rated on the actual shipping time rather than handling time..just commenting why they allow a positive comment with a low DSR.

No, you're right, obviously my rationale wouldn't work where negative FB is concerned, but I would think it would be most important to sellers that if a buyer leaves positive FB (especially a glowingly positive comment), that they should not be able to leave contradictory DSRs.

This will never be done by eBay in any event, it's just wishful thinking on my part. The DSR/FB concept is a hopelessly flawed system, we all know that. Much of the blame, IMHO, lies with eBay in not disabusing buyers of the idea that when leaving DSRs they're simply participating in an anonymous "opinion survey" with no real consequences for sellers.

Just watching on these boards how desperately sellers try to figure out why they received low DSRs and/or who left them is a pathetic commentary on the system's faults.

I'm beginning to feel the sooner they get rid of the whole concept, the better, and I wouldn't be surprised to see an announcement about that in 2014. I just hope its replacement is wee bit more equitable to sellers who try hard to give good service.

musicyouneed · ‎02-02-2014

Well they removed the feedback from the buyer and the DSR's. The feedback she gave was fantastic but she gave me a 2 on shipping which was totally wrong, since in her feedback she stated how fast it was. She received the item in 4 days from BC to Quebec.

Now when I check her feedback given, it looks like they removed all the feedback given to all sellers within the last 3 months. All of it was very good, but I bet you she hit their DSR's too.

Ebay should do something about those type of buyers, suspend them for a couple of weeks or at least send them a warning letter, that they are watching. I feel like taking this cause up the chain in ebay, anyone know who I would contact?