eBay

momcqueen · ‎01-04-2017

I know Feedback doesn't count for seller performance any longer but my rate of Feedback Received has dropped from 50 per cent to 30 to 20 per cent of feedback reciprocated over the last three years. It looks like I do no business on an annual basis. I'm feeling a little frustrated. I leave feedback on shipment for EVERY buyer and yet 80 per cent of the people purchasing in my category don't bother to do the same. Sigh. Whining over. I have another order to pack. It just looks like I don't ever have orders to pack. I worry it reflects poorly on my online business presence.

I have 99 followers and more than a hundred items with multiple watchers but I am concerned I look like a lame duck with 59n ratings under Detailed Seller Ratings. Maybe buyers don't bother to look at that, I don't know. It cold be only sellers judging one another that way in which case I guess it really doesn't matter.

momcqueen · ‎01-04-2017

I look like a wallflower, no?

dutchman48 · ‎01-04-2017

Hence why Ebay figures out defects on feedback instead of sales. Feedback is dropping for a lot of sellers on the US boards as well, hence defect % can increase without the actual defects increasing as a result.

recped · ‎01-04-2017

@dutchman48 wrote:
Hence why Ebay figures out defects on feedback instead of sales. Feedback is dropping for a lot of sellers on the US boards as well, hence defect % can increase without the actual defects increasing as a result.

Fortunately none of the above is true AT ALL!

"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
- answering Trolls is voluntary, my policy is not to participate.

momcqueen · ‎01-04-2017

Not Late Shipment Defects? For untracked items, those can only be doled out based on feedback form the buyer in terms of asking the question. Not that it matters to me, since I switched to Tracked Packet from Small Packets for 85 per cent of my items.

My worry is that number 59. It had been falling from a standard 175 to 225 to 200 at this time last year to 150 to 100 in November and now it's like 59. That looks appalling to me. It makes it appear that I do no business here.

dutchman48 · ‎01-04-2017

This is from someone with a whopping 10 feedback in the last month??

I really would like to know what you consider not true

momcqueen · ‎01-04-2017

Dutchman is indirectly making my point: we all judge each other on Feedback Received. Except it doesn't actually reflect what rate of business we're doing. Feedback Left for Others might be a better gauge of business performance but again not everyone leaves feedback on payment or shipment, some sellers only do when reciprocated.

I'm worried that my DSRs dropping to 59 now make me look like the Ugly Chick at The Dance.

Someone needs to reassure me that I'm not the Ugly Chick.

No? No one?

Fine.

recped · ‎01-04-2017

@dutchman48 wrote:
This is from someone with a whopping 10 feedback in the last month??

I really would like to know what you consider not true

1 - that there are any type of "defects" related to feedback.

2 - that seller performance metrics are based on feedback received rather than number of transactions.

"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
- answering Trolls is voluntary, my policy is not to participate.

silverpinups · ‎01-04-2017

You sold roughly 27 items in the month of Dec/2016 (prior to Christmas) which for a toy seller is possibly your biggest month of the year.

You have 1,114 items for sale which is good but in relation to your sales is bad.

Now feedback and sales are down for everyone seller across the board but you may need to revisit your business model and possibly start incorporating USD listings.

More avenues to draw from more sales.....

It had been falling from a standard 175 to 225 to 200 at this time last year to 150 to 100 in November and now it's like 59.

Now I know what you are going to say, that you made the decision to list in only CDN a year ago but look at your previous performances.

Take it as a suggestion and not as a potential insult.....

recped · ‎01-04-2017

@mjwl2006 wrote:
Dutchman is indirectly making my point: we all judge each other on Feedback Received. Except it doesn't actually reflect what rate of business we're doing. Feedback Left for Others might be a better gauge of business performance but again not everyone leaves feedback on payment or shipment, some sellers only do when reciprocated.

I'm worried that my DSRs dropping to 59 now make me look like the Ugly Chick at The Dance.

Someone needs to reassure me that I'm not the Ugly Chick.

No? No one?

Fine.

I don't judge eBay users based on their feedback number and no you are not "the Ugly Chick".

"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
- answering Trolls is voluntary, my policy is not to participate.

dutchman48 · ‎01-04-2017

Other than the late shipping defect which is a direct result from feedback if no tracking is used, or did you forget that one?

We all know there are no defects for negs!

i.am.vivian · ‎01-04-2017

@mjwl2006 wrote:

I'm worried that my DSRs dropping to 59 now make me look like the Ugly Chick at The Dance.

Someone needs to reassure me that I'm not the Ugly Chick.

No? No one?

Fine.

There, there, there. 🙂

Actually you can probably do that for yourself better than anyone. I suppose a few sellers might evaluate others too much, and FB is one of those ways they might do it. (A posting ID prevents all that). But if so, what do you care no matter what some other sellers think? You are one of the best, most professional sellers around. You already know that.

I keep thinking of that time that you paid the extra $100 or whatever it was in shipping just to make sure your buyer got the item even though eBay had made a mistake. I don't think very many sellers would have paid the $100 or so extra for a buyer, unless the item price was about ten grand.

Then there was the time before Christmas when you tied yourself up in knots to get a parcel to a buyer by speed mail, and when the post office goofed that up, you sent another one by courier, at your own expense, all with no real assurance you would ever be compensated.

You mail things minutes after they are paid, even if it means you have to strap on a parka and snow shoes and slog your way through a blizzard to get it to the postal outlet.

The only sellers who will even know you exist are the ones who read the boards (or just happen to want those toys for someone). Sellers on the boards will get to know you for YOU, based on your thoughts and views, how you feel about the issues, things that matter and things that don't. Other sellers don't buyer your items (for the most part). And other sellers also have the same issue of many more items mailed that what shows up in FB received. For sellers who WANT an indication to show the world how much they sell, there's FB for others.

Buyers don't read FB on either side. You see that yourself on the buyer boards. Again and again they never read all the negatives complaining about poor quality items and rude or unresponsive sellers. Your comments, on the other hand, say "Great seller! Amazing seller! Excellent seller!" and no end of "I'll be back"s. And you know the saying, Better no feedback than neg feedback. And any buyer who DOES look at feedback is going to be more concerned with finding a GOOD seller, not a high-volume seller. Chinese sellers are generally high-volume, aren't they. 😉

Personally, I blame phones. The change seems to me to have gradually come as more and more people shop from phones. I think there is some psychological aspect of logging in to a real computer to shop, it is a fuller experience or something. Maybe I am just talking through my hat. But the drop off in FB seems to coincide with the increase of phone shopping, but that could have nothing to do with it.

Whether or not FB numbers will continue to decline until FB no longer exists, I have no idea. I would hope not because even though no one is getting as much as they used to, it is STILL the best way for buyers to sort the sheep from the goats.

As for TSR and discounts, I would think that eBay will see that FB numbers have dropped and are basing it on things like defects for unresolved cases, or numbers of returns, complaints, and those types of things. I have no idea, really, that's just a wild guess that makes sense to me at the moment.

Bottom line, It doesn't matter what other sellers think of your FB scores. You are here to sell, so all that matters is what buyers think, and if they bother to quickly glance at your FB they will see all those "above and beyond" comments and confidently buy the item.

Does that help? 🙂

msmaggie060 · ‎01-04-2017

Mj, you have had 100 people leave you positive feedback, only about 60% seem to have filled in the stars. Similair to mine I think, I have had 89 people leave positive feedback, only 79 filled in the stars. They say no feedback is good but really I have had a lot more than 89 sales so definitely feedback being left is way down this past year. (Although I did take 3 vacations this past summer and shut down my stores then.) I don't think the amounts matter, buyers are probably looking to see if a seller has any negs or neutrals, the amount of positives probably makes no difference.

momcqueen · ‎01-04-2017

Thanks, Vivian. I do feel better.

Hey, silver, my issue was not with sales performance. I appreciated the slower-than-average-December for a change since it allowed my family to celebrate Christmas. My issue is with Feedback Received.

Even if it was not, my issue is unrelated to listing in CAD. My sales to Americans were very strong in the lead time to Christmas and beyond. As strong as always. The numbers you counted are a result of other things entirely, I know what they are, and I promise you it's zero to do with not listing in USD. But thanks anyhow.

momcqueen · ‎01-07-2017

I believe Product Reviews are a contributing factor. Does this look like a review of the product, or does it look like seller feedback?

i.am.vivian · ‎01-07-2017

@mjwl2006 wrote:
I believe Product Reviews are a contributing factor. Does this look like a review of the product, or does it look like seller feedback?

My honest opinion? As Product-Reviews-**bleep**-seller-feedback goes, this one is pretty good. It's one of the better ones, being product-focused and not seller-focused the way some clearly are. When buyers review any product, part of their assessment of the item is "value" and that means did the purchase price yield fair value on the item. Much of the content of any "product review" is the buyer's emotional judgement and appreciation, including their enjoyment (or lack of). This buyer is happy with the item that was bought, the condition it was in, and the price paid.

At the top of the listing it does clearly indicate it is a Product Rating not a seller rating, and only after scrolling way down through the listing is it visible. Its just annoying when sellers have no choice but tolerate these general product reviews on their personal listings. The problem is, will everyone who uses eBay always be able to understand the difference.

I believe eBay set up the "Product Review" thing to be more like their Amacompetitor. Reviews on that site are even worse so I don't know what made eBay think it would be good here. Lots of "product reviews" that say "It took too long to arrive", messing up the ratings for everyone. I would think that looking at product reviews over there would be enough to convince anyone how much of a BAD idea it would be on eBay.

If eBay insists on PRs, they should have a link at the end of the listing to click that takes the viewer to ALL reviews for that product, sellers being anonymous. Comments that say "it arrived broken and the seller did nothing", might tell buyers that they should buy somewhere else but that is FEEDBACK and not a "product review".

I can understand why eBay does not give sellers the option to accept or decline a review on their listings because sellers of fake garbage would never accept the honest ones. At the same time, moving reviews to a separate page where the item is indicated by the registered UPC (those that don't enter a UPC would not be eligible for "reviews") would make the experience all about the products and not single out any one seller.

Another very obvious problem with this system is that sellers of useless garbage can pad their reviews with endless accounts of great products at reasonable prices that arrived quickly, none of which is true but doesn't need to be either, not with eBay's current system of "product reviewing".

Worse, is that for all eBay's desperate measures to keep buyer IDs separate, they show the buyer ID in a review. Anyone wishing to buy or sell can contact the buyer by clicking the ID. So much for safety, security, and anonymity.

Be it review or feedback, this particular 5-star assessment is quite nice. But what if it isn't? What if some innocent seller is getting thrashed for selling non-hatching Hatchimals? With that many features and functions, that many items manufactured that quickly, lots will have problems. But to put all this dissatisfaction beneath any one seller? Terrible! And what is to stop competing sellers from saying rotten things in each other's ratings?

In all reviews there will be people who write "Don't buy from seller XYZ". So if eBay insists on having reviews then they need someone to approve each review before being posted, so that nothing eBay-offensive appears. Too expensive a task? Then maybe "reviews" are not suited to the eBay format where all there is are private sellers and not the Big Seller itself.

"EBay Product Reviews". Don't get me started! 😠

i.am.vivian · ‎01-07-2017

I got bleeped! 😮 The 3-letter-word means "combined with". No dirty words, not that I know of.

Sheesh. It's a filthy-minded world! lol!

ypdc_dennis · ‎01-07-2017

@i.am.vivian wrote:
I got bleeped! 😮 The 3-letter-word means "combined with". No dirty words, not that I know of.
Sheesh. It's a filthy-minded world! lol!

Just proves that the Lithum message bot is undereducated and doesn't know any latin.