posted on October 17, 2008 05:11:00 PM new
I have for a long time waited until the buyer left feedback, feeling that the transaction was incomplete until I knew the item had arrived and was safisfactory. Also, to avoid getting negs. Now that sellers can no longer leave negs, I am wondering if sellers are still waiting to leave feedback until the buyer leaves theirs?
posted on October 17, 2008 06:46:27 PM new
LtRay: Not everyone! I have to admit that I find some of the threads a bit hard to read.
I am still waiting for the buyer to leave feedback, but my DSR's on communication are going down and down and I don't understand why. I would have thought that if there was ONE area I am on the ball with, it's communication. Most buyers never actually send me a message, whereas I send a minimum of 3, sometimes more, and I inform buyers of date of mailing, approx mailing time, etc. etc. I am beginning to wonder if it's because I don't leave feedback first.
posted on October 18, 2008 01:16:58 AM new
I doubt that YOUR communication is the problem. My communication DSR is usually 4.8 to 4.9 and I only send 2 emails after a sale, invoice and shipping notice. However, my shipping DSRs have been taking huge hits, even though my shipping habits have not change. I ship most orders same day and my shipping charges are usually much less than others in my category.
I used to leave feedback whether I had received it or not. Since the new feedback system has been implements, less buyers have been leaving feedback when I left it first. I also noticed that my DSRs were getting hit pretty hard and usually within a day or two of the time I left feedbacksack. Ironically, I also noticed that the lower DSRs were usually left by people who had made small purchases. When I stopped leaving feedback until the buyer left theirs first, the DSR drop became less frequent.
I think it is eBay's communications that are killing our DSRs.
Have you left feedback for a seller lately? It is scarey. First there is a pop-up encouraging you "Please leave honest feedback.... Even if your experience was not positive, please leave honest feedback - without the fear of receiving negative feedback."
It sounds like they are suggesting you should find something wrong to critize about the seller.
Then as you leave the rating, "Remember – these detailed seller ratings are anonymous, so please feel free to leave honest ratings about your buying experience."
Here is where some buyers feel free to takeout all their eBay frustrations on the seller even if that particular seller provided excellent service.
I became so frustrated with the whole mess that I stopped listing on my main ID and moved that inventory elsewhere under a new name.
My feedback received has always been 100% and comments buyers leave continued to remain good so why were my DSRs continually dropping? Add to that how DSRs conveniently drop below minimum requirement levels the week my discount was to be computed and I was ready to pull my hair out so I took a break.
I have recently been running some test listings on another ID that I had not used since DSRs were implemented. Everything I listed the first 3 weeks had free shipping.
I left feedback the majority of the time before waiting for the buyer's feedback.
50% of the buyers left return feedback. DSR ratings were 5.0, 5.0, 4.7, 4.3.
Now tell me what the heck a buyer is thinking when I ship an item for free and they leave less than a 5 for "How reasonable were the shipping and handling charges?"
Then I stopped leaving feedback first. Less than 30% of buyers have left feedback but DSRs are now back to 5.0, 5.0, 4.9, 4.8.
I think I will stick to leaving feedback for buyers who take the time to leave it first.
posted on October 18, 2008 02:49:49 AM new
Why can't sellers leave negs? Because too many of them used feedback as a weapon, refusing to leave feedback first after the buyer completed their part of the bargain, paying for the item they purchased. The argument that "the transaction was incomplete until I knew the item had arrived and was safisfactory. Also, to avoid getting negs." has resulted in all of us losing the right to leave meaningful feedback. You do not have my sympathy.
[ edited by pixiamom on Oct 18, 2008 03:05 AM ]
posted on October 18, 2008 04:09:03 AM new
Not looking for sympathy. For me it was a business decision. I think each seller should follow whichever works for them.
I deliver what I say I will and from what I read on the boards, I do it faster and cheaper than average. In the rare instances that I do make a mistake, I correct it quickly which leaves little excuse for complaints. It is not the buyers who communicate with me that I have a problem with. It is the scammers and those who never say a word but abuse a seller by dinging their DSRs.
Like I said, before this new system was put in place, I left feedback as part of the sale process. Now I only leave it out of respect for those who leave it for me. Personally I think the feedback system is no longer a valid use of my time.
posted on October 18, 2008 05:17:07 AM new
It's great to do whatever works for you. Holding the stupid feedback hostage until you have received positive from the buyer was the first corruption of the system which eBay has now rendered meaningless and which all of us must now suffer the consequences of.
posted on October 18, 2008 05:46:30 AM new
I don't think it was the holding positive FB back that was the problem. Many sellers used FB to retaliate and to extort mutual withdrawal. The Chinese sellers of junk jewelry were famous for this. I also remember reading posts on the Store boards about sellers who left negative FB because they THOUGHT that buyers were dinging their stars (of course no one can know for sure who is dinging and who is not dinging) even though the buyer left them POSITIVE FB.
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posted on October 18, 2008 06:06:21 AM new
It wasn't just the Chinese sellers, past postings on this board show the same behavior - feedback-obsessed sellers withholding FB so they could retaliate if they should receive a neg - hoping for mutual withdrawal. This intimidated buyers from leaving honest feedback, eBay took the remedy of removing the option for negative buyer feedback, no matter how well deserved.
posted on October 18, 2008 07:00:38 AM new
I didn't leave retaliatory negs. I just think that holding off on leaving feedback until the buyer left theirs was a detterent against unwarrented negs from buyers. That is why I asked the question, is there any point in doing it now that it is no longer a deterrent?
posted on October 18, 2008 08:26:42 AM new
It would be a glorious day if Vendian sellers had such impassioned arguments over the best selling tactics to use.
posted on October 18, 2008 08:40:00 AM new
I wish there were best selling tactics Fluff - it seems it is just a crap shoot now. Perhaps Ebay created this FB stuff to divert us?
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posted on October 18, 2008 09:44:03 AM new
Okay kids, listen up. Aunt Fluff is only going to say this once.
Selling on eBay has *always* been a crap shoot. Or, more accurately, a spin on the roulette wheel.
Back in the Sixties and Seventies, some groups of college kids decided to find out whether or not a casino could be beaten at any games of chance. The effort to solve Blackjack was aided by massive computer simulations ( see Thorp's "Beat the Dealer" ). The brute force approach was used on roulette.
The idea was that a physical piece of equipment like a roulette wheel isn't perfect. Being imperfect, was it possible some numbers would come up oftener than others? To determine this (and with the cooperation of the casinos, amazingly enough) some wheels in Reno were manned by students making minimum bets and keeping track of the outcome. It's called "clocking the wheel." They found that yes, each wheel has a definite bias and it is different for each wheel.
eBay auctions are much the same. Someone posted not long ago wanting to know (yet again) what are the best days and times to list auctions. This is like the dieter wanting a magic pill that will shed 20 pounds off her physique immediately. There are no "best days" because every seller's business is different. Some sellers move almost no merchandise on the weekends; I know some who do a ton of business on Saturday and Sunday.
So if you want to improve your selling you've got to clock your own wheel. Get a useful tool like Terapeak. See how you rank against your competition. See what their peak sales days are and compare it to what you're doing. You have many sales formats available to you, some you may have ruled out long ago but should reconsider because conditions have changed. I list Jody Coyote earrings in four formats: 99 cent auctions $6 ship, FP30 free ship, store free ship and store $6 ship. I wanted to dominate this market and now I do -- I sell twice as much as the #2 seller. Plus I get to divert buyers from the world's marketplace to my JC website, which is no small thing.
