My performance as a seller is being rated by you. You decide if sellers like me stay or go on eBay. Truth is, although Ebay tells you a 4.0 rating is good anything less than a 5.0 rating lowers my standings in search until I can no longer be found. If they dip below 4.3 - I could be suspended from selling.
Ebay has given buyers the power to hand out negatives without the fear of getting one in return...this leaves sellers vulnerable and is one reason why a lot of them simply left the site. As a seller, I would expect that if you the buyer finds anything wrong with your purchase from me that you will have the courtesy of contacting me...I stand ready to rectify the situation. Most honest sellers want to keep their good reputations and remain sellers on eBay. Without the cooperation of buyers - that will soon change and what will be left are big stores with the same merchandise you can find in any Walmart. Most of us try our best to describe an item properly, to package and ship it carefully. My items are shipped upon payment and at no more than a few pennies above actual shipping cost - yet my stars for shipping time and shipping cost have been damaged.
If buyers don’t begin to communicate their displeasure or the reasoning behind rating a seller at less than a 5.0 then soon all unique small sellers such as myself will be gone from the site. This is not a threat, it is a fact that has been happening since this DSR rating system was instituted. Many buyers are already complaining that they can no longer find their favorite small seller. So, I’m asking you to please either contact me with your complaints or rate fairly. Only 5.0 ratings can keep us on Ebay.
On shipping, you must rate me and not the post office. You are rating the time I send out the item - not how long the post office takes to get it to you. You are also rating what I charge you and not what the postal rates happen to be. A seller should be allowed to charge a bit more for the packing and materials needed to send out an item. Its unreasonable to expect it for nothing. I know in my case, when I send out a large painting it costs me over 6.00 in bubblewrap and clean cardboard and foam core board alone. I believe in using new packing material.
There is a lot to consider when rating a seller fairly. I know its an imposition but its not one the sellers are burdening you with. Ebay has lost a lot of good sellers who could no longer cope with this system....but its here and we need to discuss it openly so that buyers are aware of it - and have the correct information. I know if I were a buyer and never sold on Ebay I would think rating a seller 3 on DSR's was average - yet that would quickly suspend a seller! Ebay tells buyers a 4.0 is a good rating - yet will suspend sellers who fall to a 4.3. You can quickly see the problem here. Nobody seems to know why Ebay has done this - some think they are merely "thinning the herd" of sellers. Others don't know what to think.
Hopefully, this will give buyers an idea of what sellers must cope with in order to sell onEbay. I, myself, list very very few items there now and its because I have an unblemished 10 year reputation and I figure I'll keep it at that and also because selling there is no longer fun but is very very stressful.
I hope you will take this as informational. Buyers have been given great power by Ebay and sellers only hope they will use it correctly.
My painting for today is a 16 X 20" original that recently sold and is on its way to Great Britain. "Tree of Dreams"
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