If you shop on ebay, you need to know this.
Even though the language associated with a four star rating on ebay’s new Detailed Seller Ratings says "good," ebay will now freeze the account of sellers whose Detailed Seller Rating falls below a 4.3 in any one category. For those of you who remember your report cards, this is something like kicking someone out of school for getting a B.
This means that if you like a seller and want them to be around to shop from again, you need to ignore what ebay says their stars mean. What their stars REALLY mean is 5=happy and 4, 3, 2, 1 all = unhappy.
This also means that ebay has produced a mostly useless rating system and that ratings have become ridiculously inflated by necessity, thus failing to sort the wheat from the chaff. You’re either perfect or you suck, according to this rating scheme. What looks like middle ground is not, in fact, acceptable according to ebay.
If you want your seller to be around to shop from later, and you give them a 4 in any of the categories for the DSRs, you may be contributing to their disappearance from ebay.
It also means that you if you like your seller, you need to give feedback. If happy customers don’t give feedback, and most feedback comes from unhappy sellers, you can say goodbye to your favorite sellers.
If you have a seller you like to shop from, and you are unhappy with any aspect of the order, please write to him or her before leaving feedback and give a chance to make it right.
Simply put, "good" doesn’t mean good anymore, and "neutral" means "I hope this ebay seller goes away."
ALSO — ebay is going to be doing away with the option to pay by check or money order. This is NOT your seller’s fault. Blame ebay.
For more information, see the August 20, 2008 message from Lorrie Norrington in your "My eBay."
Big Lucky Hoodoo 