Comments on: eBay again http://www.seanpaune.com/2007/05/02/ebay-again/ Sat, 20 Mar 2010 23:09:26 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Sean P. Aune http://www.seanpaune.com/2007/05/02/ebay-again/comment-page-1/#comment-16357 Sean P. Aune Thu, 03 May 2007 14:39:14 +0000 http://seanpaune.com/?p=1038#comment-16357 The problem is, especially with people who pay by money order, is they lose the concept of time. I have at least a customer a week who will say "Where's my package? I sent you a payment weeks ago!"... no, you didn't, the auction ended five days ago. As opposed to the old system, which was very cut-and-dry, this new system is very arbitrary and influenced too easily by the smallest whims. I pride myself on all four of those categories, but having done mail order for 18 years now, I also know I have at least a couple people a week who will feel because I didn't kiss their ass, that they will give me poor ratings of 2 - 3 stars, where, under the old system, at worst they would have given me a neutral. The problem is, especially with people who pay by money order, is they lose the concept of time. I have at least a customer a week who will say “Where’s my package? I sent you a payment weeks ago!”… no, you didn’t, the auction ended five days ago.

As opposed to the old system, which was very cut-and-dry, this new system is very arbitrary and influenced too easily by the smallest whims. I pride myself on all four of those categories, but having done mail order for 18 years now, I also know I have at least a couple people a week who will feel because I didn’t kiss their ass, that they will give me poor ratings of 2 – 3 stars, where, under the old system, at worst they would have given me a neutral.

]]> By: Shari http://www.seanpaune.com/2007/05/02/ebay-again/comment-page-1/#comment-16356 Shari Thu, 03 May 2007 13:10:36 +0000 http://seanpaune.com/?p=1038#comment-16356 I understand why, as a seller, this may be frustrating to you but the point is to allow customers to evaluate you based on the (subjective) experiences of other customers, not to rate you relative to other sellers. One thing you may consider doing to help mitigate the notion that your shipping rates are too high or that you ship too slow is include a link to the USPS or other shipping service rate page. On the infrequent occasions when my husband and I sell something on eBay, we generally get great feedback about speed because people expect things from Japan to be incredibly slow. I guess you suffer the opposite - people think stuff from the U.S. should be incredibly fast. I understand why, as a seller, this may be frustrating to you but the point is to allow customers to evaluate you based on the (subjective) experiences of other customers, not to rate you relative to other sellers.

One thing you may consider doing to help mitigate the notion that your shipping rates are too high or that you ship too slow is include a link to the USPS or other shipping service rate page.

On the infrequent occasions when my husband and I sell something on eBay, we generally get great feedback about speed because people expect things from Japan to be incredibly slow. I guess you suffer the opposite – people think stuff from the U.S. should be incredibly fast.

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