eBay’s Flawed Detailed Seller Ratings
There has been some discussion recently in forums around the place (eBay Powerseller, PeSA etc) about eBay’s Detailed Seller Ratings statistics recently released.
Personally, I think the system is flawed.
Many of our buyers are not experienced on eBay, and as eBay continues to state, Trust and Safety for buyers is a big issue and we ll know this. Detailed Seller Ratings are designed to provide more detailed feedback on seller performance.
But what we still have is a dumb situation. Let me explain.
Say you want to book a hotel somewhere. You look around on the net, maybe you try wotif.com.au, or another site, and a hotel guide book for that area.
All the hotels have a star rating. Star ratings are well known in the service industry, and provide some sort of indication as to the quality of service and features you will receive when dealing with an establishment.
I would think nearly every consumer has pre-conceived values associated with this star rating system, because it has been used for so long in the service world.
This is where eBay’s star rating system confuses people, and can lead to more trust issues.
Example 1 – Hotel bookings
You see two hotels in the area you want to stay. One is 3 star, one is 5 star.
Immediately, as a consumer, an expectation is set in your mind, before you even look at pictures of the hotels, feature lists, service lists or price. You know that the 3 star although probably comfortable and sound, is not going to have ‘world class’ top end service. They might both sleep you ok, but one is a lot nicer than the other.
You use the ratings system to decide on quality vs price, and go from there.
Example 2 – eBay Star ratings
You are looking for an MP3 player, and choosing between 2 sellers.
Both are above 98% feedback (you think – ‘wow’, that is outstanding!). Both have just under 5 gold stars for each part of their seller ratings. Wow! Outstanding!
Seller ‘X’ has ratings of 4.6, 4.6, 4.6, 4.4, slightly lower than seller ‘Y’. Their product looks similar, and their prices might be a fraction cheaper. But look at the ratings? They must both be great sellers. You buy from seller ‘X’. Was this the right choice?
The difference is, according to eBay, the top 10% of sellers have ratings of 4.8 and above and the bottom 10% have ratings of about 4.3-4.6.
| Bottom 10% | Bottom 25% | Median Seller | Top 25% | Top 10% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Item as Described | 4.6 | 4.7 | 4.8 | 4.9 | 5.0 |
| Communication | 4.5 | 4.7 | 4.8 | 4.9 | 4.9 |
| Shipping Time | 4.3 | 4.6 | 4.8 | 4.9 | 4.9 |
| S&H Charge | 4.3 | 4.5 | 4.6 | 4.8 | 4.8 |
So, how will this improve trust issues and seller performance, when even the bottom 10% of sellers out there are still getting 4.3 out of 5!?
Most new buyers aren’t going to spend hours looking at the minute differences in these gold star ratings, which are obviously designed to be a quick visual check for buyers.
What do you think?
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