ColderICE Commentary eBay Town Hall – September 2008 Part 2

Now you will get an AMEN from me on that! You are correct, the problem is in the "feedback and DSR" yes sir!

Good stuff!
John

Well, after typing that and thinking about it for 15-20 minutes I think I've come to a realization -

My problem may not be with the idea of the universal cart, it might be with eBay's feedback and DSR's. Actually, it's probably with neither, but even more accurately the combination of the two.

Think I've talked this one out, in the end, I see your point and you're aware of mine.

Good stuff!
Cliff

Cliff you are correct, the Big vs. little is just a topic that I feel is a "crutch excuse" for any argument in business and mathematics...I think it is similar to playing the "race card" LMAO.

But seriously, it just does not stand up to mathematical principles at all. Math does NOT change when you use single digits vs. double digits. If 1 in 10 of your buyers are dissatisfied, you have a 90% satisfaction rate. If you only sell 10 things, then that is where u are.

If you sell 10,000 things and 1 in 10 are dissatisfied it is the same freaking number, 90%. I don't see any difference AND I would almost argue that it is HARDER to keep MORE people pleased than it is to keep just a few. So flip it around and say "small sellers" got the advantage on that one :-)

But I just KNOW from experience in both building businesses and training others in business that the similarities of businesses of ALL sizes really out weight tremendously the few difference.

I not only have a single business, we have multiple businesses and ALL of them started with 0 feedbacks. I train newbies and consult small, medium, and large size businesses. Trust me; it ain't that big of a difference at all. At the end of the day you got stuff to sell, customers to please and inventory to ship. We all put our pants on one leg at a time, no superheroes here.

Business IS Business

John,

I don't disagree with that philosophy, in fact I try to sell by it, but like most ideas the question is where the line is drawn. I know you draw it at checks/money orders yourself, when indisputably allowing these payment methods would allow more sales (and I agree with you on checks/mo's, just illustrating my point).

This issue may come down to your old favorite, big seller vs. small seller, or more accurately bigger seller vs. smaller seller. I admit that the scenario I've proposed is going to be rare, just as I think you're willing to admit it's going to happen in some instances. My hesitancy has to do entirely with reputation, as defined in this case by eBay feedback--

You have 6-7 times more feedback to me. The occasional ding of a 1 DSR is going to hurt me more than you. It's going to hurt me less than the guy I have 10x feedback on.

I know we can say this is going to occur proportionally, but as sure as I am that it's going to happen I still think it's going to be somewhat of a freak occurrence. So I think it'll be more of a random than proportional spread.

So my fictional 800 FB seller has more to lose than me and I'd have more to lose than you.

Thus, if they have an opt-in/opt-out on this I'd personally probably choose to opt-in--not because I like it, but because as you say it's going to pay for me to err on the side of the buyer. But I'd consider recommending that my 800 FB friend opt-out.

(On a side note, it'd actually be great in the long run if my scenario happened a lot because that would mean lots of eBay newbies who didn't know what the hell they were doing!)

Thanks,
Cliff

You bring up an interesting argument that I have not heard before. I will tell you my philosophy is this however. The default is to err on the side of the buyer.

I want to make it as easy as possible for the buyer and if this will allow more buyers to buy more stuff?!? I will put up with the other drama and fight that battle with eBay :-)

Absolutely correct, nailed it. And while I'm sure this wouldn't be the norm, again DSR's are both so sensitive and important, that is seems risky.

I see your point here:

Customer buys 1 product for seller A (you)
Customer buys similar product from seller B (other guy)

Items from A & B go into the same cart and customer makes 1 payment.

You (seller A) fulfill your order promptly and send it to the customer, but seller B does NOT fulfill the item or delays the fulfillment.

Now you are subject to bad DSR due to the customer thinking that both items are from the same sell.

Did I get your concern right?

Bringing this conversation over from Viddler, colderICE said:

I think you are confusing the two?!? Checkout is NOT feedback. Checkout is simply how the customer pays for the item. Just like on Amazon, you can buy from different 3rd party vendors and the customer only pays 1 payment during 1 checkout.
That has no bearing on the order fulfillment or feedback.

I'm probably biased here as a couple to half of my handful of bad eBay feedbacks are the direct result of the buyer confusing me with another seller on a similar item purchased. My point is I don't want to run the risk of your poor customer service, packing, product, whatever dinging my feedback and DSRs, when I know I should be getting a better grade.

Just because it works that way on Amazon doesn't mean I like it, and by the same token Amazon's feedback is neither as complicated or now anywhere close to as important as eBay's. We know that only 1 or 2 low DSR scores on eBay could potentially cost you a sometimes nice discount on fees. Why risk it?

(Now this flaw may not be a flaw of combined checkout, but a flaw of eBay, nonetheless, it is a flaw and it will lead to one seller costing another seller money.)