eBay Seller Team Offers Answers to Top Rated Seller Questions…Well Sorta?!?

Written by John Comments
Last Updated October 6, 2009

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Yesterday, Brian Burke (bburke@eBay.com) and Dawn Sullivan attempted to hold a discussion to answer some seller questions on the eBay discussion forums. They kinda address some issues and of course made sure to address speculation provided by stories written on AuctionBytes by name. Which BTW I thought was rather interesting, but that is a whole other topic (I will save for a later post).

So without further ado, I am going to post ONLY a few selective responses (I edited out the obvious duplicate content and all emphasis is MINE) in the "conversation" from the eBay personnel.

I really want to hear what you think about these comments! I have labeled them numerically so if you want to respond to a specific one, you can simply use the number to refer to that comment.

On this weeks podcast program of B.S. Walks When Money Talks I will give you my comments on what was actually communicated both by eBay and by you guys! So do NOT miss this weeks show (every Wednesday at 1:14 est and you can get replays of past episodes by going to http://www.Wednesday114.com)

# 1 – All sellers who currently qualify for Top-rated seller are being treated as a Top-rated seller. We are expanding the definition to include sellers who currently do not meet PS status. Our commitment to the community was that we would do this in October. The invites will be sent the week of October 11th.

With major change we stagger the release to ensure a smooth release. By lowering the sales threshold from $12k per year to $3k per year we will add over 50k sellers to the Top-rated seller program.

#2 - Yes, sellers need to first be a PowerSeller to become a Top-rated seller. Once a seller qualifies to become a PowerSeller and joins the PowerSeller program, they will be evaluated for Top-rated seller status on the 20th of each month. Those qualifying for Top-rated at that time will become a Top-rated seller automatically.

Concerning qualifying as PowerSeller, please refer to the current requirements, noting that, as a way to reward our high quality small sellers sooner, starting mid-October until April, we will inviting new PowerSellers into the PowerSeller program that are performing at Top-rated level, have 100 transactions, but a lower level of sales that currently required for PowerSellers: $3,000 in annual sales. In April, the new sales level will be for all sellers, not just those that also qualify for Top-rated seller status.

#3 – The option on the left hand navigation is a buyer option. If the buyer chooses this option they are choosing to reduce their search results to that population, just like if they chose Buy it Now only listings.

Our intent is to promote our best performing sellers. And the program is designed to do just that. Sellers who are not currently PowerSellers will be invited to join the PS program the week of October 11 and if they accept the invitation will be eligible for Top-rated with the October 20th cycle.

#4 – In order for us to be confident in identifying a seller as Top-rated, the seller must sell at least 100 items per year and sell at least $3k in merchandise. There are many great sellers who sell less than that, eBay can’t be confident enough to promote them, badge them, etc.

#5 – We have been collecting Net Promoter Score information for over a year to help provide additional insight on customer satisfaction and it helps us to learn how Detailed Seller Ratings ties to overall customer satisfaction.

These insights helped us, for example, to transition from the former focus on Average DSR scores to today’s focus on 1’s and 2’s on DSR as criteria for the current Top-rated seller status. Outside of the insights, the Net Promoter Scores are not associated with the Top-rated seller status and the expanded use should be considered as additional information to help us learn as opposed to criteria to for Top-rated or any other seller status on eBay.

#6 – If you are only receiving 0.1% low DSRs, you are well within eBay’s thresholds for Top-rated. Sometimes a buyer can’t be pleased, sometimes a buyer’s expectations are not the same as the marketplace. If you are at 0.1%, I wouldn’t worry about your Item Description – you are performing at a very high level and chasing the 0.1% may actually lead you down the wrong path.

#7 – No, Net Promoter Score is not something else you need to aspire to. It was referred to by a posting by XXXX regarding purely speculative information in Auctionbytes.

#8 – A competing seller who buys from you (using a buying ID) and then leaves you low DSRs will be suspended – both the buying ID and their selling ID. This just occurred with a Silver PS.

We have multiple low DSR referral reports (e.g. buyer always leaves positive and low DSRs) that identify potential abuse. We have been taking action against abusive buyers since we made the changes in May 2008 and will continue to do so.

Your reports to us from this page Link in addition to our internal referrals will help keep the site clean from abusive buyers. A single low DSR does not equal abuse and anonymity, though at times frustrating for sellers provides eBay with more accurate data.

#9 - We will continue to provide incentives for sellers to improve performance. High levels of performance ensure buyers return to the marketplace. Increasing the probability that a buyer will have a great experience through promotion of Top-rated sellers in search further supports a healthy marketplace and all sellers, not just Top-rated sellers, will benefit from returning buyers.

Keep in mind that although sellers may all be paying the same in fees, in order to provide great experiences to buyers often requires sellers to invest additional customer support or better shipping services, increasing their overall cost despite paying the same fees as sellers who do not incur the added costs.

This is a tradeoff that sellers must weigh: lower costs of operations with lower sales, or high costs of operations with increased sales.

#10 – … We (eBay) discovered that low DSRs were more closely aligned with a bad buying experience. eBay is evaluated by our users using a subjective measure – subjectivity doesn’t make it less valuable or accurate.

For this very reason we changed our focus to avoiding 1’s and 2’s as opposed to trying to get all 5’s. We’ve found that when buyers leave a 1 or 2, they are clearly indicating that something went wrong while we could not differentiate between a buyer’s satisfaction with leaving either a 4 or a 5.

#11 – Only eBay may use the Top-rated seller badge. Sellers should never use it in their listings, Store, About Me, etc. Please see the selling practices policy for rules sellers should follow.

I really want to hear what you think about these comments dudes and dudettes! Put your responses in the comments and remember to RETWEET this story on Twitter for your eBay friends to see it.

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suzieeads

How can this be "SPECIAL" or rare if there are 50 THOUSAND sellers that will be ADDED to the current number? I wondered how accurate this program is.. I now know since Buy.COM is a Top Rated Seller...

I miss the old eBay.

ebayandbeyond

"Our intent is to promote our best performing sellers". Unless sellers aspire to become PowerSellers and then Top Rated Sellers, they have very little chance of the exposure necessary to sell on a consistant basis. eBay promoting the TSR's while discounting fees for these sellers puts those that do not meet the TSR requirements at a significant disadvantage.

eBay truly needs to admit that they do not want the small seller anymore. I don't have a problem with this policy as long as it is clear. Too many people still believe they can make money on eBay selling stuff from their garage or attic. It just is not true anymore.

James

Well John, eBay notified me that I was a Top Rated seller. I have only had 7 eBay sales since February and still have the Powerseller icon. Why I was given the Top Rated Seller Badge I have no idea. I know many more are deserving of the Higher Search than I am. I currently have only 2 listings and they will fade away in about 6 days. As far as I know I will not be listing with eBay again this year. If you do not have the TRS Badge you are welcome to mine.

Amber

I think I find #4 the most offensive. 6 years on eBay with no negs, no low DSRs in at least the last year, but they have 'no confidence' in me as a seller. I am failing to understand the logic there. How does selling $3000 give eBay more confidence in someone than a seller who sells $2000?

We've been told by more than one eBay employee that sales to non-US buyers will not count towards that $3000 threshold. Which means high performing sellers (Buyer metric-wise) who have a high percentage of cross border trade will be further harmed by this. I sell 50-75% internationally. Which means that 50-75% of my GMV isn't going to count. eBay keeps claiming this is an easy target to hit, but it's a slap in the face to many low asp sellers or Cross Border Trade sellers whose excellent customer service bring buyers back to the site more than the impersonal service and spamming emails buy.com delivers. It is the little guys who have the high % of repeat buyers. When my store was open, my repeat buyer percentage was well above 25%.

And it's a definite slap in the face to artists who self-represent. Unless they turn themselves into a factory, they can't hit that 100 item mark--but a reseller who purchases from artists and resell the art would be better able to sell in quantity. So you'll have an artist who is not a TRS being hidden while a reseller selling the artist's work being rewarded with exposure and discounts.

Someone needs to seriously slap the people running that company.

magisterrex - Dan

This whole thing just smacks of deja-vu to me. I blogged a bit about what I see happening here: http://wp.me/pBb2X-3s

ebay cash flow game survivor

As of Monday, Buy.com on ebay are now sporting the Top Rated Seller badge...they are going to own the catagories they sell in, when a buyer filters it down to sort by top-rated seller...

TEW

I think it was much more interesting to see what questions were not answered. This was not what I would call a discussion or conversation.

It reeks of sheer arrogance to set aside one hour with two eBay employees to address questions on something as huge as this will be to the eBay ecosystem. And then to ignore half of the questions and concerns that did make into the one hour time frame... well... this was no discussion, this was a few crumbs - take it or leave it. Typical eBay attitude toward sellers.

vincej

You asked what I think?
I don't -- i'm just going to ignore the whole trs thingy.
and I guess, they are also convincing me NEVER to buy on ebay since I sell there -- weird logic going on here.

Feeback on ebay has come to mean next to nothing. With these steps, I believe it just dipped below that.
A true shame, since it was eBay's REAL strong point.

Since I don't pay much attentiion to ebay announcements anymore... Thanks JOHN for the tip on the seller-low DSR-suspension thing.
thinking.... do I want to risk my selling status on eBay by making a purchase where I might save $100 ? --- thinking .... thinking........ umm...... thinking. ZZZZZZZZ.

Cliff Aliperti

#8 - Did eBay catch this in action or did the seller have to present the evidence. I have buying IDs too and deal in a small niche--what if I actually receive bad service and leave a low DSR to someone selling in my field? Reading this it appears I wouldn't want to do that, so at first glance it appears that sellers who also buy on the site are pigeonholed into leaving high DSRs.