if customer service is the cornerstone of businesses, how was ebay succesful?

jesseinkaron · #23 10-15-2010

Jeffweico ,

It is very frustrating for sellers outside the USA when you have DSR for shipping charges and shipping time. American customers do not want to pay more and wait longer for items from international sellers. Of course they don't. It is unfortunately the reality that it will cost more and take longer to ship from overseas.

American customers should exercise common sense when making a decision to purchase from overseas, well .. eBay buyers using common sense.. GL with that!

The result is that it is nearly impossible to get reasonable marks for DSR if you are selling to Americans from overseas.

Another thing to consider is that this system allows racism to become a factor, by allowing buyers to rate sellers as they please, it is inevitable that racists will leave poor ratings based on seller location, name, and percieved race. The fact is that a certain percentage of people are racists, so when given this opportunity .. they will choose to harm sellers they feel are not of the same race.

jesseinkaron · #24 10-15-2010

Pod,

I am surprised you have not already heard about this?
Why do you think I wrote the article! It is big news.
International sellers are reporting more cases of limits for accounts with Powerseller and TRS, but there are reports from eveywhere.

pod · #25 10-15-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by jesseinkaron

Pod,

I am surprised you have not already heard about this?

Well, I dont sell from China so to be honest I haven't payed any attention. And I dont have any limits yet, so again, haven't noticed.

But from what I gather from your posts: Its the buyers fault and also includes some racism? None of this falls under the sellers problems?

I only ask because you haven't pointed out how some sellers seem to be just fine. Luck?

I buy items from China all the time. And It comes reasonably fast 2 - 3 weeks. But I also understand it wont be 3 days. *However, one seller I have bought off 4 times is always 4-5 weeks. Why? Is maybe the people getting hit hard not delivery as well as the rest? Why do 80% of my China purchases make it her in 1-3 weeks, but this one seller consistently at 5 weeks? They have a very poor DSR. But again, I dont expect stuff overnight when I order from china so I never leave anything less then 5 stars. But if some sellers are delivering much slower then others, they will get hit the hardest. Maybe just bad luck with slow mail, who knows.

But the buyers I buy off with high DSR are always faster then the ones with low DSRs. Do they just get crappy buyers? I know buyers are nuts when they think they will get stuff in a few days and its a nightmare. But that hardly makes them a racist. Again, I have bought stuff off Asian sellers as a repeat customer lots and the speed is always consistent from one seller to the next. Always slow or always quick. I know by the seller I bought from when to expect it. I dont care because I dont buy stuff off ebay I need right away. But if a seller is always slow the average buyer is going to be murder to deal with... An honest question because I dont know anything about the mail system over there, how can some buyers get stuff here in 10 days and others 5 weeks? Is it just random on how its handled with customs maybe?

jesseinkaron · #26 10-15-2010

Pod,

I am actually a Canadian (white if u must know)

I live in Thailand ..

So your comments about China and chinese sellers should be addressed by somebody who is perhaps chinese .

jesseinkaron · #27 10-15-2010

Pod

It is however Ironic how you choose to disagree with my opinion that racism factors into eBay feedback and DSRs, then you begin to rant about chinese sellers and direct that to me as a white canadian who does not live in China, but lives in Thailand?

Do you think " Thailand , China .. its all the same? "

Is there anything else you want to say to help me make my point ?

pod · #28 10-15-2010

Oh smarten up.
I could care less if you are purple and live on the moon.... Not one word I've typed is even remotely racist.

lostsub · #29 10-15-2010

DSR's for shipping time for seller's from Asia is lower? IMO that's exactly how it should be whether it is reasonable or not. I can't compete on price, but I can compete on shipping time...hence I have 5 stars. If things were reversed and most of my customers were in Asia my DSR's would drop and Asian sellers would benefit. Seems like it's pretty fair to me.

JEM · #30 10-16-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by jesseinkaron

Jeffweico ,

It is very frustrating for sellers outside the USA when you have DSR for shipping charges and shipping time. American customers do not want to pay more and wait longer for items from international sellers. Of course they don't. It is unfortunately the reality that it will cost more and take longer to ship from overseas.

American customers should exercise common sense when making a decision to purchase from overseas, well .. eBay buyers using common sense.. GL with that!

The result is that it is nearly impossible to get reasonable marks for DSR if you are selling to Americans from overseas.

Another thing to consider is that this system allows racism to become a factor, by allowing buyers to rate sellers as they please, it is inevitable that racists will leave poor ratings based on seller location, name, and percieved race. The fact is that a certain percentage of people are racists, so when given this opportunity .. they will choose to harm sellers they feel are not of the same race.

so many excellent points made in this thread. And yes, if I treated my customers the way ebay treated me, I wouldn't last 1 week on ebay.

I could never fathom treating my customers either online or in my brick and mortar store so atrociously, but as was so correctly ointed out, they are till now , the only game in town.

But nothing lasts forever, and they WILL one day have major competition and problems, sure as the sun rises. I just hope to live to see the day.

agree here with some points here about overseas shipping. It takes longer at times for items coming from Canada to the USA than it takes Asia to USA!!! Go figure. And no ebay buyers don't care, and often don't even read where the item is coming from. I do agree it is nearly impossible to get "Ebay decent DSRs " if you ship from abroad, but if you think about it, the system is nearly stacked against the seller.

I don't think ebay buyers are racist with DSR , I do think they are just plain dumb a lot of the time, and I do think the DSR system is dumb too ( at best) or an instrument of torture ( at worst)

It was at one time mandatory for ebay employees to also buy/sell on ebay , to know what it was like. Not so the case any more. God forbid Donahoe should sell a widget and face the feedback himself.

When I started on ebay wwaayyyy back, I actually got a call from ebay one fine day, not to verify who I was, but a call to say how well I was doing and what more can ebay do to help me grow my business. Yes, no kidding. I was really taken aback and thought , wow , what a great company! and I was so happy I had found ebay to do business with. It was really great, and I would tell anyone who needed help money-wise to try ebay.

Today I would not wish my experience on anyone. It has changed that much.

Sad.

JEM · #31 10-16-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by lostsub

DSR's for shipping time for seller's from Asia is lower? IMO that's exactly how it should be whether it is reasonable or not. I can't compete on price, but I can compete on shipping time...hence I have 5 stars. If things were reversed and most of my customers were in Asia my DSR's would drop and Asian sellers would benefit. Seems like it's pretty fair to me.

to expect it to take longer from asia than a domestic shipment is natural, and yes if one wants things FAST then yes you would have an advantage being a domestic seller

however that is not the way DSR is structured

DSRs as they are now are a reflection of YOU as a seller. Your Geographic distance should not be a measure or reflection of you as a seller. If that were true your next door neighbour would be the best person in the world to buy from, and quite obviously that is not true.

Also the way DSR is set up now , the seller is rated by the performance of the post office. Just nonsensical.

DSR are inherently flawed, on so many levels , but just one being that all sellers are rated by the same system , meanwhile different shipping methods can be used, they are from all parts of the globe , and then all these variables are then put into the hands of a generally ill informed buyer with little shipping experience of their own, to evaluate - good luck.

jesseinkaron · #32 10-16-2010

There are some great points made in this thread.

For those of you that do not believe rasicm is a fact in DSRs and Feedback, do you think:
A: Racism does not exist?
B: Rasicst don't use eBay?
C: eBay has a system in place to ensure feedback is fair

lotsub maskes the point that Asian sellers should have lower DSRs, and maybe he is right, I think that is also what I am saying, people will leave poor DSRs because of shipping cost and time of delivery. Unfortunately Asian sellers are being held to the same unrealistic standards as American sellers, DSR falls below 4.5 and you get in trouble. I read that eBay is going to demand 4.8 in the future. I can never meet these expectations.

I ship to USA with registered mail, I write in BOLD read letters that delivery takes 2-3 weeks, I choose the econonmy 10-20 day shipping optoion on eBay. And I consistantly get low DSR for shipping time from customers who recieve the product within 2 weeks.

Now overall my customers are very happy, and I don't think they have a clue what they are doing when it comes to DSR. Because if they new that they were conrtibuting to the demise of many sellers that provide the cheap goods that they love to buy, they would not be so quick to give poor DSRs. And I don't care what anyone says, certain buyers will treat a seller with less respect based on the preception that the seller is Asian. And if you don't think that is racist, then what is?

pod · #33 10-16-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by jesseinkaron

if they new that they were conrtibuting to the demise of many sellers that provide the cheap goods that they love to buy, they would not be so quick to give poor DSRs

For sure. eBay needs to take SOME step to make it easier for a buyer to understand that 4 out of 5 is a fail. Not what it sounds like, Just less than perfect. A movie graded 4 out of 5 stars is damn good. A ton of 3 or 4s would never be left if they knew how bad it was on seller.

jesseinkaron · #34 10-16-2010

Pod,

Well put!

Finally something we can agree upon !

shadee · #35 10-16-2010

Umm on the selling limit.. soo what if you sell 10 things and not get a single feedback? Feedback isn't always left.. and I have had some occasions where I only get like 1 out of 10..

How is one supposed to make much progress on limits like that..?

jamblix · #36 10-16-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by shadee

Umm on the selling limit.. soo what if you sell 10 things and not get a single feedback? Feedback isn't always left.. and I have had some occasions where I only get like 1 out of 10..

How is one supposed to make much progress on limits like that..?

It's nonsense

. Ebay has no obvious explanations for their outrageous policies or actions, that's just how it is. I'll bet they don't even know what they're doing half the time.

There was a recent thread about a guy who got suspended and when he asked eBay why he was suspended, this was the response he got from customer service:

"I am sorry to inform you that, since we have limited access to the tools, we are unable to check the reason behind suspension"

Yeah awesome, so eBay suspends users and have no idea why they do these things.. WHO KNOWS

psthreeusb · #37 10-17-2010

the ultimate proof that ebay is a massive meteor travelling through the e-universe unmanned is when you do have a limitation placed on your account. it is not uncommon to recieve a unique response from every person you speak to on the phone and none of them have the authority to make decsions. The only one's allowed to release your account from limitation is some closed door email team whom you are not permitted to have a conversation with. i have been an active stock trader for many years and this is the sort of consumer complaints you hear about before a massive fraud is uncovered and someone goes to jail. anyone remember enron? worldcom? ebay is that big and it is hurting even more people with their policies. karma is a bitch...