NewsHow You Can Help Destroy the eBay DSR System
I hate to write these type of posts, I really do. It’s a balance of necessity and anger, anger which will undoubtedly pour down on me from those I’m targeting with the post.
Who’s today’s target? No surprise, eBay. See, about a month ago, eBay decided to start temporarily banning sellers over the Detail Ratings System (DSR), if their scores fall below 4.1/5.0. And, by temporarily, I mean anywhere from 30 days to a full year.
Only a very small percentage of eBay buyers leave Detailed Seller Ratings. Those are the five star optional ratings that appear below a feadback window for a buyer. Most buyers don’t think they matter, and thus, don’t leave them. Of course, this system is ridiculous if it winds up barring sellers… under eBay’s vision (or lack thereof), an 80% positive rating in any one of five areas, translates into a failing grade. This type of groupthink is why I find most curved grading systems to be morally objectionable.
So, what can I do? Easy… tell you how to break the system. I want you to leave positive feedback, but give each and every seller one star on every detailed rating. Harsh? You bet. But, it will only take a small portion of eBayers to make massive waves. Remember, most don’t leave detailed ratings, that makes you exponentially more powerful in devastating a seller’s detailed seller rating.
And, we want to devastate those ratings. We want massive hemorrhages of seller bans to happen at once. Doing so will cause a shell shock to the system. eBay sellers will unleash complaints that will lock up eBay’s phones for months to come (literally… they won’t be able to sell their inventory, all they can do is call eBay to complain).
Hopefully eBay will learn their lesson quickly, and remove the DSR system. Even if this is effective though, I don’t see eBay doing that. Instead, I see them dropping the ban-able DSR level to something like two out of five stars. More reasonable, but still a mess for eBay.
Oh, and in case you were wondering about retaliation from sellers… there isn’t any anymore. eBay took away seller’s ability to leave negative feedback, in another moronic move. So, the worst a seller can do is not leave feedback on you as a buyer… and to that, I say, who cares?
i whole-heartedly agree with you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i was thinking of this the other day haha good idea
what happens if u make another account once your unable to list? does ebay track it and suspend you?
Right now, eBay says that they can suspend all your accounts, and it is indeed a violation. It is not clear how much eBay is enforcing this right now.
That said, DSR’ed (new term?) eBay sellers have told me that it does make very clear to them (when they try to list another item) that they aren’t allowed to use another account to get around this.
Was thinking once u see your dsrs low can’t you close your ebay account and make new one so you don’t get blocked from listing and just never use the old account
According to eBay, you can’t make a new account to fix the ban on the old one. They do have the ability to cross-reference your contact information, address, etc… so that’s not really a viable option to fully work around the rule.
Thanks a lot. This idea will do nothing but ruin some innocent sellers. ebay doesn’t give a rat’s patootie about sellers, so your little one-star tantrum will do no good. Way to ruin some people’s Christmas, *******.
Hey chris what I mean is if you are like on the edge on the dsr ratings but not blocked from listing yet just cancel that account or don’t list anymore on it and just use another account isn’t that a way around it
That’s certainly an option for sellers with low DSRs. Another option would be to sell some cheap things, with quick ship times in order to artificially boost your rank.
Of course, doing that just helps eBay advertise that the DSR levels are fine, and that perpetuates the artificiality of the system.
It really depends on the situation that the seller is in, how many feedbacks they have accumulated, and what their DSR status is.
What an idiotic idea. Lets go murder a few people to make the government outlaw guns. And besides, getting above a 4.1 is dead-easy, unless you are doing something very wrong.
Chris ~ I have to believe this was written tongue-in-cheek. Nonetheless, it seems that some folks are taking your post dead seriously. When it comes to one’s finances and survival in this economy, sly humor is often misinterpreted.
At least you’ve accomplished getting the attention of other bloggers. I’ll bet your numbers really jumped this week.
I am one of the sellers that got restricted because of my shipping category. All of my other categories are well above the level needed. I only sell once or twice a month so I have to be rated on the 12 month period instead of the 30 day. If you don’t get 10 dsr’s a month they use 12 month rating. My shipping times have never been more than 10 days. But since there are no concrete standards for shipping the rating is left to the buyer to decide what a long time is. I started buying a lot on eBay and leaving 1 star no matter how long it took to get here. I started doing that before I read this but I am glad there are some other people thinking the same as me. If it isn’t here in 2 days then I have determined that is a long time. Call me bitter but eBay is now a joke. I know this won’t make much of a difference but it makes me feel better.
Count me in on this 100%! I have been with ebay for over 6 years buying and selling. I have 100% feedback rating for my 6 years on ebay. I have above 3.7 ratings and was suspended. The problem is with preception. Is 3-5 days a long time, I think not. 7-10 days? I think not, I think this is average which would deserve a 3 rating. Doesn’t mean bad or disappointing but just a normal transaction. Same with communication and all the other categories. I used to rate 1 for poor, 2 for poor but could be worse 3 normal transaction 4 for yeah I got it quick or they did something I don’t expect, 5 for wow I ordered today and got tomorrow and it had extra stuff I never expected.
Let me also say those sellers who think this is crap and effects your personal pockets take a moment to think about how it effects someone with 100% feedback and 6 years of solid history. To me this is like saying you have 1 item in your grocery cart so go back to the line we want to deal with those who are have the most in there cart and maybe we’ll get to you.
I am very disheartened by this policy and question whether or not I will every continue to use ebay after all after waiting 1 year I will have adjusted and used other avenues or no longer depend on them. So long story short, if you want a good rating from me better get to me the same day otherwise I am disappointed.
Target CERTAIN sellers.
Like Uncle_Griff who is ebay’s number one apologist for this crappy system. He currently only has 11 stars so a couple on 1s would devastate him.
screw ebay, this dsr syatem is bs, and booger u say this idea will ruin innocent sellers? but it was ebay that installed this crap system in right so who’s really runing them? isn’t it ebay for allowing people to screw with people’s rating and not allow them to list?? and to frog, how do u figure it’s dead easy to get a 4.1 since all the feedback u accomulated over years don’t count and they just base things on a month rating and especially if not alot people rate u and then when the few people that do rate u bad and it messes u up
I just ordered something from QVC and they said it won’t arrive until December 19th. I wish I could give them 1 star rating. LOL! While you guys are fuming be sure to check out all of the other posts on You Tube about eBay live. There are videos of some of the sellers complaining directly to the firing squad morons eBay sends out to field our complaints. eBay is still a joke. It appears to me eBay is trying its best to defend this change.
Hi folks, please keep it clean. As usual, posts with offensive language will either be edited or removed.
The major flaw here, if this is indeed a serious post, is that such actions would feed right into eBay’s plan.
Bad ratings don’t hurt the mega Diamond-type sellers that Donohoe has the hots for. They are immune to the suspensions, but smaller and seasonal sellers would be driven right off. The same small sellers Donohoe characterizes as “flea market trash.”
If you expect the kicking and screaming of small sellers to even make a blip in Donohoe’s universe, you haven’t been paying attention.
Donohoe has been bombarded with so much “noise” (from large AND small sellers) since the changes took place that he is now totally deaf. News flash: Don’t expect to see him wearing a hearing aid anytime soon…..
i definitely believe that targeting the big sellers will help, but for this plan to work, it would have to be done in extremely large numbers.
I’ve been doing this since October. It will certainly affect their stupid policy.
The ebay stock price is in the toilet.
TO: FROG and BOOGER
“And besides, getting above a 4.1 is dead-easy”
In an ideal world maybe–If the post office delays the mail due to things like holiday increases in volume and you get a 3 star or if another buyer doesn’t like the fact that you charge a $1.00 handling fee to cover your costs and gives you another 3* then what. YOU CAN”T SELL ANYTHING FOR A MONTH. Some people don’t give a five * rating for anything they buy because they’re so tight-assed –then what? It’s not as easy as you think. This is not a limited problem- it’s affecting hundreds if not thousands of sellers. It is a flawed subjective rating system. It wouldn’t be so bad if there was no suspension policy as a result. ONE STAR FOR EVERYONE NO MATTER WHAT.
I’m on board with this. I think we need to target just the big time sellers. If we go off half-cocked and give 1’s to everyone, the first people to suffer will be the little guys, then eBay will have accomplished their goal. We need to define a “Big Seller”. 500 feedbacks a month? 1000 feedbacks a month?
actually, if everyone purchased something from a new seller and left all ones, the new sellers would be booted @ day 31 and then they would spread the word fast how corrupt eBay is. if eBay goes big box sobeit, as they will have to compete with amazon alike.
someone needs to start another auction co….or craigs alike are fine with me.
Hello everyone. We sell many thousands of items a month on Ebay. Our company has been severely impacted by the new system. We have spent many months trying to recover and we can see the light the end of the tunnel. Yes, we get it! We came to completely understand the DSR system by being lowered in status numerous times and being forced to recover or die.
It took many hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses for us to finally understand how their changes would really impact us. Many sellers fell under. It is sad. I aged fast this year. If we can make it through the first quarter of 2009, I am sure that we will survive.
If you leave us a 1 rating and we deserve a 5, then, you run us the risk of not being able to pay our staff. We have over 20 employees and in making a statement to Ebay, you stand the chance of putting thousands of people in the unemployment line and their companies out of business. That would be a sad day for you, me and our economy. Please reconsider your cause in these harsh financial times. Please, help a neighbor and do what is morally and ethically right. If you are upset with Ebay, please do not take it out on me. If you would like a lesson in how to make Ebay work for you, feel free to email.
Kind Regards,
David
So take out your frustrations on innocent sellers? ******.
IDIOT, you want to screw a random group of sellers just so they will complain for you? believe me they are already complaining..whoever wrote this is a complete jerk
Ebay’s current system is sick and has to be destroyed. Unfortunately good people will go under as well, but you cannot allow a cancerous system to spread uncheck, it must be killed off, even at the expense of the “good innocent” parts. I have to support this plan as otherwise eBay will just let this defective system go on and many more innocent sellers will continue to suffer from the poor flawed rating system. So, yes, I will vote for mass 1 star ratings to kill this flawed system once and for all.