Prompt Shipping Gets 5-Star Treatment

eBay's latest change shows good intentions, but falls short.

by Auctiva.com staff writer
- Sep 21, 2010

Just weeks after eBay announced it would give sellers an automatic five-star DSR rating for shipping cost if they offered free shipping, the company says it will also extend this default rating to sellers who provide prompt shipping.

Beginning in November, sellers will automatically earn five stars for shipping time if they specify a one-day handling time for their listings, upload tracking information within one business day of receiving payment for the product and if items arrive within four business days of payment, eBay announced today.

This change aims to mend a long-standing complaint from many eBay sellers: that buyers often leave good feedback for sellers but low DSRs, putting their Top-rated and PowerSeller ratings in jeopardy.

"When we know you delivered fast and free shipping on a transaction, we'll make sure your rating reflects that," says Dinesh Lathi, vice president of Seller and Buyer Experience.

While this change shows eBay has good intentions toward making its policies more seller-friendly, it misses the mark, notes Auctiva Product Analyst Rebecca Miller. The four-day limit may be too short for some sellers, she says—especially if they are shipping items to the other side of the country.

"If you're providing the same service to two different buyers, but you live on the East Coast and one of them is on the West Coast, it could take six days for your item to get to its destination," she says. "The two listings might end on the same day, and ship on the same day, but just because of distance, one of them may get to its destination later.

"If you provided the same service to both buyers, why shouldn't you get the same shipping DSRs for both?"

Other sellers wonder the same thing in online forums. But Lathi assures sellers the update is meant to guarantee seller "performance ratings are a true reflection of the great service you provide."

For more information on this policy, please read eBay's announcement.


10 Comments

>>  Pages: 1 of 2  <<
10  
Four days delivery time is UNREALISTIC! It takes a full week for most of my packages to be delivered from the west coast to east coast. I use UPS because they are much more affordable. Didn't eBay consider this fact before making another hoop for sellers to jump through? And of course, they love to encourage selling out of the country-do not get mestarted with how long those deliveries take.

  Posted by [Guest User] at 7/19/2011 10:08:34 AM
9  
This is just another magical idea conjured up by some pen-pushers in an office who are obviously paid to 'get buyers to bid higher so we make more on fees'. As others have said, it only works if the buyer lets ebay know that the item has arrived and some/many, won't! It doesn't matter to either the buyer or ebay how sellers are perceived and more and more buyers are twigging on to the fact that they can push for discounts, part/full refunds etc just by threatening their seller if the seller doesn't come up with the goods! It's like the other gem they recently introduced whereby any case open

  Posted by intoodeep at 10/7/2010 10:19:00 AM
8  
Mashb99. . I feel your pain. You never grow totally numb to it, but the first few are killers because they are usually so unfair. Ebay has it set up so sellers are failures!! No matter what we do more is expected. I would LOVE to grade them on some of their brainstorms. I would love to grade their outsourced phone calls who inform you of changes 3 times by phone in one week but can't answer anything.. poor!! Guess they bombard with calls when they make changes so it looks like they are wonderful, customer oriented. I am truly sorry this happened to you over something you have NO control ove

  Posted by lookandbuyme at 9/28/2010 8:42:00 PM
7  
We just got a negative feedback! Why? Here is the story: 1) Payment received at 06:22 2) Article shipped at 09:00 same day (i.e. 2 hours and 38 minutes after PayPal payment, and it only took that long because the post office wasn't open before that). Basically, instant shipping - it just couldn't have been done any faster. 3) The article arrives in Canada less than 3 days later - an excellent delivery time, considering it travelled all the way from Australia. So, we deserve a 5-star rating and positive feedback for extra good performance, right? WRONG ! We get negative feedback instead.

  Posted by masb99 at 9/28/2010 6:05:00 PM
6  
In US fastest is express/overnight and it is NOT even GUARANTEED and is VERY EXPENSIVE. I have specifically been asked 2 times to use it for men who "forgot" it was Christmas until the day or two before Christmas. 99.9% of people would NOT buy if they had to pay that. UPS is slower that priority mail normally. Post office website says " "ESTIMATED 3 DAYS". My post office Expresses the words "ESTIMATED 3 DAYS" When I questioned them they said all postal facilities are cutting back on staff and things will be getting slower as more cuts are done. Again, no control over the Post Office. Maybe n

  Posted by lookandbuyme at 9/25/2010 3:11:00 AM

Leave a Comment

Only logged in users can comment. Please sign in to post, or if you don't have an account yet, sign up for a free trial.

About the Author

Auctiva staff writers constantly monitor trends and best practices of those selling on eBay and elsewhere online. They attend relevant training seminars and trade shows and regularly discuss the market with PowerSellers and other market experts.

Other Entries by this Author

Follow Us