Please make sure you leave a rating of "5" on all detailed sellers ratings (DSRs) when you are leaving feedback.  Ebay recently made changes to their feedback system where sellers can suffer SEVERE penalties if anything besides a "5" is left and you may be hurting your favorite sellers without knowing it. What are these penalties?



*Any rating below 4.9:  Seller pays an additional 5% in fees to sell on ebay

*Any rating below 4.8:  Seller pays an additional 10% in fees to sell on ebay, and seller's listings are demoted in ebay's search - making them harder to find

*Any rating below 4.6:  Seller pays an additional 5% in fees to sell on ebay and loses powerseller status. Listings are further demoted in ebay's search

*Any rating below 4.3:  Penalty -Seller's listings are moved the the last pages of search results

*Any rating below 4.1:  Penalty - Seller is no longer allowed to list on ebay (Click here for ebay's policy of banning sellers at a 4.1 rating)

eBay tells you a "4" rating means the item was accurately described, that you were satisfied with the seller's communication, the item was shipped quickly, and the shipping charges were reasonable - which a normal person would say is a good thing. However,  ebay treats a "4" as a request to terminate the sellers's ebay account, charge the seller more, and make it difficult for bidders to find that seller's items. If you feel that the service you received does not warrant a "5" rating,  PLEASE contact us so we can resolve any issues for you.  We are reasonable people and are more than willing to work with you to resolve any issues.

Wow !!  I don't think that is on US eBay ... is it ?    But I've got a 100% rating ...  

Dear Jonathan,

Thank you for writing eBay in regard to how DSR's can affect sellers on
eBay, the consequence for giving the seller a low rating, and the
benefits of getting a rating of 5's.

I understand your concern on how DSR works.  I'd be more than willing to
discuss this with you.

In addition to leaving an overall Feedback rating (positive, neutral, or
negative) for a seller, you can also leave detailed ratings for sellers
in which you can provide additional information about the transaction,
and your sellers can get a more complete picture of their performance.

The ratings are based on a 5 star scale:

5 is the highest score
1 is the lowest

Leaving Detailed Seller Ratings is optional. You are not required to
leave one for your seller, but we encourage you to fill these out as
they allow you to give more details on the transaction.  

You can leave a Detailed Seller Rating for a seller in four areas:

Item as described
Communication
Shipping Time
Shipping and handling costs

As with regular feedback, you can leave Detailed Seller Ratings for a
transaction within 60 days.  You can leave detailed ratings for your
seller when you leave them a feedback.

Detailed Seller Ratings are anonymous. Your sellers won't be able to see
the exact Detailed Seller Ratings that you've left for them.  There is
no penalty for buyers who leave their sellers a rating of less than a 5
since this is your honest opinion on the transaction.

With regard to the benefits of getting 5's on the DSR, the sellers
account performance affects placement in a Best Match search.  Best
Match sorts based on item relevance, buyer historical behavior, and
seller performance.

The higher the DSRs, the better search results sellers get for their
items.

We are committed to making your eBay experiences pleasant and
fulfilling.

Sincerely,  
Meldomin


eBay Customer Support

With regard to the benefits of getting 5's on the DSR, the sellers
account performance affects placement in a Best Match search.  Best
Match sorts based on item relevance, buyer historical behavior, and
seller performance.

O i would like a ‘tick here if this person is a massive postage profiteer’ option though, linked to some sort of feedback system which terminally electrocutes the offender via their computer once they get 10 votes...er i may have gone off track a bit there

Problem is, the ratings talked about are not effected by your 100% feedback...