eBay Sellers: Are You a Top Rated Seller or a Dishonest Dirtbag?

As if eBay sellers didn’t already have it bad enough, the Illustrious Potentate and CEO of eBay, John Donahoe, infamous for his “disruptive changes” that have sent eBay stock and sales plummeting to record lows; has basically announced to the world that if an eBay seller isn’t a Top Rated Seller, he or she is a dishonest dirtbag---not to be trusted and certainly not to be bought from.

Here is an excerpt from Mr. Donahoe’s recent interview in USA Today:

Question:

“What can buyers on eBay do to protect themselves against counterfeits and fraud?”

Donahoe’s reply:

“Look for a top-rated seller. Every single transaction is rated on four criteria: Was the item as described; did it ship quickly; did it ship at an appropriate price; and was the seller cooperative. For every single transaction that seller does, the buyer rates them on those four criteria. If you go on to eBay and do a search on any page, you'll see a small number of sellers have received top-rated status. That means less than 1% of their buyers have ever rated them low. More and more buyers are buying from top-rated sellers.”

Now that’s a real shot in the arm for sellers who are already suffering from low sales due to the Best Match function that doesn’t work, and other eBay glitches such as the biggie right during the Christmas shopping season where buyers were completely unable to search, see items in eBay sellers’ stores or even look at other listings by the same seller.

Talk about a disastrous fiasco that cost sellers untold amounts of money!

But hey, this is about par for the course and what we’ve all come to expect from Mr. Donahoe’s disruptive changes.

In a classic case of adding insult to injury, eBay’s CEO has virtually announced to the entire world that if a seller doesn’t have the shiny gold badge icon that designates a Top Rated Seller…..you shouldn’t risk your money buying from them because they’re untrustworthy sleazeballs who will take your money and run, or rip you off in some other way.

Now, the first problem with this is that---true to form---John Donahue doesn’t even know what the four criteria are in the Detailed Seller Ratings.

It doesn’t ask a buyer to rate how “cooperative” a seller was.

The seller is rated on communication.

Hardly the same thing, John. But again, par for the course and right in keeping with all of your other ill-informed gobbledy-gook.

Nor does eBay’s reigning monarch have his facts straight on the percentages involved in being a Top Rated Seller.

It is not “less than 1%” of buyers who have left low ratings for a seller. Instead, it is less than one-half of 1%. A whole other ballgame.

One-half of one percent.

Think about it.

If a small seller encounters more than two unreasonable buyers in a year, they are not a Top Rated Seller. Taking into consideration that a large percentage of apparently satisfied buyers don’t leave feedback at all, (in fact, historically around 60% fail to leave feedback) then a seller with approximately 700 sales in a 12 month period who has even three people leave a low rating in DSRs is probably not a Top Rated Seller.

Never mind that a seller has 100% positive feedback, no negatives or even a neutral. Never mind that a seller has DSR ratings of 4.9s and 5s on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being perfect. Never mind how many years a seller has been on eBay and how many thousands of satisfied buyers there have been.

If they are unlucky enough to run across merely three impossible-to-please buyers in a year, out of hundreds of top rated transactions; or three sellers in their same category using different buying IDs to knock out some competition by leaving low DSRs……or more than two buyers leave positive feedback but are confused about the Detailed Seller Ratings and think that a rating of 1-2 is GOOD, which does happen, then according to John Donahoe, they’re an untrustworthy dirtbag and buyers should avoid them like the plague.

How nice.

But wait, it gets worse!

A “Top Rated Seller” is referred to by eBay as TRS. If a seller is a TRS, he or she is a Top Rated Seller with a nice gold badge icon.

Now, the next level down, the one for sellers who don’t quite make the microscopic cut for Top Rated Seller, is called “Above Standard Seller.”

So, if you are a Top Rated Seller, you’re a TRS, and apparently, if you are an Above Standard Seller, you’re a………guess what…..

ASS.

Isn’t that enough to warm the cockles of an eBay seller’s heart? You might not fall into that unreasonably elite top tier to be a TRS, but if you’re an almost perfect, honest seller who gives great customer service, you can still be an ASS on eBay!

Wonderful! Once again, John Donahue throws eBay sellers under the bus.