Knowing Where You Stand

JJHOn 05.19.2008 at 5:58 pm Said:

@Pat:

“If your work ethics and end product are good then you will keep your old customers no matter where you go”

Pat, 99% of my customers are new. They will buy from me once, and I’ll never see them again. So there is nobody to “take anywhere” in my case.

My lifetime went from 3020 to 3224 today, but my 100% summary is only based on 92. So you can basically see how many ‘repeats’ I’ve had over ten years. About 200 in 3000 counts.

SandiOn 05.19.2008 at 5:59 pm Said:

Mine come back again and again. I even get christmas gifts and birthday cards from them. I wonder what they would say if they knew I was considered “untrustworthy”?

Ditto, art buyers are some of the nicest people. Mine followed me as well. I recently remarried my ex-husband and got a few wedding gifts from some of buyers (I moved to a new state so some asked why, I explained is how they knew), When my mom passed away, one of my buyers sent flowers, which is really nice and unexpected.

But you know, I was just a small seller, with no track record.

Patricia1On 05.19.2008 at 6:07 pm Said:

JJH - unfortunately, it has to do with what you sell. Some of the people I’ve met have become friends - not just customers. I had a lady buy a small 10.00 miniature from me a couple years ago - since then her and her husband have commissioned thousands of dollars worth of artwork from me. Their home is full of it. I regularly get picture of them and their children and last Christmas they sent a box of small gifts including a stocking full of toys for my cat The one great thing about selling online is some of the wonderful people you meet…with me, its not just the money. I used to have get togethers here with ebay people and for years they would meet here from different states. Age is against me and it began to be too much for me but I still hear from these people and they will drop in and take me to dinner when they’re in the area or give me a call and spend some time chatting.

implogOn 05.19.2008 at 6:30 pm Said:

Richard

Please explain to us eBay’s definition of “transparency”.

Thanks!

JJHOn 05.19.2008 at 7:04 pm Said:

Pat, I too have met thousands of great people over the years. I’ve exchanged great emails, traded with wonderful buyers, and have only had a few unreasonable people - less than you can count on one hand - out of probably 6000 lifetime transactions, and even worked those problems out to positive outcome. I have NO complaints about the people I’ve dealt with. None. I hope this trend continues. I’m hopeful it will, even with eBay’s NASTY “Don’t be afraid now” pop-up message today. I mean if that isn’t sticking a knife in sellers backs, I don’t know what is. I understand the reason they did it, to inform, but it punishes EVERYONE for the sake of the few bad ones. Not nice.

Patricia1On 05.19.2008 at 8:16 pm Said:

” I mean if that isn’t sticking a knife in sellers backs, I don’t know what is. ”

I have to believe its all out of desperation. They need traffic and they feel this is the problem. A lot of sellers think ebay is dead wrong but they’ll have to force us thru all the misery before ebay realizes that.

I did have one maniacal buyer years ago. She was so bad and so threatening that I finally had to turn her in to her own ISP and they blocked her or took away her account or whatever due to harrassment. It was all over feedback - she wanted it the instant she paid - not even waiting to see if she got her package and liked it. I remember coming home from work and finding a dozen emails from her -one after another! Normally, if a buyer asks, I give the feedback immediately but this woman was so over the top that she frightened me. I think that one horrible experience burned me badly and left me in fear of what a really mentally unbalanced person can do. The scaryest part was this buyer only lived 20 minutes from me. Ebay has left us wide open to this kind of abuse in their desperation to get their business back to where it once was. They don’t even realize the extent of what they’re doing.

Patricia1On 05.19.2008 at 8:18 pm Said:

Well, I would like to see the ones who determined this new feedback policy to face that one crazy buyer that I had LOL It might have opened their eyes!

DaveyOn 05.19.2008 at 9:19 pm Said:

Richard, I’ll have to add my voice to those who are asking for a clarification of, or disagree with the common English usage of the term “transparency” here.

I’m seeing a one-way mirror. I get to watch managements’ lips move, but they only see their own reflection. They don’t see me or those like me at all.

I don’t fault your work. You’ve actually gotten more followup than I’ve seen elsewhere in the organization.

The concept of “transparency” is voided by pieces like Ms. Norrington harping about how small sellers are eBay’s “Competitive Advantage”, while other things her organization is doing either display gross mistrust of small sellers, or outright stab us in the back. Or, am I confusing “transparency” with “authenticity” and “truthfulness?”

CrunchyPostingGoodnessOn 05.19.2008 at 9:56 pm Said:

Richard, do you plan on posting a new topic with regards to the recent eBay Town Hall?

I think it would prove very enlightening to see how posters here feel they stand in the marketplace, in light of the question asked and responses received.

DonOn 05.19.2008 at 10:32 pm Said:

Hi Richard,

I can’t say that I’m overly enthusiastic about the new and unimproved Feedback / DSR system. My feedback dropped from 99.7 to 98.3 overnight due to the new method of calculating feedback. I received one neg back in September, 5 neutrals and 387 positive over the last 12 months and somehow that works out to
98.3% ?

The DSR’s could be a very valuable tool for improving the quality of my service. Unfortunately they do not provide enough information for me to base decisions on. A detailed breakdown within each category would be helpful.

The drop-down explaining that buyers can leave negative feedback without any concerns is a little over the top. It seems that eBay is encouraging them to leave negative feedback.

Incidentally I appreciate your efforts to keep us up to speed on the various changes. Hiring you was one of eBay’s wiser moves.

Best Regards,

Don

TonyOn 05.19.2008 at 11:21 pm Said:

A 5 star DSR system where any mark below 5 is damaging is not a healthy or transparent sytem. I don’t, and never will, see it as ebay’s place to lessen visibility for sellers, you either remove them or you give them the same chance of visibility as everyone else, they’re paying fees.

If a seller on ebay decided to ship items out more slowly to buyers with a lower feedback score, they’d rightly be criticised. Selling someone a service and then deliberately giving them an inferior service, is not a good example of how to do business.

HenriettaOn 05.19.2008 at 11:23 pm Said:

On the subject of Town Hall & eBay radio.

It would be wonderful if there were some kind of transcripts for the hearing impaired.

ChrisOn 05.20.2008 at 2:48 am Said:

The announcement reads as if all sellers have a dashboard. Or is it only in the UK that the dashboard is restricted to powersellers? When these measures come in will all sellers get a dashboard? Or will it be another last minute announcement that it is for powersellers only?

TheBrewsNewsOn 05.20.2008 at 5:23 am Said:

@Chris

I think a “Lite” version of the dashboard was rolled to Powersellers so that the Powerseller discounts could be calculated. My understanding is that a complete Dashboard will roll out to everyone, both Powersellers and non-Powersellers, very soon.

MechelleOn 05.20.2008 at 9:21 am Said:

@Richard

“is a prime example of the company’s willingness to be more open, honest and available to all of its constituencies.”

examples please