Ebay DSR Stars - Good for Ebay, Still Bad for Sellers and Buyers

Ebay DSR stars are still the talk of the marketplace and those who have left it. Why Ebay DSR stars and not fee hikes? Ebay DSR stars are one of the most damaging Ebay implementations out there - and the most dishonest. Ebay DSR stars mean many businesses can't get or maintain a foothold in the once popular marketplace. Ebay is dying. Perhaps Ebay DSR stars is the biggest spike in the heart of the vampirish site thus far. But surprisingly and even with all the reports out ther, not every Ebay buyer knows the damage their DSR star reports do. Do you?

DID YOU KNOW: Buyers who leave 4 Ebay DSR stars or less are possibly costing ebay sellers thousands of dollars by doing so? Did you know they are also forcing the "good deals" and fun sellers off ebay? How do I know? I'm a buyer who has become wise to the Ebay DSR stars mess. At first, I did not know the Ebay DSR stars I was leaving for good sellers could hurt them in the long run. I've educated myself on the DSR star system and have made it a point to request that Ebay management re-examine the Ebay DSR stars immediately. What was once an annoyance is now causing sellers to leave even before the holiday season is in full swing. Countless favorite sellers are leaving due to in great part to the Ebay DSR stars system of feedback. Does that make me, a buyer want to buy from the big label accounts Ebay is getting in? Not by a longshot, and I'm not alone.

Ebay seems to think that they can use us buyers as their axmen. They want the bigger accounts to be attracted to the website, but that's like taking out all the bees from the beehive because it blocks all the honey. Not all Ebay buyers know that the Ebay DSR stars hurt sellers. Other competitve sellers have found ways of gaming the system by attacking competiting sellers with Ebay DSR stars dinging, and there is no recourse. Many Ebay buyers still don't know that they are forever damaging the sellers they visit by doing something that seems pretty inane - leaving stars of good or lower. That's right, GOOD or lower stars mean problems for the sellers. Here's why:

Ebay punishes sellers who have 4.5 Ebay DSR stars or less and kicks sellers out who have lower than 4.3 Ebay DSR stars. That's right. Better than good means punishment and sometimes suspension. As a Buyer, you see that 4 stars as good. That is not true in Ebay DSR stars formulas. Punishment can be pretty bad for these sellers, too. How are they punished? Well, paypal can hold their money for 21 days (or longer, Paypal just can't seem to figure out how to release the money when they promised. to) for being considered a bad seller. Why does paypal do this? Easy. They make interest on the float. So sellers can be forced off the marketplace because of the fact that they can't keep up with the cost of shipping, because yep, paypal freezes the shipping money too. Now that Paypal (or another merchant form of payment) is the only permitted type of payment allowed on the marketplace now, (and no, you still can't use Google Checkout), the float makes Ebay a lot more money. Four stars means profit! And all Ebay had to do is tell a white lie - that four stars is good. Are you scared yet? If you like good deals, you should be.

If you have bad stars, it is nearly impossible to get them back up again. The reason is simple math, or in this case, Ebay math, which encourages that 4 stars is good, and 5 stars is more satisfactory. Anyone who has ebayed long knows that plenty of buyers rate sellers on a curve. As a Ebay DSR Stars confused buyer, I left fours for good service and fives for outstanding service. I gave fours to the everyday sellers, not knowing this would damage the sellers I frequented. I gave fives only when the seller went out of their way. Was this right? I feel like Ebay lied to me. Not being a seller myself, I had no clue the sanctions and fees I was costing my sellers. And, it's impossible to take it all back. Ebay would not hear my phone calls requesting they change my Ebay DSR stars to fives. I may have damaged a good lot of different sellers, as I have been a high-volume buyer in the past. Ebay can not claim ignorance of their missteps, because they are not stupid. I can only guess this was all done on purpose. I hope that my self-NARU from me quitting the marketplace will remedy the stars I have left in the past.

Here's the ugly truth. Ebay raised fees for sellers but lets some of them have a discount if they keep the Ebay DSR stars up. Sounds nice, right? Well, it's almost an unobtainable goal. Who can keep their Ebay DSR stars up? For starters, sellers with the money to have family members purchase their own products and give them good Ebay DSR stars. Other sellers who can overcome some of the Ebay DSR stars mess are sellers who refuse to sell to newbie buyers or put a lot of restrictions on buyers. There are also large-contract sellers who seem exempt from DSR suspensions. Ebay seems to prefer these sellers over those trying to maintain honesty in the marketplace. Convinced you're in trouble yet? You don't have to be. You can buy from an Ebay alternative!

Bad sellers who sell lots and lots of stuff every day can keep up with the wave of negativity, but for smaller sellers with a smaller volume, one faulty ding from a careless or vindictive buyer is the END of their Ebay career. The end. . . finito. There is no logical way to recover from this. Why? The deck is stacked against occasional sellers. At the same time, it is buyers who are suffering. They can't find the things they want to buy because the sellers they want to buy from are simply absent from the marketplace. In this economy, Ebay should be booming. People typically flock to flea-market type marketplaces in times of weak economy. Why won't Ebay capitalize on this? They are too bull headed to admit error. As the stock continues to slide, it is likely the powers behind Ebay will continue to blame the economy and not the fact that kitchen table entrepreneurs have been forced out of business by poor policy changes, unreasonable fee hikes, and the Ebay DSR stars system.

As a buyer, it was impossible for me to see the Ebay DSR stars would hurt my sellers. There was simply no warning - just a big bold popup encouraging us to neg if we wanted to without recourse. I only learned about the Ebay DSR stars problems when I went to a message board to get information about a problem I had experienced. The truth is, only people having problems go to the boards. Who has the time to seek all that out? Ebay is supposed to be simple. I'm surprised they would hide such important truths from the buyers like that. I feel used. Has Ebay used you too?