Now we have some stats available through the US Seller Dashboard it’s possible to see how the stats have changed over the course of a year.
| DSR | eBay 12 month Average |
eBay 30 day average |
|---|---|---|
| Item As Described | ||
| Communication | ||
| Dispatch Time | ||
| Postage and Packaging Charges |
It appears (at least from figures available on eBay.com) that DSRs have in the large remained static or crept upwards over the last year. I’ll be interested to see the averages next week when DSRs are displayed in 1/100ths.
In order for your listings to have raised visibility in Best Match on eBay.com each of your DSR 
scores has to be 4.7 or higher, and Post and Packing charges are still the sticking point for the average seller.
That DSRs aren’t falling has got to be a relief to sellers, but of course the real question is are yours above, level or below average?
13 Responses
I presume your numbers should each have “four point” in front of them?
Oops yes – thanks Lynne, have edited 😳
(Does anyone ever get a DSR average less than four? 😯 )
I have raised visibility ….but I am on 96.5%, so am I good, crap or just plain awkward? 🙂
with this raised visibility thingy. I wonder does it actually work , is there any tangible advantage or is it all psychology , a little like being a powerseller once was
I’m above eBay average with 4.9 on the top three, 4.7 so equal to average on the p&p, 30days and 12 months the same, so no change it would seem. I am very interested to see what the 1/100 shows, I might be able to see small changes then.
I haven’t paid for increased visibility, but I’m still getting a lot of Aussie and US buyers. I DO have all international postage on the listings, so I wonder if this is still keeping me up there? I know they have to have worldwide selected in their search, but to be honest, if they don’t, they won’t be looking to buy from England, so I don’t want those watchers anyway.
What I would like is to see DSR’s by category which would be far more relevant and would allow me to see how I compare against my competitors.
My 30 day DSR’s are 5, 4.9, 5 and 4.9.
My OH’s are 4.8, 4.7, 4.8 and 4.7
He is quicker at posting, quicker at communication, quicker at feedback, you name it he is faster and more efficient than I am but his DSR’s are worse.
I sell in collectables, porcelain, glass, craft – what I call the fluffy categories.
He sells in motorbike, plumbing, hardware and dirty mechanical things which weigh heavy.
There is no way you can compare the 2 sets of DSR’s. The customers are 2 totally different beasts.
DSRs split by category are something that I would love to see as well – would be very intereresting.
I did ask at ChannelAdvisor Catalyst if catagory splits for DSRs would be coming, but was told by eBay that it’s still early days and although there may be differences in reality they’re small and eBay needs more data to be able to draw realistic conclusions.
To be honest the 0.2 difference in DSR scores won’t make an awful lot of difference in the UK (Although in the US it would mean you’d get a 15% discount and your OH would only get 5% 😯 )
I expect, as eBay learn more about how the DSRs are panning out (remember: they’re learning too!) that greater flexibility by category will become the norm. Although, I agree about the distinction re ‘fluffy’ and ‘hard’ categories…
To be frank, if DSRs don’t on the whole improve, it’s a failure. 😉
The problem I have with expecting DSRs on the whole to improve, is just how high can you expect them to go?
eBay’s average DSR may improve as they kick off sellers with the lowest scores, or at least make it impossibly difficult for them to sell. If only the best sellers are getting sales only they can get DSRs, and the average will creep up.
However there has to be a limit – just where that is is the burning question? Can anyone get 5/5 across the board on an ongoing basis? Just one 4/5 will lower your score and there will always be a buyer out there who ranks 4/5 as great service reserving a 5/5 for the unattainable excellence they believe might come before they get struck by lightening.
That means 4.9s are about the best sellers can ever achieve, and 4.8 is damn good too. If 4.8 is close to perfect and eBay’s average (at worst) is 4.6 then there isn’t that much room for improvement.
Shame really that really bad sellers are not getting 3.0s, good sellers 4.0s and fantastic sellers 4.5-5.0s as then the spread would be easier to see.
Dan @ vzaar on May 26th, 2008 11:13 pm I expect, as eBay learn more about how the DSRs are panning out 😐 (remember: they’re learning too!) 😐 that greater flexibility by category will become the norm. Although, I agree about the distinction re ‘fluffy’ and ‘hard’ categories…
To be frank, if DSRs don’t on the whole improve, it’s a failure.
Learning?!? At sellers expense 😥
Because we deal in totally different goods it has been easy for me to get an insight into how the different buyers think.
My Fluffy buyers are buying things they desire, certainly they don’t need them but their purchase makes them happy (hopefully). They open the parcel they love it, just what they wanted.
OH Hard buyers are buying things they need and they want them NOW. They have the motorbike/car, central heating, in bits in the garage, they find they need a vital bit to complete the job. But they don’t really want to buy it, they might not be able to afford it but they HAVE to have it. So OH doesn’t sell “pleasure” he sells “costly necessity”.
I don’t think I will tell him about the 5% Chris, might not go down too well
DSRs should be categorised and weighting applied. If you are selling an item with an absolute specification it is different (easier?) than selling a relative item, which is where my particular axe is ground. We sell clothing on eBay or lingerie to be precise… That is where the precision stops, obviously sizing is an issue and quality is a relative term. There must be other areas in eBay that have this problem (jewllery?) and the DSRs suffer as a result although the seller does their utmost to obviate problems.
Thankfully and through hard work we maintain a reasonable DSR, but it is not easy!
eBay’s Detailed Seller Rating system is flawed on the topic of shipping and handling charges. The buyer obviously agrees to the shipping and handling charges at purchase, so they’ve already agreed that it is fair price.
WARNING TO SELLERS WITH LOW COST ITEMS: If you sell low-ticket items you are at biggest risk for low Detailed Seller Ratings on eBay. The fact is that if your shipping costs are more than 20% of the cost of the item, buyers don’t like it and they have an opportunity to respond to you either with neutral feedback or a low DSR for shipping and handling. When the cost of the item is high in relation to the fees paid for postage a buyer is naturally more inclined to score you low on shipping. It’s more than an education factor — while most buyers don’t know what the seller paid USPS or UPS, they don’t’ care. They simply don’t want to pay for shipping. But, heck, if the buyer could find it locally they wouldn’t buy it from you in the first place.
The fact is that you could provide FREE SHIPPING and a buyer can still rate you low on shipping and handling. Here’s where the system is flawed. If the service is free, then the score should be automatically a 5.0/5.0 for the DSR.