posted on July 1, 2003 08:48:56 AM newThey are exemplary members who are held to the highest standards of professionalism, having achieved and maintained a 98% positive feedback rating and an excellent sales performance record.
I say this is merely hype as many Power Sellers have sub 98% percentages and ebay is more concerned about the money the Power Sellers pay than the truth in the percentage requirement. A simple software application should easily be able to spot the offenders.
Here's an example of a huge bid fee paying PSer with a sub 98% rating ( over 900 negatives )
posted on July 1, 2003 10:12:05 AM new
Is that why eBay Disabled the feedback function? I has not been working all morning, here in the Central Missouri area.
posted on July 1, 2003 10:18:49 AM new
I don't think that it is a true reflection of some of the performance of some power sellers. I know one guy that sells a similar product, dm1968. If you check his feedback, he's riddled with negatives. Some people stopped leaving negs, as he was quick to retaliate. Also, even though his shipping is clearly stated in his auctions, he charges $5-6 bucks and only pays about 80 cents for postage. Sounds like fee avoidance to me. You still have to be careful when buying from someone with a 98% rating. If they have 1000's of positives, it could still have 100's of negs.
posted on July 1, 2003 10:32:32 AM new
Many posters here are convinced the ebay employees ar ebay brass read these message boards. That may be true but I think many news reporters are read these boards to get ideas for storys or research possible stories or simply to see what the ebayers are writing.
Do a story on the 98% guideline and build up the ebay greed factor!
posted on July 1, 2003 10:40:31 AM new
Celebrity >> Concerning the previously mentioned seller...though overcharging for shipping is aggravating and counter-productive, is it stated as such in the auction? If so, then those buyers HAVE NOTHING TO COMPLAIN ABOUT. Geez, how many times do we all have to dance around this subject? As a seller, if I listed the shipping cost in my auction, the winning bidder receives the item and then leaves a negative because the actual shipping cost was less than what they paid, I'd leave a return negative too.
Sorry if I'm venting, but I've just been dealing with a buyer who won a large item for 9.99. Shipping, as stated, is 6.00. The buyer is complaining since the cost of shipping is 2/3 the price of the actual item. Hello? When did shipping cost become dependent on the selling price of an item, rather than actual size, weight, and zone being shipped to? There sure are some stone-cold stupid people out there.
"Who's tending the bar? Sniping works up a thirst"
posted on July 1, 2003 11:03:41 AM new
I just mentioned that as most of the negatives he got, was due to his shipping charges being so high. Apparently he doesn't combine shipping either as one of the feedbacks mentioned about paying $20+, to ship 4 photos. I think since people saw the high price, they assumed that he was using priority mail. Personally, I don't buy anything on ebay, unless I know exactly what the shipping is going to be.
posted on July 1, 2003 11:22:05 AM new
Sometimes I think a lot of the excessive s/h complaining must come from newbies. What compounds it is the wide variety of s/h charges for the same exact thing. The other day I saw a seller charging $2.19 s/h on a heavy collectible and the average for the same thing was about $6. If the seller lied to the post office and sent the item via Media Mail he might break even. Image the new ebayer that wins a few of these low ball shipping auctions and then wins one on the other end of the spectrum with a fairly exessive s/h?
posted on July 1, 2003 12:45:43 PM new
Here is a Power Seller with less than 94% positive. It is most likely that these people give a lot of money to eBay in fees so they won't mess with them.
posted on July 1, 2003 02:49:38 PM new
marcn, Boy you sure blew a hole in that powerseller program! hahahaha,,,,where's the mandatory 98%? 93% and they are pumpin' out the stuff AND $6.00 to mail a T shirt?
More power to them. Seems they have all the power they need!
Great investigative work marcn.
AND THE BEAT GOES ON,,,,,
posted on July 1, 2003 04:03:30 PM new
marcn: That is the powerseller I was referring to in an earlier thread. I was attempting to let them keep their dignity. ....and the illusion that ebay treats every seller the same.
This also goes to show you that feedback really does not mean a thing. Most buyers just see the high feedback number and then become blind to the rest of the details. I would never buy from someone with nearly 5000 negs no matter how may positives there are.
posted on July 1, 2003 04:11:49 PM new
So funny! I was just getting ready to post this.
Why oh why does e bay make such a big deal out of,,,,,,,don't forget to post feed back. on the end of auction notice e mail. Who cares! It has no benefit to e bay if anyone bothers leaving any feedback or not. I would just as soon they just not even bother mentioning it. It almost appears that it is there for one reason only. Don't forget to start a good ole fashioned mud slinging.
They don't mention how to readily contact THEM if anyone needs to.
posted on July 1, 2003 04:29:30 PM new
Ebay makes a big deal out integrity and they have very little themselves. Thanks for posting the id of the PS with a 94%. Come on Ina Steiner or Troy Wolverton, write a juicy story about this ebay hypocracy.
Here's a defrocked power seller that still boosts Buy with confidence from a USA based PLATINUM Power Seller in his auction
posted on July 1, 2003 04:55:13 PM new
Why would you want to "report" this to anyone? E bay knows what their doing. Let YOUR % drop and you'll be dropped unless you are kicking butt like this seller paying e bay ALOT of fees!
posted on July 3, 2003 09:28:35 AM new
I will hold the commentary to two points instead of commenting on each one of your statements.
First, you are wrong.
The 98% referred to in the Powerseller ode you might call it is calculated differently than the feedback percent you see by the name. Not a bright idea and many powersellers let eBay no about it but they must not have felt as strong.
The PoweSeller percentage is calculated as
Total Pos / (Total Pos + Total Neg)
Looking at the first guy with an overall of 97.4. Here are the numbers
46156 positives. 30883 are from unique users.
795 neutrals.
933 negatives. 821 are from unique users
46156 / (46156+933) = .980186455.....
The still qualify as a PowerSeller. If they did not and got reported they have 30 days to bring their feedback in line.
How it is calculated by their name is
Unique pos / (unique pos + unique neg)
30883 / (30883 + 821) = .97410503075......
The second point I would like to make is Your wrong again.
A powerseller and be removed/sanctioned as fast as anyone else for a violation. It does not matter that they are a power seller. I reported one myself just the other day and the problem was taken care of in 24 hours.
While there is no specific place to report a PowerSeller violation on the webform You should first use the one that best fits the problem. If a PS has a direct link in an auction to a web site then report it a link to a web site or sales off ebay do not look for power seller abuse. Same with any violation.
If it is for feedback violation (being under the 98% level) find one close and explain in the text they are violating that rule. Remember it dies not matter what the number is by their name (yes it is mis leading) but how the PS status is calculated as I have shown above.
Sniping works up a thirst"
....and the illusion that ebay treats every seller the same.