Is this true about the star system on ebay?

[tulagirl]

Recently I ordered something from my husband and I got a letter with it that reads like this:

Our goal is to earn a 5 star rating with every purchase.  Ebay charges us more if we have less than 5 stars.  5 stars for us will help keep our prices down on your next purchase.  Tell us how we can make your experience a 5 star one!

I was wondering is it true that they charge more if your stars are not 5 stars?

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Yes, if you are not a Top Seller with 100% feedback, you fall into a different fee category and they can hold your funds for a longer period of time. 

[ponylady]

Ebay final value fee's are determined on if you are a top-rated seller or not. They do not charge the seller more if there stars are not solid 5's though even if they are Top-Rated. It goes by a percentage of over three months. And also they have to maintain a feedback score of 98% not 100%.

[Stormy31685]

I third the motion that this is true.  As Ponylady said, there is a normal fee schedule, and then you are given a discount for maintaining a "top rated" status.  The seller's statements were true, but worded somewhat differently.

[Whoa1234]

What if you don't touch the star system when leaving feedback. Does it affect the seller negatively?

[Navi]

What if you don't touch the star system when leaving feedback. Does it affect the seller negatively?

I believe it only hurts the seller if you leave a low star rating. If you don't leave any star rating, it doesn't impact their star rating.

[MikeysGrrrl]

Leaving a star rating helps the seller maintain their top seller status, if all fo your sales in a 3 month period didn't leave you any stars then you'd drop off the top seller list which would also affect whether you're bronze or higher for discounted seller fees... We actually have a problem with ebay right now because 1 person left us a low rating for communication (which is silly because we probably send 2-3 messages once the purchase is made and then contact after the item is received, so we definitely have good commuincation) but anyways... because of that we have limits on us for certain categories of items... I called and spoke with a rep and she explained the whole thing and how it was based on the star system, we've had well over 110 sales since September 2012, yet we've only had 50% leave us feedback ans stars, and in the last 3 months, of the say 25+ sales, we've maybe gotten ffedback and stars 3 times...

Buyers who aren't familiar with selling, and even sellers who just dabble in selling don't realize how important the star system is... it's on the same page as the feedback and takes like 3 seconds to click them, we're honest when we fill them out for others, we usually leave 5 stars... even then if we have a problem, we'll contact the seller before doing anything else...

So to answer the question... although 5 star ratings don't directly affect the cost of a product, it does affect the seller and if they lose their discount then chances are they will raise their prices to make up the difference which in turn would affect the buyer...

[Navi]

Ebay putting so much weight on a brand new system that both buyers and sellers don't really understand is just silly. 

In most places, a 4-star rating is still a really good rating! But on ebay anything less than 5 stars is awful. I dont get it, ebay.

[MikeysGrrrl]

Ebay putting so much weight on a brand new system that both buyers and sellers don't really understand is just silly. 

In most places, a 4-star rating is still a really good rating! But on ebay anything less than 5 stars is awful. I dont get it, ebay.

I completely agree, it doesn't make sense, but that's how ebay is...
We've had a few problems with how ebay handles things both from a selling and a buying standpoint, I'm really thankful that we've found the MLParena, at least for our pony purchases, everyone here is so wonderful and communicates well. It's such a breath of fresh air.

[Mkia]

If you rate them on some stars, but not on others, does that negatively affect them? For example, say I rated a 5 on shipping speed, but didn't rate them at all on shipping price. Would that look like a 0 stars rating and hurt their score? Or would it just be null?

[ponylady]

It won't affect them negatively mkia.

[Mkia]

It won't affect them negatively mkia.

Okay good! I got worried for a minute. I'd hate for someone to get a negative when I didn't mean to give them one!