I do not understand why my rating keeps going down

[ruby4845]

I had 2 neg. Ratings. 1 was a person who did not contact me at all & wrote that I made the item, which I did not. I explained to this person that there were many other of the same Hello Kitty item on line & if they had asked I would have giving thier money back once it was returned. They did not care. I still gave thier money back but I feel they were one of those people who were going to complain anyway, no matter what. The other buyer wrote me up first and did not want a replacement which I offered.

I am tried of all of this, I feel ebay over the years has givin the shaft to the seller more and more. The buyers know exactly what they need to say to have their way and they will say it. I am a little guy and I have always tried to be honest but no one else is and ebay does not care.

I am seriously thinking about just quiting.

Now that every time I look at my rating and it gos down even if I have not sold anything why bother.

[mam98031 · Accepted solution]

I see you are talking about your feedback rating not your seller rating.  Two completely different things and feedback is not considered in your seller rating.

The feedback ratings are based on the previous 12 month period.  You can see this on your Feedback page.  This is a fiscal period, not a calendar period.  Which means it is not a January through December period which is a calendar period.  But a fiscal period that as of today would be March 27th 2024 through March 26th 2025.  Tomorrow that will change to March 28th 2024 through March 27th 2025.

As this fiscal period changes, the 2024 feedback left on the oldest day [like March 27th stated above] drops off the numbers your feedback is being calculated on which will affect your percentage.  

So lets say on March 27th last year you had 10 positive feedback posted to your account that day.  Those 10 feedback will drop off and out of the calculation of your feedback when the dates changes to the 28th for 2024.  

So your rating is going down because you are having more feedback drop off than you are gaining currently for current sales.

Here is an example of what Ebay tells you on YOUR feedback page under that little icon with an "i" and a circle around it at the end of the line with your feedback percentage on.

[kensgiftshop]

Your feedback rating is based on the feedback you received the last 12 months.

The % is going down because you're loosing more feedback in the last year then you received.

[aproudparent2010]

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@ruby4845 wrote:

I had 2 neg. Ratings. 1 was a person who did not contact me at all & wrote that I made the item, which I did not. I explained to this person that there were many other of the same Hello Kitty item on line & if they had asked I would have giving thier money back once it was returned. They did not care. I still gave thier money back but I feel they were one of those people who were going to complain anyway, no matter what. The other buyer wrote me up first and did not want a replacement which I offered.

I am tried of all of this, I feel ebay over the years has givin the shaft to the seller more and more. The buyers know exactly what they need to say to have their way and they will say it. I am a little guy and I have always tried to be honest but no one else is and ebay does not care.

I am seriously thinking about just quiting.

Now that every time I look at my rating and it gos down even if I have not sold anything why bother.

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Giftcraft Hello Kitty Tree Topper. Preowned ,in great condition. Nay have some wear. Please look at pjcs. for more details. Zoom in . This item is AS IS. No returns or refunds.

So yeah this is why they didn't reach out to you about a return

[inhawaii]

Your rating is going down because apparently you are providing poor service.

Your rating will go up if/when you provide good service.

[simba6]

That is the " bowled over " effect.   As positive feedback ages off, the negs carry more weight.  Unless you start adding more positive feedbacks, it will keep dropping until the negs  age off.

[mam98031]

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@inhawaii wrote:

Your rating is going down because apparently you are providing poor service.

Your rating will go up if/when you provide good service.

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That isn't it at all and you should know that.  They are having more feedback fall off because they are 12+ months old than they are gaining with current feedback from current transactions.  That can happen to any of us.

[mam98031]

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@simba6 wrote:

That is the " bowled over " effect.   As positive feedback ages off, the negs carry more weight.  Unless you start adding more positive feedbacks, it will keep dropping until the negs  age off.

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YES, this is what is happening.

The way for @ruby4845 to counteract this is to get some current sales going and hopefully get positive feedback for those transaction.  Try to get more positive feedback than you lose to aging off.  That is how to raise your percentage.

[mam98031]

@ruby4845 

You have a store, while I'm not sure why, but you do have one.  If it is a starter store, that's OK, but you don't list enough to support the costs of having a Basic store.  To make that pay, you should be running at least 300+ listings regularly every month.

I would suggest running a Discount sale.  Try to increase your sales and then fingers crossed for buyer that will leave positive feedback.

[slippinjimmy]

The OP is going to have to start leaving feedback for buyers and not waiting for the buyers to go first.

[mam98031]

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@slippinjimmy wrote:

The OP is going to have to start leaving feedback for buyers and not waiting for the buyers to go first.

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WHY?  I've personally tested that extensively and found it doesn't much matter.  Whether I leave feedback, first, last or at all.  Some buyers leave feedback and some don't.  I've found most do not anymore.

[slippinjimmy]

I'm quite sure it varies a lot from seller to seller.

I normally give feedback about once a week, I notice when I'm slack about leaving feedback and don't do it for a couple of weeks, when I get caught up I get a mini-flurry of feedback from buyers who have had their orders for for a week or two.

Like I said, it varies, I'm still getting more than 50% feedback which I'm led to believe is a pretty high ratio these days.

In any event, I don't see the point in playing the "who goes first" game.

[mam98031]

IDK, maybe.  I've chatted with many sellers over the years on this subject with a variety of results.

I never suggested playing any "games".  That is never a good idea.  I would agree with you on that for sure.