If Seller Does Not Communicate With Buyer They Automatically Get 5 Star Positive Rating?

[peterk201]

I read something I was unaware of and find it hard to be true:

" If a seller refrains from communicating with a buyer they will automatically get a 5 star rating."

What? That sounds like an incentive for a seller to not answer questions if a buyer needs more details about an item. Communication between buyer and seller before a sale has always been important. Why would eBay create an incentive for there to NOT be communication between buyer and seller ?

[dirk12955]

As a seller,    I'd be less worried about those goofy star ratings and more worried about losing a sale,   If I ignore a potential customer.

Are the star ratings even still a thing?      Taking a look at my feedback.    It would appear that about half my buyers bother to leave feedback.     It would then appear that about half of those buyers leave star ratings.

I'd hope a buyer would hit the back button if a seller ignores his message(s)

[nocoolnamejane]

It’s not to discourage sellers from communicating because of the buyer sends them a message post sale, the comms DSR are open.

It’s to prevent buyers to give less than 5 stars when no communication occurred because none was needed.

[nobody*s_perfect]

The quote is misleading.  The automatic 5 is given if NEITHER party sends a message to the other one.  If a buyer sends a message to the seller, then there has been Communication so there is no automatic 5, regardless of whether the seller replies of not. So of course the seller should reply. However, this applies only after there is a transaction to rate.

[peterk201]

You're saying as soon as an email has occurred to a buyer regarding the item, the seller is no longer going to get automatic 5 stars for communication?

[eleanor*rigby]

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@peterk201 wrote:

You're saying as soon as an email has occurred to a buyer regarding the item, the seller is no longer going to get automatic 5 stars for communication?

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Assuming by "email," you mean a message sent via eBay's messaging system, the answer is "yes." 

If there has been communication between the buyer and the seller via eBay's messaging system, the DSR for communication will be "unlocked," and the buyer can leave whatever star rating s/he determines is appropriate. 

Conversely, if there has been no communication through eBay's messaging system, the seller will automatically be granted a five-star rating for communication.

[wastingtime101]

Communication DSRs are not something to worry about. Not at all. It's an ultimate waste of time and energy that you could be using to list - or to waste time in a worthwhile way.

[katzrul15]

It only applies to the Communication DSR.  Not the other ones.

It makes sense, as it was essentially "n/a" to the sale as no communication occurred.

[1tuna]

communication before a sale does not mean its going to be with the buyer

the 5 stars thing refers to after the sale communications

ebay views after the sale communication as indicative of a potential problem

after the sale communication is just not needed most of the time

@peterk201 

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@peterk201 wrote:

You're saying as soon as an email has occurred to a buyer regarding the item, the seller is no longer going to get automatic 5 stars for communication?

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Correct.  If there has been any communication (through eBay messages), then the Communication DSR can be rated by the buyer.

[buyselljack2016]

If that 5 star rating was not given when there is no communication what could happen is, and has, an error star rating could make the seller look horrible.

If the stats were not locked when there was no comm. , which provides a 5 star rating, one  buyer rating of 1 made in error,  and it has happened where a seller has been rated a #1 seller  by the buyer marking 1 star thinking it is "the best", down goes the overall rating into the dumps.

As another posted, many leaving feedback don't even bother with stars, so one bad one, in error, of if actually deserved would skew the rating.

I have communication (with an actual Buyer) maybe at most, 1 in 100.

I will generally answer pre-sale questions.  I don't answer the " I'v only got $XX, can you sell it to me for half price"?  There is a different action for those questions.

[house*of*paws · Accepted solution]

Hi @peterk201 

At one time ... the DSRs were used by eBay to penalize sellers.  [I remember a lot of posts saying that anything under a 4.8 category rating was causing a down-grade of status.]

The 'Communication' category was especially troubling.  Some buyers downgraded Communication if a seller failed to 'thank' the buyer after payment; other buyers downgraded Communication if the seller DID send a 'thank you', as they felt it was unnecessary.  [I recall posts about both of these.]

['Shipping time' also was a troubling rating, as some buyers were downgrading sellers who shipped the same day ... just because the package arrived later than expected.]

It was around this time that eBay started instituting 'Automatic 5's' ... just so buyers couldn't lower sellers ratings who clearly did nothing wrong.  After doing that ... eBay eventually stopped using DSRs to affect sellers' status, so it became a moot point.

The bottom line, however, is that sellers do NOT get an automatic 5 for Communication if they failed to to respond to a buyer's question ... only if no questions were asked.

[luckythewinner]

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@peterk201 wrote:

What? That sounds like an incentive for a seller to not answer questions if a buyer needs more details about an item.

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You seem to be suggesting that there are sellers who would prefer to lose a sale rather than risk the chance of of not getting a 5-star rating on one of their essentially meaningless DSRs.

I would humble suggest only a thimbleful of sellers think that way.

For what it is worth,  I have 6 selling accounts and I have not looked at my own DSRs on any of them for at least a year.