Why are buyers allowed to rate reasonable-ness of shipping costs when the ebay calculator is used?

[oldfashionedcharm]

It's completely unreasonable for sellers to get rated for something over which they have no control AND when ebay has proof we aren't marking things up. I enter the exact weight and dimensions for the ebay generated shipping label charge yet I'm getting less than five stars from buyers. Does anyone know if ebay is planning to change this?

[youn2240]

it's pretty much a non issue. I wouldn't think about it at all. 

[stainlessenginecovers]

Buyers can rate if for 3 VERY GOOD reasons

1.) Buyers have NO IDEA what shipping 'really' costs

2.) Even if you use 'calculated' you can choose 'retail' or 'give your discount' or ADD $ Handling

3.) Over 50% of online orders offer 'FREE' shipping so if you charge ANYTHING, in some buyers eyes, you are NOT great. 

[tobaccocardyahoo]

The detail seller ratings were created to be used by Ebay to objectively rate sellers.

They failed and are no longer used to rate seller performance.

They remain because some fools might complain that Ebay is taking away important information needed to judge whether to buy from a seller.

Most buyers just skip over that rating so it is typical for a seller to get fewer ratings on the reasonable shipping than other ratings.

Fewer of my buyers use any of the DSR than leave FB. Ebay is the site which gets the most FB because it is a part of Ebay culture. Most buyers on other sites do not leave FB unless it is negative.

[ebooksdiva]

If buyers give you a low star rating for shipping costs it doesn't affect your selling account at all. They are also no longer clickable . I once was given low star rating for shipping that costs the same at the post office. I ship media mail. There's no discounts for that service.  
So don't sweat it. 

[ryry-jj]

"Reasonable" is just an opinion...many times buyers use it a leverage to hope sellers lower shipping cost.  Stick to calculated cost and ignore it.  I also tell buyers who make offers and want shipping discounts, that shipping cost are what they are and I don't have any USPS coupons to pass along.

[stephenmorgan]

If you have the shipping stated in the listing I don't think the buyer should be allowed to rate the shipping cost.  They  know the shipping cost before the purchase item so why should they be able to rate it afterwards?

[rossgames]

the rating doesn’t even mean anything, who is looking at it

[fbusoni]

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@oldfashionedcharm wrote:

It's completely unreasonable for sellers to get rated for something over which they have no control AND when ebay has proof we aren't marking things up. I enter the exact weight and dimensions for the ebay generated shipping label charge yet I'm getting less than five stars from buyers. Does anyone know if ebay is planning to change this?

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@oldfashionedcharm 

I believe that one reason eBay allows buyers to rate sellers on shipping costs is to discourage sellers from lowering asking prices of items they list, and then offsetting those lower asking prices with higher shipping fees.

We've all seen that item that costs $5, with a $45 shipping charge to a neighboring zip code.

I get a 4.8 on "reasonable shipping cost."   But it's not something I lose any sleep over because its a statistic that no one pays attention to.