# What user rating on Ebay = "A bad rating?" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 29, 2006, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-user-rating-on-ebay-a-bad-rating/382156 "2006-11-29T01:37:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-user-rating-on-ebay-a-bad-rating/382156/1 "2006-11-29T01:37:16Z")
Obviously 100% and the guy, if not a saint, is something close to it. Naturally he can inflate his rating with a bunch of fake accounts from different IPs, but he can’t fake them all. At what point do you look suspiciously upon the seller? 95%? 90%? 80%? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-user-rating-on-ebay-a-bad-rating/382156/2 "2006-11-29T01:40:34Z")
\<25% positive after hundreds of sales sets off warning bells for me especially if I read the feedback and many of the sales were to friends and family. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-user-rating-on-ebay-a-bad-rating/382156/3 "2006-11-29T02:11:32Z")
25% ? [jaw drops] I must do buisness with only saints. All of the sellers I’ve ever checked (and I don’t bid without checking out the FB) were in the very high 90’s. I’d start reading the negs and wonder what the problem is if it were not 95%. Remember, the odds are almost 85% that you will survive a game of russian roullette. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-user-rating-on-ebay-a-bad-rating/382156/4 "2006-11-29T02:13:40Z")
Doh! spelling aside: The odds are almost 85% that you will survive taking the first shot in RR. ---
**Author:** ![Nefarious\_Chipmunk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nefarious_chipmunk/32/1045_2.png) [@Nefarious\_Chipmunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nefarious_Chipmunk)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-user-rating-on-ebay-a-bad-rating/382156/5 "2006-11-29T02:31:01Z")
The percent rating is not that important to me, as long as it is over 90%. What I always check are the recent ratings. I have seen ratings at 97%, but when I look, 5 out of 10 of the most recent ratings are negative. That is what I really look out for. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-user-rating-on-ebay-a-bad-rating/382156/6 "2006-11-29T02:34:13Z")
If the seller has less than 98%, I will browse his feedback comments and see if the negs sound justified or bogus. Some negs are retaliatory and unjustified. It also makes a difference if they are from sellers or buyers. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-user-rating-on-ebay-a-bad-rating/382156/7 "2006-11-29T03:00:56Z")
I’m going to be a bit hesitant unless the rating is 99% or better. ---
**Author:** ![myskepticsight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@myskepticsight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myskepticsight)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-user-rating-on-ebay-a-bad-rating/382156/8 "2006-11-29T03:07:59Z")
I quit Ebaying after getting scammed when I was younger. It wasn’t for much but it turned me off of the whole thing. The guy had great ratings. If I were to go back to it, I wouldn’t consider a seller without 97% and I would browse the comments. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-user-rating-on-ebay-a-bad-rating/382156/9 "2006-11-29T03:14:55Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty] \<25% positive after hundreds of sales sets off warning bells for me especially if I read the feedback and many of the sales were to friends and family. [/QUOTE] Did you mean \>25% like they are so bad they even screw there own family? Below 95% I definatly check history. I don’t buy a heck of a lot on ebay so when I do I generaly check previous feedbacks regardless of rating and base my decision on that. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-user-rating-on-ebay-a-bad-rating/382156/10 "2006-11-29T03:44:38Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] If the seller has less than 98%, I will browse his feedback comments and see if the negs sound justified or bogus. Some negs are retaliatory and unjustified. It also makes a difference if they are from sellers or buyers. [/QUOTE] Rigt, and I also check to see the FB he has left others. If a buyer left him what looks like may be a legit NEG, and the seller retaliated for no reason other than getting a NEG,I stay far away. OTOH, if a seller leaves POS FB as soon as he gets payment, I can ignore a few NEGs he may have gotten.Clearly, by leaving FB 1st, he trusts his customers, thus he is to be trusted. ---
**Author:** ![Muriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Muriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muriel)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-user-rating-on-ebay-a-bad-rating/382156/11 "2006-11-29T05:35:22Z")
Check out the posts under usenet. If you don’t have a reader check google groups and go to the alt.marketing.online.ebay They can tell you anything less than 98% is horrible. Also look at the status. Powersellers with 10,000 or more feedback even a 2% bad. That’s 200 bad transactions. Now remember if people are ripped off just a little or only marginally disgusted they will not post negative feedback for fear of retaliation. So for every ONE bad feedback there are probably at least two others NOT posted. Check WHEN the bad feedback was posted. Some sellers do stupid stuff like go on vacation and forget their customers. So it may be a one time thing. Beware of 100% feedback in large seller. Don’t forget you can do mutual withdrawal of bad feedback. The feedback stays but it no longer counts in the amounts. So sellers may suck and be buying back their bad feeback. How? By saying we won’t retalitate if you take your feedback back. Or making good on a return. Sure they made good on the return but only AFTER you were hassled, so they are not good sellers. I urge everyone to check out that usenet group. They are excellent and will be able to answer your question with exact examples. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-user-rating-on-ebay-a-bad-rating/382156/12 "2006-11-29T06:25:44Z")
Since there is no “correct” answer, let’s get opinions in IMHO\> MOved. **samclem** ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-user-rating-on-ebay-a-bad-rating/382156/13 "2006-11-29T08:31:26Z")
It’s not always so much the numbers, as the facts underlying them. 100% positive feedback based on 300 transactions consisting of selling one-penny ebooks to shills, all on the same day, is worth shit. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-user-rating-on-ebay-a-bad-rating/382156/14 "2006-11-30T04:05:00Z")
I dissagree with both these statements. [QUOTE=Muriel] They can tell you anything less than 98% is horrible. Also look at the status. Powersellers with 10,000 or more feedback even a 2% bad. That’s 200 bad transactions. [/QUOTE] The 200 negatives does not equal 200 bad transactions. It equals 200 unhappy customers. At a large retail store I think they would be very pleased if only 2 percent of there customers were unhappy. While it could mean 200 people got ripped off I highly doubt that. Sellers can only rip off a very few number of people before ebay boots them. They aren’t as limited as to the number of people they can annoy, so that number makes up almost all of their negatives. [QUOTE=Muriel] Now remember if people are ripped off just a little or only marginally disgusted they will not post negative feedback for fear of retaliation. So for every ONE bad feedback there are probably at least two others NOT posted. [/QUOTE] Negative feedback on a buyer is not equal to negative feedback on a seller. Leaving negative feedback on a seller hurts their ‘business’. Leaving negative on a buyer does little more then hurt their ego. Personal story/ I just had the fun of dealing with a eBay customer while managing a freinds acount. Her rating is around 14000. Her percentage is 99+. A customer won 30 auctions. When we went to ship the items we found one was damaged. We refunded him for that item and shipped the rest of the order. He acknowledged receiving the other 29 items. He did a charge back for the total order and left 30 negatives. That was more negatives then she’d received in years of managing the account. Paypal sided with us for the chargeback but the negatives will remain forever. My freinds reaction was much more mellow then mine would have been. Had me leave 4 negatives in response explaining why that person is dangerous to deal with.