How does everyone feel about the stars as reviews for their shop? If you haven't seen this, go to your shop home page and look where the reviews were.
I can't decide how I feel about it!
This is terrific. 109 sales, only 51 feedbacks. Do I have to beg people to leave a feedback even more than I do? :((( And the stars system is a big no-no. There are a lot of people who give you a 4 even though they state everything is great. Just rude or...?
The problem with this system isn't the stars. The problem is that we as sellers do not leave feedback for the buyers. I do not leave feedback until either my customer leaves feedback or it's been two or three weeks and there do not appear to be any problems.
Now, a buyer has oportunity to leave very nasty and very negative feedback with no way to remedy it, ass kiss and make up is GONE! I didn't mind the KAMU system - I thought the name was stupid and childish. I'm a 35 year old woman - I'm too old from "kiss and make up". I run three shops on Etsy, and I've been here five years. In that time, I've seen and heard of terrible "hostage" situations with the feedback. I've been threatened with them. One of my shops is bath and body. I won't even get into how subjective scents and smells can be.
The new system isn't necessarily bad. It IS ripe for abuse, however, and THAT is what I do not like. And yes - I do read buyer feedback. A wise seller does so.
I have the stars, I'm not too sure about it, and they changed the word to review instead of feedback. I wish us sellers could give the same sort of feedback to our customers though! Some buyers need a warning attached to them!
HOW is it more of a hostage situation with the star system? With the old system, you either got an "A" or an "F". The stars will allow a customer to count off 1 star for being unhappy about "insert minor problem" whereas before, they had to choose from a feedback system that gave them only the option of fully positive and fully negative. With the old system, a minor problem could easily get a fully negative feedback, which looks much more dramatic than a 3 or 4 star review.
Because WE cannot leave THEM feedback. If someone is using the FB system to get free items or to leave unfair feedback for a seller, there is NO recourse for the seller. There is nothing like the KAMU system where you can try to work something out with your buyer. There is no way to flag a dangerous buyer for other sellers. Because there are lots of other sellers who DO read buyer feedback ratings. It's just a smart thing to do.
I'm not crazy or hysterical here - I've been on Etsy long enough to hear and be part of horror stories in which the buyer was just plain wrong and trying to bilk the seller. I'm not into retaliation, but I'm also not into giving MY customers full control, either. WE are Etsy's customers, not our buyers. Our buyers are OUR customers. Etsy is the selling platform. Etsy doesn't seem to realize that OUR seller fees are what pays for their site. The buyers are taken care of by US.
Um, if there's a customer who's looking to scam on a seller, it'll happen whether there's a feedback system or not. There's always gonna be someone who will try and pull one over on you. But, as a business owner, it's unprofessional and petty to leave a buyer a negative feedback.
Also, I don't think that that sort of customer would be worried about getting a negative feedback. Do you know how easy it is to simply make a new profile every time they plan on scamming someone?
I'm entitled to my concerns. I've got a bath and body shop, and I know how terrible people can be. I've seen what has happened to people on this site, from terrible negatives to having their shops shut down because a newbie buyer reported them unfairly and wrongly. And because Etsy wouldn't admit to making a mistake against the seller, that seller was not allowed to return to her shop of five years on this site.
That's all. I have concerns, and the other people who have concerns have been here long enough to be justified. I don't like the system, and I won't be an Etsy cupcake and tell them that I do.
Etsy is a pioneer, there aren't any other sites like this one. They've done an AMAZING job at making this site get enough traffic so that shops can use this as their full time job as well as build a good enough reputation to where people aren't worried about buying from a "stranger". I think we should all trust their judgement and not forget that they've done a ton of work on behalf of the success of our shops.
I like the stars. I want to be able to report an average product as such, and not have to choose between just good or bad. As a buyer I want to know the range of peoples reactions to the products they sell. As a seller I want to know the range of peoples reactions to my products so I can make them better.
I would how ever like to be able to respond to buyers, to let them know I'm working on making it better, or to apologize and let others reading it that I am working of fixing the problem.
From an aesthetic standpoint, I agree, Katie. I don't like the yellow, but I'm not a NYC hipster, so what do I know? *tongue in cheek* It looks too much like E-bay, and I didn't sign up to sell on Ebay. I signed up to sell on Etsy.
This isn't personal, I'm merely trying to understand your point of view as well as express my own. I'm sure that if the new system is failing, we'll be reverted back to the old one.
Malory, it looks to me like you don't know much about the dubious ways of Etsy yet. I've been selling here for over 7 years and believe me, they often make bad decisions and even big mistakes. And no, after they have made a change for the worse, they never return to the better system. They just shut up members that complain (muting them for life from the public forum). The fact that there is no proper competition (yet) does not mean Etsy is wonderful. To the contrary.
