Stars?

[Former_Member]

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!

[ThePartyDeeva]

I don't see them yet. Must be a test but I have been reading about them in the forums.

[beatroad]

I can't see it yet. But I've been reading about it for quite some time in the forums. Meh...hate the star system, on ANY site.

[Former_Member]

It's their new feedback system that is designed to make sure buyers have even more of a stranglehold over us than before. Check this out - we're not allowed to leave the buyers feedback with this new system.

Say it all together now - hostage.

[ThePartyDeeva]

Isn't that the same way on Ebay? At least I think it used to be very one sided for feedback over there as well.

[iLikeiLikeDesigns]

I'm sorry, I don't see it either. Kelly, where do you find this?

This may be thought to be ludicrous but I saw a feedback system I really liked. It seems to be more for places that provide services, but I am always thinking of it when I'm Etsy-ing. On weddingwire.com, the feedback you can provide for a vendor is pretty thorough but what I like about it, is the vendor can explain themselves if they received an angry review or something. Now I know that could get out of hand at some times but when I was looking for a caterer for my wedding, the caterers (who turned out to be great) had decent reviews overall but a couple unhappy customers. They were able to defend themselves though, and as a business owner, I could see how the customer would be upset, but more so the challenges the company had.

Long story short, I wonder if there will ever be a day where there will be a more developed "Kiss and make up" system for us?

[WilliamsGiftshop]

Etsy would never implement a system that is BETTER than what they have now. They always go for the down hill solution.

[DevineDesignsJewelry]

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I just found it, and am not sure I like the star rating myself. And I don't like the fact that we can't leave buyer feedback. This could pose a problem, rather than working out any difference that you might have with a buyer. We'll have to watch this a bit.

[FrenchLaundryMuse]

I must have a loser store. I have no stars :) harumpf

I was wondering where the feedback numbers were.

I like the old way.

[heartsabustin]

BeaG, that made me LOL - too true.

[iLikeiLikeDesigns]

Can anyone tell us where the stars are?? Haha Some of us still don't know!

[Former_Member]

Out of the 5 sales I have only ONE person has ever left me any feedback. I really do not have enough to base an opinion.

[Former_Member]

I can see the new star rating and the new feedback count(only from customers) in Chrome, not Internet Explorer.

[EleanorsVintage]

Following Natasha's suggestion, I checked my shop on chrome, and yes, there is a star rating. But it looks like any positive feedback, even without any 'text' turns into a five star rating, so it looks like it is rather easy to look good with the star rating. As long as they don't take away 'the real feedback'. I think it is important to be able to read how happy our customers are!

[Former_Member]

Same here, I can't see this on Explorer but I can on Chrome. Not sure how I feel about it, but I guess we will see...

It kind of reminds me of Yelp reviews. And I hear Yelp will be doing away with the stars system soon because it doesn't necessarily show the businesses in the correct light. Interesting how Etsy took on a system that Yelp is attempting to get rid of?

[SnarkFactory]

I don't understand how this is bad, can someone explain it to me? IMO, if you have an established shop with (just an example) 100 positive reviews, and someone decides to leave you a 1 star rating, your overall star rating will still look like 5 stars.... I mean, it'll be like 4.9 stars lol. Therefore, making the star system better for sellers and removing some of the power from the buyers....

What am I missing?

[Former_Member]

I don't think most people will leave a 5 star review, so to me, a four star review is less than 100% positive. It's like when you check Trip Advisor. Don't you look for the highest stars? And those with the most reviews (big shops) will come to the top, just the same way. That's how I see it, anyway.

[Former_Member]

@mallory, actually the admin responses on the discussion pages say a 4.9 will be rounded up to a 5. Personally I don't think this is an inherently terrible system. I do think buyers are more likely to leave 4 stars than 5, but that just means a 4 star rating will become more acceptable, right?

With the new system, buyers don't receive feedback which has some sellers ashakin in their boots because they think all the sudden every buyer on etsy is going to turn malicious and have something terrible to say, and we won't be able to respond. Etsy's admin response to this fear was that in their testing, buyers don't really care or know about their feedback rating. So a reactionary negative by a seller isn't a deterrent anyway.

All in all, I think it's gonna be ok.

[SnarkFactory]

Well, the 100% system had an option to leave neutral feedback. Not good, not bad, but "okay". How many of your customers have given you a neutral feedback? Wouldn't that be the same as leaving a 3 or 4 star rating?

[SnarkFactory]

Alexis,
IMO, leaving a negative rating for a customer is absolutely unprofessional. I would never, EVER do it and I question anyone who has said that it's crucial for the success of their shop.

I'm a HUGE amazon shopper, and generally people like to review things that are either amazing or awful. But, comparing etsy to those sites is like comparing apples to oranges. There's a whole different mentality here. Customers appreciate more and sellers work harder to impress. I hardly think that all of a sudden this new system will force customers to be more critical. I'm not even entirely sure that they'll notice it.

When i'm shopping or browsing, i'm constantly making snap decisions. These decisions are from things like pictures, wording, price, descriptions, star ratings, etc. Seeing a high star rating immediately makes me feel more comfortable. I think the stars will persuade customers to buy...

[Former_Member]

I've never had neutral or negative feedback. A four out of five (which I just received for the first time) feels a little neutral to me.

[Former_Member]

@Mallory I totally agree! I think sellers check out other seller's feedback way more than buyers do....unless they're buyers who are also sellers, ha.

[Former_Member]

Berry, did the seller leave a response? I would consider a 4 positive and a 3 neutral...which I believe is what Etsy is doing when they convert everyone...I can see how a 4 kind of stings now but I think it indicates satisfaction, and as time goes on people will associate it with that.

[Former_Member]

saw it yesterday and i don´t like it either. at first i thought not being able to leave customer feedback was because i overlooked but it´s obviously the case that it won´t be there any more. so there will be no more way we can check our customers :-( (i don´t mean that in a negative sense)

[ComfortAndGrins]

Berry I think that will be the problem with these system People think a 4 is good. They had nothing but positive words to say but gave you a 4. Wonder what would have happened if they weren't happy with one aspect? It does leave her name though and you can contact her and ask why. Feedback can be changed up until it expires in 60 days from sale.