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Is anything short of a 5 star rating acceptable?

Started by jmb, 12/29/2007 01:12AM
Posted 12/29/2007 01:12AM | Edited 12/29/2007 01:13AM Opening Post
A 4 star rating would be a B grade in college. (80%) Any one who has bought or sold on Astromart has waited for buyers or sellers to respond, "like new condition" may have been a stretch, ect. Yet if we started rating buyers and sellers with less then 5 stars, I think most folks might have an issue with it. Yet it seems that it is either 5 stars or zero! Is this right?
Posted 12/29/2007 01:49AM #1
My observation is that generally people get either a 5 or nothing at all.

Add to that the idea that in many cases if something goes wrong (to the point that a deal is not completed) one is not allowed to rate the other user. This would be a great time to share some feedback, I should think! But it is not allowed.

The system is nice. But I suspect it is not scientifically accurate.

Alex
Posted 12/29/2007 03:37AM | Edited 12/29/2007 03:38AM #2
That is why it is important to put a bit of effort into the supporting comments instead of the typical one liners. My last transaction was with a member with a continuous 5 star rating. I paid promptly but I still had to wait 2 months for the member to send the scope. Did this member live up to their 5 star rating, not really. My first transaction on Astromart was also with a member with high 5 star ratings. The transaction was straight forward but delivery didn't go as planned but that member did at least offer up solutions and in effect live up to their 5 star rating. 4 & 5 star rating are close without causing too much concern but I would be interested to read in the comment field why the member rated a 4 instead of a 5. Sometimes people give a poor rating to a member for things outside that members control.
Posted 12/29/2007 06:42AM #3
I will give less than 4 stars if I feel it is warranted. But, if the items is as advertised, there is good communication and delivery is consistent with our agreement, then 5 stars is warranted.
If any one of these is not in order, the one star is removed per issue.
However, if there are real problems, then I ask for my money back and if this is done, then I just will not rate the transaction because I feel that the deal was unwound and not a transaction.
If the refund is not done in proper time, then I will give a poor rating with explanation, but so far I have not had to resort to this.
I do not know if others will agree with this method of rating or not, but it is how I rate.
Maybe I should give a bad rating for a deal that was unwound, but I feel that might not be fair either.

[SIZE="Large"][/SIZE][COLOR="Blue"][/COLOR] Floyd Blue grin
Amateur Imager
Posted 12/29/2007 01:44PM #4
This is a good thread, very useful.

I HATE giving anything less than a 5 star rating. I just don't like to be negative but I can see that there needs to be honest feedback to help police the classifieds and set standards.

I'm also hesitant to give less than a 5 star rating because, being fairly new to the community, there appears to be a lack of "standards" and I don't want to be unfair. For example, I've had a few transactions where payment had been sent (usually via Paypal), no word had been received that it arrived, and I had to prod the seller after a week or so about shipping. After the prod shipping was usually quick. Is that a 4 star transaction?

Another reason I'm hesitant to give less than a 5 star rating is that I'm very protective of my rating and I fear retaliation via a bad rating for me. I've seen this many times here. Is there a procedure here where a rating like this can be removed?

Jeff

"Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things" 8O
Posted 12/30/2007 02:18AM #5
Jack Bruneau said:

A 4 star rating would be a B grade in college. (80%) Any one who has bought or sold on Astromart has waited for buyers or sellers to respond, "like new condition" may have been a stretch, ect. Yet if we started rating buyers and sellers with less then 5 stars, I think most folks might have an issue with it. Yet it seems that it is either 5 stars or zero! Is this right?

Personally, I think the ratings system would be much more useful if the stars were scrapped altogether, and just leave the comments portion in place. I generally give the comments others have left for a seller or buyer more merit than the stars part. I think when it comes to leaving comments, people are a little more objective because you can be descriptive in giving your opinion of a transaction.

Oklahoma State University--The University of Oklahoma!--GO POKES!! GO STATE!!
Posted 12/30/2007 06:26AM | Edited 12/30/2007 06:27AM #6
It's a hobby. Those we deal with in the classifieds are peers, not customers or vendors. Attention to detail is important in most of life. But the definition of what's important and what's a detail is hugely variable.

The incredibley finely minced rating system on that big auction website looks like just the thing... for the giant free-for-all going on there. But I have no interest in participating in that kind of thing, and it's adversarial tit for tat. I've watched friends and family play there, and I'll pass.

It would be nice if everybody we did transactions with would at least bother to rate us when we rate them. But I'm not gonna four star anybody because of it, even though this personally seems kinda brain dead on their part. I don't want drama in hobbies. If I want strife and drama, then I'll go back in to work.