ChannelAdvisor has launched a new tool that displays sellers' Detailed Seller Ratings (DSR) along with comparisons to other sellers. With eBay's DSR feature, launched this year, buyers may rate sellers anonymously on a 5-star scale in four categories: item as described; communication; shipping time; and shipping and handling charges. Now anyone can enter a seller's User ID in ChannelAdvisor's new DSRWatch utility and see how that seller stacks up in terms of raw numbers, and where they fall compared to other sellers.

ChannelAdvisor CEO Scot Wingo said sellers need to wake up to the growing importance of DSRs, which can effect their performance grade and their exposure in search results. "The larger the number of ratings you have, the longer it will take for you to impact your DSRs in a positive manner," the tool's FAQ section states.

In addition, Wingo said his company has found that sellers who have a DSR rating of between 4 and 4.5 in the shipping cost criterion have seen a decrease in ASP. Those with a high DSR rating have seen no change in ASP, though Wingo said that may change once eBay begins advantaging sellers with high DSRs in the search results.

ChannelAdvisor made the tool available to the entire eBay community, Wingo said, "to help sellers prepare for all of the changes coming in 2008 and give them the first solution for monitoring their increasingly important Feedback 2.0 Detailed Seller Ratings."

Sellers can also sign up to receive email alerts from DSRWatch when their DSRs change.

http://www.dsrwatch.com