eBay UK has implemented the first part of its plan to use Detailed Seller Ratings (DSRs) to influence the way search results are displayed. The company told users that all listings from sellers with a DSR rating of 3.9 or lower for the "postage and packaging" criterion would be displayed at the bottom of search results, below listings from all other sellers. This affects roughly 0.5 percent of all sellers on the site, according to eBay UK. The company said it plans to extend the use of Detailed Seller Ratings to "other areas of concern for buyers."

eBay's default sort order for displaying search results had previously been solely by "time ending soonest," and eBay had not previously factored seller performance into search results.

eBay.com told US users in October to expect similar changes in the New Year (http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y07/m10/i11/s01).

http://www2.ebay.com/aw/uk/200712201050062.html