A follow-up survey of AuctionBytes readers conducted in early December shows eBay sellers have not changed their minds about the Top Rated Seller (TRS) program eBay rolled out in the fall. Only 17% of respondents said they believe the TRS program succeeds in accomplishing its goals - the same number of respondents as in October. And other questions - such as whether the TRS program affected their sales - returned similar answers as were returned in the fall.
Top Rated Seller is a new designation for sellers who meet certain criteria, replacing the PowerSeller logo that eBay visitors had previously seen when shopping on the site. On TRS seller listings, messaging states that the seller "Consistently receives highest buyers' ratings; Ships items quickly; and Has earned a track record of excellent service." Rather than having to meet minimum average Detailed Seller Ratings (DSRs), sellers are now measured by how many low DSR ratings (1s and 2s) they accumulate.
Introduction
In October, AuctionBytes surveyed eBay sellers about the new Top Rated Seller program and other changes that eBay began rolling out site-wide in late September. The initial survey was open from October 8 - 19 and garnered almost 1,000 respondents. (Links to the results of that survey are found at the bottom of this article.)
In December, AuctionBytes sent an email to readers who had completed the October survey asking them to complete an identical follow-up survey. The follow-up survey remained open from December 1 - 14, 2009, and received a 54 percent response-rate. The results of the follow-up survey by over 500 AuctionBytes readers is presented below.
Survey Results for Top Rated Seller Program: December 2009
The survey asked readers if the new Top Rated Seller program, which was designed to recognize and reward sellers who provide great buyer experiences, accomplishes that goal; 54.5% said it fails; 16.5% said it succeeds; and 29.1% said there was no difference from the way it was before the program launched.
When asked how the recent launch of the TRS program affected their sales, all things being equal, 35% said their sales had decreased; 24.6% said their sales had not changed; 9.1% said their sales had increased; and 31.3% said they were unable to estimate the effect of TRS on their sales.
Survey results for Top Rated Seller Program: December versus October
AuctionBytes compared three data sets to see how the results varied:
The complete October 2009 results - this data set consists of all of the respondents who took the survey in October;
A subset of the October 2009 results - this data set consists of only the respondents who took the survey in October AND in December;
The complete December 2009 results - this data set consists of all of the respondents who took the follow-up survey in December 2009.
There were a variety of reasons readers might not have completed the survey in December, including email delivery issues. We compared the three data sets in the event that only respondents with a strong feeling one way or the other (positive or negative) were motivated to take the follow-up survey. As the results show, the respondents from all three data sets showed almost identical views on the issues.
The first chart reveals that the majority of respondents believe that the new Top Rated Seller program, which was designed to recognize and reward sellers who provide great buyer experiences, fails to accomplish that goal.
The second chart shows that when asked how the recent launch of the TRS program affected their sales, all things being equal, the majority said either they were unable to estimate the effect of the program on sales, or their sales had decreased.
Survey Results for eBay's Changes to Search: December 2009
In the December 2009 follow-up survey, when asked if they understood eBay's recent changes to search, 38.3% of respondents said no; 36.6% said yes; and 25.1% said "I'm not sure."
When asked what they thought overall of eBay's recent changes to search, 61.1% said "bad"; 17.3% said "neutral"; 5.8% said "good"; and 15.8% said "I don't know."
Respondents were asked how eBay's recent changes to search and the new Top Rated Seller (TRS) program affected their standings in search; 36.6% said their listings appear lower in search results; 17.7% said it had no effect; 10.9% said their listings appear higher in search results; and 34.8% said "I'm not sure."
The following chart compares the answers in all data sets, comparing December responses to October responses.
Survey Results - October 2009
AuctionBytes published the October 2009 survey results in a two-part series in October:
"Survey Shows Most eBay Sellers Don't See Value of New TRS Program," 10/26/09 - link
"Survey: Sellers Don't Like or Understand Changes to eBay Search," 10/26/09 - link
Accompanying Blog Post: "Survey Says eBay TRS Program Not Rewarding Great Sellers," 10/20/09 - link
Conclusion
Sellers had virtually the same opinions about the Top Rated Seller (TRS) program and search two months after eBay's fall changes rolled out, according to the AuctionBytes survey. These two data points are especially interesting and should be of special concerns for eBay management:
35 percent of respondents are unable to measure the effect of the programs on their standings in search results;
54 percent of respondents said the new Top Rated Seller program, which was designed to recognize and reward sellers who provide great buyer experiences, fails to accomplish that goal.
Ina Steiner is Editor of AuctionBytes.com and author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). She has a background in marketing and research in the high-tech and publishing fields. If you have story ideas, comments or questions, send them to ina@auctionbytes.com.
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A follow-up survey of AuctionBytes readers conducted in early December shows eBay sellers have not changed their minds about the Top Rated Seller (TRS) program eBay rolled out in the fall. Only 17% of respondents said they believe the TRS program succeeds in accomplishing its goals - the same number of respondents as in October. And other questions - such as whether the TRS program affected their sales - returned similar answers as were returned in the fall. 
