Well first off you're screwed.



Ebay has rigged the DSR game so that sellers have an 80% chance of getting bad DSRs. What is worse is that buyers dont even realize they are screwing you. Ebay tells buyers that a 3 is for reasonable service, a 4 is for good service and a 5 is for exceptional service, but they promise to kick sellers who cant maintain a 4.2 DSR or better.



What can a seller do to improve their odds?



Ebay suggests free shipping (DONT LISTEN TO THEM). I've been there and tried it and when I stopped offering free shipping my DSRs went up.



Here are some ideas.



1) Communication --



Let your buyer know when the package is shipped and send them the tracking number. Mark the item as shipped and list the tracking number on ebay as well.



Always, always ship with a tracking number. Ive found postal insurance to be a waste of time, but tracking numbers are a necessity. If the seller doesnt have a tracking number the buyer will automaticly win any dispute about a lost package. You will be out your money and your item.



As a customer I love to have a tracking number, and I want to know when my item has shipped.



But you are still screwed, because sometimes your customers are barking mad and communicating with them makes the transaction even worse.



2) Packaging --



Do not just drop the items in a manila envelope and send it through the mail.



As a seller you are responsible for the item arriving safely. This means packing so that the mail carrier will not crush, bend and mutilate the items despite their best attempts.



Some sellers believe that what the mail carrier does to the package is between their customer and the mail service. They are wrong on many levels.  1st the customer has no way of knowing that the item wasnt damaged and then sent through the mail. More importantly ebay and paypal will side with the buyer. And finally the customer can nail your feedback and DSR.  Feedback and DSR are directly related to sales and discounts through ebay. Whatever a seller might save on careless packaging they will lose on repeat business, new customers shying away from bad feedback and DSRs and the small discounts ebay provices for good feedback and DSR ratings.



Protect what you send. Stiff cardboard that is larger than the item being sent. Plastic bags to protect from moisture. Secure the items so they dont bang around or slip past cardboard protection. Cornertip protection so items dont end up with damaged edges. You can put items in an envelope but inside the envelope there needs to be a solid package protecting the item being sent.



But you are still screwed. Buyers have left negative feedback because sellers have used packing peanuts. The item was in perfect shape, but the buyer didnt care. No matter what you do a seller needs to expect to lose at some point, and ebay will do nothing to protect you.



3) Ship Quickly



The sooner you get it in the mail, the sooner the customer will receive it. The sooner the transaction is done. As a customer I love getting my packages quickly.



But you cannot control the shipping service. Customers will not care that they paid for slow boat shipping. Some will always judge the seller on how long a mail carrier took to deliver the package.



4) Do not threaten your customer.



Some sellers are living in the past and still threaten negative feedback for their customers. As with the promise that damaged items arent a sellers problem this message does nothing for the seller and may lose them some sales.



Ebay has rigged the game. As a seller you can only leave positive feedback or no feedback. You are going to get a maddog buyer at some point no matter what you do, for all your other customers stay away from negative advertising. Don't tell them "Buy from me and I might Neg you." or "Buy from me and if you get a damaged item, tough, complain to your mail man." Don't let your experiences with insane buyers scare away good buyers.



5) Leave positive feedback first



As a seller you have two choices. Leave no feedback or leave positive feedback. The customer can screw you with bad feedback no matter what you do.



Once a customer has paid for an item leave positive feedback. In my experience it cuts down on customers leaving neutral or negative feedback and increasing the amount of positive feedback you get in return.



It is a gesture of good will toward your customer, it costs the seller nothing to do, and withholding feedback gains a seller absolutely nothing anymore. Honestly, not leaving feedback first probably costs a seller repeat customers.



6) You are screwed no matter what you do.



"Sir! Private Joker is going to get field punishment whatever he answers, Sir!"



You can't win at DSRs and feedback. All you can do his help your odds in getting screwed as little as possible.



I saw a guy approaching 10K positive feedback get nailed with a negative from a customer who hadn't paid and was mad that they were dinged with a non-paying warning from ebay when the seller filed for credit. Same thing has happened to me, and I'd have that negative if the buyer hadn't failed to pay so many times that their account was suspended.



You cannot win the ebay DSR/Feedback game.



7) Find other avenues of sale. RPG marketplace, Amazon, classifieds... The only way to truly win the ebay game is not to play.

Or you could just give 1 to any seller you deal with that won't ship for free, and eventually only sellers who ship for free will be on eBay. As a seller, it's in my best interest to dish out 1s for everything so that I cut down on my competition. How f"cked up do you have to be to even leave DSR in the first place?

They should have DSR for buyers, so if the buyer causes problems for too many sellers they have to pay a premium in order to buy on eBay, and if they continue to be an arse they get told to GTF.

At the very least DSR should be transparent so the seller gets to know who left what DSR.

I don't know exactly what to do with this myself, and I do not worry about it overmuch.  The eBay feedback system is less than ideal, but it is slightly better than before.  My overall philosophy is that eBay feedback system does provide some clues about a person on eBay.

I have decided, for example, to not leave feedback until someone leaves positive feedback for me.  If they are going to the trouble to do it, then I will too, and I try to do it quickly.  

If someone leaves a neutral or negative, then I do nothing (I've had one negative in my life and it was retaliatory).  If someone requests feedback from me, I ignore the request.  Explaining my feedback philosophy is likely a waste of time, and legitimizes the question.  

I am not interested in having a massive amount of feedback.  I have plenty of feedback to tell buyers what they need to know about me.

Meh.  The feedback system works for me, but some of the suggested changes sound good, like the transparent DSR idea.   Frankly, I would rather eBay worry about its pathetic customer service than its feedback system.