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by JustBreath 1095 days ago
The parallels are eerie.

> Sometimes, she gets worried about picking up passengers rated less than 4.8. Like a 4.79 is really low. I wonder, ‘Do I have to fear for my life with this person?’

1 comments

I used to buy vintage cameras on ebay (not so much lately--no more room) and one of the things you quickly realize is that a 'seller rating' of less than say 95% means 'avoid'. The way the ratings are calculated mean that if they're getting enough dings to bring the score down even a few points, they're doing something wrong.
I remember in the early days of ebay before they had the official rating system it became accepted that you had to leave a review containing A+++++++++++ if the shipper did an acceptable job because a grade of merely A+ meant that you got the thing you bought but something wasn't great about the experience and anything worse than that meant the seller was a scammer.
I used to really enjoy writing and reading those ridiculous reviews.

"Shipping came so fast I had to duck!!!"

"If I were locked in prison this seller could be my bunk mate!"

Yeah, just saying the item was what it was supposed to be and the price was fair was not enough.
I find it depends, a small seller can end up with a low percentage because one unreasonable buyer leaves them a bad feedback, but for large sellers anything less than 98% or so is a big red flag.
Usually the thing they are doing "wrong" is not focusing on volume to overcome the occasional bad rating.