perplexed by some customer reviews.....

[Sierra Jakob]

Sherrie and Dot, in reference to your last proposed 5-Star System'':

Why have an "Objective" Rating System?
The reason I prefer objective, is not only to be fair to the merchant and not randomly penalize them monetarily for things out of their control--but also to help the customer. For example, the customer I mentioned in my previous post was using a personal rating system of 5 stars as "wow!" or "outstanding" as she explained to me. She told me up front that there was no way for me to make that product "Wow!" for her. She wrote a nice comment about the product but didn't explain to the other customers why it wasn't a 5 star "Wow!"--this is NOT HELPFUL TO OTHER CUSTOMERS or the merchant. The purpose of the ratings should not be to let customers vent--that might be gratifying for that particular individual at that moment, but let's face it---an unobjective, emotion-based rating system won't do anything productive for Kitely or it's citizens. In fact, it is counterproductive, because customers are not being given the information they need before making a purchase--i.e. what is the real reason the item was downgraded.

The Business Purpose of Rating Systems
The purpose of a rating system, from a business perspective, must be to increase business. That is done by getting the customer to the product that they actually want. The merchant helps by presenting accurate and complete photos and description, and placing the product in the appropriate category. The business management helps by providing an easy-to-use market structure. The customers help, by giving information about unrevealed problems and unexpected perks of the product. Customers can have emotion--but when it comes to the rating system, if the actual reason for a downgrade is not given, the rating system is not valid--it becomes useless for other customers trying to make a decision on whether to buy, and it damages sales on perfectly fine products.

Where to place "Exactly as Advertised"
I'm not adverse to having the "exactly as advertised" as 3 stars rather than 5. When you incorporate emotion into the rating system some customers will take that as a cue to rate purely by emotion and forget the actual instructions. The system you've proposed is again only partially objective. The problem is that the 4 & 5 star ratings are not objective at all, the 3 star is objective, and the 2 & 1 star are only partially objective.

If we place "just as advertised" at 3-stars, a more precise system might be this:
5-star: I Display this Product Continually on this Public World :_________ OR I equip my main Avatar ________ with this Product Whenever In-World
4-star: I do plan to Display or Use this Product occasionally
3-star: exactly as advertised
2-star: not as advertised, merchant response pending; here is what's wrong:___________________
1-star: not as advertised, merchant can fix, but won't; here is what's wrong:____________

[Dot Matrix]

Just a note to say that I will be adopting the following understanding of the star ratings, and will paste them in product reviews.

If others would like to use them as well, click "Select all" to quickly grab the text, then copy and paste as usual:

Code: Select all

Star rating: 5 = Outstanding; 4 = Very good; 3 = Exactly as advertised; 2 = Not as advertised, disappointed; 1 = Not as advertised, extremely disappointed

I personally like the mixture of subjective and objective implied by this interpretation of the ratings. Many of us here are using Kitely in our leisure time, so subjective reactions to items are also important.

Products that are done well merit a star rating of 4, so other customers know that they can be sure they are getting a good product.

But products with a "Wow!" factor, that are "Outstanding", are more likely to be those that give additional pleasure. Being able to indicate them through the rating system is worth doing.

Average ratings between 4 and 5 would then indicate products that are done well and that (for some customers) have that additional "Wow!" factor. That, I suggest, is where merchants might aim.

[Dot Matrix]

Apologies for the double post, but I wanted to add that Sierra's proposal for 1- and 2-star ratings is a good one. The 2-star rating gives space for the merchant to try to put something right; a 1-star rating is available for customers to use if the merchant ignores the problem.

So that would change this suggested interpretation of the ratings to:
5 = Outstanding
4 = Very good (i.e. well made)
3 = Exactly as advertised
2 = Not as advertised, merchant contacted
1 = Not as advertised, merchant failed to fix after contact

In ready-to-paste form:

Code: Select all

Star rating: 5 = Outstanding; 4 = Very good; 3 = Exactly as advertised; 2 = Not as advertised, merchant contacted; 1 = Not as advertised, merchant failed to fix after contact

[Ozwell Wayfarer]

I must say I am always impressed at the maturity and quality of conversation to be found in these forums. Some really great ideas have been voiced and I think we all have a better understanding of how rating is perceived by and affects both customer and merchant now.

I would be happy to have a more robust rating system but I think Dots “5 = wow” etc. approach is pretty sound too. I think Sierras idea is great, but IMHO everything would hinge on how a system like that would be implemented. Removing the guess-work and objectivity is good for both parties involved so long as it is both optional and simple. I feel that the real issue here is having a commonly understood and accepted criteria for reviewing, and of course, that's unlikely to happen. While everyone has their own idea or standards when reviewing, its always going to be “luck of the draw” for merchants. The difficulty is the amount of variables.

I might get a customer who gives me a 5* just because it was exactly what they wanted and there were no delivery problems. The next might downgrade me because….I didn't box the textures with the models, or…..in their opinion, there should be 10 colour variations included, or………any number of a myriad of reasons, none of which the merchant can really second guess beforehand.

For my part, I can now see that people here use the rating system in a much more realistic way, and if I want more 5 star ratings, I have to go the extra mile a bit. More models, more textures, more options. I already had a little announcement to make later on my merchant thread, but now I think I have something extra I can bring to the table too. Ultimately, this thread was/is about improving my offerings to the community and better understanding my customers. Thank you all for your honest feedback.

[Zuza Ritt]

I am obviously late:), but... I always felt five-star rating as an axis with the zero in the middle, which is number 3. Three stars mean I bought that, I was satisfied, I received what expected. And I like it so much I am willing to make an effort to rate it. It is definitely better then zero:) As a merchant I am very proud of every 5 stars ever received, and 4 stars still means buyer like it and reviewed it, he or she doesnot hurt me but commends me.
With thousands products in Market in future, every review will be sign for "at least somebody have bought it before" It is still better then no review:)

[Sherrie Melody]

Just a note to say that until we have a better method, I'll start using the modified 1-5 star definitions too. I still think Sierra's original method provides more valuable objective information to customers, if it could be implemented in a easy-to-use fashion.

[Deuce Halsey]

I love Dot's suggestion for including the rating system I'm using in any future reviews I give for Kitely Market products. I will be using her suggested text since it agrees with the way I've been looking at the situation.

As far as any suggestions for further improvements in the rating system, I think we should stay away from anything that requires a lot of intervention from "Kitely Agents" of any description. Let's remember that the Kitely pricing model is based on nearly everything in the system being automated. The last thing Ilan and Oren need is more non-automated functions in the system. Realistically speaking it''s the last thing that we the customers need, too. At the end of the day we're the ones who will end up paying for such things.

[Sherrie Melody]

The last thing Ilan and Oren need is more non-automated functions in the system.

That's a good point. I don't even know how they manage to stay as hands-on in everything now. Just two physical people, but by their productivity, you'd think it was more like 5 or more people.

[Constance Peregrine]

The last thing Ilan and Oren need is more non-automated functions in the system.

That's a good point. I don't even know how they manage to stay as hands-on in everything now. Just two physical people, but by their productivity, you'd think it was more like 5 or more people.

Multitasking, no sleep, no weekends, and almost no life other than work helps...

Plus people in the Kitely community also help answer user questions in the forums, freeing us from having to do so (thank you BTW it really helps).

[Catya Smith]

Omg you are soooo right, I am so ready to pull my store from Kitely...I cannot take the people in here with their bad ratings and comments. I came in here and there was nothing for avatars, so I went out of my way and paid money for Second Inventory and for lic. from stores, not to mention the time pulling it through and listing it in another market. It is a long process and I actually brought things inI wouldn't usually put on SL Marketplace, only because I recognized there was a need for it here and I wanted to make it available to the people in this game, so the game could grow.

Instead of being happy that there are diff. skins and hair in here (which I don't usually do, but wanted to make them available in a game that didn't have many) I get people giving me a four star ratings and rude comments. Actually one customer that commented above talked about me, because she had been disappointed about lack of demos. The reason I didn't give demos is because there were some glitches in the beginning of the Ktley MP that caused hair to go onto the hand instead of where I had originally placed it and also notecards weren't working properly. I didn't complain about it, I went back in, reset the hair and made new notecards, as well as put directions on my ad in case they still didn't work.

This person wanted a demo and I sent her a free copy of the hair she was interested in and wrote to her and thanked her for contacting me and she told me she loved it. Then weeks later, I noticed she had given me a review and said the hair left a bald spot on her head. I tried that hair on diff. shapes when I made it and it fit, but I kept it mod. so people could adjust it. I even offered to help her fit it as I always do with customers that don't understand how to do this. Her only reply was that she wouldn't buy from my store because of me contacting her about her review and she also posted in the forum about it. I tried my best to help her. I even sent her where I was located in rl, so I could contact her when she was available, but did not get a response to this, only negative comments in the forum.

I totally agree with the poster about customers being diff. in Kitley than in SL. I have been a SL store owner for almost three years and have over two hundred items on my store and whenever someone buys products or has a question I always respond and help immediately. I am not in it for the money, I am in it to provide people with things they need in virtual games. I love creating and I love setting up my stores, but Kitely has been very stressful. In SL people always write me saying they love my products, in Kitely, I always have some kind of comment that isn't positive. It is not worth the stress to me. The people that comment do not usually have stores of their own and do not usually create, yet they comment on every little thing that they can!

People like this are detrimental to the Kitely MP, they make creators not want to bother bringing things into Kitley, I am ready to close up shop, it's to much! Thank you to Ozwell Wayfarer you make me feel like I am not the only one!