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Red Stars Over Abe: AbeBooks Goes Live with its Ratings - By Michael Stillman Abe rates its booksellers by number of red stars. By Michael Stillman Abebooks finally went live with its Bookseller Rating system last month, and we have heard two reactions from the dealers: so what, and this represents a knife in the heart. There was, theoretically, one other response -- we love it. We say "theoretically" as that response was not a realistic possibility. Booksellers are a tough audience, and besides which, we all tend to express our displeasure vociferously when we are wronged, but say little when we are righted. It's a shortcoming of human nature, but we are almost all guilty. Most booksellers, as best we can tell, have taken a ho-hum attitude, and this must be to Abe's relief. When the plan for a rating system was originally mentioned a year ago, there was much trepidation among the sellers. Rating systems in use by sites like eBay and Amazon allow customers to post comments, which means a seller can be saddled with ratings that reflect some problem on the part of the customer, shipping service, or site, rather than the seller himself. The customer may have it out for the dealer for some totally unrelated reason, but his negative, maybe even slanderous comments, still stand posted for the world to see. Who wants to take a chance with a seller when some customer claims he's a cheat? It's safer to go elsewhere rather than take a chance. The result was that when Abe decided to base it's rating strictly on fulfillment rates, much of the booksellers' fear disappeared. Instead of a subjective, possibly grossly unfair rating, the sellers' ratings would be based strictly on a mathematical formula. And, with the percentages used for the stars, most sellers achieve either a four or five (the best) star rating. That is probably reasonable, since most dealers do their job fairly well. The shortcoming of this system is it really doesn't tell customers very much. Fulfillment percentage probably isn't the major concern on people's minds when they buy from a new vendor. Ethical considerations are more likely the concern. Is this seller honest, will he overcharge my credit card, is the book as described, will shipment be timely, will a refund be made if I return the book -- these are the types of issues that are most likely on buyers' minds, though fulfillment rates aren't unimportant. The major issues really aren't addressed by this rating system. This leads to the problem that sellers who do not like the ratings have expressed. The ratings seem to say more than they do. All that is shown is "Bookseller Rating" and the number of stars. Sure, if you click on "Bookseller Rating" you will get a complete explanation of the system, that it refers only to "completion rate," or orders minus returns and cancellations. Five stars means 95%+ completion, four 85%-94%, three 70%-84%, two 60%-69%, and one 0%-59%. But, how many people click on this link to read the explanation? People are rushed and generally don't like reading lots of explanations. Many people will undoubtedly look at the ratings, assume they somehow measure a bookseller's integrity, and draw conclusions from them that don't necessarily follow.
Red Stars Over Abe: AbeBooks Goes Live with its Ratings - By Michael Stillman none For example, the smalltime seller could see his ratings tumble because of one unshipped book, or one customer who simply "borrows" the book for a day, always intending to ship it back for a refund on some lame excuse. A bookseller who prices very competitively, or one who has a shop on Main Street, is more likely to have a book sold elsewhere before the listing can be removed than does a higher priced, internet only dealer. The bookseller most likely to rate consistently at five stars is the one who sells "on-demand" reprints. They never run out of inventory, yet most people would not think they are somehow superior to traditional booksellers. On the other hand, the "mega-listers" who have to buy their stock from unsuspecting, legitimate booksellers probably do not fare so well under this rating system. For this we can be grateful. We tend to side with those who do not see this as a big deal. Most sellers achieve four or five star ratings, which are likely to encourage consumer confidence, even if for the wrong reason. Even a three probably doesn't scare customers off unless it is an expensive book, in which case they are likely doing more research about the seller anyway. The number of sellers who rate less is very small, with only those with very few sales, or something seriously wrong with their business model, likely to suffer. The shortcoming of the system is that it really doesn't say very much, and perhaps this will upset sellers who do a superior job of serving their customers, but still get lumped in with, or rate lower than, the "print-on-demand" dealers.

Red Stars Over Abe: AbeBooks Goes Live with its Ratings

- By Michael Stillman

Abe rates its booksellers by number of red stars.

By Michael Stillman

Abebooks finally went live with its Bookseller Rating system last month, and we have heard two reactions from the dealers: so what, and this represents a knife in the heart. There was, theoretically, one other response -- we love it. We say "theoretically" as that response was not a realistic possibility. Booksellers are a tough audience, and besides which, we all tend to express our displeasure vociferously when we are wronged, but say little when we are righted. It's a shortcoming of human nature, but we are almost all guilty.

Most booksellers, as best we can tell, have taken a ho-hum attitude, and this must be to Abe's relief. When the plan for a rating system was originally mentioned a year ago, there was much trepidation among the sellers. Rating systems in use by sites like eBay and Amazon allow customers to post comments, which means a seller can be saddled with ratings that reflect some problem on the part of the customer, shipping service, or site, rather than the seller himself. The customer may have it out for the dealer for some totally unrelated reason, but his negative, maybe even slanderous comments, still stand posted for the world to see. Who wants to take a chance with a seller when some customer claims he's a cheat? It's safer to go elsewhere rather than take a chance.

The result was that when Abe decided to base it's rating strictly on fulfillment rates, much of the booksellers' fear disappeared. Instead of a subjective, possibly grossly unfair rating, the sellers' ratings would be based strictly on a mathematical formula. And, with the percentages used for the stars, most sellers achieve either a four or five (the best) star rating. That is probably reasonable, since most dealers do their job fairly well.

The shortcoming of this system is it really doesn't tell customers very much. Fulfillment percentage probably isn't the major concern on people's minds when they buy from a new vendor. Ethical considerations are more likely the concern. Is this seller honest, will he overcharge my credit card, is the book as described, will shipment be timely, will a refund be made if I return the book -- these are the types of issues that are most likely on buyers' minds, though fulfillment rates aren't unimportant. The major issues really aren't addressed by this rating system.

This leads to the problem that sellers who do not like the ratings have expressed. The ratings seem to say more than they do. All that is shown is "Bookseller Rating" and the number of stars. Sure, if you click on "Bookseller Rating" you will get a complete explanation of the system, that it refers only to "completion rate," or orders minus returns and cancellations. Five stars means 95%+ completion, four 85%-94%, three 70%-84%, two 60%-69%, and one 0%-59%. But, how many people click on this link to read the explanation? People are rushed and generally don't like reading lots of explanations. Many people will undoubtedly look at the ratings, assume they somehow measure a bookseller's integrity, and draw conclusions from them that don't necessarily follow.

Red Stars Over Abe: AbeBooks Goes Live with its Ratings

- By Michael Stillman

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For example, the smalltime seller could see his ratings tumble because of one unshipped book, or one customer who simply "borrows" the book for a day, always intending to ship it back for a refund on some lame excuse. A bookseller who prices very competitively, or one who has a shop on Main Street, is more likely to have a book sold elsewhere before the listing can be removed than does a higher priced, internet only dealer. The bookseller most likely to rate consistently at five stars is the one who sells "on-demand" reprints. They never run out of inventory, yet most people would not think they are somehow superior to traditional booksellers. On the other hand, the "mega-listers" who have to buy their stock from unsuspecting, legitimate booksellers probably do not fare so well under this rating system. For this we can be grateful.

We tend to side with those who do not see this as a big deal. Most sellers achieve four or five star ratings, which are likely to encourage consumer confidence, even if for the wrong reason. Even a three probably doesn't scare customers off unless it is an expensive book, in which case they are likely doing more research about the seller anyway. The number of sellers who rate less is very small, with only those with very few sales, or something seriously wrong with their business model, likely to suffer. The shortcoming of the system is that it really doesn't say very much, and perhaps this will upset sellers who do a superior job of serving their customers, but still get lumped in with, or rate lower than, the "print-on-demand" dealers.