It seems that sellers always want, expect or ask for 5 star feedback, and sometimes I find this awkward if I'm giving fair (to myself) and honest (with the seller) feedback. Quite often the item description is very little or even nothing, and sometimes inadequate or even useless, whatever length it is. That can only rate 1 star, and even that would be a gift in some instances. Communication -- well sometimes there isn't any. I pay for the item(s), they are shipped, I get an email to say so from the merchant, and eventually I receive it. Does that rate 5 stars -- very satisfied? At least 4 -- I am satisfied to the extent that it was adequate and I'm happy. So I am just simply "satisfied". And how quickly a seller posts and item varies quite a bit. Most of my content here relates to Chinese websites, where item descriptions are little or nothing, and often gibberish if anything of substance; communication between English and Mandarin doesn't always go too well; and postage can be within a day or two, or up to two weeks in one instance. So 5 stars are often not warranted, meaning not really fair to myself if I had difficulties -- but sellers expect 5 stars. I rate within a few days as "quickly", not "very quickly". That, to me, means same day or next morning. So in most, and nearly all cases, 4 stars is fair enough for the dispatch times I see. As with communication satisfaction, the dispatch times are adequate and I'm happy -- 4 stars. And then postage costs -- how can I determine if the cost is reasonable or not? I don't always know what the weight of it is, or probably didn't notice, and don't know the postage rates in their country. I have no idea if it is reasonable or not -- so a very neutral stance. So 4 stars for postage costs is generous when I don't have a clue. 3 stars would be fair to myself.
So, in most cases these sellers only deserve 4 stars for each of the feedback criteria, and if they don't get 5 stars every time they are not happy, and don't always give positive feedback to the buyer even when payment is made immediately through PayPal. Payback in kind it seems. They seem more concerned with having good feedback for the sake of their business, not whether they deserve to get 5 stars.
So giving fair and reasonable feedback ratings is very difficult when 4 stars IS fair and reasonable but 5 stars are always expected as a given, no matter how bad their service is. The star rating system is supposed to entice them to lift their game, and that doesn't happen if they get 5 stars undeservedly.
