Chris:
On the author page, is it possible to have another line under "Number of Downloads" such as "Number of Sales" so that prospective buyers or others you bring to the site could see how sucessful you've been? Without this, one could view the author info and conclude that the individual writer isn't as successful as others who have a number of downloads, even tho many of those downloads are for free stuff.
I'm thinking in terms not only of writer marketing for me and other writers here, but of the site itself. How can a prospect tell if what we produce sells other than the last 25 listings of content sold?
Without making this too complicated, could the "Number of sales" line include something like "X Regular" and "X Exclusive?" or something similar?
I think that adding something like this would give us writers and the site more credibility and increase sales.
Author page number of sales indicator
Moderators: Celeste Stewart, Ed, Constant
I agree!
I think that's a great idea, and would help the buyer to know the difference. It's obvious that the buyer would think the author with 500 or more downloads is the one who's most popular, even though the downloads were free.
I also feel that an author rating system would be great if it were possible (sort of like Ebay with buyer and seller ratings). When a buyer purchases an article, if he or she could give a rating on each author, it would help other buyers in the future. Just a thought!
Candicep
I also feel that an author rating system would be great if it were possible (sort of like Ebay with buyer and seller ratings). When a buyer purchases an article, if he or she could give a rating on each author, it would help other buyers in the future. Just a thought!
Candicep
Re: I agree!
Love the rating idea!candicep wrote:I also feel that an author rating system would be great if it were possible (sort of like Ebay with buyer and seller ratings). When a buyer purchases an article, if he or she could give a rating on each author, it would help other buyers in the future. Just a thought!
Candicep
But playing devil's advocate, I wonder if this would inundate the customer with too much post-sale "responsibility". Make sense?
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constant-content
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Katie-Anne
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Ratings can be double edged
As someone who is terrified of getting a bad rating from ebay (usually I pay within 24 hours through paypal, but stuff happens etc etc etc) and someone who knows another person who was the victim of malicious ratings, I'd say ratings are something you have to be careful with.
It's wonderful if you get a good rating because the article is exactly what the buyer wanted. But what if it's not? What if they didn't read your summary and short bit correctly? What if they are disappointed have received it and despite it being a great article, they give you bad rating based on their experience with it.
Also, I get quite a lot of work through elance.com. My rating score there was a perfect 5.0 until last week. I exected that one part of the score would come down because I was sick and missed the deadline (deadly sin in the writing world!) but I assumed everything else would maintain the perfect score as the client was happy with my work, had me working on another project, and discussing further work. When his feedback went in for the first project, he'd given me 4.0 for schedule which was fine, but then everything else was between 4.4 and 4.8. I talked to him about this to see what I could do to improve my work with him so that my next ratings were higher from him. He was shocked. Apparently he never gives a perfect score and the ratings I'd got were the highest he's ever given. He didn't think about pulling my average rating down, and that clients prefer people with perfect ratings because other than perfect indicates possible problem - or that it was normal practice that if you were happy with a project you awarded the provider a perfect score.
It would be good to know how articles are received by buyers, but I'm wary about rating systems.
Katie-Anne
It's wonderful if you get a good rating because the article is exactly what the buyer wanted. But what if it's not? What if they didn't read your summary and short bit correctly? What if they are disappointed have received it and despite it being a great article, they give you bad rating based on their experience with it.
Also, I get quite a lot of work through elance.com. My rating score there was a perfect 5.0 until last week. I exected that one part of the score would come down because I was sick and missed the deadline (deadly sin in the writing world!) but I assumed everything else would maintain the perfect score as the client was happy with my work, had me working on another project, and discussing further work. When his feedback went in for the first project, he'd given me 4.0 for schedule which was fine, but then everything else was between 4.4 and 4.8. I talked to him about this to see what I could do to improve my work with him so that my next ratings were higher from him. He was shocked. Apparently he never gives a perfect score and the ratings I'd got were the highest he's ever given. He didn't think about pulling my average rating down, and that clients prefer people with perfect ratings because other than perfect indicates possible problem - or that it was normal practice that if you were happy with a project you awarded the provider a perfect score.
It would be good to know how articles are received by buyers, but I'm wary about rating systems.
Katie-Anne
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southernrose
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I agree with Katie-Anne about the rating system. I, too, have had an unpleasant ebay experience concerning negative feedback that was not deserved. I would be afraid that there could be some sort of misunderstanding that could impact my rating in a negative way and affect my reputation as a CC writer. Granted, I am known to be somewhat paranoid about this sort of thing, but it does concern me. I would hate to see any CC writer impacted by an unjust negative rating.
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carpesomediem
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I know one of the problems that eBay has yet to regulate is the fact that many sellers will threaten buyers with negative feedback.
"If you leave negative feedback, we will leave you a negative feebdack," is a common facet in seller guidelines on their products, especially when they have a store or other big selling business.
So, basically, even if you are a good buyer, if the seller fails in their delivery or any other aspect, and you need negative feedback, they'll knock you whether you were a good seller or not.
It's sad that people resort to these tactics, and it's even sadder that eBay does nothing about it.
"If you leave negative feedback, we will leave you a negative feebdack," is a common facet in seller guidelines on their products, especially when they have a store or other big selling business.
So, basically, even if you are a good buyer, if the seller fails in their delivery or any other aspect, and you need negative feedback, they'll knock you whether you were a good seller or not.
It's sad that people resort to these tactics, and it's even sadder that eBay does nothing about it.