Where a seller's star rating comes from, and what it does and does not tell you.
Every rating on Artmire comes from someone who actually bought and paid. There is no other way for a score to appear, which is what makes the number worth reading before you buy.
A buyer rates their purchase on three separate points, each out of five:
The Overall rating is the average of those three, worked out for them rather than given as a fourth score. A seller's headline star rating is then the average across every review they have received.
Only a buyer with a paid order, and only once per order. You cannot review an item you did not buy, and a seller cannot review their own. Reviews follow purchases, so a seller cannot gather ratings without selling anything.
A review — with any photograph the buyer attached to it — is published immediately, under their name and profile picture, and cannot be edited or deleted afterwards — not by the buyer who wrote it, and not by the seller it is about.
This cuts both ways, and it is worth knowing before you write one: a review left in the heat of a bad week is as permanent as a fair one. Take the moment to write what you would still stand behind in a year.
A seller may answer a review publicly, once. Their reply appears under it marked Reply from the seller, and it is as final as the review — one reply, no edits, no deletion.
Replies are worth reading. How a seller answers a poor review often tells you more about them than the review itself.
A seller's score, stars and review count appear on their card on every one of their item pages, and again at the top of their shop. On either page the count scrolls you down to the reviews themselves.
The full list sits at the foot of the item page and at the foot of the shop page, with the three averages broken out above it and Show more reviews to read further back. Some reviews carry a photograph the buyer took — click it to see it full size.
A seller with no reviews shows No reviews yet, never 0.0. An unrated seller is not a badly rated one — they may simply be new. Judge them on their shop instead: what they have sold, how they have written their listings, and whether their shipping and returns terms are published.
Reviews are moderated: Artmire can hide one that breaks the review rules, instigates hatred, is discriminatory or is spam, and a hidden review stops counting towards the seller's average. Ordinary criticism is not moderated — a fair bad review is meant to stay.
Once a purchase has arrived, the review is opened from that delivery, not from the item page — go to your deliveries and rate the seller from the order itself. A badge shows on the menu while you have purchases waiting for a review.