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Doji's improved grading system

Hi! My name is Tomás, I'm a Product Manager here at Doji, and I would love to present to you our newly improved Grading System.

We have just gone through an overhaul of our grading system and I would like to explain all the changes we made, so that you understand why we think it is much better than before.

What is the Doji's grading system?

If you don't know it yet, Doji works with a grading system. This means that every product sold on Doji will go through a grading alignment, so that it can be classified into one of our pre-defined conditions, since we work with used products. We associate a condition to every product sold on Doji, so that when a user is buying a product on our platform, they can check what each of our conditions mean and they will have a very good idea of what to expect when it arrives. This grading system allows us to have different sellers selling their own products and they might be classified in the same condition, so their asks will be displayed for the same product variant in our platform.

For example, two distinct sellers are placing Asks on Doji for an Apple iPhone 12 Blue 128GB and after going through our grading flow, both of their phones are classified in the Very Good condition. This means, that even if they are different products physically, they both function perfectly, have the minimum battery health requirements and have the same level of marks of use. So, when a buyer comes to Doji and they decide to buy an Apple iPhone 12 Blue 128GB in Very Good condition, they can Buy Now for the lowest Ask between all sellers that have placed an Ask for that product variant, and they will get the product they are expecting, because Doji guarantees that. On the other hand, if the buyer wants to pay less for that product, they can make an Offer, and all the sellers that have placed an Ask for an Apple iPhone 12 Blue 128GB in Very Good condition will be notified of the Offer and they can decide if they want to lower their asking price or not.

Which are the advantages of having a grading system?

This grading system allows buyers and sellers to negotiate the best price for them without ever needing to exchange messages between each other, because they both know what each condition means. While the buyer doesn't need to deal with the hassle of having to check tens of different listing, each with multiple different photos, and having to message each seller individually, the seller also doesn't have to worry about taking pictures of their device or even doesn't have to worry about answering multiple messages from buyers.

This is the beauty of Doji's grading system.

What has changed?

The concept of the grading system is great, but we are always trying to improve it as we learn from our users' experiences. And I would like to say that we've heard you!

Terminology

An important difference from the old grading system to the new one is the terminology change of our best condition, from Like New to Excellent. The description of the condition is pretty much the same, but we have changed its name because users that skimmed over the description of the condition were mistakenly assuming it would be a brand new device, so we've made the terminology changed to avoid confusion.

Description

The other big change that we made to our grading system was regarding the descriptions of the cosmetic marks possible in each condition. The idea here is for the descriptions to be simple yet direct, so that the users understand what to expect. And, since a picture is worth a thousand words, we are bringing example photos of real devices that have gone through the verification process in our Operations Centre to various places throughout the buying and selling journeys at Doji.

Battery

The main change to our grading system are the battery health capacity requirements. Previously, we would guarantee a minimum of 80% of battery health capacity for all the 3 conditions available on the platform. Now, phones in our best condition, called Excellent, have a minimum of 85% of battery health capacity, while the other two conditions, Very Good and Good, have a minimum of 83% of battery health capacity. This guarantees an even longer usage life on all devices purchased on Doji!

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Grading Questions

The last big change we've made to the grading system was the improvement to the Grading Questions flow. When a person wants to sell or trade in their device on Doji, they will have to go through our Grading Questions flow, so that we can help them determine the condition of their device in a step-by-step questions format. A new question has been added to the flow to determine the battery health capacity of the device, with a link to an article to inform the user how to get this information, since the requirements are different depending on the condition. In addition, the question to help determine the cosmetic condition of the device has been split in two, one for the screen and another for the sides and back, to follow the new descriptions of the conditions and to help the user to grade their device one step at a time.

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Conditions definitions

Below, I'm presenting the definition of each of our conditions, according to the new system, along with some example photos. The Excellent, Very Good and Good are conditions people are able to buy on Doji, while the Needs Repair condition is only available to sellers.

Excellent Condition

Device fully tested and verified to be working perfectly;

Device unlocked to any network;

Battery health of at least 85%;

Screen in pristine condition, with no marks in sight;

Sides and back may have slightly visible micro scratches.

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Very Good Condition

Device fully tested and verified to be working perfectly;

Device unlocked to any network;

Battery health of at least 83%;

Screen may have micro scratches, invisible if the device is held at arm's length and when the display is on;

Sides and back may have small scratches, but no scuffs, dents or cracks.

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Good Condition

Device fully tested and verified to be working perfectly;

Device unlocked to any network;

Battery health of at least 83%;

Screen may have small scratches that can be visible if holding the device at arm's length, but invisible in normal use when the display is on;

Sides and back may have small scratches and minor scuffs and chips visible, but no dents or cracks.

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Needs Repair Condition (only for sellers)

Device powers on, but can have software issues;

One or more features might not be working properly, such as cameras, connectivity, display, speakers and others;

Device has all of its components (no missing parts);

Device unlocked to any network;

Battery health might be less than 83%;

Screen or back may have any type of scratches or cracks;

Sides can have scratches and small dents, but cannot be bent or cracked.

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Conditions Comparison Chart

Conditions Comparison Chart

Name

Excelent

Very Good

Good

Needs Repair

All functions working perfectly

Yes

Unlocked to any network

Yes

Battery health

At least 85%

At least 83%

Any

Screen

Pristine condition, with no marks in sight

May have micro scratches, invisible if the device is held at arm's length and when the display is on

May have small scratches that can be visible if holding the device at arm's length, but invisible in normal use when the display is on

May have any type of scratches or cracks

Sides and back

May have slightly visible micro scratches

May have small scratches, but no scuffs, dents or cracks

May have small scratches and minor scuffs and chips visible, but no dents or cracks

May have scratches and small dents, but cannot be bent or cracked

There are no rows in this table

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Wrapping Up

With this improved Grading System, we expect that buyers will be able to understand the conditions of the products their are purchasing much better and, in turn, their expectation will be more aligned with the actual product, so their experience will be better. On the sellers' side, we believe that the seller will be able to grade their product more accurately with the new improvements of the grading system, and this will lead to less downgrades on the verification process, which will improve the user experience of both buyers and sellers.

See you later!

Tomás

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