Doji's improved grading system

January 10, 2024
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Doji

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 listing an Apple iPhone 12 Blue 128GB on Doji, 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 listing price among all sellers that have active listings 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 to negotiate the best price for them without ever needing to exchange messages with the seller, because they both know what each condition means. This way, 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.

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 on 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!

Photos displaying the changes in battery health capacity for the 3 conditions on Doji

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 our professional 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.
An iPhone 13 Pro Max blue with tiny scratches on the sides
An iPhone 13 Green in pristine condition, no marks at all
An iPhone 13 Pro Max Silver with tiny marks on the sides

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.
An iPhone 12 mini blue with the screen in perfect condition and small marks on the sides
An iPhone 13 Pink with the screen with micro scratches in a photo up close and another photo from an arm's distance where the scratches can't be seen
An iPhone 14 Blue in a photo from an arm's distance where no scratches can be seen and a photo up close where a tiny scratch can be seen

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.
An iPhone 14 Pro Max Space Black with visible scratches on the screen and small scratches on the side
An iPhone 14 Blue with only 2 scratches on the screen, but the scratches are deep enough that can be seen from an arm's distance
An iPhone 12 Pro Graphite with some small scratches on the screen and on the sides

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.
An iPhone 14 Midnight with very few scratches on the screen, but a dent on the sides
An iPhone 11 Product Red with a lot of scratches on the screen and with a yellow discolouration mark on the bottom right of the display.
An iPhone 13 Pro Alpine Green with a lot of scratches on the screen and some scratches on the sides
An iPhone 14 Blue with a lot of scratches on the screen and a few small dents on the sides
An iPhone 12 Pro max gold with a lot of scratches on the screen and major scuffs on the sides
Table comparing the differences between the conditions on Doji

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 our professional 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 Azevedo

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