The numbers that matter, and the ones that do not
A vendor’s feedback is a record, and a record is only useful if you know which numbers to read. The count and the percentage are the easy ones, and the pattern in the recent entries is the one that predicts the next order.
The count and the percentage
The total count is the volume, and the percentage is the rate. A vendor with a high count and a high percentage is the safe read, and a vendor with a low count is a vendor who is new, which is not a fault but is a different bet. The percentage alone is not the story, because a small count can be a high percentage by luck, and a large count can be a low percentage by volume.
The recent pattern
The recent entries are the part that predicts the next order. A vendor whose last ten are all positive and whose shipping time is steady is a vendor who is finalizing. A vendor whose last ten include a dispute or a slow shipment is a vendor whose machinery is slipping, and the slip shows in the feedback before it shows in the wallet. The vendor page has the requirements that keep the floor high.
The one to skip
The one number to skip is the rating that is rounded to a star, because a star is a summary of a summary and it hides the pattern. The raw entries, in order, are the record, and the record is the thing to read before the first order, not after the first dispute.