eBay Will No Longer Allow Negative Buyer Feedback
Thu Jan 31, 2008 11:39AM EST
See Comments (48)
2008 is bringing some interesting times for eBay. Its CEO Meg Whitman, one of Silicon Valley's most long-lived and controversy-free CEOs, is stepping down in March. Rumors of a big acquisition are flying. And now, some changes are in store for people who actually use the site to buy and sell stuff.
The big news: Come May 2008, sellers will no longer be able to leave negative or neutral feedback for buyers. eBay's rationale is that it will encourage buyers to leave more honest feedback for sellers. Negative feedback from buyers is rare because of the fear of reprisal from a seller leaving negative feedback against you out of spite.
And while this should remove the fear of leaving negative feedback against crooked sellers, longtime eBay merchants are already upset with the change, as it takes away their lone mechanism for fighting buyer fraud in the auction process. Just about every seller (including myself) has faced a buyer who refused to pay, or who just didn't understand how auctions worked, and once in a while I've hit these buyers with negative feedback.Â
I can understand where eBay is coming from: Protecting buyers is critical in an auction system. But could this move backfire? eBay has historically placed more and more restrictions on its sellers over the years. Could this be the straw that breaks the camel's back? (I'm not sure it is, if for no other reason than that auction sellers really have nowhere else to go.)Â
Other changes are also in the works, including the removal of all negative/neutral feedback left by suspended members, switching the time you can leave feedback from 90 to 60 days, and additional ability for repeat buyers to leave more feedback for sellers. (Today, your feedback for a seller counts only one time, ever.)
Hear the seller anger by listening in here! That's a lot of ranting!
LINK: Upcoming Changes to FeedbackÂ
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47 Posted by ilovemandd@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:23PM EDT Report Abuse
The reason given was most the negatives were coming FROM the sellers, something like 8 to 1 ratio. There can't be that many bad buyers. There is a reason so many sellers were leaving negative feedback....There ARE that many bad buyers! The sellers have NO leverage now. I have over 5000 feedbacks with 3 total negative, 2 since this lame ass policy change. Coincidence? I dont think so. Bye Bye Ebay!
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48 Posted by aquawatches on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:57PM EDT Report Abuse
I'm a seller since 4 years, sold more thousands of items. Had no negative, had no a problem with the buyers. BUT: SINCE EBAY NEW FEEDBACK POLICY, SOME BUYERS BLACKMAILS ME TO LEAVE A NEGATIVE IF I WILL NOT DO A PARTIAL REFUND? These kind of buyres all say the same: "The item is not as described" This was not happened before. EBAY DOES MONEY FROM THE SELLERS BUT DO NOT PROTECT THE SELLERS. HOPE WE WILL FIND A NEW ALTERNATIVE.....
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46 Posted by rabchil on Fri May 16, 2008 1:46AM EDT Report Abuse
How many bad buyers do you get compared to bad sellers on ebay? Seriously. For honest and reliable power sellers on ebay, say 3 stupid buyers won't affect your feedback percentage by much if you cater to over 100 customers per month. Without buyers, you can't sell anything. Buyers pay money hungry merchants for overpriced shipping for many years. I can't believe people actually expect buyers to pay the sellers' PP fees. "Hey, I got your money. Now pay the fee that I incur for receiving your money." How ludicrous. I am both a buyer and a seller, I completely understand how ebay choose buyers over sellers because this is a world where you place importance on service to your customers. If you are a good seller then you wouldn't have a lot of problem. Sorry but that's how the way it goes. You will always get stupid people if you are doing a business, but it is your responsibility to put up with it because you are the seller/service provider. Go out in the streets and people in malls and hotels, restaurants and other places stress the importance of service and satisfaction to their customers as well, no matter how difficult the customers are. Bottomline is, you run a business. You are supposed to put up with customer idiocy from time to time. No companies out there basically write rude emails / responses to their customers no matter how silly they are, do they? In the same way, that's how feedbacks on ebay works as well.