Ebay Makes Feedback Changes

T-Bone

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(Couldn't find a thread for this but merge if there is one already)

For those of you who haven't seen them, these are the new changes and they are now in operation (as of 15th May AFAIK) ;

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/businesscentre/2008bsrl/feedback-update.html

The most important changes are;

1) Sellers are now unable to leave negative or neutral feedback for buyers
2) Neutrals are now considered as negatives on your feedback score.

I've personally gone from a 1185 rating of 100% to a rating of 99.6% due to two muppets leaving me neutral feedback months ago :mad:

Neither one of them had a justifiable complaint, and neither emailed me to explain their problem before leaving feedback :suicide:

Now I wasn't too concerned at the time, but now ebay has changed the goalposts on how they contribute to my feedback retrospectively, I am less than impressed.

I could go all day about my contempt for ebay but lets hear what you think about the changes!
 
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on the upside i now have 100% :smashin:

I was given -ve feedback from a seller who refused to deliver goods or refused to give a refund
 
I never understood this, not since the day I heard about it. Why can't sellers issue negative feedback to buyers when there are so many bad eggs around? I used to use eBay almost daily but have bought only two/three things off it in the past year. This is the final straw, I'll be closing my account in due course. It's no longer the cheapest, the easiest or the most enjoyable way to shop online.
 
I never understood this, not since the day I heard about it. Why can't sellers issue negative feedback to buyers when there are so many bad eggs around? I used to use eBay almost daily but have bought only two/three things off it in the past year. This is the final straw, I'll be closing my account in due course. It's no longer the cheapest, the easiest or the most enjoyable way to shop online.

Unfortunately until 400 billion others think the same Ebay will still go on.
It has got to burst sometime though, surely it will get flooded and no bargains to be had (which has happened in some areas)

As for the rating system, seems a bit odd you cant leave neg feedback, is there an alternative ??
 
Ah yes.. so thats why I jumped from 488 to 504 last night lol!
 
I bet all the scammers are rubbing their hands together over this.
 
I bet all the scammers are rubbing their hands together over this.
I love the one where multiple sales to the same buyer now count. Create two accounts, sell 50 items to your second account for a penny & you have instant 100% feedback over 50 trades.
 
my feedback jumped from 344 to 357, but never had much neutral or negative feedback.
 
As for the rating system, seems a bit odd you cant leave neg feedback, is there an alternative ??

In short, no. If you have a non-paying buyer any feedback that they leave will be removed by ebay, but thats only a minor part of the problem - many paying buyers leave negative or neutral feedback for unjustifiable reasons and the new system actively encourages this :(

Ebay have indicated that there will be a system in place for removing unfair negatives and neutrals from a sellers feedback, but i'm not optimisitc, and with good reason.

I think it would be difficult for anyone to 'judge' on such cases. For example for an 'item not as described' negative it is essentially the buyers word against the sellers which makes it a highly contentious and subjective issue. How anyone could judge on any issue with any degree of certainty is beyond me.

And the precedent already set by paypal disputes is hardly reassuring - anyone of you who have had the displeasure of dealing with an unscrupulous buyer in a paypal dispute will know the nature of ebay justice i'm sure.

My main concern from the new changes is dishonest buyers blackmailing genuine sellers by threatening negative feedback if the seller does not give them monetary compensation or additional goods.

I expect the amount of items that go 'missing in the post' to suddenly increase as well :rolleyes:
 
i think its good! - i'm fed up of not receiving feedback from sellers until i give them good feedback!

also those who say quite openly - if you leave me negative i will do the same to you

buyers should be able to tell the truth without the fear of negative feedback
 
Even though a seller can only leave positive feedback, it could mention any grievance in the feedback.
My feedback went from 701 to 728, and from 99.9% to 100% quite happy with that:smashin:
 
....and sellers should be able to say if people attempt to buy their products and pay with dodgy paypal accounts or attempt to defraud them in any other way.

If anyone has ever tried selling expensive electronics/phones on there you will know what I am talking about. It is an absolute minefield.

However eBay have now decided to protect these people :suicide:
 
....and sellers should be able to say if people attempt to buy their products and pay with dodgy paypal accounts or attempt to defraud them in any other way.

If anyone has ever tried selling expensive electronics/phones on there you will no what I am talking about. It is an absolute minefield.

However eBay have now decided to protect these people :suicide:

They always have protected them, the final nail in the proverbial coffin was the buyout [and insistence on using] PayPal who hide and protect the scammers.

I have people win my auctions and never pay, whats to stop these people bidding for a laugh then not doing anything when they don't win. The 'unpaid strike' system means bugger all!
 
Indeed they could simultaneously try and scam 10 auctions, if only one comes back they are in the black.

By the time the non paying strikes get done they are long gone.
 
I suppose it will stop sellers leaving negative feedback to buyers out of spite if they've received genuine negative feedback for the transaction. I always pay instantly so this would really annoy me if I was ever in this situation because you've fulfilled or even exceeded your part of the transaction.
 
I suppose it will stop sellers leaving negative feedback to buyers out of spite if they've received genuine negative feedback for the transaction. I always pay instantly so this would really annoy me if I was ever in this situation because you've fulfilled or even exceeded your part of the transaction.

It happened to me; a seller kept refunding my payment 3 times (because the paypal account was in my husband's name while the ebay account in my name despite having the same address and last name) and then filed for non payment.
I left negative feedback because he was a complete clown and he retaliated saying I was a fraudster before sending me a request to mutualy remove our negative feedback.
My 100% score was damaged but I couldn't care less, I left my negative feedback. I don't get bullied into things.
 
This surely can't be right ?

What if someone bids and doesn't pay when they win ? What if they have a dodgy account/fraud etc ? The seller can't give bad feedback ?

Nightmare !
 
So what now can sellers do to let other sellers know about time wasting ebayers? I have just delt with a timewaster but cannot leave negative feedback, so they go on with a 100% record.

Basically a buyer can now go about bidding on anything they want, and change their mind about buying with no fear of neg feedback? What if they bid on something and think "mmm I paid a little much, I'll not buy and just bid on a cheaper item?"

This change has really puzzled me and is just another hazard to a seller on ebay, they really do only care about the buyers.
 
I like it, it stops sellers being out of order and giving a buyer negative feedback because the buyer has given the seller negative feedback.

After all theres only one thing the buyer needs to do PAY. So it's pretty hard for him to deserve negative feedback unless the go AWOL. Where as sellers can potentially recieve negative feedback for a lot of things.
 
I have feedback on eBay of 530, gathered over 7 years.

In the last 6 or 9 months I have only bought/sold about 3 or 4 things. I was getting fed up with it as it has lost all the things that made it good.

Add to this the fact that I was scammed a couple of times, and eBay/PayPal sided with the scammers.

I think this new change will probably make me stop using it totally.

Some of the areas on it, likes of electronics etc, are now no cheaper than buying from other online retailers. I have been looking for a new external HDD recently and 99% of the drives for sale are either in China or only available on BUY IT NOW !! Its meant to be an auction site for God's sake, not just a shop. I would love to see the end of BUY IT NOW on Ebay.
 
1) Sellers are now unable to leave negative or neutral feedback for buyers

WTF? I'm probably missing something here, but does that mean any buyer registering from now on is guaranteed 100% feedback?! :eek:

If that's the case, why bother having feedback for buyers at all? :suicide:

ebay said:
"The current system prevents buyers from leaving honest Feedback as they fear retaliation from the sellers if they leave a negative."

IMO, I've always thought a simpler/better solution would've been to make sellers leave feedback first (Bearing in mind it's the buyers that fulfill their part of the transaction first anyway!)
 
I agree with most of your commens. Ebay just isn't worth it anymore. I can honestly say that in the last two years, I have had two bargins - both higher end mobile phones but that was pure luck than anything else. Most of the prices are now higher than what I can buy from a reputable e-tailer such as Play or Amazon. At least, if I have a problem with the e-tailer, their returns/refund policy is usually a lot easier than going through the "get stuffed" process that usually adopted by eBay.

The changes are a little silly. Feedback is meant to highlight people's experience of the deal. I do agree that a lot of sellers do hold you to ransom - positive for positive, but right now there is no other way that I can see for people to distinguish a reputable seller from a bad one. The fact that sellers have to go through the eBay process for non payment (which doesn't work and you have to keep chasing eBay for the credit) and keep mum about it is plainly silly.

As a seller, if the buyer completes the transaction in a timely fashion, then fair enough, I shouldn't be able to leave negative feedback (though I should have the opportunity to respond to negative feedback left me - basic human right). I always leave feedback as soon as payment is received, even if they use e-Cheques which take forever and a day to clear. However, if the buyer doesn't pay, then I should be within my rights to leave negative feedback.
 
The problem i have had in the past is not with buyers not paying but trying to rip me off later. On one occasion i sold a Denon dvd player. It was only a couple of months old and worked perfectly. The buyer tried saying there was no picture and i should refund him. I told him send it back and if it doesnt work i will refund him, i also said i have the serial number recorded at home, as soon as i told him this he backed down and kept it. Probably trying to swap my player for his faulty one. Now i would have to leave positive or no feedback at all.
 
i can see the point that sellers are getting annoyed about in not being able to give non paying winners negative feedback

but look at it this way - you have not lost anything (maybe listing fees?)

far too many sellers will not leave you positive feedback unless you do the same - ie tit for tat!!

i got done over some car parts that were advertised as genuine Mopar
(Jeep) and genuine parts were shown in the photo - what i got were independent parts - i gave neg feedback and got a stream of abuse and a neg point to my otherwise 100% record!!
 
My feedback score appears to have gone down due to 1 negative feedback from a seller - shouldn't it have gone up? The only reason I received a negative was because I left him a negative.
 

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