Is anybody else also looking forward to that day in May when sellers on eBay will no longer be able to post negative feedback on buyers? I know that I am.
I’ve never had what would qualify as a bad experience with any sellers and I know that they’ve never had one with me, but my confidence with sellers and what to expect will be much higher. I think that it’s a very good thing.
I hate dealing with sellers that blatantly threaten to post negative feedback on any buyer that posts negatively about the seller. There are other changes being made as well, but this affects me most.
Replies
Matt, I haven't sold much on eBay in the last couple of years, but was fairly active in years past. I heard about the change on the radio of all place. How are they going to handle buyers who don't pay??
The descriptions of all the changes are on the following web page. I've never sold so I don't know what the changes are in that respect. On this page they go into minor detail on non-paying buyers and what to do if a buyer is trying to extort extra benefits through this advantage. It sounds like a series of strikes that could lead to suspension after 1 or more instances, depending on the severity.
http://pages.ebay.com/services/forum/new.html
Thanks for the link, Matt. The Feedback Extortion and other nasties must have been a serious problem! I'm still seeing some confusing statements in that page of information, though. For instance "sellers will leave Feedback upon payment more often in order to increase their chance of receiving positive Feedback" Seems to indicate sellers can leave feedback on buyers. Don't know what I'm missing in that one. Ah! I guess sellers can leave positive FB but not anything else, got it.
That answers the primary concern I had, left over from the last time I seriously auctioned something: The ability to screen for certain minimum requirements for a bidder. When the WWA woodworker's forum commissioned the Tsunami Hope Chest to be built Down Under and accepted my offer to serve as eBay seller for this fundraiser, the minute it hit the auction block, I started getting scammers (the minimum bid was in the "Big Ticket" category. So I ended up closing the auction and re-opening it with requirement that any bidder had to have a certain amount of FB points.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Bad buyer? I'm dealing with one now. She returned 2 items under a false claim of misrepresentation. I'm liberal, so I refunded her money after reminding her that my stated policy is no refund on S&H. Meanwhile I've paid the eBay fees which I can only get refunded if the Buyer agrees to file a non-paying form or something like that.
Now she wants S&H plus her costs for shipping back. She's filed a PayPal claim for misrepresentation. Since I've already refunded I can't even click "give refund" to make the problem go away.
And, of course, she has the privilege of giving me a bad Feedback. Her feedback includes mention of "Feedback blackmail."
That seems like a bad buyer to me! I cherish that after this is settled I may be able to give her Feedback (although I've never had an unhappy buyer so I have no idea what happens after PayPal adjudication).
GDH2,
Just a sign of things to come. Sellers are leaving eBay in droves because of this change (not to mention the fee increases). I've been pretty lucky with buyers over the years taking care of any issues that may arise but I've already noticed buyers taking their time to pay for auctions that have ended over a week ago. I've already had to issue non-paying bidder disputes three times this month. That's more than I've had over the past year.
eBay has been stuck with stagnant sales for the past few years and these changes are their attempt to lure in more buyers by putting the buyer's fears at ease. But I think it'll backfire because it's the sellers that make eBay what it is. If the sellers find it too much of a hassle or get burned by dishonest buyers, then they simply won't sell anymore driving away eBay's profit from listing and final value fees.
I've read where eBay may change it's mind on the feedback change but that may be just a rumor. I think they realize they are already losing business because of the change.
There are more crooks on ebay than in your largest State prison. Feedback is essential to doing business on ebay.
Accurate feedback is necessary. No argument here. I'm looking forward to it being accurate too.
My feedback is about 280. Should be close to 400 or so. As I always refused to leave feedback first as a buyer. Even got email that to give them good feedback and they will return the favor to me. I always sent the same reply back to them. I have had the item for several weeks no intentions of returning, paid within hours, fullfilled all buyers requirements and you still will not leave feedback first. I choose not to leave feedback for you since you are basically accusing me of being dishonnest or untrustworty by not leaving feedback for me first.
I have had problems with 2 sellers. One claimed paypal accepted and had the logos and description in the auction. But never took paypal. After the win, he sent a check out email that said if paypal doesn't work have to pay by money order. After 4 attempts over 4 days paypal would not work. Sent email to him saying that paypal broken. He sent mail back saying had to use money order then. I replied I will pay by paypal only. He then sent back another message that had to pay by money order hilighted. I then contacted ebay stating he is listing a false payment method. After about 3 weeks and him claiming an unpaid bidder notice twice. Ebay finally kicked him off ebay. I was contacted by others on ebay, and looked at his feedback. He had been doing this over 6 months. One person said they had been fighting ebay for 4 months on the nonpaying bidder notice.
Other seller was just flat out a liar. An item was either never shipped or lost. After 8 emails in 7 days with no reply (6 weeks after purchase). I went through paypal to get my money back. Paypal gave me my money back and I gave him bad feedback for lack of communication. He then gave me bad feedback saying we had communicated several times and gave me a refund. I replied to that flat out callling him a liar, stating I had to go thru paypal for refund. And never got a reply until after the bad feedback on him.
Ebay has always been a sellers market. I have cut way back on buying things on it.
All ebay needed to do was set who gives first feedback with a change to follow up if needed.
I almost ended up with a neg feedback from a buyer cause I allowed him, as requested by him, for extra time to pay. As soon as he paid I shipped, said I did'nt communicate enough! Odd cause Often there's next to nothing said in either direction!
Feedback has to be two way and honest!
I agree that 2 way honest feedback is ideal. This current system is not. I have NEVER had a seller respond first despite my part of the deal being complete 4 days to 2 weeks before their part. Not once. I have paid within 2 hours of every single auction I've won. The reason for that percentage can only be because the seller is more concerned about their own feedback than giving other sellers a 'heads-up' through negative feedback.
A member here previously gave an example of a current situation with a bad buyer but I guarantee he/she won't be the first to give that negative. He gave money back to a buyer who seemingly changed his mind just to save his feedback score. That transaction will end in a no-feedback stalemate or two positives.
I've seen several suggestions ranging from worse to good. The best I saw was having eBay generate a "feedback" on the buyer through paypal transactions that stated how long it takes the buyer to pay on average. Another good one was having paypal bids be locked in guarantees--the second the auction ends the buyer automatically pays. The last one is for eBay to state what percentage of times the buyer leaves positive/negative feedback. I think an inordinately high number of problemed transactions (as viewed through the buyer's own eyes) would indicate a difficult buyer.
I think that this is a net positive for the community as a whole. But I'm just a buyer...
Edited 3/25/2008 12:48 am ET by MattInPA
I agree there is a lot of sellers slow or wait for you to post. Not sure why.
If you sell and ship "junk listed as wonderful" you know your going to get bad feedback. Its not big deal to be honest about the condition of something. I too pay as soon as I won, so I'm committed till the item arrives and then I leave feedback.
No system will be perfect, but more could be done to weed out the problem people.
Worst I had was a seller of the remotes for cars and vans. Agreed to a refund cause he got it wrong and then I had to go via PayPal to get my money back due to his non-response.
I have a 120 feedback and I would say 118 have been no problem!
Feedback in both directions has a place, but maybe Ebay should act as a filter, and show the feedback based on whether or not things went smoothly, and showing further details when things did not....basically just showing the known or claimed facts of the transaction and any resolution/responses to problems, while removing the possibility for nonsense.
Edited 3/25/2008 4:59 pm ET by Knotscott
I'm don't buy or sell much on eBay. When I've bought something, 90% of the sellers wait for me to post positive feedback before they would post it. I bought the item paid for it quickly, what more do they want? I understand that unreasonable people muck up the works for others, but this is something I've never understood. Craig's List has become much more attractive for me to buy and sell stuff. Tom
As a seller on e-bay (and a buyer) I have always left feedback as soon as I have received payment. I figure if you are honest and not misrepresenting the items you sell, you will not have a problem. It does PO me that a LOT of buyers will not leave feedback. I have probably sold over 1500 items, yet my total feedback is only 494, and that includes a fair number of items I have purchased. I have mixed emotions about the change, but feel that something needed to be done.
Bill Koustenis
Advanced Automotive Machine
Waldorf Md
I have only bought on ebay and have seen numerous sellers who have misrepresented things. On the other hand, I have heard of purchasers who have played games with sellers. Honest feedback needs to be both ways as it has to do with the character of people, not being a buyer or seller. There needs to be protection on both sides. I think Craigslist will benefit the most from the ebay changes!
As I understand the new rules, seller feedback will be limited to pay or non-pay.I've bought and sold hundreds of things on ebay. Most of what I have sold has had to do with cavalry equipment, not tools, but my purchases have been pretty broad and included lots of tools. By and large, I've been lucky. Most buyers and sellers are honest, and those who aren't can usually be sniffed out by careful users. However, I have had two bad feedbacks, both from sellers. One was a mess who did not properly state terms of purchase and then demanded I send CASH overseas. Like, sure I will, and right away, ma'am. The other took my payment and never delivered the expensive spool of wire I bought. After months of dodging around in which he claimed to have shipped it but not to have kept any shipping receipts (and forgetting which shipping service or the approximate date), I gave him a bad feedback. He retaliated with a very abusive one. I went to Ebay's mediation service, paid the $35, and got nothing for my trouble. Despite the obvious lies, and lack of proof, they would not remove his negative feedback on me. Paypal, however, did give me a partial refund by pulling it from his account -- which put him over the top, BTW. Later the same year I was at a party with an ebay executive who said that retaliation by bad sellers was a growing problem.
I don't really buy anything from ebay but can someone explain why bad feedback for a buyer is a realy bad thing? I understand a seller getting upset with bad feedback but can buyers be excluded from buying something for bad feedback?
Dana
Dana:
Yes, sellers can specify that people with variousl levels of bad feedback are ineligible to bid.
J
Dana, I think the problem was a large number of sellers who would threaten negative FB to their buyers if the buyers were to leave negFB to them. The many suffering the sins of the few.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Thanks, I guess I just don't understand why I as a buyer would be concerend about bad feedback. If I win an auction do they turn me away for having a seller saying bad things about me?
Also I would think that the sellers should have a huge amount of power over the ebay management. I know they have sellers groups etc. They should go on strike.
The idea of a strike only works if there is a threat. What are the sellers going to do? When they strike they only shift the fees that ebay receives to a different week. They are probably hurting themselves because they're saturating the market in weeks before and after. There are no other options that are near the level of ebay. People whose business is ebay don't have another option. Hence, no threat. Strikes won't work for anything other than displaying dissatisfaction. I think ebay knows people will be dissatisfied.
Edited 3/30/2008 5:56 pm ET by MattInPA
Dana:As I mentioned, some seller WILL turn away people who have negative feedback, especially if there are several. Some ebay listings explicitly say that. I sometimes do that myself. Life is too short to try an anonymous long distance transaction with a jerk.Joe
As an ebay buyer the level of control the power sellers has over management, has always bothered me.
Ebay has for years taken the stance that the seller is their customer, and not the buyer. The current shift in feedback rules, is due to a great deal of dissatisfied buyers leaving, and ebay starting to realize that the true customer is the buyer.
I still don't understand why sellers, who I am prompt and courteous to, and have received my money in a very timely manner, will wait until after I post feed back for them before they post it for me. And, yes there are too many buyers who use it as a threat against negative feed back from the seller.
I have over 400 positives, and two negatives. I figure most sellers, can figure out what happened on the negatives.
Hi Matt I think they should leave the feedback setup on e-bay just the way it is I have a 100% positive rating split about 50/50 between selling and buying and as a buyer I don't leave a feedback until I receive the item. As a seller I don't leave any feedback unless I receive a positive feedback or I confirm that the buyer has received the item they bought and are happy. As a policy I always offer a buyer the opportunity to return the purchase for a refund minus the shipping charges and the auction fees (this has never happened). I have only had one bad experience as a seller so far and that was with a buyer in Korea that waited 3 months to dispute a paypal charge and I was able to leave a negative feedback. As a seller if E-bay eliminates the feedback for buyers I would no longer use the feedback for sellers. I think the problem with the feedback is the same as everything in life, the people who are going to try and rip you off are going to do it anyway and the people who are honest are going to be honest because that is who they are.
Take care Troy
Edited 3/30/2008 2:46 pm ET by troys
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