eBay Sellers Can No Longer Leave Negative or Neutral Feedback: Come on People!

OK, wow. I don't always blog about the eBay News right away, but this one I could not pass up. I couldn't believe it when I read it: nestled cozily among eBay's various fee changes (some of which I think are a good idea), was this little gem:

"Sellers may only leave positive feedback for buyers (at the seller's option)."

Wow again. OK, I really try to be fair and objective when writing about eBay. I am not only an ebay seller, but a frequent buyer, and a shareholder. So I understand they are running a business and want to succeed. And they see the buyer experience as bad now, or in need of fixing.

But this? To quote Bill Cosby, Come on, people.

I do need to think this one through more...but right now my gut reaction is that this is way overboard.  To not let sellers, the people who are the backbone of eBay's business, who provide the cake inside the icing that is eBay's framework, have a say in feedback is just unfair.

I'll paste the details of the feedback part of the announcement below, in case you want to read it. I know they're concerned about retaliatory feedback. But I'm not sure this is the way to solve it. I'm going to think about that one.

But this way, I feel that buyers (not all buyers of course, most of mine are great, but in any group you get a few problematic people) will essentially be able to hijack sellers into jumping through all kinds of hoops, and will in some cases leave negatives that are way undeserved.

Here's just one example of how this could play out: a Buyer asks a seller to sell something at auction to him right away. "Can you put a buy it now on this?" Seller says no; they want it to run its course in the auction.

Buyer then promptly goes and bids on something else the seller is offering..maybe something cheap. The threat of a negative now hangs over the seller's head. And maybe it gets left for some reason.

What reason? Who cares? Feedbacks are inherently subjective and buyers could make up any reason.

"Package smelled bad.." Neg.  "Slow shipping." (Let's say they bought media mail and don't know it takes up to 10 days or more).  Neg.  "I don't like your packing peanuts." Neg.

OK, well, as I said, I need to think this through more. Maybe I need to live with the news system to really make up my mind. But most likely the almighty dollar will decide this anyway. If sellers leave eBay in droves, I think they'd rethink it. If they grumble, then go about their business and most of them stay on eBay, it will probably remain.

Details from the announcement about feedback below. Meantime, I'd love to hear what you think! Post a comment here if you have an opinion.

--

"I know this is a huge change, but we're also putting into place protections that sellers have wanted for years. In addition to holding buyers accountable via non-public seller reporting tools, such as Unpaid Item reports, we are planning a number of other Seller Protections against inaccurate feedback:

 

• We will remove, not just de-score, negative and neutral feedback when a buyer doesn't respond to the Unpaid Item process
• We will remove all negative and neutral feedback and comments when a buyer (or seller) is suspended. We will also do this retroactively � which means any negatives and neutrals you've received from members we've ever suspended will be removed.
• For sellers with an established track record, we'll prevent negative and neutral feedback within 3 days of listing end to promote communication.
• We're going to reduce the number of days a member can leave feedback from 90 to 60 days.
• We'll increase block bidder list capacity from 1,000 to 5,000 user IDs.
• We'll increase our monitoring, and take action based on seller reports of buyers behaving very badly.
• Feedback percentage will be based on the last 12 months, although the total count remains lifetime. This means that any negative or neutral feedback left for you more than 12 months ago will no longer affect your percent positive.

For more details, please see our information page."

Repeat Feedback Credit..." [I am not posting the bit about repeat Feedback credit here; pls. see eBay's announcement if you want to read about that.]

Comments

[Ginny]

One thing that was holding some buyers back from leaving unfair negative feedback on a seller was the awareness that the seller could leave a neg on them. So ebay is removing the ability of sellers to leave "retaliatory" and all neg fb (deserved or not). Which means that all of the unreasonable buyers now can post anything they want for any reason in Seller fb.

For example we had a customer in England who wanted us to lie on the customs form about the value of the item she bought. We wouldn't do it. She was irate. She left us a neg. That was entirely unfair! We obey the law and then a buyer penalizes us!? (She thought that she had left the fb on the last day that a neg could be left but she didn't realize that the time is extended under those circumstances. So we were able to report what she had done in a neg on her fb.)

Today someone made a point in a discussion board that if buyers are allowed to have their way with fb, then it is going to be very hard for Powersellers to keep to the requirements to remain in the PS program. Thus sellers will be unable to reap the "rewards" of discounts on their FVFees because they will be removed from the PS program due to the actions of unreasonable Buyers. So ebay won't be paying as many of those FVF discounts due to the difficulty of Sellers remaining in the PS program. Someone called this ebay's "genius". They have a point!

[Felicia]

Wow. Not allowing sellers to post feedback will hurt eBay in the long run. The good sellers will get feed up very quickly and go elsewhere. The bad seller don't care anyway and will continue to sell item using different seller ids.
Good luck eBay.

[Stu Thomas]

Boy, I want t know who's Knee-Jerk decision it was to make these changes. The system is not perfect, but, each side has a “Fair And Balanced”

chance to leave feedback for the other.It works both ways. I have bought a couple music CDs from eBaY seller jomar (No Longer A Registered User, Hmm???), and paid for them within an hour of the auction ending. When I received them they were "CDRs" Recorded by him/her and being sold as new in the listing. I did the appropriate
thing and left negative feedback to alert other buyers to this fact. I was left retaliatory negative feedback by the seller Jomar along with some cockamamie story about me and a buddy trying to scam him/her, My reply was "I'm not the one ripping people off by selling them CD-Rs as original CDs" I STILL have this neg feedback because even after MULTIPLE attempts on my part to make the "thick-skulls" at eBaY understand, they still don't and refuse to remove this inappropriate feedback.

I also currently have a buyer supercoop3406 who has won an item from me in an auction which ended May 4, 2008.
I have sent several invoices and have received absolutely no contact from this person. Even if they do eventually pay, what-the-heck, who wants to be strung-out for 2 weeks or more with no contact on a transaction?? This is a classic case of a "Deadbeat Bidder" as I like to call them. THIS PERSON DESERVES "NEGATIVE FEEDBACK" FOR THIS TRANSACTION, AND, NOW THANKS TO EBAY I AM UNABLE TO LEAVE IT FOR THEM.

[John P]

Stu Thomas, you are right on. I just had an auction end and the person never paid for the item and ignored all communication. I am pissed and now I have to relist the item. And there is now way for me to give this deadbeat a negative fb. Wow ebay new policy sucks monkey balls!

[Joe]

John P - mine too is a copy cat deal, I too had an auction end and the buyer swaqas87 or should I say time waster did not pay and refused to communicate, thanks to ebay brainless policy I can not leave Negative fb, someone should set up a web site to list and showup these undesirables so that all sellers can then block them from biddind in their profiles!

[PAC]

Yes the new no negative feedback policy only opens the doors for irresponsible bidders and even pranksters bidding and never paying,in turn costing sellers much lost time and money..

I have already personally noticed this happening..I'm having many more bidders with 0 feedback winning auctions since the new feedback changes and more bidders who will not pay,not respond to no pay bidder complaint..Can I leave them the feedback they deserve? No..Very unfair for me to spend my time and money paying ebay to lsit and sell,only to get crapped on and have no way of letting other sellers know that the ebayer is a deadbeat..

That is insane..Th new feedback policy will surely create and outbreak of of irresponsible bidders and pranksters bidding on ebay..I pray for the day ebay goes belly up and for a new and better auction site to take ebay's place..We the sellers should be able to make this possible,by simply leaving ebay and going elsewhere,but if don't stick together and just do it ,then ebay will continue to rape it's sellers into submission and possibly out of business..

Jeeez I'm tempted to open abotu 30 ebay accounts buy the highest priced items I can find on ebay and just not pay for them.I mean who's to stop me? So what if I get my accounts get suspended..I can buy a million dollars worth of crap in a day or two and not pay for it..I get suspended? No biggie,I simply sign up 30 more times and give false information.Like ebay cares about who is actually bidding on ebay nor do they make every ebay member provide the same information they make sellers provide anyway.You get my point?.Oh but I suppose the Immediate Paypal Payment thing is the answer to that problem..Who is guaranteed to benefit from that little deal? Ebay/Paypal and many buyers will not bid on immediate paypal auctions.It's makes buyers feel like it's a demand or something..I myself hate those immediate pay auctions.It says to me the buyer doesn't trust a bidder to pay and that is exactly what it is saying.Some people get the message or take it that way and are simply put off by it.I know,I got tired of non paying bidders and for awhile I listed some items with immediate paypal payment required.Most of the items didn't sell.I put them on again ,without the immediate payment required and they sold.

I think a new policy should have been enforced long ago on ebay,that rule is this,If a buyer bids and does not pay,then the bidder should have their bank or paypal account raped of the funds to reimburse the seller for loss time and money and pay the listing and selling fees for the item they bid on and didn't pay for.LOL

The ebay process for filing a non pay bidder claim and receiving a credit is a bit wack as well. Seller has to wait to file a claim,even from a bidder has as much told the seller up front,,hey sorry I made a mistake and bid on your item or hey I'm just not gonna pay for it.I think ebay really makes sellers wait in hopes the seller will forget to file or follow up on a claim and ebay pockets the rewards.Being simply refunded listing and selling fees ,does not cover a sellers lost time.Time is money.

Multiply the time it must take power sellers to file and keep up with several no pay bidder complaints and I'm that can add up to hours of lost time for sellers and like I said,time is money,not to mention the claim process is a bit of lengthy pain in the a** as well.

Here's an idea I had about 5 years ago that would put an end to irresponsible bidding on ebay once and for all.Every ebay memember should be made to register a bank account or paypal account or both,just as most sellers must do..As I mentioned earlier,If a bidder does not pay for an item ,then they should be charged an ebay fee based on a percentage of the final selling price of the item they didn't pay for and maybe the listing and sellign fees as well,just as ebay charges a seller..Now tell me that wouldn't put a sudden stop to irresponsible and prank bidders.LOL.You bet your a** it would and very quick.

Oh but of course ebay would never ever hear of such a policy because it would surely drive buyers away ,but maybe something not so drastic needs to be done in order to start protecting sellers just as much as the buyers,but now that just wouldn't be good business for ebay,would it? The customer is not always right..Many people will take advantage of a situation,given the chance,especially if there is no punishment for their actions or the crime..

Far less people would sign up on ebay,but then again it would keep people a bit more responsible about bidding.But such a policy will never happen,because ebay is and has always been for ebay and taken the buyers side and I think the new feedback policy is an outrage.

Oh but here's a thought.If there are no sellers,then their will be no bidders.Now how do we make that happen? Maybe the power sellers should get together and start their own auction site :)

[Richard]

Investors rush for eBay exit

John Donahoe, eBay chief executive officer, promised it was going to be a busy year as the company worked to reinvent its struggling business, but he probably didn't expect investors would be yelling "sell" at the top of their lungs.
The payment service, which eliminates the need for a credit card while shopping online, could be sold if eBay shares slide further, Mr. Boyd said.

"Investors want to own PayPal, it is a phenomenal asset," Mr. Boyd said. "But they don't want any part of the core auction business. If we are right, and eBay shares head materially lower, management may come under considerable pressure to do something to unlock shareholder value, and this would be an obvious way to do it."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080718.REBAY18/TPStory/Business

[Sir Edmund]

Feedback had become meaningless - everyone had 100% because eveyone was too scared to leave neg. I see no suggestions above as to how ebay could have dealt with that other than the way they did.

My own suggestion - seperate buying and selling feedback...