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Overall, I like it, especially now that I understand that older neutral/negative feedback won’t count toward the overall percentage. I nearly always check seller’s feedback records and diregard negative feedback that’s from years back.
And I’m one of those that’s afraid to leave neutral/negative feedback because of potential retaliation. I’ve only done so once.
I’m not really sure how I feel about this one. So far I’ve only bought off ebay, never sold, and I have received a retaliation bad feedback from a seller- its still the only bad piece of feedback I have as a buyer but since I dont buy a whole lot it drove my percentage down pretty far- its still only at 99.5% and I got the piece of retaliatory bad feedback almost a year ago.
So I’m glad I wont be getting any more of those, but on the same hand, my husband has some stuff he wants to sell on ebay, and this new rule would make me really nervous about doing so.But why should it make you nervous? Look at it this way. What can a buyer do to hurt a seller? Just two things, leave bad feedback, or not pay. RIGHT NOW a buyer can leave you bad feedback, or not pay, just the same as after this change. The only thing that’s removed is that you can’t leave them bad feedback, and is that REALLY such a huge risk? Why? You’re not any more likely, as a seller, to get a bad customer after this change than before!
If the threat of getting a negative is the only thing keeping a buyer from leaving you bad feedback… well… you may need to do something about your selling process! But if you’re an honest seller, why should you NEED a threat to wave at your buyers to force them to not leave you negatives?
Yes, I agree with the hopes of decreasing retaliatory feedbacks as a few months ago, I received a retl. neutral. Yes, it didnt change my score but this seller deserved a NEG for shipping a windstone in s shoe box, waiting for a month to ship and not insuring it when I paid for insurance and not marking the shoebox as Fragile.
I had tried MANY times to contact this seller but she refused to respond. I was scared to leave her negative so I left her neutral. THAT got her attention and she left me neutral. Now, me as the buyer, what did I do wrong? I paid immediately, tried to have open communication a number of times just to be ignored- so what was so neutral about my excellent buyer attitude? Had I left her a NEG, she’d have done that to me- and she deserved if but I KNEW she would be retaliatory.
On the other hand, as a seller, I get truly pissed off when a transaction goes perfectly for BOTH of us but the buyer refuses to leave feedback even after my contacting them saying I would LOVE to leave you +FB but would appreciate you showing me your satisfied with your item by leaving me feedback (I dont request +, just some kind of FB as not to pressure the buyer). It helps my score to receive FB and it ticks me when buyers are lazy as not to leave any when all went well. THAT is why I now do not leave any feedback for any buyer until they leave it for me. But, I do try to keep lines of communication open so they dont feel Ive ignored them. My star number would be much higher if ALL my buyers had left feedback.
As a buyer, I will leave FB once I get the piece. IF I am unsatisfied with it, I do NOT go to -FB at all. I go to communication with buyer. 99% of the time, it all works out so well (partial refund, etc) that in the end, I leave them positive FB. But with that friggin Neutral from “BohemianPeddler”, she wouldnt communicate and I thought buyers deserved to know how poorly she packs fragile items. And I get zapped 🙄 If Im pleased with the item, Ive no problem going right to +FB and 99% of that time, Ive received the same kind FB from the seller.
Bottom line- ebay is wearing thin on my nerves (or, I should say, some of the ppl that seem to gravitate towards me or I to them, get on my nerves). You guys know how well I communicate (though Im not this long in my communication and cut right to the point but Im ALWAYS polite and never accusatory). The new rules are a 50 50 for me.
SPark wrote:But why should it make you nervous? Look at it this way. What can a buyer do to hurt a seller? Just two things, leave bad feedback, or not pay. RIGHT NOW a buyer can leave you bad feedback, or not pay, just the same as after this change. The only thing that’s removed is that you can’t leave them bad feedback, and is that REALLY such a huge risk? Why? You’re not any more likely, as a seller, to get a bad customer after this change than before!
If the threat of getting a negative is the only thing keeping a buyer from leaving you bad feedback… well… you may need to do something about your selling process! But if you’re an honest seller, why should you NEED a threat to wave at your buyers to force them to not leave you negatives?
It makes me nervous because they can do other things. I’ve known people who’ve sent out something that a buyer paid for, and the buyer tries to say they didnt get it/theres something wrong with it when thats not the case, so they can keep the item and get a refund. Or other times, someone who has a personal problem with the seller, buys something from them and just starts leaving bad feedback as payback for whatever the case may be. I realize these are rare instances, but if theres a buyer out there like that I want to know about it.
I think that sellers should be able to leave a neutral or negative if they first report to eBay that a payment hasn’t been received and the buyer is unresponsive. I don’t sell much, but when I do, I look at the bidder’s feedback. If they have a habit of bidding and not paying, I would like to know about it, so I can cancel their bid and block them.
There have been a few times when a seller deserved a neutral or negative and I didn’t leave them any feedback at all, because I didn’t want the retaliatory feedback. eBay doesn’t have the resources to police retaliatory feedback and remove it, but there has to be a better middle ground than what they are suggesting.
SPark wrote:But why should it make you nervous? Look at it this way. What can a buyer do to hurt a seller? Just two things, leave bad feedback, or not pay. RIGHT NOW a buyer can leave you bad feedback, or not pay, just the same as after this change. The only thing that’s removed is that you can’t leave them bad feedback, and is that REALLY such a huge risk? Why? You’re not any more likely, as a seller, to get a bad customer after this change than before!
If the threat of getting a negative is the only thing keeping a buyer from leaving you bad feedback… well… you may need to do something about your selling process! But if you’re an honest seller, why should you NEED a threat to wave at your buyers to force them to not leave you negatives?
Once in a while I have a buyer who thinks it’s my fault that the piece of clothing they just bought from me doesn’t fit them. Even though I post measurements and the size in the listing. If I had already given them feedback, they would give me negative feedback. Not giving feedback keeps the lines of communication open, so I can explain to them that it’s not my fault it didn’t fit. If they had measured themselves and not just guessed, they wouldn’t have bought it.
VampireBiscuits wrote:It makes me nervous because they can do other things. I’ve known people who’ve sent out something that a buyer paid for, and the buyer tries to say they didnt get it/theres something wrong with it when thats not the case, so they can keep the item and get a refund.
This is why you always, ALWAYS keep proof of shipment. A receipt from the post office or UPS or FedEx. Better yet, when you are able and a buyer has paid with Paypal (this is probably over 80% of transactions), use Paypal’s shipping to ship the item. Bam, you have PROOF you sent the item and you can fight the buyer’s claim so that they will not issue a refund to them.
I’ve been selling my art online since 2000 and have never had a problem as long as I submitted proof of shipment.lamortefille wrote:I think that sellers should be able to leave a neutral or negative if they first report to eBay that a payment hasn’t been received and the buyer is unresponsive.
The new rules state that eBay will be more harsh with non-responsive non-paying bidders. They are going to be quicker to suspend and ban these bidders- which to me is far more effective than giving a negative feedback.
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My art: featherdust.comJennifer wrote:lamortefille wrote:I think that sellers should be able to leave a neutral or negative if they first report to eBay that a payment hasn’t been received and the buyer is unresponsive.
The new rules state that eBay will be more harsh with non-responsive non-paying bidders. They are going to be quicker to suspend and ban these bidders- which to me is far more effective than giving a negative feedback.
Unfortunately, what eBay says and what they do are often two different things…. I guess time will tell.
I figured since it was closer to the feedback changes going into effect that it would be good for everyone to have a reminder of what’s changing and how.
***A Message from Brian Burke – Upcoming Feedback Changes***
Quote:May 07, 2008 | 09:03AM PST/PT
Hello everyone…as we announced back in January, we’re making some bold changes to how Feedback on eBay works. As we get closer to our launch, I wanted to review the changes we’ve discussed and provide some additional detail and updates.
As a recap, here’s what we announced in January that is scheduled to launch the week of May 19th in North America (which includes eBay.com in the US, as well as eBay.ca and eBay.cafr in Canada):
- * Sellers may only leave positive feedback for buyers
* We will remove negative and neutral Feedback if a member becomes suspended
* Members can leave Feedback up to 60 days after a transaction (down from 90)
* We will remove Feedback when a buyer fails to respond to the unpaid item process.
* Members will receive credit for weekly repeat Feedback (going back to 1996)
* We will base the Positive Feedback Percentage on the past 12 months of activity (and include neutral Feedback in the calculation)
* The PowerSeller Program will use the same calculation method described above to determine eligibility for the PS Program for the Positive Feedback percentage requirement of 98% positive.Next I’d like to share some additional detail beyond what we discussed in the original post:
* In January we mentioned that we’d block buyers from leaving negative or neutral Feedback for 3 days for sellers “with a track record.” Since January, we’ve made the decision to increase the wait period to 7 days and define “track record” as active PowerSellers who have been on eBay for at least 12 months.
We studied the factors that increased risk to buyers the most and found there are three: a) a seller’s Positive Feedback percentage and DSRs, b) the volume of a seller’s Feedback – both in total and on an ongoing basis and c) length of time a seller has been on site.
We selected PowerSellers who have been on eBay at least 12 months in order to minimize risk to buyers, because:
- a. PowerSellers have to meet quality thresholds for both conventional Feedback and, starting in July, for Detailed Seller Ratings
b. PowerSellers have to meet volume requirements – both in total and on an ongoing basis
c. One year on-site proved to be an important predictor of lower risk
All three factors prove important to predicting the risk to buyers – removing any one of them would increase risk to a level we are not currently comfortable with at this time.
We will watch all aspects of the new Feedback system very carefully, studying how the marketplace responds and we will make changes as we see appropriate.
* We mentioned that we’d be aligning the Mutual Feedback Withdrawal process with the new system. After much consideration, we’ve made the decision to remove the Mutual Feedback Withdrawal process. The reason is that – under the new rules – it opens sellers up to extortion. As part of this decision, Mutual Agreement from third-party Feedback mediation services, such as SquareTrade, will also no longer be accepted.
Over the last several months, we’ve had many conversations with our customers – both buyers and sellers – and we’ve had the opportunity to consider ways we can address some of the top concerns we’ve heard. Based on the input we’ve received from you, I want to share some additional modifications we’re making:
* We are adding language in the leave Feedback flow for buyers who are in a cross-border transaction that reminds them that international transactions usually take longer to complete.
* We’ve improved the interstitial page that all buyers see before leaving negative or neutral Feedback; the updated page offers a stronger message to buyers about the need to communicate with the seller, to allow enough time for the transaction to complete, and to keep Feedback factual.
* And later this month…
- * In addition to expanding the 3-day block to 7 days, we are introducing a new Buyer Requirement that will allow sellers to block buyers who have been reported by other sellers for eBay buying policy violations (such as Feedback abuse, or email threats).
* We’re expanding the scope of the existing Buyer Requirement for unpaid items, so that it supports more comprehensive blocking of buyers who have a history of non-payment.
* We’ve improved the process that sellers use to report buyers for policy violations.
* Detailed Seller Ratings will be coming to Half in the next couple months. Watch for more information on this via email and on the Half discussion forum in the next couple of weeks.
As you can see, these changes represent a huge investment in transforming the way Feedback works, so that it better serves today’s marketplace. Ultimately, the goal is to restore trust and transparency and improve the buying experience, while offering needed checks and balances that ensure our sellers who provide excellent service benefit.Sincerely,
Brian Burke
Director, Global Feedback Policy[/][/][/]
Nudging this up cause just now I went to ebay and found that I have 4 more positive feedback points than I did this morning, even though I only had ONE transaction that I hadn’t been left feedback for yet… ❓
Wanted to bump this incase some others were as confused as I was 😛
If you bought or sold to the same person more than once and in different weeks then that’s where your extra points would come from. For instance before this I had 100, now I have 102. Probably one of those points came from two different Windstone transactions months apart. No clue on the other one.
Eleu wrote:Nudging this up cause just now I went to ebay and found that I have 4 more positive feedback points than I did this morning, even though I only had ONE transaction that I hadn’t been left feedback for yet… ❓
Wanted to bump this incase some others were as confused as I was 😛
I join you in your confusion. I jumped 34 and at first thought it wasn’t me! 😯 😆 Windstone’s feedback REALLY jumped! Over 1,000!
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