Ebay is getting better on Feedback policies

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Posted By: Jim Clarke

As most of you know, I sell Automotive after-market accessories on Ebay. The average age I sell to is probally 23 and over 50% of my customers have 3 feedback ratings or less. I can honestly say that the market I sell to, compared to the sports collectable market is very different. I only have about 80% of people follow thru with payments after they buy something in my Ebay store or as a fixed price listing.

I just got done reading the new changes which will help out every seller on Ebay!!!! JC


Removing all feedback from users who are indefinitely suspended within 90 days of registration. Later this month we will begin removing all feedback from members who are indefinitely suspended within 90 days of their registration. As discussed in my June 23 letter, our belief is that members who are indefinitely suspended within 90 days of their registration were never truly members of the Community. Therefore, their feedback should not count.

Requiring new members to complete a tutorial before leaving neutral or negative feedback. In late November/early December we will begin requiring members who have 10 feedback or less to complete a brief tutorial before leaving their first neutral or negative feedback. In addition, we will be updating the current page all members see prior to leaving neutral or negative feedback. The updated page will emphasize the importance of communicating with your trading partner prior to leaving feedback. It will also urge members to make sure they have given their trading partner enough time to fulfill their obligations.

Removing feedback ratings (not comments) left by buyers who don't participate in the Unpaid Item process for that item. In November we will begin automatically removing feedback ratings left by buyers who do not participate in the Unpaid Item process for that item. This means the rating (whether positive or negative) will not affect the recipient's feedback score. The feedback comment itself will remain and will include an administrative note from eBay indicating that the feedback rating was removed because the member did not participate in the Unpaid Item process.

Removing feedback ratings (not comments) left by sellers who don't participate in the Item Not Received process. In order to remove feedback ratings left by sellers who do not participate in the Item Not Received processes we must first align the eBay and PayPal systems. Unfortunately, aligning the systems will take longer to complete than we had originally estimated. This component of the announced changes will be ready sometime in 2006

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Posted By: Greg

ebay and negative feedback....

For the most part, based on my experience, ebay needs to do a better job policing not only it's new members on this but it's old members who are unscrupulous.

I have one negative feedback to my name, left by an individual in response to the one and only negative feedback that I've ever given. This person received it from me for poor packaging and a broken item received but only after sending me numerous inflammatory and insulting emails when I tried to correspond to him. I tried contacting ebay with my concern. After nothing happened for months, I finally received an email to mutually drop both negative feedbacks.

The sad thing is this person has 673 negative feedbacks to his name. Why does ebay allow a person with this many negative feedbacks continue to participate? Does it care only for the mighty $$ and not the protection of it's members? This person should not be allowed to sell any longer in my opinion.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big ebay fan, I just think it's wrong that crooks are allowed to participate in it. I wear my one and only negative feedback with pride. This person should not have his negative feedbacks withdrawn....people should know what they're up against in future transactions. Hopefully people will look at his feedback before bidding. I goofed. I didn't. Sorry for the rant....

greg

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Posted By: Chris Mc

Ebays feedback is flawed from a buyers standpoint. The only obligation from a buyer standpoint is that they provide an address to ship to,pay in a timely manner and leave accurate feedback once the item is received. The problem is that the seller can wait until feedback is left for them by the buyer. This policy needs to change. I recently won two cards in an auction. They were both described as ex. I paid within two min. using paypal. At that point my feedback should have been left, it was not. I received the cards with scrapbook damage. I have contacted the seller with no response. I have a feedback rating of 100%. I can almost guarantee that if I leave a feedback other than positive , the seller will also leave me a less than positive feedback. This is the problem with the feedback policy. Is it my fault that the item sold was not as described, should I get a neg because I followed through with my obligation? What ebay should do is anyone who receives a payment from paypal should have to leave a feedback to the buyer before collecting their money. I know this does not address payments made by money order or check but it would be a start. My two cents.

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Posted By: Chad

It's tough to leave negative feedback knowing that by doing so, you're going to get the same in kind. I've gotten to the point where I just won't leave feedback to a poor seller instead of dealing with the hassle.

--Chad

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Posted By: Judge Dred (Fred)

In a perfect world the seller would leave feedback immediately after payment is received (buyers obligation) in a timely manner. In a perfect world the buyer would leave feedback after receiving the item and being satisfied with the purchase.

Welcome to the real world.

It will be interesting to hear "why" this isn't the way it really works.

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Posted By: Chad

Stupid box.

--Chad

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Posted By: warshawlaw

If the seller doesn't leave feedback until after the buyer leaves it, the seller thinks he will be immunized against negative feecbacks because the buyer won't want to get a retaliatory ding. In effect the seller holds the buyer's rating hostage. Result: lots of people don't leave feedback.

I'd like to see a policy requiring that sellers leave a feedback within 48 hours of receiving a Paypal payment and if they do not, they lose their feedback right on that sale. That would allow the legitimate verifiably paid buyers to leave feedback without an extortion threat over their heads.

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Posted By: jay behrens

This has been hashed out numerous times already. The reason sellers don't leave feedback right away is that if you get a buyer who turns out to be a scammer (yes, this does happen) there is no way for the seller to appropriate feedback if they leave feedback once payment is made.

No sale is complete until the buyer is happy. Sellers want the buyer to contact them via email if there is problem, not thru a neg on feedback. If a transaction handled properly, everyone ends up with good feedback no matter how badly the deal may have started off.

Buyers may like to call it extortion to have to leave feedback first, but how is a seller supposed to leave appropriate feedback if the buyer turns out to be a scam artist. If they leave feedback as soon as payment is made, then there is no way to make note of this and now scammer gets to live another day to rip off someone.

Once again, it's a the case were a few bad seeds make things more difficult for everyone else.

Jay

My place is full of valuable, worthless junk.

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Posted By: tbob

I guess I am one of the knuckleheads because I leave positive feedback for buyers immediately upon receiving payment.

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Posted By: identify7

A buyer's feedback really does not matter much to the buyer. If you pay by check, most sellers wait to ship until they have the funds. So, who cares whether you have 10, 100 or 1000 positives?

A seller's reputation is his feedback. If a seller holds back feedback until I give mine, well happy holding.

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Posted By: joe brennan

As a buyer, with my feedback most sellers ship as soon as they get my check. So to me feedback from sellers is just as important. They know they are dealing with a reputable buyer. Also on trades, not assosciated with e-bay my feedback shows this also.

Moral Values " What would you do if no one was looking? Only you would know" Instilled in me by James W. Brennan Sr.

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Posted By: identify7

Well Joe, your feedback is about 120 greater than mine. At what point did you notice most sellers not waiting for your checks to clear?

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Posted By: Chris Mc

Jay is right ,this has been hashed out many times. There is no way to make the policy perfect. Fear of receiving a negative keeps me from leaving feedback that is less than positive. I guess I should not care but it always cast a shodow of doubt when the feedback # is less than 100%

I would go out tonight, but I haven't got a stitch to wear.

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Posted By: Jim Clarke

Many good points everyone has made. I think I have to agree with Jay on the sellers side. As a seller, you are putting yourself at more of a risk by leaving feedback early for buyers to use that as "leverage" against you. As Gil states "A seller's reputation is his feedback." Granted it depends on what clientel you are selling to... 1887 Old judge compared to 1996 Refractor (which I have 1 case of those for sale if anyone wants them).

Ebay is taking the right steps to not allow bogus buyers to set up new accounts, bid up auctions and then not pay for items. I have left negative feedback before for those non-paying buyers to just be rewarded with a retalitory negative back at me. Then honest customers ask me why do I have negatives?

When I buy cards (husband-of-tammy) I leave feedback after I recieve them regardless what the seller has done for me. This is the way I keep track of what has come in for me and I consider it a done deal. Normally a positive is left for me the same day I leave the feedback. If a problem occurs I imd. contact the seller before leaving feedback to give him a chance to make right without using feedback as leverage.

When I sell truck parts, I leave feedback after feedback is left for me. I wait until they are happy with transaction and this allows me from being at the mercy of the EBAY rookie I described in my opening statement.

The new Ebay policy will allow sellers to give negatives on NON_-PAYING buyers and get them kicked off quicker than sitting back and doing nothing against them. I have about 20 dead beats from the last 90 days I would like to give Nagatives too.

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Posted By: bryan

out of their feedback there would not be this problem. Everyone is afraid to get a negative which in their opinion will ruin their feedback. I for one am not afraid of the retalitory feedback. It was my obligation to report a bad sale and I did. If people were not afraid you would see more honest feedbacks.

This is the reason why scammers are getting away with it. No one wants to be truthful because they are afraid of the retalitory feedback and the scammers get to keep scamming.

Yes the system is flawed but it is all you got.

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Posted By: jay behrens

Fear of a negative is what keeps scammers going. I've left over a dozen negs and only gotten 2 in return. If someone's feedback looks questionable, I will look at it and see why they got the neg and from whom. Most people I've seen with negs got them from unscrupulous sellers leaving a retalitory neg because the buyer neg'd them for selling a fake card as real.

Another step I would to see eBay take is to remove negs if they came from an account that got NARU'd becuase fraud or other illegal activities.

Neutral feedback is very underutilized.

Jay

My place is full of valuable, worthless junk.

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Posted By: DJ

I think everyone looks at feedback in a different way, either buyer or seller. Having worked for an auction house that utilized eBay on a massive scale, they would leave feedbacks several weeks after the end of the auction because it was easier to spend a half hour and leave 500+ at one time. Plus it helped them keep track of who paid and who didn't.

I have seen some obsessive people who would send out 3-4 e-mails a day asking where their feedback was and I also saw unnecessary negative feedback from people who didn't know any better (newbies) and since they didn't get their item in five days, simply left bad feedback without contacting the seller.

I think feedback is very necessary and I chose one several occasions not to deal with sellers because of their lack luster percentage but I see sellers who sell nothing but forged autographs or deceitful cards and their feedbacks are all based on how quick the product gets to them, not whether the product is original or not. BOOOOOOOOOO!

DJ

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Posted By: Damian

My problem with the Ebay feedback system is the Sellers. I purchase memorabilia like bats and auto's and always use paypal and always pay immediatly. The sellers tend not to give you feedback unless you get your purchase and give them good feedback. That, to me, is a crock! I handled my part of the deal and in a very fast fashion, i should be rewarded feedback as soon as they can do it (assuming they do it at all). Not when i receive my item.

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Posted By: BlackSoxFan

Ebay's feedback is a very difficult system to deal with. The concept is that each side is supposed to judge the others based on their obligation. According to eBay, As a seller, you are to judge on prompt payment and whether or not the buyer read the stipulations (ie... do they have a confirmed address if that is the only place you will ship to ... etc..etc..) Buyers are supposed to judge on a variety of things from promptness of service to quality of item, to how well they deal with a problem. Unfortunately, as many have said, pandora's box has been opened. Back in the day, you used to be able to leave anyone feedback at any time regardless of whether or not you even had a transaction with them. We get attacked for our shipping charges all the time, however people fail to realize a few key facts: A) Our shipping charges are listed upfront B) B/c we ask that the Shipping & Handling is paid for by the buyer, we are able to offer our clients items at 99 cents and no reserve. It drives the bid price up while at the same time insuring that our costs are covered. C) Many sellers on eBay do not understand how shipping really works, and often time lose a great deal of money because they don't treat shipping in the manner that we (or any major company like Amazon, Best Buy, Buy.com, etc..) treats it. Anyone that says they can ship an item like a lighter from the states to Japan for less than 10 bucks is just dumb. Case in point, one person from japan won our auction, then complained about the shipping costs and refused to pay. We did not leave negative feedback, we simply voided the sale. He then left us negative feedback. Afterwards, he attempted to pay for the item TWICE. The system is flawed and i do not believe it is a valuable one at this point. To this day, provided a person actually follows our terms and pays within the alotted time recieves positive feedback at time of payment. I refuse to let people extort my business with the threat of feedback and as a result we have recieved a few negative feedbacks from those we have left positive feedback for. Oh well, system stinks, what are you going to do about it. Also, if you ever read the auction page after the end of the auction you will see how eBay thinks feedback should be used. Perhaps their should be a contained feedback area where each party can leave feedback without the other party seeing it until both have left it... It could also be required or something of that matter.

Regards,
Black Sox Fan

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Posted By: BlackSoxFan

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR...another one... it's no wonder why 90% of my auctions are restricted to US only. We openend up for international shipping on our lighters b/c they have a great deal of popularity globaly...this is the second one that a guy is complaining about the shipping AFTER HE WON THE ITEM.... part of the problem with people on eBay is that they don't READ! The other problem is everyone thinks it's a negotiation....it isn't...here's the item, here's the price...pay it or don't bid! Even if you go out of your way to include all the information you can!

Regards,
Black Sox Fan

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I'm Smart Enough To Know, There Are A Lot Of People Who Know More Than I Know

BlackSoxFan.com
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