Ebay - Feedback changes..

[Mey]

There was a thread about this awhile ago, but just recieved an Email from ebay saying that they have gone ahead with the changes:

Consider it done.
* Now sellers can't leave negative Feedback in response to buyers' Feedback.
* Now you get free purchase protection when you pay with PayPal.
* Now you can read detailed ratings for sellers so you can see how other buyers rate their service.

Not sure how I actually feel about this now it's been done.

I suppose it's now become a buyers market, but I'm interested in how sellers rate buyers to warn other sellers of particuarly dud buyers?

 

[FuzzyLogic]

Only ever bought one item via eBay and subsequently only left one piece of feedback but surely they could have implemented some form of blind feedback, where both buyer and seller leave feedback with neither being able to see the others until both have been submitted then having the opportunity to appeal afterwards?

Allowing only the buyer to leave feedback makes me believe that eBay forget there's two sides to the transaction, hmph.

 

[Tom]

It stops feedback trading, and it also ensures that sellers don't act like twats.

Personally I think its great. Idiot buyers are very much in the minority on Ebay.

 

[Fweddy]

This thread just reminded me I didn't leave feedback for something I bought two weeks ago. Whoops, better fix that now.

On topic, I can see the logic but I'm not fully convinced. Time will tell I suppose.

 

[00dave]

I learned quite early on that when you sell stuff on ebay you do not send anything until you recieve full payment. So really it's not too worrying when you sell something, coz if they don't pay up for whatever reason you can appeal for the display money. Really the seller is always in control.

 

[ECA]

Quit ebay as a result although usage had dropped off to about 1% of prior activity long before this anyway.

Ebay can go suck camel nads.

 

[Kryten]

There's still a lot that can go wrong, I certainly disagree with the changes. A quick look at the thousands (literally) of posts from sellers on their forums goes to show we're not alone. Only the buyers seem to think there's no problem.

I've always left feedback ONLY after buyer has left me feedback and/or told me they're satisfied or otherwise. Guidelines state you should leave feedback after payment, although I don't believe a transaction is done until the buyer has received the product, checked it and has notified me by feedback or otherwise that they are happy. Then, I leave feedback. This is because the buyer may have an issue. It might be the wrong item, it might not have arrived etc, and as far I'm concerned, my feedback will need to tell other sellers how he handled it. Was he abusive, reasonable, moronic, childish, very helpful? The same things that apply to a seller.

As far as not leaving negatives for buyers go, how on gods earth can sellers now warn other sellers of a buyers wrongdoings. Detailed Seller Ratings can only show so much, and the actions of going through paypal or ebay disputes take months in which time they could have already done over several other sellers.

Non payments have shot through the roof, as have other general problems. But there's nothing much we can do about it, it's a buyers market now.

 

[Damini]

When I was helping my sister sell some stuff on her account we got a negative. A woman bought a dress, and then said (after some time of faffing us about) that her friend was using her account to bid, and didn't want the dress anymore. Looking through her feedback, you could see she'd bought another dress pretty much identical in the same size, so she'd been scatter bidding, knowing that she'd get one eventually for Halloween, and then could ignore the rest.

So, I explained to the woman that it's not as simple as just going okay, and that I'd lost money on the transaction, so would have to file a non paying bidder to reclaim my fees. I was incredibly civil (bearing in mind that I called Barclaycard scum for trying to charge me 2p the other day, and demanded the woman's name and address in India).

My sister's account then gets negative feedback, before we had even left any.

"Unhelpful when I had a problem with the item"

Now, at the time I could give her negative feedback back, but if I couldn't, I'd have found that even more frustrating. I've got about 1000 feedback across my accounts, and I've left plenty of negative feedback. It's also helped me decide when waiting for a payment whether or not I should take a more aggressive approach, or be patient.

I think it's a bit crap to be honest. I would guess that the majority of buyers on ebay will eventually sell something anyway, so I'm sure they could have just improved the mediation system rather than scrapping the seller's voice.

 

[Mey]

On a related/unrelated note, I thought when you bidded on ebay you entered into some kind of contract that meant you were forced to pay for an item by law or something? Or have I just be tricking myself into thinking that so that I pay for items that I bidded on but didn't actually really need..

 

[Trem]

It stops feedback trading, and it also ensures that sellers don't act like twats.

Personally I think its great. Idiot buyers are very much in the minority on Ebay.

Totally agree.

I pay instantly which is my end of the deal done, as soon as I have paid they should leave me positive feedback because I kept my end of the bargain.

Theres a twat phone seller on Ebay that I bought a phone off, it took 3 weeks and me raising an item not received complaint before they sent it out. I looked through their feedback and for every negative that someone left they did the same saying the buyer was a trouble maker. I still haven't left them feedback, does anyone know how to find old feedback that hasn't been left, must of been 6 months ago now.

Dying to slag them off now I can.

 

[Arnie 2Tone]

Another fine example of a moronic and dishonest minority spoiling things for the honest majority. I can understand why eBay have done it though. As a buyer and seller I've regularly opted to not leave feedback for a bad seller rather than risk have tit-for-tat negative feedback affecting my sales. In the end I decided to have one account for selling and one with private feedback for buying purposes.

One seller I dealt with took over a month to send out an item I bought. When they were messaged prior to the item arriving they were extremely rude and said I had no right to complain as the listing had said they were away (which it had - but that only accounted for the first two bloody weeks after I paid...) I left them neutral feedback saying as much and they responded with negative feedback calling me a liar and telling other sellers to "BEWARE!". This despite the fact that the printed postage label had the date of mailing on it as clear as day. Tosser.

 

[inactionman]

I've stopped using ebay because of this, not had much luck finding a decent replacement though!

Idiotic change, they really should have implemented blind feedback, as many other people have suggested.

 

[Kryten]

Nail on the head with the comment about a minority spoiling it for the rest.
I know what you're saying about leaving feedback straight after a payment, but I believe there's more to a seller than taking payment and sending an item. Perhaps that's just me being more honest than most. A buyer can be perfectly reasonable until something goes wrong, then turn into the biggest moron on the planet, after seller has left feedback. Of course, there are plenty of moronic sellers around as well. I just think it would have been better off left as it was before. It was a "trust" situation beforehand, and the only thing to have changed is it now being very one sided.

"We operate on trust, but trust buyers more than sellers."

Which you could go very stalinesque and directly translate that to:

"All people are equal, but some are more equal than others"

So, my opinion is that Ebay may as well now be China or Stalin Russia.

 

[Raven]

Or the people's post office.

 

[old.user4556]

Sorry for sounding ignorant, but as far as I see this is a good thing?

I pay instantly which is my end of the deal done, as soon as I have paid they should leave me positive feedback because I kept my end of the bargain.

Exactly what I was thinking - as a buyer (presuming the transaction isn't fraudulent), surely your end of the contract is prompt and full payment, and positive feedback should be left as such.

I would think it would be grossly unfair to receive negative feedback after you provided quick and full payment. In my opinion, if I were to go into a shop, pay for goods and get a shite service; I would be entitled to drag (within reason) their name through the pig's trough.

Too many half arsed, two bit outfits with shite customer service on and off ebay; it's about time the customers and consumers take control.

 

[Kryten]

Yeah, but pay for a CD in Woolworths, go away, stick it in your CD player, decide you dont like it, stamp on it a couple of times, get your dog to chew it a tad, then take it back, effing and blinding at the clerk. Would the clerk or the company itself then like to recommend this shopper or rate them highly?
No. In all our local shops in the local towns, they'd get on the shop-watch radio and ban the fuckwit.

Even if it's not intentional; mistakes are made, there are manufacturing defects etc, there's no need to be an idiot about it. You ask them politely to sort it out; aftersales service.

This is why I refuse to believe payment marks the end of a transaction. (Well, not transaction as that means the contract and payment, but the "deal". Can't think of a more appropriate word)

I'm still a bit annoyed that anything you sell with a buy it now is treated in the same way legally as something you buy in a shop; when in most cases (well us lot and many many others) would want it treated in the same way as a car boot sale.

 

[MYstIC G]

Yeah, but pay for a CD in Woolworths, go away, stick it in your CD player, decide you dont like it, stamp on it a couple of times, get your dog to chew it a tad, then take it back, effing and blinding at the clerk. Would the clerk or the company itself then like to recommend this shopper or rate them highly?

No, we'd probably laugh