Ebays new feedback system

Design_Dude

Hi, just wondering what you all think of ebays new feedback system.

They are now counting neutral feedback against you in the same was as negative feedback is counted against you.

I think it is absolutely rubbish, last week i had 99.5% positive as i have only ever received 1 neg feedback, but its now down to 98.4% cos of neutrall feedbacks i got ages ago. These arent negative, they just say, postage took a little longer than usual or something. Grrrr. ebay and there stupid rules.

Zorba

Yes that stupid new feedback system and the extra charges they are putting on when u sell something, but if u sell big amounts u can get a special discount !!!

All these things are slowly but surely turning me and a lot of other people off ebay !

Design_Dude

between ebay and paypal, which ebay own, they nick about 10% off every purchase made on ebay!

jor el

Design_Dude wrote: »

postage took a little longer than usual or something.

It annoys me when I see stupid comments like this in feedback. It's not the sellers fault if the post takes long, eBay should remove them as it's unfair. Only valid reasons (seller used wrong postal service for example) should be allowed. eBay won't get involved in feedback disputes though, except in very rare situations.

between ebay and paypal, which ebay own, they nick about 10% off every purchase made on ebay!

True, but how would you sell your items without eBay? If there was a better/cheaper way, people would use it. There isn't, so eBay can pretty much charge what they like.

Zorba

jor el wrote: »

True, but how would you sell your items without eBay? If there was a better/cheaper way, people would use it. There isn't, so eBay can pretty much charge what they like.

There are other bidding websites 123bid and ebid and some others with less fees than ebay but they don't have the same amount of customers, maybe if everyone gives up on ebay and switches to the alternatives we might have a better choice !

Design_Dude

yea, well have to stick to adverts.ie :)

I do use ebay a lot though, cos it is brill for buying cheap stuff. Bought a few things oday off it.

ruprect

Design_Dude wrote: »

I think it is absolutely rubbish, last week i had 99.5% positive as i have only ever received 1 neg feedback, but its now down to 98.4% cos of neutrall feedbacks i got ages ago. These arent negative, they just say, postage took a little longer than usual or something. Grrrr. ebay and there stupid rules.

People with sense will use toolhaus.org and see you are fine. Unfortunately most people do not have a clue how ebay works, or how to use it. Ebay should do the same thing toolhaus do, never understood why they do not. Maybe they are stuck for the cash to implement it :rolleyes:

mneylon

jor el wrote: »

It annoys me when I see stupid comments like this in feedback. It's not the sellers fault if the post takes long, eBay should remove them as it's unfair. Only valid reasons (seller used wrong postal service for example) should be allowed. eBay won't get involved in feedback disputes though, except in very rare situations.

What about sellers who take aeons to actually ship the items? I've had issues in the past where the seller simply did not ship the goods for up to ten days after I had paid

jor el

blacknight wrote: »

What about sellers who take aeons to actually ship the items? I've had issues in the past where the seller simply did not ship the goods for up to ten days after I had paid

There is that too. With registered post, you can tell exactly when it was sent. Without registered, it can take longer to deliver, and you can't really tell when it was posted. It may have a postmark, but the postmark isn't always the same day it was handed to the post office.

*Dallas

neutrals still carry '0' points when counting your feedback score, however, when calculating feedback percentage - the quantity of positives, quantity of neg and quantity of neutrals are counted and divided in to the amount of positives you have received.

if you receive a neutral, there was something wrong with that transaction, so it is only fair that all feedback- positive, neutral and negative are counted towards your score

Design_Dude

A lot of neutrals are for things that are beyond the control of the seller. Also, buyers leave neutral as opposed to be negative becuase not because they are very dissapointed with the purchase, but becuase of something smaller that can be improved upon.

Passenger

So basically it's to offer more protection for buyers and less for sellers wich is all well and good when it's it's an established business with thousands of transactions but the small private sellers are gonna be affected most. How does that make sense.

*Dallas

repeat buyers were leaving in droves becasue even though they paid on time for items, they were receiving negative retalitory feedback,

something had to be done, and this was the choice made by ebay..

ive listened to hundreds of sellers give out about these changes, but im yet to see anyone take the plunge and leave eBay in protest.

Design_Dude

Still doesnt make it right!

Ms Inquisitive

Feedback is now definitely in the buyer's favour, buyer can take as long as they choose to pay me and I can't leave appropriate feedback to reflect this! A joke!!

A Dub in Glasgo

*Dallas wrote: »

if you receive a neutral, there was something wrong with that transaction

That is an assumption made by you.

The seller cannot give accurate feedback with this new system

Bondvillain

Agreed.

A neutral does not necessarily reflect a level of dissatisfaction. The amount of neutrals left on ebay seller's accounts stating "Great!" or "All good!" is astounding.

In many cases, (up till very recently , at least) buyers didn't understand the consequences of leaving what they perceived to be a harmless 'satisfactory' comment. Ebay's retrospective inclusion of neutrals received in calculating a sellers percentage (after 10 years of telling buyers that "A neutral rating will not affect your seller's reputation") was an ill-thought-out move and has irreversibly damaged many sellers, many of whom have indeed shut up shop and have begun trading on their own websites or on Amazon.

While many initially will not be as immediately successful or visible as they were on ebay, they seem to be taking some comfort in the facts once their own site IS established, listing and final value fees will be a thing of the past, they can accept payment in whatever the hell manner they want, and that a grey dot accompanied by a comment from a headbanger in Brazil saying "Great service!!!" cannot effectively suspend their trading ability, as has happened to some UK sellers recently.

While the previous feedback system was flawed, prone to abuse, and needed repair, I don't think the new system (particularly the Neutral aspect detailed above) was necessarily the correct course of action to rectify it. Perhaps the much vaunted "Feedback Hub" that ebay are promising will go some way to rectifying some of the more serious issues, but really, this should have been in place before the culling of genuine sellers began.

toosb

The new system is a disgrace. The feedback system will never be perfectly satisfactory but it is ridiculously loaded towards the buyer. They seem to have forgotten that sellers are just as important as the buyers.

It has blatantly been ripped from Amazon of course.

It is quite ludicrous that a seller cannot leave bad feedback - why the hell have a system where they can leave feedback at all if all they can leave is positive? It is like having a vote where there is only one candidate standing.

Recently, just before the system changed, I was saved from a fraudulent customer when I checked their feedback. Loads of recent negatives because she had been stopping her cheques.

I am not even certain that it is legal what Ebay has done.

jor el

toosb wrote: »

It is quite ludicrous that a seller cannot leave bad feedback - why the hell have a system where they can leave feedback at all if all they can leave is positive?

The leaving of retaliatory negative feedback by sellers needed to be stopped. This is a sure fire way of doing it, and probably was the easiest for eBay to implement. They don't have to put any work into determining whether a negative comment by a seller is justified or not.

There should be provision for a seller to negative comment a buyer that does not pay, or one that leaves an unjust negative for the seller. The first would be easy to implement, but the second would require intervention by staff.

In order to stop petty negatives from buyers (such as it didn't arrive within 1 day or something like that) buyers should be restricted from leaving feedback for 7 or 10 days maybe. That would force them to wait and give time for the item to arrive.

I am not even certain that it is legal what Ebay has done.

Of course it's legal. eBay's feedback, eBay's rules.

Any seller who is unhappy about the new feedback rules should voice their opinion by contacting eBay and telling them you are no longer going to pay them if they insist on these ridiculous rules. Show your serious by de-registering your account. Then, go to Paypal and do the same. If enough sellers do this, it will start effecting their bottom line, and something will be done. If you keep paying the fees, nothing will change.

toosb

jor el wrote: »

Of course it's legal. eBay's feedback, eBay's rules.

Any seller who is unhappy about the new feedback rules should voice their opinion by contacting eBay and telling them you are no longer going to pay them if they insist on these ridiculous rules. Show your serious by de-registering your account. Then, go to Paypal and do the same. If enough sellers do this, it will start effecting their bottom line, and something will be done. If you keep paying the fees, nothing will change.

That doesn't mean it is legal - although I am not saying it is illegal as I simply don't know. But Ebay cannot just make any rule up they want, there are laws.

toosb

jor el wrote: »

The leaving of retaliatory negative feedback by sellers needed to be stopped. This is a sure fire way of doing it, and probably was the easiest for eBay to implement. They don't have to put any work into determining whether a negative comment by a seller is justified or not.

There should be provision for a seller to negative comment a buyer that does not pay, or one that leaves an unjust negative for the seller. The first would be easy to implement, but the second would require intervention by staff.

In order to stop petty negatives from buyers (such as it didn't arrive within 1 day or something like that) buyers should be restricted from leaving feedback for 7 or 10 days maybe. That would force them to wait and give time for the item to arrive.

That works both ways. In my early days on Ebay, I received retaliatory bad feedback from buyers(or non-buyers to be more accurate). I soon learned not to leave bad feedback.

Bad feedback has little or no effect on a buyer anyway.

Design_Dude

eBay should set up some sort of member moderated feedback retraction system where members with say over 100 feedback @ 100% can monitor feedback retraction requests. Im sure they could work it if they really wanted to.

jor el

toosb wrote: »

But Ebay cannot just make any rule up they want, there are laws.

The only laws that would apply are consumer laws, but I don't know of any that would stop eBay from altering the feedback system. eBay is still perfectly entitled to change the rules on it's own website.

toosb wrote: »

That works both ways. In my early days on Ebay, I received retaliatory bad feedback from buyers(or non-buyers to be more accurate).

The vast majority of sellers only leave feedback for the buyer after the buyer leaves for the seller. You're obviously that one in a million who does it the way it's supposed to be done :pac:

Firetrap

Edited 24/6/08 - in a fit of doziness, yours truly misread something on her ebay page. Sorry 'bout that

jor el

I don't think so. I have a couple of feedbacks awaiting right now and my rating is at 100%. I don't sell though, so maybe that has something to do with it. That screenshot doesn't show the 90% rating, are you sure that's what it is?

Firetrap

Jeezuss if I'd brains I'd be dangerous. I just looked again at my page and my rating's fine. It's just that I've had 90 transactions. If I was blonde, I'd have some excuse :o

Design_Dude

lol