New Ebay feedback policy

[Big Shed]

Have just found out that Ebay has changed their feedback policy. Sellers can no longer retaliate with negative feedback just because a buyer left negative feedback for them.

Whilst I am sure there are unscrupolous buyers out there that leave spurious negative feedback, there has been an increasing tendency by sellers to say "if you leave negative feedback for me, no matter how justified, I will retaliate!".

[jmk89]

For once ebay seems to be on the buyer's side!

I got my only neg feedback from a retaliatory Richard cranium seller who took 4 weeks to send a parcel from SA to NSW and never responded to emails or other messages.

[echnidna]

ebay doesn't seem to give a stuff about buyers or sellers.
Their system seems to be based on the premise that all complaints are justified

[kmthor]

i have had a big argument with them about this ill tell you what happened

i brought a new all in one control for my AV equipment and i was charged $27 dollars postage. what the guy was doing was selling the stuff cheapish but making it up on the postage as the postage did not cost anything like 27 buck.

so i desided ill post a negative feedback just to let people know the scam was only to be told i cant post a negative feedback for 7 days.

this means these people can get away with there dodgy dealings for 7 days without anybody geting a sniff of it.

the other thing they have introduced is that the %posative is now not worked out from all the feedback but from the last 12 months only

i strongly believe they are protecting the dodgy sellers as this is were there income comes from

there complaints department is a joke and only exagerates a problem should you have one

i have since closed my acount and will never deal with them again

km

[abitfishy]

Ebay is now rooted. What, with paypal only, sellers not able to leave negative feedback, and the feedback system has changed the way your percentage is worked out so neutrals now effect your rating - I suddenly lost my 100% positive - because someone left neutral feedback PRIOR to the change even coming in!

I sell and buy and have a lot more problem with lazy, uneducated buyers than I do with sellers. Not being able to leave them a neg is a step backwards. They will take as long as they like to pay now.

[Stuart]

That is pretty bad, and again is another nail in the coffin as to whether I will use eBay to move the occasional unneeded item. If I can't (as a seller) judge if a buyer should be accepted or not based on previous sellers' experience, it removes a substantial part of the seller's protection from the w**kers out there.

It may mean that I'll have to change my selling policy to only accepting bids from buyers with a feedback greater than 20 or similar. Or just not use ebay.

It used to be we were part of a community of buyers and sellers - certainly doesn't have that feeling any longer. So what is stopping losers from leaving me bad feedback unjustifiably? (Not that I ever used the threat of reciprocating with bad feedback anyway, but in the past I found that my original policy of leaving feedback immediately payment was made (ie the end of the buyer's responsibility to the deal) resulted in very little feedback of any nature being left in return. My current rating is 160ish. It should be over 300 (assuming it was all positive). Now, as a seller, why bother leaving any feedback at all?

Perhaps the ratings should treat all sales where feedback wasn't left as negative - that would put the cat among the pigeons!

[Durdge39]

... so i desided ill post a negative feedback just to let people know the scam was only to be told i cant post a negative feedback for 7 days...

My father and I deal a lot on eBay, current rating of about 760, both buying and selling. I really hate to say it kmthor, and I'm not having a go at you, but it's the buyers that leave negative feedback without a thought as to how it may affect the reputation of the seller are the ones that create the tension between sellers and buyers. If you have a problem with a seller, you contact them first, and 99.9% of the time, they will work out a way to resolve the issue that is fair to both parties.

And about the super high postage, that has been going on now for a long time, especially with the Chinese and Hong Kong dealers. If you don't like the postage cost, email the seller or don't buy the item. It works out the same price as one with high item cost and low postage, it just comes up higher on the list when sorted by "lowest price first". NO reason to leave negative feedback and destroy someones 100% rating. We lost ours because some idiot gave us a negative feedback over a $1 trading card before he even contacted us, we would have refunded his money in full, including postage, and he could keep the damn card, but no, he ruined our squeaky rep of always trying to serve our buyers the best we can, because he was unable to see the effect that negative had.

Not being able to leave negative feedback for buyers is just a huge kick in the balls for sellers; we are now at the mercy of the buyer, who is the trouble 9 times out of ten.

[weisyboy]

this is the last straw i will be closing my acount in the next few days.

[kmthor]

My father and I deal a lot on eBay, current rating of about 760, both buying and selling. I really hate to say it kmthor, and I'm not having a go at you, but it's the buyers that leave negative feedback without a thought as to how it may affect the reputation of the seller are the ones that create the tension between sellers and buyers. If you have a problem with a seller, you contact them first, and 99.9% of the time, they will work out a way to resolve the issue that is fair to both parties.

And about the super high postage, that has been going on now for a long time, especially with the Chinese and Hong Kong dealers. If you don't like the postage cost, email the seller or don't buy the item. It works out the same price as one with high item cost and low postage, it just comes up higher on the list when sorted by "lowest price first". NO reason to leave negative feedback and destroy someones 100% rating. We lost ours because some idiot gave us a negative feedback over a $1 trading card before he even contacted us, we would have refunded his money in full, including postage, and he could keep the damn card, but no, he ruined our squeaky rep of always trying to serve our buyers the best we can, because he was unable to see the effect that negative had.

Not being able to leave negative feedback for buyers is just a huge kick in the balls for sellers; we are now at the mercy of the buyer, who is the trouble 9 times out of ten.

your points are valid but in this instance i had contacted the seller as soon as payment was made to informhim of my dissatifaction, i havent heard a word from him in return. i always made my payments within hours of winning an auction

the thing for me is that ebay are trying to protect the dodgy dealers with this new system imo. lets face it the sellers is were there money comes from

km

[woodbe]

kmthor,

Are you saying that the freight was not advertised as part of the auction? It usually is, and you should request a freight quote if it wasn't.

I don't agree with the practice, but it is usually obvious. I have bought items with high freight when the inc price is still lower than elsewhere...

This is a case of buyer beware, I think, and negative feedback won't really help the situation. On the other hand, when dealing with this type of seller, I leave positive feedback but negative comment - something like "item is good, freight is outrageous". Funny thing is the sellers don't react to this, possibly because of the language, but also maybe they only look for negative feedbacks to deal with.

woodbe.