Thread: Ebay Policies Last Straw WARNING: Rant!

Frankly I buy very little on ebay these days - never bought serious volume to begin with, but these days if I buy more than one thing a month it's a big month. That said, when examining a buyer, I generally treat all sellers over 95% feedback as implicitly trustworthy. I've heard enough stories about unreasonable buyers to know better than to worry about a ding or two. Sellers under 95% feedback I then review indiviual feedback for details and resolution. I'll also adjust my max bid taking into account any possible risk due to inaccurate descriptions, high shipping fees, what-have-you.

To me, e-bay is a bit like dancing. Choose your partners carefully, and you'll have no bruises or regrets afterwards.

An interesting read somtimes are the discussion groups at ebay. The feedback one right now is buzzing. Sellers are already reporting some buyers asking for partial refunds as items were not quite what they wanted and threatening bad feedback. Many of the posters are guys that till this week had 100%, now are getting a few negs. I realize this is not the normal buyer but a chance to blackmail brings out just that type.

Of course many sellers now are retaliating by refusing to leave any further feedback at all, no positive, no "nuthin".

Looks like both sides over reacting to the changes.

Tony

Recently I left feedback for something I had bought from ebay (ps3 controller was a fake which was funny since I didnt look closely enough at the item description or the picture ) I left positive feedback but just as i chose to leave positive feedback I got a message saying that sellers cant leave negative feedback now! This was in the UK version of ebay. Is this the same for the US?

Originally Posted by Tony Miller

An interesting read somtimes are the discussion groups at ebay. The feedback one right now is buzzing. Sellers are already reporting some buyers asking for partial refunds as items were not quite what they wanted and threatening bad feedback. Many of the posters are guys that till this week had 100%, now are getting a few negs. I realize this is not the normal buyer but a chance to blackmail brings out just that type.

Of course many sellers now are retaliating by refusing to leave any further feedback at all, no positive, no "nuthin".

Looks like both sides over reacting to the changes.

Tony

Actually the blackmail sounds like unscrupulous people taking advantage of a huge hole in the system, and since that hole was deliberatly created...... I couldn't blame the sellers one bit.


How do you guys all feel about the people who leave a negative comment but do "positive" feedback? I've taken to reading through the feedbacks the last year just looking for this and its amazing how many 100% sellers actually have a bunch of POED people in their feedback sections. You can see which sellers used their feedback power as a club. Still like a club I think it was an important tool for sellers that could be misused by the few, the current change can't be misused by them because it is inherently a mistake

I bought only a few small items on ebay, which didn't need bigger package than bubble protected envelope.

Usually, as shipping is concerned, I look at the stamps to see if the amount is fairly the same as the one asked for shipping and handling (I understand perfectly that, given the item and the quality of the package, the latter could be higher) and when the package has been posted (if nothing was said about delay, I usually think that two to three working days is a correct time to wait for somebody to send such small items). Actually, I never had any issues with a seller concerning the shipping and handling fee and time (maybe I've only bought from honest sellers).

Concerning the feedbacks: I think it is correct for the seller to wait until the bidder says in an email or via feedback if he is happy or not, or asks for a refund, before giving his feedback; but I must say that I was very happy to see that one seller didn't wait for me to leave my feedback before saying that he enjoyed making business with me (I also like to be trusted, as much as a seller does I think).

As for the %... usually, if I see a seller with 95% and up, I believe that he is a honest and good seller (you will always find unhappy or difficult buyers leaving bad feedbacks, or a problem can ever occur... nobody's perfect). If a seller has less %, I go and read the detailed feedback to see what is the problem (if it is mainly for shipping time, I usually ignore them... I sooo much know how crap can the postal service be... one time, I had to wait two months for a book shipped on time in the US: it was lost, get hold in the customs... a nightmare)... Usually, what I am careful to look at in the feedback left by other buyers are that the items matched their description, and that the contact with the seller is easy and civilised.

I must say that I am happy I always could give positive feedback to all sellers I've made business with

Originally Posted by Wildtim

How do you guys all feel about the people who leave a negative comment but do "positive" feedback?

I feel like those buyers (in my experience only buyers do that) are simply intimidated. Really though, I don't know why because it's a lot easier to pass over a seller with negative ratings than it is to deny a bidder because of negative ratings. Why should a buyer be afraid of retaliatory feedback? He or she may not want it, but that shouldn't even discourage him or her at all from being honest

Originally Posted by Tony Miller

An interesting read somtimes are the discussion groups at ebay. The feedback one right now is buzzing. Sellers are already reporting some buyers asking for partial refunds as items were not quite what they wanted and threatening bad feedback. Many of the posters are guys that till this week had 100%, now are getting a few negs. I realize this is not the normal buyer but a chance to blackmail brings out just that type.

Of course many sellers now are retaliating by refusing to leave any further feedback at all, no positive, no "nuthin".

Looks like both sides over reacting to the changes.

Tony

Hey Tony. I actually wouldn't call this over-reaction, but rather the new state of affairs. Each rule creates a kind of equilibrium, and the new equilibrium is that some of these wierd buyers are no longer restrained. Expect this behavior to continue.

In fact, it will probably be a lot harder for buyers to garner feedback in the future.

However, if most buyers are like me, it isn't important. I have no interest in my feedback rating as a buyer as long as it doesn't hurt my ability to participate in auctions, and it is a rare auction that requires a huge amount of buyer feedback to participate.

Negative feedback is another matter.

Being an occasional seller and having 1,100 + positives and no negatives I am somewhat concerned. OTOH, ebay says that a buyer must wait 7 days or so once they submit the negative to confirm it. They must contact the seller first to try to come to a satisfactory resolution. Last but not least ebay says they will look at the circumstances if the seller protests the negative and remove it if it is proved to be unjustified. In addition they say that they will begin a new policy of disciplining non paying bidders so it remains to be seen and only time will tell.

I can see both sides of the system. I've had two negative experiences with sellers so far - one sending out a wrong item, didn't respond to mails, I sent back the item asking for a refund (they included a form for shipping items back and gave the option of giving my money back!) because I needed the item ASAP and it was an international deal. No money, three weeks later (shipping was only to/from Germany) I got the replacement item - seller didn't respond to mails. Also had a second similar experience. When it came to rate the seller I found out that both sellers gave back negative feedback to their customers once they left negative feedback.

So, what to do in this case? Give a (justified) negative to warn other customers and receive one back for not having done anything wrong? I chose the easier way and didn't rate the deals at all. With the new system I can give a justified negative without having to worry about getting one back.

But I can see the problems from the perspective of the sellers too and have decided against using ebay for selling stuff until they come up with a better solution.

As a buyer I have gone over to always reading the last 200 feedback-entries of a seller and not relying on a 99+%-feedback score alone.

I've given less than positive descriptions for positive feedbacks before. It wasn't related to any sort of seller intimidation. There's two parts to the feedback (well, more because of the star system): the comment and the rating. For me, the rating is a matter of whether or not the transaction was reasonable: i.e. was the item as described, did it arrive safely and in a reasonable amount of time.

I have left positive feedback and commented that I found the communication frustrating, or noting that someone's shipping policy was less than ideal (not a shipping price, but one in particular had a once-a-month trip to the post office). That said, as long as everything showed up, I'm fine. The only time I have left a negative feedback was when my item never arrived. I've never left a neutral, I'm not sure what it means.

Maybe I'm not the standard ebay user, though. I've seen people leave negative feedback based on shipping costs which are posted in the seller's item descriptions. Shipping is part of the total cost: if I'm willing to spend $100 on something and the seller charges $10 shipping, I bid $90. If the seller ships free, I bid $100. That's basic economics. People who complain that they don't like the price they agreed to pay shouldn't be allowed to leave feedback.

As for the original controversy: I check every seller's last six months; I never look at their percentage.