After the feedback changes announced this week at eBay, I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s an angry, torch-wielding mob beating down the front door of eBay’s headquarters right now.
The new feedback policy prevents sellers from giving a bad buyer a neutral or negative feedback.
Huh? I’ve had about 5,000 transactions on eBay/Half and I’ve never left a negative for a buyer. But I should have the right to do so. It’s called checks and balances. It’s what regulates eBay’s marketplace.
As you might expect, eBay’s employees are all defending the decision, despite the outrage from sellers. Today the dean of eBay University, Griff, weighed in on his blog. He argues that eBay feedback had become meaningless because too many buyers are afraid to hit a bad seller with negative feedback, even when it’s deserved.
The way it’s supposed to work, Griff argues, is that sellers should automatically give buyers positive feedback. Then, buyers won’t fear a retaliatory negative rating by the seller. Then, according to Griff’s logic, the feedback scores of crummy sellers won’t be inflated, and buyers will rest easy.
Here’s how Griff puts it exactly:
Many sellers maintained a 99-100% positive Feedback rating by building their whole business strategy around “customer first” by providing the best possible experience for all their buyers. Let’s call them “A1” sellers. The majority of these “A1” sellers left Feedback for their buyers upon receipt of payment…Many other sellers maintained a 99-100% by exploiting the system’s inherent built-in weakness: the implied threat of retaliation for a received negative. These sellers – we’ll call them “A2” sellers – never left Feedback first, but always waited to leave Feedback after the buyer left Feedback for them.
Griff, I beg to differ. Many sellers–like me, for instance– who’ve been burned by irresponsible buyers now make it a habit of leaving feedback only after they’ve heard that the customer is satisfied. And in most cases, we know whether the buyer is happy when they leave feedback. (Needless to say, if they’re not happy, I fix things.)
Griff, I’m not pulling this out of thin air, eBay itself approves this practice. It’s in black and white, right here in eBay’s official Feedback Tutorial:
Either approach is acceptable…. One reason sellers wait until a buyer has left feedback is they take the feedback as the signal that the buyer is satisfied with the purchase and no further customer support is needed.
Frankly, to be told I’m an “A2 seller” on eBay is pretty offensive to me. I’ve bent over backwards to ensure that each one of my customers was happy with their purchase.
What’s your take on this?
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38 Comments
Not only does E Bay think leaving feedback second is fine for a seller they made it imperative when they made the new SNP policy.
Sellers can get restricted from selling with 2 negatives in a 90 day period according to the new policy started last year.
Those who were still leaving feedback first quit that right away.
They also are trying to install a new policy that pay pal will hold your money if they determine a transaction might have problems for uo to 21 days or until the buyer leaves positive feedback.
So you have to ship your 500.00 WII system to the buyer without having the money or the shipping funds first.
Lovely
It seems like they are trying to make the eBay feedback system more like Amazon’s feedback.
Except they are not requiring the buyers to use a credit card to register their account.
If bidders had to put their credit card on file like on Amazon, there would be no problem with the rest of the changes.
To the best of my knowledge, Amazon allows sellers to post a response to feedback left by buyers.
Another nail in Ebay’s coffin. How long will it take Ebay management to realise that making sellers unhappy will make them leave, and without sellers there will be no buyers, let alone happy ones.
If Ebay persists in making these changes, they should make the buyer open a dispute before a neutral or negative is left.
I agree with you Steve, I’m offended by the ‘A2 seller’ label. I give excellent customer service, and that’s not going to change. But when a buyer leaves me a neg without allowing me to fix their problem, I don’t feel inclined to do anything else to make it right.
Read ebay forums: Griff on Feedback.
1whitelily found the remarks a little near sighted, bordering on bigotry, at the least stupidity.
Here is a reply from Lily White:
Well folks it’s me Lily White. I woke up this morning and the first thing I read was THE MESSAGE from Griff. I never read the chatter, nor any other message board. But, there was that durn light bulb staring at me, and like a togue after a baited hook I bit. DARN IT HURT! But, I managed to wiggle free of that hook. I will not be dragged in hook line and sinker. Not Lily White, I am a tough old togue and I will SURVIVE.
I read THE MESSAGE twice, just to be sure my eyes were really operational (it was Saturday morning!) Well the old eyes were working just fine.
I found out the following previously unknown thing:
I am an A2, and a Lily White A2 at that.
Now I may be a little slow, and a few people have surely called me an few names, but NEVER a Lily White A2. I won’t stand for that!
LET ME MAKE SOMETHING VERY CLEAR
My heritage is Native American, Passamaquoddy. I am red, not white. I have been called a few names in my life, something like this:
GET YOUR RED ASS IN HERE LILY WHITE AND HELP ME BEFORE I WHOOP YOU (that being hollered by a responsible adult when I was supposed to be helping with the laundry back when I was a youngster)
It was one thing to be called names when I was a child, and probably deserved a whooping. It is another thing when I am called names as an adult.
I won’t stand for it now. I am a responsible adult. I keep my word.
As a member of the ebay community I have been both a seller and buyer.
I have endured the changes and rising costs of selling on ebay. THE CHANGE IN FEEDBACK WILL NOT BE ENDURED. Not by this old injun.
I posted earlier, and then had to leave to deal with real world issues. Upon my arrival home I immediately came to this board and what do you know? I saw that my post had been removed. No reason why, no message. Woe is me.
Feedback on Amazon is a joke. The seller should be able to warn other sellers about a buyer who is dishonest AND in the best of all worlds allow other sellers to BLOCK the purchase of these buyers. eBay has it right the way it is now – if you hold the buyer in check with the possibility that you will leave a negative feedback – great – the buyer is less likely to commit fraud – complain – or simply be a pain in the ass!!
I’ve (amazingly – maintained 100% positive on both venues) had to suck up to some buyers who I know are cheats!!
I think I like the Abebooks feedback the best – it rates the reliability of the sellers (I do not sell on abe but buy based on this criteria).
Feedback…sometimes you wonder if it even means anything when you see Amazon dropshippers like Quality7…The bookgrove…etc. that maintain around 93% or less and still sell an incredibly huge number of books every day!!???
Peter
Minneapolis
I don’t have a problem with the new policy.
As both a seller and a buyer, I’m sick of lousy sellers with poor customer service for whom the buyer cannot give honest feedback, because the seller makes it clear he will retaliate with an undeserved neg to the buyer.
As a seller, I’ve never had a bad buyer, and I don’t expect that to change. If it does, I’ll deal with it the same way I deal with it on Amazon, where buyer feedback is irrelevant: I’ll chalk it up to just part of doing business.
If feedback is to change, then it must change so that the buyer is FORCED to communicate with the seller.
I recently called e-bay because a buyer had left negative feedback stating that I had false advertising. I sell fabrics for use with Native American ribbon shirts, lodge dresses, quilts, etc. The fabric in question has a Northern Woodland beaded LOOK about it, but it is not beaded fabric at $6.00 per yard. Actual hand beaded fabric would sell at a far better price than that. Both within the item keyword description and within the written description are the words “with the LOOK of”…. yet this person gave me negatives.
Their feedback portion asks them if they had communicated with the seller. Obviously, they said yes. They had not. I took e-bay to the item first then to the buyer’s feedback remark. To have this lying negative removed, I was then forced to call the buyer and leave message on their machine as well as send them an e-mail. Fortunately, the buyer called me back, read the e-mail and then went back into the item itself to see that they were wrong. They also stated that they liked the fabric and were in the process of making a vest.
We went through the process and they were able to remove the negative. However, now their words remain – that I had false advertising.
This buyer never contacted us to speak of their disatisfaction; this buyer lied on the feedback form stating that they had.
As far as offering “free shipping” we are operating from a 501-c-3. If we pay 4.40 per yard for fabric, it is listed on e-bay for 6.00 per yard which barely cover’s the e-bay & paypal charges; we have no handling fee. Having the ability to pack a tipi on a travoise, we can pack up to 8 yards of 44″ wide fabric into the $4.60 flat rate envelope and up to 30 yards of 44″ wide fabric into the $8.95 shipping envelope.
Our attempt has been to pick up where the treaties lied to us – about providing “self-reliance”.
At this point in time, we do not know how we will manage a storefront if we have to provide free shipping, unless the cost is added into the over-all price of the fabric.
http://stores.ebay.com/NDN-Fabrics-Co-op
The part that strikes me as odd is “then buyers can leave honest feedback.” What? Since when is the world filled with only honest people with rational responses? Here’s two examples that would have gotten me a negative through no fault of my own.
1. A person stated the book was not in excellent condition but gave me positive. The book was listed as POOR condition and sold as a reading copy only. Why would I have to take a negative for this with no communication or chance to explain that they had not read the description.
2. A person tryed to rip me a new one because the post office lost her item and it took three weeks to deliver. I had delivery confirmation and stated that it was stuck in hub near her state. She called me a liar and definitly would have left me a negative but she has a policy of not leaving any neg’s unless she is left one first.
In these two examples the buyer would have been happy to leave negatives with no remorse. Those would not have been accurate reflections of our committment to customer service.
It just seems the buyer has free access to destroy an honest and hardworking business without any chance of us protecting ourselves.
I totally agree with your posting.
It well could be that Ebay does not want the smaller seller anymore. But I think this has made Ebay a fun place to explore in the past, as I have also been a buyer as well as a seller – and hope to be in the future.
I hope they reconsider this policy, because it doesn’t allow sellers to comment on unfair or dishonest buyers.
I think it is easy to see that truthfulness must go both ways – and the only way to do that is to let both buyers and sellers be honest about how each has treated them at Ebay.
I say we all get together as sellers and have a vacation together in protest. We could all put our accounts on vacation mode for a week so that ebay would not generate revenue from us. I plan on doing this myself from February 23rd through the end of the month so they will not get any month end revenue from me. I encourage all others to do the same and let ebay know why we are doing it. There is power in numbers and ebay thinks they have all the numbers, but it is the sellers that make the wheels go around.
These changes are awesome.
Most of the sellers on e-bay are total crap. They have no idea how to run a business and make mistakes constantly.
Our feedback on both Amazon & Ebay is the highest around, but it doesn’t make much of a difference on Ebay because the seller ratings are so skewed.
This change is going to make our business stand out against our competitors.
Ryan Shillington
Used Is Better
The Seller is on the weaker position in a nutshell.
Buyers are the ones who commit fraud.
For a Seller to do so is suicide.
Check Seller policies on Auction pages. Some to my knowledge I was the first or concurrent with others doing the same.
On pricey collectible items:
1. No new Bidders
2. No bidders with 20 or fewer feedbacks
3. No Bidders with 2 negs in the past 60 days.
etc
CYA – cover your ass
This removes protection from Sellers who sell rarites. Sellers like Griff – what do they sell?
I don’t see it covered in the article.
Thats the rub – the Devil of and in the details – a Signed Baseball card or a PowderPuff Girls DVD – worlds apart in price, market and exposure to fraud.
I am offended by this new policy. I have been selling and buying on eBay since 1999 I have well over 3,000 f/b, 99.9% positive. The truth is, of the 5 negatives I’ve received in 9 years, I only really deserved one of them.
Just this week, I had a customer who purchased a book with buy-it-now nearly a month ago, never paid, never contacted me. AND I CAN’T LEAVE HIM NEG F/B?? Give me a break…why not???
My husband sold a nice Raymond Chandler H/B at a loss this week…99cents. The auction states $5.25 for shipping. The buyer has been harassing my husband all week, because he feels that charge is too much! Give me a freaking break! We are not making a penny on this transaction. He’s the one who entered into a CONTRACT. This new policy allows him to leave negative f/b for us, who are showing integrity by fufilling our agreement, and we get no recourse???
This is another corporate pressure tactic. Ebay wants revenue, on the backs of the sellers. This new policy is blantantly unjust. I think a revamping of the system is in order, but to remove the seller’s only remedy borders on the criminal!
Perhaps we should band together in some way. I feel like such a sucker. The fees between eBay and PayPal are creeping around 20% for me, I don’t know about you other booksellers, but I think that is way to high for the service they provide to us.
As an aside, I got ripped off to the tune of nearly $7,000 on eBay a few years ago, and eBay (nor the police department) wouldn’t do a damn thing for me. I purchased goods with a check which was cashed, and never got the goods. I couldn’t even look at the site for a year after that. Good lesson learned, but damned expensive.
What to do? I feel disgusted, and yet, half of my income is from eBay sales…
Lahana
This feedback thing is very rank —
I see ebay’s perspective. They must believe that it is bad poicy to leave negatives for people that buy stuff. No consumer wants to recieve a negative mark.
I do think they should come up with some sort of meaningful buyer feedback. I use it to buyers advantage — for example, I’ll let people pay with a check that have a certain degree of positive feedback.
I have grave concerns regarding the changes to the feedback system and the ultimate plan to link DSR’s to search results. I have been a very dependable seller with a 99.9% feedback rating with over 3000 transactions.
I have detailed my concerns in a letter to eBay that is now on my blog as an Open Letter to eBay.
I have made no decision yet what to do about tihs but it will impact my business.
Already Closed my store. I will only do auctions where I have at lest a little control over who I sell too–and that will be no new buyers.
Griff is right about one thing – there were some sellers that were abusing the system.I know because I was the recipient of it….twice! 2 times my orders were materially different than stated (like night and day different). Instead of working to resolve the issue – the sellers refused to refund or exchange the purchase and gave ME negative feedback for complaining. They then sent me a “mutual withdrawel form” to try to strong-arm me to remove the feedback. They wouldn’t return my emails for anyhing. Allowing sellers to retaliate against buyers with real complaints is just bad business! Additionally, those bad sellers do such a high volume that a bad feedback on a little guy like me could take me from a 100% positive to a 96% positive – whereas it may hurt them a tenth of a point. So to add insult to injury, I got bad products, and a reduced feedback rating to boot. I am an Amazon seller so I totally agree that we need a mechanism to communicate fraudulent sellers. But letting sellers retaliate against buyers with real complaings is just not the way.
I have been on eBay as a Seller and a Buyer since 2000. I use 2 accounts, one for each. If a Seller is not satisfactory, they get a truthful feedback. My Buyer’s account has 3 negs, all retaliatory. Each has the details of the transaction posted by me as a response to the unjust negative left by a Seller.
As a Seller, I have 100% positive feedback, because I do everything possible (except allowing blackmail) so customers are happy. It is well deserved, there is no pressure to leave me positive. To me the transaction is not completed until the buyer actually receives the item and tells me it’s ok. I don’t think I ever left a negative for a Buyer. I’ll not leave feedback until the whole transaction is complete. Even if a Buyer pays immediately, there are so many things that can go wrong that would cause them to leave a negative and not try to work it out by communicating with me. Packages can be lost, items can be broken in transit. I am honestly not sure how this is going to work out.
Also, how can I leave a positive for a Buyer if they don’t have the item yet? They can just contact PayPal and make a claim, they will get their payment refunded.
What we all need is better screening and more qualified Buyers. There are no qualifications to join eBay, no credit card, no verification. Also, how can I warn other Seller’s about a bad experience?
The whole feedback became a mute point for Sellers anyway, since eBay allowed snipping. I can’t cancel a bid that is placed when there are only 3 seconds for the item to end.
This whole thing looks like a mess now, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
Well, at least they are trying. They seem to have been successful in removing the thousands of fake stuff from China, and I congratulate eBay on that. Maybe we’ll have good results from this whole thing.
There is got to be a silver lining.
Having been on both sides of this issue, it seems clear to me that the real solution is to eliminate the “positive/negative” connotations completely and allow whomever posts first the right of last rebuttal.
I sympathize with quality sellers, I really do – but clearly those most vocal about the changes have never been the target of unscrupulous sellers, and have never had to deal with negative feedback containing outright lies told in retaliation for NEUTRAL feedback (no, I’m not kidding.)
Dump the brain-dead Red/Green/Gray trappings, make people actually describe the transaction in plain English, and reward whomever posts first with the right to speak last.
It would solve a LOT of this conundrum!
I have a 100% feedback rating and will not leave a negative feedback even if dissatisfied. I agree with Griff. I think it is high time. Bravo!
I have been using ebay for years, both buying and selling. I always left feedback immeiidately as a seller, until I got someone who no matter what I did, (and I always made sure the customer was right) wasn’t happy and left a nasty comment. So now I post my positive feed back for quick buyers after they have received product and are happy. If not happy, I do what I can to rectify.
Ebay Is Just Wrong About This
I read this and pretty much agree with you. However, what about the buyers out there who routinely get screwed by unscrupulous sellers? Some misrepresent what they are selling, some wait forever to send it, and some don’t send it at all. I don’t buy a lot on Ebay, but when I do I want it to be what they said it was, I want them to ship it the day they get the payment or at least the next day (after all, they set a time limit on when they want to get their money) and I don’t want them to keep my money and not send the item.
I’ve gotten one bad feedback, and that was two years ago when I tried to buy a scanner. I got it for about half the price they were selling for, and I sent the payment (Postal money order) some two days later. The seller said the payment didn’t reach them in time, sent the money order back, and left negative feedback. I contacted ebay and they eventually got the feedback dropped, but it is still on my profile. As is my answer, where I posted exactly what happened. I think they didn’t want to see the scanner for the price I got it for, and sent the MO back so they could repost the item at a higher base price.
I agree that both buyer and seller should have the opportunity to tell their side of the story via negative feedback, but I think that after a period of maybe six months, if no further problems have taken place, the negative comment should be removed, and should not show up anywhere.
Griff is a fool at best if he thinks this is good. I’m waiting and watching for him to answer some of his messages in the ebay forum. Coem on Griff, no guts no glory. Put your mouth were the questions are.
bye bye ebay
I have been on eBay since 1995, I have 100% positive feedback. I have never left a negative for anyone. I should have, but I didn’t.
Buyer have tried to blackmail me. I had a supply of items identical to some others I had listed. I sold this one buyer a set of items. I didn’t hear back from them for two weeks. I knew they recieved the item because I bought the delivery confirmation for it, they didn’t. I had listed some more of these items. They saw that I had more, so they mailed me and said they did not recieve their items, they wanted me to send them more or they would leave me negative feedback.
I have had buyers say they did not recieve something and demand a refund. I would show paypal the delivery confirmation, but paypal still gave them a refund. They got their item and a refund too.
I have had buyers to say they never recieved an item when they did get it. Paypal sided with the buyer even with a delivery confirmation.
Us sellers are ebays customers, the buyers are our customerms, we sublet a auction thru ebay and we don’t have any say over anything.
I do not mind th efees, I do mind the unfair feedback rules that are going to take place. I also do not want paypal keeping my money for 21 days.
I have had buyers to find out when I shipped an item out and then they would automatically do a paypal chargeback as soon as they knew the items was shipped out. I never left any of them a negative feedback, it was deserved. They would blackmail me any way they could to steal from me. Now ebay is stealing my dignity and pride I have had for ebay so many years. They are getting it.. We / Sellers are ebays buyers. They do not get it.
http://myauctionnetwork.com/feepay.html
The horror stories are already being told of sellers, good sellers who to avoid getting negatives are paying off the buyers, only to find out that they buyer is still going to give a negative unless they get a full refund AND get to keep the item. So, the poor seller pays up. And the buyer STILL gives a negative. So now the buyer has a negative, no item and lost funds. He can’t even get a refund from eBay or PayPal. So he is stung by the entire system.
One lady said she LOVED her new shoes. Fabulous Shoes she said. Then a few days later she contacted the seller saying she needed a refund. The seller asked why since the buyer had said they were fabulous. The buyer said that they were, but not as fabulous as she thought they would be. The seller posted that she didn’t realize there were levels of fabulous. Anyway, to avoid a negative she refunded the fees. So the buyer gave her feedback and and then emailed her and said her husband told her to threaten to leave a negative so she could get a refund and be able to keep the shoes.
The Problem is that eBay is hanging sellers out to be hit with three negatives and NARU’d.
They had a fellow on who spoke about the changes and he said that the system has not been perfected yet, but when implemented they will work on a case by case basis.
Sorry, eBay, but when I am depending on your platform 100% of the time, I do not have time for your system to see that what happened INCREASED buyer fraud.
If you can’t control the fraud now, making your sellers exit hastily by forcing them out because of bad buyers is not going to help your cause or your business.
8 eBayer says:
I’m Seller and a Buyer on eBay, I also have an eBay Store. I have never left a negative nor have I ever received a negative, I have left many positive and have received many positive.
There are Excellent Buyers and Excellent Sellers, There is Bad Sellers and Bad Buyers. Feedback is the tool that ALL eBayers use to do business. With that said: How in the Sam Hell are we going to know if you take the Sellers Rights away and leave the Buyers Rights? It’s Black and White, not just White and not just Black. Oh, and in between Black and White is every other color in the UNIVERSE! Have some vision eBay!
I liken the new feedback policy, after more thought on it, to general retail behavior.
I’ve worked retail for years in the commercial sector. My (or any) customers are always allowed to go tot he manager with a complaint, but the employee never has recourse….and is usually fired…even if the customer was eggagerating the situation, etc. I’ve seen two of my fellow workers take that long walk from the store for such things. All for no particular reason but perhaps the customer was especially anal that day.
Whats the recourse there? Retail workers don’t have the opportunity to obtain the customers name, contact info, etc.
Seems the same with eBay’ers.
One thing the Sellers CAN do though, is to estabish (and I think that is being worked on) JUST for Seller’s HONEST Feedback on Buyers – off site from eBay. Reference the domain site in the listings – etc. for anyone to follow and read.
What else are we to do? Most everything I sell is $ .99 – $4.99. Between front and back end fees + PayPal fees just to receive the money – profit is nearly extinct…and will become even more so in the future. I do charge a $2.00 handling fee, but I believe once the changes are made, there will not be a discount on combining purchases. I can’t think of any other way to keep buying packing materials in order to make sure the purchases arrive in great shape. The materials aren’t free.
I have recently joined revolutionmoneyexchange.com and will be editing my seller details in my listings to reflect that although I am required by eBay to offer Paypal, as I am a seller with under 100 feedbcak points; it will be revolutionmoneyexchange.com that I prefer….and offer even more discounts or rebates if the Buyer choose that option. Silently, Once POSITIVE FEEDBACK is received, I will send them a rebate on Handling…but only if they use revolutionmoneyexchange.com. If the feedback is neutral or negative, I won’t be sending them a rebate. Thats about all I know to do.
(INSERT HEAVY SIGH HERE)
Ebay – the new placement between that rock and a hard place….for Sellers old and new.
I found his “A2″ comment very offensive. I do everything possible to satisfy my customers, but I will not be blackmailed. Now I will have no recourse at all – that is if I continue to sell on ebay.
As a seller I will:
1) No longer leave feedback for buyers, makes no sense to.
2) Place restrictions on all of my auctions as to whom may bid or buy.
3) Limit the use of Paypal to Sales of less than $500.00.
The Ebay/Paypal Master Plan
Its all about Ebay/Paypal making money, and what business does not want to grow and be profitable. The goal is increase Ebay/Paypal revenue by having more Ebay/Paypal users. Here are a few thoughts.
1. Require all new sellers to have a Paypal or merchant account. Merchant accounts cost extra money and could be confusing to new users. Many sellers will opt for Paypal without doing further research because of the Ebay/Paypal protection policies. Also by stating “or merchant account” will help in any legal situations that arise.
2. Promote Paypal as being the only safe payment option on Ebay. Always use Ebay and Paypal in the same sentence. If a seller uses a merchant account do not reference any buyer protection on Ebay. Refer the buyer to their credit card company not the seller. If the seller does not use a merchant account or Paypal state under Buying Safely “This item is not covered by buyer protection on EBay” NOT “This item is not covered by the Ebay/Paypal buyer protection program, see seller terms for other protection offered”.
3. All Ebay/Paypal income is from sellers so start a system to reward Paypal sellers. An example: If a Paypal seller prints postage do not include dollar amount on label, known as stealth postage. This is a method some sellers use to increase profits without the buyers knowledge. Then have buyers rate all sellers on shipping time and charges, add a few other catagories for looks. If a seller has low ratings require them to have a Paypal or merchant account. Paypal users will a have a hidden advantage over others plus Paypal will have more income from fees on the sellers higher shipping charges. This rating system can also be used in other ways to promote Paypal use.
4. Lower insertion fees and raise final value fees. Chances of making more money on complete sales from Ebay fees and Paypal fees will increase with more listings. This will also cover the lost of listings from sellers leaving the site. They will return to list, if only to help drive buyers to their off Ebay sites, when our numbers and exposure increases.
5. Make a major change in the feedback system to take the attention away from the master plan, making more money for Ebay/Paypal. Reverse or make changes in the future but the goal will be met with more Ebay/Paypal users to collect fees from.
6. Delete all inactive accounts. When they return see number 1.
7. Require sellers to have a Paypal or merchant account to sell in certain hisk risk catagories, to be determined and expanded later. Use buyer protection as a major reason.
8. Encourage Paypal sellers to block buyers without a Paypal account. This will incourage buyers to use Paypal. They could be future sellers.
9. Change search functions to show a seller’s items who has a high rating before others. This will also favor Paypal users (see #3) resulting in more income.
10. Continue to allow sellers in other countries to register on the US site. This will increase the number of items listed on the site and increase sales.
These are but a few ideas. Add your own as needed but reach the same goal. Increase Ebay/Paypal revenue. Also releasing changes with a long lead time will also increase the number of current listings from those who intend to leave when these changes take place. Research has shown that those who leave will come back. Those that cancel their accounts will need to use Paypal or merchant account when they return. Most of the above can also be spun as buyer protection.
I was wondering why, if eBay is so great and the new feedback policy & other changes are so awesome; Ryan Shillington posted with a link to his off eBay website?
Surely you should be putting your money where your mouth is, in eBay’s pocket? You are missing the opportunity for a refid credit there ‘buddy’.
Our sellers group (540 members) and a couple of others I have heard about are going on vacation Feb 18th for a week. Not everyone is able to drop 25% of their income so we will not have 100% participation, but hopefully enough to make it noticed.
There has been a decline of approximately 300K listings on eBay per day since the changes were announced. How long this will continue – who knows. It is, however, a significant drop.
The important thing is (if you decide you need a break) to refrain from increasing listings right before and after. That makes it pointless. In other words, if you normally post 100 a week then don’t post 133 in the other three weeks this month!
The Shops at 200 West Main
eBay is making eBay seller “jjgoodwin”s Guides invisible. They are only showing two abou this problem with ebay. I think she hit a nerve with them.
Please read these. She and her husband have spent alot of time reviewing what eBay is doing.
For more information about the eBay 2008 changes:
(1 No-Negative Feedback for Buyers – An odd solution
http://reviews.ebay.com/No-Negative-Feedback-for-Buyers-What-an-odd-solution_W0QQugidZ10000000005275539
2) New entitlement Feedback plan-why it won’t work
http://reviews.ebay.com/No-Negative-Feedback-for-Buyers-Why-it-won-apos-t-work_W0QQugidZ10000000005421402
3) The 2008 PowerSeller benefit package-A truly sad new chapter
http://reviews.ebay.com/PowerSeller-Benefits-Program-A-truly-sad-new-chapter_W0QQugidZ10000000005524944
4) PayPal – 2008 Changes – The 21-day hold on your money
http://reviews.ebay.com/PayPal-2008-Changes-The-21-day-hold-on-your-money_W0QQugidZ10000000005528443
First of all, I’m a PowerSeller with a 100% Pos Rating of 3000. I think in seven years I’ve left 2 negatives, and at most 2 neutrals.
As I read thru most of the previous posts, I hear echos of most of my thoughts and feelings. And I, too, had one of my discussion board posts removed. As one of the first responders on the eBay ‘Feedback’ board regarding the upcoming change for sellers, I had mentioned that one of eBay’s certified providers sends out a newsletter/blog that I subscribe to. She had said she wouldn’t comment on this new feedback change yet; she was waiting for eBay to realize it made a ‘mistake.’
In reference to the ‘discount’ that Powersellers will soon be able to earn based upon their star DSR ratings in feedback, I’m surprised that no one else has mentioned this in all of the blogs that I’ve been reading/posting to:
When buyers leave their neg’s, after they’ve extorted all of their freebies and whined and complained, getting their fill of your customer service,’ they will ALSO leave you low star ratings. Hence, you will NEVER qualify for the high rate required to earn the discount!
I have no doubt eBay realized this; unfortunately, sellers react to eBay changes once we receive notice that they are about to take effect; eBay is planning these changes and their effects years in advance; they are famous for making changes that appear to be for the benefit of the seller.
Fee changes have happened before and will continue on Ebay, but the final straw for me is this new Feedback Change. They have gone way over the line with this one! Slap the sellers in the face and expect us to take it? Isn’t one of our Constitutional Rights the right to Freedom of Speech? I believe that taking away the sellers right to leave whatever speech we deem right to the buyers, while leaving the buyers the right to say whatever they want in their feedback to us, can be very damaging to the sellers and also preferential treatment for the buyers. What’s to stop unreputable sellers from posing as buyers just to ruin our feedback and get us knocked off Ebay because we are one of their competitors? I think Ebay needs to take a refresher course in Human Relations in Business. Maybe if enough of us rebel, they will learn “DON’T BITE THE HAND THAT FEEDS YOU!” Without sellers, there are no buyers. I won’t hesitate to leave! I’m tired of their INTIMIDATION!
I am a seller on eBay right now and soon not to be. Some sellers do overcharge on shipping but most buyers I guess have never bought an item from an online store where the shipping costs more than the item! Seller costs have handling included too! At the price of gasoline today am I expected to drive to the Post Office for nothing? I get my packaging materials free?
Get real on shipping charges if it is free shipping you had better believe it is in the cost of the item!
Feedback: Ebay system stinks! Leave no feedback just rate buyers and sellers on the star system. No slanderous remarks from buyer morons. I just filed complaints with eBay for 15 slanderous emails I received from an eBay buyer of proof sets! Claims I took the coins out made my own envelope and dropped the coins in! Sorry not worth my time or effort and besides that I am too honest being a member of the ANA and the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels! Not worth it to me to be a crook! This person would not have known a legitimate sealed proof set if it bit him!
So now I cannot leave a negative for a cyberstalker even! Nice going eBay I do not have to sell on your site to make a living I was just getting rid of over 60 years of accumulated coins!
With the price of silver going back and forth from 19-21.00 per ounce I can sell it at melt price and save the eBay listing fees, selling fees, and oh yes Paypal fees! So a seller gets hit three ways and he is the one who made and makes eBay. No sellers sorry no buyers. eBay needs to do a little soul searching here instead of back-stabbing their bread winners! Oh the 15 hate mails reported to eBay nothing done a warning! Caveat Emptor.