Friday, May 16th, 2008
Feedback on Feedback to Feedback
All,
Thanks again for your kind words and emails. Sorry for the delay in getting this to you. As promised, I managed to spend time with Brian Burke this week and he tackled a lot of the follow-up questions that came through from the “Accountability” post written last week.
The following follow-up questions and answers are shown in no particular order. The questions, and the prior comments by Brian they refer to, are indented and shaded below. The new answers follow each shaded box.
I realize there were more questions asked but I wanted to get at least some addressed sooner rather than later. Thanks to Brian for taking the time to sit down with me again to discuss questions raised here on Ink.
Cheers,
RBH
Please re-round the circle squared by eBay President Lorrie Norrington on the eBay Announcement Board on March 20, 2008 titled “Update For Sellers”.
Norrington seems to be attempting to address the concerns of sellers who fear a neg from a non paying bidder. She attempts to mitigate the new “neg sellers only” policy by writing:
“What we have determined is that if the buyer does not specifically call out poor seller performance, item condition or transaction problems during the UPI process, eBay will remove the seller’s negative or neutral feedback — retroactively.”
This makes no sense. Sellers do not send items won in auctions before receiving payment. How can a buyer who leaves a neg be justified by claiming a problem with “item condition” for an item never sent, received nor seen? Again, sellers DO NOT send items without first receiving payment.
While Norrington’s “solution” may be boss pleasing “disruptive innovation”, it flat out makes no sense in the real world of selling on eBay.
This policy is designed to address a specific issue raised at the eCommerce Forum in January. Specifically, sellers complained that the current protections for sellers with the UPI process - the buyer must fail to respond completely - was inadequate, since all a buyer had to do was enter a single character or comment that they had no intention of paying, and any negative or neutral FB left by the buyer would remain.
Sellers shouldn’t send items prior to receiving payment. But if a buyer is complaining about the product condition in the UPI process, it’s a good indication that the buyer did pay.
Buyers who respond and respond in a manner that clearly indicates the seller was not at fault, such as “I found another one” or “my spouse is in the hospital so I can’t pay” shouldn’t be negatively impacted by a buyer’s negative Feedback.
However, if the buyer states, “I refuse to pay via Western Union” or “I just sent payment” or “I paid” (NOTE, some sellers file false claims, those caught are suspended) or “I did a charge back because you refused to send me a refund for the damaged product” would result in negative or neutral Feedback remaining.
A buyer who is referencing product condition, not receiving the product, etc. is a very good indicator that the buyer sent money.
We will continue to evaluate this policy.
We used a really simple definition when determining exactly what constituted retaliatory negative feedback. It was strictly a user who received a negative feedback and subsequently left a negative feedback.Severely flawed research error. The definition of retaliatory feedback” is based on an assumption not a fact.
With millions and millions of transactions happening we have to study behavior over time in order to identify trends and to determine whether or not a specific trend needs addressing. The fact is that 4 years ago, sellers would leave a negative after a buyer had left a negative twice as frequently than a buyer would and today it is eight times as frequently. That is a significant change in behavior and one that needed to be addressed. Again, we examined a lot of alternatives before coming to the conclusion that the feedback system needed to change. We learned that when a buyer gets a negative feedback in the eBay marketplace, they discontinue participating in the marketplace and it’s not healthy for anyone.
In January we mentioned that we’d block buyers from leaving negative or neutral Feedback for 3 days for sellers “with a track record.” Since January, we’ve made the decision to increase the wait period to 7 days and define “track record” as active PowerSellers who have been on eBay for at least 12 months.
What about NON-Powersellers? Does this mean the buyer could leave us a negative IMMEDIATELY? Or does it mean they can do it within 3 days, and only PS get the 7 day protection? This needs immediate clarification. Richard, PLEASE get a clarification on this.
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Why does the cooling off period, given it is so short a timeframe, only apply to PS? Why not to those who have been on the site for years? Why not to everyone?
Right now only PowerSellers get the 7-day protection. This has replaced the 3-day block rule introduced back in January. Suspension types and frequencies of suspensions were analyzed and it was determined that PowerSellers were the safest population of users to single out for this protection. If safety issues arise we could restrict this beyond the 12-month, PowerSeller distinction and, conversely, if we see positive results and gain confidence in the 7-day protection model, we could expand to other sellers. I don’t see this happening in the next 6 months though.
Richard, while you’re at it, can you please get an explanation as to how a waiting period adversely affects buyers anyway? Sellers have to give buyers 7 days to pay before they can file a UID. Why not give ALL sellers the same 7 day “benefit of the doubt?”
Essentially, we’re trying to balance marketplace safety with seller satisfaction. We want buyers to know immediately about a potentially bad or fraudulent buyer experience to better avoid repeat occurrences.
The way we’re going to hold buyers accountable is through private reporting from sellers; through enhancing the tools that we’ve given sellers to help protect them from buyers.What enhancements? Here’s the thing — the only thing that I’ve ever found helpful on feedback left for buyers is utilizing their feedback received when someone is slow in paying (ie, I’m not sure if they will follow through). If they have negs for non-payment, I’ll file a UPI a bit faster. If they don’t, I give them a lot more time/leeway. Will sellers have access to info on whether UPI reports have been made against buyers?
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What enhancements to which tools?
Sellers will not have direct access to info on whether UPI reports have been made against buyers. However, there is a buyer requirement tool that will allow sellers to block buyers with a UPI track record of 2 or more items. We’ve also introduced a seller reporting hub.
We’re going to take a look at what buyers are saying in the UPI console and remove it if it is arbitrary.
Who is going to be doing this? What will be the guidelines as to what is “arbitrary?”
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Will the process of reporting a buyer be reviewed by an actual person or a bot? Will we receive canned answers?
Customer support representatives will be reviewing all reports. There will be canned answers associated with general issues raised for the hundreds and hundreds of cases reported. Reports will be handled on a case by case basis and will be deemed arbitrary if there is no mention of dissatisfaction with the seller or an unwillingness to complete the transaction with the seller.
Does this new PowerSeller policy constitute a barrier to entry? And what about seasonal sellers who cannot enjoy PS benefits because they sell for a few months each year (but most definitely qualify PS, they just are not onsite long enough each year to qualify)? And what about new sellers? Do they become targets with no protection? Do you guys not want new sellers?
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Do you see a place for the small time seller on eBay in the future? I would love to stay but I am being pushed away with every calculated change and it seems many others are also. Is this what eBay is counting on?
These changes don’t have anything to do with the size of the seller. They are focused on the buying experience. With regard to DSRs and feedback, smaller sellers are actually the folks in a position to take an advantage of the new changes because they already provide a more personalized, attentive service to the individual buyer… helping ensure positive feedback after a transaction is completed.
We want all sellers to feel welcome on eBay and the new PowerSeller policy should not be seen as a barrier to entry, rather it should be seen as another incentive to sell more on eBay.
Will anything be done to ensure the 12-month period does not backfire on anyone?
There will inevitably be a small group of folks that are negatively effected by the 12-month window but again, we think that recent performance and activity is a much better indicator of what a buyer can expect to experience than a performance rating from 7-8 years ago.
A couple of months ago I received an email saying that a positive feedback had been removed because a buyer had been NARU’d after a relatively short time on Ebay.
On the Australian site my feedback now reads 99.9% for the last 12 months in spite of the fact that I have not received a neutral or neg for about 8 years, and I have been on a full 100% for about 6 or 7 years. I have never entered into mutually withdrawn feedback.
Please ask Mr Burke whether feedback that has been completely removed by Ebay is being counted as “non positive” feedback. If not, can you please ask him to review my feedback and clarify why it is calculated at 99.9% for the last 12 months on the Australian site. I am not asking for any adjustment to my feedback, only a clarification (you know, accountability) - I can supply a friends user ID with no neutrals or neg’s in the last 12 months and 4.9 dsr’s that currently rates at 99.5% if he would like to review that as well.
This is likely a data anomaly - with over 7 billion Feedback we occasionally have these come up. But since the seller is in US, I would ask that they wait until we update the US site next week. If it is still inaccurate, I can have a database engineer look into it - but I bet it’s accurate next week.
EBay is accepting the unverified opinion of buyers a fact, seller’s loose status based on the unverified feedback and DSR”s that buyers leave. Will eBay accept the reports of extortion and buyer bad behavior from sellers as fact without verifying those reports? Or will they only count against the buyer after being reviewed? A public system of accountability for sellers with no review of the facts and private backdoor accountability systems for buyers with a review of facts is not an equal and just system. So ask Brian if seller reports about buyers will be reviewed. Will sellers need to provide proof of extortion?
Sellers reports of buyers will be reviewed thoroughly. Extortion is very difficult to prove so the more proof a seller can provide, the better off we’ll all be. It will be easier to take action against buyers that have a pattern of behavior rather than a single instance of reported extortion - again because it is very difficult to prove a single instance of extortion.
In order to cut down on potential extortion situations we’re reducing the number of days someone can leave feedback from 90 to 60 days.
*How* does this cut down on potential extortion situations?
The window of time in which a buyer could resort to extortion has been shortened. For example, in the past a buyer could wait until 85 days after a transaction to practice extortion. The longer the time period; the longer the opportunity. We’ve reduced that window of opportunity considerably.
If the buyer did not pay, shouldn’t the “burden of proof” be on the buyer to report the reason why he / she did not pay?
Better yet, why not allow “private” reporting by the buyer to let eBay know that there was a good reason that they didn’t pay the seller?
What percentage of buyers actually have a valid reason for nonpayment? How about some eBay “statistics” to give us a better understanding of eBay’s desire to protect this group of eBay buyers who NEED the ability to leave negative feedback for a seller that never received payment.
We need any information regarding potential fraud to be public, and to be public fast. With regard to statistical information, Brian indicated that he would get UPI stats for me to share on the blog.
Tagged: brian+burke, buyers, detailed+seller+rationgs, dsr, ebay, ebay.com, ecommerce, feedback, Marketplace, online+marketplace, sellers
SandiOn 05.19.2008 at 2:56 am Said:
Unforunately many ebay customer support employees do not know ebay’s own policies. It is a fine line for removal, but the one with the swear word does qualify for removal, keep asking until you get an employee who knows the policy.
Your remark: PayPal Fraud Case is also in violation, you are not allowed to mention Paypal, ebay or law enforcement investigations by name in feedback.
You are incorrect regarding the answer center. Pinks are not allowed to even post on those boards (discussion boards they can and do). None of the volunteers have access to edit/modify or delete posts. Posts can be reported, then an employee does that - whether it is Live World or ebay, I am not sure - but it is not the posters.
The answer center responders actually fill a void for ebay. Most of the regular responders know ebay’s policies better than the employees. Ebay actually refers users to the answer center when they encounter a problem.
I take exception with your comments regarding the ac, the regular responders are both buyers, sellers and buyer/sellers. They VOLUNTEER hundreds of hours to help users - as ebay has NO Customer Service. I have noticed the some of the best long time responders have stopped giving their time for many reasons, foremost is ebay’s policy changes. Unforunately that leaves many users without a valuable asset.
I don’t know how you select your sellers, but I know I personally have over 2000 feedback as a buyer, and to date only had one bad buying experience, which I simply filed a paypal dispute and was refunded. My experience has been sellers are good people.
Looking at the feedback of the sellers you had problems with, you seem to be the exception, maybe you just have bad luck. The sellers I looked at, you were the only buyer to leave a negative to date.
Given ebay does not collect the buyer’s money, there is little they can do because it becomes a he said, she said - but more importantly they can not “force anyone to refund you as they do not have access to the funds — but you always have recourse with the payment provider, e.g. paypal or your credit card company.
I do hope you realize ebay is an equal opportunity venue. It is a representation of the global population. The good and bad are equally divided on both sides. All the crooks did not wake up one morning and say “I think I will be a seller and rip people off”. 1/2 of them did, but the other 1/2 woke up and said, “I think I will buy stuff on ebay and then rip off the seller”.
Just as buyers may get ripped off, sellers do as well. Buyers do fradulent chargebacks or reversals after they get their item, buyers send forged money orders, buyers say the item arrived broken, then keep the new item and send the seller their broken old item.
sellers have control over everything
That was a joke right? Sellers have no control over anything on ebay.
MechelleOn 05.19.2008 at 3:00 am Said:
@urbankat
I understand what you speak of concerning those boards. The hostility is astounding and frightening, and yes there is a lot of stereotyping of members on the boards, forums, and yes this blog. The unfortunate aspect is, as you point out, this isn’t the buyers doing, it’s not the non-powersellers doing, and it’s not the powersellers doing yet we are all making sweeping generalized statements against each other blaming this “group” or that “group”. The sad part is we are all speaking emotionally and I think for the most part misunderstanding each other.
I think in our minds when we talk of the crappy seller, crappy buyer, crappy powerseller we know exactly who we are talking about - the character of those people- that we have all experienced. You know - the trouble child always gets all the attention and the good kid is just there, so it may appear that all powersellers are viewed as crappy or all buyers, but the truth is it is just the problem child getting all of the attention. I think - well at least for me- when I am referring to a crappy buyer I mean someone who has set out to steal from me by means of extortion. When I refer to a crappy seller I am referring to a seller that intentionally robs, cons, and/or deceives me.
So, I can hear that you are frustrated because you were wronged by a couple sellers, and your p***ed because eBay won’t fix it, consider it, or even acknowledge your existence. So, you are here and on the boards shouting for someone to hear you, and you believe you are not being heard because of sellers. Can I ask why you think we are here and on the boards shouting for someone to hear us? Does it appear to you that eBay has its ear available to us? I think it is clear that eBay is not interested in listening to anyone. eBay doesn’t acknowledge that any of us exist. We are all shouting at the wall banging our fists bloody, but eBay does not hear us- not you, or those on the boards, or any of us here.
Trust me eBay is not letting us whining sellers run the show in any capacity- this is all their ballgame so if you want to be mad at eBay be mad at them simply because this is their style, their rules, their gig. Don’t get mad at all of us whining B****ing sellers because eBay won’t take action for you. Really, would any of us be here shouting if eBay had been taking action all along?
SandiOn 05.19.2008 at 3:05 am Said:
they are not ebay employee’s because everytime they send me a message it only goes to my email address but NOT my Ebay messages Not one of their many have made it there, so I am being threatened
Responders to the AC do not have access to your email address unless you posted it.
Are you including your email on your posts on the AC? They could be why they are dissapearing. That would be for your safety.
Usually when someone posts their email address on the a/c, a regular responder will suggest the poster report their post and reports it as well as it is not safe to have your email on a public forum.
If it is not you posting it - ebay could be broken again and their email messaging system might be impacted - not be working - But, (again if it wasn’t you posting it) I would report the fact that your personal information is somehow being accessed. That should not be happening.
urbankatOn 05.19.2008 at 3:20 am Said:
Well since by your own words, you feel very upset about what si happening and I take exception to “all the hours they put in” No One is Forcing them to put those hours in right? So I am tired of how everyone thinks we all should be so grateful, people are trusting that when they ask they will get an honest un-biased opinion ‘facts” only not is rarley the case.
When sellers are angry they lash out at the buyers we are sick to death of it, if all that nasty behaviour walks I won’t cry and many will return to the boards who have been hatefully chased off.
Bad luck is not worthy of you, luck has nothing to do with an auction, if the seller is doing the right thing or not, I always email many times if I do not hear back I give them a time limit (24hrs after up to a week of no response) they are either being honest or hoping I will go away, in any event just like “you” said the sellers look good so it is seen that I pay attention to Feedback, there are some sellers who try to slide one by this last told me in no uncertain terms that it was too bad, go to the post office and file that is what insurance is for and you bought it” what a joke, I just can’t believe it!
And just like the other sellers when a buyer has a complaint you come back swinging about the bad buyers.
As for the board issue, I have complained about the prson who took my personal informaiton and emailed and threatened me, I have Never gotten a word back she is still postig and digging me as are several others, tonight part or all of my ID has been used to make new ID’s to post with that are all about killing kats and trolls and pond scum, all those countless un-thanked hours have really brought maturity to those people, the name calling and threats are to numerous to list, they have deleted my comments but leave theirs. so you can’t have it all ways eith it’s favortism or nepotism or they are not employees, whichever it is it is wrong and completely un-professional on every level.
urbankatOn 05.19.2008 at 3:33 am Said:
I have NEVER even in error posted my email address, call it what you will there is more to this than is yet discovered.
Funny how it’s always the system and the people, how do you think people steal private information from the internet it is not as hard as you might think and that answer does not address the issue of why my postings and threads have been deleted but they are allowed to do and say the ignorant things they say.
Mechelle, I did not come here to complain about poor me, I cam here to try and get some answers because things are so bad on the boards, yes the sellers do control the boards far more than anyone else oh ebay may keep alittle control but they usally only step in when it gets really ugly and I have seen the other boards you can see the pinks get involved not on the AC board its a buyer crap shoot over there.
I really do not care about how angry the sellers are taking it out on innocent by standers is just stupid and wrong, and if this were any place of business people would be being written up and or fired, I tell you I am going to probably leave but it’s more because of how the sellers have treated me and others than it is because of Ebay, we all know it is big business and if you want to swim with the sharks well ponu up or get out of the way or become a shark but when you start killing the customers….
urbankatOn 05.19.2008 at 3:35 am Said:
oh I didn’t mean to sound so angry I am just tired (sleepy and of this mess) it’s bad enough to deal with the fraud but to be attacked non stop.
Anyway I am sorry for being rude.
MechelleOn 05.19.2008 at 3:57 am Said:
You misunderstood what I was meaning- I am not saying you should care if sellers are angry, I am saying that we are all getting no where- what ever our story is that we want to tell. The sellers are not controlling the boards- they are frequenting the boards and apparently in greater number than are buyers. No one is forcing you to leave the boards if you do it is your choice. There are many people being abused on the boards some go and some stay. eBay controls the boards, and if these things are going on with you then it is eBay that you need to direct your frustrations to and at, and it is only eBay who can fix the situation. Hey, call them out on their new focus of giving you a better buying experience. Make them prove what they say they will do. They should be stopping these idiots on those boards (sellers and buyers) why aren’t their doing their job.
You stated above that
Well since by your own words, you feel very upset about what si happening and I take exception to “all the hours they put in” No One is Forcing them to put those hours in right? So I am tired of how everyone thinks we all should be so grateful, people are trusting that when they ask they will get an honest un-biased opinion ‘facts” only not is rarley the case.
Again, if eBay was doing their job by putting out the money for services to help members find answers to their questions than you wouldn’t have to be mad at the people who volunteer their time and do it freely. So, you’re a buyer tell them they are not giving you a better buying experience, because 1 the boards are out of control so they need to hire some people to monitor and police them, and 2 the answer center is ran by people who freely give their time and you expect a paid service provider to help you with your questions, because you don’t feel as though those volunteers are genuine in character and are out only to lash out at you.
Keep shouting at them - let me know when they hear you - and fix it. Don’t forget to keep reminding them that you are the buyer, and they promised to give you a better buying experience with all of these changes
CAMOn 05.19.2008 at 4:06 am Said:
@urbankat
I’m a buyer..I happen to be a seller too :). However, I typically buy more than I sell because I just can’t take the poor change management.
Let me give you an example.
I built an eBay store. My items were picked up in search. I did well, and added thousands of items. Suddenly, my sales totally tanked. Not in search anymore. Months of work just wasted.
Time to change my business strategy (sigh)
I sold in a category where sellers did not use gallery much. I paid for gallery and got extra sales. eBay now gives gallery away..My sales tanked.
Time to change my business strategy (sigh)
I offered low shipping, however, eBay is now giving a icon and increased exposure for free shipping.
Time to change my buiness strategy (sigh)
and I could go on and on and on. I wonder if they would slow or stop change for awhile if sellers couldn’t get better at what they do. No one has a chance to even get mildly proficient before the next change.
As a buyer, I’ve not had many bad experiences. First, maybe its the stuff I buy. You might be buying in a high risk category (liquidations). You might just have a run of bad luck. I don’t care about feedback as a buyer, its not relevant to buying. But as a seller, I always left positive fb when I was paid, and just filed a NPB to get my fees back when I wasn’t paid (and if they buyer contacted me at all, I just put mutual so they wouldn’t get dinged). I never negged a buyer for non-payment. It wasn’t that important to me. It isn’t going to get my paid, so why bother? :). I don’t have anyone on my blocked bidder list, and I don’t put conditions on who can bid. I also have 100% postive so I’m not sure why so many sellers waited to leave positive. And I can’t figure out why its important to buyers at all (feedback in general). You get nothing for having good buyer feedback, so I never could figure out why buyers cared at all :).
As for the boards, you are correct. They are pretty bad. Mini dictatorships :). You have to tow the particular board philosphy of you are run out of dodge. Heaven forbid you have a different opinion. I stay away from them as I had my fill years ago and frankly, I’d do away with them - but that won’t happen. I hope you are able to rectify you seller troubles. I know there are terrible sellers out there. I’ve been buying for years and only a few minor problems (knock on wood).
Good Luck !!
CAM
Doctor-DealsOn 05.19.2008 at 4:38 am Said:
There are plenty of both “rip-off crud buyers & sellers” to go around and accountability needs to apply to both.
Unfortunately, the recent feedback changes actually make both harder to identify and hold those truly bad members accountable.
Pre May 19th, it was easy to look at a buyer’s or seller’s FB and see exactly what FB tactics they may have used in the past to manipulate or abuse the system. Making buyers or sellers you did not want to deal with easy to identify.
There are both buyers and sellers out there with large relative percentages of both retaliatory and subsequent MFW. If I saw a seller with a big percentage of Retaliatory FB and MFW’s I would avoid them. Some sellers have literally thousands. Just like buyers with 20%, 30% or even more of bad feedback left for other are to be avoided like the plague.
There was a simple fix for Retaliatory FB and MFW as well that eBay ignored when originally implementing MFW. Simply block MFW if BOTH parties had left Neg FB, putting a quick and simple end to any possibility of Retaliatory FB for the purpose of MFW. The whole reason it has gone up so much the past few years.
The new system simply removes any accountability for bad buyers and lets all buyers feel warm and comfy with the fact that within 12 months all buyer accounts will have 100% feedback.
What is the point of buyer feedback if it can only be 100% positive? It is just there to make buyers “Feel Good”, it has absolutely no other value any longer.
EBay Trust and Safety management has repeatedly stated their goal with Feedback 2.0 is to have “More Negative Feedback” on the marketplace.
Unfortunately, they missed the target here and failed to add one important aspect to that goal. Instead of just “More Negative Feedback” for the ENTIRE MARKETPLACE, what was needed was “More Negative Feedback WHERE DESERVED”.
One simple enhancement to the current FB changes COULD have made them far more effective at actually archiving the goal the marketplace needs, better identification of the bad guys.
All eBay had to do is add a required on the record communication process, like the UPI system, before a buyer could post bad FB. The vast majority of issues can be resolved through communication and that is all it would have taken.
Good sellers that want to create “Great Buying Experiences” would have worked with their customers and resolved issues to both avoid bad FB and keep buyers happy and returning to the marketplace. These sellers would have had the opportunity to keep their reputations intact in every instance.
Bad sellers would refuse to work with their buyers and still get the bad FB they deserve.
In addition bad buyers would have a much harder time manipulating and extorting sellers if all the communications had to be on the record where eBay could see it if the seller felt they were being taken advantage of and reported it. Brian Burke has said individual cases of FB extortion are hard to prove, this addition would have changed that as well as made patterns far more evident.
However, eBay chose to only do half the job and simply subjected all sellers, good or bad to far “More Negative Feedback” because somehow eBay trust and safety thinks “More Negative Feedback” makes “Great Buying Experiences” and buyer-seller “Communication” can produce “Bad Buying Experiences”. Yes, that is right, Brian Burke and Matt Halprin, the kingpins of eBay Feedback and Trust and Safety FEAR requiring buyers to “Communicate” with sellers when they have an is because it MIGHT produce an “Bad Buying Experience.
Guess what, they are wrong, COMMUNICATION, in the rare instance there is a problem with a transaction, creates at the very least an opportunity for “Great Buying Experiences”. “More Negative Feedback” just gives the buyer one more thing to do on their way out the door.
That’s it for now….
Thanks,
Doctor-Deals
BrendaOn 05.19.2008 at 6:58 am Said:
@CAM,
I have found that each of the myriad discussion areas is as you say.
For the life of me, I can find no rational reasoning for a huge corporate structure to encourage their existance. How is all of the bickering perceived by the public? It can’t possibly be good.
Because of the cliqueish nature I will not attempt to sell here, especially when this is blended into a complete lack of viable customer service.
I have no choice but to question the capabilities of management who, bottom line encoourage the infighting, through a complete lack of being willing to say the words “NO, this is pig behavior and is not what Ebay is all about!”
When Griff is referring listeners to particular auctions for the amusement of his audiance, I see adolescent behavior and judge this person as unfit to advise me in anything.
When the phone calls are mysteriously disconnected 100% of the time to the call in shows I perceive nervousness onthe part of the experts. If Policy is good there should be no hesitation shown in explaining. If the policy developers had true convictions of the validity of their actions they would welcome questions and be MORE available to answer inquiries. They would be proud and want to show off a bit in the hopes of getting praise for their good deeds. This has not happened.
If policy is good you wouldn’t need the spin.
No one can run me out of anything. I visit the various discussion ares occasinally to see if any progress has been made. Sadly I see none. What I do see is a very unhealthy interpersonal dynamic. Everybody seems to have their story, and by God, they’re sticking to it!
I have been insulted repeatedly in the Feedback AC. That’s OK. If the responders choose to do this it allows me to uncover the weaknesses of a given poster.
I believe that there is some sort of ulterior motive and manipulation going on. I believe that the continual angst is serving some sort of purpose, illogical as it may be.
I don’t believe I have ever seen anybody apologise to anyone within the varius arenas. I fail to see why everybody is always on the defensive.
I don’t put in much time anymore within Ebay. the time wasted here could be put to more productive pursuits elsewhere.
Cam, I feel that there are inflated ego’s at work within the feedback arena. Secure people don’t feel a need to try to exert power; they know that it’s there if needed.
I would still like to sell on Ebay one day. Unfortunately there is too much dischord and a skewed set of policies that just do not make it a sound idea for a new seller. I will continue to study the antics of Ebay. They will either get their act together or they will not. That decision is not mine to make.
In the meantime I will continue to explore any and all options for opportunites to help me build an online presense for what I plan to sell. And oddly enough I’m not worried. When looking back over the entire course of my life, I have always targeted a
” this is what I am going to do”. I then went about doing just that.
I just read back a ways. I need to correct an earlier statement. I noticed that Urbankat apologised.
My best wishes to the posters here! I hope that you find success and fulfillment in whichever direction you choose to travel.
TWOn 05.19.2008 at 8:28 am Said:
Well the new feedback is here. Try leaving feedback and a pop up appears reading …
“Buyers, you can no longer receive negative or neutral Feedback from sellers.
*
You should leave honest and accurate Feedback without the fear of receiving negative or neutral ratings.”
You close that window and at the top of the page is …
Sellers can no longer leave negative or neutral Feedback for buyers.
*
Buyers should leave honest Feedback without the fear of receiving negative or neutral ratings.
TWOn 05.19.2008 at 8:34 am Said:
Geez even this blog is suffering from eBayisms.
It appears eBay is prompting the buyer to leave a negative. Thusly they don’t have to pay out those nasty discounts.
Oh and my feedback percentage? Just went from 99.8% to 99.4% and I have NO NEGATIVES in the past year. And one neutral was unintentional. So fair!
The eBay execs are so unbelievably out of touch with reality it simply boggles the mind.
For many this will be the last straw. Thanks eBay, you took what was a wonderful site that I could sell on and ruined it in the matter of months. Hope your proud.
kimbersOn 05.19.2008 at 9:17 am Said:
After proudly maintaining 100% since 1999, seeing my feedback go down as a result of my one and only neutral from my buyer who didn’t read the item description, and even though I knew this was going to happen today, I still feel as though I have been punched in the gut. Hard.
At the time I received my neutral, I did the adult thing, gave him positive feedback for his part, responded on my own feedback with the facts and moved on. It never occured to me last August, that a neutral would bite me at the end of May.
I have used one ID all these years for both buying and selling (More selling than buying).
Is it reasonable to assume that for some sellers, as the rolling feedback changes with each month and my number goes lower, that at some point it will get low enough that I will not be welcome to buy from them either and they will cancel my bids? I should not have to have separate ID’s.
As an aside, as a buyer I resent that my feedback has become absolutely meaningless now. I worked hard to be the buyer people would want to buy from them over and over again.
Richard, I wish that you could get someone from eBay to come clean about what exactly the end result is that they are hoping to create with all this negativity based change and the atmosphere that is being born of it. I know it’s more than creating the best buyer experience. It has to be. Driving off the sellers of unique goods doesn’t help. Making all buyer equal doesn’t help either.
Oh well, I’m done rambling.
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