Knowing Where You Stand

DawnOn May 19, 2008 at 3:45 pm Said:

I’m really looking forward to seeing the expanded dashboard. I hope it gives enough detailed information so I’ll be able to use it to improve my performance. My main area of interest is regarding our S&H charge star. I add a small handing charge to small packages that are relatively inexpensive to ship. I also sell very large products that cost a lot to ship, and I add no handling charge to the shipping for these things. I’d love to be able to see what’s causing a less-than-five rating – the handling fee or the expensive shipping on the oversize stuff.

I’ve been encouraged, since joining the company in January, that the concept of transparency is being so widely embraced. It’s definitely something everyone is trying to get better at doing

As long as there is no buyer transparency (because buyers can only receive positive feedback), it’s going to be hard for most people to swallow statements like this.

DawnOn May 19, 2008 at 3:50 pm Said:

By the way, some non-Power Sellers are reporting on Seller Central that they’re able to access the Dashboard now.

Chris @ TameBayOn May 19, 2008 at 3:59 pm Said:

Hey Richard – any news from the US on when these changes will go International?

With the new Site Visibility about to kick in tomorrow, sellers listing on the US could violate UK policy and vice versa, until the changes are worldwide.

Patricia1On May 19, 2008 at 4:01 pm Said:

Frankly, I’m not worried about my performance. I’ve always stood ready to rectify anything wrong with a transaction including full refunds…its the one weird buyer with an axe to grind who may take it out on me without even notifying me – that’s my BIG worry. Being an “untrustworthy small seller” I’d be dead in the water – with my record that should be illegal! This is insane!!! Why can’t ebay SEE what they’re doing? Is it any wonder we feel they don’t want us – I’m still firmly convinced I’m going to be weeded out at their leisure! I wish I could get a direct answer to my fears from Ebay – that’s the least they could do for my 10 years of fees and my loyalty to my customers!

implogOn May 19, 2008 at 4:09 pm Said:

I would have appreciated a link to the legendary “Sellers Hub”.

LurchOn May 19, 2008 at 4:39 pm Said:

Search & Browse Manipulation Policy: “This includes using terms, pictures, or links in a listing title, subtitle, item specifics, description, picture, or seller tags that don’t pertain to the item being sold.”

Clarification on this is needed asap: 1) when does this go into effect; 2) does this mean we can no longer cross-promote (ie, reference) other listings we have currently listed? And if so, what about Auctiva?

You skipped this tidbit: “Removal of the Multiple Listings Limit Policy: Starting early June, the Multiple Listings Limit Policy, which limits sellers to 15 identical listings at any one time, will be removed. Soon sellers will be allowed an unlimited number of identical listings.” – would that have anything to do with the new eBay partner buy?

And speaking of buy — has anyone had a chat with buy about the looming links policy yet, or will they be exempt? I have brought up issues with their TOS here before, which have not been addressed in any way (eg, their reservation to be a NPS), but am curious if this policy will also apply to them. They’re probably one of the grossest violators of this with 3 different links, each to a different policy – all of them mammoth, and I believe, counter to what eBay would want a seller to be saying to enhance the buyer experience.

LurchOn May 19, 2008 at 4:40 pm Said:

implog – yeah, I just mentioned the sellers hub under the feedback on feedback entry.

LurchOn May 19, 2008 at 4:49 pm Said:

Oh – and on the links policy. Another thing I need clarified asap now that I thought about it – what about links inserted by allowed, third-party listing tools (specifically, Auctiva Mr. Poster)? I assume these, which the user has no control over, will be banned as well. Is anyone working with the third-party listing providers on these issues? And just how long until this one starts being enforced (I assume listings will be removed which violate this)?

JJHOn May 19, 2008 at 4:59 pm Said:

This entry floats around form topic to topic. Sorry. Deal with it. :)

So where is the “Seller Dashboard anyway?

The good? Sellers with 4.7 and above (on all DSRs) should start to see an additional boost in their search standing in Best Match

As in ALL SELLERS? Even the lowly non-Powersellers like myself? Yes, my performance is way above 4.7, I’d like some benefits please ["Sir, can I have some more?"], and to stop being made to feel like a 2nd class citizen. But then, since I don’t sell items where there would more than 1 page worth of “them” anyway it makes “ranking” on that page kind of a moot point. Now if I were selling socks, this would be a big deal.

Just one other point. I’m starting to dislike the use of, and throwing around of the word “Transparency”. Can’t really explain why, just don’t think it means what it’s supposed to mean.

When is the Dashboard supposed to make it’s appearance?

@Pat:

“its the one weird buyer with an axe to grind who may take it out on me without even notifying me – that’s my BIG worry. Being an “untrustworthy small seller” I’d be dead in the water – with my record that should be illegal! This is insane!!! Why can’t ebay SEE what they’re doing?”

Pat has a point, and as of today I see CLEARLY why. Take my feedback. It “was” 3020 100% positive. That could absorb a few negative feedbacks with no trouble, assuming I was stupid enough to give a buyer reason to give any.

But as of today, my feedback is 92 100% positive. One negative OR neutral, and I’m at 99%, two and I’m 98%, and so on. With the “NO FEAR” policy [You gotta love that pop-up window - Buyers, NEG YOUR SELLER WITH IMPLUNITY!] any of us SMALL SELLERS could get knocked out FAST – REAL FAST.

I have to agree. It is insane. I didn’t see the ramifications before. Now I do.

Patricia1On May 19, 2008 at 5:11 pm Said:

JJH – its what I feared from the beginning…then when I saw the safety measures for powersellers but not small seller…sorry, but I’m still convinced we’re expendable and will be cut loose as ebay ushers in major players. I can’t help feel any other way given the situation they have put us in. When they say they care about small sellers…I don’t buy it! Most others who see the problem don’t buy it either!

As for boost in best match LOL – I have 4 listings that have gathered only 2 hits between them in the last 24 hours. Now…what’s keeping me on ebay? NOT MUCH…like I said, I’m using it to drive traffic to my website because it sure hasn’t been a great big moneymaker for me anymore :-(

JJHOn May 19, 2008 at 5:20 pm Said:

Pat, and soon you won’t be able to drive that traffic to your web site because of the links policy. eBay is really becoming a closed society. Like a scared rabbit. It’s like watching the Berlin Wall go up again.

Me, I’ll keep selling as long as I get sales. I have no other choice at the moment. Believe me, I don’t. There are no other viable sites for what I offer for sale. There really are no other places for “uniques” and “oddities”. Yet…

Patricia1On May 19, 2008 at 5:28 pm Said:

JJH – I don’t use links – I just put a nice note into every single item I send out ;-) My website traffic and larger commissions have gone up since I started doing that. I think a lot of sellers have started doing that. I’m working on three large commissioned paintings right now from a an old customer :-) If your work ethics and end product are good then you will keep your old customers no matter where you go. Mine come back again and again. I even get christmas gifts and birthday cards from them. I wonder what they would say if they knew I was considered “untrustworthy”? LOL

LurchOn May 19, 2008 at 5:33 pm Said:

But what about the Sellers Reporting Hub? Where is this? Since the feedback changes went into effect today, it should be available – but I don’t know where it is? I mean, if it is available to us unsafe types…

Also, *if* those “search manipulation” and links policies are coming soon, I really, really need the answers to the questions posted above.

Patricia1On May 19, 2008 at 5:45 pm Said:

Richard – I hope you’re still around. I would like to know what ebay intends to do with things like this:

http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=2000570470&tstart=0&mod=1211243244960

We are besieged by overseas sellers stealing the work of our artists and reprinting it on canvas – tossing a little oil on them and calling them “originals”. What is being done with this type of fraud? I would like a hard black and white answer because so far these sellers are robbing the artists blind and defrauding buyers right and left and for the most part they continue untouched! Whatever happened to Arts Community Watch? Can you get answers for those questions please?

SandiOn May 19, 2008 at 5:49 pm Said:

Ok, one shining moment of today:

the buyer who tried to rip me off with the fradulent reversal (and I had to get police involved) ugly negative feedback is gone finally! She ripped off several of us but did not get booted until she had been registered 104 days so all of us she negged had to live with those negs for 14 months – until today!

For that small favor, thank you ebay – although she should have been booted week 3 if you had really been following your own policies given she was nothing but a thief. That neg should have been removed a long time ago.

My feedback went up quite a bit, as I had about a 50% return rate. My dsrs are 4.9, 4.9, 4.9, 5.0.

That was a little weird to see, I did lose a couple since I know I had a few no longer members ones, but repeats made up for them.

JJHOn May 19, 2008 at 5:58 pm Said:

@Pat:

“If your work ethics and end product are good then you will keep your old customers no matter where you go”

Pat, 99% of my customers are new. They will buy from me once, and I’ll never see them again. So there is nobody to “take anywhere” in my case.

My lifetime went from 3020 to 3224 today, but my 100% summary is only based on 92. So you can basically see how many ‘repeats’ I’ve had over ten years. About 200 in 3000 counts.

SandiOn May 19, 2008 at 5:59 pm Said:

Mine come back again and again. I even get christmas gifts and birthday cards from them. I wonder what they would say if they knew I was considered “untrustworthy”?

Ditto, art buyers are some of the nicest people. Mine followed me as well. I recently remarried my ex-husband and got a few wedding gifts from some of buyers (I moved to a new state so some asked why, I explained is how they knew), When my mom passed away, one of my buyers sent flowers, which is really nice and unexpected.

But you know, I was just a small seller, with no track record.

Patricia1On May 19, 2008 at 6:07 pm Said:

JJH – unfortunately, it has to do with what you sell. Some of the people I’ve met have become friends – not just customers. I had a lady buy a small 10.00 miniature from me a couple years ago – since then her and her husband have commissioned thousands of dollars worth of artwork from me. Their home is full of it. I regularly get picture of them and their children and last Christmas they sent a box of small gifts including a stocking full of toys for my cat :-) The one great thing about selling online is some of the wonderful people you meet…with me, its not just the money. I used to have get togethers here with ebay people and for years they would meet here from different states. Age is against me and it began to be too much for me but I still hear from these people and they will drop in and take me to dinner when they’re in the area or give me a call and spend some time chatting.

implogOn May 19, 2008 at 6:30 pm Said:

Richard

Please explain to us eBay’s definition of “transparency”.

Thanks!

JJHOn May 19, 2008 at 7:04 pm Said:

Pat, I too have met thousands of great people over the years. I’ve exchanged great emails, traded with wonderful buyers, and have only had a few unreasonable people – less than you can count on one hand – out of probably 6000 lifetime transactions, and even worked those problems out to positive outcome. I have NO complaints about the people I’ve dealt with. None. I hope this trend continues. I’m hopeful it will, even with eBay’s NASTY “Don’t be afraid now” pop-up message today. I mean if that isn’t sticking a knife in sellers backs, I don’t know what is. I understand the reason they did it, to inform, but it punishes EVERYONE for the sake of the few bad ones. Not nice.

Patricia1On May 19, 2008 at 8:16 pm Said:

” I mean if that isn’t sticking a knife in sellers backs, I don’t know what is. ”

I have to believe its all out of desperation. They need traffic and they feel this is the problem. A lot of sellers think ebay is dead wrong but they’ll have to force us thru all the misery before ebay realizes that.

I did have one maniacal buyer years ago. She was so bad and so threatening that I finally had to turn her in to her own ISP and they blocked her or took away her account or whatever due to harrassment. It was all over feedback – she wanted it the instant she paid – not even waiting to see if she got her package and liked it. I remember coming home from work and finding a dozen emails from her -one after another! Normally, if a buyer asks, I give the feedback immediately but this woman was so over the top that she frightened me. I think that one horrible experience burned me badly and left me in fear of what a really mentally unbalanced person can do. The scaryest part was this buyer only lived 20 minutes from me. Ebay has left us wide open to this kind of abuse in their desperation to get their business back to where it once was. They don’t even realize the extent of what they’re doing. :-(

Patricia1On May 19, 2008 at 8:18 pm Said:

Well, I would like to see the ones who determined this new feedback policy to face that one crazy buyer that I had LOL It might have opened their eyes!

DaveyOn May 19, 2008 at 9:19 pm Said:

Richard, I’ll have to add my voice to those who are asking for a clarification of, or disagree with the common English usage of the term “transparency” here.

I’m seeing a one-way mirror. I get to watch managements’ lips move, but they only see their own reflection. They don’t see me or those like me at all.

I don’t fault your work. You’ve actually gotten more followup than I’ve seen elsewhere in the organization.

The concept of “transparency” is voided by pieces like Ms. Norrington harping about how small sellers are eBay’s “Competitive Advantage”, while other things her organization is doing either display gross mistrust of small sellers, or outright stab us in the back. Or, am I confusing “transparency” with “authenticity” and “truthfulness?”

CrunchyPostingGoodnessOn May 19, 2008 at 9:56 pm Said:

Richard, do you plan on posting a new topic with regards to the recent eBay Town Hall?

I think it would prove very enlightening to see how posters here feel they stand in the marketplace, in light of the question asked and responses received.

DonOn May 19, 2008 at 10:32 pm Said:

Hi Richard,

I can’t say that I’m overly enthusiastic about the new and unimproved Feedback / DSR system. My feedback dropped from 99.7 to 98.3 overnight due to the new method of calculating feedback. I received one neg back in September, 5 neutrals and 387 positive over the last 12 months and somehow that works out to
98.3% ?

The DSR’s could be a very valuable tool for improving the quality of my service. Unfortunately they do not provide enough information for me to base decisions on. A detailed breakdown within each category would be helpful.

The drop-down explaining that buyers can leave negative feedback without any concerns is a little over the top. It seems that eBay is encouraging them to leave negative feedback.

Incidentally I appreciate your efforts to keep us up to speed on the various changes. Hiring you was one of eBay’s wiser moves.

Best Regards,

Don

TonyOn May 19, 2008 at 11:21 pm Said:

A 5 star DSR system where any mark below 5 is damaging is not a healthy or transparent sytem. I don’t, and never will, see it as ebay’s place to lessen visibility for sellers, you either remove them or you give them the same chance of visibility as everyone else, they’re paying fees.

If a seller on ebay decided to ship items out more slowly to buyers with a lower feedback score, they’d rightly be criticised. Selling someone a service and then deliberately giving them an inferior service, is not a good example of how to do business.

HenriettaOn May 19, 2008 at 11:23 pm Said:

On the subject of Town Hall & eBay radio.

It would be wonderful if there were some kind of transcripts for the hearing impaired.

ChrisOn May 20, 2008 at 2:48 am Said:

The announcement reads as if all sellers have a dashboard. Or is it only in the UK that the dashboard is restricted to powersellers? When these measures come in will all sellers get a dashboard? Or will it be another last minute announcement that it is for powersellers only?

TheBrewsNewsOn May 20, 2008 at 5:23 am Said:

@Chris

I think a “Lite” version of the dashboard was rolled to Powersellers so that the Powerseller discounts could be calculated. My understanding is that a complete Dashboard will roll out to everyone, both Powersellers and non-Powersellers, very soon.

MechelleOn May 20, 2008 at 9:21 am Said:

@Richard

“is a prime example of the company’s willingness to be more open, honest and available to all of its constituencies.”

examples please

TheBrewsNewsOn May 20, 2008 at 9:42 am Said:

QUOTE: “And there is some great news here. For instance, the Choice Policy (good name for a policy that actually limited choice), is being eliminated so that sellers can now list items in different sizes, color, etc. in a single listing. This helps buyers with a more convenient shopping experience and provides sellers with relief on insertion fees.”
**************

First, sellers have ALWAYS been able to offer a choice if they simply understood the policy. For example:

(Previously) Choice Policy violation: List one shirt in 3 colors – red, blue, or green

(Previously) Acceptable Choice Policy Listing: Two shirts in 3 colors – red, blue, or green

(Currently) Acceptable Choice Policy Listing – any number (including one) shirt in 3 colors

So, the change in Choice listing policy is not really much of a change at all. The only difference is that you can now list a quantity of 1 and not be in violation of the Choice Listing Policy.

How wonderful for us! Oh wait a minute…. not so wonderful because…..

how does the buyer communicate their “choice” to you?

We have always asked the buyer to let us know in the Paypal notes section of their payment which particular choice they want.

How wonderful! Oh wait a minute… not so wonderful because….

the Paypal “notes” section has been broken for months. Buyers include a note specifying their choice but the note does not appear in the paypal payment notification or the paypal details page. Instead, that note (sometimes) appears on the ORDER DETAILS page.

Despite repeated reports for MONTHS, the paypal notes problem is broken. We have been told that there are other higher priorities. Okay, got it.

So, for me, the good news about the Choice Policy would not be that I can now use the Choice Listings with a quantity of 1 but rather that eBay would provide a working system whereby the buyer can communicate their choice to me.

One of the biggest problems I have always had with eBay is that those folks making the decisions and the folks implementing the changes have no true understanding of the system.

LurchOn May 20, 2008 at 10:21 am Said:

Oh – won’t choice on sizes really mess with the purpose of item specifics? Item specifics really only seem to be of benefit to clothing/shoes, and wouldn’t that eliminate a chunk of their usefulness?

My prior questions – ok, I re-read it again, and I assume this “Third-party solutions and services directly related to the particular listing.” will cover Auctiva, correct?

But what about their gallery? The Search/Browse policy does read as through their gallery will be in violation. I also just re-read the links policy, and their gallery also might be in violation of this: “Links to any eBay property page including eBay, PayPal, Half.com, and StubHub, as long as no more than five links are included in any single listing or community post.”

The gallery piece, which links to specific other auction items that you have listed, shows more than 5 (assuming you have more than 5 items listed).

MechelleOn May 20, 2008 at 10:25 am Said:

@Richard

I understand that the blog does provide the opportunity for eBay to more “open, honest, and available”, but I have yet to read anything from them demonstrating they are using what could be a very effective tool to have dialogue with its “constituencies”. Their comments and “answers” are clearly disingenuous and superficial. My perception is they have evaded the topics that concern those posting on this blog the most.

Also, their lack of communication both yesterday and today are very demonstrative of the weak leadership skills within eBay. A leader would take the storm head on and not hide behind the corporate door. A leader would refrain from superficial consolations that only results in more malcontent among its “constituencies”. A leader would sympathize and demonstrate compassion to those of us who have or will be unjustly damaged by these thoughtless policy changes. A leader of a company would understand what customer service is and recognize that alienating your customer base is the quickest way to the employment office.

So, I don’t see any evidence of their being “open, honest, and available.

Patricia1On May 20, 2008 at 10:40 am Said:

Richard – reluctantly, I have to agree with Mechelle – they may be listening but its like me listening to the radio – its amusing but nothing happens because of it. :-(

AmberOn May 20, 2008 at 10:48 am Said:

@ Brews and Richard,

The changes in the choice listing policy were clearly designed to pump up stagnating listing numbers and cater to eBay’s recent partner, Buy. As pointed out when they first dumped those 400,000+ listings into core, many of their listings were in direct violation of that particular policy. Rather than force them to revise their flagrantly violating listings, eBay decided to dump the policy.

The average seller WILL NOT BENEFIT from these changes. This is (again) aimed at letting those mega-sellers flood the site in their effort to go retail.
The average seller will be buried under the flood of duplicate listings. I have no faith that search will in any way limit the exposure those multiple listings get, just as I have no faith that buy will be held accountable in DSRs or the seller non-performance policy.

I have no faith that ebay will tell me the truth. No faith that they even understand what they’re doing to smaller sellers on the site, let alone care. The Town Hall made that perfectly clear. “Don’t focus just on what these changes mean for you…Look at the bigger picture.” Well, pardon me, but most sellers can’t look at the bigger picture if their business has been ruined by demoted search, NPS restrictions, Paypal holds, loss of Powerseller status and discounts etc…many sellers won’t be able to “wait it out” while the “spread widens.” It’s extremely self-righteous of those people to even suggest such a thing.

And some of their comments made it quite clear that they don’t understand how Paypal has become an unsafe payment method for million of sellers. More and more buyers are using it to make fraudulent claims. It is much more easy to scam a seller through Paypal than directly through a credit card company. The protections for sellers are insufficient– online tracking/proof of delivery is unavailable for most international shipments, so even the Powersellers with their expanded protection are not really protected.

It is extremely unsafe, and as this last week or so has proved, extremely unreliable. Having sellers and websites across the country lose business due to technical difficulties on Paypal’s side proved that as nothing else could.

AmberOn May 20, 2008 at 11:01 am Said:

“a prime example of the company’s willingness to be more open, honest and available to all of its constituencies”

Richard, we all agree that we’re seeing more of the rationale behind these decisions. Most of us agree that they are explaining more. Where we disagree is in their level of honesty. Their constant need to “spin” what should be straight-forward answers just raises the ire of most informed sellers.

An example: Removing Mutual Feedback Withdrawal.
Brian Burke claims this is to protect sellers from extortion. I question the veracity and sincerity of that. 99% of sellers would also question that, as the extortion nearly always comes BEFORE feedback is left, not after. What the removal of this policy does, if one were completely honest, is further eBay’s agenda to “widen the spread” between good sellers and mediocre sellers. It also results in the collateral benefit to ebay of a greater % of Powersellers losing their discounts. Loss of discounts = more $ in eBay’s pocket.

If they were sincere in protecting sellers from extortion, they could do so by allowing ALL communication to be submitted as evidence and take action on the first instance of such behavior rather than waiting for a pattern to develop.

They could also substitute a buyer-initiated feedback removal request in place of MFW, so that buyers who make a mistake have the ability to remove/edit feedback that was left in error. They did not.

Quite frankly, the rationale doesn’t hold up to even the slightest challenge. Seeing the multitude of assumptions that these people are basing policy on is further eroding whatever slim amount of confidence many of us had with ebay’s leadership team.

TheBrewsNewsOn May 20, 2008 at 12:00 pm Said:

Regarding Mutual Feedback Withdrawal:

*********************
Information that was unveiled yesterday (May 19)

Full details located at: pages.ebay.com/services/forum/new.html

Elimination of Mutual Feedback Withdrawal
There are a number of reasons for removing Mutual Feedback Withdrawal, including:

1. Leaving the possibility of Feedback withdrawal leaves buyers open to possible harassment and/or unwanted contacts by sellers attempting to have the buyer change the Feedback.

2. Since only buyers can leave negative Feedback, the Mutual Feedback Withdrawal process could be used as a tool for Extortion – buyer leaves negative first, then removes once satisfied.

**********************

Comment on reason #2 — So, now what will happen is that the buyer will leave a negative feedback and REMAIN unsatisfied. Hmmmm….. Isn’t the point to have a satisfied buyer? Sellers have absolutely no incentive to make a buyer happy once the buyer leaves a negative feedback and buyers will soon learn that. So, buyers learn that they must extort concessions BEFORE leaving feedback… just like they do now. Doesn’t seem like any improvement in fighting feedback extortion.

Now, while eBay would like to make us believe they care enough to protect us from feedback extortion by removing the Mutual Feedback Withdrawal process, the REAL reason is the #1 reason given yesterday:

“Leaving the possibility of Feedback withdrawal leaves buyers open to possible harassment and/or unwanted contacts by sellers attempting to have the buyer change the Feedback. ”

Here is a simple solution: Why not allow MFW and ask buyers to report sellers who are harrassing them about feedback?

The truth is that MFW was discontinued for the benefit of the buyer. It is insulting to try and “convince” us otherwise. I would much rather know “the truth” behind your actions (even though I may disagree) than to be told that changes are made because someone cares about me and wants to protect me when that clearly is untrue.

NOTE: It’s kinda hard to know where one stands… after being cut off at the knees.

CrunchyPostingGoodnessOn May 20, 2008 at 12:52 pm Said:

One remark about the removal of the mutual feedback withdrawal….

I’m glad that Amazon still sees the importance of this feature!

I had one buyer there that left me a neutral (3) because she only wanted to ask me a question, so she didn’t believe a rating was applicable, hence she picked neutral. Luckily I was able to address her request, inform her that she actually left feedback, instead of the using the Contact Seller feature, and requested that she remove her feedback, since the 3 rating dropped my feedback percentage.

She was very happy that I informed her about the error and promptly removed the feedback.

Another buyer used the feedback to request I send her item to an alternate address – she even put all of her personal information in the feedback. Worse yet, it was to a military location in Iraq! My poor buyer didn’t realize she was leaving public feedback. She thought that she was just contacting me about a change in the transaction.

Now Amazon has a strict policy of not removing feedback unless specifically requested by the buyer, however they realized the sensitive nature of this information, and promptly removed the feedback.

At least there, Amazon understands that mistakes can happen, and they want to allow for buyers to be able to fix them. eBay should take a lesson from their play book on that, since eBay seems to be cherry-picking every other Amazon-like policy and layout.

AmberOn May 20, 2008 at 1:03 pm Said:

@ Brews

“The truth is that MFW was discontinued for the benefit of the buyer. It is insulting to try and “convince” us otherwise. I would much rather know “the truth” behind your actions (even though I may disagree) than to be told that changes are made because someone cares about me and wants to protect me when that clearly is untrue. ”

Exactly! If you want to promote this blog as open, HONEST, and available–you NEED to be honest. So far, we haven’t seen much of that from certain execs. We can disagree on the rationale for decisions, but please don’t pretend something is for my benefit when it quite obviously isn’t.

MechelleOn May 20, 2008 at 1:08 pm Said:

Not only does eBay not allow for the correction of user error they count on it. Leaving the neutral without disclosing its significance to the buyer is out right deception and abuse of both the buyer and the seller, and they know it.

Getting rid of the MFW has nothing to do with protecting us or the buyer it is to eliminate the possibility of the seller to communicate with their customer to resolve the issue and have their reputation restored, and to let those user errors stand. This should be clear from their out right encouragement and explicit suggestion to leave us a negative or neutral.

eBay doesn’t give a damn about the buyers or the sellers

Patricia1On May 20, 2008 at 1:15 pm Said:

I see no reason for not allowing buyer/seller to have total control over the feedback they leave. Each should have the option to remove or change their feedback within a set amount of days. Why ebay insists on getting into feedback and controlling it the way they do causes nothing but more disruption between sellers and THIER customers. One wonders how much better things might be right now if buyer/seller were allowed and encouraged to interface and straighten out problems among themselves! Ebay should only be stepping in in extreme cases!

TonyOn May 20, 2008 at 1:29 pm Said:

Richard, there’s a real issue with the seller non performance policy, in the UK anyway. It has changed to 30 days, sellers are complaining of being suspended and you look at their feedback, and it’s for 1 or 2 negs and neutrals in the last 30 days.

Their feedback is good, most ebayers wouldn’t bat an eyelid over buying from them and yet, they’re suspended and nobody can fathom out why and then people pull up figures of sellers with much worse overall ratings.

Some of these sellers will never come back, this isn’t good for buyers or sellers. This really needs to be addressed and it needs to be addressed quickly.

SandiOn May 20, 2008 at 2:34 pm Said:

Slightly off-topic – but not. Has anyone seen the DirectTV commercials with the cable executives sitting around the table trying to come up with ideas to “fix” their business?

One has them talking about how the customers do nothing but complain, one exe comes up with the plan “I know, let’s get rid of them and get new ones”

The one I saw today they came up with the plan “I know, we will raise their rates & tell them its for better service (or something). They won’t even notice we didn’t give them anything” Or something along those lines.

I stopped in my tracks and thought, wait, I know a company who does that!

MistyOn May 20, 2008 at 3:49 pm Said:

Quote “Richard, there’s a real issue with the seller non performance policy, in the UK anyway. It has changed to 30 days, sellers are complaining of being suspended and you look at their feedback, and it’s for 1 or 2 negs and neutrals in the last 30 days.

Their feedback is good, most ebayers wouldn’t bat an eyelid over buying from them and yet, they’re suspended and nobody can fathom out why and then people pull up figures of sellers with much worse overall ratings.

Some of these sellers will never come back, this isn’t good for buyers or sellers. This really needs to be addressed and it needs to be addressed quickly.”

This is exactly what small volume sellers here in the US are expressing concern about as well.

JJHOn May 20, 2008 at 4:08 pm Said:

“Slightly off-topic – but not. Has anyone seen the DirectTV commercials with the cable executives sitting around the table trying to come up with ideas to “fix” their business?”

Yes, I think of eBay when I see this commercial.

CAMOn May 20, 2008 at 4:09 pm Said:

@Richard
How do we make it work?
I’ve been a seller on eBay for 12 years. A buyer for 13. I’ve been a powerseller for about 5 years (not right now, don’t have much time to sell right now)..and all these groups are fighting.

I’m a buyer, a small seller and a powerseller and everyone things the other is getting the better deal. So Richard, how do we make this work?

I just can’t go anywhere without seeing these “factions” fighting.

Buyer vs. Small Seller
Buyer vs. Power Seller
Small Seller vs. Buyer
Small Seller vs. Power Seller
Powerseller vs. Buyer
Powerseller vs. Buyer
Power Seller vs. Buyer
and all three vs. eBay

Meg talked about the “magic” of ebay, and that still holds true if you don’t get mired in all this. Heck if I stayed off boards and out of blogs, I’d think everything was great (except the constant changes)

My buyers are great, My sellers are great. eBay kinda bytes right now, but I’ll live.

How do we get to a place where we appreciate each other?

I had great hopes for this blog, and am seeing the same group vs group fighting starting and I really want us ALL to work together for our success. It takes all of us to be successful. If it were only the small sellers then there might not be enough selection for the buyers. If not for the small sellers there might not be enough unique selection for the buyer. If not for buyers, we’d not be selling at all. And if it weren’t for eBay, we wouldn’t worried about the above three :).

I’d like eBay to begin begin my partner again, not my parent. I’d like small sellers to see the challenges of power sellers and powersellers to see the challenges of small sellers and understand the needs of the other and buyers to understand not all sellers are out to rip them off, and mistakes will and do happen.

How do we get there? And what can you or this blog do to help? (if you think its important)..How do we change the paradigm?

-Cam

LurchOn May 20, 2008 at 4:24 pm Said:

Cam – really?!? We need our own little area – I’m always looking for folks like you – I came on to AW in the second week. When did you, if you remember?

I hear what you are saying. I’ve watched it gradually deteriorate over the years, and have seen how eBay has really facilitated this. Any attempts to point out issues about this have been completely ignored (or disregarded. Given the lack of responses, I assume ignored). It’s been headed in this direction for some time. This was compounded by the fact that over the years eBay has instituted things to make it less fun to use, particularly from the buyer side of it. That’s not to say there have not been certain changes over the years for the betterment of the site, because I’ve never made that claim. It’s just been funny over the years to watch prediction after prediction (of mine) play out somewhat, or at times, very close to they way I foresaw it.

LurchOn May 20, 2008 at 4:30 pm Said:

BTW: I have some rough ideas on how to alter the pardigm a bit, but I’m not sure it is even possible anymore. And it would require some drastic changes implemented in a well-thought, well-planned and well-researched fashion with a whole lot of communication to folks, and still, not all of those would be acceptable to all. However, when I say drastic, I do not mean draconian. I have always thought that there would be a number of things that might not be feasible or would need heavy alteration due to inside info that eBay had access to which I did not (and thus, could substantially alter what appeared was needed from the outside), but I don’t even really believe that anymore, given the scientific method utilized to gather data on the increase in retaliatory feedback.

There were a large number of things that needed to be implemented, enforced, fostered, etc over the years. I used to try to engage in dialog with folks at eBay about this. I gave up quite some time ago. You can only go so long with being ignored.

Patricia1On May 20, 2008 at 4:36 pm Said:

Funny – I don’t remember all this fighting between the factions before ebay went ballistic. Maybe I just wasn’t paying attention – I was too busy attending to the needs of my buyers. Well…now it seems since ebay has “fixed” things, I have plenty of time to do whatever I please!!! Get it?

MechelleOn May 20, 2008 at 6:12 pm Said:

@Richard

you are absolutely correct eBay employees/leaders are the epitome of transparency.