• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

eBay Wants Its Sellers Back

VintageComputerman

Veteran Member
Joined
May 26, 2007
Messages
662
Location
WNY
Very interesting development.

Early last year, eBay inflicted some damaging policy changes that sent many sellers running for the hills. Now, they apparently are changing the rules to remove negative comments left by customers towards the sellers.

The move to change the Feedback policy was prompted by numerous requests made by the cross-border sellers who received negative comments from customers while there wasn’t actual fault with the merchants. Now eBay will be removing feedback if: the listing meets the Customs Requirements and/or the seller receives a negative or neutral Feedback comment, which references customs delays or customs fees. Merchants in turn are obliged to advise the buyers that import duties, taxes and charges are not included in the item price or shipping charges. These charges are the buyer’s responsibility.

http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2009/01/09/ebay-wants-its-sellers-back
 
Ok, let me get this straight. Now they are removing negative comments directed towards sellers? Already sellers can only leave positive comments for buyers, as stupid as that certainly is. So this new change means what? Only happy @ssed comments all the way around? What's the point of even having comments?

Someone please correct me here. I MUST be reading this wrong!
 
I'm reading it as negative comments due to delayed shipment or customs fees will be removed. All other reasons to give negative will still be valid. I've seen a number of buyers who give up if they haven't received the item within two weeks and gives a negative possibly without contacting the seller. Indeed, the buyer has 45 days on PayPal to file a complaint but many people may feel that within 1.5 months the seller may both disappear and have forgotten about the sale.
 
I usually help out my customers in foreign countries who have hefty customs to pay by labeling their items as gift or a value they can deal with.

I had one customer post a negative feedback before the <edit> even contacted me about the issues he had with an item. I would have given him back a full refund plus the extra shipping, if he hadn't done what he had done, which is irreversible. Surprisingly, it didn't really effect my score.

Now today, I left negative feedback (in their positive space) for someone who bought an item while I had an equally acceptable offer on the table. After 10 days and two emails he said he never received his invoice (I sent it twice) and oh, he also had some issue with his paypal account, said sorry for the inconvenience and go ahead and give me an unpaid item strike, I don't care attitude. In the mean time, I could have accepted the other offer and made money.

Maybe ebay should just do away with the feedback all together. I have like 30% of great transactions I never get feedback on. They should just show how many items you have sold.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
The day they stopped letting sellers leave negatives was the day I stopped selling on eBay. Buyers are using feedback to hold sellers hostage for partial refunds, extra freebies, and other things just to receive a postive feedback from them. The buyers are taking full advantage of it.

RJ
 
A+++ article! Just as described!!!

j/k yeah that's interesting but really I guess only for foreign sales? Either way, as a buyer and not a seller I still think its stupid that we CANT get bad feedback but it's the fees that pissed most people off. I'm not sure how many times they get to gouge ya, but posting fee, whether it sells or not fee, then paypal (assuming you use it which is also owned by feebay) takes another cut.

Good thing we have alternate auction sites and sales forums like here.
 
I think eBay's decision to not allow sellers to leave negative feedback for their buyers was justified. There were too many bad sellers that would retaliate against anyone leaving negative feedback for them no matter how bad they acted. It was an intimidation tactic that was working for them. Buyers were afraid to leave the appropriate feedback in fear that their perfect ratings would be trashed. Actually, the feedback program had become ineffective because of this. eBay was probably flooded with complaints about this problem and was forced to change their policy.
I have received 3 negative feedbacks in the several years I have done business on eBay and each time it was in retaliation.
In my opinion, the buyer that won an auction either paid for it in a timely manner or they did not. If they didn't pay, then the seller should be able to leave negative feedback.
If the seller lists an auction and the buyer did not receive it or it was different from the listing, then the buyer should leave neutral or negative feedback, but only if it cannot be resolved with communication.
Receiving damaged goods due to poor packaging is my biggest problem. I have no patience with sellers that put little to no effort in proper packaging.
 
I think the crazy fees drove off the small time sellers who just wanted to make a couple bucks getting rid of items they didn't need. Have you noticed the prices for common old computer gear going up like crazy? It seems that all is left are major recyclers trying to turn junk into gold and the small time sellers have mostly left. The old fleemarket ebay days were more fun then the corperate shops that are there now.

I like the change to the feedback system where all a buyer had to do was pay for their item, if they did pay why would a seller have negative feedback at all? If they didn't pay then ebay would take care of the issue and the seller could relist.
 
Unfortunately I think ebay was like many other things...initially was a great idea that worked well, but people being people, many find ways to 'work' the system or try and bend the system to their advantage. I mean, it still works, but...I tend to agree with Unknown_K about the good old days.

The last item I bought there was three years ago, a lot of C64 books advertised as 'in good condition'. I paid promptly (inside of two days, as soon as I checked in on things). However...worn, creased covers and cracked spines do not constitute 'good' on any scale. Despite my having handled my end of the deal promptly, the seller had not left me any feedback. I assume they were waiting to see what I would leave, and leave me appropriate feedback if I didn't play along. I never bothered. Perhaps that was a mistake, and I should have pursued the matter but I didn't.

I realize thats only one side of the story, that some buyers use a mirror image tactic to hold the seller hostage. I liken it to the computer store I buy most of my contemporary parts from - they are tech enthusiasts first, salespeople second, unlike many others, and thats why I go to them. Thats what I see has happened with ebay. Too many people with stars in their eyes looking for a quick buck.
 
The last item I bought there was three years ago, a lot of C64 books advertised as 'in good condition'. I paid promptly (inside of two days, as soon as I checked in on things). However...worn, creased covers and cracked spines do not constitute 'good' on any scale.

That's why the DSR's are a good thing. You now have recourse for items not as described. To many low scores and the seller gets booted off ebay or temporarily suspended.

If you are honest and follow the rules, which are not that hard to do, you will do well. I am a Power seller with high DSR's and I even get a bonus on my monthly fees. The only thing I am having issues with is shipping charges, which buyers don't seem to understand.
 
I've got to agree...

I've got to agree...

that Ebay's changes as far as not allowing sellers to leave negative feedback are a good thing. I had a seller in Texas leave me negative feedback when he forgot to include a hard drive in a combined shipment that he agreed to. He refused to ship it seperately unless I paid him another shipping fee.

Then there was the guy selling PS/2 parts from whom I bought, on two separate occasions under different IDs, PS/2 Mdl.30 286 boards from. On both occasions he claimed his basement had flooded or some such nonsense and he couldn't ship me the boards.

I also think that their new anonymization of bidder names is a bad thing. In the past I've caught several sellers blatantly shill-bidding on their own stuff. Its much harder to do that now.


I'm pretty much done with eBay. It's turned into a collection of crooks, Nigerian/Italian scam artists, and lunatics who try to sell vintage equipment for astronomical prices. The worst is some guy called Newsgroups, who at present is trying to sell a 286 AT clone motherboard for $250.
 
I left feE-bay as a seller quite a while ago. I will buy something if I need it, but, that's it.

I built my own e-commerce site and, while I don't have the "audience" that you pay them for "providing", I don't have the headaches either.
 
ePay is in the bathtub or the outhouse w/PayPal. I specifically state in my auctions "NO PAYPAL except from overseas bidders" (as a courtesy). Some buttnugget bid on an item and when I refused payment, he sent me negative feedback. I complained and complained and they stated they couldn't remove it w/o a COURT ORDER. I told them they were full of stuffing.
 
They sure do ! They got hitched when they realized they both enjoyed doing the same thing to their customers...
patscc

Anyone remember when Paypal was part of x.com and you got $20 for signing up? Also, when Paypal didn't charge any fees because they said they made their profit off the "float"?

Those were the days...
 
Now PayPay make their money by withholding payment to sellers until the "goods" have arrived. IIRC when you go to a shop and buy something, you pay before you are allowed to take the product away. And respectable online suppliers will charge at the time of despatch.





BG
 
Back
Top