eBay changes its feedback rules
Starting today, eBay's feedback forum will bar sellers from posting negative or neutral comments about buyers. Jill Barshay reports some are nervous about letting negative tirades go unanswered.
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TEXT OF STORY
Scott Jagow: Starting today, eBay is making some changes to the way the site works. Specifically, the whole feedback thing between buyers and sellers. Jill Barshay has more.
Jill Barshay: eBay's feedback forum is supposed to help steer buyers to trustworthy sellers, but it's broken down. Recently, when buyers have complained, sellers have bitten back.
Jonathan Garriss is the CEO of Gotham City Online, a big eBay shoe seller. He says buyers are reacting by giving rosy feedback or none at all.
Jonathan Garriss: The last thing you really want is for the merchant to all of a sudden say something bad about you in a public forum.
eBay now bars sellers from posting negative or neutral comments about buyers.
Garriss says he's nervous about letting cranky tirades go unanswered, but he hopes the new policy will boost business.
Garriss: eBay's buyer base is leaving eBay and shopping in other channels. They absolutely need buyers that are confident in the marketplace.
eBay's not leaving sellers entirely in the lurch. Customers have to confirm they've tried resolving their disputes privately before grousing in public.
I'm Jill Barshay for Marketplace.
Comments
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05/31/2008
I see many comments to the effect that sellers are now looking for alternatives to ebay. The key word here is looking. I suspect you haven't found a good alternative yet because there isn't one. Craigslist is a fixed price format and do any of the other auction sites generate 1% of the traffic ebay does? What ebay has is something close to a monopoly and so why shouldn't they push the limits of how much they can extract from both its buyers and sellers. Note the recent requirement of using Paypal, a company owned by ebay.
Like any community, when it reaches a certain critical size, it will suffer an extinction event. Perhaps this is the beginning of the end.
The environment seems ripe for a new kid on the block. With a mass exodus of both buyers and sellers could there be a new auction site that will be to ebay what facebook has been to be to myspace?
From St. Louis, MO, 05/31/2008
I can't say I've participated in this "buyer's revenge" or "seller's revenge", but I can see the merit in the concern.
I have to say though that I agree with a number of posters that this is a bad thing for eBay to do. Merchants should have a way to warn other merchants of cheats and con-artists just like consumers have the right to warn other consumers about rip-offs.
With that said, it could become a moot point as Craigslist becomes more and more popular everyday. My prediction is that eBay will relent.
From Riverside, CA, 05/25/2008
Fact #1. I never give feedback to a seller until they give it to me first, mainly because my end of the transaction is done on payment. Positive feedback on my part has been earned. PERIOD! Fact #2. I have never given negative feedback to sellers to gave me positive feedback first. Even when they don't meet my expectations. I will work with them until a mutual agreement is reached. Fact #3. All but one negative feedback I have given, after numerous emails and opportunities to make the situation right, has resulted in retaliation feedback. I have seen tons of public forums with sellers whining incessantly about buyers not reciprocating feedback. I always reciprocate, but, basically, suck it up on those buyers that do not. The burden of carrying a positive transaction experience lies more on the shoulders of the seller than the buyer. Ebay is simply conforming to long established rules of etiquette by empowering buyers to comment freely about poor sellers with lack of fear of retaliation. Sellers - you are now on notice - DO A BETTER JOB !!!!
From WA, 05/23/2008
To: nag nob, All FYI�I have sold and bought on ebay! One thing is agreed upon is that sellers and buyers don�t care about each others problems� they just want it their way. You have take that for what its worth and hope that most people are honest. As far as the negative feedback thing goes there should not be any of that for either side. If you have negative feedback for one side you should have it for the other as well, lets be fair. The busines 101 thing sounds stupid, sounds like you need to read a book as well, especially when ebay looked stupid with the �IT� commercials. They are not the brightest people either. The comment with buyers make payday possible is true to a point. Remember sellers and buyers are at each others throats right now because of what ebay did not because of what they did to each other. eBay holds all the strings and says whats in whats out, how sellers sell, buyers buy. Remember eBay is a business as well looking out for themselves just like the sellers. Without ebay there would be no sellers and with out no sellers there would be no buyers. I do think eBay should make allot of there decisions based on both sellers and buyers and not on there own. I agree they should always have a vote because most sellers are buyers...visa versa. I will bet that everyone making a listing here has been on both sides and with some of your experiences not being so well and you still go back. Good luck to all.
From WA, 05/23/2008
To: jrs208 and K. Brewer
What sellers don't understand is that your problems are your problems... buyers are not interested in your inventory, what you did to get it, your book keeping, your management, your fees or a personal favorite... a death in your family... buyers never want to meet you and don't care about you in any way... buyers strictly want what was advertised for the price agreed in a timely manner... not the bait and switch that pervades the auction site now... Ebay sellers hold themselves up to be like brick and mortar businesses and you specifically want to be paid like one so... act like one... Ebay is no different Walmart... your not special...
Oh yeah and btw... sellers leave retaliatory negative feedback... lots of it... that's is why you can't leave any negative feedback anymore... you can't be trusted to do the right thing so Ebay stepped in and did it for you...
Since your looking for someplace else to sell then goodbye to you and don't let the door hit you on your way out... btw: as nature hates a vacuum someone will readily take your place and eat your lunch too but when buyers leave sellers are no longer employed... Ebay has finally realized the No. 1 rule of business... its the buyers that make payday possible... either lead or get out of the way... Business 101...
From San Diego, CA, 05/22/2008
Ebay management did not think this through! I am a seller and now have to wait two weeks or more for deadbeat payers and because of that I now have to wait 2-3 weeks to list more items. Also ebay knows this and is trying to force sellers to use paypal/immediate payment so we dont have to wait for payment! Guess what? eBay owns Paypal and when buyers use it the seller has to give up more % of our hard earned money! eBay thinks they are smart. We the sellers are smarter and with out sellers there is no buyers and with out that eBay gets $0 dollars! Next time ask all for a vote!
From Cleveland, OH, 05/22/2008
As a seller and a buyer with 14,000+ feedback I am looking for a new place to sell. What non-sellers don't understand is the time, money, space, and management it takes to manage small and large listings on eBay. Fees to; list, sell, pictures and of course Paypal fees. You have bad sellers and buyers but as one of the 1000's of people who has made eBAy what it is, eBay is now telling me I have to leave only positive feedback for a buyer who..doesn't pay, pays in 30 days or more, uses the item and tries to return it, tries to get a charge back from paypal for a received item, or my favorite a relative (usually a child) bid without their knowledge, give me a break. To you buyers who have had bad experiences SORRY! As a buyer I have had bad experiences too, I leave negative feedback and move on. I don't block buyers with negative feedback. I do have filters on my auctions if a buyer has more than two nonpayment disputes. If I do a bad job give me a negative. As a seller I used to get emails all the time notifying me not to leave neg. feedback and when the buyer was going to send the payment. Now why should those same buyers care, and the next seller will never know. eBAy's solution, I can now block 5000 buyers before it was 1000. I feel as a seller I should be able to leave feedback too. As a buyer I would say get rid of the whole feedback system but as a buyer I want to know what type of seller I am dealing with via the feedback system....Guess what this is all I want to know as a SELLER too.
From WA, 05/22/2008
Sellers have been ripping buyers from one end of ebay to the other both in the US and off shore... while the US considers fraud to be trivial and unworthy of govt interference (remember Enron?) foreign govts are not so oblivious... ebay knows that sellers are incapable of policing themselves and if they don't do it a govt somewhere will with spill over to the US so ebay did what it did... with more coming to be sure... you sellers asked for this by name and got it... enjoy!!! Good for Ebay!!!
From south pittsburg, TN, 05/21/2008
I have been on Ebay for the last 9 years. In the last week, I have been blackmailed three times to send out refunds, prior to receiving the return. Clearly stated, item must be received, prior to refund. The result, I got my first negative for not caving in. I'm happy. I'd rather die, than let someone steal from me. I will not let a multi billion dollar company or a thief force me to compromise my principles, by caving into blackmail. This policy will fail, but by the time Ebay's social experiment is completed, it's largest and most loyal sellers will be doing business at sites that appreciate their customers.
From Athens, GA, 05/21/2008
Commerce is a two-way street, kids, and believe it or not, the buyer is often NOT right. I have, through my business, 3000+ positive feedbacks, and I work very hard to correct my inevitable errors immediately, as my reputation means everything. There are, though, flame-throwers out there who shoot first and ask questions later, if at all. We sellers deserve to protect ourselves from these types.
From Escondido, CA, 05/21/2008
I have been a buyer on ebay for 9 years. I used to buy more than I have in recent years because of the sellers who"hold my feedback score hostage", until they see what feedback I will leave. It became less a system of honest feedback, and more a way to get revenge if you didn't like what someone had to say about you.
Now when I pay, they can't hurt my score even if I have a problem with their service.
From RI, 05/21/2008
This is the worst thing Ebay could have done. Who are they to take away a sellers ability to let others sellers know if that buyer paid quick or even paid at all... They need to step back and look at the big picture!Sellers will DEFINITELY leave Ebay and if there are no sellers there will then be NO BUYERS! I have been a seller for 6 years and have 1400 + feedback... I am looking for other sites to list my items... Ebay better get their head screwed on again or there will be someone else starting a "NEW EBAY"
From San Francisco, CA, 05/21/2008
eBay HAS LEFT its sellers in the lurch with virtually no tools to prevent bad buyers from extorting. One sided feedback is patently unfair and eBay attorneys should take another look at possible legal ramifications of the feedback changes. I understand that under federal law (the Communications Decency Act) if eBay censors feedback, eBay may be legally responsible for remarks that members post. Could eBay be held liable for secondary defamation?
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