eBay to Stop Sellers from Posting Negative Buyer Ratings 2/8/2008 - 7,434 views, 15 Comments
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eBay has announced that beginning in May, sellers will no longer be able to leave negative - and perhaps not even neutral - feedback about buyers, even though buyers can still leave scathing comments about sellers. This is, eBay claims, because the possiblity that sellers could post bad things about them scares a lot of buyers off. And, of course, much more than would be the case if there were a decline in sellers, if nobody is buying anything, eBay has no model (or revenue). “The number one reason buyers cited for decreasing or ceasing their activity on eBay was negative unwarranted retaliatory feedback they received from sellers. There has been a four-fold increase in this over the last several years. It’s cited as a bigger problem than even not receiving shipment.” It makes sense that rogue buyers are probably much less of a problem than rogue sellers. But it’s not unheard of for there to be problematic buyers, and then there are always the scammers who want to buy something, pay for it with “this check that’s for more than the price - please send some back to me and keep the rest for your troubles, and oh yes, it’s drawn on the Bank of Dead Relatives, Lagos, Nigeria.” Lamented one person, “This move is horrible for honest sellers. There is no shortage of unethical buyers out there who will make false damage claims, or state that the wrong item was sent, an item was missing, etc. With the new policy, unethical buyers can blackmail the seller into getting what they want. Also, this gives a buyer the power of giving an unjustified negative/neutral even if they get the product, but are unhappy with it for any reason.” [It should be noted here that if you buy something on eBay, and it arrives damaged, the insurance - which eBay sellers often require - goes to the seller, not you. Read all about eBay buying and selling and shipping insurance here.] Still, many eBay buyers are cheering the move. “Good for Ebay,” exclaimed one person commenting on the announcement. “Finally a smart move on their part. I have 4 negative feedbacks in my entire history. All left in retaliation for me trying to give them honest feedback and warn potential buyers from buying from them and wasting their time/money like I did.” “I’m sick of Sellers emailing me post-auction stating “leave me feedback and I will leave you feedback”. Bollocks. I’ve paid, I’ve completed my end of the deal, therefore feedback is due now!” added another. As the announcement is making its way around the Internet boards, stories are also coming out of the woodwork which illustrate the problem that eBay says it is trying to address with the change. Stories of ruined eBay reputations on the part of buyers whose otherwise pristine feedback ratings have been sullied by sellers in a tit-for-tat retaliation for negative feedback. Shared one such buyer, “Once I bought a game from a lady on eBay, but when I paid she never sent the game. I left negative feedback like “I paid immediately but weeks later she never sent item and won’t respond to emails”. She then left me negative feedback “Buyer is mean and not very understanding”. Lamented another, “I had a terrible experience with a seller, and for the first time ever left negative feedback. You know what they did? They left the exact same feedback I left them word for word, and followed it up with an email stating that if I didn’t remove my negative feedback they were going to keep mine there.”‘ So what about you eBay buyers out there - do you have a story about negative feedback gone wrong that you want to share? And how about you eBay sellers - how do you feel about this move? Let us know.
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This is a bad move for eBay. As a seller with 100% perfect feedback–1258 of them–this comes as a shock. The feedback system is (well, was) reciprocal and with good reason. Truly, if eBay wants to know why buyers are being scared off, perhaps they should look at the number of power sellers who flood the listings with cheap opening bids, but charge 7 to 10 US dollars for Media Rate shipping. This scares buyers more than the possibility of negative feedback. Duh!
Comment by Michael — 2/12/2008 @ 6:24 am
It is about time eBay did this! I am an HONEST buyer who always pays within a few hours of placing the winning bid. I once purchased an indoor/outdoor George Foreman grill advertised as “like new condition” from a seller. When it arrived, I was horrified to see that the seller shipped it to me in the manufacturer’s original and very mangled and poorly taped up box. The contents were NOT padded at all – not so much as a single Styrofoam peanut – and were loose and clanging against each other inside the box. I immediately emailed the seller and told him the item arrived dented and badly scratched with actual pieces broken off. He wrote me back a day later, basically telling me “tough s**t”. So I left him a neutral expressing my disappointment in both the item AND his unwillingness to make it right. He immediately retaliated by leaving me negative feedback and outright LIED, saying I “paid slow”. When I reported him to eBay, they said that even though they KNEW he lied and that his feedback was retaliatory, there was “nothing they could do”. That was just plain WRONG. And so I feel that this is a GOOD change for eBay!
Comment by EJ Norton — 2/12/2008 @ 7:19 am
P.S. I realize that I SHOULD have left negative feedback for this seller - but, having heard about sellers who leave retaliatory feedback, I was afraid to do this and left the neutral thinking that if he did retaliate, it would be with a matching - in other words, neutral - feedback. Boy, was I mistaken because he left me negative feedback which trashed MY - up to that point in time - perfect rating. That’s what an honest buyer gets for wanting to caution other honest buyers against buyer from BAD sellers like this guy - who, buy the way sells ALOT of George Foreman grills, coffee perculators, and those type items. His eBay name begins with hol… To other eBay buyers out there, I sincerely advise you to use caution because not all sellers are honest. I think the majority of them are - but this guy sure isn’t.
Comment by EJ Norton — 2/12/2008 @ 7:29 am
This is a stupid move on Ebay’s part! The feedback system is supposed to be a balance between the buyers and ssellers and based on the transaction, not the people involved. I always request that the buyer post their feedback first before leaving mine. I have been burned several times by some smartass who states “You’ve done what you were suppose dto do, why should I praise you?” or I’ll leave feedback when I get around to it sometime. BTW, I used to leave positive feedback as soon as payment was received. If Ebay really wanted to help buyers and sellers, they would clear out the blatantly crappy and fraudlent sellers. Handicapping one half of the buyer/seller community only pits the users against each other instead of fixing the real problem.
Comment by Paul Campanella — 2/12/2008 @ 8:33 am
Most sellers are honest, but the bad ones always use their feedback to punish you for objecting to their bogus behaviors. Ebay knows what’s going on, but can’t do anything about it. This is long over due.Once your payment is rec’d. and the item sent, there is no excuse for the feedback to be delayed.
Comment by iona Ali — 2/12/2008 @ 8:11 pm
well, glad to hear it…i stopped even browsing ebay b/c of a crackpot seller who thought his threat of negative feedback meant anything to me. i sent my comments to ebay regarding this but never heard anything back.. must have been more and more buyers feeling the same “threat”..interesting… i agree w/the first poster, michael, re:power sellers..
Comment by ca — 2/12/2008 @ 8:50 pm
To EJ– ok, you bought the grill and the seller didn’t properly pack it, so it was damaged when it arrived. Next move: contact the seller through the eBay messaging service. OK, let’s assume the seller doesn’t respond. Since you have a transaction with the seller, ou can look the seller’s telephone number through eBay and call him (let’s just say it’s a guy). OK, let’s say he’s a jerk. Next move: report seller to eBay, then contact your credit card company if you paid him direct, or file a claim if you paid by PayPal. Paypal will side with the customer in 99% of the cases. Next move: go ahead, leave the jerk some negative feedback. OK, he leaves one for you. Next move: add a note to your feedback to explain what happened. I think people will get the idea.
Comment by Michael — 2/13/2008 @ 8:26 am
iv’e read all the comments from cry baby sellers, if they were honest and sent what people paid for on time , not weeks or months later or never send item at all then they would not have to worry feedback.
Comment by john — 2/27/2008 @ 7:04 am
I had an experience where I was held “feedback hostage” over a coat. The seller said they sold “what was pictured unless otherwise stated in the ad” I bought a pristine antique Kersey blue navy pea coat from “stoptosell” only to have a new issue type coat sent which isn’t worth as much as the antique Kersey was. I left an honest neutral for the bait & switch they pulled & they left me a neutral because of it. On the flip side of the coin my dad who also sells a little here & there like I do, was left a negative after selling a sony PS2 that was non-working with a new stand & cables. The ad plainly stated “NON-WORKING” in capital letters & the buyers feedback said “lied about everything”….how? He got a NON-WORKING PS2…the only way for it to have been a LIE is if he had gotten a WORKING ONE! For under $5 he should have been happy! Now I hold feedback when I sell something too, it’s the only way to be able to respond & when that can’t be done any longer I’ll quit selling & BUYING on eBay. They will have gotten their last penny from me if they follow through with their proposed changes. eBay is turning into a scam itself & is overdue for a boycott or a lawsuit over defamation of character.
Comment by Brenjen — 2/28/2008 @ 9:21 am
Buyers on ebay think that sellers do not have problems with bad buyers whose main purpose in life is to steal everything they need, it happens daily are we suppose to allow these scumbags who are running rampant on ebay to steal our profits, no we should not. Ebay is punishing all sellers because they want a cut of the powersellers handling charges and cannot get it so bc is retaliating because the bonus checks are not big enough.Buyers who steal should be exposed not given a tool to work better. The idea that there are only bad sellers and not bad buyers is absurd. Ebay will go down in May of 2008.
Comment by Jack — 3/20/2008 @ 12:16 pm
Let’s not even mention the “buyers” who run up the bid on an item and then never pay. And eBay won’t do a damned thing about that either…
Comment by Jessie Daniels — 3/22/2008 @ 5:45 pm
This is a great move. Retaliatory negatives are worst for ebay users who have few or no positives to offset a negative simply because they are new or don’t use ebay that much. KEY POINT: GOOD SELLERS ARE MUCH MORE LIKELY TO HAVE OFFSETTING POSITIVES THAN GOOD BUYERS BECAUSE SELLING IS TYPICALLY A HIGH-VOLUME BUSINESS AND BUYING TYPICALLY IS NOT A HIGH-VOLUME BUSINESS.
Comment by HappyAboutIt — 4/8/2008 @ 5:17 pm
Buyers are not the only ones who fear feedback retaliation. Why do you think many sellers wait for the buyer to leave feedback first. As a seller I quit leaving non paying bidders negative feedback because every time I did they left negative feedback for me stating such things as I sent a check and they wouldn’t cash it. The transaction is not complete as soon as payment is made. It is not complete until the customer receives the merchandise and their payment has cleared with no problems. Even Paypal payments can be charged back to the seller. And then there are buyers who want to leave negative feedback for things like the box was bent or the shipping was too high even though they knew shipping costs in advance. I do not make money on shipping, shipping costs are just high especially with the recent USPS changes. There is no way for me to control that. I am both a buyer and a seller on Ebay and while I have never had a seller threaten me with bad feedback many buyers do it. They complain about an item. I offer a refund after return. But no they want to keep the item and receive their money back. Is this honest? The only thing Ebay is accomplishing is giving the dishonest buyers a license to try to receive merchandise for free by threatening negative feedback. You will see a boom in negative feedback after this change begins and there will be no winners.
Comment by Penny — 5/9/2008 @ 12:38 pm
I have been doing this for 8 years. One half of the people on this earth like to say bad things to feel better about themselves. This is going to be fun to watch. Every seller is going to keep re-newing names because only brand new sellers will look good. Just like brand new sellers have good records (obviously) and get better position with “Best Match.”
Comment by Joe — 5/20/2008 @ 10:31 am
Unfortunately, the view on this topic depends upon whether you’re predominantly a buyer or predominantly a seller. If everyone was honest then we wouldn’t need a feedback system at all; the reality is that there are bad sellers AND bad bidders. I do think, however, that this is a step too far by ebay. So sellers can’t even give a negative to non-paying bidders? I also resent the fact that ebay (effectively) force sellers to accept Paypal - if it’s mandatory to use it, be upfront and include it in the fees.
Comment by Mike — 6/5/2008 @ 7:55 am