Quantcast

Big ebay news

Echo

crooked smile
Jul 10, 2002
11,819
15
Slacking at work
Ebay is no longer going to allow sellers to leave negative feedback for buyers, starting in May. The reason is because sellers are eight times more likely to leave retaliatory feedback than buyers. They are making a bunch of other changes too. It will be interesting to see how it all turns out.
 

H8R

Cranky Pants
Nov 10, 2004
13,959
35
Ebay is no longer going to allow sellers to leave negative feedback for buyers, starting in May. The reason is because sellers are eight times more likely to leave retaliatory feedback than buyers. They are making a bunch of other changes too. It will be interesting to see how it all turns out.
WTF?

So people who take forever to pay and have lousy communication can get worse?

Sweet.
 

stosh

Darth Bailer
Jul 20, 2001
22,238
393
NY
I would have bet money I would bet it was the other way around. If the seller never gets payment he never send the item out so it's not a huge loss. If the buyer pays and never receives anything it's a huge deal IMO.
 

r464

Turbo Monkey
Oct 17, 2006
2,604
4
Earth
I think that a lot of buyers are worried about leaving a negative feedback rating for fear of being hit themselves.

The sellers tend to wait for you to give them a positive rating before giving you one, so this may help.
 

syadasti

i heart mac
Apr 15, 2002
12,690
290
VT
Seems a bit unbalanced. I've never had an issue as a buyer or seller. Hopefully they'll still allow comments with neutral feedback so you can see if buyers are slow payers and ignore the conditions of the auction set by the seller.
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,092
1,132
NC
I would have bet money I would bet it was the other way around. If the seller never gets payment he never send the item out so it's not a huge loss. If the buyer pays and never receives anything it's a huge deal IMO.
Eh? The buyer CAN leave negative feedback. The seller cannot leave it for the buyer. So it fits your scenario: if the seller doesn't get payment, and never sends the item out, it's no big deal and they can't leave negative feedback.

That said, I think it sucks. The whole foundation of eBay's system is to know who you're dealing with and what kind of transaction history they have.
 

narlus

Eastcoast Softcore
Staff member
Nov 7, 2001
24,658
63
behind the viewfinder
The sellers tend to wait for you to give them a positive rating before giving you one, so this may help.

yep...in a just world, the buyer would receive feedback on how prompt he got payment to the seller. but...the seller feels like they could be open to other interpretation to the item's condition, postal screwups, etc, so they wait before giving feedback out.
 

syadasti

i heart mac
Apr 15, 2002
12,690
290
VT
The sellers tend to wait for you to give them a positive rating before giving you one, so this may help.
Maybe they should require feedback submission before you can read the buyer's feedback and vice versa with resolution/redemption period delay before negative feedback becomes permanent and posted.
 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
40,941
13,134
Portland, OR
I have left neutral feedback for one seller. One of the first things I ever sold (my sons Mongoose BMX bike). I got neutral feedback because the buyer couldn't figure out how to put the gyro together and the bike shop charged him $30 to do it for him.
 

eaterofdog

ass grabber
Sep 8, 2006
8,189
1,431
Central Florida
The fees are going up (again) as well.

I have gotten away from eBay because, despite the large fees, you don't really receive any customer service to resolve any issues.

I am selling a couple things before the new rules start and then I am staying away.
 

Echo

crooked smile
Jul 10, 2002
11,819
15
Slacking at work
I think the big reason for this is, a buyer can win an auction, pay immediately, get screwed over by the seller, but still be afraid to leave honest feedback because the seller will retaliate.

Plus, some poor bastard who has spent the last 4 years building up his perfect feedback rating of 25, gets screwed by that 1 negative feedback MUCH worse than the seller who has 11623 feedbacks to buffer the effect of a negative.

This new way is not a perfect solution but I think it's better. And they are doing a couple other things to protect sellers, like if a buyer is suspended by ebay, all the negative feedback they ever left is retroactively erased.
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,092
1,132
NC
And they are doing a couple other things to protect sellers, like if a buyer is suspended by ebay, all the negative feedback they ever left is retroactively erased.
Ahh, that's a good thing. I had some insane woman win my auction for a Playstation 2, 2 controllers and 4 games. I hadn't entered a weight for my auction, and it defaulted to displaying a shipping estimator. She estimated shipping at no weight and determined that it was going to cost $1.50 to ship all that across the country.

When I told her it was going to cost $10 (my actual shipping cost, free packing supplies), she flipped out, informed me that I was a liar and a thief - even though my auction stated that a shipping estimate would be provided upon purchase and the buyer was responsible for shipping charges. I was very hesitant to report it as a non-paying bidder because I didn't want to have the negative feedback.

I ended up reporting her and it was the last strike for her, suspending her account but almost didn't, which would have left her free to be obnoxious to another seller. I just hate the idea of tip-toeing around irrational or stupid buyers/sellers for fear of retaliatory negative feedback.
 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
40,941
13,134
Portland, OR
Will there still be a "seller response" for neg feedback?

My sister-in-law uses 3 ebay accounts. 1 to sell, 1 to buy stuff she later sells, then 1 for "everything else". She deals clarinet parts. She says she doesn't want to snipe someone she may later sell to. She also doesn't want to risk her seller/buyer rating for clarinet parts buying/selling other crap.

I have bought/sold so much useless crap and could care less.

I Can't Believe You Blew My Perfect Feedback Rating :rofl:
 

MtnbikeMike

Turbo Monkey
Mar 6, 2004
2,637
1
The 909
The fees are going up (again) as well.

I have gotten away from eBay because, despite the large fees, you don't really receive any customer service to resolve any issues.

I am selling a couple things before the new rules start and then I am staying away.
Seriously? They just decreased fees "because we asked them to."

Google needs to start an auction site.
 

GotMyGED

Monkey
Mar 29, 2006
187
0
Knoxville
For me, Ebay has only been good for selling something that you really care nothing about and just want to get rid of it.

If it is something of value to you, dont use ebay, between the fees they charge and the fees paypal charges, you will most likely feel like you got the short end of the deal.

A small ebay remembrance......
Last year I was in desperate need of money, so i was selling all my used bike parts. So I sold one guy a slightly used LX rear derailler for $15. I offered 3 clear and detailed pictures of the part, which showed some paint scuffs on the logo. I packaged the part as best I possibly could and shipped it promptly. A week later the guy sends me an email saying that I need to pay $20, TO HAVE THE PART RE-PAINTED!!!!! First of all, its a mountain bike part, not an antique car. Second, it was used and clearly showed wear in the pictures.

Anyway, after going back and forth with the guy for a week, he posted negative feedback on my ebay account and filed a claim with paypal, claiming i had not shipped what was agreed upon.
 

BMXman

I wish I was Canadian
Sep 8, 2001
13,827
0
Victoria, BC
Ebay is no longer going to allow sellers to leave negative feedback for buyers, starting in May. The reason is because sellers are eight times more likely to leave retaliatory feedback than buyers. They are making a bunch of other changes too. It will be interesting to see how it all turns out.

Yeah it's because of this I may have to close up shop...they have also raised fees by 40%...I think it may be a bad move for them in the long run...D
 

valve bouncer

Master Dildoist
Feb 11, 2002
7,843
114
Japan
What they really need is a kind of market based system where buyers and sellers try and get the best deal, based on honest dealings between all parties. Basically all people are honest and won't abuse such a system. I have great faith in human nature and think it can work. We can do it and we can start now.:twitch: