EBAY: Sellers Will No Longer Be Allowed To Leave Feedback, Fees Go UP As Much as 60%

[Stargazer]

I think Ebay is making a HUGE mistake here. If sellers can no longer leave feedback for buyers then the buyers will start blackmailing saying they will leave negative feedback if they do not do as they say and could have some harsh demands. There are several different things that can happen here if the seller has no recourse to leave feedback. What if the buyer demands to have the item shipped back even if you said there were no returns? What is your recourse? NONE!!! What if the item is not what it was supposed to be when you get it back? NO RECOURSE!!! What about nonpaying bidders? So it is ok to not pay for an item now and to rip a seller off? This alone could ruin ebay and the sellers. I know this helps buyers but there is so much scamming going on out there that I can see people taking advantage of this and ruin many sellers out there.

As if that was not bad enough they are raising the final value fees up to 60+%. Them reducing the price of the listing fees a nickel here and dime there does not even come close to the extra fees imposed on that much of an increase of a final value fee. For that kind of money there should be VERY LITTLE TO NO LISTING FEES and it would still be higher. Only the big guys will get to keep the current rate. Seems like it is not for the small guy anymore, they want ebay just for the big guys. What I stated in the first paragraph will hurt them but not as much as the small guy in which just a few feedbacks can substantially drop their feedback percentage and it also says those that will not be imposed the rate increase will also get extra protection.

I have had issues with buyers in the past trying to blackmail me with negative feedback when I did nothing wrong, they did not read the auction right or thought price was too high, if they thought that then they should not bid. I don't know about you but I do not feel very comfortable selling something on ebay if I have no recourse on the feedback which helps protect me if I am going to end up getting ripped off as a result. I heard about this on the news so I figured it must be something extreme for it to make it to the media. Also how are the buyers supposed to get feedback if all they do is buy? This sounds like one heck of a screwed up system they are going to put in place on Feb 20th. Now sellers won't know whether or not to sell to people if other sellers had issues with them and will have no recourse for issues with the buyers if they want to scam the seller. I know they want to protect the buyer but this is at too much of an expense to the seller. 6 out of 7 emails received by an employee at ebay expressed negative comments to ebay according to article at the following link ....

EBay fee hike sparks seller rebellion - Jan. 31, 2008

It states that it is sparking rebellion. I am even more concerned about sellers not able to leave feedback. The system is going to be half if not completely broke once they do this. It has worked pretty well all this time, why don't they just stick with it? Sometimes you screw up more than you fix when you try to change things TOO much.

 

[Derwin0]

If the sellers hadn't been holding the buyers feedback as hostage, then they wouldn't have had the ability taken away.

9 of out 10 sellers I have bought from did not leave feedback until after I left feedback. IMO the seller should give feedback the second the check clears (so to speak), not after the buyer gives them feedback, which is all to common, and the reason for the change.

 

[iceturkee]

i'm finished with ebay, have been for some time. things started going sour when i bought a cell phone from a guy who did not list anywhere on the auction page the cell phone didn't come with charger. we exchanged several pm's (which i kept). he had several similar auctions and never mentioned it was for phone only. i tried to rectify with him and ended up contacting ebay to intercede. he finally agreed to give me back my money and i shipped the phone back. then the ***wipe had the audacity to leave me negative feedback (mine has always been 100 percent) because i left him the same. i wasn't the only one. had to get ebay to intercede again. i agreed to drop mine, if he did same.

funny thing is somewhere along the way, he changed his auction listings to reflect the bid was for cell phone only.

 

[lumpkin666]

IMO the seller should give feedback the second the check clears (so to speak), not after the buyer gives them feedback, which is all to common, and the reason for the change.

I disagree. The buyer should be ranked on more than just their ability to follow through on paying. The buyer can end up being a picky/pest, one who tries to swindle more out of the deal, one that expects customer service for a used, one that complains constantly about the cost/etc of item eventhough things were clearly laid out, one that complains because the shipping that they chose to pay for took way too long (albeit less time than the max time quoted!), etc.

Feedback should be left after each party mutually agrees that the transaction has ended, or at the point that one party sees no possibility of the transaction ending well (suppose)

 

[thataway5000]

i have been done with ebay for a pretty long time myself.

 

[Derwin0]

I disagree. The buyer should be ranked on more than just their ability to follow through on paying. The buyer can end up being a picky/pest, one who tries to swindle more out of the deal, one that expects customer service for a used, one that complains constantly about the cost/etc of item eventhough things were clearly laid out, one that complains because the shipping that they chose to pay for took way too long (albeit less time than the max time quoted!), etc.

Feedback should be left after each party mutually agrees that the transaction has ended, or at the point that one party sees no possibility of the transaction ending well (suppose)

Unfortunately that is not what is happening. The buyer's are being ranked on the feedback they give, not on how quickly they paid. This is what is happening in a vast majority of sales, which is why ebay had to do something.

The buyer's responsibility is to pay on time, nothing else.

 

[vurbano]

If the buyer pays on time that is ALL that should matter. Just like ANY other B&M store.

 

[Hall]

The buyer's responsibility is to pay on time, nothing else.

Yes, as far as the transaction is concerned, that's the only responsibility the buyer has. I like the "big" sellers who have automated feedback and it shows up within hours of paying. Then you've got the newer sellers who e-mail you asking you to leave feedback (so they can build feedback up) yet they haven't left you any. I ran into this recently when my wife bought some items before Christmas. I'd reply back "you haven't left me feedback. I paid 10 minutes after the auction ended." One of them got the hint, the other didn't.... Nonetheless, we rec'd the item quickly, it was in perfect condition, etc, etc, so I left feedback.

As far as the listing fees change, and I haven't read much about this, are they going to "hurt" the huge sellers who list everything for $.99 but charge $7.95 for shipping (for a cellphone charger that they ship USPS 1st Class for under $3) ?

 

[lumpkin666]

The buyer's responsibility is to pay on time, nothing else.

Says the buyer

As a seller, I have had my share of buyers that I feel I should warn others about. Unfortunately the transaction is not done until both parties are "satisfied". If the only thing a buyer was responsible for was to pay for the merchandise, then they should be restricted to only being able to provide feedback in regards to the item being shipped and being accurately described.

The buyer becomes a "bad" buyer when they cause problems by adding demands and unreasonable expectations to the transaction, or by not reading and understanding what they are buying. A buyer who buys 1 item of 10 and then leaves negative feedback because they only received one and didn't read the ad - that's a bad buyer, even though they paid quickly. As a seller, I want to know about these bad buyers and possibly cancel bids by buyers who continually do this sort of thing.

 

[JamesJ]

If the sellers hadn't been holding the buyers feedback as hostage, then they wouldn't have had the ability taken away.

9 of out 10 sellers I have bought from did not leave feedback until after I left feedback. IMO the seller should give feedback the second the check clears (so to speak), not after the buyer gives them feedback, which is all to common, and the reason for the change.

100% disagree with this statement. I have had people (two to be exact) leave me Negative feedback for no reason whatsoever. I sold my Ps2 and some games years ago, shipped it out, got negative feedback because one of the games was a Ps2 game bought from blockbuster (mind you in VERY good shape with little to no scratches and played 100%) Next was a guy who just left negative feedback saying I forgot to put an item in, never contacted me or anything, also I had put all items in as it was just a phone and charging cable. NOW I have someone who bought a GPS unit off of me who says that I owe him more then what was listed in the auction, he wants the box and manuels, even though in BIG BOLD RED letters it says open box, this is just the unit and charger cable. So yes I do hold "hostage" reviews because I am tired of NUT jobs on ebay who have 30 accounts and just leave negative feedback because they can!

 

[red hazard]

Allowing Seller Feedback is BAD IMO

Not allowing seller feedback IMO is a good idea based on my experience. I once bought a lot of 9 LNBFs but only received one. The seller's add was crystal clear it was a lot of nine. It even showed the per item price as being one nineth the Buy It Now price. About 45% of the cost was S&H and the only "resolution" offered to me was to send the LNBF back at my expense and get refunded 55% of my initial purchase as the S&H was unrefundable (PayPal policy). I left neutral feedback explaining the seller was dishonest and explained, as much as the 80 character limit allowed, what happended.
The seller left a nasty negative (my only one) feedback to get even. At that time I had no further feedback options.

I put my experience in a thread on this forum before leaving feedback and was warned about retaliation but felt it was more important to provide my experience with the seller to others. I was "punished" as a result and because of the feedback, will have to start a new user ID if I begin selling items. Since then I have had two other Ebay somewhat bad experiences but left no feedback at all. I'm sure many others have done the same.

No doubt there will be some flakey buyers who will leave negative feedback because they expect $100 item for free. My only advice is to CAREFULLY read the feedback; particularly the negative ones as you can generally tell if they are warranted or not.

 

[red hazard]

If the sellers hadn't been holding the buyers feedback as hostage, then they wouldn't have had the ability taken away.

9 of out 10 sellers I have bought from did not leave feedback until after I left feedback. IMO the seller should give feedback the second the check clears (so to speak), not after the buyer gives them feedback, which is all to common, and the reason for the change.

TOTALLY and ABSOLUTELY CONCUR. This would be a better situation than what they have gone to. At least it would give the seller the opportunity to respond which would provide valuable information to potential buyers who thoroughly scrutinize feedback; especially negative and neutral ones. Now ferreting out the truth will be difficult if not impossible.

 

[Liverpool]

Ebay was fabulous 7 years ago when I first used it but there are just to many bidders paying silly prices.

 

[Hall]

100% disagree with this statement. I have had people (two to be exact) leave me Negative feedback for no reason whatsoever.

So eBay should base their policies that tiny minority of sellers/buyers ? Umm, no.... You don't write rules or policies based on the exceptions of a scenario.

 

[riffjim4069]

Not allowing seller feedback IMO is a good idea based on my experience. I once bought a lot of 9 LNBFs but only received one. The seller's add was crystal clear it was a lot of nine. It even showed the per item price as being one nineth the Buy It Now price. About 45% of the cost was S&H and the only "resolution" offered to me was to send the LNBF back at my expense and get refunded 55% of my initial purchase as the S&H was unrefundable (PayPal policy). I left neutral feedback explaining the seller was dishonest and explained, as much as the 80 character limit allowed, what happended.
The seller left a nasty negative (my only one) feedback to get even. At that time I had no further feedback options.

I put my experience in a thread on this forum before leaving feedback and was warned about retaliation but felt it was more important to provide my experience with the seller to others. I was "punished" as a result and because of the feedback, will have to start a new user ID if I begin selling items. Since then I have had two other Ebay somewhat bad experiences but left no feedback at all. I'm sure many others have done the same.

No doubt there will be some flakey buyers who will leave negative feedback because they expect $100 item for free. My only advice is to CAREFULLY read the feedback; particularly the negative ones as you can generally tell if they are warranted or not.

I generally agree. We have a "buyers perspective" since we have never sold anything on eBay. Although almost all of our experiences have been positive (we only do business with established sellers with excellent feedback) we have had two or three bad experiences. In each incident we felt our feedback rating was being held hostage by the seller, which was completely unfair since the seller was clearly at fault (goods not in stated condition, wrong item sent, etc.) Although there may be a small percentage of scum-sucking maggot buyers out there, I feel it is most important that the sellers be evaluated in the transaction. eBay needs to deal with the scumbag buyers...but good buyers should not be held hostage by bad sellers. I get the feeling some of these sellers with 95% positive sellers would actually be only 70% positive sellers if the buyer didn't know he would get zinged by leaving negative feedback.

I also agree the additional fees seem to be excessive. Perhaps if eBay were to use the addition fees to go after bad buyers and maybe raise selling fees a much more modest level...

 

[red hazard]

NOW I have someone who bought a GPS unit off of me who says that I owe him more then what was listed in the auction, he wants the box and manuels, even though in BIG BOLD RED letters it says open box, this is just the unit and charger cable. So yes I do hold "hostage" reviews because I am tired of NUT jobs on ebay who have 30 accounts and just leave negative feedback because they can!

Why not give us the item number so we can take a look and make up our own minds? If an item is advertized as "open box" with no other caveats, I would expect it to be complete. Stating "open box" without a further explanation would mean to most buyers that the box is included and was merely previously opened. If however you made it clear that you were only selling the basic unit with charger cable then I would probably side with you though the description could be confusing to a buyer with the "open box" statement

 

[Hall]

Why not give us the item number so we can take a look and make up our own minds? If an item is advertized as "open box" with no other caveats, I would expect it to be complete. Stating "open box" without a further explanation would mean to most buyers that the box is included and was merely previously opened.

I thought the same thing.... When I see an "open box" item at Best Buy, for example, it's usually still in the original box. It's just been opened, batteries already installed, fingerprint smudges on the item, and so on. "open box" by no means means "no box".

 

[Derwin0]

I thought the same thing.... When I see an "open box" item at Best Buy, for example, it's usually still in the original box. It's just been opened, batteries already installed, fingerprint smudges on the item, and so on. "open box" by no means means "no box".

Same here. "Open Box" means the package has been opened before and therefore is not factory sealed. "No Box" or "Loose" means there is no box.

 

[Van]

there are just to many bidders paying silly prices.

Shill bidders and thrill seekers are the biggest reason for overbidding.

 

[Ramy]

I quit using ebay a while ago because most people require you to use paypal and I am tired of losing even more money on the deal.