new ebay changes [Archive] - Retrogaming Roundtable

unwinddesign

05-20-2008, 03:08 PM

My feedback percentage went from 99.8 to 98.9%, since they take neutrals into account now (and it's only over the past 12 months). Oh, and you can't receive negative feedback as a buyer now, but the funny thing is, those negatives over the past 12 months? Yeah, one of those is from buying. And it dropped my rating like .3%. Which sucks.

I think these new changes really don't mean a whole lot, although eBay is making a big deal about them. Basically, all that it does is screw sellers more, while giving buyers more power. As if sellers didn't get hosed enough already with deadbeats, Paypal chargebacks, and other such joyous events.

Oh well. I'll continue to sell on there a lot, hiked up fees, feedback changes and all.

Dragon Warrior Jasen

05-20-2008, 03:12 PM

I am going to continue to not use eBay unless I absolutely have too. Fortunately, most of my auctions as of late are gaming auctions so I list them on GameGavel.com... Granted, I am partial to it, but the new rules eBay brought out were a real deal breaker for me.

Greed has gotten the better of the board, and so has inflation unfortunately. I think, deep down, they still are holding on to the ideas of the late 90's with a huge pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for internet companies. Google, imo, is the only one that has found that pot!

I just noticed my Feedback went from 99.9% to 98.7%.... One neutral feedback because a seller sucks, and my rating went down. Boo.

jb143

05-20-2008, 03:23 PM

My feedback percentage just dropped a bit as well. And both the negatives I had are well over 12 months old.

So does this mean that buyers which only occasionally use ebay or havn't used it in the past year(which is a ton of them) are going to have near 100% feedback even though a month ago it might have been 50%?

wallydawg

05-20-2008, 03:27 PM

Mine went down to from 100 to 98.6% because a buyer decided he "accidently" bid 12 times over a span of two days on an auction he didn't want after he won.

What is the point of Neutral now since it now acts as a Negative against you? Thats what the Negative button is for.

Dragon Warrior Jasen

05-20-2008, 03:43 PM

jb143: It would seem so! Both poor buyers and sellers can end up with 100% if they wait long enough for time to go by...

wally: I agree... neutral does come across as a negitive now. Granted the Feedback should be now referred to as % POSITIVE FEEDBACK OUT OF ALL FEEDBACK, based on their new calculation system.

Terminusvitae

05-20-2008, 03:54 PM

I'd just made a topic on this last night at my other Interweb hangout. This...is...an abomination. Why Ebay doesn't want to help its sellers is beyond me.

Vroomfunkel

05-20-2008, 04:09 PM

I'd just made a topic on this last night at my other Interweb hangout. This...is...an abomination. Why Ebay doesn't want to help its sellers is beyond me.

eBay do want to help their sellers. But only if they are POWERsellers. That seems to be the universal theme to all the latest changes.

Seller complaint: Fees have gone up massively!!
eBay response: Oh what a shame. Well, just become a Powerseller and then you can get fee discounts.

Seller complaint: I can't leave negs for idiot buyers any more, and neutrals now count against my feedback percentage!
eBay response: Oh dear, really? Well you'd better become a Powerseller then, because then buyers can't leave you a negative or a neutral until at least a week has passed.

etc. etc.

Kitsune Sniper

05-20-2008, 04:44 PM

Yep, I'm going to stop selling on eBay in the next three months. I think it's time for me to try to get a real job somewhere. I'm done with their shit.

carlcarlson

05-20-2008, 04:54 PM

Whoa, my feedback went UP from like 98.3% to 99.5%.... I don't get it.

As someone who buys and sells on a weekly basis these new changes have me pretty pissed off. I guess I am going to become a PowerSeller soon, though I don't want to. Don't you have to pay a fee or something? And I still don't understand how in the hell it is a good idea to take away the power to leave a negative for a buyer.

jb143

05-20-2008, 05:10 PM

Feedback is now calculated as follows...

Positive feedback/(Positive+Negative+Neutral)
And it only uses feedbacks from the past 12 months.

So neutrals are pretty much the same as negatives now.

I don't think you have to pay to be a power seller. You have to meet a bunch of requirements though. Like selling so many items and making so much money each month. It's pretty hard to do unless your selling full time.

kainemaxwell

05-20-2008, 05:11 PM

I love how ebay is now going to take the side of Powersellers over everyone else. I feel sorry more for the PS' in other countries selling bootleg anime and other merchandise and the buyers get pissed over it, or if the item(s) never arrive.

My percentage ended up going up to 100%. Last neg I ever got was least 3-4 years ago.

Kitsune Sniper

05-20-2008, 05:33 PM

sirhansirhan

05-20-2008, 06:00 PM

My feedback went up from 99.1% to 100%, and I've probably sold more in the past year than I ever have any other year. So that's okay with me.

I hate the idea of not being able to leave buyers negative feedback. Granted, my three received negatives in the seven +/- years I've been using eBay have all been retaliatory from sellers, so from that angle it looks good, but I've left non-retaliatory negatives on buyers at least a couple of times.

jb143

05-20-2008, 06:29 PM

Can sellers still leave neutrals though? Since they are counted the same now and all...

Kitsune Sniper

05-20-2008, 06:37 PM

Can sellers still leave neutrals though? Since they are counted the same now and all...

Nope, just positives.

ryborg

05-20-2008, 08:02 PM

I don't think you have to pay to be a power seller. You have to meet a bunch of requirements though. Like selling so many items and making so much money each month. It's pretty hard to do unless your selling full time.

Don't forget that, come July, you also need to maintain at least a 4.5 in the Detailed Seller Rating (the stars) in all four categories.

I'm going to lose my Powerseller status when this becomes official because my Communication rating is 4.3. Give me a break. 98% of my transactions require no communication because I ship right away and the buyer receives the item right away. It's been at 4.3 ever since ebay went to the DSR system, and even though I respond to all valid emails, it never goes up. My S&H rating is 4.5, even though my shipping price is at least $1-2 cheaper than my direct competition.

All of these new rating categories aren't solving anything; they're just making the buyer decide that their transaction wasn't good enough. It used to be "Oh, sweet, my game just came." Now ebay wants the buyer to think, "Well, the item came in a few days, but look, he overcharged me $.81 in shipping! What an outrage! Also he didn't notify me of the exact second he shipped. I'm a busy guy, I can't be bothered to check my mailbox every single day for a package to arrive. I've give him a 2 in Communication."

The feedback changes make me sick. I've been a member since 1998 and to see my feedback percentage drop a ton because of new retarded rules is ridiculous. All of those neutrals from ebay newbies who say "got it thanks" are now counting against me. Makes sense. I used to not care about those, but now it's the same as leaving an accidental negative (which just happened to me two days ago... how does that happen????).

I could go on for hours ripping ebay for their idiotic changes, but I've already done so ad nauseum on the internet and when it comes down to it, I'm still going to sell because it's so profitable and easy.

rarebucky

05-20-2008, 10:33 PM

Cornelius

05-20-2008, 11:00 PM

All this does is mean that everyone is getting hit equally. So instead of looking for sellers with 99%+ feedback now people will look for 97%+. No one will have 100% anymore because buyers can leave negatives without fear of getting a negative themselves. It encourages bidders to not follow through and just speculate on items because there really is no downside. So yeah, these new changes are horrible.

That's assuming eBay does nothing (or very little) about non-paying buyers. I admit that that is likely, but I'm holding out hope they'll start doing something. Maybe remove FB if a non-paying buyer strike happens? I dunno, they at least say they are going to be more strict. Here's hoping we at least get that much.

carlcarlson

05-20-2008, 11:06 PM

Kitsune Sniper

05-20-2008, 11:35 PM

I just got my first taste of the new search method. The default is now "Best Match", which I assume just lists Power Sellers first. I had listings that were ending in three days coming up before ones ending in minutes. So now we have to change the sorting every time after we search? That is going to get old fast.

That's nothing.

If you're from ebay.com and want to show up as a best match on ebay.uk, you can do so by paying a small fee.

I got a postcard detailing this little scam a few days ago; it went into effect today.

jonjandran

05-20-2008, 11:36 PM

It encourages bidders to not follow through and just speculate on items because there really is no downside. So yeah, these new changes are horrible.

Nope. Three "non paying bidder" strikes and their account is suspended.

So they can only speculate three times.

sirhansirhan

05-21-2008, 12:04 AM

I just got my first taste of the new search method. The default is now "Best Match", which I assume just lists Power Sellers first. I had listings that were ending in three days coming up before ones ending in minutes. So now we have to change the sorting every time after we search? That is going to get old fast.

This has been the case for a little while. More than since yesterday, but maybe just a week or so, tops. And yeah, it sucks.

udisi

05-21-2008, 12:58 AM

I thought if you reported them as a non-paying bidder, that they were barred from leaving feedback now.

Bojay1997

05-21-2008, 01:09 AM

My feedback score went from 357 to 421 as a result of the change. I'm really not sure how that happened or why.

thetoxicone

05-21-2008, 02:53 AM

My feedback score went from 357 to 421 as a result of the change. I'm really not sure how that happened or why.

I gained a few as well from something like 320 to 350

carlcarlson

05-21-2008, 08:01 AM

Nope. Three "non paying bidder" strikes and their account is suspended.

So they can only speculate three times.

This was how it was handled already though. Personally I've always thought three strikes was very lenient because it basically means it's ok to do it twice. As a seller who has been on the wrong end of these things countless times, I would love for it to be a one shot/one kill kind of thing.

Dark_Sol

05-21-2008, 08:43 AM

my feedback went from 134 up to 173(!). But the percentage dropped.

Vroomfunkel

05-21-2008, 12:03 PM

My feedback score went from 357 to 421 as a result of the change. I'm really not sure how that happened or why.

Multiple feedback from the same user is now included, if the transactions are more than 1 week apart.

The 3 non-paying bidder strikes is only within a 6 month period. So a buyer can get two strikes, wait six months and have a clean record again.

jb143

05-21-2008, 12:10 PM

I know a lot of people are afraid to use ebay becasue they heard stories of people not getting items and so forth. I think this is where Ebay's thinking is comming from and I'm sure that we'll start seeing comercials to entice new buyers to register here pretty soon. Hinting that buyers can now get away with anything.

Ebay could care less about it's casual sellers becasue they know people will continue to use it. They do care about their power sellers but I think they care about their stock holders even more.

Sniderman

05-21-2008, 12:40 PM

I added another 20 FB points to my score, but I really liked my percentage going from 99.8% (3 retalitory FB negs left 3 years ago) to 100%.

norkusa

05-21-2008, 01:14 PM

jb143

05-21-2008, 01:40 PM

Ugh. I went from a 99.6% down to a 98.4%. And it's all because of a single Neutral someone left me a couple months ago (and it wasn't even my item, I was selling it for a friend).

I don't understand how this works. After 12 months, if my feedback stays the same, it'll go up to 100%? The overall percentage only applies to your last 12 months of feedback?

I believe that's correct. Only the past 12 months of feedbacks are used.

The same thing happened to me. A newbie bought a NES game from me and left a neutral saying "It's cool" so now I'm at 98.2%. They did that for all their first several purchaces.

winona2k

05-21-2008, 01:58 PM

lol,

my old account went from 80 to 191.

gum_drops

05-21-2008, 02:11 PM

Ugh. I went from a 99.6% down to a 98.4%. And it's all because of a single Neutral someone left me a couple months ago (and it wasn't even my item, I was selling it for a friend).

I don't understand how this works. After 12 months, if my feedback stays the same, it'll go up to 100%? The overall percentage only applies to your last 12 months of feedback?

Here, if you have a milkshake, and ebay has a milkshake, and they have a straw. There it is, that's a straw, you see? You watching?. And their straw reaches acroooooooss the internet, and starts to drink your milkshake... they... drink... your... milkshake! They drink it up!

Where were we? Oh yes, thats how the feedback works now. Its only based on the last 12 months. They might as well get rid of neutrals, they serve no purpose anymore.

norkusa

05-21-2008, 03:05 PM

Thanks for that explanation gum drops. I lol'd.

rarebucky

05-21-2008, 03:14 PM

This was how it was handled already though. Personally I've always thought three strikes was very lenient because it basically means it's ok to do it twice. As a seller who has been on the wrong end of these things countless times, I would love for it to be a one shot/one kill kind of thing.

So what's to stop someone from speculating multiple times, getting canned and setting up another account? This new system just makes it much easier for them to do this. I'm a power seller (bfd) and I can tell you these new changes suck.

Pantechnicon

05-21-2008, 06:15 PM

My feedback has gone from ~98.5. to 100%. Good. I've wanted to shake these for ages. The two negs I had as a seller were both from transactions that happened over six years ago, and both were completely retaliatory actions on the part of deadbeat buyers: one who fell off the face of the earth for seven weeks before sending payment, and one who was pissed because he sent me a Money Order that he made out to the completely wrong name and then had to fix himself.

Granted I don't do a lot of business on Ebay, something like only 75 transactions in ten years. But I, for one, think the changes have more upside than down. The adjustments to my own score are nice, but I wasn't sweating my current standing because these were harsh situations and I feel I was in the right.

Like I said, I don't do a lot of business on Ebay so I'd like it if some of you more high-volume seller types can shed some light concerning your own perceptions on something I don't understand.

The way I see it, a buyer on Ebay has only one obligation: to pay what he owes the seller in the allotted time frame to settle the bill. A buyer who does this has fulfilled what he is required to do and in both my mind and my practice that means positive feedback from a seller. When I sell, for instance, I post positive feedback immediately for the buyer once payment is received in the arranged schedule. Once this came back to bite me in the butt, when a buyer from Canada complained that what I sent him didn't work. I wound up refunding his money and received no feedback one way or another as a result. On the other hand, the buyer got a positive out of me and even though I think I got screwed on the deal in the end, he did what he was initially supposed to do: pay on time, and so I wouldn't change that feedback.

So when I'm a buyer, I personally find it very annoying when I don't receive positive feedback from a seller until after I've already done the same. Ebay says one reason for modifying the system is to cut down on sellers retaliating against buyers on feedback and to be honest, from the standpoint of the casual Ebayer that's exactly what my last ten or so purchases have felt like. I have never paid late for an item on Ebay. Not once. Whym then, should I be held hostage to the whims of a seller who's too insecure about their own stats? The worst of it is when you get a note from a seller reminding you to leave good feedback once you've received the item when they haven't done anything of the sort on your behalf. Maybe it's because they can't use the computer mouse and hold the pile of cash you just sent them at the same time?

Eh...that last line was sort of flippant, so let me rephrase it diplomatically: As a seller, what good reasons exist for you to not post, in a timely manner, positive feedback for a buyer who has paid you what he owes on time? I'm not going argue with anyone's responses. I'm just asking this question because I really don't know what answers might exist. Thanks in advance.

Cornelius

05-21-2008, 06:48 PM

Eh...that last line was sort of flippant, so let me rephrase it diplomatically: As a seller, what good reasons exist for you to not post, in a timely manner, positive feedback for a buyer who has paid you what he owes on time? I'm not going argue with anyone's responses. I'm just asking this question because I really don't know what answers might exist. Thanks in advance.
Because of exactly the situation where you got screwed. I don't consider the transaction complete until I know the buyer is satisfied. The easiest way to know that is to get positive feedback from them. And if they write me asking me to leave feedback first, it just seems fishy.

Really, though, because I'm small-time and keep track of stuff using 'my ebay', it is a pain to have old transactions still on my list, so as soon as I ship something, I remove it. It is a pain in the arse to even look up my old items at that point unless I get new feedback, at which point I can easily get to it through my own feedback page. Combine that with the fact that I don't really think a higher score is going to do anything much for me, and it is just easier this way.

Oh, and I used to feel exactly as you do, but since I started selling more, I've done a 180 on that stance.

jb143

05-21-2008, 07:06 PM

The only buyers I've really ever had problems with is the ones who never contacted me with their problems. The ones that think everyone is out to get them so if anything goes wrong in the slightest they give negative feedback or file a complaint with paypal and ebay. And it was always something that could have easily been cleared up if only they let me know. Like for instance...one of my auctions said that I was shipping by media mail and that checks must clear before I ship. So what do they do? They leave me a negative about a few days after I let them know that I got their check. That feedback was the only contact they had with me.

To me, this new system seem like it's going bring out more of those buyers because there's not much sellers can do about it now.

gum_drops

05-21-2008, 07:36 PM

The whole feedback system needs a overhaul. There should be a console. As a buyer you shouldnt be able to leave a negative right away, they should be a communication console that you have to go through. I think this would be especially useful to new buyers who dont understand ebay yet.

IE: Similar to a Paypal dispute. You enter your complaint, the seller then has XXX days to respond, say 2-3 days. Once the seller responds the buyer must send one more message. Upon sending the 2nd message the buyer can then leave negative FB or continue discussion if desired. If the seller doesnt respond the buyer isnt required to send a 2nd message and can leave a negative.

One of the main reasons I always waited in the past to leave feedback as a seller was that many times bidders, usually with little or no feedback would jump the gun with the negatives, and later realize they were too hasty.

Lets say a buyer gets a game that doesnt work and negs me without contacting me first. I am then forced to ask them to file a mutual agreement, upon doing so I will then refund/replace the game. That just happened a few days ago. He realized he jumped the gun, agreed to retract the fb and I am going to send him replacement discs tomorrow.

Since they removed the mutual agreement that isnt an option anymore, which is pretty lame for obvious reasons.

Ebay.com "Since only buyers can leave negative Feedback, the Mutual Feedback Withdrawal process could be used as a tool for Extortion - buyer leaves negative first, then removes once satisfied."

So whats to stop a buyer from threatening to just leave the neg as extortion, if thats the issue. That a shitty excuse ebay, try again.

Getting a broken/wrong/missing item really pisses off people, they get those endorphins going and look for quick retaliation, they later they cool off and reason sets in. We have all done it on ebay or at some point in life. I have done it before, and usually regret not trying to work it out with a more reasonable approach a couple hours/day later.

Ebay: "7 day waiting period before a buyer can leave negative or neutral Feedback for PowerSellers who have been on site for at least 12 months."

This is more BS, what about the rest of us, just the powersellers, thanks for that shot in the ribs ebay.

Ebay.com "Our best performing sellers (read powersellers) to differentiate themselves fromall other sellers (read the rest of us non powerselling filth) and increase the amount of business they receive as buyers gravitate towards them."

MarioMania

05-21-2008, 08:17 PM

did this all happened when the new guy came in ebay

ryborg

05-21-2008, 09:49 PM

As a seller, what good reasons exist for you to not post, in a timely manner, positive feedback for a buyer who has paid you what he owes on time?

Because honestly, some buyers are absolute morons and can't be trusted to finish the transaction like a civilized human being.

A good transaction on the buyer's side ends with a prompt payment. A bad transaction on the buyer's side does not end there. gum_drops gave a good example with a supposed non-working game and there are MANY other common "bad buyer" scenarios that sellers have to deal with on a regular basis.

* The mistaken feedback. Some buyers STILL don't know how to use feedback properly. I just dealt with a woman who leaves ALL sellers neutrals with comments like "Thanks!" I emailed her a few times and managed to have it Mutually Removed right before the deadline. She admitted she had no idea what she was doing. There are also plenty of buyers who use feedback as communication. I think most sellers have received the neutral with the comment "hey have you shipped my item yet?" These people are terrible and deserve negs.

* Fraudulent/"out of the blue" Paypal chargebacks, typically from buyers who didn't read the item description/don't understand the item. I sell adult and youth-sized clothing. It's pretty much guaranteed that at least a few times a year, I am going to get a neg/chargeback saying they got a youth size instead of adult or vice versa. Keep in mind it says the size in the title, item description, and item details, not to mention all the photos I take. These people are terrible and deserve negs.

*Various uncategorized buyer stupidity. Last fall, a buyer went nuts and tried a chargeback when an overnighted item didn't arrive for over a week. I mailed it as stated and gave him the tracking number. Turns out he wasn't there any of the days the post office attempted delivery and it was sitting at his post office. Turns out the same situation happened to him with two other sellers, and we all got negged. Yeah, we deserved that. Just last month I got a neg that literally was (this is a direct quote) "shipping said one day it has been 3 days." Yes, they thought my listed shipping time of one day was how long it would take an item to arrive. These people are terrible and deserve negs.

I have a million more examples but I hope you see my point. I used to leave feedback in large bunches, usually once a month or so. I'm done leaving feedback as a seller now. There's no point.

ALAKA

05-22-2008, 12:22 AM

This has been the case for a little while. More than since yesterday, but maybe just a week or so, tops. And yeah, it sucks.

I just got my first taste of the new search method. The default is now "Best Match", which I assume just lists Power Sellers first. I had listings that were ending in three days coming up before ones ending in minutes. So now we have to change the sorting every time after we search? That is going to get old fast.

You can customize the display back to what is was before the change. It's right next to the sort by link you get when you do a search for an item. That way it will always come up the way you prefer.

Steven

05-22-2008, 01:38 AM

All I gotta say is, just like with GameTZ and most everything else with this hobby, I'm glad I used eBay when I did. It was a lovely thing, particularly in years past, and I feel sorry for those just getting into this hobby at a time where things are just getting eff'ed up.

I'm very grateful I used the service when it was really good.

unwinddesign

05-22-2008, 03:41 AM

@Pantechnicon: You're absolutely right. The buyer has no other obligations whatsoever. I've always found it to be a bit bullshitty when sellers won't leave feedback prior to my leaving them a positive. I've sold 1500+ items on eBay in the last few years, and 99% of the time I leave feedback right after they pay, or the day I put the item in the mail. They've done their part.

The other part of me wants to say "no wait -- fuck this new system!" It's precisely like the Amazon Marketplace (which is exactly what eBay is becoming -- seriously, take a comparison, many would be surprised). If you look at the sellers on Amazon, all their ratings are MAX 4.7 or 4.8, because people leave stupid negatives and stupid 4.0s/5. But even there, buyers can remove feedback. Not being able to do that on eBay is going to screw up a lot of ratings. I liked the "differentness" of eBay, the customization options, the true control over your own destiny (so to speak) you had. If you were nice and shit, you could easily maintain 100% feedback, make a good clip of money, and have few run-ins with people. I didn't do that, since I tend not to back down and take shit from asshole buyers, so my rating was 99.9%. Big deal. Now it's 98.9% because of eBay's new calculation system, and it will probably drop, since the chance of me getting a negative/neutral, even with a FULL refund policy (including S&H back to me) is exceptionally high. I mean, hell, I'll leave sellers a lot more negatives now, I can tell you that much -- I always did, I always was honest, and I always got a retalitory piece of trivial crap shot back at me. Now, with all the power buyers have, it's much less attractive as a [bad] seller to be on there. I have not been ripped off many times in the 400+ eBay purchases I've made (once, I think, although it was for like 200+ dollars). So I'm not sure all these precautions and shit are necessary.

It's really a mixed bag, overall. I think they don't do much at the end of the day. It won't affect me all that much; I sell about 300 items a summer, and pull in about 2k. I don't think that'll change. My feedback rating will probably hover around 99%, now, which sucks, but if that's the new way of doing things, I can deal with it.

@ryborg: In all my experiences, I've only had 1 mistaken feedback left (neutral), a couple retaliation feedback from sellers, a neg because I refunded someone instead of shipping something out, and a neg because a game came DOA and the dude didn't read my full return policy. I've never had a Paypal chargeback or anything of the sort. Are the instances of you getting fucked really that high? I mean, obviously it sucks when people leave neutral feedback with comments like "I love it. Great seller!" but are they prevalent enough that it's a huge problem? I just don't see it as a huge risk for knocking down my overall rating.

Vroomfunkel

05-22-2008, 06:31 AM

Eh...that last line was sort of flippant, so let me rephrase it diplomatically: As a seller, what good reasons exist for you to not post, in a timely manner, positive feedback for a buyer who has paid you what he owes on time? I'm not going argue with anyone's responses. I'm just asking this question because I really don't know what answers might exist. Thanks in advance.

To encourage buyers to actually contact me before leaving an immediate negative for a problem that (a) may well have been completely out of my control and (b) I would be perfectly willing to sort out, if they would only bother to contact me.

Case in point: I sold a boxed Nomad a while back to a guy in Italy. I packaged the thing up to the eyeballs, padding inside the box, around the box, inside another box. I posted it via a priority airmail service, fully insured.

Next thing I know, he leaves me a negative because "Package damaged, with problems video". Without contacting me. I emailed him to ask what the problem was, and to say that if he kept hold of the packaging, I would be more than happy to sort out an insurance claim. No reply.

The fact of the matter is, there are idiots out there who will perfectly happily neg a seller for something that is not their fault, and for a matter that is perfectly resolvable, without even making contact with the seller. That is not acceptable. Unfortunately, the only means at my disposal to try to persuade buyers like this to let me sort out any problems they might have was to wait until the transaction is fully completed (i.e. until I know they have received and are happy with the goods) before giving my feedback.

SpyHunter

05-22-2008, 09:00 AM

The fact of the matter is, there are idiots out there who will perfectly happily neg a seller for something that is not their fault, and for a matter that is perfectly resolvable, without even making contact with the seller. That is not acceptable. Unfortunately, the only means at my disposal to try to persuade buyers like this to let me sort out any problems they might have was to wait until the transaction is fully completed (i.e. until I know they have received and are happy with the goods) before giving my feedback.

There are also too many sellers out there who hold feedback hostage and that is not acceptable either. I always contact the seller first if I have a problem, but now, when I buy, I don't have to be afraid of leaving HONEST feedback in fear of getting a retaliatory negative.

Vroomfunkel

05-22-2008, 12:43 PM

Good for you. Of course, you were never prevented from leaving honest feedback to start with, you were just too scared to. The fact is that as a buyer, negative feedback doesn't really mean anything anyway - the effect is pretty much entirely psychological, it doesn't actually affect your ability to carry on buying stuff. Whereas for a seller, negative feedback has a big impact on the willingness of other people to buy from you.

Therefore, in practical terms, an unjustified negative has a much bigger and more detrimental impact on a seller than on a buyer. I don't condone purely retaliatory negatives from sellers or buyers - but I certainly don't see how things are going to be made better by simply making it so that buyers can hold sellers hostage.

Not to mention, it will make it incredibly easy for those without scruples to attack a competing seller .. just sign up a couple of buying accounts, win a few items and leave negative feedbacks, and zero star ratings bringing their score down - and the seller won't even be able to leave a negative comment, because apparently now buyers can do no wrong.

DreamTR

05-22-2008, 01:49 PM

Some woman decided to file claims against me on PayPal for items delivered within 3 days to her house after I sent tracking via the PayPal site. She decides to negative me anyway based on the fact that I told her her items had been delivered, and she decided to leave 5 negatives, all which state the products arrived promptly, but I was rude when dealing with her. Yeah. Great feedback changes for Buyers since they can just buy and act this way. Real good job.

coreys429

05-22-2008, 02:44 PM

Because honestly, some buyers are absolute morons and can't be trusted to finish the transaction like a civilized human being.

* Fraudulent/"out of the blue" Paypal chargebacks, typically from buyers who didn't read the item description/don't understand the item. I sell adult and youth-sized clothing. It's pretty much guaranteed that at least a few times a year, I am going to get a neg/chargeback saying they got a youth size instead of adult or vice versa. Keep in mind it says the size in the title, item description, and item details, not to mention all the photos I take. These people are terrible and deserve negs.

I have a million more examples but I hope you see my point. I used to leave feedback in large bunches, usually once a month or so. I'm done leaving feedback as a seller now. There's no point.

The middle of the information of above got me to quit doing ebay. I sold some 45s (record singles) anyways, 6 Beatles 45s for sale. I placed in the auction they weren't mint, and had scratches in them. The bidder placed the final bid at $45 for the 6. I shipped it out, and a few days later I was getting a paypal claim stating that I lied saying the records were mint. He wanted his money back. I wasn't going to pay because it states that the records were playable even being scratched and its his fault for not paying attention. Paypal got his side and paid him the $45. Now I have to pay paypal because I was in the wrong. This incident turned me off from ebay and Paypal and I haven't used it in 9 months or so.

ryborg

05-22-2008, 04:03 PM

@ryborg: In all my experiences, I've only had 1 mistaken feedback left (neutral), a couple retaliation feedback from sellers, a neg because I refunded someone instead of shipping something out, and a neg because a game came DOA and the dude didn't read my full return policy. I've never had a Paypal chargeback or anything of the sort. Are the instances of you getting fucked really that high? I mean, obviously it sucks when people leave neutral feedback with comments like "I love it. Great seller!" but are they prevalent enough that it's a huge problem? I just don't see it as a huge risk for knocking down my overall rating.

Well, no, of course it's not a huge problem, but it's enough of an annoyance where I choose to not leave feedback first. I sell a lot of items that attract kids, idiots and foreigners, so I have to deal with childish and stupid behavior, along with people who don't speak a word of English. It doesn't bother me because I realize it's part of dealing with random people from around the globe.

You've sold 1500+ items and you've never had to deal with a chargeback attempt? Wow, you must deal with some smart customers. I swear every 100th customer I have says/does something unfathomably stupid. My funny folder in my Gmail account has like 700+ emails in it.

The middle of the information of above got me to quit doing ebay.

Yeah, I understand. I sell a ton of not-new items (usually clothing), and people still think that their item will be brand spanking new with tags, no matter how much you stress the actual item's condition. Too many people simply do not read and there's nothing you can do about it.

unwinddesign

05-22-2008, 07:57 PM

I think I've just been fortunate in that I mainly sell Dreamcast games, and that market doesn't generally attract a lot of idiots and shit who don't know how to use eBay. The Dreamcast is pretty obscure to most folks, and eBay is pretty much the only way to get a game or a system, so you'd best know how to use it (at least on a very basic level) if you want to find what you're looking for. But yeah, with all the stories about chargebacks and all that, I would definetely think I would have fallen victim to one by now. Guess it's not worth it on a $4.99 copy of NFL 2K2. :p

vintagegamecrazy

05-23-2008, 02:38 AM

This sucks hardcore for me, my feedback was 98.9% and it fell to 93.2%!!!. I haven't sold too much stuff over the last year and now it'll take forever to bring that back up. On top of that I had a bout with a dead printer and I had to transfer cash to my bank account in order to ship the packages at the post office and it delayed shipping. Work is slow for me now and I was going to become a power seller but 93.2% feedback and a 3.9 on shipping and forget it. I got two neutrals lately, one the butt didn't leave a comment so I don't even know what the heck he left it for and the other was for an item that was presumable damaged in shipping, I told the lady I would make it right or refund it. I never heard back from her to actually pay her back and have her ship the item back to me and what do you know, she leaves me a neutral saying that I sold her damaged goods and never followed through with making it right.

E(tard)bay your just brilliant aren't you. Great job on screwing anyone who wants to sell something and isn't a power seller now. I have no way of becoming one ever now. I will have to just sell my stuff casually from now on.

These changes SUCK!!!

unwinddesign

05-23-2008, 04:48 AM

gum_drops

05-23-2008, 02:05 PM

Just make a new account. They changed the requirements for becoming a powerseller, so it's actually a bit easier now.

Until they threw this new monkey wrench into the workings

"New requirement effective July 2008: have maintained a rating of 4.5 or higher for the past 12 months"

Does this mean you will need to wait a year after opening a new account before becoming a powerseller?

jb143

05-23-2008, 02:53 PM

It's should actually be easier to raise your regular feedback score now. Just buy a lot of cheap stuff over a short time period. Sellers can't leave you negatives so all you'll get is positive. Since they only count the past year the positive to total feedback ratio will be higher.

The star rating won't work this way though since you'd have to sell stuff, but if you sell the stuff you just bought and be extra extra carefull with shipping charges and all that, then that rating should shoot up as well.

ryborg

05-23-2008, 06:17 PM

Does this mean you will need to wait a year after opening a new account before becoming a powerseller?

No, but you'll have to sell a good amount to make the minimum gross monthly amount required to be a Powerseller. Whenever you reach that limit, as long as your star ratings are 4.5 and over, you'll qualify. I don't have the info handy, but I would imagine it could be as soon as two months.

I am trying to sell as much stuff as possible while I'm still a Powerseller. I wonder how strict ebay will be in terms of booting Powersellers from the program who no longer qualify. Almost all of my colleagues who are full-time ebayers are also in line to lose Powerseller status. It's pretty ridiculous.

jb143

06-04-2008, 03:47 PM

I just noticed another problem with ebays new feedback system.

I havn't been listing any items lately. Last June I listed a lot of items and in October I got one uncalled for neutral feedback. So what's been happening is each day I loose some of my positives becasue they are now more than a year old and my feedback score has been dropping becasue of it. If I don't get more feedback untill October this will continue. I guess at that point it jump back up to 100% but that's not the point. I don't understand how feedback ratings can be used to judge if you want to do buisness with someone anymore. Guess I'll have to buy or list even more items to keep my feedback up...which I'm sure ebay likes the idea of.