Sellers can no longer have private feedback!

[Kitsune Sniper]

This update was taken from eBay's announcement thingy.


***Restricted Use of Private Feedback***

October 02, 2006 | 12:07PM PST/PT

Brian Burke
Hi... I'm Brian Burke, Senior Marketplace Policy Manager for Feedback.

Feedback is the cornerstone of trust on the eBay marketplace. A seller's Feedback provides buyers the opportunity to make informed decisions about their bids and purchases. It helps instill buyer confidence, and it helps protect the marketplace against fraud.

We believe that buyers should have access to a seller's complete Feedback record before choosing to trade with that seller. For this reason we are restricting selling activities for members who have private Feedback. This is a global change and will affect all eBay sites. The expected date of this change is October 26, 2006.

What will change

* Members who have private Feedback profiles will no longer be allowed to list items after this change goes into effect. Only members with public Feedback profiles will be permitted to list items.
* Any items listed before the change will not be impacted. However, they may not be re-listed by sellers who keep their Feedback profiles private.
* Members who wish to make their Feedback profiles private can still do so. However, they must cancel any existing listings, and they will not be allowed to create new listings as long as their Feedback is private.

It's easy to make your Feedback profile public – just sign in and click on the "Make my profile public" option.

Why we're making this change
eBay offers the ability for members to make their Feedback private as an option when they have significant concerns about a comment. They can hide their comments in this way until they are able to resolve the issue. (Read about Mutual Feedback Withdrawal).

Buyers should have all the information available about their prospective sellers' past trading histories. This helps them make knowledgeable choices about doing business with that seller. Prohibiting members with private Feedback profiles from listing items will ensure we help maintain a safe and well-lit marketplace.

Whether you're a buyer or a seller, your Feedback Profile is a valuable asset that helps earn the trust of other eBay members. We strongly encourage members to keep their Feedback profiles public so everyone in the marketplace can benefit from the Feedback other eBay Community members have left them.

Sincerely,
Brian Burke

Good thing? Bad thing? Discuss, please. :)

[jajaja]

Its a good thing for the buyers of course. I like to see why the seller have recived negative feedback (if any) before i decide to buy. When i see a seller with private feedback i wonder what he/she have to hide. If it is to hide whats been bought they can just make a new account for buying only. Altho this doesnt help me (unless u live in Germany etc.) since you can just do a 30 day search and see everything they have won and bid on the last 30 days.

[Steven]

All in all it's a good thing for the whole of the eBay community and this is coming from a guy who currently has privatized (is that even a word, heh) his feedback. I've been asked many times before why I keep mine private and it's simply because of a moody snoopy older brother who doesn't like to see what kind of $$ I throw at "old stupid games."

Anyway, I was planning on making it public sometime this month or next, so this news from eBay doesn't affect me any more. As for my brother, I think he stopped snooping on my account but since I can never be sure, I have left it up. But my major buying days are pretty much over so it works out nicely.

But back to the new rule: I like it, in a nutshell. Except for rare circumstances (i.e. me) there's no reason to keep one's feedback private, unless you're trying to hide something.

Also, I've sold a lot in 2006, much more than before and I'm an eBay user since 1999. My auctions tend to end low, and I guess it's mostly due to the private feedback. So once I publicize it, my auctions will end higher most likely.

Good move by eBay

[50TBRD]

Doesn't it only pertain to selling and not to buying or did I miss something? It seems that you can have a privatized account and buy as much as you want without having to publicize your accout.

Most of the time that I see that someone has private feedback its because they sell bootlegs or illegal items. That's just my personal experience.

Don't really care either way.

[stonic]

.....

[Steven]

Doesn't it only pertain to selling and not to buying or did I miss something? It seems that you can have a privatized account and buy as much as you want without having to publicize your accout.

Yeah, you can keep FB private if you buy only, but you aren't permitted to sell with private FB

[Felixthegamer]

I think this is a good deal. I never have bidded on an item or dealt with anybody who had private feedback. I figured it was shady. Now if that is true or not, I don't know, but that's what I figured. I am sure there are legitimate reasons to do it though as mention by Steven, hiding it from a brother

[/b/tard]

I think it was stupid when eBay introduced private feedback in the first place. Nobody's feedback should be private, because feedback is what helps keep eBay safe. I don't think eBay should enforce this rule on only sellers. It should be everybody, or nobody.

But still, I'd say this is an overall good move by eBay.

[/b/tard]

I think it was stupid when eBay introduced private feedback in the first place. Nobody's feedback should be private, because feedback is what helps keep eBay safe. I don't think eBay should enforce this rule on only sellers. It should be everybody, or nobody.

But still, I'd say this is an overall good move by eBay.

[ryborg]

I've been asked many times before why I keep mine private and it's simply because of a moody snoopy older brother who doesn't like to see what kind of $$ I throw at "old stupid games."

You know he can still easily check your bidding history within the last 30 days, right? Having private feedback only makes your feedback private, not everything you do.

This is a good move by ebay, but like others have said, they need to go the whole nine yards and disallow it completely. The only people who would be upset are sellers who sell bootlegs/trash or who are terrible sellers to begin with and are hiding.
________
Lamborghini Islero (http://www.lamborghini-tech.com/wiki/Lamborghini_Islero)

[yok-dfa]

You know he can still easily check your bidding history within the last 30 days, right?
That depends. In some countries with more strict privacy laws this feature has been disabled by eBay (Germany comes to mind for example)

[ryborg]

You know he can still easily check your bidding history within the last 30 days, right?
That depends. In some countries with more strict privacy laws this feature has been disabled by eBay (Germany comes to mind for example)

There used to be a workaround where you log into the US version of ebay (instead of .ca, .uk, etc etc) to check the bidding history of foreign accounts. I haven't tried this recently, however, and ebay is always changing their code for search pages, usually for worse rather than better.
________
REFLEX SYMPATHETIC DYSTROPHY FORUMS (http://www.health-forums.org/reflex-sympathetic-dystrophy/)

[jajaja]

It doesnt work, ive tried long time ago (i mentioned the german thing too early in the post btw hehe :P)

[Speedy_NES]

You know he can still easily check your bidding history within the last 30 days, right?
That depends. In some countries with more strict privacy laws this feature has been disabled by eBay (Germany comes to mind for example)

There used to be a workaround where you log into the US version of ebay (instead of .ca, .uk, etc etc) to check the bidding history of foreign accounts. I haven't tried this recently, however, and ebay is always changing their code for search pages, usually for worse rather than better.
Yeah, this did work at one point, but no longer works ;)

I wonder if this policy change has a worldwide affect? Tons of users on German eBay have private feedback, so I'm curious if they will have to make theirs public, too. I can see it happening that a lot of sellers will be opening up new eBay accounts for buying :)

One main reason why people make their feedback private, is because they don't want others to see what they have been buying. There are spots on eBay where you can find great deals, and many buyers don't like to share those spots by having people check their recently won items from their feedback page. Considering that many people do this, and many also sell items, I would never assume a seller with a private feedback rating is hiding anything of potential danger to a buyer (unless they received a ton of negatives in the past).

[Daria]

And I really don't understand why they would exclude sellers. And if you both sell and buy items, that would mean it would be public only when you're actually selling something.

Yeah. The article says if you have private feedback and wish to post a new listing you can't until you make your feedback public again.

[gepeto]

That should have never been an option to begin with. It defeated the whole purpose, I am suprised it too this long. What was the point to begin with?

[philosophyst]

That should have never been an option to begin with. It defeated the whole purpose, I am suprised it too this long. What was the point to begin with?


Yeah, I must say, private feedback is a strange idea. I was reading through this topic and couldn't help but think of people going to apply for a job and the employer asking to run a criminal background......

"Uh....no....I have chosen to make that private." LOL

[Speedy_NES]

eBay should allow users to make the items linked to the feedback private while leaving the actual feedback comments visible -- that would be a nice solution for a lot of eBayers.