New eBay Feedback System

[ChronoTriggaFoo]

http://pages.ebay.com/services/forum/fb-main.html

What does everyone think of the new feedback system (for North America at least; I know it was already in place in the U.K.). I like how it is a supplement to the system already in place. Seems obvious this was heavily influenced by Amazon's system, and I wonder if someday eBay may choose to eliminate the black and white system of just positive/negative ratings. Unlikely since it was distinctively different from Amazon's feedback system and it's been their staple since 1995.

[ryborg]

This is actually the first I've heard of it. When does it become official? My feedback page still looks the same and I just left a normal positive for a seller a few minutes ago.

I really don't care for the 5-star rating system. It's hard to read, but is "Postage and Packaging Charges" a category in that screenshot? Is that really necessary? Same with "Communication." ~95% of my selling transactions go down without any communication at all. They pay, I ship within 24 hours (usually), they receive the item, everyone is happy. Do I get 5 stars for communication even though I didn't say a word to the buyer?

This is going to make buyers think too hard if they're really happy with the transaction. It used to be "Wow, the item came in the mail fast, great!" Now it looks like we'll be seeing "Well, the item came fast and is as described, but the seller didn't email me the morning of shipment, and overcharged me $1.09 on shipping. I've giving him three stars!"

In the past, clueless buyers would leave an unwarranted neg, it'd hurt your average, but you'd move on. No big deal. Now, brain-dead trogolodytes will leave a neg AND give you one-stars across the board, hurting 5 averages instead of 1.

[jajaja]

Its been active for atleast some weeks in UK. I think its nice, but dont know how much its actually needed. Its a good way to rank people who ship slow and/or take too much in shipping tho

[scorch56]

I saw something like this coming about a year ago when I got a notice in My Account saying that eBay was going to start making an effort to thwart people who overcharge on shipping. Most people totally overlooked that newsletter and I; at the time.. was wondering how they possibly could. Back then.. they simply asked for everyone's cooperation.. and said they would give more interest to reports.. but I knew they wouldn't have the manpower or time to do it.

Sooo.. good ol' evilBay.. in their infinite wisdom decided.. "Why don't we do what we always do when we want something done but don't want to do it ourselves? Let our customers do it for US!"

The past few months.. I have been known to use the "charge more for S&H.. less for the BIN price" method on eat-me-bay.. not to stick it to buyers (the total end price remains the same).. but to take a little more revenue AWAY from enemaBay. I haven't had a single buyer complain of my charges because in every auction I simply asked them to figure the BIN or winning bid PLUS S&H as their total they are willing to pay. Of course.. now that they can comment specifically about this aspect of a sale.. all of that will go out the window.

In the end.. the bottom line was money lost to themselves.. THAT was their motivation.. it ALWAYS is. What with the new SYI form.. which I totally detest, and this other new change.. I'm REALLY looking for ward to the day when I finish selling my collection off and no longer have need for them. I can't wait to tell them to go fuck themselves. I LOATHE eBay.. in case you hadn't noticed.

[Anthony1]

I saw something like this coming about a year ago when I got a notice in My Account saying that eBay was going to start making an effort to thwart people who overcharge on shipping.

I just don't understand the whole overcharging for shipping thing. Who is that dude?


WHO IS THAT DUDE????


What dude?


THE DUDE THAT PUT THE GUN TO YOUR HEAD AND FORCED YOU TO BID ON AN ITEM WITH HIGHER SHIPPING????


I mean come on. If you have the slightest brain at all, when you first look at an item on Ebay, you immediately add the current bid price to the shipping, and that's how much the item costs. If somebody has a $1 bid price and $9 shipping, then it's $10. If somebody has a $9 bid price and a $1 shipping, it's $10. I just don't get how people don't comprehend that.

[riffraff]

I'm in favor of it. I always ship stuff the same or next day of payment, package everything extremely well and describe what I'm selling exactly with no surprises. I'd like to see this reflected on my feedback.

I got a package today, cost $6.05 to ship, seller charged me $19 (hid the shipping charges in the "Sellers payment info" at the bottom of the page where it was easy to overlook). Packaging was some paper toweling that smelled as if it were pissed on by a donkey. Shipping was slow, not only the shipping time but he didn't even send it off until 5 days after the auction was over. The manuals that were mailed were reported as "MINT" but were far from it (no tears but aged and some wrinkles.. hardly "MINT"). The game I got was missing a lot of pieces, and although it wasn't described as "complete", the photos from the auction led me to beleive it was.

I'd like to be able to have a potential buyer know the difference between how sellers treat them and their goods and how accurate items are described. If this new feedback system can do that, then I'm all for it.

[scorch56]

I just don't understand the whole overcharging for shipping thing. Who is that dude?


WHO IS THAT DUDE????


What dude?


THE DUDE THAT PUT THE GUN TO YOUR HEAD AND FORCED YOU TO BID ON AN ITEM WITH HIGHER SHIPPING????


I mean come on. If you have the slightest brain at all, when you first look at an item on Ebay, you immediately add the current bid price to the shipping, and that's how much the item costs. If somebody has a $1 bid price and $9 shipping, then it's $10. If somebody has a $9 bid price and a $1 shipping, it's $10. I just don't get how people don't comprehend that.

Well.. I had typed out this long diatribe wherein I was going to tell you I agreed wholeheartedly with you on this point of view, and explain my current reasoning and situation.. must've taken me a whole 15 minutes; but then I must've hit the wrong friggin' key and it sent the browser back a page and I lost all of it <heavy sigh>.

.. so yeah.. I agree.

[scorch56]

Here's what I've been putting in every one of my auctions for the last 3 months.. no complaints yet:

"I DO NOT charge exact postage only. You pay what is quoted.. by estimate. I do not possess a postal scale so my quotes are usually estimates. If it costs more than I quote.. I "eat" the difference. If it costs a little less.. I don't refund the difference. It's that simple.. so PLEASE factor the stated cost of S&H into what you are willing to bid and don't complain if you see lower postage on your item than what you paid."

In the end.. I also ask people to look at my feedback.. it speaks for itself. I package according to shipping method chosen and I'm usually prompt.. 'nuff said.

[rik1138]

Yeah, there's the logic that it's the buyers fault for bidding on something without looking at the price of shipping first... But the reason I get annoyed by it is when someone is selling a loose Lynx cartridge and charging $20 shipping. This is OBVIOUS fraud (against Ebay), and at least some sellers are betting on the fact that some people just won't read the tiny details of their shipping charges. Then they'll eat the cost to avoid a negative feedback if they care about it.

I think ebay should just simply charge their final-value credit on the auction price + shipping. The only people that this will really tick off are people that already hate Ebay, so who cares... Not that I want to pay more money to Ebay, but for most people that don't inflate their shipping charges, this will only add pennies to the final-value charge. And it will put a stop to people selling PSPs for $1 + $220 shipping.

The other time I get really annoyed by this is when I ask for an explaination of their cost, and they tell me they have to pay for the box, packing material, labels, etc. Then when I get it, it's in a free Priority mail box, packed with old newspaper and using the free Priority mail labels and tape... I would actually prefer if the people just had the balls to say 'Yeah, I'm over charging you becuase I think it's worth more.' I could then at least respect them for being a slime...

Rik

[samael64]

What bothers me is when sellers charge too much for shipping when the BIN or starting bid are already at normal or slightly high prices. And the sellers whom force you to pay extra for insurance and what not but do not actually purchase said services when they ship the item. That has happend to me at least twice.

[ryborg]

And the sellers whom force you to pay extra for insurance and what not but do not actually purchase said services when they ship the item.

Yeah, this bothers me too, especially when I'm buying something valuable (whether the seller knows it or not!) or fragile. I paid for the insurance, so I want the item insured. As a seller, I know firsthand that it only takes a few seconds longer to do. The good thing is that it is now an ebay-approved reportable offense.