[Rachel]

Hi guys

Anyone else see the news about Ebay changing the rules soon so that sellers won't be able to leave a negative feedback for the buyer. They give the reason it is to stop sellers being able to give a negative as retaliation.

Personally, I don't agree with it. We don't really sell much these days but even as a buyer I think it totally defeats the whole objective of a fair sytem. I amsure we will just see many more transactions not completed because the buyer backs out after the end of the auction.

Any opinions?

[SmurfingH]

Personally, I think they should let it be. I think sellers need to be able to leave negative feedback. Yes there are some unscrupulous sellers out there but there are also plenty of buyers only too willing to take advantage. Taking power away from sellers is not the solution.

[paolo]

I think it's a better thing for buyers, as being ebay driven by seller's commissions, as of now the sellers had too much protection: having the buyer to pay first, having to leave feedbacks first and almost all the times leaving positives to avoid retaliation.
I don't sell on ebay, so I appreciate this thing, but I've heard that sellers are really pi**ed off by this.

[Smurfysmurf]

wow...I agree I don't think that is a good idea, it leaves the seller with nothing

I am sure they could find a way to make sure the negative feedback is not retaliotary...but not to be able to leave it at all is not good

It'll hurt ebay in the end..because not many sellers are willing to risk that some nutcase will bid on their items, not pay but leave negative feedback

[smurfieduck]

I don't agree with this but something does need to be done about retaliatory feedback. I had 100% feedback on my Ebay account for ages until a seller left me a retaliatory feedback and there is nothing I can 'currently' do about it. The seller was totally in the wrong and deserved my negative but I certainly didn't deserve to receive one back.

I really don't know what the solution is though????

[Pitufo]

I only had troubles with two sellers: one is a member here (hope he can read this ), and with a spanish seller...I want to go on with my 100% positive feedback, and for avoiding a retaliatory feedback, I prefer not to vote to the seller...I know this is not the right way to help other next buyers, but

[SmurfingH]

Joaquin, I do the same!

[FlamingO]

After some reflection I think this may be a good thing, or at least better than the current system

I feel far more frustration as a buyer than I do as a seller and I probably buy and sell equally and reguarly.

I am the same as Joaquin and Hilary, and don't leave negative feedback as a buyer for fear of retaliation. Hopefully this will encourage sellers to put a bit more thought and honesty into their descriptions and provide a better service Three times I've received smurfs that weren't even the one photographed (eg. I now don't have my safari variation as I was sent the normal one - and the seller won't respond to my e-mails ).

I don't mind non-paying buyers too much as you can always offer it to the next highest bidder and at least you still have your item

[Rachel]

I can certainly understand the frustrations of not wanting a negative as retaliation but I still think taking the option of negative feedback away is unfair. I remember there were a couple of occsions where we had to leave negatives when we were selling, just down to the fact the buyers kept sending forms of payment we didn't accept such as USA cheques even though we explained several times.

There is always the sneaky way of leaving the negative feedback for a seller on the 89th or 90th day so they don't have a chance to return it.

If Ebay was doing a good job they would be able to deal with a buyer complaining about a retaliation.

[Smurfysmurf]

I have noticed as a buyer it usually helps to contact the seller....I had a case of a lost Musical santa and Musical angel recently which was a real bummer, but the seller was honest enough to send me the money back...of course I would have prefered not to have those two smurfs be lost in the mail

I have also put a "not as described item" claim in before and usually won it..one time I had to return the item, but another time the seller agreed to partially refund me the money since I wanted to keep the item but not for as much money as he charged, so we agreed on a partial refund

I do think ebay should extend the deadline to file a claim...I wanted to give a Canadian seller enough time to ship a smurf to me, but when I decided to give up, it was too late to file a claim...I did however leave negative feedback in that case, which I rarely do...not because they don't earn it but because I always look to work something out, and most of the time the sellers want to do that, too

[smurfieduck]

I did however leave negative feedback in that case, which I rarely do...not because they don't earn it but because I always look to work something out, and most of the time the sellers want to do that, too

Yes, I am the same, Moey. I leave giving negative feedback as the VERY last option and that's when I have tried everything else.

The thing is, my most recent experience of getting a retaliatory negative, was after I messaged the seller on numerous occasions and I got no reply; filed a Paypal claim and won. He was a threatening seller - he sent me a message saying that he intended to give me a negative feedback and that I should re-consider and withdraw my negative. Obviously, I refused to be intimidated by his threats and left him a negative anyway. Conclusion: I have now got my first negative on my Smurfuniverse Ebay account. Sellers have always been pleased with me and they appreciate that I pay them promptly. So, for an idiot like this to get away with intimidating me and leaving me unwarranted negative feedback, makes my blood boil!!

Ebay does need to address this sort of thing but perhaps not in the way that they are currently suggesting.

[SmurfingH]

I do think ebay should extend the deadline to file a claim...I wanted to give a Canadian seller enough time to ship a smurf to me, but when I decided to give up, it was too late to file a claim...

I've been caught that way too, which is the only time I've left negative feedback. I've been a member 5 years (so ebay tell me) and have only left negative feedback twice. Usually I prefer not to.

[Smurfysmurf]

Here is more information about the Feedback changes

Feedback Changes
The eBay Feedback system was designed to provide a simple, honest, accurate record of member experiences. Focusing on customer service includes doing everything we can to grow customer confidence in our sellers.

- Buyers will only be able to receive positive Feedback.

- Positive repeat customer Feedback will count (up to 1 Feedback from the same buyer per week.)

- Feedback more than 12-months old won't count towards your Feedback percentage.

- When a buyer doesn't respond to the Unpaid Item (UPI) process the negative or neutral Feedback they have left for that transaction will be removed.

- When a member is suspended, all their negative and neutral Feedback will be removed.

- Buyers must wait 3 days before leaving negative or neutral Feedback for sellers with an established track record, to encourage communication.

- All Feedback must be left within 60 days (compared to 90 days today) of listing end to encourage timely Feedback and discourage abuse.

- Buyers will be held more accountable when sellers report an unpaid item or commit other policy violations.

[Rachel]

Thanks for the info Moey.

I have to admit, having read some of the responses here and also how annoyed I am getting about the many dodgy sellers who seem to keep their feednacks all positive maybe I am wrong and this would solve some of the problems. I still wish there was another way of solving the many problems with Ebay but I will certainly be interested to see if these new rule changes work.

[Gerda]

I don't know if I like the idea of ebay taking the power away from the seller to leave neg feedback to a buyer. I think if you get a dead beat buyer who bids without ever having any intention of paying you should be able to leave a negative. However I think maybe ebay should have a system in place where the seller must leave feedback within a certain time frame after the auction ended, like a shorter time. That way they are forced to leave feedback for the buyer before the item has a chance to arrive and the buyer can leave feedback. Far too often I have noticed that sellers will wait to leave feedback on something you bought from them and that aint right. As a seller your job is to send the item out once the item is paid for and then more or less you are done with the deal so feedback should be left then.
Now as a seller I know there is always the ocational "crack head" who you just can not please at all and I have always found that there feedback shows that.. like for instance if you have a buyer who is looking at scaming you so he buys something then comes up with some reason it's not good enough, those type of people you should be able to leave negative for if they deserve it. Hopefully ebay wont get rid of the follow up feedback system as I find reading some of those things tells the real story behind a transaction.


gerda

[Smurfysmurf]

I am sure I wasn't the only one getting this e-mail today..It looks pretty legitimate to me and I was wondering what everybody thought about it...I personally do not like it at all....I would like to know who bids on what, because frankly I sometimes don't bid on an auction when I know one of my friends bids on it...simply because I am either scared (:dory: ) or because I am nice

Important new buyer identity protection

catpaulchen,

Keeping eBay your trusted source for great deals and truly unique finds is important to all of us. Toward this end, we're making an important change:

Soon we will no longer display the complete user IDs of people bidding on any auction-style listing. Instead, we'll use asterisks such as x***y to protect our members' identities. Sellers will continue to see complete user IDs on their listings and the winning bidder's ID will be visible to everyone after the auction ends.

We haven't provided this information on listings of $200 or higher for some time and it's been a very effective fraud deterrent for those items. For safety reasons, we're now expanding this protection to all auction-style listings.

We know many of you like to see who you're bidding against. But displaying this information makes it too easy for scammers to send out fake offers that include convincing details of your actual bidding activity on a specific listing, such as the item number, description and exact amount you bid.

In recent weeks fraudulent email offers targeting listings under $200 has surged unacceptably. To keep eBay a top shopping destination we must choose safety over visibility and nip this in the bud. We recognize for some of you this may be an unwelcome limitation but we hope you'll support our putting more muscle into fraud prevention.

If you have any questions please call Customer Service at 1-800-717-eBay (800-717-3229) or read our executive announcement.

Sincerely,

[Pitufo]

We know many of you like to see who you're bidding against

I think this is one of the funniest thing on ebay for collectors like me who like gossips!!!!!

[Smurfysmurf]

[smurfieduck]

I like to see whether of not another forum member is bidding on an item - if they are then I don't touch! For example, Moey showed an interest in the fake mushroom smurf recently and if she had placed a bid, I would not place a bid also....even though I really liked the smurf. So, being able to see bidders IDs definitely does help!

[Gerda]

I like to see who I am bidding on even though I have a bad habit of bidding on auctions without looking at who is bidding or not I think this is ebays way of making sure an auction gets the most for it's money. Lets face it, if we dont' drive the auction up by outbidding each otehr then ebay don't make as much as they could. Guess they have to make up for lowering some listing fees


gerda