No negative feedback on eBay - good or bad?
April 22, 2008
What you CAN do when you can’t leave negative feedback for bad buyers
As of May, sellers will no longer be able to leave negative feedback for buyers. So how can you protect yourself from, and warn other sellers about, bad bidders?
eBay has promised to overhaul the way it handles bad bidders.
Seller help systems, like filing Unpaid Item disputes and reporting buyers who try to cheat the system, are already in place, but sellers are apprehensive. These dispute processes have traditionally been very slow, and not terribly sympathetic to the seller.
eBay has said it will deal with problem buyers more quickly and effectively under the new system. All those resources that eBay now uses to resolve feedback disputes will be redirected toward removing non-paying bidders and users who try to abuse the feedback system.
So eBay has really started to encourage sellers to use the proper dispute mechanisms to report problem buyers.
These are the ripoffs you can report:
- Unpaid items: Buyers who bid on an item but never pay are one of the biggest headaches sellers have. You can file an unpaid item dispute from 7 - 45 days after the listing closes. Or you can file one immediately if a) both you and the buyer want to stop the transaction or b) the buyer is not a registered user. Negative feedback and Detailed Seller Ratings left by unpaid bidders will be removed. For more on the process, go here: http://pages.ebay.com/help/tp/unpaid-item-process.html.
- Feedback extortion: When buyers threaten to leave negative feedback unless the seller cuts them a better deal or reduces the shipping charge, eBay will ban them on the first offense, if the seller provides enough evidence. You can find out more at http://pages.ebay.ca/help/policies/feedback-extortion.html.
- Feedback abuse: Buyers who leave malicious or dishonest feedback to try to harm a seller’s reputation should be reported. eBay may not ban them immediately, but putting it on their record opens them up to further action if this behavior continues. Learn what constitutes feedback abuse here: http://pages.ebay.ca/help/policies/feedback-abuse-withdrawal.html.
- Transaction interference: Sellers who have their bids cancelled and then bid again, or make any kind of bid designed to disrupt a seller’s auction are breaking eBay policy. Here’s where you can go to know more: http://pages.ebay.ca/help/policies/transaction-interference.html.
If a buyer tries any of these tactics on you — or any violation of eBay policy — report it immediately to http://pages.ebay.com/securitycenter/reportproblem.html.
Would really like to hear what you think on these changes… are they good for business? Or bad?
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I’m broadly in favour of these changes because there are, unfortunately, some bad sellers out there who have used negative feedback to intimidate buyers.
http://blog.vzaar.com/2008/05/why-negative-feedback-bad-sellers-unhappy-buyers
I have been a successful ebay seller with a 100% feedback rating since june of 2003. But today we closed our ebay store for good. We are not taking the chance of receiving negative feedbacks from those ebay buyers who are on ebay basically just to kill time. Ebay is full of excellent buyers and sellers. And to allow one party to place something against you that you are not allowed to do yourself seems pretty stupid. There are other auction sites available now that does not have these kinds of restrictions on their sellers. My advice to any ebay seller that begins to have problems with buyer feedbacks should boycott ebay all together. These other auction sites are glad to see us join them, and there are a lot of people going there now.
This is a question to the person who was a Former Power Seller on Ebay. Do you have the websites of these other auction sites? I am also an Ebay seller, who has closed my store and is looking for other places to go. Thank you.
I would like to know the other sites as well. Either way I am closing my business with ebay do the new unfair feedback system that only allows one party to leave negative feedback.
Hi. I have been a seller since Oct-23-07. Sells and feedback have been going really good for me. I had a feedback rating 100% (258 positive). Then Monday May 19th 2008, I received my first negative feedback from a bidder who never gave me the chance to resolve the issue. Now all hell has broken loose. I’m getting complaints and more attitudes from bidders. They are being really testy. Not fun at all. Thanks ebay.
The founders of eBay use to treat buyers and sellers equally; this was one of the golden rules of eBay. Now, the new team creates rules in favor of the buyers. It is a mess, I never saw so many angry eBay sellers in 5 years since I am an eBayer.
I think the eBay will remain a prosperous company only if eBay has happy buyers and happy sellers.
What if in the next month the majority of eBay sellers will start to sell on Amazon onlineauction.com, and get out of eBay? What eBay will do only with buyers, they will remain happy buyers, and I don’t think so.
The discrimination between buyers and sellers is the worst idea so far. Why a seller can be punished for wrong doing and a buyer cannot be punished for wrong doing.
I don’t understand the logic of this new rule.
And eBay argument was stupid: “some buyers are afraid of retaliations from sellers”, well, they have to be afraid; this is the necessary balance which will keep them good buyers. Now the buyers try to abuse some situations…
I am worry about the future of eBay, and I start to look and experiment other places as well, I am looking at Amazon now. Sorry eBay!
Regards
Michaela
I have buddy who work for eBay for a long time, and she said that this is policy more to make some movement in between fighting eBay executives who hate each other and starting small wars. If you just stay with a basics and think logically about what is going on you will see that nice place to sell your junk have more regulations against you then US government against all terrorist countries. My buddy also told me that most employees at eBay are miserable in general, and that eBay is just big hierarchical gang of executives, no one care about customer (buyer/seller) everything is way to over politicized and dedicated on pride and seniority and of course stockholders who are really not so happy right now.
My personal experience is that my feedback rating went to 3 negatives.
1. First one was person who complained that 4 days shipping is unacceptable (I am in LA and he is in NY) Yes that was my first negative
2. My other two negatives are from local person who purchased two tings, and like to pick it up. When I politely refused because i can not schedule break in between my eBay storage and my regular job. Customer just felt great and posted 2 negatives. And you know what, eBay will not do anything about.
This is not about justice; this is about eBay bureaucracy wining another war or game against another eBay department and another penny or two per share.
Hopefully eBay will change this policy, or just simply go to hell
I got negative because i did not post positive to buyer in one day, and the buyer was really pissed, dear lord….
PS: That thing about eBay doing something about… don’t count on that. They customer support does not know basics and they are so afraid so they really cant tell you anything.
I am a buyer more than I am a seller. I felt protected enough as a buyer without these changes taking place. As a seller, I feel outraged.
I recently had a buyer who bought a new top that came with a free belt. She wanted a refund although I had a no refund policy because the belt didn’t fit (although that’s the belt that came with it in the first place). After a lot of pressure from her, I reluctantly agreed (big mistake) and told her she’d have to have returned it within 7 days because I was not going to be home after that. She emailed me next day that she had just sent the item, then I was waiting for a week and starting to worry why the item hadn’t arrived. It came on the last day, sent express the previous day. The top was all wrinkled up and smelling strongly of deodorant and perfume.
I contacted her outraged and told her I would not refund her for an item she wore.
She filed an ‘item significantly not as described’ claim on paypal and although I had ALL the proof, and all the correspondence to show that she had also lied, within 12 hours of filing, paypal issued an order for a refund.. The case was filed in the afternoon and first thing in the morning they had issued a refund… Doesn’t that show you that they didn’t even bother checking it out? And now I have to refund her and I can’t warn other sellers through feedback.
Paypal has become terrible! I even saw guidelines online on how to scam sellers into getting stuff for FREE on ebay.
Re: Vasso. Where did you see these guideline on how to scam sellers into getting free stuff on eBay?
Hello,
I have been on Ebay a long time and have 1345 positive feedbacks
and received my first negative under the new system . The customer
accused me of misrepresenting my item. I had not noticed the damage she
talked about. I did offer her a full refund plus shipping twice if she returned the
item. She told me she was not returning the item and wanted $200 partial
refund otherwise I was getting a negative . If told her I could not do this but
would fully refund her plus shipping. She did not like this and gave me a negative.
When I contacted Ebay they told me this was extortion and not allowed.
This the answer from Ebay:
We’ve thoroughly reviewed your report regarding (my buyer) and have taken appropriate action in accordance with eBay’s policies. Our actions may include issuing a warning, temporary suspension, indefinite suspension, or terminating the membership.
Out of concern for the privacy of all members, we do not discuss the results of an investigation of a member’s account with another member. ***Note***( She is still there)
EBay can only remove Feedback that meets the requirements of our
Feedback Abuse, Withdrawal, and Removal Policy. Unfortunately, Feedback Extortion does not meet the requirements for removal.
And that is it. What is wrong with Ebay? Do they not know
that there are as many bad buyers as bad sellers? The new rule has given the black mailers con artists and control freaks ammunition. You can have buyers but if you have no sellers you might as well close shop. Wake up Ebay that was a stupid move!
I agree that this was a dumb move! I too got my first bad feedback this past week under the new rules. I do mostly buying on ebay so it is not effecting me as much as others but anything I want to get rid of or simply do not need I sell on ebay. I sold an item last week and the lady who bought it said she did not recieve the item first and when I told her that was not going to work because I had UPS notify me about deliver and that I had proofe she changed her tone. Then she said the item was not as described and if I did not give her half her money back (150$) she would leave negative feedback. The part that was “missing” was even stated NOT being there because it was too badly damaged but she said she didnt care and I should not have sold somehting “half together.” I told her that was fine and I would just pay to have it shipped back and would give her the money back… of course she refused and gave me bad feedback. I even proved to ebay that she gave me bad feedback for no reason and they said the same thing that the guy above was told… they took action but this did not fall under the rules to remove the negative feedback. This is a crock… I will NEVER USE EBAY AGAIN!!!!!! I am so tired of crooks and theives being the only people in this country to get ahead… BOYCOTT ebay guys this is rediculous!
Hello Derek,
I am so sorry this happened to you. I am still fighting with Ebay. I have had
4 different people responding to my situation all asking for information I had
all ready sent . They must have hired lots of people to deal with just
extortion from buyers. I suggest we stop selling for a week and see how
that works. Another suggestion is starting an Ebay sellers union with some
good lawyers. I would gladly pay a union fee. What do you think? Ina
This whole feedback change is bad, really bad, what ebay is trying to do along with Paypal is so Paypal can make extra money on the holds from interest, then for ebay to get rid off all the small to medium sellers ,and only keep the power sellers. I have seen so many videos on Youtube about the upset sellers……..if Google starts an auction site tomorrow, that would the end of Ebay for sure…………….however, at the mean time, I using www.GeeeWhiz.com to keep myself away from the bad buyers.
Hi, I had a 100% feedback and now because of a buyer lies i have 3 negatives and i am absolutely fuming that this is allowed,and all this because i followed the proper procedeure after waiting for payment over 7 days when ebay warns them, they then said they sent a cheque, they didn’t. and then left me bad feedback when i hadn’t sent them any items at all..OUTRAGEOUS!! how can this be allowed??? I agree with Ina about a Ebay union for sellers BECAUSE THIS SURELY CAN’T GO ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As far as I’m concerned, once an item has been paid for, that partiy has fullfilled their commitment and deserves positive feedback immediately.not after they leave feedback. The new feedback policy insure’s sellers can’t leave retaliatory feedback, As a Seller and a Buyer I think the new feedback policy has corrected a lot of unfair feedback.
No, the new feedback policy has not corrected a lot of unfair feedback. When a buyer purchases an item and pays for it, that is not the end of the transaction, that is only the second step. Feedback is left not just because someone purchased and paid for an item. If that is the case, if I list an item, sell it and ship it, then someone should leave positive feedback for me. But, there is a lot more to a transaction than just that.
The new policy stinks and I’m going to probably pull my ebay store down as soon as I get set up somewhere else.
Good luck to all of you.
PS A Union for Ebay Sellers would be WELCOME
unfortunately threre is nothing we can do. ebays stock has dropped significantly over the last year. they are nervous. i pulled my store down as well. its a shame. they should be concerned.
This is a really terrible idea. it will definitely hurt ebay in the long term.
Ebay is stupid. Their fees are high and now this. All buyers can leave whatever they please and use the feedback system even more againist us.
Ebay has the monopoly along with Paypal, that’s why they can do what they do. I stopped using Paypal awhile back after they hold my payments for 21 days for no reason! Google Checkout is much better! I also found Geeewhiz.com and Reliabid.com are great sites if you are a seller on eBay. Forget about eBay, they are not going to do anything for the sellers doesn’t matter how much you talk to them, use the third party sites to protect yourself. Actually, they are much better than eBay itself.
I totally agree with Tiff, the greed and mismanagement has ruined eBay, the reason we are still there is because eBay still has more traffic than other sites. Remember absolute power corrupts absolutely. eBay is not afraid of anyone, because they really don’t have any competitions. eBid, eCrater, buyitsellit, uBid, Bidville, iOffer, Bidz……..and even Craigslist all have no real impact on eBay’s monopoly, because they know you won’t be selling as much as you do on eBay even with the scammers. www.Geeewhiz.com and www.Reliabid.com are must use for any sellers on eBay if you don’t want to get ripped off by the buyers. Geeewhiz is definitely a fun site. Regarding eBay’s future, I think only Google can hurt them. eBay has threaten Google that it will stop spending 600+ million a year to advertise on Google if Google starts it’s own auction site, and eBay also bans Google Checkout. However, according to Geeewhiz’s poll, almost 90% of sellers will move to Google, and Google will make up for the difference then some. Ebay is not going away anytime soon, it’s like a school yard bully who needs a kicking in the balls!
The new feedback system has destroyed the sense of community within eBay, and turned Sellers into second class citizens. I’m off to Oztion.com
You can also search for and report bad ebay buyers at http://yourwebapps.com/WebApps/db-view.cgi?db=125721
I have worked very hard at keeping a 100% feedback which includes over 7 years of both buying and selling along with over 900 feedback. Now I feel that I’m at the mercy of the buyer. I have sold many things from my own car to baseball cards. I consider myself a true ebayer and not someone who sells the same produce 900 times. Ebay really killed the seller with this rule. I beginning to HATE ebay. Thanks ebay for not supporting those who supported you over the years.
Ben