Comments on: It’s time to scrap neutral feedback

By: Darren Forster (theklf99)

Darren Forster (theklf99) — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 07:38:19 +0000

I think eBay’s feedback system really sucks anyway. It breaks the law and eBay just come back with “it does state in our terms and conditions that we are allowed to break the law”, by allowing publishing of libelious comments. Also once feedback is left it can’t be altered which is a really bad point. I got one feedback where the seller accussed me of false advertising, even though the item was exactly as described, it was just that he’d overbid for the item, it was a washing machine, described as used with a leaking seal, the person bid up to Â£80 for the machine, then came round the house shouted abusive comments to my mum, left me negative feedback and a e-mail threatening to come round and beat me up for trying to sell him it, I sold it to the previous bidder for the lowest bid she had put in before he got involved, as I thought it was only fair as had he not got involved the bidding wouldn’t have gone so high. She came round and was over the moon about it. I tried to proceed with a libel case against the person but was advised by solicitors to take it up with eBay as I had no contact details for this person, only his e-mail address and eBay name, eBay were not willing to divulge his details unless I got a court order (yeah right, like that’s going to happen!). Then recently I posted someone a sandwich on eBay from the World Scout Jamboree, I’d left him positive feedback as he’d been a fast payer, then I was quite shocked and disappointed when I saw that he’d left me negative just because Royal Mail had managed to squash it in the postal service, he didn’t even bother to contact me to see if something could be sorted out, and then further more when I contacted him regarding the problem he accussed me of blackmail and threatened to leave abusive follow up if his demands weren’t met and also said that he would have mutually agreed to remove the feedback had I not placed a follow up message about him leaving negative feedback without bothering to contact me to sort things out. I had 5 sandwiches left, so I’ve sent him all 5 this time in a box totally sealed up, with Fragile all over the box and keep upright, handle with care, all over it. Let’s hope Royal Mail don’t manage to mash that up.

By: Seller non-performance policy finally clarified : TameBay

Seller non-performance policy finally clarified : TameBay — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 13:40:11 +0000

[...] Neutral feedbacks are being included because “vast majority of neutral comments indicate an issue. We felt that leaving neutral comments out of the calculation would mask a significant part of the bad buyer experience problem.” Though some have agreed with this, I personally don’t: the very word “neutral” precludes negativity, and if “neutral” on eBay means “thinly disguised negative, please don’t neg me back”, then it is indeed time to get rid of neutral feedback. [...]

By: Retaliatory negs with mutual withdrawal not acceptable : TameBay

Retaliatory negs with mutual withdrawal not acceptable : TameBay — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 21:39:42 +0000

[...] There have been some interesting discussions regarding feedback since eBay started to include neutrals as negatives in their seller non-performance criteria. eBay are still insisting that a neutral is valid and not the same as a negative, whilst in the next sentence insisting that only a positive feedback is indicative of a satisfied customer. [...]

By: Chris Dawson

Chris Dawson — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 13:00:26 +0000

Try reading it like this:

If a buyer has paid for an item and has not received it, nor a refund they should refer to the eBay Item Not Received process.

If a buyer believes the item was significantly misrepresented, they should refer to the eBay Item Not Received process.

It’s what “or” means

By: Sue Bailey

Sue Bailey — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 12:49:09 +0000

eBay seem more and more determined to rid the site of sellers – ANY AND ALL sellers

Even when we’re at our most hacked off with eBay, Gaz, I think it pays to use a little bit of logic

By: Uppa Gumtree

Uppa Gumtree — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 11:55:58 +0000

Reading through the new updated Seller Non-Performance page, in the examples section, it says -

If a seller has refused to complete a sale, and payment has not been sent ….. report the seller.
- so this means, if a buyer refuses to pay but demands the goods be sent anyway, and the seller refuses to send them, then the buyer can report the seller for non-performance and the seller could face selling restrictions imposed on them by eBay?

If a buyer has paid for an item and has not received it, nor a refund, or believes the item was significantly misrepresented, they should refer to the eBay Item Not Received process.
- Hang on a mo !!!!! The buyer has NOT received the item yet, but is being encouraged to report it as “significantly misrepresented” …… How can they report that if they’ve not yet seen the item?

eBay seem more and more determined to rid the site of sellers – ANY AND ALL sellers.

By: PGA-AUCTIONS » Blog Archive » Carnival of eBay Sellers #25

PGA-AUCTIONS » Blog Archive » Carnival of eBay Sellers #25 — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 03:09:19 +0000

[...] Chris presents Itâ€™s time to scrap neutral feedback posted at TameBay. [...]

By: Michelle

Michelle — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 18:26:15 +0000

oh scrap bang my sparkly 100% + now then…

Errr, why????

By: Chris Dawson

Chris Dawson — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 15:40:31 +0000

It’s about as logical as neutrals counting as negs so I’m all in favour

By: Sue Bailey

Sue Bailey — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 15:28:43 +0000

Someone just suggested in one of Randy’s comments that if neutrals count as negs, then transactions where no feedback’s left should be counted as pozzies. Sounds like a great idea to me

By: Uppa Gumtree

Uppa Gumtree — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 15:22:32 +0000

Behind you 100% on this Chris – I’ve never understood the need for neutral ratings, and since the intro of DSR’s, neutrals are even more redundant due to the “hidden negatives” that can be left on the stars.

…… still working on the new websites that will be our route out of eBay’s clutches

By: Chris Dawson

Chris Dawson — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 11:55:32 +0000

Something else also occurs to be, yet another reason for scrapping neutral feedback:

If I see a seller with lots of withdrawn feedback I can’t see whether it was originally positive/neutral/negative.

Not too many people withdraw positive feedbacks so the temptation is to assume it was negative (even if it may have been neutral!). That being the case if eBay are going to encourage withdrawals of neutrals they’ll look as if they were negatives so why not MAKE them negatives in the first place?

By: northumbrian

northumbrian — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 08:16:30 +0000

its a bit like religion this feedback thing
everyones right

By: Sue Bailey

Sue Bailey — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 08:09:59 +0000

I don’t change my stance on feedback. In fact, this makes leaving feedback for buyers first even more of a USP than ever before.

By: northumbrian

northumbrian — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 07:45:56 +0000

I agree with Chris that is,

and I agree with ebays stance concerning buyers.,
buyers are critical ,not just important
there is only seller that is important to me and thats me

By: northumbrian

northumbrian — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 07:41:01 +0000

I agree

and would add
yet another and conclusive reason not to leave feedback first if your a seller

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 02:57:24 +0000

Philipp Justus Senior Vice President, Auctions is an idiot and needs to learn that the sellers are just as important as the buyers. During the past year eBay has done everything to make it harder to sell and places all of the burden of proof on the seller. I’m a Power Seller and I’m always having to deal with buyers that are trying to scam the sellers, but nothing ever happens to them!!!!!! I bet you will start seeing buyers asking for a payback once they receive the items or they will threaten a negative response. A buyer with a large number of negatives doesn’t hurt them, but it kills a buyer!!!!!!! If this continues we will need to look for another auction website or develop one that treats the sellers better!!!!!!

By: Randy Smythe

Randy Smythe — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 23:38:52 +0000

Chris, I agree with you. Buyers would be forced to choose a positive or a negative and many who chose neutral before would simply not leave feedback any longer.

By: Chris Dawson

Chris Dawson — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 21:49:23 +0000

A further worrying point is that the new policy states too many Item Not Received complaints could also trigger account limitations. With the current Royal Mail strikes delaying mail and the apparent top-of-the-pile sorting, delayed post could trigger an unexpected run of Item Not Received complaints. It's not unheard of for an entire mail sack to be lost by Royal Mail and again that could impact a seller who otherwise has received few or no complaints.