Who will leave the last neg?
1/05/2008 at 10:06
It’s count down time. No one knows exactly when it’ll happen, not even eBay, but in about two weeks time the last ever neg for a buyer will be left on eBay UK
Sometime around the 14th/15th May eBay UK will turn off the ability for sellers to leave negative feedback. From then on it’s down to how quickly the change propogates across servers before buyers are safe and someone will have become the last ever seller to leave a neg.
So what’s your policy for negs? Have you stopped leaving them already? After all what’s the point if in two weeks time you won’t be able to anyway? Or are you one of the sellers who has got a neg saved up to leave at the last minute? Are you waiting until the very last moment to punch out one more red dot?
If you’ve just left your last neg (or are about to) tell us why you left it and what you’ll miss about leaving negs in the future. We’d also like to hear from you if you are tempted to leave just one more neg but decide not to.
Someone somewhere will be the last ever seller to leave a negative feedback on eBay and someone else will be the last buyer to ever receive a negative feedback. The only question is who? Could it possibly be you?
Dee says
10:32 am on 01/05/2008
Our new policy for negs is simple. We have stopped leaving them. Why? Well they are now meaningless since sellers can’t give a factual account of the buyer’s actions (or lack thereof). Likewise as we can’t rate buyers with stars for their speed of payment, communication, courtesy and other aspects so what’s the point of it?
fedupwithebay says
10:38 am on 01/05/2008
Come 16th May and beyond ebay support will be bombarded with unfair neg removal requests.
Will buyers purpously waiting until the last minute to leave one be grounds for removal I wonder?
I believe sellers will think so as (in their eyes) it’s malicious in design.
Ebay have made a rod for their own backs with this move as they will never hear the end of it.
The no negs for buyers scheme is counterproductive.
The boards will still be full of upset sellers wanting to vent and after a few months of a red free-for-all, buyers will have to spend more time filtering through sellers feedback to find a seller they are comfortable with.
northumbrian says
10:41 am on 01/05/2008
we were die hard never leave feedback until its left for us
activists.
though since this was announced
we have on a major id left feedback on payment as an experiment,
which is in effect the same as not being able to leave negative,
we have had no problem with feedback at all
on more than a thousand transactions, despite one or two nutters and problems with delivery
our 100% on the id still intact
so we are not worried at all about this
Ed says
10:41 am on 01/05/2008
Haven’t left my first neg yet, let alone the last..!
North, I’ve been leaving feedback first almost since I started selling. But in my catogories buyers are generally gentle. ;o)
whirly says
10:43 am on 01/05/2008
Agree with North, Ive been marking them on despatch, but must admit you can get a taste for a wally so there are a few I haven’t, just in case.
whirly says
10:44 am on 01/05/2008
Sue Bailey says
11:04 am on 01/05/2008
I don’t neg buyers any more, but I must admit, I have a slight nostalgic desire to leave one last one… and I even have a buyer in mind
Piero says
11:13 am on 01/05/2008
By Febraury I started to leave positive feedbacks automatically when the payment have been received, from then I have received many email from buyers surprised but happy about this and the few problems arised in these months have been resolved friendly. A customer for a parcel lost in the mail left me a neutral (no refund or replacement given)
Piero
Gill says
11:25 am on 01/05/2008
I’ve been leaving automatic feedback on payment for the past couple of months too. I’ve had a few problematic transactions where I thought it might bite me on the bum, but actually not so far, so fingers crossed this continues.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if a small number of buyers do go on a bit of a negging spree in the short term, we’ll just have to see how it pans out in the long run.
northumbrian says
11:36 am on 01/05/2008
leaving a neg has always been counter productive,
it gets you no extra, and often causes a lot of problems,and hassle from deranged keyboard warriors
so its no miss to us
Sue Bailey says
11:48 am on 01/05/2008
Like Piero, I’ve had a lot of buyers happy and surprised that I’ve left them feedback first: I’m really, really glad I started doing this. For one thing, it can buy you the benefit of the doubt if there is a problem, so for those who are still leaving feedback on receipt, I’d seriously recommend a reconsideration of that policy now.
Blighty says
11:50 am on 01/05/2008
Whirly the mucky devil said
Agree with North, Ive been marking them on despatch, but must admit you can get a taste for a willy
Fixed.
Sue Bailey says
12:00 pm on 01/05/2008
Blighty
whirly says
1:21 pm on 01/05/2008
Chris Dawson says
1:50 pm on 01/05/2008
I’m with Sue here, I’ve not left a neg for longer than I can remember, but it’s so tempting to leave just one more for old times sake.
What’s even more tempting is to wait until they switch the ability to leave negs off, and then chase around other eBay sites around the world to see if I can still leave one last sneaky neg in a country that turns them off later than the UK
I know that’s bad….
but I just can’t help wanting to do it 
Eddie says
2:14 pm on 01/05/2008
Methinks it will or may work like this :
Negs will not be able to be left for auctions created/ended on or after the cut off date, any auctions created/ended before the cut off date – you can still leave a neg (I think?)
Chris Dawson says
2:27 pm on 01/05/2008
Ohh I dunno Eddie, I was under the impression that once they were off they were off….
If you’re right it’ll be even harder to find out who left the last neg as it could be three months later – half way through August
I think it’ll just disappear from the feedback form as an option though
Eddie says
2:34 pm on 01/05/2008
“it could be three months later”
Ah butt !
You are forgetting also the time limit change to 60 days
Chris Dawson says
3:13 pm on 01/05/2008
Ohhh forgot that one :-p
I still think it’ll be a cut off for all listings though. If it was on listings ending with 10 day auction/bin and 30 day SIFs (90 day, GTC???) there would just be too much uncertainty.
Richard Brewer-Hay says
4:37 pm on 01/05/2008
@ Sue / Chris – Are you ok with me writing a post on eBay Ink asking the questions you’ve raised here (linking directly back to this post of course)? I had been thinking about writing a similar post with some of the questions you raised here. If not, no worries, it will at least run in the “you say” section of the blog.
@ Northumbrian – would you be ok with me quoting your comment above in my post to eBay Ink? I heard similar statements when I was down in New Orleans last week but couldn’t get anyone to go on the record
Cheers,
RBH
Editor, eBay Ink
whirly says
4:41 pm on 01/05/2008
Chris Dawson says
4:58 pm on 01/05/2008
Hi Richard, of course, feel free
northumbrian says
6:35 pm on 01/05/2008
certainly Richard be my guest
Kate says
10:04 pm on 01/05/2008
I’ve only ever left negs for non-payers (not slow payers) and one recently for someone who did eventually send a cheque but it bounced. Not once have I received a retaliatory neg. My negs were really just to warn other sellers – I suppose if ebay are tightening up on the UPI stuff then these people will soon be NARU anyway. However I dispute ebays stand that negs drive buyers from the site – I think they just come back with a new ID.
northumbrian says
7:36 am on 02/05/2008
oh I think ebay are very right
many buyers are not dedicated and experianced ebayers,
if they get poor service and a publicly nasty comment to boot , simply for spending their money ,they will go elsewhere
Uncle Sam says
11:42 am on 02/05/2008
I left what will probably be my last neg a few days ago. It was for a buyer who refused to pay on the grounds that he had thought a 2nd-hand item was new. A few days later, he falsely accused me of misrepresenting it, saying I’d described it as ‘refurbished’ (I hadn’t) presumably on the off-chance I’d send him a new phone. I politely pointed out that this was not the case. He replied by telling me there were 3 ways we could resolve it – fists, knives or guns – and that I should choose one.
Perhaps my comment will make him less likely to come back – but is that always a bad thing? Perhaps the discreet rap on the knuckles which eBay presumably gave him when I reported his email will encourage him to be more polite in future & perhaps it won’t. Frankly, I doubt it.
Don says
6:22 pm on 02/05/2008
Negative feedback has not been much of a problem. Hopefully it will remain the same. I only left negative feedback when I ran into a real nut case in an effort to warn others.
I was amazed to learn that eBay has a Director level position in charge of feedback. What does Brian Burke, Director of Global Feedback Policy do all day? Does eBay have a Director of international paper clip design position that I can apply for? Can I use Meg’s jet since she’s gone?
Dan @ vzaar says
12:08 pm on 03/05/2008
http://blog.vzaar.com/2008/05/why-negative-feedback-bad-sellers-unhappy-buyers
A post I made yesterday on the vzaar blog, that is relevant.
Dan
Adrian @ vzaar says
11:41 am on 04/05/2008
Definitely read Dan’s post.
I was against the switch myself when I originally heard about it. But watching Dan’s experience with a seller who rightly should be ‘pipped’ for giving bad buyer experiences, I think maybe after a bit of turbulence this will shake out for the better.
Yes there are bad buyers. But good buyers are being put off eBay more by bad sellers. Ultimately this will mean more confident buyers, and less bad sellers. That’s good for eBay and good for eBay sellers.
Rather than looking at this as something that will make it worse for sellers, I think good sellers should see this as a way to stand out. Good sellers with good service should stand out as leading sellers and do rather well out of this.
And well more buyers who are confident … well thats best for everyone.
Sean_CoolNess says
8:31 am on 07/05/2008
I have left fewer than a handful of negative comments in the last two years.
Each has been left for a nightmare customer.
None of those buyers have brought on eBay again.
So whilst I understand and to a large degree agree with Dan’s BLOG I also think that some customers are themselves to blame.
That said. On my main ID (sadly no longer this one) I have trialed leaving feedback first, and like North, experienced no problems to date.