Why Ebay Remove Negative Feedback For The Buyers?

I believe it was changed to help curb retaliatory feedback. From my experience, sellers rarely gave feedback until the buyer provided them feedback. If the buyer left negative feedback, the seller left retaliatory negative feedback. This had the effect of buyers becoming afraid to leave negative feedback for fear of getting the same in return. Disgruntled buyers simply chose not to leave feedback at all. Buyers often consider the seller's feedback score of vital importance in whether they bid, but sellers would rarely cancel a bid from a potential buyer for having a few negatives. In that way, I actually prefer it over the older method. I was able to leave negative feedback for the first time a few weeks ago since I created my ebay account with no fear that I would get a mark against my record. The new system is not flawless in the least but I prefer it this way over the very broken system we had previously.

That's the way it should happen and, if it always did, I don't think they would've found the need to change the feedback system. It also seemed like a more recent trend of the last few years as well. In my experience, many years ago, sellers usually left positive feedback for buyers as soon as they received payment (I've been buying and selling on ebay since 2000). But, in recent years, sellers haven't been doing that or at least not as much. Also, ebay refused to do anything about what is clearly retaliatory feedback should it be left. It was very broken before, it's still broken now, but much less so. The flaw in the current system is that it de-emphasizes the importance of a buyer's feedback by making only positive feedback for them allowable. That said, a seller's feedback score was always more valuable than a buyer's feedback score and the old system didn't distinguish between the two.

Here's an example:

A seller with 60 feedback sells an item and charges $4.00 shipping, to cover the cost of envelopes, gas, USPS charge. Joe Buyer wins and demands free shipping or else he will leave negative feedback. What's the seller to do? Comply with the buyer and lose money, or risk his perfect score and reputation and not comply? His only option is to file a UPI, and this strike will not be seen to other eBayers, so the buyers "extortion" is not known to others and he can continue. Sound fair to you?

In my opinion, the wrongs of the retaliatory feedback system, are exponentially better than the wrongs of the new system.

I know why they did it... retaliatory feedback.
I think it was a stupid fix though.
It's like cutting off your head because you don't
like your nose. Makes no sense.

I have always said that they should require sellers
to give feedback before they can receive feedback.
When the buyer has paid, his job is done and he should
get feedback then. The seller's job is not complete
until the buyer gets his product. Then, and only then,
should the seller receive feedback.

Retaliatory feedback, and withholding feedback are two
rampant problems and should be solved, but not this way.

The key, IMO, is that feedback is not required. It should
be mandatory, and the seller should be required to give
before the buyer even has the ability to give. That would
cure this sort of thing. When the seller leaves feedback,
then the system will give the buyer an icon to leave feedback.
If the seller doesn't leave feedback within so many days
from when the buyer clicks an icon that he received the item,
then he loses the ability to comment. The buyer then receives
a default positive and the icon to leave the seller feedback.

Problem solved. The seller doesn't even have to do anything.
If the sale went positive, they just let the system default
positive the buyer.

You get your coin from me and leave a neg because the coin is cleaned. However I very clearly stated the coin was cleaned in the listing. You were just too lazy to read it. Believe me it happens ALL the time. More buyers don't read than do. We get 5 or 6 emails every week through our listings asking if we combine shipping which proves it.

Do you deserve a positive because you paid? Nope, you deserve a big, fat, red, juicy negative because you entered into a contract without reading it. Feedback is a rating of the transaction... not payment.

Heck I've seen plenty of buyers leave negatives complaining about the price. It's an auction, no one forced them to bid the amount they did. Do they deserve a positive because they paid?




Does nothing to stop the extortion.

I would have to disagree with you there, Bobby. This implies that the buyer shouldn't get positive feedback simply because he didn't leave positive feedback. That's retaliatory feedback. The buyer paid and the transaction required no further action on his part. He should've gotten positive feedback (unless there was some issues related to the transaction). Sure, he was daft for leaving that comment but he didn't do anything wrong other than believe he paid too much.

yes sir it is but buyers feedback is also important... once in a while we came across with demanding sellers... it's stated in the listings that I ship on monday and friday only... 7USD shipping fee..

some would demand I ship it SO SOON as they paid so soon.. and 5 USD must be the shipping fee LIKE OTHER SELLERS... wew! shipping not just counted the fee paid to couriers but of materials to be use to secure it...

why do we need to evaluate the buyers ratings is -- (as for me) I don't want to spend my energy with this demanding buyers..




AGREE if the buyer is good ( I mean he have read my rules, agree with it and pays within the duration I alotted)

DISAGREE if the buyer do otherwise... I guess ebay would just create a button why you should not left an immediate feedback and an special receiving section of email why you would not and sent those emails from buyers demanding other than what was in the listings..




i guess ebay should put this on the sellers account where they could read it every time they made a sale.. of course this is a known thing but it would help..