Why Ebay Remove Negative Feedback For The Buyers?

That's an incredibly bizarre analogy. It would be apt if the buyer and seller were required to move in with each other and become roommates. When a buyer buys goods, he doesn't hang out around the place of business and become a fixture. ebay buyers are buying goods, not a service like would happen at a movie theatre. He pays for his item and his deal is done. Ideally, feedback should be left at that point.




Not at all. Your above comments only apply to the seller leaving the comment after the buyer. I am not saying the buyer should get positive feedback despite those comments - in actuality I don't expect he would. The point is the seller in this case would choose only to leave feedback after the buyer. The reason why the seller would choose to do so is so that the seller's comment would be based off the buyer's comment. That creates the situation of retaliatory feedback.

Come up with an accurate feedback system for both seller and buyer that discourages and/or prevents retaliatory feedback for I'd love to hear it.

As a seller, getting a positive isn't quite as important as getting a return buyer. If you can make someone happy, they will come back. If there's an idiot buyer making your life miserable, you do NOT want them to come back. ebay made feedback an integral part of the process but it's been flawed, so it doesn't live up to what it could be.

What they could do is make it known to always use the ebay system to send mail back and forth. Then make those email conversations linkable from any negative or neutral feedback, plus the transaction paid details if via paypal since they own it. Sort of like an audit trail. I bet a lot of people would straighten up real quick.

The problem now is a buyer can leave really bad feedback while a seller can only leave a response to it without leaving anything on the buyer's feedback rating. If a potential buyer came along and wanted to research a transaction where the buyer left the following:

SELLER IS A CROOK! DON'T BUY FROM!

And the seller left:

No emails from buyer as to problem and never paid, what gives?

There's nothing in this feedback that actually tells anybody anything. An audit trail would say (a) if the buyer really did pay (if done via paypal.. checks would be another matter entirely) and (b) if there was a conversation between the two.

(buyer) Hey I paid on xx/xx/xxxx where is my stuff?
(response from seller) Your item XXX was shipped on xx/xx/xxxx with USPS delivery confirmation delivered on xx/xx/xxxx.
(buyer) Who cares what USPS says, I am still leaving you a neg if you don't refund $xx.xx of what I paid you

or

(buyer) You better take xx.xx off the price/shipping or I'll leave you a neg

or

(buyer) Dear sir, I received the item on xx/xx/xxxx and it was broken (or not as stated, or whatever). I am returning this item to you tomorrow based on your 7 day return policy stated in the listing.
(response from seller) That auction was as-is, no returns. Do not return the item to us. You will not receive a refund.
(buyer) This item arrived totally different than what was stated in the listing.
(response from seller) Guess you're out of luck, mate. Have a nice day.

There would always be the beginning of a conversation to look at because in order to contact a buyer/seller, you have to use the ebay system. After that, sometimes it goes to email, but at the least, the start of it would be there. It would be more than we have now.

Or, they could go the Amazon route, where buyers don't get ANY feedback and feedback to sellers is entirely optional.

In a perfect world, sellers would make sure their buyers were happy (Before I quit ebay in disgust, I bent over backward for my buyers when needed.. and when I've messed up, I was the first to admit it and make the buyer happy, and who cared about feedback!), and buyers would judge a seller based on actual true events (shipping time, receiving their item(s) in good order, etc.) and not try to be out to get one over on someone.

There are a lot of good people on ebay.. finding them is part of the... fun?

This might be the longest post I've ever made here.. but ebay really.... errr.. tans my hide.

/me shuts up now

ebay did it because it is run by people who wouldn't last a month if they had to make their living by selling on ebay, and don't have a clue what is really necessary to make things work for both buyers and sellers.

It's like the comic companies that destroyed the market because they understood sales figures, but refused to listen to the dealers who were telling them what they were doing wrong, and what the buyers were complaining about.

Let me interject with my Two Cents...

First cent:

I am (so far) a buyer only. I feel that as a buyer I have two capacities: being the PAYER for the item, and being an E-Bay CITIZEN. Perhaps these two aspects should be differentiated. I *hate* not receiving feedback after I pay, but I am a patient buyer and a good citizen. I waited 5 weeks for a 1909S Lincoln a few months ago, and left perfect feedback when I received it.

I wish I could have PAYER feedback immediately after payment, and CITIZEN feedback after the transaction is complete. But seriously... the movie theater analogy is weak. How much havoc can an E-Bay buyer wreak?

Second cent:

E-bay seller feedback will decline, but it will do so uniformly in the long run. Idiots will always be there, but good buyers will still know how to pick out good sellers, even with a few negatives. I am not a moron - I understand that the new system allows frank opinions on sellers, as it should. I will adjust my level of tolerance on seller feedback to account for this.

Perhaps I'm just too naive, and at the risk of retaliation from the Forum Dad (just kidding). But I think you have recourse in this situation. Report the buyer as unpaid. This kind of theft should lead to suspension of the member, in my opinion. If so, his feedback is removed, according to E-Bay policy.

If such a member isn't suspended, you are preaching to the choir. That kind of E-Bayer should be in jail, at the least, and better yet sharing a cell with Big Bubba.

I understand that honest E-Bay sellers get ripped off constantly, but this is a discussion about the new feedback system. This kind of havoc existed before and after the new system. It's a much bigger problem that you got ripped off in the first place than that bad feedback was left. What good is you leaving this guy a negative going to do?

Here's my real-life analogy.

A friend with a nearby coin store was emptied by crooks recently. Unfortunate as it is, that has nothing to do with the good word-of-mouth feedback his business receives, even if the one crook were to mention bad things about his business. Does my friend really care about (A) giving the crook a bad name, or (B) that he is caught and his stolen items returned?

If you all wish, go back to the old system and lose my honest business. I prefer sellers who leave feedback after payment.

When he hits -4FB, he's toast. In the meanwhile, he can be prohibited from bidding by automatic blocks based on FB, which are now useless. If he starts giving a seller crap even before shipment, they can check and see that he's a jerk, and just stop the transaction, taking small lumps instead of a big one.

I could sell millions of dollars of detectors a year if I'd reply to every email like this:



Unfortunately, the profit margin would be rather small.

Fortunately, the warning signs are much clearer here than what I now can learn about a bidder on ebay.



I suspect he would prefer they are caught, he gets his stuff back AND their pix are published in the paper so they will be recognized when they're casing the next place. Ask him.




Then don't buy from me. I don't leave FB at all any more, for the same reason I don't vote for people running unopposed. It may come as a surprise for you, but sellers don't leave FB on buyitsellit, ecrater, their websites, and extremely rarely on Amazon.

I've always felt FB is BS. Now it's BS and useless as well.

The DSR's are a whole other problem. A buyer can leave one star for each just for spite and affect a sellers average. Even a four star rating will not let you get a discount. For me, who sells maybe 50$ a month, this does not hurt as much. But a huge seller like bobby131313 who sells a LOT more than that gets hurt because of ONE IDIOT BUYER!! Why should this buyer get a positive on payment? And if 4/5 stars (80%) is failing, what's the point?

That's just my...errr...one cent.

That's not the point. I shouldn't have to file a Federal suit to recoup something that should have never been lost in the first place. I'm sorry, but in my opinion, that's a goofy way to look at a solution.