Interesting New eBay Feedback Policy

[booboo773]

OK, it's been a while since I've bought anything off of eBay. A couple of months at least, LOL. I went to leave feedback for a car charger I bought and this pop up box informed me that sellers can no longer leave negative feedback on buyers so I can leave honest feedback without fear of retaliation or something to that effect.

This is wonderful because buyers are no longer held "hostage" to leave positive feedback to receive it in return. This is especially true for those of us who have been scammed on mp3 players.
I assume the only thing a seller can leave now is Unpaid Buyer feedback or maybe comment on negative feedback he received? Maybe, just maybe, eBay is taking a few baby steps in the right direction. :shock:

Opinions and thoughts anyone?

[NOLA MPx Fan]

I think it's working great. I stopped in to see what impact it was having here, imagine my surprise that this was the only post!

Two examples:
First, a company that I have done business with that ran into some unfortunately timed growing pains. ATVDiscounter. Good company, sells Chinese manufactured ATVs and Scooters. My Scooter transaction went well, but the recent demand for them has caused some issues as they tried to grow into the need. You can see by their feedback that now it accurately reflects that issue. Before the change, the rating was 99.something. Not a bad company, but an example I am familiar with.

The other, which would have had an impact here was lqluk. They had been selling cheap SanDisk memory cards for several years. I bought one as a snap bid with something like 2 minutes left in the auction as the price was great. Then I read some of the feedback and realized there may be a problem. They were all positive, but contained negative comments about shipping and item location. Seems that while the location was listed as either (originally) Cheadle in the UK or "US", the items invariably came from Hong Kong. Not an issue in itself, but I don't appreciate being lied to. Tell me up front so I can be ready to wait.

Three weeks later the card arrives. From Hong Kong. I send off an email asking why it was necessary to conceal the origin of the item. Got a response that it was "normally" in stock locally, but "supply issues" caused them to ship directly from the manufacturer. I can say with some certainty it did not come from SanDisk ;-) So I asked why after three years of issues with the supplier they had not found a new one. What do I mean? they asked. So I copied several feedbacks from over the years. Same canned response about supply issues.

Now, since they can't hold feedback hostages, they are out of business on ebay. As this policy takes hold, I see more sellers of bunk either shaping up or getting out. None of the scammers can make money when buyers can tell the truth, and companies with issues will be compelled to fix them before their business leaves them.

All in all, I think it's a great step towards closing the favoritism gap eBay has developed for its sellers over the years.

[booboo773]

I completely agree. A lot of scammers will be hurt by this. It might not stop them completely, but it will definitely slow them down.

[Blue_Max]

I first used eBay, way back in year 2000. Had problems with sellers. After complaining to eBay and PayPal, I was felt feeing that they were heavily biased towards the sellers.

One seller, despite being a 'Power Seller' was dishonest. Spitefully, he left me with the only ever neg feedback that I ever received. Despite complaining to eBay about the illegality of the sellers demands, eBay did nothing!

However, eBay and PayPal have since come a long way. I am glad to see that they have at last realised the advantages of keeping the customers happy.

I feel much more confident at eBay and buy lots more.