eBay’s feedback system has been around ever since February of 1996 when the founder, Pierre Omidyar sought to implement a way for members to exchange experiences. He explained that some people are honest, but others aren’t and the hope was that by sharing experiences, the dishonest would be driven away. The feedback system has received a few tweaks along the way, but it’s largely remained the same ever since 96′ - both the buyer and seller can leave positive, negative, or neutral feedback. That’s all about to change though, and there are people who aren’t too happy.
Starting in May, sellers will no longer be able to leave negative feedback for buyers. Those of you who have only bought (versus buying and selling) on eBay may think that this is great because you’ll always have 100% positive feedback. eBay is full of great buyers and great sellers, but the problem is that there is an equal amount of dishonest buyers and sellers. As someone who sold on eBay for a living, I can vouch for this. There are buyers that consistently don’t pay or make unreasonable demands and abuse the system. Sellers should be able to leave them negative feedback to warn other buyers of what they might be getting into.
While there have always been some issues with the feedback system like users reluctant to leave honest feedback for fear of retaliation, the proposed changes will make it even more flawed. If eBay isn’t satisfied with their current feedback system, instead of eliminating a portion of it, it might be time to overhaul it completely. eBay should start from scratch and come up with a new way for members to exchange experiences so that the dishonest are really driven away because at this point, they aren’t, and that includes both buyers and sellers.
Source: Download Squad
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So if you have a bad experiance what are you suppost to do?
I can see both sides being a seller and a buyer.
I never leave feedback 1st to people who buy from me.
Ebay’s fees pushed me away a long time ago. Plus they get to double dip since they bought Paypal. Now if they that they are incorporating this, I will never sell on Ebay again even if they reduce the fees.
Yeah, this coupled with the crappy new listing and final value fees may be enough for me to stop selling on ebay.
I can see this either being implemented for a week, then being taken advantage of, then changed…or left alone and then ebay dying.
That’s the way that I am, too. I always wait for others to leave feedback in case a situation arises that I need to take care of first, which has happened.
As much as I would like to throw in the towel on eBay it has helped me scoop up a lot of money in the past. Selling things like iPods and cameras go for a lot more on there than you could ever hope to get trying to sell it on your own.
I can’t wait to see the feedback they get from people once these things do go live, but I don’t think that they are going to be welcomed with open arms. I think it will take more than a week before they’ll change their minds, but in the end I’m not so sure that these changes are for the better.
Anyone know of alternatives to eBay? Like, new upcoming sites?
First one that comes to my mind is eCRATER:
http://www.ecrater.com/