eBay prevents sellers from leaving negative feedback

I am another one who is glad Ebay has made this change!
I have bought and sold on Ebay for almost 5 years.

Most of the time you get what you bid on and I leave good feedback. A few times I got a DOA item and it was not worth it to return the item as I would be out more money! I didn't leave bad feedback because I was worried the seller doing the same.

I bought a couple of cameras from a seller which turned out to be broken. Paypal said I could get my money back if I returned the items but I couldn't get the shipping charges back! It cost more to ship the item than the item cost! If I returned it I would be out even more money and have nothing to show for it!

I read you can not leave feedback after 90 days so I waited 89 days and posted neg feedback (you can read it under my id peter-2003-june). Suddenly I get an email from the seller threatening me that if I did not withdraw the neg feedback he would leave me neg feedback?!?!?! I paid 5 min after I won the item! Only reason he had to leave me neg feedback was because I left him bad feedback. And yes he did leave me bad feedback after the 90 days!

Ebay is just a little late for me!

I just had a buyer neg me for recieving an item in 4 days instead of 3 when paying with priority mail
then they were very angry because I negged back - They were angry enough to report me to Ebay since they thought the new policies were in effect and I shouldn't have Been able to do that.

I'm setting up a new website and transferring my business to Amazon I can smell the blood in the air.
Between DSRS...and buyers who think 4 is great for a seller

being forced to use paypal ...whether I like it or not

Paypal holding my funds for 21 days and when I called their customer service about this their own employees weren't even aware of the changes !

Buyers threatening drop my shipping/price/customs info or I'll neg you I no longer want to be there
Ebay is turning into a giant chinese Wal-mart !!

If the sellers leave the only ones left will be the retail item powersellers and the sellers who made feebay unique will be gone.
I stayed on from 1999 till now I just can't justify their changes anymore and as a seller closing my store and I'm gone.

The feedback system DOES need fixing. The fear of retaliation is a serious issue. Ebay IS right on that.
This however is NOT the right way to fix it. Its actually WORSE!
Imagine if these reports are true, what happens in May when the changes actually take effect?
One member said they were contacted to send a video demonstrating how they ship. (Sears, Toys R Us, Best Buy, Walmart would laugh you off as a crackpot).
The same member was contacted about their shipping fees. I too hate paying excessive s/h fees. But, do we get to tell Best Buy, Walmart, etc. how much they can charge?) btw; they CLEARLY stated the charges were actual plus $2. How is it their responsibility that the PO, UPS, Fed Ex charges too much?
Some are reporting they are already being blackmailed into refunding the entire amount paid, or they will leave negative.

Feedback is VITAL. Sellers have the right to leave negative feedback. Not be subjected to fraud and blackmail.

Please join in the boycott!
Thank you
Tim

We're Not Gonna Take it Anymore
Twisted Siter
Official Theme Song For Boycott Ebay 2008
NO BUYING NO SELLING
Feb 18-25 & Beyond!

Together As One
Michael Sweet, Kyle Sweet (Stryper)
Official Song of Unity For Boycott Ebay 2008
myspace.com/boycottebay

Cum On Feel The Noize!
Quiet Riot
Response to Ebay Theme Song!
groups.myspace.com/boycottebay

I say this with considerable sadness as I've been a part of the eBay community as buyer & seller for over 7 years, but the whole eBay experience has deteriorated in EVERY way so much in the last 12 months that I feel it is time to seek other markets.

Most of the "fun" has gone, due in part to security issues. What's the joy in outbidding someone for a highly desirable collectible if you never know who it was ~ or if you lose, then being unable to tell the full outcome?

The fixed price store was an idea that hurt the eBay auction format; the nearly mandatory (to avoid UPIs on BIN) use of the over-priced Paypal system is a severe hardship to sellers of large or heavy items (because a charge is levied on total payment- shipping as well as auction price); many of the search functions that were exceptional are said to be going; etc etc.
Face it, folks: America loves a yard sale, and flea markets draw every bit as well as Targate ~at least at Wallyworld you can handle the stuff, too.
Be a d*mn shame to see the world's great on-line yard sale ruined by inept management!
Be tough on stock holders, too ...

Seems sellers are planning to work round the issue and carry on leaving bad feedback for buyers.

http://www.pheebay.com/?ebay-sellers-to-continue-negative-buyer-feedback-99.html

Leaving a buyer negative feedback -didnt get my money back, it didnt keep them from giving me a negative in return, and it didnt get them to leave or stop extortion or stealing from others on ebay, but that ain't the point.... it made me feel like i had one small iota of control in the transaction.

Milgrams Hammer.. that is how i refer to it. The Milgram study shows that buyers would electrocute you if they could, and they do at times.

I am striking as well. I wont sell on the week of the 18th either… why? not because i think it is good to hurt our mutual network, but because after 7 years of dealing with Ebay and 25,000 successful transactions (sevenbrosmercantile) i have yet to get the feeling they are listening to anything i write, type or speak at them.

Send em a signal, make it large with fireworks.. we need significant numbers… including turning off paypal on our websites to make this something that those atrophied Ebay ears can hear and weak greed drunken eyes can see.

Reading these posts as a stock holder, and what eBay is doing, makes me want to vomit!

eBay it seems has done it again! Shot themselves in the foot big time!

They have raised final value fees to over 8 percent.
With an 8 percent final value fee... quite frankly, any item listed as (BUY NOW )...which is buying at (RETAIL ) listing of that item should be FREE.

Any item listed on eBay over $25.00 dollars should be free, auction, or buy now!

Feedback should be done away with period. It serves no real purpose anymore.

Instead, buyers should a rate an item response like Amazon does) Rate Item!

Paying with Pay-pal or credit card- should be standard. (Makes it easier for eBay to credit back final value fees for non-payers automatically)
No need to credit back listing fees, because there are none.

If eBay wishes to compete with Amazon then they need to do like Amazon. They need to make up their mind! Auction or retail? Which is it?

They cannot fleece their sellers with charges up front and back and sell retail.

In my opinion they are burning the candle on both ends.

Most stock holders like me are waiting for a bump in price to SELL.
Stock holders take a dim view of a company that seems to be groping in the dark!

Ebay also just announced that there will be no more listings for under 1.00... The sellers will have to go through their stores and re-list their items at a higher price...
I see a total collapse to this Ebay... They are a company that is driven by greed...
They have changed the feedback policy so that the buyer is the only one who can leave a negative comment to the seller... This gives the buyer the edge and gives him the ammunition they need to hold over a sellers head to get them to reduce shipping charges, or say they receive an item they don't care for and want a refund, they can request that the seller refund and if they refuse, then leave negative feedback...
When a sellers feedback score goes down (as Ebay is counting on) then the sellers FEES GO UP!! This will encourage all kinds of crooks to bid and then not pay, with no recourse what so ever for the Seller...
The fees were already too high from the hike they added last year, but this whole new system takes the cake...
It's unbelieveable... Then they tried to sell it to the ebayers as a "bonus for them" Ha... LOL... What a joke...
Many stores are already going out of business on there and there will be a strike by sellers from& nbsp; (Feb. 18-24)... As an ebay store owner and also a purchaser myself, I will join in the effort to have the "powers that be" listen to us... We are all searching for another venue to place our goods where everyone is treated fairly... I have been a registered ebay member since 1981 and have enjoyed both being a buyer and a seller... It's not a good experience anymore...

Ebay violating it's own policies
http://pages.ebay.com/securitycenter/rules_policies.html

To promote a safe trading environment for all members, eBay has rules and policies that are enforced. eBay's policies are intended to:


Support government laws and regulations
***Minimize risks to both buyers and sellers - Feb. 20th will be increasing a sellers risk while eliminating buyers risk.
***Provide equal opportunity to all buyers and sellers - Will be changing this on Feb. 20th - we sellers will no longer have the opportunity to leave neg. feedback for buyers.
Protect intellectual property rights
Provide an enjoyable buying experience
Support the values of the eBay Community

Ebay violating it's own policies
http://pages.ebay.com/securitycenter/rules_policies.html

To promote a safe trading environment for all members, eBay has rules and policies that are enforced. eBay's policies are intended to:


Support government laws and regulations
***Minimize risks to both buyers and sellers - Feb. 20th will be increasing a sellers risk while eliminating buyers risk.
***Provide equal opportunity to all buyers and sellers - Will be changing this on Feb. 20th - we sellers will no longer have the opportunity to leave neg. feedback for buyers.
Protect intellectual property rights
Provide an enjoyable buying experience
Support the values of the eBay Community

eBay fee changes are an increase for me. I resent the news stories that are promoting the fee changes as decreases. Did eBay write those stories themselves?

As for the feedback changes, they are the death knell for eBay as far as this 10 year veteran is concerned. I am one of the small old timer sellers who specializes in the cool, unique, collectible, hard to find stuff, and I will be out of here in short order.

I've been hearing more and more reports of buyers leaving neutral or negative feedbacks for sellers or threatening to do so. Same people are shocked when the feedback they leave is reciprocated by the seller. Apparently many people think the feedback policy change is already in effect and don't realize it won't be until May. Then they threaten to report the seller to eBay because "seller's aren't allowed to leave neutrals or negatives anymore".

2/3's of my activity is as a buyer. I have never withheld feedback from a seller after I got the goods and was pleased with it. I have never threatened a buyer with a negative when they had an issue. I have always accepted returns from anyone dissatisfied. However the unspoken threat of receiving a possible bad feedback has probably held some nuisance buyers in check.

I truly believe that most people are good, honest folks who just want to buy or sell a widget. However there is that annoying small percentage of both buyers and sellers who can make your life miserable.

I keep track of my auction stats so I know this much. I have about a 4% NPB rate. Overall on eBay is 10%. In addition I have about a 2% PITA buyer rate, folks who cannot be pleased no matter how hard you try, or don't read or understand the auction description, or want to change my TOS, or renegotiate shipping costs post auction end etc. Only their reluctance to receive a negative has kept those people in check.

I figure anyone who sells on eBay in the future will be receiving negatives on a minimum of 6% of their transactions. In addition, if the seller doesn't immediately leave positive feedback for their buyers as soon as they pay, those sellers can expect to get negged by a lot of buyers for that as well. If the seller files NPB against a slow paying buyer they can expect a neg too. yet eBay is encouraging sellers to file such complaints.

Up until now anything less than a 98% positive feedback rating was considered pretty sketchy. What will the new "good seller" percentage be? I am betting it will fall to around 90%. How comfortable will that make buyers about shopping on eBay?

I really think eBay did not fully think through all the ramifications of these feedback changes. I do not see it as being positive for either individual sellers or for eBay as a whole.

So 60 days prior to the May change in policy is my cut off for selling on eBay. I don't feel comfortable selling in an environment where I can be unfairly chastised with a negative feedback without having much recourse. I've worked too hard with excellent customer service to achieve my 10 year good feedback record to allow any passing newby to chuck a rock at it.

I used to be an avid eBay buyer. Then as eBay grew more popular with "commercial" sellers, I found more and more of the seller's weren't delivering on their auctions. I was discouraged from leaving negative feedback because I knew they would retaliate. One negative feedback among their 4000 positives wouldn't make much difference; but one negative among my 100+ positives would drop my rating by a full percentage point. That said, when I had such awful experiences, amounting to outright fraud, that I felt a duty to warn other buyers, I went ahead and left negative feedback. Sure enough, I received retaliatory feedback. Even though some of the sellers I complained about were investigated, and in one case removed from eBay (one was even subjected to federal criminal prosecution, as I subsequently received "victims information" from the Court!) my retaliatory feedback remained from these lousy sellers. Discouraged and with no means of scouting out bad sellers on eBay, I've moved on to other venues like Amazon. Once the new system has been in place for several months, I may again return to eBay in the hope of finding a situation a bit less like the "wild west/buyer beware" and a bit more consumer friendly. I am certain eBay can come up with, if it doesn't already have, less public systems to keep a reign on fraudulent buyers. I only wish eBay would make its changes to the feedback system retroactive, so that the prior retaliatory feedback on my rating would no longer count.

IT seems that over and over again Ebay forgets who exactly it is that pays the bills around there - it's not the buyers but the sellers.

They don't make a dime off of the buyers - sellers pay all of their fees. Also many if not most sellers are also buyers.

I have 100% feedback as of now and have worked very hard to keep it there. With the coming changes, not the least of which is the somewhat vague standards that Ebay/PayPal may use to seize your money for 3 weeks, I don't think the stock holders are going to like what's going to happen. I for one, will NOT ship any item that the funds have not been released on. I simply won't. The transaction will be cancelled, and I will send a polite note to the buyer explaining that Ebay/PayPal isn't sure they really want the item they purchased and they will need to contact PayPal to retrieve their funds. It will only happen once - I can guarantee you that, because the first time that happens will mean no more PayPal. Postal money orders only from then on.

One other thing that perhaps the powers that be may want to consider is - the buyers are all most likely receiving flyers in each package that goes out telling them where the seller is selling for less! See, we have their addresses, Ebay. The buyers are OUR customers, we are YOUR customers.

What many people don't understand is that the transaction is NOT over until the buyer is satisfied upon receipt of the item. The payment is only "phase one" of the transaction. This is the reason most sellers prefer to wait for the buyer to submit feedback first.

There are unfortunately, a number of buyers that appear for lack of better terms "schizophrenic" in their buying habits - and freak out after they get exactly what they ordered, and decide they have buyers remorse. That's when the feedback system works badly - as they "frag" the seller.

The seller's only tool has been to alert other sellers via feedback when a buyer has "gone bad" to warn them from a similar bad experience, or rip off.

My sister and I were small part time sellers. It took only TWO vindictive, bad buyers to sour us on further selling on ebay, who does NOT back it's sellers that it makes money on.

Once ebay instituted the multi-faceted rating system for sellers, the feedback system became unnecessary. They should choose one or the other. But NOT hobble the sellers to "leave only positive feedback". Geez. What world do they live in? Apparently not the same one the sellers do.

We are now exploring options other than ebay.

Did you think about what you wrote *before* you hit send? If a seller can not force a seller to post a positive, nor stop them from posting a negative, how exactly do you think they got 5000+/ 0- feedback?!?

As An eBay Buyer..I Really Hate to see that eBay.com is ruining the lively hood of so many Honest and Disabled and Veteran Sellers!!!!... Many Of The Smaller Sellers Who Helped Build eBay Have No Other Way To Make A Living!!....I Think Sellers Should Take Control!...And, A Strike May Be Most Definitely In Order!!!!!...If most of the Sellers abandoned their listings for a Week or MORE!! and Buyers "Don't Bid Or Browse"..It May bring eBay Management to their Senses!!...My Favorite Business Management Professor at GA. TECH always said "If It Ain't Broke...Don't Try to Fix It" ...In My Humble Opinion....The Proposed Feedback Change and the 21 Day Paypal.com Holding Period might be "Unconstitutional" & "Illegal"...."One Sided Feedback" may be a violation of the "Equal Protection Clauses" in the the various State and the Federal Constitutions!!.....Additionally....Both The New "Unequal Feedback Policy" and the "21 Day Holding Period" may require that eBay act as a "Law Enforcement Agency" and a "Court Of Law " in order to settle contractual disputes between Buyers and Sellers!!..Both Of These Actions May Be Extremely Illegal!!.... We Need To Help Ebay Save Itself!!....If One Strike doesn't work, Sellers may need to do it Again and Again--->Until it Does Work!! .... Hopefully!!, Persistent Sellers Will Convince eBay Management to Withdraw these proposed changes and return to Business As Normal Before The Law Enforcement Agencies and The Federal/State Courts Bring Them DOWN!! I have heard that One Of The Best Civil Trial Lawyers in Atlanta may be just waiting until the proposed changes take place before filing a multi billion dollar Class Action Lawsuit (On Behalf Of "ALL" SELLERS) against eBay, Paypal and their new cohort General Motors for Violation of the "Equal Protection and Numerous Other Clauses" Of The US Constitution!....Additionally....He may be requesting that US Magistrates and the Attorney General issue Felony Criminal Warrants requesting immediate arrest of all eBay Management and all employees involved in making feedback decisions(in which they act as a Law Enforcement Agency...AND... A Court Of Law!!) I Am Afraid That "Good Attorneys" and an almost Trillion Dollor "Class Action Suit" may Bankrupt eBay, Paypal and General Motors!! It will be interesting to see how much it may cost eBay, Paypal and Genral Motors to reimburse all of the Sellers that are being be forced to leave eBay and give up their only source of income because of these New Feedback and Paypal Rules!!!! .....Maybe Trillions!! ....My Professor Also Said..."Nothing Is "Forever"...Except Death And Taxes!!....STRIKE VICTOROUSLY!!

The feedback changes are the dumbest thing they could have done. Anyone making money on eBay can get past fee increases but to have you reputation destroyed by unreasonable buyers that have no reason for restraint and to put the cherry on top those morons decide if you get FVF discounts, lowered in the searches, money witheld by Paypal & how much buyers will pay for your item if your feedback looks low to them.
I have not found anything in the way of a viable alternative to make my living online so I searched for something that might bring some balance back.
I FOUND IT!!!
There is a site called http://WWW.AFTERTHEGAVEL.COM. They let sellers & only sellers leave neutral and negative feedback for buyers. If enough of us sellers participate we can recreate the balance.
Buyers never cared what ebay thought of their feedback only what sellers thought. They are afraid of being found out that some of them are the biggest pains and sometimes crookedest. If sellers can still find out who is bad in the buyers pool then we can block them before they have a chance to soil our reputation. We will be able to quickly draw a big arrow to those buyers that will try to use feedback extortion to get their way and maybe even eliminate the problem altogether eventually.
I urge all sellers to check it out.