As a small seller - with a current 100% positive feedback rating - I am concerned that buyers who either didn't read the descriptive copy carefully or are suffering "buyers' remorse" will too freely make negative comments about the seller. Also many of us have had buyers who bid, won an item, and decided not to pay up. Other sellers need to know who these buyers are. I see the new feedback system as more problems just waiting to happen.

The greatest indictment of the new Feedback policy came when eBay’s Brian Burke, Director of Global Feedback Policy answered a question on the eBayINK blog.:

“Can you please explain how the 2004 and 2007 ratio of retaliatory feedback numbers (shown on slide 5) was determined?

We used a really simple definition when determining exactly what constituted retaliatory negative feedback. It was strictly a user who received a negative feedback and subsequently left a negative feedback.”

eBay is basing a monumental and potentially devastating policy change not on any research data but on an assumption, that a neg left after a neg was received is “retaliatory”.

The whole house of eBay’s Feedback “enhancement” is built on sand, perhaps quicksand.

Imagine if Whitman or Donahoe in their role as Bain Consulting business troubleshooters were analyzing a company who based an organization changing decision on an assumption rather than facts and proven data. Would they applaud the decision makers or suggest they be institutionalized?

eBay based the new Feedback policy on nothing more than an assumption.

The emperor has no clothes.

More info at link below:

http://ebayinkblog.com/2008/05/07/accountability-the-evolution-of-the-ebay-feedback-system/comment-page-1/#comments

Avoid ebay/paypal like the plague, regardless of any sucker deals they offer.It appears as though a former employee has left paypal with the database.
Just more PROOF! paypal is NOT safe, NEVER has been. They operate with total lack of any real concern for your safety.Anyone with common sense should immediately close both their ebay and paypal account. Your information is NOT safe with this company. They know it, they lie about it, and they don't care if you get screwed.

Here in the UK a large number of disgruntled ebayers are going over to Ebid.As ebay descends further on the downward path to a fraudsters paradise you can understand why.

why not break up the monopoly between paypal- ebay and the consumer are they afraid of loosing $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ revenue

eBay has made it clear that it is UNSAFE for sellers to sell on eBay. Here's the link for sellers to see how your new feedback will look on May 19 when eBay counts neutrals as -1:

http://blog.auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/blog/blog.pl?/pl/2008/5/1210707187.html

I think sellers are over-reacting to the new feedback system. Since all sellers will be on the same playing field, having a slightly lower feedback rating won't be a big deal, and it's true that in the past buyers have feared retaliation if they left neutral or negative feedback. I wonder why I've never seen any comments about the positive side of eBay's changes -- such as free gallery pictures, lower rates for book listings, more listing specials like 10 cent listing days, and comments from buyers regarding the new feedback system. e-Bay is trying to improve their system but reporters rarely point these things out. Thousands, no millions, of successful transactions occur regularly on eBay, but the few sour ones get all the publicity.

I was ebay power seller. I sold over $7 Mil and paid $1/2 mil in ebay fee between 2001-2008. Early 2008 my account was suspended for low customer satisfaction ratio. I maintained 98.2% for all 7 years. I opened a few new accounts and all of them have 100% positive feedback but got suspended because I had a suspended ebay account. I have no other problem with ebay.
If you are a business man and one of your customer buy $75,000/year (merchandise/service) from you, would you treat your customer this way?? I now doing wholesale toys , testing other online auction site, and selling through web sites. I am able to survive. Ebay is not a business man.
You can buy my toys at www.pcpartusa.com
Thanks you for your time.

I am an example of a small time seller (mostly buyer) who is hurt by the changes in feedback. I have had an ebay account for five years, and out of 156 transactions have had a NO negative feedback and a total of one neutral feedback. Because I have not been very active in the past year, the one neutral feedback, now given the same weight as a negative feedback, changed my perfect 100% rating to a dismal 97.7. I feel that my feedback score is not an accurate indicator, particularly since the neutral was not meant as a negative. I'm done with ebay.

I have been an ebay seller for many years, and have been watching a freefall decline on ebay for the past 2 years.
The company has apparently adapted the aol business model of increasingly bad decisions followed by increasingly bad decisions.
For example;
The recent flap over management competence has led them to replace ineffective management with clowns. And incompetent staff with buffoons.
The current feedback changes are just a case in point - they render the feedback system virtually pointless.
The current, so-called "security improvements" have resulted in an IT disaster on the site.
And as an example of current "seller incentives", they are still promoting sellers to offer free shipping at a time when shipping costs and packaging cost are sky-rocketing with every oil price increase. The people in charge of that decision are completely out of touch with reality.
In summary, I don't recommend eBay on the long side until it declines to a takeover bid level.

Greedbay is only getting worse. follow up on ebays dissdussion board 'if you are possitively getting sick of ebays ideas, vote here' says it ALL

This whole feedback change is bad, really bad, what ebay is trying to do along with Paypal is so Paypal can make extra money on the holds from interest, then for ebay to get rid off all the small to medium sellers ,and only keep the power sellers. I have seen so many videos on Youtube about the upset sellers........if Google starts an auction site tomorrow, that would the end of Ebay for sure................however, at the mean time, I using www.GeeeWhiz.com to keep myself away from the bad buyers.

I too am a small seller and am appalled at the feedback changes. Since they went into affect I had one buyer request a 50% return on the cost of the item and said if I did not agree he would leave negative feedback. A second seller attempted to renegotiate the shipping costs I told her I could not accommodate her and refunded her money. She then bid on the same item when I relisted it, won it, paid as expected but left negative feedback for both items saying I overcharged her for shipping. The item weighed about 14 lbs and shipped to the UK from the US. I charged her $29.95 and paid $49.95 for shipping. Ebay has been adamant from the beginning about not intervening in these situations. I am 110% done with ebay as a seller. I don't understand how a company shafts the very people who provide their income. For large volume sellers the effects will not be felt but for small occasional sellers it is death. This is Ebays way of moving the small guys out of the picture. It worked. I'm gone.

eBay stock is down from $30; while Amazon stock is up from $80 since I've been watching earlier this year. That speaks volumes. The trend will continue as Amazon has a strong co-branded appeal for sellers and buyers alike, while eBay has created a buyer-seller rift.

There's not much sellers can do, but I offer some suggestions to eBay sellers on how to sleuth an eBay member, how to keep your reputation in check, and compare yourself with other sellers, among many other useful tools for sellers (like five-star stickers, profit calculator, top eBay and PayPal options and more):

http://www.cashbackatebay.com/eBaysellers.html

As both a buyer and seller on Ebay, I disagree with most of the commenst here. As a seller, I have over 2000 feedback at 100%-because I treat people right. There have been few people I have had to go "above and beyond" to assure thier satisfaction. That is simply a patrt of a business. Anyone who complains about these changes in feedback has no experience in business "offline". Here's a perfect example: A restaraunt manager gives a whining/disatisfied patron his meal for free, even though it is obvious the patron is just a moocher. The MGR knows it costs a little now but would cost a lot more if the patron "bad mouths" the restaurant. As a buyer, I am absolutely pleased with these changes. I agree wholeheartedly with Ebay, except for "rare" instances, if a buyer pays timely and as agreed, they should receive positive feedback. There is no other factor a buyer is responsible for. The seller has much more responsibility. Describing the item accurately, charging for shipping fairly, communicating effectively, shipping timely and safely, AND leaving positive feedback immediately after the buyer pays as agreed. That is business plain and simple. Ebay knows that buyer satisfaction is more important than seller satisfaction (regardless who pays ebay, the $ actually comes from the buyer). A angry buuyer will leave Ebay and never return, and not have lost much, because they can shop locally or elsewhere on the internet. A seller, if they are business-minded, will work within the rules if they want to sell on ebay (still the best/biggest in the business).

The changes to ebay's feedback system are beyond insane and hurtful. I have been a seller since the inception of ebay and though I'm small time the feedback system was fair. If you had balls to complain about a bad seller then you may or may not get nicked yourself. But when enough people complained you could get a good idea what was going on. Now I get stiffed by one buyer who nonpays and gets unhappy because he wants it shipped for free. Now I have NO RECOURSE! I tried to complain on the ebay forum sties and guess what ? Was kicked off! You see theoretically you could give a negative feedback for every transaction - no one is perfect and seller's have to inflate shipping costs to help offset fees. Or what if the packing is a bit cheap? Or what if the seller was a few days delayed in mailing? You see, a buyer could nail you for every transaction - and where is the resource? So until this is retracted like the "New Coke" change, leave everyone a negative! Put everyone in the same swampy mess and maye enough people will complain!

Ebay's feedback change has made seller more worry now to sell on eBay. Not only that, along with Paypal, sellers are more at risk than the buyers. Some of my friends are using Reliabid.com to make sure the payment will be received, and GeeeWhiz.com to black list the bad buyers. These are some good options if you were seller on eBay, otherwise it can get down right scary now to do business on eBay, specially for the smaller sellers. Geeewhiz.com is a good site to fight back eBay's dumb a** system which is totally pointless and meaningless. These idiots at eBay has ruined such a good company that has provided so many people so much so for so long! Note to eBay, you will never be or beat Amazon!