eBay has announced a series of policy changes to be implemented over the next few months (thanks to Rik for the heads up):
The most interesting changes to me aren’t related to the “Reduced Listing Fees” or “Rewards for great sellers” but the “Feedback Changes”.
Here are the details on those changes, per eBay, with any comments from me included below those points:
Feedback Changes
The eBay Feedback system was designed to provide a simple, honest, accurate record of member experiences. Focusing on customer service includes doing everything we can to grow customer confidence in our sellers.* Buyers will only be able to receive positive Feedback.
I am not in favor of this policy change. I rarely sell on eBay, but I went back through my feedback left for others, and I have left negative feedback for 11 different buyers (do to non-payment/non-performance). I never gave potential retaliation any consideration – if someone bids for an item and wins and doesn’t fulfill their obligation, that warrants negative feedback. This is appropriate and provides other eBay community members with important information.
* Positive repeat customer Feedback will count (up to 1 Feedback from the same buyer per week.)
For me personally, this change is generally inconsequential.
* Feedback more than 12-months old won’t count towards your Feedback percentage.
I think this is an odd change, and while I don’t really agree with it, I hope at the very least it will still be easy to see how many negatives have been left for a member and that those details are easily found.
* When a buyer doesn’t respond to the Unpaid Item (UPI) process the negative or neutral Feedback they have left for that transaction will be removed.
This is a change I find favorable.
* When a member is suspended, all their negative and neutral Feedback will be removed.
This is a change I find to be positive in some ways, though I would prefer the applicable feedback be noted as left by a suspended member, rather than removed completely, as it still provides a public record of transactions.
* Buyers must wait 3 days before leaving negative or neutral Feedback for sellers with an established track record, to encourage communication.
This is inconsequential – I can’t conceive of any circumstances under which leaving feedback for another eBay member should be so time sensitive.
* All Feedback must be left within 60 days (compared to 90 days today) of listing end to encourage timely Feedback and discourage abuse.
I don’t see the downside to allowing members 90 days to leave feedback. There have been examples in the last 12 months in which prop dealers have taken longer than 60 days to deliver. I think this new policy will potentially lead to a higher number of neutral and negative feedback remarks.
* Buyers will be held more accountable when sellers report an unpaid item or commit other policy violations.
“More accountable” is vague, but this sounds good to me.
I would say, on balance, the changes are neutral to positive, with the one major change I’d strongly disagree with being the inability of a seller to leave a buyer a negative feedback.
Jason De Bord