Rate This Item in Feedback

[austinltc78749]

Making the new "rate this item" a compulsory part of feedback is a mistake.  On many purchases I would have been happy to provide positive feedback on the seller, but did not want to rate the item.  Please make "rate this item" optional.  I hope someone from ebay is reading this blog.

[ebooksdiva]

As far as I can tell that isn't even an option. I don't see anything that says that I have to rate a product. It maybe be something eBay is testing with a small percentage of buyers. 

[stainlessenginecovers]

1.) ebay doesn't 'read' this 'blog'

2.) Doesn't really matter; a seller is responsible for the items they sell. If they sell garbage, even for .01c, then THAT seller is responsible for that garbage.  

[austinltc78749]

I'm only seeing it on some purchases.  It started a couple of weeks ago.  The feedback item was labelled as "new."  As an example, I just bought some used DVDs.  The feedback included a "rate this item" line.  I couldn't leave any feedback without filling out that line.  I was happy with seller but did not want to offer an opinion on the dvds themselves.

[comics-scifi-collectibles]

@austinltc78749.  I agree that this is not a good buyer experience.    I am collecting a list of buyer complaints about about this new feature since eBay doesn't have a tell us what you think option on the feedback page.    Your comment has been added to my list. 

It is my understanding that this is only going to apply to items in the eBay catalog.   I'd be interested in knowing what the item was if you don't mind saying.   No need to share the item number or other info.    Just trying to verify if what I heard was correct.  

[austinltc78749]

There are at least two purchases involved.  One was a purchase of three seasons of Big Bang Theory DVDs.  I am happy with seller but didn't want to offer a what would seem to be a "review" of the series itself or of the DVD images etc as one might see on Amazon.

Another recent purchase was a used model TCDA9400 Tivo streaming device.  Again. I was happy with the seller and the device appears to be working but the TIVO blogs indicated that the device is very quirky and many buyers, even of those devices as "new" are not having a good experience.  I factored in my knowledge of the reported issues on the TIVO forums in my purchase decision.  I got exactly what I expected from the seller but I am not confortable "endorsing" the hardware even though it appears to be working at this time.  

[comics-scifi-collectibles]

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@austinltc78749 wrote:

There are at least two purchases involved.  One was a purchase of three seasons of Big Bang Theory DVDs.  I am happy with seller but didn't want to offer a what would seem to be a "review" of the series itself or of the DVD images etc as one might see on Amazon.

Another recent purchase was a used model TCDA9400 Tivo streaming device.  Again. I was happy with the seller and the device appears to be working but the TIVO blogs indicated that the device is very quirky and many buyers, even of those devices as "new" are not having a good experience.  I factored in my knowledge of the reported issues on the TIVO forums in my purchase decision.  I got exactly what I expected from the seller but I am not confortable "endorsing" the hardware even though it appears to be working at this time.  

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Thanks for sharing this and I'll pass it on.   eBay needs to realize that other sites with product reviews have the review separate from rating the seller.   Which eBay had the option to do for many years.     I totally understand not wanting to rate a product, especially when you haven't even used it yet.  

[dmay02271994]

Add my complaint to the list. I bought a video game and can't give the seller positive feedback without reviewing the game as well. Even if I wanted to, I'm expected to wait until I've played it enough to have an opinion before I can leave seller feedback? If this is the new process, either buyers will just stop leaving seller feedback altogether or fill the review section with nonsense just to get through it, and that doesn't help anyone.

[comics-scifi-collectibles]

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@dmay02271994 wrote:

Add my complaint to the list. I bought a video game and can't give the seller positive feedback without reviewing the game as well. Even if I wanted to, I'm expected to wait until I've played it enough to have an opinion before I can leave seller feedback? If this is the new process, either buyers will just stop leaving seller feedback altogether or fill the review section with nonsense just to get through it, and that doesn't help anyone.

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I will for sure add your  complaint.     

[jrcosmo]

I agree.  I DO want to leave praise for a deserving seller but I do NOT want to rate the items and I CAN'T rate items I am giving as gifts.  It harms the sellers because what would have been positive feedback isn't given.  I called ebay yesterday and a call-center minion initially told me it was optional (it's not) but then after putting me on hold to 'research this further', told me that sellers request this when listing the item.  That seems dubious since some items requiring 'rate the item' are used CDs that seller only had one of; why would he care what people think of it.  I do see it on some items, but not others.  It should be optional.

[jrcosmo]

@comics-scifi_collectibles -- add me to your list; see my reply to OP.  RE 'which items', I've encountered it for CDs, some new, some used.  Bought a bunch of used from one seller and it was required for some not others.  Don't know what 'ebay Catalogue' is, but as OP states -- Rate the Item should be optional.

[slyders_finds]

I have not seen this yet. Although for years I have noticed some buyers are reviewing the product which I found ridiculous. "I didn't like the Movie." "Didnt care for the Music." And they are leaving negative feedback. 

[pink-hat-man]

eBay seem intent on making their whole platform less and less user friendly.

Adding all these extra steps when they are essentially asking the user to do them a favour is just going to stop people doing it. It's not justt on the feedback, but also on searching, trying to navigate back to an item when you've bought it, the bugs in the listing an item page and the idiotic AI generated item descriptions.

I can see that they are trying to fight back against platforms like Vinted, Etsy and Tindie by bribing people with fees and pushing out huge marketing campaigns but they need to start by fixing this cluttered, slow, unintuitive user interface.

[spacecowpolx]

Hi! Please add my experience as well. The seller sent me a coach wristlet, and the thing is in perfect new condition, just as described. But their new wristlets suck ass. Cheap materials and low quality. It has nothing to do with the seller, but I definitely don’t want to leave a high rating for this particular product. Does the rating reflect on the seller? There’s no other option to describe the experience with them, which I would give all five stars. 

[ebooksdiva]

 I had several items get delivered to me today so I went ahead to leave feedback. 
And to my surprise I couldn't leave feedback unless I first rated the product. 
I refuse to rate an item so I used a different Leave Feedback page and left my feedback without having to rate the product.