Seller feedback

[kac283]

Hi ~ I wanted to leave a positive review for a seller, but am unable unless I give a product review as well. I don't want to review the product.  Did this just change recently? I used to be able to make remarks about the fast shipping, good communication, etc.  I can still leave that kind of review for buyers, so why not sellers?

[wastingtime101]

Are you referring to this @kac283 ?

eBay changed the wording on the feedback form recently, encouraging product reviews. 😖

You do not, however, have to enter a product review in that box. You are welcome to provide feedback about the seller and the transaction, ignoring the prompt to discuss what you think of the item you purchased.

I've been saying for a while now that eBay was leaning into using FB for product reviews, when in the past it was against policy to use FB for product reviews. @valueaddedresource 

[dryophelia]

Hi @wastingtime101 

It seems eBay is trying something new.... again.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Ask-a-Mentor/Unable-to-leave-feedback-for-seller-under-new-system-unle...

[wastingtime101]

---

@dryophelia wrote:

Hi @wastingtime101 

It seems eBay is trying something new.... again.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Ask-a-Mentor/Unable-to-leave-feedback-for-seller-under-new-system-unle...

---

Thank you for that @dryophelia and I appreciate @shipscript getting feedback to eBay on that.

I agree with the OP of the linked thread - generally I have not used the product before I leave feedback for the seller. I am rating the seller and the transaction, not the product. I also buy gifts on eBay and in those situations I will never have a product rating.

If it becomes mandatory to rate the product, I will stop leaving feedback as a buyer.

[kac283]

Thanks for the reply. I can see where some product reviews can be helpful, but I don't like being forced into it in order to leave feedback for the seller. Bad move on Ebay's part in my opinion. Thanks again!

[jgrit]

I am happy eBay is at least trying to think of ways to make feedback better. I think the idea may be to try to make buyers understand the seller did not make the product that is being sold. Ebay may be trying to give an understanding of what it is that feedback is supposed to be for by a product rating first - then rate the things the seller is actually supposed to be responsibile for doing. Definitely a nice try by eBay. Ebay gets positive feedback for effort.

[ittybitnot]

I think the idea may be to try to make buyers understand the seller did not make the product that is being sold.

@jgrit 

How are you going to like it when someone rates your DVD movie and the first line of your feedback says:  "Movie was stupid, not worth watching".

Buyers are not so ignorant to think that you "made that movie" or "wrote that book".  The fact that it is going to be mandatory in order to leave feedback at all is inappropriate. 

I would think eBay should direct their "efforts" towards more pressing issues. 

[gosimus]

@kac283 

< but am unable unless I give a product review as well >    

Just because there's a note that suggests this doesn't mean you have to do it.  I left a feedback yesterday.  I ignored the suggestion and just left feedback the way I always do.  And I didn't post any pictures either, but I'm considering starting to do that ... I was thinking the first picture would be my dog, except I'd have to adopt one first and I'm not ready to do that.    

[wastingtime101]

---

@gosimus wrote:

@kac283 

< but am unable unless I give a product review as well >    

Just because there's a note that suggests this doesn't mean you have to do it.  I left a feedback yesterday.  I ignored the suggestion and just left feedback the way I always do.  And I didn't post any pictures either. 

---

@gosimus Some buyers do not have the choice. Did you look at the thread linked above? If not, check it out. There's a screenshot.

Editing this post to include @danl001 's screenshot:

[gosimus]

@wastingtime101 

Thank you for the screen shot.

Note in the Comments field in the screenshot, the comment is not what I'd call a product review, it is a transaction review:  "Book as described and shipped quickly and securely - recommended" 

That comment is pretty much the same as I leave sellers every time.   

The boxed "instruction" on that feedback page is a variation on what I've already seen so far.  This one says to "Tell us more" about the item.  I've also seen "What do you love" about the item.    

What happens if you don't click any star at all, in the Rate this item?  

[kac283]

Ha ha! That's a great idea!

I've been doing as you said and have just been leaving feedback like I usually do, ignoring the product review. It also seems that the only time it asks for a review of the product is when it's something with a upc code.  I guess I just hadn't run across it before. Thanks for your input!

[danl001]

I am the one who posted the screen shot.  In the case shown, if there is no star clicked in the Rate this Item field, eBay does not allow the feedback to post.  If you look at the screen shot, you will see that the Leave Feedback field is not activated.  I have only encountered this twice so far.  I just do not leave feedback for those items. Hopefully, eBay will revise the process and make the product review optional.

[gosimus]

        @danl001  wrote:

if there is no star clicked in the Rate this Item field, eBay does not allow the feedback to post.  

---

That's a right discouraging thing.  One would think that a 3-star rating would be sort of a neutral, neither good nor bad, rating, but that isn't the way it works on eBay.  Three stars is a poor rating.  I guess I'll have to wait and see if I ever encounter the situation and decide then.  I've left feedback for every purchase I've ever made, except one.  I don't want to change that one to a two. 

[wastingtime101]

There was some discussion about using FB for product reviews on this week's podcast.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/eBay-for-Business/Ep-290-Picking-for-Passion-and-Profit-Not-Projects/b...

Kayomi: We also have news about a recent enhancement to feedback and I believe you have a guest waiting to talk about that.

Griff: I do. In fact, she's the Product Manager for the eBay Feedback Team. Jessica Vayo. Hi Jessica.

Jessica: Hi. Thanks for having me.

Griff: Now, when you were last on, you were on a different team.

Jessica: I was. I used to work in the social area at eBay, but you know, things move around all the time at eBay. And so now I have joined the Feedback Team, which is great.

Griff: What is rolling out?

Jessica: Currently we are testing the ability to leave a product review inside of the normal seller feedback intake form. So that means that for items eligible for product review, buyers will be able to give the item a star rating for the first time and item feedback along with the existing seller feedback already.

Griff: So a product review is different than normal feedback?

Jessica: Yeah, product reviews have been around for a long time. So on eBay, some items that are sold by multiple sellers have a product review page on eBay which collects reviews for that item across all sellers who sell it. These are items like an iPhone or a Dyson vacuum. They're often things that are mass manufactured or have a barcode. And in product reviews buyers also have the ability to leave a star rating for the item as well. So that is why we are bringing it into our feedback form.

Griff: This is something we see on a lot of other marketplaces. Why is eBay adding this to the feedback form?

Jessica: This is a step in the direction we wanna help more buyers discover eBay sellers online. We've had past research show that item specific feedback is something potential buyers are really looking for to make a purchase decision. And we just haven't really highlighted that as much on eBay. What's more item reviews and item star ratings are super important to search engines like Google. So if you google an item, the sites that show the item star rating and item review are the results that are prioritized in search results these days. You'll see like those pop up absolutely at the top.

Griff: That is important.

Jessica: Yes, that's absolutely what buyers are looking for and that's what's driving buyers to those sites the most By encouraging more star ratings for items on eBay. We hope this will help in turn help our eBay sellers get discovered by more potential buyers in the future.

Griff: I look at those every time I'm shopping and I'm on Google shopping or if I'm on another marketplace where it says, you know, you can sort by reviews. I want to know the one that gets the highest review.

Jessica: Yes. We want our eBay sellers to be prioritized in search results. We want them to be found. This is the first step.

Griff: When you say first step, are there other steps coming in the future?

Jessica: We do wanna be able to allow item star ratings for more items across eBay but one step at a time.

Griff: It's probably more relevant if it's something like a barcoded item which or skuable item.

Jessica: Yeah, yeah, that was a a first step.

Griff: I know there'll be a seller news announcement. I've seen the draft. It has some screenshots about what this experience will look like. So if you're interested, if you sell these kind of products and you're interested to know what buyers you're gonna see, keep an eye out on the announcement board and in coming weeks we'll talk more about it and if you have questions, of course you can send them to podcast@ebay.com. Jessica, thank you. It's always a pleasure.

Jessica: Thank you so much.

Kayomi: Thanks for that update Jessica. You can find more about this new item review feature in the seller news announcement that should be live to site tomorrow, Wednesday, April 24th.

Griff: Right. So just check out the announcement board at community.ebay.com. And without any further ado, let's meet this week's seller guest.

---

[eenus-56]

I'm having the same problem. I want to leave positive feedback for a seller but it's not possible to click the "Leave feedback" button at the bottom of the page unless I rate the product itself first. The "Leave feedback" button remains greyed out unless I also click a star rating for the product itself. But I don't want to rate the product. I only want to leave feedback for the seller.

This never happened to me before, so it seems to be a new issue (hopefully not intentional!). I tried in a couple different browsers and have the same problem in both.