Recent feedback changes highly offensive and unfair to the best sellers

[vssoutlet]

It started with Concierge Sellers losing their four complimentary feedbacks per quarter.  I know that buyers love to complain about having their feedback removed, but Concierge Sellers represent the best sellers on eBay; the sellers that have a long history of providing excellent customer service. We NEVER went through our complimentary feedback removal quota, but it was a very useful features to eliminate feedback that was, for lack of a better term "crazy." This includes people leaving negative or neutral feedback without reaching out to the seller for a resolution (we ALWAYS provide resolutions for our buyers), leaving feedback because they have had a bad day at work, or leaving feedback that has nothing whatsoever to do with the transaction. NONE of these are strict policy violations. And now, sellers can do nothing about them.

Next, eBay "automated" the feedback review system. No longer could we talk to a representative to make what is often a complex case. Here is a good example: a buyer left us a Neutral feedback - in Korean - which said "sorry for the late feedback." In other words, feedback that had nothing to do with the product or the transaction. Whenever I receive a negative or neutral, I always do two things:

1) Reach out to the buyer to see if there is an unresolved problem. In this case (and in almost every case where people leave Negative or Neutral feedback without communication), I got no response. If the buyer does not respond, they get blocked from shopping at our store. And we ALWAYS try to resolve their issue (if there is one) BEFORE asking for a feedback revision.

2) Look at the feedback they left for other sellers. In this case, buyer left 13 feedbacks: 2 positive, 1 negative and 10 NEUTRAL. This means that he left feedback other than positive more than 80% of the time. When I contacted eBay about this, they said that there was nothing they could do because the buyer didn't violate any policies. Either this is the unluckiest buyer on eBay, they don't understand the purpose of feedback, or they simply like to crap on the lawns of good sellers (I researched the sellers as well)

eBay REALLY needs to take a good hard look at the fairness to sellers of the feedback system. Here are some ideas:

1) Get rid of automated feedback review. Let a seller make their case to a human.

2) Deny the buyer the ability to leave Neutral or Negative feedback unless they have reached out to the seller with their problem, opened a return or a case. Good sellers deserve the chance to make things right before feedback is left.  We ALWAYS do, and in 26 years on eBay, I can count on the fingers of one hand the times where we were not able to make a buyer happy. 

3) Remove the N/N "Frequent Flyers" from the platform. They are people, like this buyer, who routinely leave negative and neutral feedback for no good reason.  Pretty much anyone who sells to people like this buyer are going to get Neutral or Negative feedback.

4) Expand the definition of "Feedback Abuse" to include irrelevant feedback.

5) Require feedback on ebay.com to be left in English (or translated to English). Readers who see Negative or Neutral feedback, can infer the worst from feedback that they cannot read. Feedback that cannot be translated should be rejected by the system.

The objective is to create a FAIR feedback system for everyone. These fixes would do that. 

After all, eBay is all about transparency, right?

[broto_64]

No, no more feedback removal.

Buyers like myself are tired of it, that is the ultimate in abuse when a seller has truly deserved their negative but they know all the policies and the loopholes and so every single time they have their feedback scrubbed squeaky clean. 
You call this fair, how is it fair if buyers can't warn others of a seller who is gaming the system with a smile?

Also you're not allowed to name and shame thou I will add that one to my BBL, however the simple fact that you missed this bit of policy also highlights why negative feedback shouldn't be scrubbed. No matter how great the seller believes they are, there is always the possibility for bad buyer experience and we as sellers are not the best judges of whether the buyer had a good experience, the buyer would be the only qualified judge of that.
Yes, there is such a thing as unwarranted negative feedback but in my experience there is also such a thing as buyers missing the opportunity, plain forgetting to, or simply not leaving feedback when it is well deserved; so to me between the two it all adds out.

[mam98031]

This is a great subject.  There have been recent changes.  Some I like, some I don't.  

I'm going to start off with your statement "... Concierge Sellers represent the best sellers on eBay" as I think that is going to get us all off on the WRONG foot.  That simply is not true.  It does represent some of that largest sellers on Ebay, but not always the best.  There are a great deal of sellers of other sizes that do a fantastic job as sellers as well.  So I hope we don't start this conversation by thinking larger sellers are somehow better than those that are smaller.

I personally was glad this change was made for larger sellers.  I have always felt that we should all be held to the same rules when it comes to Feedback.  We all deal with those buyers that don't reach out to sellers before writing something very odd or harmful in our feedback.  We are all in the same boat regarding this.

The Automated FB removal process is just where Ebay wants all of us to start.  If you don't get the decision you want, we are all free to contact Ebay and plead our case.  And I agree, sometimes these cases have lots of things that really need to be considered.  Just remember the Automated FB removal process is the Start, NOT the End.

Buyers that are about to leave a negative FB are asked if they contacted their seller.  Obviously they just ignore that and move forward with leaving the negative.

Now Ebay has tightened up on removing negative FB even when they breach policy.  This I've seen on the threads and that is the part that is harder to understand as the written policies have not changed.  And that we all need some clarity on.

I'm going to tag a team at Ebay that wanted to have a good discussion on this topic.  We chatted a little about it at the seller check in earlier this month.

social_product_team@ebay 

[autotechlighting]

Honestly, I almost think Ebay would be better off by making feedback revision unlimited or basing it off the total number of transactions instead of the number of feedback left. 5 revisions for every 1,000 feedback left isn't enough.....especially when most buyers just aren't leaving feedback anymore. People are asked to rate every darn thing they encounter now during the day and they are sick of it.....I think a lot of people only rate now when it's a negative rating (I'm speaking in general terms). This isn't 1999 anymore.

Every other site already has unlimited revisions. Ebay used to have feedback withdrawal way back in the mid 2000's that was unlimited. I think some sellers abused it and they stopped that. However, feedback revision is a more accurate portrayal of a transaction than the feedback removal that removes any proof of the feedback altogether (like it was back then).

Number 1, it would likely cut down on the number of sellers contacting Ebay for removal which in turn would save Ebay time and money. You only get a set number of revisions per year right now and I guard them carefully....I want to save them for when we make a mistake and end up fixing it....I don't want to use them because the buyer left the wrong feedback or tried to initiate a return by using feedback. However, again, 5 for every 1,000 really isn't enough in most categories (I think this sort of thing differs based on what you sell).....

Second, Ebay should ENCOURAGE resolution at all times.....not just encourage it 5 times for every 1,000 feedbacks. I don't think any site is ever going to require a buyer to contact the seller before they can leave a feedback.....but there is nothing wrong with letting the parties work it out. A feedback that was revised (and again, buyers aren't even required to revise a feedback to a positive nor required to even revise a feedback at all) saying a seller fixed an issue is way more truthful, valuable, and useful for potential buyers on the site than a hasty negative left with no merit that stays up because a seller has no revisions left. That's just ridiculous and antiquated. Also, leaving negative feedback up in situations where a buyer wants to revise it but can't makes the site just as untrustworthy as removing all of the negative feedback from a seller.

I just think you let people work it out....

[vintagecraze50]

I totally agree with you. We are concierge members as well and it is NOT conducive to EBAY to allow buyers to leave any kind of unfair feedback that then can reflect on our stellar reputations and excellent customer service. Not to mention, we have had scamming customers on here that try to steal our items and then have the opportunity to leave a bad feedback to boot. THAT IS TOTALLY UNAACEPTABLE.

[vintagecraze50]

Yes I agree that the sellers who sell large quantities should not be favored  by ebay just because they are raking in more cash. That would not be fair at all. And you are right, just because you sell on large scale does not make you necessarily , “the best sellers on ebay”.

[fern*wood]

What is the criteria to qualify for concierge service or is that top secret?

[bashort]

Am I understanding that at least in the past that some sellers have "complementary" feedback removals available? If that is true it was a disgusting practice that well should of been stopped. 

[slati_2013]

Hmmm. Every day you learn something new. Who knew there was such a thing as "Concierge Sellers"? Reminds me of a Frasier episode where he and his brother were denied access to the Platinum club and told to remain in the relaxation grotto. As Frasier remarked, "Please remain in the relaxation grotto! Have crueler words ever been spoken!"

[jerseyboymusic]

What in the world is a "concierge seller"??? Despite this posting account of mine being around for around 10 years, I have been an ebay seller since '99 on my selling account and this term seems to be thrown around a bit lately. Never heard of it until recently

I mentioned this before on another thread... but I think feedback removal should only be used in the most extreme circumstances. My wife ordered an item from a Chinese dropshipper who sent it to Chicago (not here) and the feedback was removed by ebay despite proof it was sent to the wrong place. All because the seller refunded.

[golfingaddict]

eBay concierge

For buyers and sellers

eBay Concierge | eBay

[myfrugalboutique]

In 23 years never heard of such a thing. 

[luckythewinner]

  I do not have a problem (and it is not a forum violation) providing the user ID of the buyer used as an example here

Whether you had a problem with it or not, it WAS a forum violation to name & shame that buyer. 

[vintagecraze50]

I believe it has to do with either very high sales volume, or high yearly sales. Possibly other criteria as well, like your track record. We got invited in 2020 or 2021 we sold about 169.000 in merchandise.

[brightlightbookseller]

@vssoutletYou should review the Community Guidelines: https://community.ebay.com/t5/About-the-Community/Community-Guidelines/td-p/26164369

Especially this part:

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"You agree to refrain from posting content or taking actions that are:

• about another user’s listings or user IDs to tarnish their reputation (e.g. “naming & shaming”) or otherwise calling the community to action. NOTE: It is appropriate to respectfully comment on an item or listing shared by a seller looking for feedback about their listing or the item listed"