New feedback form
Am I correct in understanding that you can no longer leave feedback for a buyer without rating the merits of the item you purchased? In other words, if you buy, say, a book, you have to read it and decide how much you liked it before you can assess the quality of the transaction? For one, I may not get around to reading that book for months. For another, whether that book is good or bad has no bearing on the seller. I'm not sure why item and seller ratings would be mingled other than to artificially inflate product ratings.
23 comments
monster-deals
·2 years agoWe can always dream
megalonzerg
·2 years agoExactly. And when you try to contact eBay about this huge mistake they have made, there is no category heading that it fits under. How can I get a message to eBay that I will NOT leave feedback again until the rating thing becomes OPTIONAL.
newenvironmentallawyer
·2 years agoI am a 22-year eBay user (original ID 2002; replacement ID 2012). I had the same concern and wanted to speak to an eBay rep. The "chat assistant" led me in circles for 10 minutes before I thought about asking for Security. Got connected to a real eBay rep. I indicated that as a 22-year eBay user, I am interested in proper pictures and description, good communication, secure packaging, fair shipping cost, and timely shipping - all of which are not measured in the new feedback form. I also indicated my displeasure with the "chat assistant" - better "chat assistants" existed in the late 1960's using the BASIC computer language (dates me). Without speaking to my discussion with the eBay rep, let's just say that things (the feedback form) will probably not change. I won't be leaving feedback until the feedback form reverts to its prior look.
house*of*paws
·2 years agoThis thread started 2 months ago ... and I don't think anyone's mentioned yet there is a workaround to leaving 'forced product reviews' until eBay realizes its mistake:
** Use the Leave feedback link in your Feedback Profile.
barkingdigger
·2 years agoAnother pointless "improvement" from ebay HQ! I bought a plastic model - how on Earth do I rate it? It's less useful than a cure for the common cold, but better than a box of dog poo. I couldn't skip the rating as others suggested - it's mandatory to pick a star and the "Leave Feedback" button stays greyed out until I picked a rating. If ebay now wants me to rate the intrinsic merits of my purchases I'll just stop leaving feedback!
dark_jaguar
·2 years agoI just saw this pop up when I was trying to leave feedback to a seller, and I think it should be anything but mandatory. I am NOT interested in giving a review of the merits of a particular mass produced item on eBay. You run a platform that also sells plenty of homemade knicknacks and stuff that can't otherwise be easily grouped as a single "product" (like old silverware bought half a century ago). I'm fine with this being some new optional thing, but PLEASE remove the mandatory aspect. I don't want to stiff someone a positive review on how well they handled the transaction just because I'm not in a position to fully review the merits of the object. Also, some of us "flip" a lot of stuff. It's not our concern to actually read some book or use a toaster. Heck, there's things I buy that I objectively consider terrible and which I bought BECAUSE it was terrible, like a Big Mouth Billy Bass. How the heck do I rate THAT?
Please stop thinking you're Amazon. You're an auction house.
fillydelphia
·2 years ago"How would you rate this item?" I assume the "item" is this line of questioning on the feedback form; so I left "poor" as the rating for this feedback item since I think this question item is inappropriate.
reallynicestamps
·2 years agoI got one FB that said "." . There were no quote marks though.
FB is a legacy of the 20th century internet when buying online was scary and edgy and not how we order obscure batteries and new socks.
The sooner eBay drops it the better.
I've been rereading Tanith Lee's "Bite the Sun" and it reminds me of how the inhabitants of that moneyless society pay for goods- with effusive thanks.
tsuenn
·2 years agoMaking it mandatory to rate the product before being able to leave seller feedback is unfair to the seller, in my opinion. Starting today I haven't been able to leave feedback for sellers without first providing a rating for the product itself. If I don't rate the product the "Leave feedback" button remains greyed out. Since I'm not yet ready to rate the product itself, the seller misses out on getting the positive feedback I would have left for the transaction.
chapeau-noir
·2 years agoI ran across this trying to leave FB for a set of paints that I had purchased. It was forcing me to leave product feedback as well, and I could not bypass that step. Since I hadn't used the product, I just backed out and have not left feedback.
monkeystein
·2 years agoThe eBay for Business Podcast said eBay is testing product reviews as part of leaving feedback for certain items.
"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: 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. "
Link to the podcast
https://community.ebay.com/t5/eBay-for-Business/Ep-290-Picking-for-Passion-and-Profit-Not-Projects/ba-p/34425247
mudshark61369
·2 years ago@wunderdog,
The new feedback form like many other changes to the site and feedback over the last few years, is another meaningless one. You are not REQUIRED to comment about the item itself. Feedback should be left about the sellers performance. Then if one decides to comment about the item they can use what is left of the 500 characters to write a War & Peace novella about the item.
If you are not going to use, read, listen to an item, before leaving feedback, then why would you even think about rating or leaving a comment about it?
What worries me about the change, is that ebay may be skulking its way back to using the DSR stars to rate sellers again. That system was so totally flawed, it never should have been used in the first place.
fab_finds4u
·2 years agoWas the book as described? Did it match the seller's condition they described the book was in? Did the seller ship on time using the method stated in the listing? Was it packaged to protect it from rough handling? That is what the feedback should be about. Not if you liked the book or not.
gosimus
·2 years ago@wunderdog
< Am I correct in understanding that you can no longer leave feedback for a buyer without rating the merits of the item you purchased? >
No, that is not correct. Just because they say it, that doesn't mean you have to do it. The most recent feedback I've left was before they started putting that box there, so I haven't seen it yet in real time. But the next time when I do leave feedback, I'll put whatever comment(s) I want to, and it might or might not be a product review, probably not.
dryophelia
·2 years agoThere was another post about this last week.
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Ask-a-Mentor/Unable-to-leave-feedback-for-seller-under-new-system-unless-I/m-p/34408901
Unavailable member
·2 years agoI think since then those star ratings for the item has been removed because I don't see it.
soh.maryl
·2 years agoAnd, just checking, you do not even ever have to give any FB at all and you know that, right?
Unavailable member
·2 years agoThe feedback I leave for my buyers is automatically sent.
If you are referring to feedback you give to sellers and you see this...see image below..
So you can ignore it or not, up to you.
liawri-75
·2 years agoThat section should NOT BE IMO "mandatory".
bonjourami
·2 years agoWhere did you see that? Feedback has always been about the transaction, not the item.
Unavailable member
·2 years agoWhen you give a seller feedback you see this...
wunderdog
OP2 years agoNot based on what I'm seeing:
jgrit
·2 years agoI 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.