AUTOMATIC FEEDBACK--UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES?
My worry is that buyers will quit leaving positive feedback at all, since Ebay will leave one for them if enough time elapses.
51 comments
My worry is that buyers will quit leaving positive feedback at all, since Ebay will leave one for them if enough time elapses.
onefootflipper
·8 months agoWho cares if they do, the automatic positive adds 1 to my number the same way that a personalized one does.
fm2000
·8 months agoWhen they implemented this, some on various eBay/reseller forums and social media were scared to death that once eBay implemented auto positive feedback, buyers would go out of their way to leave negative or neutral feedback if they were not happy for whatever reason.
I haven't seen any sellers on the same platforms complain about any kind of unusual upsurge in negative feedback, and I couldn't find any buyers saying they plan on now leaving negative feedback in lieu of not leaving any feedback. This is certainly not a scientific sampling, but it seems to have been a tempest in a teapot.
I wish, in addition to feedback, eBay prominently showed buyers how many years a seller has been on the platform. That would help with customer confidence even more than feedback. Some of us have been around for about 30 years, I'd love my potential buyers to see that.
ed8108
·8 months agoBuyer's leaving
transaction feedback now dead ?
gurlcat
·8 months agoThat's not what their reply said whatsoever.
slippinjimmy
·8 months agoeBay does show this information and it's fairly prominent......
I see this on every one of your listings
gurlcat
·8 months ago@slippinjimmy And the framing is very generous because it states the year the seller joined eBay. Mine says 2003, but that was just the first purchase I ever made here. Then I made only occasional purchases over the next decade-plus, and didn't sell my first item until around 2015 .... and didn't start selling regularly until 2018. But I'm fine with it saying 2003! 😀
gloryglorygifts
·8 months agoI don't think that you have to worry. Those that leave glowing feedback will continue to do so and now ebay will leave it for those that don't leave any.
I'm a happy camper. I've had 165 autos since it started.
sfau
·8 months agoI mainly sell to parents with younger kiddos and they are busy. I don't expect them to leave feedback. It is nice when they do, but I don't want to add another thing to their full plate.
adamcartwright
·8 months ago@gurlcat
I don't get why people are so up in arms about this auto FB issue.
Whatever the consequences, they will happen to all sellers.
And so far I have seen zero negative consequences.
What I do see is a bunch of people saying the sky is falling and wondering "what if?!"
Maybe this is just an example of people enjoying complaining?
gurlcat
·8 months agoWhenever you scratch the surface, it's the naysayers' ignorance that explains it. I don't mean that in a hostile way, just that they always have this or that misunderstanding about feedback's function, auto's function, misconception of buyers' views, etc.
rugerskick
·9 months agoWell a worry is just that, a worry. Like a feeling.
The fact is most buyers do not leave fb anyway. At least this way sellers get some credit. After all, many sellers on this board have said when discussing fb in prior threads, that "no news is good news". Therefore, the new policy affirms this largely reported here, seller sentiment. Besides they can alter it or leave a different positive fb note if they want.
inhawaii
·9 months agoHow about if sellers get a automatic negative if buyers don't leave feedback? 😉
jonathanbrightlight
·9 months agoOh, the humanity!
luckythewinner
·9 months agoMy worry is that buyers who were mildly unhappy but don't want to leave a negative will now do so.
adamcartwright
·8 months ago@luckythewinner
Curious to know if anyone here has reported that happening, and I've just missed it.
If a buyer didn't want to leave a negative, they could leave a neutral.
I feel like sellers are worrying about nothing. Just keep on truckin' -- providing great quality products and service at a good price. I think we'll all be okay.
bonanza125
·9 months agoWell when 70% of buyers don't leave feedback at all at least from my experience the 30% will continue to leave feedback and the 70% still wouldn't leave feedback. You still get a positive feedback in your totals.
jonathanbrightlight
·9 months agoFor last year, we received feedback directly from buyers on 31.45% of our orders, over the whole year.
For the time before Automated Feedback started, our percentage was 32.84%.
For the time after Automated Feedback, our percentage was 29.14%.
So a small drop, possibly easily explained by other factors, but it is possible we're receiving slightly less. But the report you can download doesn't show how many orders receive automated feedback. But I know that close to 100% of our orders now receive some type of feedback, and that's definitely a big improvement in my opinion.
itsjustasprain
·9 months agoI doubt that there is a significant percentage of buyers out there who are aware of the automatic feedback process and have that line of thinking.
If they did quit leaving positive feedback at all since Ebay will leave one for them then the result would be the same amount of positive feedback either way.
onlinecentral
·9 months agoFeedback from buyers has dwindled.
Feedback from buyers that are also sellers has remained constant. They are leaving feedback hoping to receive feedback.
Consider a seller that has 100 transactions and 30% of buyers leave feedback.
30 positive feedback would be 100%
29 positive with 1 negative would be 96.6%
29 positive with 1 negative and 70 automated would be 99%
That 96.6% inflates that 1 buyer's unsatisfactory experience.
That 99% better reflects that 1 buyer had an unsatisfactory experience out of 100.
heckofagame
·9 months agoI'm all for this new system. I want the next color of shooting star.
chapeau-noir
·9 months agoThis is a teapot tempest. If sellers are worried that they have to 'beg' for feedback, they're focusing on the wrong issues, anyway.
reallynicestamps
·9 months agomeh.
EBay does not use feedback to assess member accounts.
Some buyers do, but more important than the FB received is the FB Left for Others, including Responses to negatives.
Automatic FB is positive and pushes neg and neutral FB further down the page and increases your rating.
Frankly, I think FB should be dropped completely or replaced with a "successful transactions" count , which automatic FB is moving towards.
reallynicestamps
·9 months agoI was going to mention that the norm for some years has been about 40% or less feedback per transaction.
Then I looked at my own and I left 31 FB in the past 30 days and received 24. I guess I'm an outlier. Or a terrific seller. *blush*
jonathanbrightlight
·9 months agoI think eBay said when they announced the auto feedback that it was about 1/3 of buyers that left feedback for sellers.
If you are saying that you received manual feedback (not just auto feedback) for 24 of your 31 recent orders, that’s fantastic! Congrats!
ccomic
·9 months agoThe biggest change is that sellers no longer leave feedback for buyers because they no longer have to beg for return feedback.
buyselljack2016
·9 months agofor nearly 25 years I have pretty much consistently left feedback for buyers, but to this day, I have never begged a buyer to leave feedback.
jonathanbrightlight
·9 months agoSame. The closest I’ve come is asking a buyer, after we had resolved an issue that they had with the purchase, if they would be willing to revise neutral or negative feedback that they had already left.
buyselljack2016
·9 months agoNow that you mention that, I did ask for a revision🙂 Buyer thought the First Class parcel (pre GA) was downgraded shipping.
iamalwaysright
·9 months agoHey now, I kinda like the sound of this ðŸ˜
gurlcat
·9 months agoStick to the facts you know. Projecting what you do to what all sellers do is just silly.
gloryglorygifts
·8 months agoThat's not true. I leave feedback for every buyer and every seller I work with.
soh.maryl
·9 months agoA positive FB is a positive FB, whether left by the buyer or by eBay.
Sorry, but I do not understand your concern.
tobaccocardyahoo
·9 months agoAutomatic FB was created because the number of buyers who leave FB continues to decrease.
It is unnatural, it is unnecessary and it is subjective. Ebay does not want to risk junking Pierre's solution to his lack of policing the site, which has been remedied by his successors. All of the Internet marketplaces which have FB systems are also concerned that eliminating this useless remnant of the past would cause negative PR which might affect some buyers.
I am upset by how quickly my automatic FB has reached 100. I would prefer this feature did not exist, Not that I think it will affect my business, its just that it looks ugly.
mamacassidy
·9 months agoI have a feeling that a huge percentage of buyers don't even know auto feedback is being left for their transactions. I seriously doubt many of them read the News or Updates that are sent out.
There have also been numerous sellers who have come to this forum who were totally unaware.
I think the buyers who left feedback before will still mostly continue to do so, and the ones who never did will be replaced with the auto feedback.
wastingtime101
·9 months agoThis is the correct answer.
Auto FB is left on the transaction; it is not left on behalf of the buyer. It doesn't appear on the buyer's FB left page and buyer has no visibility to it unless they go searching through the seller's FB.
Buyer is still prompted by eBay to leave their own FB. From their end, the purchase is still awaiting feedback.
Unless the buyer is an informed seller, or a buyer that hangs out on forums like this and knows about the change, chances are pretty slim the buyer is aware of eBay adding auto FB on their transactions.
adamcartwright
·8 months ago@mamacassidy
Agreed. I've had a bunch of auto FBs replaced with actual FB.
I don't know why this is such a sticking point for people.
gurlcat
·8 months agoI just did a batch of feedbacks for several items I purchased in early-to-mid-December. Funny thing is, I didn't procrastinate because I knew the sellers were getting auto's for the transactions; I somehow forgot that was even a thing.
inhawaii
·9 months agoPerhaps. What is your worry?
fjbet13
·9 months agoI would be more concerned that buyers, who had a bad experience and would normally leave no feedback, will now leave negative feedback. If they don’t eBay will give the seller automatic positive feedback. Maybe eBay should scrap the current feedback system altogether.
broto_64
·9 months agoI do find that bothersome to me as a buyer, if I had a say somewhat unsavory experience that would normally lead to me leaving no feedback, now ebay will leave a positive for me if I don't leave any... I won't necessarily leave a negative because that's another whole enchilada but I get what you're saying.
soh.maryl
·9 months agoThat would be my concern also. As a buyer only at this point in time, I don't shop here as often as I used to, due partially to budget constraints, and also, at 92, there's probably not much I really need that can't be purchased locally.
In the past, however, I have had bad buying experiences, not many, but just left no FB at all, especially if it was a new seller. Occasionally, have messaged a seller and pointed out, for instance, that their packaging could have been more secure or that their description was just a little wrong. Did not neg their FB, but just hoped they took my suggestions in good faith.
iamalwaysright
·9 months agoAre you kidding me? Do you realize all the pain and sweat it took me to get my feedback score of 2 on this account? No way I'm just gonna throw that all away.
slippinjimmy
·9 months agoNeither your 2 or my 4 are really all that impressive. To have truly impressive posting ID Feedback your number must be Negative, (-1 at a minimum).
iamalwaysright
·8 months agoHehe. On a bit of a serious off topic note, how did you get that shooting star on your feedback when you have a 4? I thought shooting stars were reserved for feedbacks of 10k or more. I've noticed this on some other posters accounts too.
slippinjimmy
·8 months agoI have absolutely no idea how that got there, I don't recall ever seeing it before and I don't know what it means.
It is seems to match the shooting star icon for over 1 Million feedback but I can assure you I have not received a million feedback even if I combine all my selling accounts.
I do have a couple of accounts that are shooting stars but they are both at the lowest shooting star level (yellow).
I tried to identify it using Google Lens, Google tells me the resolution is too small for them to id, if I add some keywords Google SUGGESTS it is eBay* related but can't identify the meaning.
* Brilliant work on the part of Google's AI (one of the keyword terms I used was "ebay icon").
dhbookds
·8 months ago@slippinjimmy The misapplied shooting star is a glitch on these boards.......been reported a number of times, but Khoros can't seem to correct it.........
iamalwaysright
·8 months agoSo that must mean for your ID here, you must have 1,000,004 positive feedbacks and 1,000,000 negative feedbacks. 😀