eBay

seller_update@ebay · ‎02-09-2022

Today we announced how we are evolving the ways we encourage Buyers to leave feedback in the eBay app. Also making important information about Sellers’ brands and businesses more visible to buyers. You can learn more about that here, feel free to review and post any questions you may have below!

Please note that eBay experts will be present and engaging on the boards between 8 am and 4:00 pm PST on 2.9.

eburtonlab · ‎02-09-2022

There are much easier ways to this then eBay's convoluted system. Take Etsy for example they show just the star rating and then might have a comment this seller has gotten 10 5 stars reviews in the last 5 days. That's probably enough information to make an informed decision for 98% of buyers.

Any simple numeric metric can be gamed. It would be trivial for a scammer to sell himself ten keychains using ten newly created accounts and give himself ten five star ratings. Under the current feedback system, such sales would either show up as keychain sales for a dollar each, or private sales which users could appropriately discount.

Without feedback comments tied to transactions, such a scammer is not distinguishable from a legitimate user with a long track record and similar recent ratings.

The problem with a system that works for 98% of users is the other 2% will ruthlessly exploit any potential flaws.

Not all buyers examine the feedback of sellers before buying -- but they should. Particularly when making a very expensive purchase that seems too good to be true. The fact that some users do not take advantage of the tools available is not a reason to take away such tools from those who do.

seller_update@ebay · ‎02-09-2022

@coffeebean832 wrote:

@a_c_green wrote:

If you feel you must add this feature, please make it a Seller Preference as to whether a buyer should be automatically hounded to leave feedback.

I had that option disabled on the manage communications with buyers settings page- then eBay changed it a year or two ago and took away the option to turn it off.

eBay does still allow buyers to turn of FB reminders from their side- but unfortunately it's through the web, not the app- and these FB changes are being pushed to app users. I'll have to explore the app more to see if I can find a way to turn off the settings there. Chances are it's not intuitive or easy to find.

I hope eBay adds an option to these annoying FB reminders to "don't show me feedback reminders again" to make it easy for app buyers to turn off! seller_update@ebay- can you tell us if that will be an option for app buyers?

Hi @coffeebean832 - we'll make sure that the product team involved receives this suggestion. There is no current insight into the options a buyer will be presented and if it is an opt-out option.

coffeebean832 · ‎02-09-2022

seller_update@ebay wrote:
@coffeebean832 wrote:
I hope eBay adds an option to these annoying FB reminders to "don't show me feedback reminders again" to make it easy for app buyers to turn off! seller_update@ebay- can you tell us if that will be an option for app buyers?
Hi @coffeebean832 - we'll make sure that the product team involved receives this suggestion. There is no current insight into the options a buyer will be presented and if it is an opt-out option.

Thank you. Can you please pass on the other feedback from this thread- for example, using actual delivery dates instead of estimated delivery dates if eBay pushes forward with this change.

elpbeautysupply · ‎02-09-2022

You should stop begging indifferent eBay buyers for feedback , or opinions all together . Start basing it on policy with a hands off approach and automatically count all sales without a feedback as positive ones based on all the policy parameters set by eBay, and met by sellers . Treat transactions as product produced on an assembly line in factory , if a sale goes through quality control without a defect, it's considered without defects and good to go !

northern-tint · ‎02-09-2022

You should give up all hope that ebay will ever give you the features that will really help you all together. Every time they make an update it never really helps sellers or makes things easier for them. Especially when it comes to buyer/seller communication. We've been asking for a simple feature that is available in most categories on ebay, the multi-choice option / drop down select (for sizes, colors, etc), for years. Instead they just give us more item specifics to fill in and update for 8,000+ listings.

Every day I have to send 100 messages to people asking "where do I select which shade I want". I have to tell them they need to actually type it in in the notes section during checkout or send us a message after they make the purchase. Buyers don't want to do that. They want to make a selection when they make the purchase.

Then, ebay also tells us that feedback doesn't count against us anymore. "It's just a metric for sellers to see how they're doing" is what I'm told. But now they want to push it right in the buyers face? And show them the most recent feedback we've received. Like the ones that say "I still have not received my item, it's been 3 days!"... or the ones that say "I wasn't able to select the shade I wanted!"..... or "I was sent tint for a chevy, but I have a dodge!"..... 99% of the negative feedback we get is due to buyer error or usps error of one sort or another, not something we've caused.

How about ebay put some focus on getting buyers to actually read something about the items they're buying? Almost every week I'm on the phone with ebay having negative feedback removed due to buyers "assuming" something about the item, when the information they're complaining about is shown in the item specifics and description.

I also agree that ebay should figure in people who leave no feedback. Only around 15% of people leave us feedback. So we have 100 feedback for the month, but have sold 800-1000 items that month. If one person leaves a negative, that one negative makes a big impact on how we look to potential customers. The other 799 people who purchased must be somewhat happy if they don't bother to go complain about it, even with ebay sending feedback reminders and junking up their inbox.

Anyway. It's the same **bleep**, just a different day.

nobody*s_perfect · ‎02-09-2022

Late to this thread, but I just want to add my voice:

As a seller, I would like to opt OUT of sending buyers any type of reminder to leave feedback.

Buyers often find it annoying and some even conclude that the seller, rather than eBay, is nagging them. A new-ish seller might want to glean every precious feedback, but most of us would rather not take the risk that a prompt from eBay will precipitate a response that is annoyed or even negative. Let sleeping dogs (or buyers) lie!

drakkordragon · ‎02-09-2022

THIS !! MANY TIMES THIS !!

Forcing buyer to leave feedback often leads to them thinking about leaving a negative one, even if they enjoyed the purchase experience, because some don't like to be annoyed with reminders like those. 😐

drakkordragon · ‎02-09-2022

I am 100% with you on this, and would LOVE to see the ability to leave neg feedback for buyers back on eBay too!

However, keep in mind that eBay (like Amazon) wants LOT of buyers to buy on their platform. They don't care who buys, as long as they get their commission in the pocket. If it was a purchase by a bad buyer who used to scam sellers (even multiple time), that's the seller's problem, not their to deal with at the end. That's the main reason they removed the ability for sellers to leave neg feedback for buyer, and the reason of why Amazon also have feedback for sellers but not buyers. 😐

pburn · ‎02-09-2022

@dede394 wrote:
Here is some feedback:

seller_update@ebay wrote:
Also making important information about Sellers’ brands and businesses more visible to buyers.
Feedback: That is not a sentence.

seller_update@ebay wrote:
You can learn more about that here, feel free to review and post any questions you may have below!
Feedback: That is a comma splice.

@dede394

As we're all aware, everyone's posts are available for review, correction, and criticism. I imagine none of us would want that. People who post in glass houses . . .

flybydesign · ‎02-10-2022

I have two additional adds to the Feedback system, if possible:

1) Buyers do not distinguish between Seller's performance and Product value expectations, etc. I am tired of getting ratings were an item does not meet with a buyer satisfaction and I am somehow responsible. If I have accurately defined what the buyer would get, it should not fall on my performance rating.

I would suggest that if Feedback is here to stay, that there are two rating scores. There should be one that shows how well the Seller has done (quick shipping, responding to questions, etc) and another score that references the product only score. This way the seller does not get "dinged" personally for the buyer's expectations based solely on the product, which is again, out of the seller's control. Also, future buyers would get a better idea of how well the product performs, for a better buying decision if they knew the rating was because of the product only, not the seller or a late post office delivery, etc.

2) I have a few "neutral" ratings from two buyers where they have rated me based on product expectations instead of my performance. Both buyers give less than positive ratings for a majority of the items they buy, even though they say the product is "nice", etc. There should be a way to block these buyers that make it a habit of leaving less than positive feedback for sellers. They seem to have an aversion for positive feedback. This is very irritating for me, as I would like to block them or have an easy way to remove them.. They do not respond to feedback removal requests.

donsdetour · ‎02-10-2022

Again an update not though out at what this will cause.

Hope some one from eBay will read this thread and the results this will cause.

d-k_treasures · ‎02-10-2022

@coffeebean832 wrote:
Did you notice the text that said they will start sending reminders after the estimated delivery date- not after the actual delivery scan? Way to go on the bad decision-making with this one, eBay!

The reminders are a stupid enough "enhancement", but sending them BEFORE the item is received just takes it over the top.

The design/enhancement team there needs to be fired and actual people who use ebay(or at least can spell it) should be hired.

_____________________________
"Nothing is obvious to the oblivious"

nobody*s_perfect · ‎02-10-2022

@d-k_treasures wrote: ...The reminders are a stupid enough "enhancement", but sending them BEFORE the item is received just takes it over the top.

The design/enhancement team there needs to be fired and actual people who use ebay(or at least can spell it) should be hired.

Or at the very least, they should be consulted.

clearchoiceaquatics · ‎02-10-2022

saw that too. . . have you noticed the estimated delivery date is based on your history of handling time not necessarily your stated handling time? most of my items I ship the same or the following day however some items I make and ship within a few days. I've been looking and i'm in NJ and a buyer from California bought something with a 3 day handling time (first class package) and it shows ship by 2/14 with a delivery estimate of 2/15. first class is never going to get it there next day, I spoke to ebay and they blew me off saying they would look into it after I gave them a few examples.

flippingroo · ‎02-11-2022

I feel this will definitely lead to more questions from buyers about "where is my stuff?" And they may get angry for no good reason because they think they should have gotten it sooner.