Are product ratings a new requirement for leaving feedback?

[kevhael]

I went to leave positive feedback for an item I purchased but I wasn't able to do so unless I also rated the product.  I bought the wrong thing so I won't be using it, and I also won't be returning it since it was my mistake.

If you don't use a product, what do you rate it?  Or do you just not leave positive feedback for the seller, even if the item arrived quickly and in great condition?

[gosimus]

@kevhael 

< If you don't use a product, what do you rate it? Or do you just not leave positive feedback for the seller >    

This seems to me to be a tempest in a tea cup.  Some buyers have been saying that they will not leave feedback at all, because of the product rating.  I'm not, but some other buyers are saying that.  I just go ahead and click one of the stars, who cares.  I have left feedback for every purchase I've ever made – except one, and there's a story behind that – and I'm not about to stop doing so because of some insignificant – insignificant to me, at any rate – checkoff on a form. 

Other buyers have said that they would blindly choose the poorest rating.  Their reasoning is that if enough people would join that effort, the item would as a consequence be less desirable to buyers and eBay would suffer from the reduction in fees from sales.  I don't know about that, but it is an interesting take on a feature they resent and consider as stupid. 

[az93]

Try your phone. I can leave feedback easily on my phone. The computer is another story.

[kevhael]

@gosimus 

Some buyers have been saying that they will not leave feedback at all, because of the product rating.

The last thing I will do is punish sellers for something out of their control, especially since this course of action would hurt smaller sellers the most.

Other buyers have said that they would blindly choose the poorest rating.  Their reasoning is that if enough people would join that effort, the item would as a consequence be less desirable to buyers and eBay would suffer from the reduction in fees from sales.

I'm leaning more toward this but I was curious how other folks were approaching the change.  Not because it makes items less desirable, but because it renders the product rating useless and makes adding product details anywhere but in the title description and auction description less effective for sellers (thus rendering the product ratings useless).

[kevhael]

@az93 

Try your phone. I can leave feedback easily on my phone. The computer is another story.

Unfortunately, I use the feedback page on my computer to record info about some of the items I purchase; leaving feedback from my phone would make the process significantly less efficient.  This change is one of many that make leaving feedback more cumbersome, though I can at least somewhat understand the reasoning behind it.

[gosimus]

@kevhael  wrote    

I'm leaning more toward this but ... it renders the product rating useless ...  

---

After reflection, I've decided – at least tentatively – to try to participate in the spirit of the rating as much as possible.  And I decide what's possible.  Some items I can evaluate immediately; for example, I knew that the brass hex bolts I recently purchased were great as soon as I held them in my hot little hands.  This evaluation was bolstered by the fact that I had already bought some before and this was a second purchase. 

Some items, however, can't be rated right out of the box.  I might consider delaying leaving feedback until after I've had a chance to use the item.  I might; I haven't written this in my book of flat statements.  I don't like even the idea, I've always been fast to leave feedback; I prefer it that way and I have an amount of inertia to keep doing what I want to do.  Another facet of the issue:  I don't like being pushed.   

One questioner on the forum said he could not choose a rating because he wasn't going to use his item for a while.  I reminded him that he should try the item within 30 days while he was still in the window of the money back guarantee.  And that the window for leaving feedback is 60 days, so he would still have plenty of time. 

All this would be unnecessary if eBay would just do the right thing and take the darn thing off the feedback page.  I'm not holding my breath waiting for that.  eBay is notorious for fixing things that aren't broke. 

[kevhael]

@gosimus 

Some items, however, can't be rated right out of the box. I might consider delaying leaving feedback until after I've had a chance to use the item.

I was so caught up in being forced to rate something I wasn't going to use that I hadn't even thought of this, and it's an excellent point.

I reminded him that he should try the item within 30 days while he was still in the window of the money back guarantee.  And that the window for leaving feedback is 60 days, so he would still have plenty of time. 

While I think this is a fair point as well, I imagine that even delaying feedback for a week would result in a decent increase in people forgetting to leave feedback.  Beyond that, I'm not going to visit the beach in the winter to try out my new arm floaties or a mountain in the summer to try out my new... snow stuff (fell a bit short on the examples, there).  I don't know how common out of season purchases are, but it's still absurd to expect anyone to leave product feedback for a product they haven't used yet, regardless of the reason.

-Another facet of the issue: I don't like being pushed.

-All this would be unnecessary if eBay would just do the right thing and take the darn thing off the feedback page.

Or if eBay would just do things right!  Or at the very least sensibly. 

The opportunity to leave product feedback for something that you would recommend to others - that's an option I appreciate.  Coercing people to leave product feedback by making it a prerequisite to leave feedback for a seller probably makes sense for some reason, but that reason escapes me.

[gosimus]

@kevhael 

< I'm not going to visit ... a mountain in the summer to try out my new... snow stuff (fell a bit short on the examples, there) >   

LOL @ snow stuff.  😀  Of course, nothing I suggest is intended as a panacea.  Well, one thing would solve all the complainers' problems:  take the darn thing off the page.