REQUIRED Product Reviews - a No Go

[fort-wayne]

Just tried to leave feedback rating on a seller for an item received today. The "Feedback" will NOT let me submit it unless I now "review" the item itself. This is **bleep**. If I want to "review" something, I'll write a separate review for it, most likely elsewhere.

As long as eBay REQUIRES item reviews be created with seller feedback ratings, I'm no longer leaving feedback ratings on sellers. PERIOD! Item reviews should be OPTIONAL, NOT REQUIRED!

GOODBYE FEEDBACK!!

[12345jamesstamps]

Don't you think you took the same amount of time posting here...that would be the same amount of time doing a "review"?

[ebooksdiva · Accepted solution]

I have a work around for leaving feedback without having to rate the product.

Go to your feedback page, scroll to the bottom to find "Leave Feedback".

Click that, you'll be taken to a page where you can leave feedback without the hassel of rating the product. 

[biggymoe]

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@12345jamesstamps wrote:

Don't you think you took the same amount of time posting here...that would be the same amount of time doing a "review"?

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Yeah, but hopefully he isn't going to post a message here, every time he leaves a feedback.

[ed8108]

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@fort-wayne wrote:

Item reviews should be OPTIONAL, NOT REQUIRED!

GOODBYE FEEDBACK!!

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Effectively it's way of discouraging buyers from leaving transaction feedback.

Hey ebay,  you know Buyers don't like doing item reviews

[ittybitnot]

Don't you think you took the same amount of time posting here...that would be the same amount of time doing a "review"?

@12345jamesstamps 

The problem is, of course, the buyer cannot leave feedback for the seller UNLESS they fill out the review.  How does one actually do a product review on a book they haven't read yet, or a movie they have not watched? 

[ed8108]

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@ittybitnot wrote:

The problem is, of course, the buyer cannot leave feedback for the seller UNLESS they fill out the review.  How does one actually do a product review on a book they haven't read yet, or a movie they have not watched?

××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××

That does raise the question does ebay care if the product review is accurate & the truth

How much reliance should a person give forced product reviews ?

[gone.c-33]

Every time eBay added a step to leaving feedback to sellers (first it was the DSRs, then the Did your item arrive on time) I just put in 5 stars, check yes and move on.

Now I just put in 5 stars, check yes, add A+ in the item review field and move on.

[az93]

While i do believe a tiered feedback system would be helpful, ebay is doing it wrong. Buyers should choose to rate either the seller or the item. They should be able to return later to review the item after they have had a chance to use it. And buyers should not be barred from leaving feedback for the seller because they have not reviewed the item. This new system of requiring item reviews first is annoying and will result in buyers leaving even less feedback. 

[fort-wayne]

It's not about the TIME, it's about being REQUIRED to do something I DO NOT WANT TO DO and REFUSE TO DO! Whether I REVIEW something should be OPTIONAL, NOT REQUIRED!!! Why should I be REQUIRED to review a movie I've not watched! That's ASININE. If I want to review a movie, which I've done in the past, I will NOT do it on eBay. I will do it on a site that deals with cinema and films.

[fort-wayne]

Thanks . . . I was able to use it to work around eBay's asinine requirement to review a product . . . in this case a movie I've yet to watch.

[gator08041971]

@fort-wayne 

Have to admit, when I first read this, I though it was a joke.

I will point out a couple things:

This is only going to apply to certain items/categories, not every transaction you may have.

That said, I find this to be rather troubling.  While the Feedback system does have its share of problems, the last thing it needs is a roadblock to its use.

Review of an item should be an independent request that is not tied to the review of a seller and their performance regarding a transaction.

In other words, having the option to leave one, or the other, or both, or neither.  Not requiring one to do the other, or to find a way around the requirement to do one or the other.

All too often of course, a lot of feedback gets misused.  Feedback may represent the shipping, the product itself, and/or the seller. 

They could streamline the process of course:

Have a simple Feedback system that you can:

• Rate your shipping experience and/or provide details
• Rate communication, overall experience, and/or provide details about the seller and your experience with them
• Rate or provide details about the item and your experience with it

Those options can also include the option to not prefer to provide feedback (as a choice)

Streamline it.  Make it easier to use if buyers want to use it.

I never ask for feedback anymore, nor even suggest it in my listings.  I also don't send offers anymore, since eBay already does this just for looking at an item.  I figure if someone wants to make an offer they are welcome to do so.

But point is, there are some facets of how eBay has been spoon feeding and force feeding features onto the buyers that frankly annoy many of them more than entice sales.