@ittybitnot
For now, it is only select new commodity type items. They intend to expand it as time goes on.
"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: That is important.
Jessica: Yes, that's absolutely what buyers are looking for and that's what's driving buyers to those sites the most By encouraging more star ratings for items on eBay. We hope this will help in turn help our eBay sellers get discovered by more potential buyers in the future.
Griff: I look at those every time I'm shopping and I'm on Google shopping or if I'm on another marketplace where it says, you know, you can sort by reviews. I want to know the one that gets the highest review.
Jessica: Yes. We want our eBay sellers to be prioritized in search results. We want them to be found. This is the first step.
Griff: When you say first step, are there other steps coming in the future?
Jessica: We do wanna be able to allow item star ratings for more items across eBay but one step at a time.
Griff: It's probably more relevant if it's something like a barcoded item which or skuable item.
Jessica: Yeah, yeah, that was a a first step.
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.
Jessica: Thank you so much.
Kayomi: Thanks for that update Jessica. You can find more about this new item review feature in the seller news announcement that should be live to site tomorrow, Wednesday, April 24th.
Griff: Right. So just check out the announcement board at community.ebay.com.
