Reviews & ratings on products are horrible and aren't even relevant!

[monstertoybox]

I looked at a rating for an item I just listed. The rating on the top is 2 stars and has NOTHING to do with me or this product I'm selling. It states the product sent was wrong and that they received horrible customer service. What??! How is this helping me sell something, when right off the bat a customer reads this rating and assumes it's about my product or my service??! No one is going to buy this if they look at that rating. I almost want to put something in my listing about it, but I don't want to call attention to this "rating thing" if there's a possibility they won't notice it, but most people do click on them, especially if they are low. 

[dr.curious]

Adding product reviews and ratings to listings is one of the worst ideas eBay has ever had.  They have not asked permission to add these to our listings and we cannot opt out from them.  It is ridiculous to expect us to report on poor reviews and ratings.  I spent an hour on the phone with a kind representatvie who confirmed that there is no opt-out.  I tried to contact eBay online to make a suggestion and there is no link for that any more.  This policy is horrible and can potentially drive people away from your listing due to information that is totally unrelated to your business record or even the product itself.

[dr.curious]

Regarding reporting a product review to eBay for them to consider for removal:  I do not consider this a final solution. We must demand to be able to opt-out of this terrible marketing program. Just another instance of eBay trying to be Amazon or Wal-Mart. There is a way to make a comment online, you can click on "Tell us what you think" on the right side of your My EBAy page. It is a link to rate the usefulness of the page you are on but there is a box for comments.

[noodlevette]

      I just realized a review appeared on one of my auction items that had multiple watchers (over 30), 200 page views,  two bidders, then suddenly a horrible review that is written the 15th, with the auction ending the 16th.   It never did get any additional bids.  

     Not real happy with the review idea if there is no checking to see if it is even close to factual (this one was not)

[crownnationalindustries]

Just another dumb eBay feature that has ruined the marketplace along with their idiotic ads for the competition on sellers pages.

eBay needs a new CEO with some brains, someone who actually uses the marketplace.

[rschissler]

I'll tell you one thing,   the product reviews on Amazon are awesome.  They really help a buyer decide on an item.

[karthok.of.daolodus]

But Amazon is good about separating product reviews from seller reviews. Different scenario.

[savanna.dance]

The problem I've found with product reviews on eBay (other than the obvious, erroneous reviews) is that it's offered mostly on items with a plethora of views available elsewhere.

The items I really want to know about quality, materials, construction, etc. zippo.

[lobree]

I believe if you leave out the UPN or MPN for whatever product you're selling, there will be no review posted for that product.

[adspec1]

Sure they are terrible because they are not relevant, and eBay's flagging system sucks because they do not give you a field to make a comment on the review when they are unrelated to the actual product listed.

eBay has shot themselves in the foot once again due to gross incomptence and terrible software.

[currietp]

eBay does NOT remove reviews that are for the wrong product.  Apparently they have some silly computer program that tries to match a keyword in the product that was reviewed with the same keyword in each product listing. The system then assumes that any review for a product that included "widget" in the title must apply to EVERY other product that includes "widget" anywhere in the title.

This is a serious probelm especially in various electronic and computer products where eBay takes reviews for accessory items and attaches them to listings for the major item.  If you look at the reviews listed with any amateur radio transceiver, if there are more than three reviews I can assure you that at least one of them is for some completely different item such as a filter or interface cable rather than for the radio itself.

Worse, eBay refuses to allow people who recognize the problem to report these inappropriate reviews.  To report an inappropriate review you have to select one of the specific reasons, such as "spam, contains links" or "includes feedback about the seller" but there is no choice for 'This review is for a different item" -- all you can do is choose "Other" but there is no way to add any explanation of what "Other" problem there is.  So, even if eBay does actually check the review (which I doubt, based on my experience) it only works if the persone checking the review is actually familiar with the items involved.  Based on eBay's handling of reviews and of complaints about items that violate eBay published rules, it is clear that most of the people checking the reports have no knowledge about the items they are checking.

[dinas-the-boutique]

I had great product reviews most of them from my customers (515 bracelets sold) A couple of sellers are using my pictures and my title. The product reviews that where on my item where removed and placed in one of those listings. The seller ( Item # 222530924181) has pictures, product reviews and title that don't belong to his item.