eBay finally changing their feedback system!

I was just checking my eBay messages and noticed a service message. I usually don't read them as they're typically about fee increases, but I noticed that they are going to implement changes to their feedback system.

Among the changes, they're going to only allow buyers to receive a positive feedback for the transaction. There won't be anymore of that hostage situation where the seller can leave a negative for the buyer out of mere retribution! This seriously makes me happy. I know a lot of you folks will be too after seeing some of the threads in the eBay sub-forum.

Apparently this is all starting in February!

All of the changes pasted below:

Feedback Changes
The eBay Feedback system was designed to provide a simple, honest, accurate record of member experiences. Focusing on customer service includes doing everything we can to grow customer confidence in our sellers.

-Buyers will only be able to receive positive Feedback.
-Positive repeat customer Feedback will count (up to 1 Feedback from the same buyer per week.)
-Feedback more than 12-months old won't count towards your Feedback percentage.
-When a buyer doesn't respond to the Unpaid Item (UPI) process the negative or neutral Feedback they have left for that transaction will be removed.
-When a member is suspended, all their negative and neutral Feedback will be removed.
-Buyers must wait 3 days before leaving negative or neutral Feedback for sellers with an established track record, to encourage communication.
-All Feedback must be left within 60 days (compared to 90 days today) of listing end to encourage timely Feedback and discourage abuse.
-Buyers will be held more accountable when sellers report an unpaid item or commit other policy violations.

i'm sure most ebay users will be happy with this, but alota sellers like me will not. Ebay goes through the greatest lengths to protect its buyers and make them feel safe so that they will buy more things and drive up prices for ebay. However its the sellers that pays the fees and are on the losing end of every claim. Sellers have a right to leave feedback of their choice. All ebay strives to do these days is to do everything to please its buyers for its own benefit.

Yeah, I do a bit of both and definitely see where you're coming from. Luckily I've not had a bad experience as a seller, but definitely have as a buyer. In none of those instances did I leave a negative for fear of a reprisal.

I suppose no system is perfect, but I agree that most users will be happy with this change.

Agreed. If you get screwed by a buyer, it should be your right to leave him a big fat negative.

So if I get screwed by another buyer stringing me along for weeks over paying me, then giving me a negative when I finally get fed up of waiting for him to get his ass in gear and file a non-paying bidder dispute, I won't be able to let other sellers know what an awful eBayer he was? Cretinous.
That's going to get abused SO badly by dodgy sellers and buyers alike.
It already does.
And what the hell? Negs and neutrals removed when someone is suspended? What a stupid idea! I was under the impression that feedback was supposed to show an eBayer's past record; without the negs, everyone will look like a damn saint.
GOOD. It's about bloody time too.

I'm guessing what they meant was that if a person gets suspended, any and all negatives and neutrals that they left for others as feedback, will be removed. At least, that's how it should be.

Wow, there are some AWFUL ideas in here.

1) Repeat feedback is going to get abused by dishonest sellers with shill accounts. Scammers are dancing in the streets after this announcement.
2) No buyer feedback? What are they thinking? Buyers cause problems too.
3) I used to use ebay a lot, but rarely do anymore, maybe only once or twice a year for high dollar items I'm selling. Therefore, I have a high feedback rating (well, several hundred feedback with 99.9% positive). That instills confidence in any buyers. Now my feedback score is going to drop to less than 5, and have a direct impact on what my auctions sell for, because people won't trust me as much with such a low feedback score.

I'm done with ebay at this point. Their insistence that the buyer is king has made them do outlandish things in the past, but this is the last straw.

My thoughts exactly.

Current Feedback was moronic... It was either all hugs and kisses or it was mutual flaming negative.

There was no situation I could give a seller negative without getting Negative in return as a buyer. This lead to severly inflated Feedbacks IMHO because NEGATIVE feedbacks would have for the most time ust be not submitted out of fear of retribution.

I am not sure this new process will work better but it sounds like they are going to work harder to resolve issues and hold people accountable. So Feedback won't be used as a result of 'I paid 40$ shipping and he wrapped it in dirty diapers' or 'I didn't read the description and got the item and it wasn;t what I wanted' but the result of did the transaction complete or not.

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The last 5 sellers I bought from I left them all positive feedback and haven't recieved any feedback in resturn.