Australians are getting to grips with the new recalculated feedback and inability for sellers to leave non-positive feedback. As can be expected though not everyone is happy.
One buyer laments ““, asking “Does that mean that sellers will be able to leave neutrals, which will count in the percentage?”. The good news for the buyer is that it doesn’t as sellers are no longer able to leave neutrals.
The downside is that for any buyers (and sellers) who have received a negative or neutral in the past year it will affect their feedback percentage until it drops off after twelve months. The flip side is that any buyers who do leave neutrals will in future affect the feedback percentage of their seller.
Sellers are up in arms, over the new messaging that eBay gives when a buyer leaves feedback. A seller reports “I clicked the “positive” radio button… and up pops a screen that says ‘‘ or words to that effect…”
In reality sellers who do a sterling job have little to worry about, I’ve left feedback on dispatch ever since I started selling on eBay and the number of non-positive feedback I’ve received in that time is tiny compared with the positives buyers have left.
For sellers who have in the past left reciprocal feedback it’s time to start leaving positives – there’s absolutely nothing to gain by waiting for the buyer to leave feedback first and everything to gain from reassuring buyers with a positive that you’re a great seller.
There’s just two days left before the feedback changes hit the UK. Buyers have just two days left to worry about receiving a negative feedback and sellers have two days to prepare for the change. I’d strongly recommend leaving feedback for all outstanding paid transactions, but would suggest it should all be positive.
47 Responses
Had a quick try of this and results are.
UK feedback 99.6%, Aus feedback due to 6 neutrals in last 12 months now 97.4% 🙁
I doubt any buyers are going to be worried about there feedback, why would they.
I might be wrong Oasis but come Friday your UK feedback score will be 97.4%, i hope I’m wrong.
our aussie feedback is 99.6
one neg and 3 neutrals past 12 months
I can live with that !
on our main ID we have been leaving feedback on receipt of payment for the last few months and its still 100% despite one or two awkward buyers,
so I am looking forward to floating to the top on ebays new tide 😀
we have 11 lifetime negs on this id
I cant seen to find them on the aussie feedback page
I worked hard for those, they are proud battle scars ,I want them back
😆
I know Whirly 🙁
Even more reason that sellers should have a separate buying ID. I can see some shocks happening on Friday for some of them!
Can we spread the eBay word that 97%+ is fantastic f/b now 😉
I might have to start sending pic of me to ensure the buyers get a smile when they open their items 😳
just checked our other id on the new system
and the 100% its had for 5 years has gone to 99.7
because of 2 silly neutrals saying thank you great service
I can see some cold turkey on its way, for the feedback junkies
we have a dormant Id with lots of negs thats just gone upto 100%
this is great fun 😈
I’ve set up a few new selling accounts in the last week or so in preperation for this.
I think the market place in general is going to get better as buyer confidence lifts, it just seems in order to get the same return we are going to have to jump through more hoops and work a little harder.
My bath shop ID will be 96.6% when it changes, my only neg was a non-payer! I think I might pop down to a local solicitor now and get that removed.
I think the pop up window is ridiculous, just goes to show though how bad things must have got.
Why don’t Ebay just put up a notice going “neg em, you know you want to”. 🙄
sellers will be in and out like a fiddlers elbow from the powersellers program
So grey is the new red.
I’m frankly gobsmacked by the positive encouragement by ebay to go ahead and neg sellers.
What ever happened to if you have a problem, contact your seller?
no doubt paypal will be sending emails soon asking buyers to charge back because they can
Having one way feedback is going to change the whole nature of eBay, if you think about it with a buyers head on they won’t really have any incentive to leave feedback, after all what would be the point and why on earth would you leave star ratings, who has the time or the inclination.
Remember this https://pages.ebay.com.au/services/forum/feedback-foundersnote.html
You’d have thought they would have updated it 😆
there is no doubt feedback is greatly devalued now
at one time the amount of feedback you had gave you mega credibility
it means nowt now
sometime soon I can see it leaping off the cliff with the lemmings
I have used the link to check my new feedback and my always 100% ID drops down to 99.4 cos of the negs and the “loss” of 3200 possies (and 1 neg) from more than a year ago.
Another id loses a few percent from a neut that says “fast delivery”.
Looks like I’ll have to cure myself of FB mania
On Amazon anyone over 95% rating is good and most sellers operate at 96 or 97. Works well over there but they don’t link feedback to discounts.
Can’t wait for the PS board to fill up with links to FB left of buyers that only ever leave neuts for us to add to our BBLs. A bit of true powerseller self help.
I would imagine that once the new system has settled in and sellers are receiving a few more red and grey blobs, the 98% requirement for the PS programme (and for the DSR discounts) will be adjusted downwards, or am I being a little over optimistic?
Quality of sellers may have risen with the introduction of the DSR’s, however the BUYER looks a the feedback SCORE PERCENTAGE to make the initial judgement.
With lots of sellers taking a drop from 99.9 to 99.6 or lower, buyers won’t see the raise on quality.
Do buyers want to dig deeper into scores, charts, tables and numbers before making a purchasing decision?
According to research posted on this very board, no. Buyers want to pick, pay and go. ebay won’t be providing this for very much longer.
Steve – common sense would say that, but I doubt ebay will see it that way. Even if they eventually wake up & smell the coffee, how many sellers will have been Naru’d by that point?
It’s a good point, my rolling 30 days DSR has gone up up and up in the last 2-3 months, we are doing everything much better than we ever did before, currently 5.0,4.9,4.7( 😀 ) 4.9 thats in the top 5% of eBay sellers wordwide however on Friday my 12 month feedback percentage will drop to 96.6% ! which sucks.
You just can’t bloody win these days unless you are a volume seller.
Steve H, Gill:
I think the whole point of the changes they’ve made is to get rid of sellers. eBay want to be able to say that their marketplace is the best on the internet: they want to say that every. single. time. you buy from eBay you will have a fantastic experience, guaranteed – and the only way they can do that is to get rid of sellers who aren’t pretty damn close to perfect.
As no one is perfect, who will be left?
It will take very little (maybe a postal strike, or a medical emergency) to Naru a seller, particularly as it seems there is no way to improve once an account has been limited.
The quote the other day that sellers are ebay customers too, seems not to have factored at all into this new pop up message encouraging negs. Frankly it feels like a big smack in the teeth.
Sorry to be so negative, that’s how I feel today.
You’re correct, Gill. I don’t know what to say, really – at an individual level, there is no protection for any one of us. Volume sellers perhaps have it a little easier, but to be honest I won’t be surprised if there are new measures at some point to take that discrepancy away (which lets face it, is pretty unfair to people like Whirly).
The flip side is that if we have an eBay filled with happy confident buyers, we should all make more money from it.
As long as ebay pays the piper I will dance the jig
I shall drop to 9.99 because of two neutrals. No negs, just neutrals… 😥
9.99 you bad bad bad seller Lynne.
hahahahaha … err yes… hopefully I will have another 9 in there somewhere…. 😳
cos I won’t be living the eBay life very much longer if my first estimate is true…
After just over ten years on Ebay I have 100% feedback (even now), steady 4.9 DSR’s with MUCH cross border (cross world) selling, no discounts because I live in Australia, no longer allowed to set the trading terms for my own business because I live in Australia, I lose my rights as a seller if I ship multiple purchases in a single parcel because I live in Australia (but lose my income and my DSR ratings if I DON’T ship multiple purchases in a single parcel)….
No, Sue, I am the kind of seller they are getting rid of.
It has nothing to do with feedback, I do not fit their corporate image and do not sell new retail stock. They are attempting to suck the life out of my area of the market to create a strip mall (although my sales are still good so far). Ebay are prepared to shed older buyers, the kind who will seriously compete for collectibles but will not trust putting their financial details on-line and will not sign up with ANY online payment service. And while Ebay cast off the buyers they don’t want, they have made it clear that they will not discount (or compensate over the transition period) because “you pay the fees — but what you’re paying for are buyers.” (quoting Simon Smith at the same meeting as his tactful heroin comment)
When most of the current promotions are for fixed price items, listings that use pre-filled information, and items listed by Power Sellers, you really have to wonder whether Lorrie Norrington’s lip service to small sellers this week is a little misguided. Ebay wants to be a strip mall, and wants everyone listing the same retail stuff (unique and unusual items do NOT have pre-filled information). I want to run my business, using auctions to determine the fair market value of old and unusual items. We are no longer compatible. We may mutually use each other while it is still financially viable to do so, but I am one of the types of sellers that Ebay wants to be rid of.
Kevin
Hi Kevin, whilst I appreciate your frustration, I have to say that most of my buyers of antiques and collectables are very happy to pay by Paypal.
I get very few cheques or pos these days.
And my own experience is that I don’t think they are deliberately trying to get rid of sellers like us, I think auctions are still viable, and collectable buyers are still plentiful and happy to pay reasonable prices for run of the mill collectables and excellent prices for rarities.
ebay collectable buyers pay doolally prices, for utter rubbish
thats what puts the fuel in my Ast 😉 n
seriously I learned a long time ago its easier to work with ebay than against them
I can’t help wondering if we’re all over-reacting. When you have feedback in the thousands with 99.something% feeedback just how much notice do buyers take of feedback anyway? Come Friday I’ll drop from 100% to 99.8, am I bothered…. no.
oh I know Richard, it’s just a pride thing…. 🙄
My aussie feedback is 100%! The only 2 negs I ever got was as a newbie buyer in my first few months or so. I was one of those newbies who didn’t get how to system works. Like me, so many think it is the first port of call when you have a problem.
On another matter, my DSRs have gone down by about 50 marks since yesterday. They were on 135, 135, 132, 132, now they’re in the 80s. I don’t currently have access to the PS board (I will soon again hopefully) so I don’t know if anyone else has got this problem.
Yael: well done on the 100%! I think the DSRs is likely to be that they’re starting the recalculation of everything now, so numbers are likely to go a bit wacky. I don’t know of anyone else reporting exactly that problem though.
Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
I wonder why the sellers who now have 100% (again0 are not complaining.
And as most sellers claim they did not hold buyers to ransom with neg feedback there should not actually be a problem, The only sellers that have to worry are the bad one’s. And about time to.
I’m frankly gobsmacked by the positive encouragement by ebay to go ahead and neg sellers. What ever happened to if you have a problem, contact your seller?
We will be strengthening our advice in this regard to buyers who are about to leave a neg – and blocking them from doing so for a week for tenured Powersellers.
I would imagine that once the new system has settled in and sellers are receiving a few more red and grey blobs, the 98% requirement for the PS programme (and for the DSR discounts) will be adjusted downwards, or am I being a little over optimistic?
Yes, this is the principle. We want to keep roughly the same number of Powersellers, and roughly the same number of them getting discounts.
I think the whole point of the changes they’ve made is to get rid of sellers. eBay want to be able to say that their marketplace is the best on the internet: they want to say that every. single. time. you buy from eBay you will have a fantastic experience, guaranteed – and the only way they can do that is to get rid of sellers who aren’t pretty damn close to perfect.
There are some sellers whose time on the site will be curtailed by these changes, but I don’t think we’re expecting close to perfection from sellers. 50% of all Powersellers are getting fee discounts, for instance – they can’t all be close to perfect.
It will take very little (maybe a postal strike, or a medical emergency) to Naru a seller, particularly as it seems there is no way to improve once an account has been limited.
This is more or less the #1 thing I’m monitoring at the moment. I’m pretty clear that SNP does a lot more good than harm to the site, but it’s fair comment that the rehab process is very much tougher now, and we’re looking closely at that.
Ebay wants to be a strip mall, and wants everyone listing the same retail stuff
This is a myth, but I can see how it’s been built up. In a year, in two years, the site will still be full of unusual, esoteria auction items. Retail/ fixed price is growing quicker, that’s true, and getting more share of the airwaves at the moment, but we all want a balance on the marketplace.
Cheers
Richard
[Edited by Sue to correct HTML tags.]
“Buyers, you can no longer receive negative or neutral Feedback from sellers.
You should leave honest and accurate Feedback without the fear of receiving negative or neutral ratings”
100% correct, At least in 12 months if you see a seller with 100% you will know it is honest and genuine feedback unlike now. I just can’t wait to see the results of what can only be a better ebay.
As for the sellers claiming (as usual) they are leaving as they can no longer neg buyers all i can say is, Hurry up and go! ebay do not need you maybe ebid do.
as long as the dosh goes in the bank
ebay can slap me daft with a wet fish,
and if they say jump I will ask how high
“We will be strengthening our advice in this regard to buyers who are about to leave a neg – and blocking them from doing so for a week for tenured Powersellers”
Why only Powersellers? I was so damn close to getting my PS status back this month but just not close enough. It’s soooo frustrating. I’ve been on the site for years, got 100% feedback (even on ebay Australia!) good DSRs and it’s depressing to see the seller dashboard say “items sold: required level 300 your level 287” and know that I’m just missing out on discounts and all the other advantages that make it worth while being a PS (when I was a PS for a few years with NO advantages at all).
I’m feeling as if I’m gradually being edged out with all the changes that are being made.
Written elsewhere is the claim that the DSR number on your me page is shifting from lifetime total to 12 month rumming total and eveyones will drop soon.
I wish I’d noted what my totals were to know whether that was true.
Swan, I’ve heard from a couple of people today who say their totals have dropped. Like you, I haven’t a clue what mine were before 😆
they can’t all be close to perfect
I’d say they are, Richard. If they’ve managed to get 4.6+ on all four DSRs and keep to 98% feedback when buyers are no longer afraid of retaliatory negs, then that’s damn close to perfect in my book.
“50% of PowerSellers” is a fairly meaningless statistic unless we know how many people have been removed from the PS Program too.
@Swan and Sue – funny, I like to see my main feedback numbers go up, but I have never bothered about the totals on my DSR’s only the star numbers… 😕
rumming total 😀 😀 😀
I hate laptops
must admit to being slightly apprehensive
we have two or three buyers on this account that could well give us negative now they have no fear of retaliation from us, which in reality
would be a fair and honest return comment. that we have not already left because we fear retaliation too
Swan .. rumming total 😀 😀 😀
I hate laptops.
Could have been worse 😆
i have an idea
to protect sellers from all the miserable peopel out their that say
do this or i will leave negative feedback
Create a block list from all the sellers in a group so that one negative comment from a buyer he /she wont be able to buy from your store again or anyone elses in the group.
that should make people think twice before leaving feedback that inst fair.
i have been trading on ebay for 4 years and the tides will turn with this now as thier is nothing i can do apart from block users.
its totally not fair and not qual what the * uck with wrong with ebay..