500 character essays for eBay feedback

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When 80 characters just isn’t enough to convey your feedback on eBay, the new 500 character essays that eBay will be enabling soon should be ample to express your delight or disdain for your purchase. Yes, eBay have announced (at least in the US) that new generous 500 character essays will become the norm for both leaving and responding to feedback.

“Feedback between sellers and buyers is a crucial part of keeping eBay a trusted marketplace. Starting next week, as part of our continuing journey to improve the eBay experience, we’re increasing the character limit for feedback.

Previously, sellers and buyers could only leave feedback of up to 80 characters. We realize that’s often not enough space to include important details, so we’re increasing our feedback fields to allow a maximum of 500 characters. This will apply when you leave feedback for buyers, receive feedback from buyers, and reply to buyer feedback. You’ll see this increased limit whether you leave feedback on desktop, mobile web, or the eBay app. Make sure you have the most recent version of the app to see the increased character limits.”
– eBay

Some will welcome this change whilst others will be in despair at the thought of a 500 character essay from a disgruntled buyer telling them just what went wrong with their purchase. Of course, if you’re a seller there’s also a greater opportunity to put your side of the story across to counteract the feedback.

Any change to feedback on eBay is always an emotive subject, so it will be no surprise to hear some strong views both in favour and against this change.

It’s worth noting that nothing else is changing to do with how you receive and leave feedback, and everything else including feedback revisions are still allowed.

Pro Tip

If you are leaving feedback for someone and want it to really stand out, leave the comment in all capital letters – not only are capitals the equivalent of shouting on the Internet, but capital letters take up more space than lower case and cause the feedback comment to flow over more lines – This really makes it stand out!

21 Responses

  1. Except of course that sellers can only leave positive feedback.

    That is the problem with this.

    Another step closer to the Ebay exit door, I think.

  2. BTW am appalled at Tamebay’s suggestion to leave ALL CAPITALISED feedback.

    THAT IS SIMPLY WRONG. NOT A PRO TIP.

    IT IS REGARDED AS SHOUTING AND ABUSIVE

    HOW WOULD YOU LIKE IT?

  3. this is what to expect

    AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID
    AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID
    AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID
    AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID
    AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID
    AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID
    AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID
    AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID

  4. FEEDBACK FOR CHRIS DAWSON’S PIECE TITLED 500 CHARACTER ESSAYS FOR EBAY FEEDBACK. I READ YOUR PIECE AND FIND IT IS NOT AS DESCRIBED AND NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE. FURTHERMORE YOUR PIECE ARRIVED IN AN EMPTY BOX AND WAS BADLY DAMAGED IN TRANSIT. I THEREFORE DEMAND A REFUND OF MY TIME IN READING THIS GARBAGE. THANKS ALSO FOR THE INCITEMENT TO LEAVE CAPITALISED FEEDBACK WHICH IS VERY HELPFUL AS I LIKE TO SPEND MY DAY LEAVING CAPITALISED RANTS ON THE INTERNET. I FURTHER BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE A TEAPOT AND TWO SPOONS SHORT A FULL CUTLERY SET. I QUESTION YOUR INTEGRITY, HONESTY, PARENTAGE AND THE COLOUR OF YOUR LIVING ROOM WALLPAPER. NONE OF THIS HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE TRANSACTION BUT HEY ISN’T IT GREAT OF EBAY TO LET US VENT LIKE THIS.

    And, that, Chris, is why this is going to be a nightmare for sellers.

  5. Dreadful idea.
    I suspect that decent buyers will still just continue to leave a brief polite feedback, covering the basics or saying they’d be happy to buy again.
    However, the unhappy buyer (erroneous or genuine, who never bother to contact first) will post long rambling diatribes against every perceived injustice … probably in all caps too!

    Yet more entirely unnecessary fiddling whilst key areas go unaddressed.

  6. My first thought is that people are going to leave reviews of the product they bought, not actual feedback for the seller.

    Dear eBay, stop trying to be Amazon.

  7. How about some help for good sellers, so many people on ebay never leave feedback anymore…..as feedback has been made non-essential to buyers. In the old days you could restrict sales to people with proven feedback.

    But as a seller (and a buyer) I leave feedback. But what about all those buyers that do not bother too? They do not complain, so they are not unhappy seemingly, they just cannot be bothered.

    After 30 days, if no feedback has been left for a seller…….and the seller has shipped the item, the seller has left buyer feedback and there has been no complaint raised, ebay should give the seller a generic “successful transaction” feedback.

    come on ebay, without sellers you would have no buyers, look after sellers for a change!!

  8. I know that 80 is too little, but seriously a jump to 500? 200 would have been fine. As usual ebay go from one extreme to another.
    To be fair though… who actually reads feedback? Not the majority of buyer sit would seem. I see masses of sellers with huge lists of negs and yet still people buy in droves…. all because it is cheap!
    The funny thing is that buyer can say virtually anything, but god help the seller that tries to correct with the truth, if it has even the slightest negativity about it… it gets removed, unlike the pure b.s from the buyer which is left because it is the ‘buyers experience’.
    The feedback system is about as much use as…. the item reporting system.

  9. “Feedback between sellers and buyers is a crucial part of keeping eBay a trusted marketplace.” ebay seem to be 20 years behind the times.

    It’s human nature to take the time and effort to vent out a negative rant, when things rarely go wrong. The customer is always right except for the times when they are mistaken…

    USING UPPERCASE LETTERS ARE USUALLY RESERVED FOR ANGRY INSECURE PEOPLE OR PERSONS WHO HAVE ‘JUST GOTTEN INTO TYPING’ FOR THE FIRST TIME…

  10. I’ve just heard that this new idea is being trialled worldwide on Thursday (a.m. only). WHY NOT GIVE IT A GO. Whoops – got me at it now.

  11. The whole Feedback system is has been obsolete for a while now. It has been used as a stick by eBay to bash sellers over the head for years now.

    Personally a simple star system would do the job for the vast majority.

  12. Will help when replying to any negative feedbacks left as you can add the facts and your side the story. I don’t mind the odd negative as it gives you a chance to add a professional reply and add the facts.
    Don’t see the point of buyers having feedback. Well done you have paid for the item you have bought and were meant to pay for.
    I don’t get feedback from the supermarket each time I shop there, yet some ebay buyers get upset if you don’t leave them feedback.

  13. We dont need 500 characters to respond

    Were upfront honest and customer friendly
    We receive poor feedback once a year or so
    From the deranged lunatic fringe
    That any response is wasted on

  14. Personally I don’t think this is a bad thing but only because you can also respond to the feedback with your own 500 characters. For me, one of the best ways to fathom the character and nature of a seller is in their responses to negative feedback. I actually think a professional and honest reply to a single negative feedback probably instills as much confidence in a potential buyer as 100 positive feedbacks. I never read the scores of positive feedbacks when checking a seller’s profile (they’re pretty much expected), but what I will do is go straight to the negatives to see what’s been said and how the seller has replied.

  15. Wow! It’s for real. I thought it was for 1st April only but I’ve just seen a feedback reply stretching over four lines.

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