There’s an interesting test taking place on eBay in the US – when buyers go to leave seller feedback they’re given the ability to add a product review. Indeed, from the instances we’ve heard about it’s impossible to leave the seller feedback without rating the product.
Currently we are testing the ability to leave a product review inside of the normal seller feedback intake form. 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
– Jessica Vayo, Product Manager, Feedback Team, eBay
The times you might see a product rating wrapped up with feedback when there is a product review page with ratings for multiple sellers – often consumer tech or electronics. This means that eBay will be able to display reviews for the product without perhaps the odd negative feedback from that one seller who had a bad transaction.
It makes sense from an eBay perspective, but often buyers go to leave feedback as soon as the product has arrived and that’s before they know if the product is any good or not… or maybe it’s a gift and won’t even be opened for a few weeks.
There is another reason that eBay want products to have star ratings, and that’s because search engines (e.g. Google) love them and prioritise results with ratings. If eBay can push buyers to leave product reviews it will stand the entire marketplace in good stead with increased visibility.
eBay have a very long track record in seller feedback, but relatively little in specific product review ratings. They have been working on this, for instance the introduction of product photos in feedback, and product ratings tied to seller feedback is just another way they are attempting to increase visibility on search engines and attract more buyers to the marketplace.
