eBay feedback boycott

imagia

stevew8975 wrote: »

The feedback system was far from perfect, but i still fail to see how this is an improvement.

It's not designed to be an improvement. It's designed to get rid of the smaller sellers. Seriously. In the same live chat the rep kept on pushing how if I became a powerseller (I mean, hello????) then the changes are going to be good for me:

eBay rep
"Well this changes may seem negative at first but if the seller keeps getting good feedback in the long run, it will benefit them by being a Powerseller, as for your concern about protection you can still protect yourself by putting a buyer requirements to any of your listing."

Yeah, that's not going to help. :rotfl:

Me
"Would you say that it's better for me to become a powerseller with these changes coming in? I can't see how it favours anyone else."

eBay rep
"I understand your concern but yes it is really better if you will try and achieve that level as it has more opportunity for you as a seller."

So there you have it. We all just become powersellers and everything will be fine. :j

StaffsSW

Of course they want everyone to become powersellers - The more you sell, the more you pay eBay - and besides, it keeps the Q&A board with something to grump about - big bad evil powersellers!

Tirian

RFW wrote: »

Best of luck then. It won't affect short term sales, it will deter repeat customers. Buyers like feedback, personally I always prefer the money, but happy customers=sales. I would also suggest that your DSR will start to drop as well as a result of you not leaving feedback.

As far as I can tell you appear to be saying that your main use of the feedback system was to use it negatively and you are stopping because the negative (and neutral) option has been removed. The reason for leaving a buyer positive feedback is not being altered yet your attitude towards it has. Leaving a positive has always been a 'pat on the back' for a buyer, so why have you left before and will not be leaving again?

No, my main reason for use of the feedback system was to contribute to a community where everybody's contribution could help the rest of the community to identify the good from the bad - among buyers and sellers. It was worth my time and effort to do so, because I benefited from a community where others did likewise. Under the new system, that benefit disappears to me as a seller - there is no benefit for anyone to be gained from my leaving feedback for buyers - nor any benefit that I can gain from others leaving feedback for their buyers, because it no longer tells anybody anything.

Imagine it like system for rating films. Everyone can give it a plus or a minus. Result: You can see how good a film is, and make a judgement about whether to see it or not

Change the system so people can only give plusses - you no longer have any idea of how good the film is, just how many people have seen it. Result: the system is useless.

meknownowt

I stand to be corrected, but I don't think that the changes in sellers not being able to leave negs/neutrals will have any effect except on the poorest sellers who overcharge on postage or sell copy goods and retaliate when they are left a negative for it (these are the sellers Ebay are targetting).

If you really believe that you are in for a shock, I search the net for anything on the boycott after being involved in it since the last one.
You have one little problem in what you are saying, in that ebay will not protect YOU.

You have so much confidence put up the challange now, as you have so much confidence and state your selling name that you use on ebay. I will advise you against it as I have heard of atleast five mini hacker groups that are thanking ebay with glee.
The first thing on their list is the biggest seller you can remove in the shortest time.
The second is the most amount of sellers in the shortest time.

Ebay will not protect sellers, as they are trying to transform into some form of Amazon and all they are trying to do is get rid of the small sellers and anyone that sells used goods.

Any sellers that fit that list should be making sure thay are set up on the alternative auctions, at leats in part.

And don't worry about the larger sellers as they will be following you once they realise all the buyers have followed the small sellers.
If they were as good as they think they were and ebay think they are, then they would not be paying ebay all that money, as they could do it on their own site. But ebay is strong only as long as it is the first place people look for any item.
Google have dropped ebay from their front pages, and the alternatives show up first so even if you do not want to go all out and go cold turkey on ebay, then use the tactic a lot of sellers are using.

Start moving part of your stock to the alternatives, and bring your customers with you.
A lot of sellers have downloaded their full history on paypal and are sending out emails to their customers. Others are using other methods like the ebid tape is a good one on ebay parcels.

But you are better off being ready for what is about to come and at the moment, the way I look at it, I am sure going to be better off if I am not having to start from scratch when some idiot decides to have me thrown off ebay.

And it is not that hard it will take four bad feedback to have most sellers accounts restricted. Two more during the restriction and you are gone.

Add a couple of item not received that the NPBs have started leaving sellers and you will not even need four negs.

And for any one that says that is rubish, like I said prove it and advertise your ebay store. And if you come back in two month and they have not had you kicked then I'll agree with you and say I was wrong.

soolin

meknownowt I'm not entirely sure I follow the points in your post, sorry.

As for putting up seller ids what on earth for? I would STRONGLY urge no one to put their IDs up here as I am nervous that anyone with a grudge or an ulterior motive could do a lot of damage in a very short time. Proving a point is not worth risking your account over. I fully intend to have all of my selling accounts still live on ebay after 2 months, but see no point in 'proving' that on an open forum as I've already attracted one stalker and do not want to encourage any more.

meknownowt, I am not fully sure you understand how ebay works or what implications the new feedback rules will have as you appear on a quick read to contradict yourself. Many of us are concerned at the new feedback rules but not, as you appear to think, because we believe we will get struck off within weeks, but because we feel it will allow poor buyers to continue to harrass other sellers.

As for other sites, there are no real alternatives to ebay at the moment and although many of us have tried it is no point throwing all our toys out the pram if we can't shift our goods anywhere else. I know some regulars are moving towards their own websites and that is probably a very good idea, but again most of them appear to suggest that they will still use ebay to guide people towards their website.

ZCC72

Thought I'd put in my 2p worth....although I may have the wrong end of the stick.

My concern with the new regulations is that the smaller sellers (i.e. me, feedback of 46, 100%, but not enough to start a DSR) will automatically have the sale monies held by paypal until EITHER positive feedback is left, or a period of 21 days passes without any negative feedback. So, for example, if a bidder (a) wins my auction; (b) pays via paypal; (c) I post the item; then (d) bidder goes on holiday for 3 weeks....I have then paid for the postage, don't know if the item has been received, and don't get any money until 21 days passes. I have, in effect, lost money during that period, AND to top it all off, Paypal get to keep the interest (from all monies they are holding in escrow - it would equal the GDP of a small country....)

Also, if a buyer decides they "don't like the colour" (even though there was a photo - it happens!!) , or some such other daft reason, and withholds feedback until you agree to a reduction/refund - you then have to pay OUT to the buyer, with no guarantee that you will get that money back from paypal.

I am most certainly looking for somewhere else to buy and sell now, as it is not worth the trouble now.

It is also most intriguing that ebay are doing a 5p listing day when the regulations start - pre-emptive, pre-strike manoeveure, perhaps?

Crikey. Just read this back - I am glad to have got that lot off my chest!

meknownowt

soolin wrote: »

meknownowt I'm not entirely sure I follow the points in your post, sorry.

As for putting up seller ids what on earth for? I would STRONGLY urge no one to put their IDs up here as I am nervous that anyone with a grudge or an ulterior motive could do a lot of damage in a very short time. Proving a point is not worth risking your account over. I fully intend to have all of my selling accounts still live on ebay after 2 months, but see no point in 'proving' that on an open forum as I've already attracted one stalker and do not want to encourage any more.

meknownowt, I am not fully sure you understand how ebay works or what implications the new feedback rules will have as you appear on a quick read to contradict yourself. Many of us are concerned at the new feedback rules but not, as you appear to think, because we believe we will get struck off within weeks, but because we feel it will allow poor buyers to continue to harrass other sellers.

As for other sites, there are no real alternatives to ebay at the moment and although many of us have tried it is no point throwing all our toys out the pram if we can't shift our goods anywhere else. I know some regulars are moving towards their own websites and that is probably a very good idea, but again most of them appear to suggest that they will still use ebay to guide people towards their website.

Your first question why would someone show their ID? Simply because someone is saying that the only people kicked from ebay will be bad sellers.
So if he believes that, then I am sure he will be just as sure that ebay will protect him from bad buyers or vindictive buyers or competitive buyers or nasty little hackers out to have a laugh. I doubt he has that much faith in his statement.

Your other points are aimed at the idea that this is just about the feedback issue. It is only about the feedback issue to those sellers that sell massive amounts. The rest of us myself included are sick of ebay, we have sellers not willing to go to one site as they have seen the ebay monster and do not want to create another so every one is searching for an auction search engine that will cover all the alternatives.

And I don't think you understand the state of things to begin with, I was one of those people setting up my own site when this kicked off. So these new changes make no difference to me.
A seller can leave feedback but I can't. It has always been like that. I have never been able to leave bad feedback for a bad seller evan those that had no intention of paying. A buyer can open up a new account and it means nothing, a seller may as well have a bricks and morter store and does not need another idiot attacking them.

And I did not ask people to take a tantrum and move on, what most are saying is those that can afford it do it, and those that can't, do it a percentage at a time and you say none of the other auctions can compare to ebay. At the moment no they can't. But things change and every percent of stock a person moves away from ebay brings that change closer.

Ebay has forgotton that without sellers all it has is google adds, as who searches for ebay, they search for the products on ebay and as I said they are no longer first in goolge search, which used to bring in a lot of sales, now it is taking the buyers to the alternative auctions, which are offering great deals.

After the last three years of ebay making a mess of the first place that people would look to buy and sell anything. The feedback is the least of our worries, ebay want people to think that is why we are boycotting., as they can add the bad seller tag to anyone that complains.

They think so little of the users that populate their site, just to add to their four and half billion war chest.

scorpio13

meknownowt wrote: »

Ebay has forgotton that without sellers all it has is google ads.......

Very good point.

Brooker_Dave

meknownowt wrote: »

After the last three years of ebay making a mess of the first place that people would look to buy and sell anything.

That about sums up the last 3 years.

cplatten

I was the biggest fan of Ebay for buying and selling for the last 9 years but the writing went on the wall when items I was selling couldn't be seen by US buyers anymore. I used to do a lot of business with them. I read a lot of the US forums and a feedback boycott is being suggested there. It used to be about give and take...