eBay to Roll Out New Feedback System

by: Al G

To paraphrase Flounder in "Animal House"

"Boy oh boy, this is fun!"

I can't wait. Maybe I should start drinking now & get a really good buzz on for later in the year.....

by: toolguy

I think buyers and seller should be required to communicate before anyone leaves a negative and they should have to wait at least a week before doing so.

A more fair system is needed for sure.
 

by: pace306

Personally, I'll believe it when I see it.

While the iceberg is still "dead ahead", Wenig faces a tough choice. Get real and FIX the speeding iceberg bound ship eBay and make its policies better OR continuing going down the same path that the crack ingesting MBAs created.

Since none of the other smart (compliment not smart ass remark) sellers have said it - I will.

Theft as a business practice ISNT sustainable.

Looking at what eBay is "doing" - as a seller, never mind an outsider - its FRIGHTENING.

While 11main, Rakuten, Sears and even Amazon help their sellers or at least TRY not to do harm, eBay goes and does the EXACT opposite.

IE returns. Sell a buyer any item, a dress, a book, a tv set. You get a positive feedback and then 3 weeks later get the magical SNAD. eBay FORCES you to take it back (they make money on the labels both ways btw) and you get back a box of rocks. Guess what happens? eBay saus STFU "taking losses is the way it is on eBay".

The reason I mention this is, besides the obvious fraud that eBay is contributing to - the main overarching goal for them is to "empty a sellers wallet dry, then abandon them". eBay could care less about the fraud and the impact on its trading partners - and will continue to take money until they are no longer of use.

eBay according to the Wall Street Journal "EBAY has not issued dividends in more than 1 year."

Says lots if you look at the company and its direction.

Oh and lest anyone think that eBay doesnt know its on the wrong course .... the eBay CEO and his minions have been selling off shares like crazy - knowing full well the iceberg is up ahead.

04/27/15 John J. Donahoe 145,258 shares
04/27/15 John J. Donahoe 145,258 shares
04/27/15 Alan Lee Marks 13,381
04/27/15 Alan Lee Marks 4,500
04/01/15 John J. Donahoe 14,722 shares
04/01/15 John J. Donahoe 14,809 shares
04/01/15 John J. Donahoe 20,497 shares

It keeps going ON and On ... Wen ig BETTER DO SOMETHING ... before the ship hits taht iceberg up ahead!

by: Basset

I would advise eradicating the words ''defect / defective'' as it pertains to sellers.    Start there.

by: Anonymous Annie

''With a median feedback score of 99.7, we probably can build a slightly better system,'' Wenig said.

TRANSLATION: ''I'm told that it's mathematically impossible for so many of our sellers to have such high feedback scores. Therefore, we're looking at all available options and policy-changes that will allow us to effectively bring down the median score for non-corporate sellers.''

by: Rexford

"Devin Wenig, who currently heads eBay Marketplaces, called feedback complicated, and said eBay has raised seller standards as consumer expectations have risen."

feedback complicated = "we aren't very bright and we don't trust our sellers therefore we must let our customers stick it to our sellers--and hey, it saves us on TRS payouts"

consumer expectations = we want everything for free and when we don't get our way we are going to stick it to the seller by any means possible

Speaking of consumer expectations, just received a forced return today from "liar buyer".  Package was shipped out weighing 1.7 pounds.  Package was returned using a different mailing service in a heavy box weighing over 4 pounds.  Buyer claimed that measurements were wrong. Garment re-measured, and measurements are exactly as we stated.  I can't wait for my lovely conversation with Customer No-Service today.  

by: RCL

The eBay feedback system used to work in a satisfying cold war way.
I won't bomb you if you don't bomb me. It was simple and effective. The one-way feedback and the DSRs have created the ''complication''. Each based on false untested assumptions that the seller is always wrong. It really is meaningless but harmful to sellers. eBay has made sellers and buyers untrusting enemies with unrealistic expectations.

by: Rexford

RCL says "eBay has made sellers and buyers untrusting enemies with unrealistic expectations."

And it is only getting worse.  The forcing of sellers to pay return shipping on returns, especially from dishonest buyers, will have a huge impact on this distrust, and even more anger towards eBay, who is supposed to be their selling partner.

by: iheartjacksparrow

"...  we're looking very carefully at buyer abuse of sellers,...."

Gee, I thought eBay had a entire team of smiling people who ran a Seller Protection unit for that very purpose. Oh, wait. Actually making the effort to protect the sellers would be contrary to eBay's apparent unwritten policy of stealing as much as they can, any way they can, from the "noise."

Also, you notice Wenig stated the new feedback would be rolled out "toward the end of this year and next year," so I would imagine the changes begin after the holiday shopping season where most sellers look to make the bulk of their yearly sales.

by: I Must be Crazy

Could Wenig's remarks be tacit admission that the current system is ''broken''. Yes median feedback is 99.7 meaning most sellers out there are in fact running serious businesses and strive to do a good job of it. We don't need Ebay to tell us what to do. And buyers are, for the most part, fairly intelligent and will purchase from those sellers who provide good service. They will do away with those who do not. Just like they do in their communities. People frequent good businesses and the poor ones ultimately close. What Ebay NEEDS to do is make every available item of a buyer's search visible. Stop the throttling, stop favoring sellers, and stop the policies that favor buyers over sellers. There are other selling venues today and sellers are leaving ebay for those other venues. The buyers go where they can find what they are looking for at a fair price. JD tried to turn marketplaces into something it is not and failed. It's time to get real and be smart.

by: Mercy the Mingless

Ebay does not have a seller problem.

Ebay has a Brian Burke problem.

Wenig, take note.

by: sasikat9

Just more smoke and mirrors from the idiots in charge.

You can bet the new feedback will be as bad as or worse then what we have now.

Doesn't really matter though whiners will still be whiner about unfair feedback.

by: Harriet

Wenig has to fix online shoplifting or thievery. I have worked retail, and I can tell you that business owners do not consider shoplifting a cost of doing business. They have many systems in place to take care of the problem, including arresting people. It's a crime, for heaven;s sake. Online sellers have very little they can do, and when eBay is aiding this thievery, and then punishing sellers for it---what can I say? It takes a demented individual to think this is all just fine and the cost of doing business. Too many stolen items, is not a good business plan. I don't think this was learned in any MBA classes.

And in addition, losing money hand over fist is also not a good business plan, unless you need a tax write off. MBA classes are not teaching this either. Hopefully, they try to teach people how to MAKE money not LOSE it.

JD was just so mixed up. How he managed to stay so long is a real mystery. All his thinking is backwards--er--disruptive.

by: Troy Stiffler

I never minded the losses that come with a dissatisfied customer.  The real problem is your membership status with Ebay.  A guy gets a used item, he's unhappy, I issue an immediate refund, guy is happy, but I just took a hit on my seller stats.

Then the problem is when they coldly cutoff your business and cause it to collapse.  And when it's ''cold'', it's ''go write a letter, buddy'' cold.  It's near-impossible to sell ''used'' goods outside of Ebay.

I want a system, where they just display every last metric to the customer (similar to Amazon, only public).  And let the customer decide.  If the customer wants to buy from someone with a handful of negatives and low percentage of ''on time orders'', then so be it.

The problem is when they just cut you off.  It's happened to pretty-much everyone on the ''surplus'' scene.  I've been doing it for 13 years now.  And everyone has been in the position at least once.  Some people open a new business to get back on.  A lot of people just give up and deal with the financial difficulties (and are never heard from again).

Ebay is affecting people's lives in a very negative way.  It's been five or seven years since they started down the path of cutting off businesses who were based around Ebay.  And they really can't come back from that negativity.

I really think it's just a matter of time (possibly a year or two) before their final collapse.  They'll always exist.  But they're going to exist in the capacity of iOffer or a similar site, where they're just a passive dumping ground for multichannel exposure.

by: maxmad

It most likely is just more ebay propaganda, or more warped rules worst then the last, coming down the ebay poo pipe.

either way we are going super great without ebay right now, and there is no way in hell we would even consider going  back to that insane asylum until things are FOR SURE different, plus I would like a written letter of apology too.  

by: gizmo

If they don't drop the rating system , then give sellers a heads up with a 5 star buyers rating , & 2 sided feedback. It was not broken , before present blunders.

by: ignatz

"With a median feedback score of 99.7, we probably can build a slightly better system," Wenig said.

Translation: feedback is TOO HIGH - fully HALF the sellers on eBay are above 99.7.

Looks like Wenig doesn't understand that a seller can have 100% feedback and still have 1-1/2 feet out the door.

by: ebayclosed2016

HEY! LOOK AT THE NEW CARROT!

IT'S THE SAME AS THE OLD CARROT!

"Just wait, changes are coming" - Ebay CEO in 2008, 2009 , 2010 , 2012, 2013....

Yes, I was yelling.  

by: ajeweler

here we go again, the lashes are 100 .77 for this one.
I think it should be said better this way
"we are looking on how we can distract sellers into not knowing what we are doing now. so... lets mess up the feedback system more than it is and then the sellers will not be paying so much attention to our rolling blackouts. yea that will be another ploy!

and the beat part will be
"we put in place as we roll out toward the end of this year and next year."
we all know that means next year 2016 (maybe)
by then there may not be an ebay

by: JQ

On the one hand, I welcome these vague references to Ebay management being aware on some level that the feedback system they created is not functioning well.

On the other hand, I have absolutely no expectations that any changes the current management of Ebay will make will improve the situation at all.