eBay is making a major change to its feedback system in the UK – it will automatically give positive feedback to sellers who meet certain criteria. eBay told UK sellers it was also updating its feedback removal policy “to better align with global regulation.”
In July, we reported that eBay had begun providing automated feedback to sellers with 10 feedback or less. In announcing the rollout of the feature to all UK sellers last week, eBay said it had heard from sellers that automated feedback was a step in recognizing good service. eBay acknowledged that buyers don’t always leave feedback when transactions happen without incident.
eBay said beginning at the end of this month, it will automatically add positive feedback to sellers’ profiles 7 days after tracking confirms successful delivery, provided the following criteria are met:
- Tracking shows the item was delivered on time
- The buyer hasn’t left feedback yet
- The buyer hasn’t reported an issue with their order
“The automated positive feedback will contribute to your feedback score and positive rating percentage, and will be displayed with the message, “Order completed successfully – tracked and on time,”” eBay said.
“This feedback will remain unless the buyer reports a negative experience, such as opening a return request, reporting non-receipt, or cancelling the order,” it stated. “Any positive or negative feedback subsequently left by the buyer will replace the automated positive feedback.”
eBay also said that beginning April 23, it will no longer automatically remove feedback for UK users in the following two return scenarios:
- The item was returned used or damaged, and the seller deducted an amount from the refund.
- The seller offers free returns, handled the return, and issued a refund.
Sellers can request a feedback review, and eBay said it would continue to remove neutral or negative feedback in many instances based on over 30 specific reasons detailed in its policy. (“For example, feedback that is harmful, results from extortion, or involves issues that were correctly disclosed in the listing will be removed,” it said.)
eBay posted the news on eBay UK Seller Centre.
This should be done here – and should have been done AGES ago – like other sites do.
Sadly, eBay creates oddball “brinkmanship” and makes people into enemies for no good reason.
If a seller does their job then they deserve a positive automated feedback after 14 days or so.
It shows buyers that that specific seller is doing their job and is acknowledged as such by eBay.
STOP pitting sellers against buyers.