Suzy Jagger and Jonathan Richards
Posted on 02/06/2008 8:42:06 AM PST by Stoat
All buyers and sellers are equal in the virtual auction world of eBay, but buyers are about to become more equal than everyone else.
From May, eBay, the world's biggest online auction house, will block sellers from posting any negative or neutral comments about buyers who purchase their goods to coax more of them on to the site.
The move means that anyone selling an item will have little recourse to complain that the purchaser of their Britney Spears T-shirt or antique Whitby egg-timer had been a late payer, or had become a persistent troublemaker, grumbling unfairly about their acquisition.
At the moment, eBay buyers and sellers are encouraged to give a rating about their counterpart on the auction site's feedback system, which alerts other customers about bad experiences and helps to self-regulate the auction site. A buyer or seller with a bad rating is effectively blacklisted. At present customers can scroll through several months of comments about both buyers and sellers to decide whether they feel comfortable doing business with them. Frequent gripes include a seller over-charging for postage, a purchased item delivered late or one party being generally dishonest.
EBay has defended the move, claiming that buyers need more protection than sellers because they have to send money to a counterparty they do not know.
A spokesman for Ebay said yesterday that the auctioneer wanted to stamp out an increasing practice where sellers who had received a bad rating would retaliate by posting a poor rating on the buyer. "Some sellers are gaming the system. And some buyers in turn have been turned off," the spokesman said.
The group added that it is rare for buyers to renege on payments. But sellers have claimed that the new system leaves them vulnerable to extortion with buyers wielding the ability to blacklist them without the opportunity to defend themselves.
A week ago eBay - which makes the bulk of its revenue from commissions - announced that it cutting the amount it cost to list an item on the site by a third, but increasing the commission it charged on completion from 5.25 to 7.5 per cent.
For the vast majority of sellers, this had the effect of increasing the overall cost of shifting goods on the site. For instance, to sell a £100 camera now costs £6.70, where previously it would have cost £5.85.
The higher commission means that sellers of high value goods now also pay more.
Sellers have claimed that the new system leaves them vulnerable to extortion, with buyers wielding the ability to blacklist them without the opportunity to defend themselves.
A week ago eBay - which makes the bulk of its revenue from commissions - said that it was cutting the amount it cost to list an item for sale on the site by a third but was increasing the commission it charged on completion from 5.25 to 7.5 per cent.
The new pricing structure unleashed a torrent of complaints on eBay's message boards, where its sellers - who have long been a vocal community - vented their anger.
One said: “The fees are deceiving: lowering the front-end cost, then adding it to the final fee. Anyone who can do the math can see that they are not lowering the fees, they are increasing them.” Another said: “As a seller, I have been kicked in the head.”
The latest upheaval comes at a difficult time for eBay. Its core business has struggled against slowing growth rates and it is trying to combat issues such as fraud, as well as increased competition from vendors, such as Amazon.
Last year it said that it was taking a $1.4billion (£712 million) charge in relation to Skype, the telephony service that it bought for $2.6 billion in 2005 and for which it admitted it had overpaid. Analysts have also expressed concern at the failure to increase the number of users, which remains static at 83 million.
What’s your seller ID? I want to block you.
So I’ll leave “Postitive feedback”: You suck. I wish I could still give Negative Feedback!!!!!!! F- F- F- F-
I remember the days of shipping books to someone second class to save on the postage. (His choice, he took the risk.)
I have literally seen auctions for things worth about a dollar (regardless of the bid price) that had have shipping costs of 8 bucks or more. Just silly.
The impulse buys have disappeared for me entirely.
Hopefully the ability for sellers to at least comment about a specific feedback will be retained. This will allow thoughtful and savvy buyers to make a determination as to whether the negative feedback is valid or not.
I've been a heavy eBay buyer for a number of years and have learned to factor all of this in to my buying decisions. If a seller has slightly less than 100% positive rating but with thousands of transactions, I view that as 100% anyway because I know that there are a certain number of idiots and hairballs out there.....these are likely the same ones who keep the Mods and the Viking Kitties busy with their Zot thunderbolts here on Free Republic :-)
If a seller has less than a 100% positive rating but with only a few transactions, I'll take a look at the feedback and see what it was all about. Usually it's a matter of a newbie whose expectations were unrealistic. In my experience the number of feedbacks that I've seen where the buyer appears to have been treated fraudulently are very few, but they are there.
Ebay has been getting more and more expensive for sellers and less useful.
This has been a common complaint that I've heard from sellers whom I've dealt with for a long time and have developed friendships with off eBay. Many refuse to accept Paypal and are moving to Amazon. There's a lot of unhappiness out there, and it appears that eBay is instituting this new policy in order to make the site appear more welcoming to buyers, perhaps at the cost of alienating many sellers. From the posted article:
..........will block sellers from posting any negative or neutral comments about buyers who purchase their goods to coax more of them on to the site.
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I will probably wrap up my selling by June and just quit for a while.
Since they are beginning this new policy in May, it seems that you will have an opportunity to see how it's implemented before you call it quits. Hopefully some sort of recourse will be left to sellers, particularly since that's where eBay's profits come from.
I do the same thing.....It's because FeeBay charges the listing fee based on the selling price...and the Final Value Fee based on the selling price. NOT the S & H....BUT, if you are paid by PayPal..( Which is owned by FeeBay..) I pay a fee based on the total.
IMO, the whole thing for Feebay is to try and recoup some of those lost fees.
I've seen people list something for .99 cents...with $25 S & H. And it was a GREAT BUY. Why would anyone...not find out what the seller is charging for S & H. No different than all the T.V. ads selling "TIMELIFE" albums...for .99 cents...but costs you $16.99 in S & H.
I had a guy complain once...that it cost $3 to ship...but I charged $7.99. I asked him...if the TOTAL price was cheaper than he could buy it anywhere? He said yeah, it was a great deal. I then asked him..if I was straight up front about my S & H fee's? He said yes...
The whole Feedback deal is just plain wrong....but the increase of 66% in FINAL VALUE FEES is going to hurt buyers in their pocketbooks.
Personally the stuff I sell...is seasonal. I have a few items listed right now...but they all end this coming week-end..and I will not list anything for the rest of the month. I also...will stop accepting PayPal, and just go back to Money Orders and personal checks. I've NEVER had any problem with taking them.
Feebay has made a big mistake....in all the new changes. This article doesn't even begin to detail some of the noxious changes.
I've listed a few things over at Wagglepop.com now. It's been around for awhile...but not much traffic. FeeBay has the name....but maybe it's good that they've forced sellers to look around at their options.
Amazon:
Sellers on Marketplace can leave feedback for buyers.
Sellers on Seller Central CANNOT leave feedback for buyers.
So much for knowing the criminals on eBay.
Did you attempt to work it out before giving that negative?
The seller responded by writing a highly negative review of me, then immediately offered to retract it if I would do likewise... in other words, their ability to leave negative comments was used as blackmail.
Yes, that was wrong. But now...the buyer's will have the upper hand...with ZERO fear of getting a negative FB.
The sellers have FAR less risk on eBay, since they do not release the goods until the money has cleared.
That's not true...if you are paid via PayPal. The buyer can get a charge back...very easily. So, the scammer buyer's know this..they order and say they never got it...or it's damaged. They get their money back, and the seller is screwed.
As such, they should not also have the ability to abuse the comments feature simply to retain falsely high ratings.
That's a two-way street. LEt me tell you a story...I sold a guy something...he never paid. I sent e-mails...no response. I filed Feebay's Non-Paying Bidder system on him, because I STILL get charged fees, and can recoop some of them by going thru the process....He replied to it. But never paid me. I decided to leave him a negative, to try and warn others. Guess what? Because he at least posted something..at the NPB site...he left me a neg. So, a guy doesn't pay me....but can still leave ME neg FB. That's crazy. And it's still that way at FeeBay.
Buyers risk getting shafted by inaccurate photos and descriptions, poor shipping, late shipping, etc. The comments feature is really the only tool that they have, and giving sellers equal power there is unnecessary.
Again..it's a two-way street. That just became a ONE-WAY St.
If you aren't a seller....you have no idea the stuff "some" buyer's attempt to do.
Between posting fees, PayPal fees, and Final Value Fees it's really not worthwhile to sell on Ebay anymore.
Aren’t the fees on Amazon higher? Anybody know?
wagglepop.com
ROFLOL!!!!!
Where did you go..with your gun stuff?
Postaroo has shutdown. Thank you for using Postaroo in the past.
I went to wagglepop to check it out. It may be good for sellers, but as a buyer, there’s not a whole lot there. I did a search for various common items and got mostly “0” returns.
Although I agree with what you say about not buying things without careful consideration, I'm wondering if I might be so bold as to suggest a reconsideration of your blanket condemnation of eBay buying due to the shipping costs....there are at least a few reasons for this:
Caveat Emptor.
Gotta start somewhere....
I said somewhere on this thread...it may not work, but one never knows.
Rare, maybe, but when someone buys a CAR and doesn't follow thru, something should be said.
Don't ask. Apparently eBay doesn't want me to talk about it.
Ebay has banned Google checkout.
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