If you sell on evilbay...huge changes now, so be careful..

Hi,

There are many forum members recommending evilbay as a venue to sell, but you should be aware that as of this last month there have been huge changes at ebay towers to try and stamp out the bad sellers, only the changes have been very badly thought out and even excellent sellers are being thrown off ebay....

Ebay has now become since this last month, a nightmare for small time hobby sellers. Sellers can no longer leave any negative or neutral feedback for buyers...even ones who never pay you! Also, the feedback stars on the system (DSR's) ..detailed seller ratings, which are given by buyers are now being used by ebay to suspend any sellers with a mere 5% of unsatisfied buyers in any 30 day period.

This means, if you sell 20 items in one month and get just one negative f/b...you will get suspended by ebay...and it only takes one idiot buyer (or non payer) to do this. Also, bad buyers are now getting wise to these changes and realise they now have far more power than before, as just a couple of negs or neuts can get sellers suspended ...some buyers are starting to blackmail sellers. ie, saying 'lower the post cost or I will neg you' ...ebay is now very dodgy for sellers and many have already been suspended (even good ones) and many are leaving ebay...sell there at you own risk...

cheers Steve.M.

Thanks for the heads up Steve.

Looks like private selling on Ebay will shortly be a thing of the past

While I wonder if eBay has has gone over the top to ban sellers from leaving negative or neutral feedback altogether, I am still a big fan of eBay. It is an excellent and highly convenient global marketplace that I will continue to frequently use for both selling and buying.

The previous situation where sellers were able to leave negative feedback for buyers who had paid in full and on time, ie done nothing wrong, left buyers scared to be honest for fear of retaliation. That was unacceptable and I'm very glad it has changed. It's something that buyers have been asking for for a long time.

THere's no chance of that. eBay has no interest in reducing the number of private sellers - who generate billions of dollars profit for eBay.

That's an exaggeration. This is eBay's policy:

"Sellers with buyer dissatisfaction levels between 5% and 10% will, at minimum, have their selling privileges limited for a period of time. Sellers with buyer dissatisfaction levels exceeding 10% will, at minimum, have their site privileges substantially restricted, possibly including a complete restriction on selling privileges. Failure to bring buyer satisfaction rates within an acceptable range may result in account suspension."

Good sellers should have little to fear as buyers generally still will only be inclined to leave negative feedback if they do actually receive bad service. Communicate well with the buyer and ask them to contact you in the event of a problem, and the chance of receiving negative feedback will be small. Extortion attempts from buyers can be reported to eBay and the Police.

Bad sellers are of course very angry that they can no longer leave tit-for-tat feedback. Good riddance to them.

I hope you're right, but I don't think eBay have a great deal of interest in keeping the private sellers. The amount of revenue generated by someone such as myself engaging in ~90 transactions over the last 5 years must be miniscule compared to the big sellers for whom eBay trading is the day job.

It makes no difference to them if I never sell another item, as long as people like me are still around to buy the items offered by the big sellers. Hence they are tayloring the rules to favour small buyers and big sellers.

Though they may indeed have small buyers and big sellers mainly in mind for the new rules, still it would make a huge difference to eBay if everyone like you never sold another item. It adds up to a huge amount of money in profit. I suspect that they will want to maintain a mixture of small and large sellers, though from time to time they will tweak the rules and fees to tweak the balance.

eBay's recent UK TV advertising campaigns were as much encouraging private individuals to sell on eBay, as they were to buy.

My biggest concern is not the feedback system, but the creeping increases in fees as eBay get greedier and greedier.

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Though they may have small buyers mainly in mind for the new rules, but still it would make a huge difference to eBay if everyone like you never sold another item. It adds up to a huge amount of money in profit. I suspect that they will want to maintain a mixture of small and large sellers, though from time to time they will tweak the rules and fees to tweak the balance.

eBay's recent UK TV advertising campaigns were as much encouraging private individuals to sell on eBay, as they were to buy.

My biggest concern is not the feedback system, but the creeping increases in fees as eBay get greedier and greedier.

That seems much more reasonable, and as you say, good riddance to the tit-for-tat sellers.

appologies for my previous over reaction I'm under a bit of stress at the moment and tending to snap at things I wouldn't normally snap at.

That's OK, I didn't take it that way. In fact, for all I really know, you and Steve might be right that eBay is loosing interest in small sellers, and I could be being over-defensive on behalf of eBay.

I'm just hoping I'm right because I'm a small seller myself, as well as a buyer. eBay has been very good for me, and I'm desperately hoping that it will continue to be good for me.

Hi,

Pete..I do think you have rose tints on. I agree about banning bad sellers, but ebay have now gone from one extreme to the other. Buyers now have undue and unfair power over sellers. They DO now have the power to get sellers thrown off.

The fact is, there are just as many 'bad' buyers as there are 'bad' sellers, but before, If I (or you) encountered a rogue/bad/nutty buyer, the worst they could do, is leave bad feedback with no real harm done. That has now all changed.

In 7 years of much buying and selling, I have directly encountered about 6-7 people who were totally impossible to please, or quite frankly nutcases, this 6-7 was split between buyers and sellers.

One quite literally took a magnifying glass to items he bought. Another bought items from multiple sellers, then refused all the deliveries at his door, then tried chargebacks. Another took a 40 year old lens hood and case to trading standards because the 40 year old case of the lens hood was slightly crazed...the hood was perfect. Many buyers expect p+p to simply be the post cost with nothing on top at all for any other expenses...I have also had about 6 non payers (with no good excuse)......the list goes on.

These people (including NON payers) can now freely leave neg feedback without any comeback at all and get even the best seller thrown off ebay, how can this make sense?

If you read the ebay community boards, there has already been many, many hobby sellers suspended for no good reason, (even though you think ebay will not want this), whilst many poor ebay power sellers are still trading with lots of neg feedback. The situation is already out of hand and unreasonable.

The reason it is especially bad, is that ebay use a far too simple percentage system to suspend sellers...a small time seller only needs 1-2 negs (or neutrals) in a month to get suspended, which is quite possible (it has happened to me in the past)..meanwhile a poor, but big seller who lists 100's of items a month can 'afford' to get many negs without any problems....

I have read so much rubbish on the eBay community boards in the past that I now avoid reading them completely. There are too many wallies and bad sellers there that I'm afraid influence the good guys and create a bad impression of eBay.

Maybe I do have rose tinted glasses on (actually I do really wear reddy brown tinted sunglasses!), but I've yet to see any bad effects of the new system with the sellers, buyers and items I come accross in my real eBay life.

I have over one thousand points and 100% Positive feedback, and I'm not scared about the new system yet. Since I tend to leave feedback for buyers before they leave any for me, I would have received some Negative feedback by now if it was commonly left unjustifiably.

As it has been, and as I suspect it will continue to be, it will be a rare ocurrance to receive Negative feedback unless you deserve it.

Hi,

"As it has been, and as I suspect it will continue to be, it will be a rare ocurrance to receive Negative feedback unless you deserve it."

Pete, I am just not able to agree with this, as it is simply not true. There are hundreds of instances of non payers leaving neg feedbacks for innocent sellers..it happens all the time...fact...it is retaliation feedback...they can now do it, if the seller reports them as a non paying bidder.

Most of the people who sell and have 100% pos f/b are the ones who never, or hardly ever stand up to problem buyers, by leaving appropriate f/b, or reporting them. If you always stand up to problem buyers, you will get unfair negative f/b at some point..it is inevitable.

In my time, I have had four retaliation negs from non payers and sellers who sent me faulty items. They simply left a retaliation neg after I negged them first...it happens and is totally unjustifiable., but it did not matter anywhere near as much as it does now...

cheers Steve.M.

You have got a point that it helps not to bother too much about problem buyers. But I've never had any buyers that caused me SERIOUS problems. The worst that generally happens is non payment or slow payment. So it causes a little bit of inconvenience and a little bit of wasted time. It's really no big deal. Leaving negative feedback for them is not going to help me. Nor will it hep other sellers who won't get to read their feedback before a purchase is made.

It's not being soft, it's being sensible and cool-headed, and it works for many businesses in the real world. The old saying "the customer is always right" has a lot going for it. For example, a lot of shops will give refunds even when they don't have to by law.

However I have left negative feedback for buyers who completely failed to pay or communicate. I haven't had any feedback in return. Possibly because they were dead!

Negative feedback left for sellers, on the other hand, acts as a very useful warning for other buyers, and is key to the continuing success of eBay.

I would again advise not reading the eBay message boards because it gives you a nasty feeling about eBay that you would not have otherwise. Far too many whingers and bad sellers there.

Be thorough and honest with your descriptions, be excellent with your service and communication, give the buyer the benefit of the doubt, and you will rarely if ever receive negative feedback. That is my experience.

Though I do think eBay have gone further than necessary, I'm more pleased than worried about the new system. I've seen too many evil lying bullies repeatedly leave undeserved and dishonest negative feedback for completely innocent buyers. That needed to be stopped.

Because I buy a lot off eBay, as well as sell, I am very thankful to eBay for finally doing something about the major flaw in the eBay feedback system.