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New Feedback Policy - two proposed changes GOOD for sellers
 

Folks, noticed this on ebay tonight. Looks like those losers at ebay are caving. Keep barraging them with how awful their new feedback system will be to sellers:

Feedback Protections
Also in January we committed to a plan that will restore the original intent of the Feedback system — to facilitate trust between buyers and sellers. Since announcing our plans, effective in May, it has become clear through conversations with many of you that eBay needs to do even more to protect sellers from dishonest buyers who use the Feedback system as a weapon. To make it perfectly clear, let me say that there is no place on eBay for anyone who abuses our community, flouts our marketplace policies and willfully harms other members.

As a result of our conversations with many of you, we are adding two Feedback policy changes to be rolled out in May to better protect sellers from this kind of behavior. First, while threatening to use negative Feedback to force an unfair deal is both extremely rare and grounds for permanent buyer suspension, we recognize it has happened in the past and will be tried in the future. If you experience this sort of behavior, please report this to eBay by using Contact Us from this page.

When we identify a pattern of abuse, or the evidence is clear from your report, we will remove the negative or neutral feedback — retroactively. But, we can't identify those patterns without your help and reporting. This is a call to action for every seller.

Second, we have listened to your thoughts on Unpaid Item (UPI) reports and our decision to remove negative or neutral Feedback from a buyer who fails to respond to a UPI. And what has become clear from our conversations is that we need to build in more flexibility for what happens when a buyer responds to a UPI report. What we have determined is that if the buyer does not specifically call out poor seller performance, item condition or transaction problems during the UPI process, eBay will remove the seller's negative or neutral feedback — retroactively.

Finally, let me close by saying that we're pushing hard on these and other changes because of how much eBay means to you (and to us) but we expect to be judged by our actions, not our words. It is my intention to earn your trust and respect by making eBay a more responsive organization that is unafraid to take some risks and move more aggressively while always striving to do right by you, our customers. I look forward to the continuing dialogue.

Sincerely,

Lorrie Norrington
President, eBay Global Marketplace Operation

Rule No. 1: Don't contact ebay: It brings attention to your account, and attention brings suspension, *cough* VeRO *cough*

Sorry, I assume this is an early April fools joke?

April Fool's Joke
 

No, mantis, this is not an early April Fool's joke. It is just a joke from a fool.

The monkies are so well trained. QUACK.

..birds go quack...monkeys go ooh ooh....?

Damn... eventually even this rule will be amended... :D

i seeeee. ..

It doesn't help sellers anything.

All an evil buyer (or even competitor) has to do is:

1. Sign up for an eBay account.
2. Buy the product.
3. Wait 7 days for the seller to file an Unpaid Item Dispute.
4. Respond to it saying he already sent payment.
5. Leave negative feedback.

Now tell me, how is the seller protected? The seller can't leave negative feedback saying he never received payment. He can't complain to eBay because there has been no thread or extortion and he also can't get the feedback removed because the buyer responded to the UPI.

Who is going to want to sell on there with rules like that? I know i won't!

I don't think anyone would disagree there, but it seems that people are a little dubious as to whether these proposed changes will actually come into effect, or if they do, how they will be enforced appropriately

Well if someone wants to buy to neg they just wrote "poor seller performance" or "transaction problems" in the dispute as the answer and that's it.

The problem is also what if a buyer is slow to pay, seller does dispute, then buyer pays gaypal. Seller closes dispute and buyer does a false paypal dispute and leaves neg.

yeah, most buyers do respond to the unpaid item dispute, even if they have no intention of paying. so there goes that "good news" from ebay for sellers.