1. Buyers can not receive any negative or neutral feedback from seller.
2.neutral feedback now counts against the sellers positive feedback percentage.

Obvious these two rules were added to stimulate the buying.

What do you think about these rules? Will it help sell more items? Will more forum users trust dealing with ebay because of this? Is it fair or unfair?

It is also my understanding that ebay has raised its rates.

Not being an eBay user, it does seem to me to be very unfair that the buyer can damn the seller even when not justified, but the seller can not tell the truth about a bad buyer.

I've been an eBayer for many years and have had a few bad experiences. I keep a list of those sellers and before purchasing I always go to the dealer's feedback page. For me, eBay provides a service and this service has helped keep many dealers from going under in hard times and I also feel it has helped collectors to fill in those retired pieces. An auction rule is : Who will pay how much for something they can't do without.

Many times the posts on the CF have dealt with these pieces, ie. Coquille River, Hatteras Green tip , etc.

If you've had a bad experience with a business, and eBay is a thriving one, don't patronize it. If you haven't tried it don't knock it. For many collectors and dealers its an oppurtunity and an answer to slow times.

I like the idea! Most Ebay sellers wait until the buyer provides feedback. If they don't like what they see from the buyer, they will give negative feedback to the buyer. The seller's feedback should stem from how fast the buyer pays and that should be the only criteria. The feedback from the buyer should be based on how fast the seller ships and if the item received is as pictured and described by the seller. Ebay is basically a seller based system with no protected recourse for the buyer,except through Paypal, until now when he/she cannot recieve negative feedback from the seller.

A good example is the Burrows Island "OR" piece I bought about 3 months ago from Ebay. It was described as having some very minor chips and paint flaking on the base and no box or papers. The picture showed this and I was satisfied enough to bid and win this piece at a very good price. When the piece showed up it was missing the ventilator ball which wasn't depicted in the picture. I contacted the seller and he responeded that when he was packaging the piece for shipment he accidentally hit the ventilator ball and it broke off. He threw it away and shipped the piece to me. I told him that I wouldn't pay the full price I payed and offered him an alternative price. He said "no way" and that as far as he was concerned the piece was mine as received. I then contacted Paypal with a copy of the seller's picture before packaging and a picture of the way it was recieved. They gave the seller 14 days to correct the situation to my satisfaction or else they would reimburse me with the total purchase price. Thge seller recanted and let me have the piece for what I offered him in the beginning. I then gave him negative feedback for the way he handled this situation. Because he wasn't able to give me negative feedback, my feedback is still at 100% after close to 120 purchases.

I'm with Rich on this. I've gotten several negative feedback ratings ans all were what I call retalitary feedbacks.

I gave a person either negative of neutral feedback based on the product they delivered or how they delivered it and they struck back by giving me negative feedback solely because of mine.

It's not a perfect system- and one of the reasons was the fear that if you give somebody bad feedback they will retaliate. It lessens the usefulness of feedback because you don't know if it's what people really think or if they are concerned about being retaliated against for speaking the truth.

The number of selers with multiple negative or neutral feedback is very low. Given the volume of people selling- and buying- you would expect there to be more bad feedback.

Dennis

I was fine with the old way. Of course, I've never received any negative feedback.

As long as I received the item, I always leave positive feedback, but my comments might reflect slow shipping, poor communication, or lousy packaging. A couple times an item has arrived chipped. Both times the seller has given me some money back.

I know a few sellers who don't leave any feedback now as a protest to the new no negative feedback change.

We have been ebayers since 2001 and have had some real good experiences. We have had nearly 1200 feedbacks and no negatives etc.
But we did mutually withdraw a negative.

We have sold and bought. And I don't like the new regulations.

If a buyer behaves so badly, that he does not pay or get in touch, I - as the seller - need to be able to give negative feedback. How else am I going to tell other sellers my experience with this buyer?

When ebay first came on line in 1995 to around the early 2000’s it was mainly regular people selling stuff around the house to make a few extra bucks. Ebay use to be a way for regular people to be able to find each other and make a transaction without going thru dealers and the secondary market. The sellers had just as much experience as the buyers. There was no professionalism and both were treated as equals. It didn’t matter if you were the buyer or seller the feedbacks where the same.

As time marches on at Ebay it has been become a supper highway where sellers are now making a career and a business from selling on Ebay. Many armed with a “how to” seller’s kit that they bought off the Internet became businessmen over night. They have minimal overhead no business degree and the only business experience they have is dealing with emails and a Paypal account. They have driven the small businessman on the street to either bankruptcy or to become one of them.

Don’t get me wrong these people are commended for making a business out of virtually nothing, but it is now time for them to have the headaches as other small businessmen. It should be a buyers right to comment on his dealings with a seller without fear of retaliation. And sellers on Ebay have to realize that they are now in the business world and they will face losses just like the dealers on the streets.

I used to sell on eBay, and I still have some items that I'm collecting to sell. Things that are too good to give away to Freecycle - mostly vintage clothes that are not perfect enough for the local resale shop. But it takes a lot of time and effort for very little money. I think I cleared $300 total for the year I was doing it.

I buy from eBay, but I rarely bid. Mostly I buy under BIN. I did decide I wanted a duplicate camera, which of course is not for sale anymore, and when I went to Amazon, all the cameras I wanted were over $200. So I bid on eBay and got the camera for $122.

I don't think the 'professional' sellers on eBay are any worse than the big box stores or the sites like Amazon.

I dont care how they have hidden the buyers and made them annonymous. Now you have know way of knowing if someone is SHILL BIDDING against you. A very bad move in my opinion. I have reduced much of my buying because of this.

Sean

I don't like this new approach to selling either I thought ebay was a way for the everyday person to sell his no longer wanted stuff. Stay at home moms trying to sell their children's things that the kids outgrew or no longer play with. Things (like Harbour Lights] that may not be wanted no more and so on. So it is put up for sale and gets a bid but the person decides not to pay, the seller can't give neg. feedback for nonpayment, has to go to ebay to get the final value fee back etc. I like the old way better and I think it should go back, the set up now is just for the big powersellers and not the average joe's.

I agree with you Sean. I guess there are many reasons why eBay did this. And I am sure that all the reasons are for eBay to make more money. I can think of another reason that hits me is that now I don't know who I am bidding against. In the past I didn't bid against any names I recognized. But now I can not tell who is bidding. This also takes away the fun of watching who is bidding on what. As always everything changes so more money is made and that there is less fun.