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View Full Version : Ebay is now getting on my last nerve!!!



suave1477
05-05-2009, 09:29 AM
Dear Members sorry for the vent but now ebay is going way over board!!

(THIS IS AS A SELLER)

It is bad enough we have to make sure we walk on glass to keep our ratings in good standings BUT THE STARS TOO???

I mean come on!!

If we have to worry about the stars whats the point of the feedback???

Here is a situation that recently happend to me.

I sold an item, in the auction description it states 2 to 9 days shipping. Now with that in mind that is 2 to 9 days after PAYMENT is recieved.
But of course when someone wins an item I want to ship it out to them as soon as I can in any case.
So the winner wins the items pays for it 24 hours later in the afternoon, which at that point, I would not be able to ship out till the next day. WHICH I DID SHIP IT OUT THE NEXT DAY!!
2 days later from the day of payment - I get an email from the buyer "where's his item" - meaning he wanted it right there and then.
I explained to him as stated in the auction shipping can take 2 to 9 days from the point of payment and that his item has already been shipped.

About 7 days go by and I receive a positive mark with a negative comment saying "slow shipping" but also he gives me a low star rating.

I sent an email to the bidder asking why would you leave a positive feedback with a negative comment and negative star rating after I sent you an email explaiing it's on it way - his reply back to me was this "Well it showed up on the 9th day and I wanted it to be here a lot sooner"

First of all if it showed up on the 9th day as stated in the description (2 to 9 day period) that is not slow
Second of all I do now own the US Post Office and if for some reason they take a few days longer, that is not my fault!!!

Now I get a notice if my star rating falls below a certain number my account will be suspended!!

So if I have a star rating what is the point of the feedback rating???

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!

Its like ebay completely wants to screw the seller

BULBUS
05-05-2009, 09:39 AM
Did you leave the prick positive feedback with a negative comment? I know it doesnt do much, but it can let sellers know what they are dealing with.

bigtime59
05-05-2009, 09:55 AM
I can see this from both sides. I wish people would do a better job of explaining why they leave feedback (of either flavor).
There's a seller whom I occasionally purchase DVDs from. He's totally rigid in his shipping fees, so that when I buy a larger lot from him (say, 10 DVDs) he's absolutely killing me on shipping (charging $27 for shipping that's costing him $8). He won't bend, and I slam him on shipping feedback every time...doesn't matter much, though, as I'm little more than a drop in his feedback bucket.

KrAzY3
05-05-2009, 09:55 AM
I sell things on Ebay from time to time and I live in fear of their new feedback system. I don't like a lot of the changes, like that best match idiocy. The last batch of things that I sold on Ebay didn't do very well and I can't help but wonder if the changes made negatively affected how my items showed up. Usually I felt like my items were attractive to buyers because I had flawless feedback and tried to provide good pictures and accurate descriptions. Now I'm wondering if my items are not buried under their silly points system, it's all about gaming the system not being a fair and honest seller.

The no negatives to buyers and all that stuff though... wow. So are we to believe that buyers are all perfect? The stars thing? I now have to worry about a random jerk giving me a bad rating simply because he felt like it. That whole thing seems to favor heavy sellers because while I have perfect feedback and nothing worse than a 4.9 they toss out my old feedback in calculating so I'm always one bad buyer away from ruining my feedback and stars. It's absurd!

quiggle28
05-05-2009, 10:51 AM
Ebay's bread and butter lies in the buyer, not the seller. Without buyers, Ebay ceases to exist.

trsent
05-05-2009, 10:56 AM
I would recommend not using US Parcel Post unless it really makes a big difference in your shipping costs. I find Priority Mail is often around the same price and Parcel Post is really slow. Often I check UPS pricing for heaver packages going longer distances to ship items as often they are more reasonable and reliable than the US Post Office.

Another advantage is if you are insuring a package, UPS offered $100.00 insurance built-in, which is a nice feature when figuring who offers the better price to ship. Remember, UPS doesn't ship to PO Boxes.

I also use US Media Mail for books and I find that unlike the old days, this service is quicker than it used to be.

Finally, buyers who blame a seller who ships an item immediately with proper tracking and it is delayed or forbid, lost, are just uneducated.

In fact, about three months ago I shipped out about 30 packages one day via US Media Mail. Every one of them was delivered 30 days later, as I assumed a create was misplaced at a US Mail hub. I received emails from most all the buyers, and I explained the situation to them and, luckily, every one of them understood the situation, saw the packages were scanned and waited for delivery and most left positive feedback (or none).

That was just bad luck what happened to you, Jason.

godwulf
05-05-2009, 11:02 AM
As a Buyer, I have to say that I'm very good about leaving feedback in a timely manner, but I also have to admit to being pretty lazy when it comes to entering the "star" data. I will usually only bother when some aspect of the deal, like shipping, has been extraordinarily bad or good. If I leave no "star" feedback, what happens? Does it just register as nothing - neither good nor bad? If that's the case, I should definitely start taking the time to leave a lot of stars for Sellers who do a good job - I guess I just never considered it to be of any importance.

suave1477
05-05-2009, 11:07 AM
Did you leave the prick positive feedback with a negative comment? I know it doesnt do much, but it can let sellers know what they are dealing with.

I wish unfortunately I do not want to give him the satisfaction of getting another positive feedback for his rating.



But here is my point to everyone also.......

We as sellers have to worry about 2 ratings - the feedback and the stars!!

My point is this, what is the point of feedback if we have to worry about the star rating??

After the buyer gave me a low star in shipping!!

I get a notice from ebay stating that if my stars drop any lower my account will be suspended!!!

If thats the case then what does all my positive feedback stand for???

suave1477
05-05-2009, 11:18 AM
I EMAILED EBAY ABOUT THIS - THIS WAS THERE RESPONSE!!


Dear Jason,

Thank you for writing eBay in regard to your feedback concerns.

We can remove Feedback if it's abusive or meets any of our other
conditions for removal. Unfortunately, this one doesn't.

The eBay Feedback Forum is a member-to-member tool that gives people a
place to speak freely without worrying about being censored.

Members are solely responsible for the comments they post, and we can
remove a member's comments only under certain conditions.

Even if a member leaves Feedback that is unfair, untruthful, or harmful
to a member's reputation, we can't remove it without a court order
describing the comments as libelous, defamatory, or illegal.




I find it funny how ebay themselves says that even if a comment is blaintly wrong that they need to be told by the courts to remove it.
You got to love it!!

sammy
05-05-2009, 11:18 AM
Feedback is for the buyers and / or sellers, and it is to help them determine if they want to do business with you.

Stars are for eBay itself, and these give eBay a more detailed look at your "alleged" performance in relation to your sales.

suave1477
05-05-2009, 11:36 AM
Feedback is for the buyers and / or sellers, and it is to help them determine if they want to do business with you.

Stars are for eBay itself, and these give eBay a more detailed look at your "alleged" performance in relation to your sales.


Sammy ok, but then that is assanign, because ebay could just judge off the feedback the buyer leave.

suicide_squeeze
05-05-2009, 11:43 AM
I EMAILED EBAY ABOUT THIS - THIS WAS THERE RESPONSE!!


Dear Jason,

Thank you for writing eBay in regard to your feedback concerns.

We can remove Feedback if it's abusive or meets any of our other
conditions for removal. Unfortunately, this one doesn't.

The eBay Feedback Forum is a member-to-member tool that gives people a
place to speak freely without worrying about being censored.

Members are solely responsible for the comments they post, and we can
remove a member's comments only under certain conditions.

Even if a member leaves Feedback that is unfair, untruthful, or harmful
to a member's reputation, we can't remove it without a court order
describing the comments as libelous, defamatory, or illegal.




I find it funny how ebay themselves says that even if a comment is blaintly wrong that they need to be told by the courts to remove it.
You got to love it!!


suave1477,

I know I'm beating a dead horse, but you're not alone. Check out these recent posts, if you missed them......hits on most of your complaints...and your complaints are justified....

http://www.gameuseduniverse.com/vb_forum/showthread.php?t=23931

http://www.gameuseduniverse.com/vb_forum/showthread.php?t=23359

http://www.gameuseduniverse.com/vb_forum/showthread.php?t=20133


Ebay has handed the company over to a bunch of gen-X and Y thinkers who have "f"ed it all up.


Did I mention I hate ebay and refuse to sell there anymore?:rolleyes:

suicide_squeeze
05-05-2009, 11:54 AM
Just a thought....


WHAT do you bet the next big "problem" that occurs on ebay will be......

Rampant negative and low-Star feedback left for honest good professional sellers because ebay has instituted a policy of there being ABSOLUTELY NO REASONABLE PROTECTION for sellers against buyers who are:

A) Mentally ill
B) A-hole in nature
C) Completely without professional instinct
D) Have no discipline or respect for right vs wrong
E) Not brought up properly by their parents


Rest assured that what ever the "fix" is, it will fall into the same dismal categorie of failure currently being adhered to by this misfit grouping of intellectual toilet bowls known as ebay policy management.


Dang it, I think I just broke the forum rules again.....let me go review....

commando
05-05-2009, 12:14 PM
Unfortunately, many people will NEVER give a perfect review, whether it be for a restaurant, employee review, and yes, for eBay sellers too. I don't think most eBay buyers realize how important those stars are to sellers... If they did, they might reconsider just throwing out random star ratings based on the day of the week.

eBay management doesn't seem to understand what I've written above -- it seems like they expect seller ratings to be near-perfect, or the seller's account will be suspended. What this means is that any seventeen year-old kid can buy a five dollar item from you and proceed to wreck your selling privileges, especially if you don't sell things very often and don't have loads of feedback from other transactions.

Read this to see just how ridiculous the whole system is: http://leavingfeedback.com/page2.html

David
05-05-2009, 01:13 PM
A problem is that eBay tells the buyer that 4 (out of 5) stars means the buyer thinks he received good service and product, yet will suspend the seller for a rating higher than 4!

Only in Alice in Wonderland and eBay's World does that make sense.

mariner_gamers
05-05-2009, 02:56 PM
Ebay is actively trying to get away from auctions and do strictly buy it now. From articles I have read and the general hassles they are now giving sellers I am guessing they are trying to discourage small time folks as well. This was their bread and butter 10 years ago but they seem to be focusing all of their eggs on giant drop shippers that list thousands of the same items over and over. I can only speculate but if you were listing 10,000 items a week, all buy it now you would not be receiving any sort of reprimand.

Ebay is trying to model itself after Amazon and in my opinion they are in way over their heads. I am only speculating here that they are trying to muscle Craigslist into becoming their outlet for small time sellers who were their prime customers 10 years ago. There are several battles going on publicly and I assume privately between Craigslist and one of their largest stakeholders eBay. My guess is behind the scenes eBay is pushing for some sort of fee structure for Craigslist listings and Craigslist is trying to fight them off. Again this only my opinion based on articles I have read and the changes eBay has made in the past year.

KrAzY3
05-05-2009, 03:43 PM
As a Buyer, I have to say that I'm very good about leaving feedback in a timely manner, but I also have to admit to being pretty lazy when it comes to entering the "star" data. I will usually only bother when some aspect of the deal, like shipping, has been extraordinarily bad or good. If I leave no "star" feedback, what happens? Does it just register as nothing - neither good nor bad? If that's the case, I should definitely start taking the time to leave a lot of stars for Sellers who do a good job - I guess I just never considered it to be of any importance.

It doesn't register if you don't leave it. Personally, I'm fine with people not leaving star rating. It is a nice reward to leave all 5 stars with someone you were really happy with, but it's kind of punishments to leave anything below that. I have yet to leave anything lower than a 4 in any category.


What this means is that any seventeen year-old kid can buy a five dollar item from you and proceed to wreck your selling privileges, especially if you don't sell things very often and don't have loads of feedback from other transactions.

Bingo. Worst thing they have done is make old feedback/stars not count. This way, a bad seller gets his previous dealings erased, a sub par seller that does a lot can absorb the stray bad feedback, yet a occasional seller with a great track record perpetually starts over.

The entire system they have set up now really does put the long-time occasional seller at the highest risk. That's messed up because I'd think that kind of reliable "customer" would be quite valuable in the long run.

jobathenut
05-05-2009, 09:50 PM
suave-I have said it more than once on here,and i'll say it again,EBAY IS A JOKE.I used to love being on there,as it was alot of fun,but all the changes for the so-called better have gotton me to not even go on there anymore.I wish they would've gone with the saying,"if it ain't broke,don't fix it".Because none of thier changes were needed.Like the one that got me to stop selling on there,the paypal only,and no money orders.I just find it funny,like with this response that you got that ebay does'nt want to get involved and that in thier words-it's member to member.But not when it comes to paying,then they do get involved and you have to now pay the way they want you to,and surprise it's a company they own,still would like to know how that isn't a monoploy.Anyway,thats my 2 cents on this.Sorry to hear this happen to you.And i agree,that stars thing is funny.I feel your pain my friend:)
I EMAILED EBAY ABOUT THIS - THIS WAS THERE RESPONSE!!


Dear Jason,

Thank you for writing eBay in regard to your feedback concerns.

We can remove Feedback if it's abusive or meets any of our other
conditions for removal. Unfortunately, this one doesn't.

The eBay Feedback Forum is a member-to-member tool that gives people a
place to speak freely without worrying about being censored.

Members are solely responsible for the comments they post, and we can
remove a member's comments only under certain conditions.

Even if a member leaves Feedback that is unfair, untruthful, or harmful
to a member's reputation, we can't remove it without a court order
describing the comments as libelous, defamatory, or illegal.




I find it funny how ebay themselves says that even if a comment is blaintly wrong that they need to be told by the courts to remove it.
You got to love it!!