OT: Negative Ebay Feedback Remedies???

[Leon]

Originally Posted by RichR

All these factors listed in this thread are why I'm tyring the Grand Slam Bids auction system.

Well, I have to say I appreciate the plug very much. As everyone might know, BOTH sellers and buyers can leave feedback on the new GSB site. Also, ALL bidders will be seen after the auction is over. Our only concern on that policy is that there won't be quite as many auctions as the shillers will have a more difficult time hiding their activities . My gut tells me that there is a huge amount of friend-to-friend shilling on ebay. In the next month we hope to bring over several very large ebay sellers to GSB. Since our fees are approx. 80% less than ebay, we hope those sellers will give discounts on Grandslambids and still make more money than selling on ebay. Unfortunately, inertia is hard to change....but it can be done over time .

[mdschulze]

Thanks for all of the responses. I disagree that the buyers are only supposed to pay and that's all. This guy that I'm dealing with paid very quickly so I left him positive feedback. Then, after the transaction, the buyer decides to ding me on feedback because of an "inadequate description". I reviewed my listing and I clearly state that there was scuffing and signs of wear on the head of the club. I feel like I should have some options here to dispute... besides just commenting on the negative feedback.

I have always taken pride in my feedback score and it just feels like I've been slapped in the face while being hog-tied. I know it's not the end of the world and I don't rely on Ebay to pay my bills... so I'll just forget it and move on.

LEON: I hope everything works well with your auction site. When business picks back up on my end and I have a little spare cash... I'll be visiting more often.

[peterose4hof]

I too am a power seller on Ebay and while I do agree the balance of power has shifted too far towards the buyers, the change to allow only buyers to leave negative feedback I believe is a change for the better. The problem with allowing both parties to leave negative feedback is buyers would rarely leave negatives for fear of a retaliatory negative. Now buyers are free to express their honest opinion which helps other buyers get a realistic picture of the quality of a seller.

It is frustrating to have a buyer not pay and not be able to leave them negative feedback. However, in addition to getting your fees refunded, when you file a non-paying bidder claim against a buyer it counts as a strike against them. If the buyer accumulates too many of these strikes their account is suspended or closed. As far as I can tell, Ebay does not openly say exactly what the consequences are and how many strikes it takes. If anyone knows more about this I would love to hear from them.

To the original poster there may be hope… I received an undeserved negative feedback a few months ago and the buyer has since been kicked off Ebay. A lot of people probably don’t realize this, but if a person gets kicked off Ebay ALL of their feedback (positive and negative) is removed. So I am back to 100% positive! Maybe you will have the same luck.

[glchen]

I tend to agree with ebay regarding negging buyers also. I think typically sellers only neg buyers for non-payment (or very slow payment) or in retaliation to a neg/neutral or opening a case against them. And retaliation is supposed to be against the ebay rules of leaving feedback. Other than that, the only legit reason for negging a buyer if that person were a scammer, etc. In a way, I think ebay wants sellers to be like Walmart which pretty much accept all returns even if the buyer opened it, damaged it, etc. That's not really feasible for a lot of small time sellers, however.

The tweak I would like ebay to do would be to require buyers to contact the seller before leaving negative feedback. This is similar to when a buyer opens a case, and they are required to talk to each other before ebay comes in to settle the dispute. If buyer/seller still disagree, then the buyer can still neg, but at least they chatted which would avoid a lot of the cases discussed in this thread.