I'm with you on some of what you say SG, but the point is that this ISN'T the honest sellers banding together, this is Ebay forcing a policy on every seller, like it or not. In reality we all know who this rule change was made for, the big nasty sellers that rack up thousands upon thousands of negative feedback because of there less than scrupulous (sp?) selling principals. When you knock off nasty feedback older than a year, it certainly isn't for the benefit of the honest sellers, as there is no need for anything to BE removed to make their percentages rise. Plus the star rating system is phooey, since most people would think that giving 4 stars is a good rating, but in the ebay world, you're better off with your customer leaving no stars then to leave anything below 5 stars on ALL of the different points. In other words, your 4.875 is barely cutting it. I've seen sellers tacking on to emails and in their ads to please only leave 5 star ratings, just like sellers have done in the past asking for feedback to be lefft before they would hazard to leave feedback for a client.I personally think that makes the seller look shady to have to ask for 5 star ratings and/or w.hold feedback. In your mind, Ebay is doing well representing you with the fees you pay and in my mind, they are working not for the little or medium sized guys, but for the BIG DOGS you pay millions upon millions in fees every year. You know the ones I mean, they are the businesses Ebay made Express for. I'm happy that your sales have gone up (YAY) but in the long run, I think you will find your sales taking a tumble as you fall into the grasps of unscrupulous buyers. Who's to stop someone from buying a valuable coin or stamp from you and then turning around and saying "not so" and there won't be a thing in the world you can do about it. Not only does Ebay policy fall on the side of the buyer, but so does their partner Paypal, who will rule in favor of the buyer, tell you to refund money and shipping both ways and you will just have to sit and HOPE that you get back the same thing you sent out. And after all this, they only option you have is to leave no feedback about the transaction or the little green dot. ARGG, just thinking about the whole fiasco is making me about to froth at the mouth. Hope you've been doing well! (((SG)))
Just speaking for myself. I'm a Silver Power Seller on eBay. The new system is working great for me. Sure, I don't like it that my feedback percent has gone from 99.9% to 99.4% and buyers are more likely to leave nuetral and negative feedbacks. However, my sales are up and I'm making more money. Going after the sellers who leave retalitory negative feedbacks is not going to solve the problem. When an honest buyer, leaves honest feedback for a scam seller, and then receives a retalitory negative, that buyer is more than 50% likely to quit using eBay and telling others about their 'bad buying' experience. Even GEICO has only a 97% satisifaction rating. I expect that my feedback rating will go down to about 98% over the next year while my STAR rating stays about the same - 4.875. Oh yeah, my sales will continue to climb and that's what it's all about :-) eBay is doing things to make the buying experience better. Anyone who knows about basic business principles will tell you that your customers are your most important asset - lose your customers and you lose your business. The problem with eBay was that one less-than-honest seller would lose a customer for EVERY seller on eBay. Throughout history, honest sellers have banded together to support their industry and weed-out the dishonest and those who give a bad reputation to the industry.
Who ever thought of this has a bubblery fractal for a brain. Sure they had problems with retalitory feedback from bad sellers and buyers, but ebay should have put the restrictions on that group of members (i.e. constrain their ability to leave retalitory feedback and buying/selling capabilities ... a hit in the pocketbook might just cool off their need to slam other members). What they've done now is given free reighn (sp?) to all the buying scammers out there. You send them their product as described, they cry foul and get their money back AND slam you with a negative. I haven't sold in awhile and this change is made me think seriously about whether or not I want to even bother with continuing with my store. I don't sell enough to be able to "bury" negs given from the above scenerio. I have 100% postive feedback at this point, with selling since 2005, so there would be no reason for me to go "rougue" at this time and start screwing over my customers, but Ebay won't see it this way, I'm sure and my feedback would be trashed and there goes the reputation of my store. It seems the best way to sell on ebay is with throwaway seller accounts, that you won't mind getting trashed when you are scammed out of your money and product while ebay sides with the buyer. Then just move on to a new seller ID. Maybe, since I've reasoned this out while typing, this is part of the business "strategy" of the cluckheads running ebay. More new seller accounts boosts the number of sellers (even if it's just on paper ... beginning to sound a big "enronish: here) which translates into ebay being able to boost a higher growth rate, therefore satisfying current stockholders and fooling the the stockmarket into think this company is still strong.
I understand why they did it (retalitory feedback from psycho-sellers), but I don't think it's the answer. The whole point of feedback is to let other buyers AND sellers know if a user's had problems.
I'm with you on some of what you say SG, but the point is that this ISN'T the honest sellers banding together, this is Ebay forcing a policy on every seller, like it or not. In reality we all know who this rule change was made for, the big nasty sellers that rack up thousands upon thousands of negative feedback because of there less than scrupulous (sp?) selling principals. When you knock off nasty feedback older than a year, it certainly isn't for the benefit of the honest sellers, as there is no need for anything to BE removed to make their percentages rise. Plus the star rating system is phooey, since most people would think that giving 4 stars is a good rating, but in the ebay world, you're better off with your customer leaving no stars then to leave anything below 5 stars on ALL of the different points. In other words, your 4.875 is barely cutting it. I've seen sellers tacking on to emails and in their ads to please only leave 5 star ratings, just like sellers have done in the past asking for feedback to be lefft before they would hazard to leave feedback for a client.I personally think that makes the seller look shady to have to ask for 5 star ratings and/or w.hold feedback. In your mind, Ebay is doing well representing you with the fees you pay and in my mind, they are working not for the little or medium sized guys, but for the BIG DOGS you pay millions upon millions in fees every year. You know the ones I mean, they are the businesses Ebay made Express for. I'm happy that your sales have gone up (YAY) but in the long run, I think you will find your sales taking a tumble as you fall into the grasps of unscrupulous buyers. Who's to stop someone from buying a valuable coin or stamp from you and then turning around and saying "not so" and there won't be a thing in the world you can do about it. Not only does Ebay policy fall on the side of the buyer, but so does their partner Paypal, who will rule in favor of the buyer, tell you to refund money and shipping both ways and you will just have to sit and HOPE that you get back the same thing you sent out. And after all this, they only option you have is to leave no feedback about the transaction or the little green dot. ARGG, just thinking about the whole fiasco is making me about to froth at the mouth. Hope you've been doing well! (((SG)))
Just speaking for myself. I'm a Silver Power Seller on eBay. The new system is working great for me. Sure, I don't like it that my feedback percent has gone from 99.9% to 99.4% and buyers are more likely to leave nuetral and negative feedbacks. However, my sales are up and I'm making more money. Going after the sellers who leave retalitory negative feedbacks is not going to solve the problem. When an honest buyer, leaves honest feedback for a scam seller, and then receives a retalitory negative, that buyer is more than 50% likely to quit using eBay and telling others about their 'bad buying' experience. Even GEICO has only a 97% satisifaction rating. I expect that my feedback rating will go down to about 98% over the next year while my STAR rating stays about the same - 4.875. Oh yeah, my sales will continue to climb and that's what it's all about :-) eBay is doing things to make the buying experience better. Anyone who knows about basic business principles will tell you that your customers are your most important asset - lose your customers and you lose your business. The problem with eBay was that one less-than-honest seller would lose a customer for EVERY seller on eBay. Throughout history, honest sellers have banded together to support their industry and weed-out the dishonest and those who give a bad reputation to the industry.
Who ever thought of this has a bubblery fractal for a brain. Sure they had problems with retalitory feedback from bad sellers and buyers, but ebay should have put the restrictions on that group of members (i.e. constrain their ability to leave retalitory feedback and buying/selling capabilities ... a hit in the pocketbook might just cool off their need to slam other members). What they've done now is given free reighn (sp?) to all the buying scammers out there. You send them their product as described, they cry foul and get their money back AND slam you with a negative. I haven't sold in awhile and this change is made me think seriously about whether or not I want to even bother with continuing with my store. I don't sell enough to be able to "bury" negs given from the above scenerio. I have 100% postive feedback at this point, with selling since 2005, so there would be no reason for me to go "rougue" at this time and start screwing over my customers, but Ebay won't see it this way, I'm sure and my feedback would be trashed and there goes the reputation of my store. It seems the best way to sell on ebay is with throwaway seller accounts, that you won't mind getting trashed when you are scammed out of your money and product while ebay sides with the buyer. Then just move on to a new seller ID. Maybe, since I've reasoned this out while typing, this is part of the business "strategy" of the cluckheads running ebay. More new seller accounts boosts the number of sellers (even if it's just on paper ... beginning to sound a big "enronish: here) which translates into ebay being able to boost a higher growth rate, therefore satisfying current stockholders and fooling the the stockmarket into think this company is still strong.
I understand why they did it (retalitory feedback from psycho-sellers), but I don't think it's the answer. The whole point of feedback is to let other buyers AND sellers know if a user's had problems.
ebay? :(