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(FORTUNE Small Business) -- Ever since eBay (EBAY, Fortune 500) announced changes to its feedback rules and fee structure last week, sellers have been irate, exploding onto message boards and blogs with discussions about how the new policies will affect their businesses. But when the idea of a strike was floated, some sellers and buyers decided to get more organized about expressing their displeasure.
It will have an affect. But sellers are going to sell where buyers do the most buying. I for one and sick of being worried about leaving negative feedback for a bad experience and getting a negative in reply. On my old account which I forgot the pswd and lost the email addy so couldnt achieve I had two negatives.
One, I paid immediately for a product to come from NY. I paid immediately as I watched the bidding. It took two weeks for him to even ship it. I had to convince the fool that New Mexico was in the USA and no Mexico and I HAD paid enough for US shipping. You wouldnt believe the emails that I had to send him. Even a map of the US and he wouldnt believe me. So I got a negative cause he was dumb.
The other one was a wrong product was sent and it took me2 months to get the correct one. I leave a negative rep and got one in retalliation. I did pay immediately with that one too. I think its a good move on eBay's part.
I think that the sellers have a right to know of dead-beat buyers, but I've always wondered why, when I pay for an item minutes after the close, I still get no feedback from the seller until I put one in for him, sometimes weeks later when the item arrives. Are they waiting to see whether I give negative or not? Maybe, as they can't see who rates their shipping rates, speed, communications... they should not see who gives the feedback, and the feedback should be put in as a group, perhaps once per month.
Well IMO ebay is just trying to cover their losses from all the unsavory (and vast majority) of sellers who up the cost of shipping and "handling", to avoid paying ebay the fees they are due. So many list the item for $5.99, but want $20 S&H for a child's size 5 sweater. Not all sellers do this... not the ones I bid with anyway.
The feedback change is great. Back when I first signed up on ebay, you bid, paid, the seller left feedback, you received your item, then left feedback for the seller. Now the sellers hold feedback for buyers hostage and often send emails requesting feedback, reminding buyers that if you neg them, they'll neg you back even if you do nothing wrong. I always reply that although I finished my end of the transaction X number of days ago, I still haven't received feedback from them. When and if they leave me feedback, I will return the favor. I go on to say that if they truly just want to know that I got my item alright, I will shoot them an email, but that blackmail doesn't work on me.
My feedback score is 85, although I've done literally HUNDREDS of transactions on ebay... but most of mine are from 2001 and before. That's about when ebay "changed".
When's that strike again? I'll be sure to be actively bidding on that day(s).
I think the "feedback" system on ebay has long been broken.
I bought a car from a fellow with excellent feedback, and over a hundred cars sold. When I got my car, which was delayed four months by the seller, it was almost a total piece of junk, with blown head gaskets and almost none of the features (ABS, Cruise, A/C, Central Locking, SRS, heated seats, block heater) working. The brakes were rusted away to a non-functional state. Seller refused to do anything about the misrepresentation and fraud, or the $1,500 in shipping charges for junk.
I contacted twenty of his prior buyers (I know, that's not within ebay rules) and asked how their cars were. Every one of them had similar problems, although not all as bad as mine. All were afraid to post negative feedback because they didn't want to get negative from the seller.
Many people lost a lot of money because nobody would report the truth about the seller.
Turned out the seller was under investigation by the Fed's for odometer fraud, and was convicted of over 24 counts of odo roll-backs. Sentenced to 18 months in fed prison, plus heavy fines.
I had another seller with a ebay clothing store, 1000's of items, 98% rating, no negatives. I purchased a new name brand article and he shipped a used, damaged, soiled, 2nd of that name brand. I asked him for a return authorization and refund, and he demanded that I pay the freight on it both ways. Once back to him, he sent a partial refund check which he stopped payment on before he mailed it to me. Again, I contacted several of his other buyers, and about half had received 2nd's instead of top quality merchandise. All were afraid to post negative feedback, all posted good feedback even if they'd been ripped off.
I recently bought a car technical manual from another seller. His ad said nothing about his service and handling fees for shipping, and did say he'd ship USPS Media Mail. I knew that the postage would be about $1.85, and an envelope another $1.00. After the auction, the seller wanted $15.00 to mail my $5.00 manual. I told him I wouldn't pay him that kind of money to send something in the mail ... and refused to complete the deal. Upon closer reading of his feedback, I found that many others had the same experience, and were unhappy ... but still gave him positive feedback. When the seller tried to get me under ebay's non-payment policy, I forwarded them the emails that the seller and I had prior to my bidding on the item. Ebay removed the non-payment complaint and the unfounded negative rating on me from the seller, and my negative rating for him still stands. Unethical to demand an outrageous handling fee only after an auction is completed. If you're going to make shipping and handling a profit center, then at least be upfront about it so a buyer can decide to do business with you.
I had another seller realize after I'd won a item on his auction that his automated software had listed an item (he'd had 10 each to sell) which he'd sold out of because he'd replaced a defective unit to a prior buyer. But instead of promptly refunding my immediate PayPal payment, he dragged me around for two months. Claimed that if I'd purchased the optional USPS Insurance, that they'd have paid the claim. Only he had no USPS proof of mailing the item, which he had admitted he couldn't have mailed because he didn't have it to ship. So, USPS would not have paid a claim because they'd never had the item to lose or damaage. Another bullsh** seller ... worthy of my negative rating, but the seller dragged the refund process out so long that I couldn't post the negative.
I have a number of similar experiences with other unethical or fraud sellers. All with positive ratings in the high 90's.
Much as I like the ebay forum and have bought a lot of merchandise there, ebay is wide open right now to other online auction companies that will have better buyer protection. I'd leave ebay in a heartbeat to try somebody else.
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