eBay makes a big mistake in my opinion

Unless you're a regular eBayer, you may not have heard a recent change in eBay policy that has the potential to seriously bias the online auction site against the seller. You can no longer leave negative feedback against a buyer. That's right - positive and neutral is good, but negative is no longer an option. I see this as a problem. Let my email trail with eBay be witness as to why:

My original enquiry to eBay:
I've noticed that you have removed the option to leave negative feedback to buyers. This is the single most ridiculous move eBay has made since its creation. This essentially gives carte blanche to buyers to abuse the system with very few repercussions. I am fully aware of the process involved in dealing with buyers who don't pay, or abuse the relationship with the seller in other ways. Most of these processes are ineffectual from the perspective of the seller, as they do nothing to prevent the buyer from repeating their behaviour, either as themselves or as a new user. But negative feedback serves as a sign post to other sellers to be cautious with particular problem buyers. In a truly fair system, sellers should be able to rate buyers in the same manner as they are themselves rated. Many eBay sellers I know are shocked regarding this change.

Please reconsider this move to eliminate negative feedback for buyers. It is a huge mistake. I foresee this move alone could motivate many eBay sellers to move on to other online sales venues.

Their response:
My name is Julia (name changed to protect the innocent) and I understand from your email that you would like to voice your concerns regarding the new changes that have been made to the site. I can certainly see your point, though please allow me to explain further regarding this topic.

We want the Feedback system to accurately assess seller performance. We don't want buyers not to leave feedback because of their fear of seller retaliation. We know that Sellers have the same concern as you've mentioned this abuse within your email.

Please know that if a buyer uses the threat of negative Feedback to demand more than what was promised in the item description (e.g., wants overnight delivery but only paid for standard delivery), the seller should immediately report the buyer to eBay. If there is clear evidence of extortion, eBay will take action typically on a first offence. If a buyer shows a pattern of malicious behaviour, eBay will most likely suspend the buyer. If we suspend the buyer, any negative or neutral Feedback the buyer has left for sellers will be removed.

Sellers should only file these complaints when the buyer asks for more than what is promised in the listing. Filing a false claim may result in seller suspension.

Buyers will be held more accountable when sellers report an unpaid item or commit other policy violations. eBay investigates all reports that we receive, and manipulation of our new Feedback policies will not be tolerated. Additionally, we will not allow any violation of our policies (such as Unpaid Item, Transaction Interference, Feedback Abuse, or Feedback Extortion). Please continue to report any violations of policy to us so that we can fully investigate on your behalf.

Thank you for taking the time to let us know of your concerns regarding the recent feedback changes on eBay. Your input and suggestions are greatly appreciated, and be rest assured that I've forwarded this information on your behalf so it can be reviewed. As these changes are implemented globally, we will be monitoring them closely to ensure they have a positive effect on the health of the eBay marketplace.

Thank you for taking the time to contact eBay. I hope you have a great day!

Warm Regards,
Julia
eBay Customer Support.

My retort:
Thank you for your quick response. I see your points, but it seems there is still an opportunity for sellers to be stuck dealing with problem buyers with no means of warning from other bad transactions.

Here's an example. My wife, who does much more business on eBay than I do (equally as a buyer and seller), recently got burned by a buyer who did not pay for an item they won in an auction. They never communicated nor did they respond to the dispute mechanism that my wife followed to the letter. That buyer eventually had 3 negative feedbacks appear on their profile from other sellers indicating that they did not pay on 3 other transactions, which didn't help my wife in this case due to timing. But these feedback entries are now part of the public record, serving as a warning to other sellers. This is important because sellers have the right to cancel bids, but what's the point if there's no way of knowing the buyer has had problems with other sellers. Even though these 3 people (as indicated in their feedback) did not file a unpaid dispute, at least the eBay community got to see the issue with this buyer. Although eBay would argue that failing to file a dispute is the seller's own choice (and problem), sellers often wait as much as 14 days to get ruled in their favour and cannot relist their item during this time. So many sellers do find the process not to be worth the effort in many cases as the disputes seem biased toward the buyer - a buyer can respond with many excuses that the seller has to live with.

It gets worse. If a seller sees a bidding war begin on their item and the buyer cops out by not paying after winning the auction, the seller has literally lost a great potential earning on that item, in that even if the item is immediately re-listed it may not earn the same amount as before due to a drop off in interest. eBay sales are often about timing and this situation ruins it for the seller, no matter what the compensation from eBay.

We don't buy the negative feedback threat argument simply because even if a buyer threatens the seller with negative feedback if they don't do something extra, the seller has the opportunity to retort.

In summary, this new policy biases in favour of the buyer even more than ever before. Problem buyers are nothing but an administrative nightmare to sellers and lack of public profile evidence of past problems is going to lead to increased abuse in my (and my wife's) opinion.

A constructive suggestion - if disputes (and their outcomes) with buyers became visible on their profile, that would be a step in the right direction, and force the hand of sellers to file disputes whenever there's a problem, instead of wringing their hands because of a perceived lack of consequence to the buyer.

Thanks,
Karl

Their response to my retort:
Thank you for writing to us. My name is Gary (name changed yadda yadda) and it would be my pleasure to help you out today.

Thank you for taking the time to let us know of your concerns regarding the recent feedback changes on eBay. You do bring up some very interesting points as well. Your input and suggestions are greatly appreciated, and be rest assured that I've forwarded this information on your behalf so it can be reviewed. As these changes are implemented globally, we will be monitoring them closely to ensure they have a positive effect on the health of the eBay marketplace.

Again, thank you for your email Karl and please don't hesitate to let us know if you have any further questions or concerns.

Regards,
Gary
eBay Customer Support

A friend of mine put it best when he said to me today, "eBay are in the business of selling trust and this change removes that trust." I couldn't agree more.