Feedback Changes Update

Since I put myself out there last February with my take on the changes to our Feedback system I feel I owe it to you to check in and report on what I am hearing from sellers, now that the changes are in place. Over the coming months, I hope to provide regular updates regarding the changes (aka, Feedback 2.0) based on the emails I am receiving and any anecdotal indications of changes in seller or buyer behavior. So… our first update:

As you might imagine, May 19^th was a momentous day for many sellers, especially as indicated by the volume of email I've received since then. So far, the emails, nearly all from sellers, divide up into two groups: one small but growing group of sellers who tell me that they adjusted their business practices well in advance of May 19^th and are seeing a marked improvement in their ratings and in the sales. The other, admittedly larger group is still, to put it mildly, apprehensive of the changes and their consequences. One seller actually told me that they thought we would not actually go through with the announced implementation and was dismayed to see that we did.

The bulk of the emails in the second group was from sellers who wanted to express their shock and distress at seeing their Feedback percentage drop on the morning of May 19th –- sometimes by a few tenths of a point, sometimes by as much as a full point -– based on the new formula for calculating percentages (which now includes neutrals as well as positives). Brian Burke did an excellent job answering a lot of these questions his recent follow-up announcement so I will defer discussion here to his post.

Buyer who misused the policy suspended

Of all the emails I received, one was most interesting. Midday yesterday, I received the first of several reports of a single buyer who had waited until May 19^th to leave negative feedback for eleven separate sellers! Our privacy policy prevents me from revealing User IDs or item numbers but I can tell you that all of the transactions took place in April and that all of the left negatives comments had the same text:

"BEWARE! Poor communication. Not even an email to thank me for my fast payment."

Upon reviewing the Feedback left by this buyer, it was immediately clear that this was exactly the type of "worst case" Feedback abuse scenario that some sellers had predicted. And it was exactly this type of abuse for which we have revamped our previous policy to allow for redress (permanent removal of all negatives left by a suspended member).

Make no mistake, we absolutely will not tolerate any clear abuse of the new Feedback rules and we will take immediate action against any member who, reported to us, is shown to have violated eBay policy regarding abuse of the feedback forum.

The buyer who left the series of negative comments has been suspended and the negative comments removed.