# EBay to ban negative seller views



## zig (5 Feb 2008)

About time if you ask me, although no doubt some will abuse it the majority won't.

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7228460.stm


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## nry (5 Feb 2008)

Hmm.  If someone is a poor seller or buyer then you should be able to say so somehow, otherwise what stops others buying/selling to this person and having similar problems?


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## zig (5 Feb 2008)

well I think the point is that the  method currently used is skewed in favour of the seller. If I leave legitimate negative feedback for a bad seller he undoubtedly will leave negative feedback for me even though I have paid on time and have done nothing wrong, I still get tarnished with negative feedback, hardly fair is it.

For instance, recently I bought something from the USA, the seller charged me $27 postage, supposedly priority UPS 3 day shipping, the goods arrived about 3 weeks later and the actual postage cost written on the package is $2.20, so what do you do, leave them negative feedback?? sure, they then will more than probably leave you negative feedback in return, so what do you do.

Basically feedback is skewed in favour of the seller atm because people are in fear of receiving negative feedback on their account even though they probably don't deserve it and the seller does.


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## nry (5 Feb 2008)

Which is more fair - you are unable to report to other buyers that they overcharged postage or you get tarnished?  Neither methinks, difficult situation, I agree but still there needs to be ways of easily showing who is reputable and who isn't and then a method of dealing with inaccuracies.  If eBay say it is rare then surely it is not a massive job for them to police complaints?


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## zig (5 Feb 2008)

Well I guess it swings the pendulum back in favour of the consumer for the moment, it has to be better than the situation the way it is right now.

My seller will probably receive negative feedback, he is still in my inbox awaiting feedback, but it does just show the point where I actually have to think about it even though I know I have been ripped off.


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## nickyc (5 Feb 2008)

I've probably done about equal amounts of buying and selling.  I have to say though, this puts me off selling - I've had several fairly unreasonable buyers!


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## JamesC (5 Feb 2008)

I've been using ebay for quite a few years now as a seller and buyer. I used to enjoy the ebay experience but it is becoming rip-off central, especially with regards to P&P. As mentioned earlier I don't leave negative feedback as I know the seller will do exactly the same to me even though I've done nothing wrong. I do though write an email which normally gets no reply or a 'well you knew the costs before bidding response'.  Yes, but I expected it to be sent first class recorded, not second class. At least sellers have been forced to stop charging people for using PayPal.

Everything has to be sent special delivery or by courier otherwise you leave youself open to fraud. I've stopped selling now because of all the (censored) around.

Sorry, bad day with ebay. Just got an email from a seller that I brought a book from informing me that he doesn't have it and this is after nearly a week. Thing is his listing still says he has 12 in stock  

Back on subject I can't decide if the negative feedback option should be taken away from sellers. Quite often sellers do deserve it but there's a lot of buyers that do as well.

My 2p's worth
James


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## George Farmer (5 Feb 2008)

Good idea IMO, as a buyer.

I was totally ripped off that last time I used ebay.

I bought what I thought was an Interpet Daylight Plus T8 and was sold something else.

I complained via ebay - no response.  Via email - no response.  

I telephoned and they put the phone down on me.

So I threatened a negative feedback  - no response.

Guess what?   They negative feedbacked me right back.  With only 6 or 7 transactions, 1 negative looks crap.

Rant over!


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## Themuleous (6 Feb 2008)

I must admit most if not all situations would be sorted if Ebay has a decent customer service department.  Their stupid help system is crap, all you really want is to pick up the phone and speak to someone.  If they had that, the problems associated with negative feedback wouldn't be an issue.  Sellers would then be more 'scared' of doing the wrong thing for fear of reprimand from Ebay, but all the time that doesn't exist they can pretty much do what they like.

They are just lazy IMHO.

Its my biggest grip with ebay, poor customer service, and their argument re the feedback system clearly itn't valid or they wouldn't have to instigate changes to it all the time.

Rant over.

Sam


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## stevet (6 Feb 2008)

This is why i dont use ebay that often as a buyer - it has turned from what was a genuine auction site into a series of online stores. I can find most things i need from reputable online businesses as cheap, and i am less open to fraud!

I do find it useful for selling old fish tanks though...!


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