eBay Feedback Policies

To:  eBay Sellers

This is a petition by reputable eBay sellers who believe that it is bad policy to only allow sellers to leave positive feedback for their buyers. When this new policy was enforced, buyers are starting to now leave negative feedback for little or no purpose, without even giving the seller a chance to rectify the situation if there is even a problem to begin with.

It also eliminates the possibility of sellers to view the reputation of buyers, many who may have bid on many items that ended unpaid. We as sellers have no way of knowing which buyers have a history of non-payment for auctions, and we end up having to relist and wait several more days to sell an unpaid item, when many times the value of the item could have dropped significantly, and we don't even receive a refund of the insertation fees for unpaid items.

Also, the amount of buyers who are trying to get away with filing fraudulent chargeback disputes has increased. Even if we have sent them the correct item as advertised, the buyer usually will win the dispute if they send back the item, which for many sellers who sell items such as DVD's, CD's, Video games, etc. This can violate copyright laws and allow buyers to get away with copying a disc, and sending it back to receive a refund. It would help to allow a seller the right to leave feedback for cases such as these to alert other sellers. If one seller leaves negative feedback for issues such as this on someone’s profile, it won't be taken too seriously. However, if the buyer tries to get away with this once, the chances are it will happen again and again.

Also, eBay needs to be reminded who their real customers which they profit from are, the sellers, not the buyers. Many sellers who write online through discussion boards are discussing the possibility of leaving eBay and selling elsewhere, because eBay seems to have created an enjoyable environment for the buyer, and lacks to make eBay an enjoyable place to sell also.

It is quite clear eBay needed to stop the seller feedback retaliation for buyers giving honest opinions of their service. However, by taking away our feedback rights, it not only eliminates the purpose of a buyer having a feedback profile in the first place, but also eliminates the possibility of knowing the buyers who have a good reputation really are.

It would have been more reasonable to make a feedback compromise with the sellers, but making their only choice to leave positive feedback or no feedback isn't a compromise at all. Why has the option of leaving neutral rating been taken away? A buyer has no reason to fear a neutral rating in retaliation because it doesn't lower their score or percentage, just shows up as pretty much a blank comment on their profile, one that a seller could write about issues of non-payment or bad character of buyers.

We believe it should be possible for a seller to leave negative feedback for the non-payment strike transactions at least. That way a buyer will get the negative feedback they deserve, and it won't be because of any retaliation. Then sellers will be able see a buyer rating below 100%, and know the reason for it. If that solution is not possible, we should be able to see the amount of non-payment strikes a buyer has received in the last year.

eBay's policy to buyer's states "your bid is a contract." If that contract is breached, why shouldn't other sellers be able to know about it? Can you imagine what it would be like if creditors would no longer be allowed to put negative information in an account holder's credit file? That is how we as sellers feel.

Please come up with a solution to our feedback rights to better serve eBay sellers, who are the reason eBay exists today, and avoid us from having to consider the possibility of leaving eBay. We are all members because we enjoy being able to find customers for our products that we sell, but we care about a smooth transaction just as much as a buyer, and having a system for sellers to beware the buyers untrue to their word is necessary to our success.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The eBay Feedback Policies Petition to eBay Sellers was created by eBay and written by Kenneth W Milota (kmilota66@yahoo.com).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.