eBay has just rolled out some significant changes to the feedback system. Once again the reasoning behind the moves is to increase buyer confidence in the system, happy buyers are repeat buyers.

Under the old system, buyers and sellers rated each other on the transaction with either a positive, neutral or negative score and a comment. Under this system there were some buyers who felt that they could not rate a seller accurately (if their performance was poor) because they feared retaliatory feedback. Often a buyer who rates a seller with negative feedback will receive a negative in response. eBay fears that this practice was driving customers away from eBay.

Thus one of the most significant changes to come into effect is that as a seller you can no longer leave neutral or negative feedback for a buyer. You can only leave positive (or none at all).

When eBay first flagged this changes earlier in the year there was (of course) an uproar of indignation from eBay sellers concerned that they will now be at the mercy of “unscrupulous buyers”. Many sellers in fact do wait until their buyer has left feedback first before they leave theirs and in effect what eBay says is true, they use this as a means of “returning the favour”. A negative rating by a buyer will invariable lead to a negative rating by the seller in response.

Personally I always leave feedback for my buyer with an appropriate comment once they have paid for the item. As far as I am concerned, I am confident that if there is a problem with the item once the buyer receives it then I can sort that out with some good old fashioned communication and common sense. I endeavour, to the best of my ability, to provide as much detail as possible in my description about the product that I am selling so that there are not any “nasty suprises” once the buyer receives the item. I believe in my ability to provide excellent customer service and therefore I do not hold back leaving feedback as a means to coerce the buyer into leaving a positive for me.

However, I do know that there are some people out there who do try to manipulate situations to their own advantage. One of the main concerns about this new policy is that it leaves sellers vulnerable to buyers trying to extort them with the threat of a negative. In response to these concerns eBay is bringing in methods that allow sellers to report buyers for policy violations (such as Feedback abuse or email threats) and for other sellers to be able to block such buyers from bidding.

Other changes that are now in effect are:

• if a member is suspended from eBay any negative or neutral feedback they have left for others will be removed.
• the time allowed to leave feedback has been reduced from 90 days to 60.
• if a buyer fails to respond to an unpaid item process their feedback left for the seller will be removed.
• members will receive credit for repeat feedback (max of 1 per week) backdated to March of 1996. This benefits sellers who have people who purchase from them over time.
• the positive feedback percentage figure will now be calculated over the last 12 months and will now also included neutals.
• the mutual feedback withdrawal process will be removed altogether.
• all buyers must complete a checklist before leaving negative or neutral feedback.

For more information regarding these changes please visit eBay here.

What is your opinion on these changes? Leave a comment below.

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