I blogged about the fee changes eBay announced last week but still have been digesting both sides of the feedback changes issue. I think I’ve finally formulated my opinion. Read on if you’re a seller with thick skin, curious to know what I think.
To review, eBay is changing its policy such that buyers may continue to rate sellers and leave positive, neutral, or negative feedback for them, but sellers will no longer be able to do the same for buyers. Instead, only a comment may be left by the seller regarding the buyer. The way I see it is this, and I've said this many, many times, if you’re a seller who provides excellent customer service, you won't have anything to worry about regarding feedback. Now, many eBay sellers will tell you that isn't true and can give examples of idiot buyers who leave stupid feedback. My friend Pat had a buyer recently who claimed he didn't buy her item and, even though she bent over backwards to take care of his situation (long story, but he was most definitely in the wrong), he ended up leaving negative feedback for her, saying that he didn't buy the item and that she needed to stop contacting him, blah, blah, blah. Well, how could he leave feedback if he didn't buy the item? This buyer was obviously wrong. My friend has documented evidence that he is wrong, and hopefully eBay will rectify the situation and remove the negative. So, it is true that there are unscrupulous (I wanted to say idiot again, but I won’t) buyers. And it’s also true that you can’t please all the people all the time no matter how close to perfect your customer service is. However, whether my friend could leave this buyer negative feedback or just a comment warning others about this man would have made no difference in his behavior.
Is there someplace online, besides eBay, where you can shop and have the business where you made a purchase leave feedback about you as a buyer, feedback for the world to see? If you know of a place, please tell me, but I certainly don’t know of even one. Everywhere I’ve ever shopped other than eBay, if there is an opportunity given to leave feedback it has only been for the buyer to rate the transaction. In fact, most online businesses don’t even offer that option for their customers. Amazon.com does encourage its shoppers to rate their buying experience, though most shoppers do not, but there is no public forum for sellers on Amazon to rate their customers.
I believe that eBay is trying to grow up and provide a good place for buyers to buy while encouraging sellers to provide the excellent customer service that far too many of them do not provide. EBay is trying to become a more professional and reliable marketplace for people to do business. As a buyer on eBay, I welcome that change. I’ve dealt with too many sellers who have been far less than professional and if those sellers drop off the eBay map, that’s fine with me. I believe that the cream of the crop of sellers will, indeed, rise to the top and the changes that eBay is implementing, including getting rid of the sellers’ opportunity to leave negative feedback for buyers, will encourage this positive growth.
Maybe the customer isn’t always right, but I think it’s time for eBay sellers to treat their businesses as businesses and act like professionals. If you’re a seller, I say adjust your attitude if it needs adjustment and move on to bigger and better things with eBay. If you’re a seller who would rather complain and boycott and focus on the past, the next time I go shopping on eBay I probably won’t see you at the top. EBay isn't going anywhere and if sellers leave in droves, so much the better for the professional sellers – and the buyers – who remain.
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