# ebay Feedback **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 6, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-feedback/605295 "2011-12-06T20:52:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hilary\_Algar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilary_algar/32/4282_2.png) [@Hilary\_Algar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilary_Algar)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-feedback/605295/1 "2011-12-06T20:52:27Z")
Do you give feedback on ebay? ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-feedback/605295/2 "2011-12-06T20:59:48Z")
Sometimes. With the changes to feedback though the whole system is a joke and I can’t find myself much enthused to bother. ---
**Author:** ![Chopper9760](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cdc98d/32.png) [@Chopper9760](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chopper9760)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-feedback/605295/3 "2011-12-06T21:08:06Z")
Can you expound on the changes? I haven’t bought anything from ebay for awhile. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-feedback/605295/4 "2011-12-06T21:19:44Z")
Used to leave feedback religiously, but feedback is a joke now (well, most things about eBay are ridiculous now) ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-feedback/605295/5 "2011-12-06T21:39:34Z")
Always, only because I don’t like the naggy little message that keeps reminding me I haven’t. ---
**Author:** ![Critical\_Mass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@Critical\_Mass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical_Mass)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-feedback/605295/6 "2011-12-06T21:46:55Z")
I almost never sell anything. As a buyer, I only leave feedback if the seller leaves feedback first. But getting feedback from me isn’t a sure thing even if the seller leaves feedback first. I don’t really care what my rating is as a buyer. I do pay attention to the seller’s rating. Anything less than about 99.5% concerns me to the point I don’t usually purchase from them. ---
**Author:** ![slm2955](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c6cbf5/32.png) [@slm2955](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slm2955)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-feedback/605295/7 "2011-12-06T22:00:56Z")
Yes but I haven’t shopped eBay lately. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Il_Palazzo)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-feedback/605295/8 "2011-12-06T22:02:09Z")
I also don’t know what people mean by feadback being a joke now. Would somebody please enlighten us ignorant masses? As for me, I always leave feedback eventually, though recently I’ve gotten bad about doing it in any sort of a timely manner. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-feedback/605295/9 "2011-12-06T22:08:43Z")
Many sellers won’t leave feedback at all until the buyer leaves it. I _think_ there’s a widget that allows sellers to automatically leave feedback the minute they get positive fb from a buyer. I do know that at least some sellers use feedback as leverage, since the more they have, they better they look. I’ve sold some, bought more than I’ve sold, but after seven years am still not up to my turquoise star (499 feedbacked transactions, I think) and dammit I’d like to get there eventually! I don’t know what the changes are that **jophiel** mentioned are, either. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-feedback/605295/10 "2011-12-06T23:01:18Z")
As a buyer, I don’t really care that much about my feedback. I won’t leave feedback if the seller indicates to me that their feedback is dependent upon mine, but I will otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-feedback/605295/11 "2011-12-07T00:24:38Z")
> [@chiroptera](#): > > Many sellers won’t leave feedback at all until the buyer leaves it. I _think_ there’s a widget that allows sellers to automatically leave feedback the minute they get positive fb from a buyer. I do know that at least some sellers use feedback as leverage, since the more they have, they better they look. > > I’ve sold some, bought more than I’ve sold, but after seven years am still not up to my turquoise star (499 feedbacked transactions, I think) and dammit I’d like to get there eventually! > > I don’t know what the changes are that **jophiel** mentioned are, either. The biggest change is that sellers can ONLY leave positive feedback for buyers. The only one who thinks this makes any kind of sense is ebay, but they are the only one who counts… ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-feedback/605295/12 "2011-12-07T07:20:58Z")
> [@Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](#): > > I also don’t know what people mean by feadback being a joke now. Would somebody please enlighten us ignorant masses? EBay hates its customers. That’s really the problem - the absurd.mess they’ve made out of the feedback system is just a symptom of their disdain. But specifically, feedback is a joke for reasons including: The detailed seller ratings - the buyer is given the impression that 3 stars out of 5 means ‘acceptable’, but the seller is penalised for receiving anything.less than 5 Sellers can only leave positive feedback. There’s no point asking for someone’s opinion if you’re going to insist in advance what it should be. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-feedback/605295/13 "2011-12-07T07:50:44Z")
I’ve never sold on eBay but I always leave feedback as a buyer. I haven’t bothered to look at my own feedback rating in a long time because I don’t think it really makes any difference to any prospective seller what my rating is. They don’t send the item until I’ve paid, so what does it matter if I have five stars or none? ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-feedback/605295/14 "2011-12-07T10:03:58Z")
> [@jabiru](#): > > I’ve never sold on eBay but I always leave feedback as a buyer. I haven’t bothered to look at my own feedback rating in a long time because I don’t think it really makes any difference to any prospective seller what my rating is. They don’t send the item until I’ve paid, so what does it matter if I have five stars or none? For auctions (as opposed to “Buy It Now” items that require immediate payment), insincere bidders can screw up the auction for all the other buyers and also for the seller. They could bid without intending to buy, bid and then change their mind, pay late, insist on unreasonable demands after a sale holding your feedback hostage, etc. As a seller, this is why I filter out low-feedback buyers (as low as eBay would let me, which is something like -1… sadly.) True, I don’t get as many potential buyers, but I’d rather deal with known-good buyers even if they don’t pay as much. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-feedback/605295/15 "2011-12-07T10:47:28Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > For auctions (as opposed to “Buy It Now” items that require immediate payment), insincere bidders can screw up the auction for all the other buyers and also for the seller. They could bid without intending to buy, bid and then change their mind, pay late, insist on unreasonable demands after a sale holding your feedback hostage, etc. > > As a seller, this is why I filter out low-feedback buyers (as low as eBay would let me, which is something like -1… sadly.) True, I don’t get as many potential buyers, but I’d rather deal with known-good buyers even if they don’t pay as much. That’s interesting. I don’t think I have a particularly high feedback (I haven’t looked for years) but I’ve never been excluded from bidding on an item. I’ve always assumed the dummy bidders were bidding at the behest of the seller to bump up the price. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-feedback/605295/16 "2011-12-07T11:13:50Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > The biggest change is that sellers can ONLY leave positive feedback for buyers. The only one who thinks this makes any kind of sense is ebay, but they are the only one who counts… Oh…really? How odd. I haven’t sold anything in two or more years, so I didn’t know that. I just checked my fb - 270 and 100% positive. I’ve never done anything but buy something I wanted (usually with BIN), pay for it, then leave positive fb as long as it arrives as described in a reasonable amount of time. I don’t buy from very low fb sellers, or sellers without a stellar rating so I’ve not had any problems. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-feedback/605295/17 "2011-12-07T13:36:52Z")
See, I don’t mind the policy at all. Okay, I know it sucks for sellers that buyers don’t know they have to give you five stars, but I do know that. I’ve given negative feedback exactly once: when someone sold me a pirated copy of Adobe Photoshop CS2. He didn’t even have the decency to try to hide it, as it included instructions on how to get the crack to work. Even I could pirate better than that: include the crack in the special setup program. And use something other than the standard CD-R backing color. I’m pretty sure you could fool some people with black. ---
**Author:** ![jacobsta811](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jacobsta811/32/2893_2.png) [@jacobsta811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jacobsta811)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-feedback/605295/18 "2011-12-07T14:57:13Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > The biggest change is that sellers can ONLY leave positive feedback for buyers. The only one who thinks this makes any kind of sense is ebay, but they are the only one who counts… I think it makes some kind of sense, as long as you believe that your (ebay’s) customer is the _buyers_ and not the sellers. Before established buyers were hesitant to leave negative feedback for a seller because they could receive a retaliatory negative feedback in return - so people let most issues go even if they deserved a negative or neutral. Now at least the chain of retaliation has been broken. Although one thing that probably should happen is an automatic negative for a buyer when the seller files a non-paying bidder dispute & wins as judged by ebay. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Il_Palazzo)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-feedback/605295/19 "2011-12-07T15:10:56Z")
> [@jacobsta811](#): > > I think it makes some kind of sense, as long as you believe that your (ebay’s) customer is the _buyers_ and not the sellers. Before established buyers were hesitant to leave negative feedback for a seller because they could receive a retaliatory negative feedback in return - so people let most issues go even if they deserved a negative or neutral. Now at least the chain of retaliation has been broken. Although one thing that probably should happen is an automatic negative for a buyer when the seller files a non-paying bidder dispute & wins as judged by ebay. I agree with pretty much everything **jacobsta811** posted here and had been trying to think of a good way to put it when he made this post. I really don’t see how sellers not being able to leave negative feedback for buyers makes the system a “joke” as others have said or means that eBay has “no real feedback” as one blog entry I found about the changes put it. Yes, it’s less than perfect for sellers, but it’s certainly a boon for buyers who might otherwise not feel free to leave honest feedback (a situation I remember finding myself in once years when I started using eBay) and other buyers who thus get to see honest feedback regarding sellers with whom they’re considering doing business. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-feedback/605295/20 "2011-12-07T16:16:03Z")
The point is that the shoppers on eBay are not eBay’s customers. The sellers are the customers. The sellers pay all the fees, and enter into contracts with eBay, the buyers don’t. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-feedback/605295.md?page=2)