I never liked how eBay handled feedback and yesterday proves to me that it’s broken. For the second time I’ve received negative feedback because I either left neutral or negative feedback for a seller.
Both instances the seller did not properly list their items; one listed the item “untested” but hadn’t mentioned “untested” did not mean the warranty seal was broken and that he tried to fix it.
I just don’t get how a buyer (me) can pay through paypal, try to reason with the seller because of an imporper listing, give appropriate feedback and then be penalized as retaliation. It just goes to show that the person getting screwed for a purchase on eBay can also get screwed because of the feedback system. Isn’t it supposed to be the oppisite?
So without just ranting I have a solution:
Make all feedback hidden until both parties leave feedback.
It seems to me a perfect solution. Not only will the feedback system loose the retaliative responses through this new process but it will be more honest and buyers and sellers will receive more feedback because it’s not a one-way street anymore.
I could double my ratings if every one of my buyers and sellers left feedback. Larger sellers are notorious for not issuing feedback and it sucks.
I mentioned honesty because people wouldn’t post positive feedback just to receive positive feedback in return. I’ve done this before; instead of fighting the issue I settled for the purchase and left good feedback without even complaining to the seller.
eBay, please fix this. It’s been long enough and with all of your recent issues you need to do something for the sellers and buyers of your app. Otherwise I’m afraid to say you’re just going to continue down that road of stagnation.