FAIR SHAKE

Hi everyone.

I have been checking the different ebay announcement boards & have pasted below the latest announcement re. feedback posted May 7 2008:

''Hello everyone...as we announced back in January, we're making some bold changes to how Feedback on eBay works. As we get closer to our launch, I wanted to review the changes we've discussed and provide some additional detail and updates.
As a recap, here's what we announced in January that is scheduled to launch the week of May 19th in North America (which includes eBay.com in the US, as well as eBay.ca and eBay.cafr in Canada):


Sellers may only leave positive feedback for buyers
We will remove negative and neutral Feedback if a member becomes suspended
Members can leave Feedback up to 60 days after a transaction (down from 90)
We will remove Feedback when a buyer fails to respond to the unpaid item process.
Members will receive credit for weekly repeat Feedback (going back to 1996)
We will base the Positive Feedback Percentage on the past 12 months of activity (and include neutral Feedback in the calculation)
The PowerSeller Program will use the same calculation method described above to determine eligibility for the PS Program for the Positive Feedback percentage requirement of 98% positive.
Next I'd like to share some additional detail beyond what we discussed in the original post:


In January we mentioned that we'd block buyers from leaving negative or neutral Feedback for 3 days for sellers "with a track record." Since January, we've made the decision to increase the wait period to 7 days and define "track record" as active PowerSellers who have been on eBay for at least 12 months.
We studied the factors that increased risk to buyers the most and found there are three: a) a seller's Positive Feedback percentage and DSRs, b) the volume of a seller's Feedback – both in total and on an ongoing basis and c) length of time a seller has been on site.

We selected PowerSellers who have been on eBay at least 12 months in order to minimize risk to buyers, because:


a. PowerSellers have to meet quality thresholds for both conventional Feedback and, starting in July, for Detailed Seller Ratings


b. PowerSellers have to meet volume requirements – both in total and on an ongoing basis


c. One year on-site proved to be an important predictor of lower risk
All three factors prove important to predicting the risk to buyers – removing any one of them would increase risk to a level we are not currently comfortable with at this time.

We will watch all aspects of the new Feedback system very carefully, studying how the marketplace responds and we will make changes as we see appropriate.


We mentioned that we'd be aligning the Mutual Feedback Withdrawal process with the new system. After much consideration, we've made the decision to remove the Mutual Feedback Withdrawal process. The reason is that – under the new rules - it opens sellers up to extortion. As part of this decision, Mutual Agreement from third-party Feedback mediation services, such as SquareTrade, will also no longer be accepted.

Over the last several months, we've had many conversations with our customers – both buyers and sellers – and we've had the opportunity to consider ways we can address some of the top concerns we've heard. Based on the input we've received from you, I want to share some additional modifications we're making:

We are adding language in the leave Feedback flow for buyers who are in a cross-border transaction that reminds them that international transactions usually take longer to complete.

We've improved the interstitial page that all buyers see before leaving negative or neutral Feedback; the updated page offers a stronger message to buyers about the need to communicate with the seller, to allow enough time for the transaction to complete, and to keep Feedback factual.

And later this month...

In addition to expanding the 3-day block to 7 days, we are introducing a new Buyer Requirement that will allow sellers to block buyers who have been reported by other sellers for eBay buying policy violations (such as Feedback abuse, or email threats).

We're expanding the scope of the existing Buyer Requirement for unpaid items, so that it supports more comprehensive blocking of buyers who have a history of non-payment.

We've improved the process that sellers use to report buyers for policy violations.

Detailed Seller Ratings will be coming to Half in the next couple months. Watch for more information on this via email and on the Half discussion forum in the next couple of weeks.
As you can see, these changes represent a huge investment in transforming the way Feedback works, so that it better serves today's marketplace. Ultimately, the goal is to restore trust and transparency and improve the buying experience, while offering needed checks and balances that ensure our sellers who provide excellent service benefit.

Sincerely,

Brian Burke
Director, Global Feedback Policy''

Well, this is all very interesting. It appears to me - unless I'm reading things wrong - that eBay is doing some backpedaling. No?

However, I think they are yet again putting a spin on their "concessions". Just as they announced the fee "decrease" in January, they are making these announcements like they are something great for all. In a few of these statements I can't even pick out exactly what the point is. But in others, especially the "we will be watching closely" statements, I don't have a lot of faith or trust in. They've ALWAYS shown extremely poor customer support. Why would they now suddenly be all over it? The fact is, they won't.

But this is a statement that I'm surprised to see. They've been saying these are the new policies, period. We WILL implement them as stated. PERIOD. But these changes -- or more like additions -- are a bit of backing off of that stance.

The next couple fo months are going to be interesting in the world of eBay ...

Deb

Of course they are Deb....but they wouldn't admit it. They are like it with every announcement, start of chatty & friendly, list what they think we want to hear, sign it with a 'sincerely' then do what they want anyway......since when has ebay been sincere!!!

I feel that many at ebay will realize now that they have made a big, big mistake but the new guy has been put in there to make changes regardless...reminds me of when the powers that be closed the hospital I was working at...A guy was appointed to do just that regardless of the consequences.....only 2 years later did the NHS admit that they had made huge errors when they did so.....too late for many, as now with sellers & buyers.....Ha well I like going around shops & visiting individual websites...oh yes I also love car boot sales...shame about when it rains though....lol...Chrissy x

hello everyone, I've been thinking today also about the feedback changes introduced on ebay. the feedback changes are biased towards the buyer. this would be a breach of policy according to the Department of fair trading, as this promotes an unethical and unfair trading environment.

to those who remember the dixie chicks, and how they were cut off from the world. one bad word about their president, and people started ringing their local stations demanding that no more of their songs are to be played or no one will listen to their station any more.

i believe we should do the same, every time we see or hear an ebay commercial, we ring up that local station and demand that if the don't stop promoting a company that is unethical, amoral and insensitive to minority groups then we will refuse to watch or listen to that station again and we will pass this message onto our families and friends

us sellers have a legitimate claim for a law suit against ebay for pushing the paypal policy which has directly affected sales and loss of income and the should be held accountable. every thing they have done has had a direct influence, we should all file for a class action on ebay demanding c-o-m-p-e-n-s-a-t-i-o-n

Hear! Hear!....I so agree with you. I will be honest, I haven't seen any e***y adverts on tv recently. But it is unfair trading. Also isn't it discrimination? What about equal rights. If this type of thing happened any way else there would be a court case...discrimination, unfair trading, invasion of privacy, victimization, extortion, the list is endless...but this is what e***y is claiming to protect us against...talk about calling the kettle black.....the Witch x