eBays new "most relevant first" feedback default

[stephenjames_1234588]

Hi, does anyone else think eBays new default view for feedback is entirely unfair and flawed. 

I had a customer purchase an item back in august last year on my main account and wrote a long paragraph in neutral feedback format claiming they did not believe the brand was what was advertised (it was a car part very small do didn't come in a fancy box as they dont give out boxes for every single tiny item screws, bolts ect ect i even had a paragraph in the listing description explaining this)

anyway i provided the customer with invoices for our stock showing where it came from proving it was what  was advertised to be but at the time there was no response and the feedback was never adjusted. I had to learn to live with it which i did. 

anyway a few months later eBay roll out this new feedback format and this customers feedback appears to be pinned in the top 3 feedbacks continuously now giving a false impression of what we supply may not be what we state (its not moved in over a month), it looks as though its pinned to the top as its one of the longest feedbacks written over the last 6 months.

So does that mean all a buyer needs to do now is to leave a negative feedback in the longest possible text to permanantly harm your account? most buyers who leave positive comments dont write long essays, on the other hand someone who is unhappy about something surely will, meaning all the negative experiances will end up at the top of the feedback chart.

[the_book_seekers]

I think you are probably right. Looking at what the announcement for the changes, the new default is ignoring basic, repeated feedback responses which means it focuses on something that it considers out of the ordinary. You're probably not getting the kind of feedback needed to knock that neutral out of the default. ebay reckons the old system wasn't always 'helpful', but this new system certainly doesn't help you.

We’ve updated the default sort to highlight the most relevant feedback

A large share of feedback is made up of generic feedback like “A+++ eBayer” or one word answers like “good”. However, in an age where buyers are increasingly looking at reviews before making a purchase, this isn’t always helpful. 

By updating the default sort on listings to highlight the most relevant feedback and deprioritise more generic feedback, this will enable buyers to receive a better understanding of what’s great about your products.

Please note that this is simply the default sort. Buyers will still be able to see feedback for all previous transactions, and on your feedback profile page, buyers can easily sort feedback by timeframe should they want to.

[theelench]

Has this been rolled out to everyone, or has ebay started with business sellers but not got to private sellers yet?

I noticed that I've been given a FB this morning, so took a look at it.

My FB page looked the same as always apart from a box drawing attention to the recently started "Photos in FB".

When ebay says "...buyers can easily sort FB by timeframe should they want to."  buyers have to know that they can do that.

I didn't see anything that drew my attention to the possibility of changing the sort order.

[the_book_seekers]

I've found this default appears when you look at a seller's listing and it's on business and private listings.  If you scroll though a listing you should see it with a button for see all feedback.  It displays the feedback where someone has had more to say. The OP has what sounds like a lengthy and unfair neutral which isn't being shifted from the default by positive but shorter feedback and that is a problem. I've looked at the feedback being displayed on one of my listings and one is from the last month, the other two where posted in the last six months. 

[johnwash1]

This is an appalling and unfair change, as the OP points out.  Yet another example of ebay changing things that don't need changing, while leaving loads of other faults to rot.  Sellers, the very customers who are providing the revenue, are ignored.

[4_bathrooms]

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@the_book_seekers wrote:

I think you are probably right. Looking at what the announcement for the changes, the new default is ignoring basic, repeated feedback responses which means it focuses on something that it considers out of the ordinary. You're probably not getting the kind of feedback needed to knock that neutral out of the default. ebay reckons the old system wasn't always 'helpful', but this new system certainly doesn't help you.

We’ve updated the default sort to highlight the most relevant feedback

A large share of feedback is made up of generic feedback like “A+++ eBayer” or one word answers like “good”. However, in an age where buyers are increasingly looking at reviews before making a purchase, this isn’t always helpful. 

By updating the default sort on listings to highlight the most relevant feedback and deprioritise more generic feedback, this will enable buyers to receive a better understanding of what’s great about your products.

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Oh, this is idiotic.

The vast majority of sellers will have automated feedback configured in their selling preferences meaning they will be leaving repetitive (positive) feedback for buyers. Many buyers leave pseudo-automated positive feedback; i.e. "A++ seller!", "Perfect, thanks!", "Good" when they are typing a memorised positive response. In fact, as most browsers now "suggest" an automatic entry in a text field - usually any previous text you entered into it - postive feedback from buyers is likely to become increasingly repetitive. Therefore, the new "Most relevant" sort order will be strongly biased towards showing negative and neutral feedback near the top as that is the sort of feedback buyers are more likely to put a considered effort into composing...    

[ile136yz]

This change is not 'relevent' for me. Best essay writer could be a waffler which will have been read.

I like 'most recent first' & find it annoying changing  every time I look. It should of been on trial basis & ask the eBay Sellers 'Do they like the change  -  YES or  No'. 

Also Feedbacks Buyers leave should be on the item & dispatch.  As the Courier's Delivery is a third party service which the Seller is being blamed for if there is a delay.  ebay needs to rethink the method of a Buyer/s leaving Feedback.

[santlache_sales]

This is annoying, as Feedback is virtually redundant now, totally saturated.

Everyone now wants your feedback, how was your experience, did you enjoy your stay with us, were the staff nice ? and all that nonsense, people have got fed up with companies asking for it so often they just don't bother anymore, unless angry and hacked off.

I reckon at least one in three of my buyers now simply don't bother leaving Feedback on eBay.

[johnwash1]

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@ile136yz wrote:... It should of been on trial basis & ask the eBay Sellers 'Do they like the change  -  YES or  No'. 

...

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What?  That's a completely novel idea.  Ebay wanting to hear your view and then ACT on it?  That could be good for business.  The share price is half what it was 3 years ago, so presumably the top brass have heavily shorted the company and are trying to run it into the ground.

Listening to users?  Bwahahahah!

[dwbeautystore]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who's experiencing this!!

I've had 12 negatives over the past 2 years out of around 7500 sales.

Around two thirds don't leave feedback so are presumably happy.

Of the 10 negs I've had this year, 2 were because I cancelled their order as their feedback was hidden (experience tells me this is almost always a bad thing), one was because her item apparently broke when it was put through her door (which she didn't notify me of so I was given no chance to rectify) and 7 were from people who tried to scam me/repeated feedback abusers.

I have had over 100 positive this month and no negs but the first 2 feedback that show on the bottom of the ebay app are negative, one of which is 6 months old!

Someone from ebay actually told me recently that they are trying to clear the site of 'side hustles' and only want businesses trading. I am really trying to build my business back up into something more profitable but with ebay behaving like this there won't be many small businesses left soon to sell on their site!

[the_book_seekers]

Someone from ebay actually told me recently that they are trying to clear the site of 'side hustles' and only want businesses trading. 

That's a heck of a statement (if true). Did this person explain how ebay hopes to achieve this? 

[fatbobfan]

Agree with OP its unfair, 8000 happy postive feedbacks but the only one everyone gets to see is the grumble.

The customer left positive feedback but politely posted they were disappointed it was not as fast as they would have liked.

The order was posted next day (as advertised) arrived with in the EDD (not late) and we offer expedited delivery service from 1st claas to guaranteed next day before 1pm which the buyer didnt see or chose not to purchase

How can 1 feedback be most relevant for two months, does anyone know how long a single most relevant feedback stays in situ? 

Its always the first feedback customers see, its not rotated with the the non generic compliments of service, non generic quality, non generic speed of delivery, non generic quality of packaging, non generic helpfulness we often get.

Just shows the customers failure to find/see expedited delivery service we offer that on first impression just implies we dont delivery quickly and for an inventory that is often need quickly doesnt put us in a good light. 

[theelench]

"Did this person explain how ebay hopes to achieve this ?"

Perhaps simply by continuing to make ebay more unpleasant and difficult for private sellers to use or sell anything on.

Drive away enough and at least some of them will be "side hustling".

[thearteryfineart]

Ebay has 'deemed' my 10 mos. old negative feedback as most 'relevant' to all my 2200+ listings and now highlights it on the bottom each each and every listing, despite being a seller since 1998, 98.8% positive feedback of 8897 total, 19K items sold.

[padanpcparts]

In short, it's abolutely mental. A friend who has a shop has had 1 negative in 2 years. It's right there in pride of place! Crazy. 

[theelench]

I wonder how ebay decides what is "relevant" ?

I haven't received much FB over the past year, not sold many items and not all buyers left FB.

Ebay's three "Most Relevant"  are "Past Year", Past Month" and another "Past Year"  --  All three mention good packaging.

Looking at 'All FB' ebay has left out single word / short FB like "Excellent" & "Perfect Transaction" and simply grabbed the three FBs with the most words.

All my recent FB has been good, quite a few mention the quality of my packaging, speed of delivery etc., much of it is repetitious, because the buyers are all happy with the item / packing / delivery.

So what makes those three 'more relevant' than the rest ?

IMO, NOTHING.  All ebay has done is select the one with over 30 words as Most Relevant, followed by two with 7 words each.  This has meant shuffling them around so they're no longer in date order.

Is it just pure bad luck that an unhappy buyer tends to often write more than a happy one so old negs. are being dragged up. 

WHAT A WASTE OF TIME ... and a wonderfully simple way of distorting a sellers FB record.

[the_book_seekers]

Somebody leaving a negative is far more likely to give a more detailed feedback then a buyer who is perfectly happy and leaves a two word positive. ebay has managed to skew an imperfect system even further. I don't understand how ebay nearly always manages to make something worse after an 'improvement'.

[theelench]

Of course they are.

I suppose it's just another of those things that to ebay towers is working perfectly and that the relevant teams are blissfully unaware that there is any sort of problem with.

I'd have thought that after the last lot of (9000 ?) redundancies, they might have woken up to the fact that their bright ideas might have repercussions for them when they adversely affect the user friendliness of the site?

At least to a degree that gives them some slight incentive to try using the site themselves as buyers  and sellers.  Or perhaps by reading these boards occasionally.

Oh well, perhaps when the next batch is announced it'll spark a little interest.....

[dwbeautystore]

The advisor was patronising me after I asked for a feedback to be removed. 

The buyer left negative feedback claiming their package was empty after first emailing me to say it arrived leaking. This was a little eye mask soaked in serum in a sealed foil package. I'd had it for a couple of months and it was perfect when I posted it. It was practically impossible for it to get damaged it transit unless the padded envelope had been cut (which she said it wasn't) so I argued the point.

She then left a neg claiming her parcel arrived empty but added photos of the 'missing' mask right there with the foil packaging!!

eBay refused to remove the feedback, saying buyers are entitled to their opinions. I told the advisor that opinion was irrelevant in this situation as she'd posted the proof she was lying.

He then told me eBay have stopped removing negative feedback now because they are trying to weed out the side hustles and only want businesses trading.

He told me I have to take it on the chin that some people will steal from me and I should factor in a percentage of losses and have business insurance!

I have begun cancelling orders now if buyers have left a much-higher-than-ususal level of negative feedback.

There is a certain breed that make a habit of abusing the system and make a lot of 'item not received' claims or 'item arrived damaged/not as described' etc, who then leave negs for anyone who doesn't refund them without a fight.

I've reported several of these buyers as I can see they are doing the rounds with people selling similar products but ebay just let them carry on.