More changes to feedback?

[irt303]

Am I just imagining things, or has the feedback system recently changed (again)?

I've left feedback for a couple of recent purchases, and the 'Did this item arrive on time?' question and the 5-star ratings (for item description, postage costs, dispatch time & seller communication) are all optional - I'm pretty sure that wasn't the case before.

I've said before (in a long post that was roundly ignored by all!) that the 'seller communication' bit should have an option for 'N/A' to cover cases where no communication between buyer and seller took place, which I would think would be the majority of cases. Making the response optional isn't quite the same, but it is an improvement in my eyes (fancy that, an improvement on the site!). Even with an unproblematic transaction, it never sat comfortably with me to leave 5 stars when no communication took place, but it would have been unfair to leave less, since to do so that communication had taken place, but that the seller's communication was less than excellent. So, when leaving feedback for a transaction with no communication from the seller (when none was required), I can now happily ignore that rating.

I'm not so sure about the other three ratings, though. On the one hand, sellers benefit from four or five-star ratings (I believe that improves their metrics, but happy to be told I'm wrong), and buyers may now choose to simply not bother giving ratings now that they are optional (of course, leaving any element of feedback is itself optional). On the other hand, this may result in sellers not receiving unfair ratings (e.g. for dispatch time, where buyers - unless they are also sellers - don't understand all the problematic issues with EDDs and/or incorrectly equate late delivery with late dispatch).

Of course, there are caveats to the above paragraph. A buyer who can be bothered to go to the feedback section in the first place will probably not begrudge the extra few seconds it takes to leave star ratings, even though they are optional. And an unhappy buyer (or an unreasonable one) probably would take the opportunity to give poor ratings, which may or may not be appropriate depending on the specific situation.

The same ambivalence applies to 'Did this item arrive on time?'. For one thing, 'on time' is based on when eBay told the buyer they should expect to receive the item, which in turn is based on eBay's absurd EDDs (by this point, it is clear that eBay aren't going to back down and admit that they have totally messed this up). Also, the buyer may have their own perception of 'on time', a perception that may not align with reality (or even with the EDDs), especially if they didn't even check the delivery estimates (but, even if they did, the EDDs may have given them an unrealistic expectation). Their idea of 'on time' may just be when they wanted to receive the item, rather than when they could reasonably expect to. Added to that is the fact - a fact that the buyer may not be aware of, or care about - that a late delivery is not the seller's fault (unless the seller dispatched after their stated handling time).

Assuming that my memory is not failing me, and the 'Did the item arrive on time' question and the star ratings did not become optional until recently, I've got mixed feelings about this change. I'd be interested to hear others' thoughts on this, buyers and sellers (or both) alike.

[irt303]

Not strictly related to the above, but eBay are also requesting feedback for an aborted transaction (I purchased an item, then requested to cancel when the buyer informed me that they had incorrectly described it). I can see that being an aggravation to many buyers.

[a45heaven]

If Feedback was a good thing, do you not think we would be encouraged to leave feedback for the ebay platform ? 

I guess you can as long as you dont criticise the Buyer or Seller, which ever is appropriate, as long as the deal was fine.

[irt303]

@a45heaven- I see where you're coming from (I'm starting to sound like the community managers!) - eBay likes to bombard buyers with requests for transaction feedback, but when it comes to feedback about the platform itself, utter disinterest reigns supreme! I believe that, overall, feedback is a good thing (or has the potential to be). eBay's lack of concern about various points raised by buyers & sellers with regard to the platform is far from encourgaing.

However, my post was about the changes to the 'Did the item arrive on time?' question and the star ratings (if indeed they are changes - could just be me getting old and losing my marbles!).

As a seller, I can only leave positive feedback for buyers. Most other sellers know this, and I agree with those who say that this is one-sided.

As a buyer, I'm happy to leave positive feedback for sellers if everything went smoothly, which it usually does. If there's a problem, I try to resolve it with the seller first - I don't head straight to the feedback to give them a neg. I'll only leave negative feedback when those attempts have failed, and I genuinely feel that the seller deserves it.

If there have been issues, my approach depends entirely on what those issues were (they might be things that weren't down to the seller) and, if applicable, how they acted upon being informed of them. If they were keen to make things right, I'll probably give them positive feedback (not always - again, it comes down to the specific situation). If they rectify things, but begrudgingly, or if I've had to do a lot of the legwork/chasing up, I might leave neutral feedback, although I'd be more likely to not leave any feedback at all. As a buyer, leaving negative feedback is absolutely a last resort for me.

[department28]

I think the star ratings have been optional for a good long while, although with all the constant fiddling around over the past few years, it's a wonder any of us can remember how anything on eBay works, or where to find things, or what the point of it all is...

I've also dithered about whether to leave any star ratings for 'seller communication' when there hasn't been any. Skipping that category altogether doesn't do any harm to the seller (I presume), whereas leaving 1 star would nibble away at their star rating for that category.

At least eBay have removed the very unpopular 'compulsory' item review star rating that appeared under

the feedback comment box a while back.

[irt303]

Could well be. I haven't sold for a while, and haven't purchased much lately, so I probably perceived the change as being more recent than it actually was. As you say, though, with eBay's continuous tweaking (usually tinkering around the edges, rather than fixing important stuff) it becomes hard to tell sometimes. It's like when a new building goes up, and you can't remember what was there before.

I'd go along with your presumption about leaving 'seller communication' unrated. I could be mistaken, but it seems to me that eBay haven't made it clear what the consequences are for sellers when buyers leave ratings (or don't leave them - zero effect, I assume). I know that ratings affect sellers' metrics generally, but that's a bit too vague. Frequent and/or high-volume sellers probably only discover the consequences through bitter experience.

Possibly a question for the weekly chat, although how helpful the reply would be is up for debate. I wish I could say otherwise, but the answers are usually skeletal, vague or evasive (or a combination thereof). Many of them read like copy & paste replies. I feel frustrated just reading them; how much worse for the person asking. I've also noticed recently that some questions don't get a reply at all. And I've only rarely seen the managers come back onto a thread with a promised answer/update.

One hour per week isn't enough, is it? I've often thought that it should be extended to at least double that, or better still, have two chat sessions a week, which would give some people more of an opportunity to ask questions. There must be loads of people who would like to ask a question, but who are unable to do so at that time on a Wednesday. I'll leave it at that, as I'm derailing my own thread.

Yes, I'm glad that eBay had a rare moment of seeing sense, and removed the review star rating. I can only imagine that they noticed a sharp drop in feedback being left, and thought "Hang on a minute..."!