Among other changes that have hit the popular auction site, eBay will now be blocking sellers from leaving negative feedback about buyers.  EBay claims that there were problems slowing down sales when buyers left negative feedback about the seller who then fired back.

Starting in May, sellers on eBay will no longer have the option of leaving negative or neutral feedback about buyers.

According to the BBC the change will affect all eBay users worldwide but sellers are not convinced this is for the better.  They say it will leave them defenseless when a sale goes bad.  EBay says that will not be the case.

A company spokesperson said, “If a buyer doesn’t pay, the seller can easily contact eBay, we will review any complaint and maybe remove the buyer.”

EBay claims the whole point of this is to improve “overall customer experience.”  It also maintains that a majority of transactions proceed without difficulty and only a minority of sellers leave negative feedback.

None of that changes the fact that the playing field is no longer level.  Buyers can still leave negative feedback to the seller.  So it’s still easy to tell the reputable sellers from the not-so-much.  It will not be easy to distinguish a quality buyer from one that isn’t, unless eBay starts cracking down on poor quality buyers.

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Entry was posted on Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 at 4:29 pm under Uncategorized.  Print This Post

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