Brad Ideas - Fix some eBay feedback problems - Comments

All due respect, you are wrong

Kevin D — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 20:45:32 -0800

"...it's not a matter of opinion. The buyer's sole obligation is to pay on time."

Uhhh... that would be your opinion. I find it pretty funny how some people think they can call the views of someone they disagree with 'just an opinion', and their own view a 'matter of fact'. In my opinion, if the buyer's only obligation was to pay (on time.. ha), then there should be a check box that says simply 'paid'. The system automatically checks it off if paid via Paypal, or the seller checks it if paid another way. And the buyer's feedback would only say "paid" for each transaction. Now, think this through. If that were the system, and there was not a choice to say things like "Fast payment, great eBayer A+++++", or some other clever compliment, I believe this would be true to your idea that that is the only responsibility of the buyer. However, this would probably destroy any chance of sellers receiving positive feedback. Why? Because what reason would a buyer have for leaving some witty positive compliment if the item was just what it was supposed to be and all their feedback says is "Paid". If this were the case, then most of the feedback that will be left for sellers will be negative for when things go wrong. When things go right, so what, half the people don't bother now, they certainly won't bother if they don't get anything but a 'paid' sticker.

The point is, eBay's feedback has more to do with good will, manners, and being polite to one another. It is intended to be community concept, not an objective record. It is purely a practice of subjective opinion. A give-and-take sort of thing. Additionally, the buyer has not only the responsibility of paying (on time mind you), but also they have the responsibility of being reasonable, communicative, respectful, and decent. No?

When you leave a store after buying a product, do you ever say "thank you" to the cashier? Why? They are just doing their job, no thanks required. Or maybe your are just being polite.. hey... what a concept! They usually thank you for not only paying, but being a nice customer that they welcome back. But if you after pay for the item in the store, you then call the cashier an idiot because she dropped your change, then tell the customer standing next to you, "I guess only retards get hired here". Then drop the F* bomb to the old lady that wanted to check your receipt on your way out. Should you get a good report since, after all, you paid for the item... right?

Back to eBay. Did you know that after 9 years of selling on ebay only 55% of buyers left me any feedback at all? Why? Because many don't really care about it. So, why should I bother leaving feedback for someone who doesn't care enough to leave it for me? Feedback is 1000% more important to sellers than buyers.

Within the last year or so, seller's cannot leave anything BUT positive feedback or no feedback for the buyer on eBay. Those are the only two choices. So now even if a buyer does NOT pay, we cannot leave negative feedback. Fair... eh? There is no more retaliatory feedback. But the topic is not moot. The ONLY way we sellers have any way of protecting our butts is to not leave any feedback until we know the deal is good and completed. The only way we know that is if the buyer either leaves positive feedback or contacts us to complain. We cannot warn people about non-paying bidders. We cannot warn people about chargeback fraudsters. We cannot warn people about buyers who return broken merchandise in exchange for the new one they got from us, but now want a refund (that's stealing btw). No, we can't do anything to fight against bad buyers except block them on our own blocklist and file a claim for non-payment in order to get our fees refunded. This change is dumb. It is correct that sellers make eBay profitable, buyers pay nothing. Yet eBay makes it harder and harder to sell unless you are some large wholesale buyer, or a big chain, or a criminal. Regular folks get screwed, as usual.

So, the bottom line is, eBay feedback is a subjective matter of opinion users share about their dealings so that others can learn more about the members they are dealing with. It is based on mutual respect and manners. If a person does not say 'thank you' when appropriate, then I don't say 'your welcome' in reply... that would be stupid. Remember kiddies, always watch your P's and Q's, even on eBay.

leaving feedback

Michael Anderson — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:15:53 -0800

I can't really understand the back and forth here, as it's not a matter of opinion. The buyer's sole obligation is to pay on time. If a seller doesn't understand that, I can put it another way: There is NOTHING a buyer can do, besides pay, to make his end of the transaction work properly. He can't reach over the internet and pack the item better of get it to UPS a day earlier. He can't look at the item before it goes in the box to make sure it's what he ordered or in the condition described. A buyer is paying for something that he has only seen a picture of. The fact that most things arrive on time and as described is a testament to the basic good intentions of most people, and to a lesser extent the feedback system on ebay. If nothing else happens after the package arrives safely and on time, the fact remains that the buyer finished his obligation first and therefore must receive feedback first. I would still buy from a seller who violated this basic concept, but I wouldn't leave feedback. Or if I did, I would be more likely to leave negative feedback simply because the seller has such a poor policy that misunderstands the nature of the transaction. It makes that seller a bad SELLER, even if the item was right. (But not necessarily cool to call this guy names just because he happens to be wrong.)

Please, don't use capitals

Anonymous — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 11:23:37 -0800

Please, don't use capitals unnecessarily. Beside being considered as rude, it makes your post difficult to read.

That is incorrect. It has

NotTrue — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 07:58:50 -0800

That is incorrect.

It has and always has been the SELLER'S responsibility to buy insurance.

The item is YOUR (the Seller's) responsibility until it is in the buyer's hands.

If the buyer has to send the widget back to you, it is the buyer's responsibility for the package until it reaches them and thus it is the buyer's responsibility to buy insurance.

A buyer

Anonymous — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 20:25:39 -0800

I do nothing but buy on ebay, Ive sold in the past with no issues, but now I just buy. Nothing annoys me more than paying for an item immediatley after the auction ends, and seeing that the seller got my money and did not leave me positive feedback directly afterward.

In the real world when you buy something at a store, your only obligation is to pay them. Nothing more, nothing less. If you need to return something, its no hassle.
On ebay most sellers wont leave feedback unless I leave it first, which is BULL. I had one guy who I paid immediatley, who never left me feedback on my prompt payment. In the packages he added a long letter and stressed how vitally improtant it was I leave positive feedback, and once I did that, he'd do the same. Seeing that the transaction went well, I left him 5 star positive feedback and never heard from him again. I never got positive feedback in return, which is just shady.

I don't care about the seller to be honest with you. I have no established connection, same as Walmart or Target. Their job is to sell me goods, my job to buy them. If the product sucks, or an employee sucked, I return the item, or report the employee. I've never been retaliated against for such things, but on Ebay you have sellers who seem to think that their customers, who PAY them, are obligated to beckon to their 5 star demmands.

Its this simple. If I do not get positive feedback from a seller before they get my feedback, I never buy from them again. A good merchant knows how to keep buyers coming back, the rest fade away.

Ebay Feedback Is A Joke

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 16:33:38 -0800

The new feedback system Ebay implemented is a joke. I have been buying and selling (mostly selling though) for the past 10 years and have acquired over 10,000 positives between 4 ids. I have a fair share of negatives on all of them. Yes, some of them are deserved, but more are not.

I.E. Giving a negative because the item was refunded and unavailable (yes, ebay does relist sold items and you don't know it until it sells again; especially if you have over 15K auctions running) Or another example would be it took too long to receive an item (buyer bought on Sunday and received it on Sat of the same week DURING the holiday season).

I quit leaving feedback first about 8 years ago when I got burned, and now only leave it if it is received first (in selling). If I am on the receiving end (buyer), I always leave feedback if I am satisfied; but there were a couple of times I didn't leave feedback at all for pirated CDs or they were so scratched I couldn't get through the first song. I didn't pay much for it, and I didn't feel like the hassle of sending back a $1-$2 CD.

As a seller, I have to read through the feedback my buyers are leaving before even accepting their offers on merchandise. If they leave petty or undeserving feedback, I just block them, because I can't risk my job being ruined for some jerk on a neg/neutral spree.

As a buyer, I skim through the feedback for legit ones. I know sellers are more than likely than ever to get undeserved negative and I don't let it affect my buying too much from them. I can read through the lines and see who is telling the truth for the most part. I've purchased from users with as low as 95%; sometimes in the 80s. If they don't sell a lot and one or two people ruined their feedback percentage, I can see that and I don't hold it against them.

The way Ebay has set up the new feedback system is doing nothing but making SOME buyers out to be more of a con artist and waiving the negative feedback card to get their way. I simply don't bow down to it. If you're going to leave it, then do it. Don't wait 60 days to leave negative. If it was truly that bad, then why not leave it when it happens, because it makes them out to look really PETTY and still holding on to a grudge.

Always put a delivery confirmation on EVERYTHING that goes out, so you can have proof that it got there ok. I just had a buyer purchase 30 items from me from another country and claimed that only half of her box's contents arrived (keep in mind, I packed this so good that even if the box came open, they were double bagged and foamed wrapped they everything still would be there). I knew from the start this story looked fishy and that I was possibly looking at 30 negatives coming my way; in which Ebay would have removed anyway for feedback abuse; but still. The individual opened a paypal dispute stating the contents were missing; they held up nearly $200 of my money until the situation was resolved. I informed Paypal that I would like the rest of the package contents back so I could take it back to the post office to start a claim since they needed the original package and contents back for a lost/damage claim and I escalated the claim. Buyer entered in the SAME tracking number I sent on her original package as proof that she sent it back, Paypal didn't buy that because you can't use the same tracking number twice on a return and released the funding back to me. All the whole while and I maintaining my cool and communicating with this buyer, even after Paypal gave me the funding back. I check my feedback the next day and low and behold she left me all positives (so I guess it just magically appeared on her doorstep).

Now in this case, the buyer was trying to con me out of paying for their duty taxes for their country and I wasn't going to go for it. And if I left feedback first, I would have been up the creek, because I think it would have been far worst than it had been. Also, I wouldn't have left feedback for this individual for the hell they put me through the ENTIRE buying process. I received almost 50 emails LITERALLY from this one person in a 2 week span; and I kindly replied to all of them, even though it was taking away a tremendous amount of time for my other buyers.

Feedback is VOLUNTARY and addressed as so. No one OWES anyone any feedback. The only thing owed is PAYMENT for the auction, SHIPPING within a reasonable timeframe PACKAGE as described in the auction, and Excellent COMMUNICATION to let you know that your package has been shipped, etc (PLEASE REMOVE SPAM BLOCKER OR CHECK YOUR SPAM FOLDER REGULARLY, for I've had countless emails go into there and buyers claiming they didn't receive any communication and docking my stars for it; also UPDATE OLD EMAILS if you have changed them. Sellers can't communicate if they keep bouncing).

Should a buyer get Pos feedback for paying? Look here!

Justice — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 01:43:22 -0700

Buyers can no longer receive anything but positive feedback from sellers. This eliminates "retalitory feedback" right? It certainly does - even when it is deserved. There is a site called Toolhaus.org which shows ALL feedback LEFT by buyers AND sellers in one neat package. This lets sellers see what manner of "fair" feedback these now-immune buyers are leaving for the sellers. This isn't a bitch site put up by unhappy sellers. It distills all buyer and seller feedback down for anyone to see and displays the activity of ALL buyers and sellers by user name.

For fun, put in a buyer named "Newglas" and see what he leaves for sellers. He leaves a neg or a neutral every other day, yet keeps buying! He's the unluckiest eBayer on the planet. His speciality: Weighing items and then leaving negs for charging extra for shipping. One of his recent victims charged $1.35US for handling! His other pet peeve: Wrinkled ties. They are all damaged and wrinkled beyond repair when he gets them... yet he keeps buying. See it for yourself at Toolhaus.org.

My point: Some people are just mean and also crazy.

I find it astounding that so

Anonymous — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:22:12 -0700

I find it astounding that so many people have an imagination so limited that they can't think of a reason why a buyer may receive negative feedback after they have paid.

I am not going to list any reasons here, I shall leave you in blissful ignorance...

Personally I leave automated feedback first, that is my preference, feedback is stupid anyway. But I don't agree that anyone should be forced to leave feedback first.
I have received almost 5000 positive, 2 neutrals, 0 Negative and 1 negative which was reversed by the customer after they realized that they were wrong. Because I leave my feedback first, I receive a pathetic 40% feedback in return.

So here is my neg to all you buyers that make up the other 60%

NEGATIVE These buyers didn't leave me any feedback at all. How rude!

feedback

crazed seller — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 13:53:01 -0700

The buyer's responsibility is to not be rude, to not harass the seller over and over about how long the mail system takes,or my personal favorite... they MOVE yet they don't change the address and thru my crystal ball I should have known that and they expect ME to pay to reship their item. THAT is a joke. Then there are the LIARS that should not be working on their own car that CLEARLY break something and then LIe that it broke in shipping. Then I get the item back with grind marks, melted, crowbar marks, hammer holes, seriously.

So, 99% of the buyer's responsibility is NOT to pay on time. It is to not be A LIAR, a SCAM ARTIST, a WHINY BABY. It is their responsibility to give the seller the CORRECT ADDRESS THE FIRST TIME. It is THEIR responsibility to pay the return freight if they "decide" they are out of money and want a refund, or if they cannot tell the right from the left side of the car. It is their responsibility to be mature in communications and not send the seller stupid emails like "hey it's been 3 days WHATS UP WITH MY PACKAGE! It still isn't here." Nevermind they live in freaking Arizona and the item shipped from MAINE and they bought it on a Sunday morning!

Seriously I have heard it all and this new Ebay no negative feedback policy for sellers is CRAP. I RARELY left a negative, but after 78,000 transactions rest assured I would have like to leave about 50 people a nasty feedback comment and 45 of them after this ridiculous policy.

I could go on forever. Sell a few hundred items so you can see both sides of stupidity.

I am fair, I IMMEDIATELY replace ALL BROKEN items only requesting a PHOTO as proof, I give refunds if they have to buy locally in a time crunch, I bend over backwards for people. But every so often I get one customer that makes me crazy. I suppose Ebay is no different in real life.

Buyers assume most of the risk

Engineeringtech — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:47:58 -0700

The sheer number of postings here, means it's unlikely anyone will see my individual comments. That also happens to be one of the problems with eBay feedback. Negative feedback left by an individual will rapidly get lost in the volume of feedback big stores accumulate.

How accurate is it anyway? How many private buyers, trying to build their own feedback scores, give a selller a pass to ensure that they don't get retaliatory feedback? How many hold back because they are being held hostage by a seller? I encountered sellers who despite receiving payment, wouldn't ship until they first received a positive feedback! And what does it prove if a seller has a 97% positive feedback rating? We'd like to think that in the other 3% of cases the seller worked hard to resolve the issue with the buyer. But maybe he figured it wouldn't hurt his long term profitability if he screwed 3% of his buyers.

Please tell me what risk sellers assume on eBay! All they have to do is wait for payment to arrive and clear before they ship. If they don't get payment, they don't have to ship. Worst case they have to offer the item to the next highest bidder. Or put it back up for sale. Sellers have lots of angles too. Like having their employees bid up prices in the last few seconds of the auction. Or jacking up the "handling charges". When bad feedback starts to cut into their bottom line, they just open up shop under an new eBay account.

Buyers assume all the risk. They send their money on the assumption the seller will deliver. Sometimes sellers don't even do that. In my case, 85% of the items I purchased were misrepresented, defective, damaged, or not even remotely as advertised. I always paid promptly with cashiers checks or money orders. Only time I used PayPal, their system screwed up and triple charged my charge card for the same item. Took months to get that cleared up.

I realize lots of people have good experiences on eBay. More power to you! But my experiences as a buyer were awful. I did all the work I was supposed to do. I reviewed the feedback scores, and read individual reports. I emailed sellers for more detailed descriptions. Despite my careful efforts, I can only recall two of 15 purchases which were honestly represented. I was repeatedly lied to and cheated. I kept my cool and worked with the sellers trying to get satisfaction. Only when that was un-productive did I resort to leaving bad feedback or approach eBay for help. But every time I gave a less than sterling, (but honest) report, the seller retaliated with falsehoods. Ebay never helped, even though I had the documentation necessary to prove my case. Screen captures of the auctions. Proof of payment. Pictures of what was shipped. Ebay wouldn't even look at it. Fact is, eBay gets paid by sellers, not buyers.

I'm sure someone is now saying I must've done something wrong. I don't think so. So to protect myself, I stopped bidding. I finally cancelled my account three years ago. I suppose it's possible eBay has changed. I don't know. My employer ordered a tool for me last year from an eBay store. We never got it, and the seller refused to provide proof of shipment or a refund. We noticed him re-selling the same item later. Did eBay help? No.

Sorry if I offended any sellers. I'm sure the majority are honest. But eBay is not for me.

My solutions? Auctions should be held open unless there hasn't been a bid in the previous 15 minutes. That will reduce the last minute sneak attacks. Sellers' feedback should be restricted to "paid / did not pay" without further comment. Ebay should act as a middle man for payment, confirming that the buyer has paid and seller has shipped. They could also pass judgement on whether the shipped item matches what the auction offered.

Buyer Complaining After Leaving Positive Feedback

Anonymous — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 22:05:37 -0700

I've been reading the previous comments regarding ebay, and I found my situation is slightly different. I just sold a remote control boat with used batteries about a week ago and the item was delivered at the buyer’s house just as planned. The buyer leaves positive feedback stating everything is in good working order after driving the boat. Well the buyer calls me stating one of the boat batteries showed cosmetic signs of melting and threatens that he will go to paypal to resolve the issue. Well here is when the seller can get screwed, I specifically stated in the ebay listing that the battery was used but the buyer claims that I never mentioned there were signs of heat exhaustion, even though he drove the boat and left positive feedback!!!

To me sellers should be better protected from buyers who break their purchased items and accuse you for it

Feedback Too Perfect

Anonymous — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:55:27 -0700

I recently purchase an item from a seller. With 768 and 100% positive feedback. With that many sales and perfect feedback, I felt comfortable bidding on the item. However I just received the following email from a seller:

-----------------------------------------

We have shipped the following item to you.
Orders within United States take on average 6 to 10 business days.

Please note, as of July 1, 2009 we have changed our Feedback process. Once we receive your feedback showing the items have been received in satisfactory condition we will leave return feedback.

-----------------------------------------

Gee, now I know why they have such perfect feedback. I wish they would have been more upfront about their policy when I was bidding on the item. Needless to say, I won't purchase anything else from that seller and will have to look with a more skeptical eye when someonehas many sales and pefect feedback.

NASTY BUYERS AND THE SCAMS THEY RUN

seller101 — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 04:32:31 -0700

I HAVE BEEN A SELLER ON eBay FOR ABOUT A YEAR AND A HALF AND I HAVE NOTICED MANY BUYERS ATTEMPT TO SCREW A SELLER OVER... LIKE FOR INSTANCE "I expected it 2 be a bigger bottle but was ok. Diffrent colour bottle" THIS IS A NEGATIVE I RECEIVED... NOW IT WAS A 3.4 OZ BOTTLE WHICH IS THE LARGEST THE COMPANY OFFERS AND I SENT EXACTLY WHAT WAS IN THE PICTURE AND STATED IN THE AUCTION... SO WHY THE NEGATIVE??? LET ME EXPLAIN BEFORE PURCHASING BUYER ASKED ME SHIPPING COSTS THAT'S IT NOTING ELSE... AFTER RECEIVING BUYER DEMANDED A REFUND BECAUSE OF THE ABOVE AND DID NOT WANT TO RETURN THE PRODUCT I FOUND IT A BIT WEIRD ESPECIALLY SINCE I REFUND THE FULL ORIGINAL AMOUNT PAID I DIDN'T GET IT YOU DON'T WANT YOUR MONEY BACK??? IT'S JUST LIKE AN ONLINE STORE LIKE MACY'S IF YOU WERE TO BUY SOMETHING THERE AND YOU WANTED YOUR REFUND YOU WOULD HAVE TO RETURN IT...PLUS TO TOP IT OFF MACY'S WILL NOT PAY YOU BACK FOR THE ORIGINAL SHIPPING CHARGES AND IF YOU USE THERE LABEL THEY TAKE THAT OUT OF YOUR REFUND TOTAL AS WELL... I THINK BUYERS ARE LUCKY TO HAVE EBAY AND SHOULD BE KIND TO EVERYONE AND TRY TO WORK THINGS OUT.. A LOT OF SELLERS ARE QUICK TO HELP... BUT THEY CAN'T SINCE YOU HAVE NASTY AND RUDE BUYERS WHO WILL NOT EVEN COMMUNICATE.. I DON'T GET IT PEOPLE RETURN THE PRODUCT GET YOUR MONEY BACK AND BE ON YOUR MERRY WAY!! ITS JUST LIKE ANY OTHER ONLINE STORE IF YOU REALLY THINK ABOUT IT... IT'S JUST WAY CHEAPER!!!

Buyers should leave feedback first!

Sauce Devil — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 02:16:00 -0700

Good advice and suggestions from Badger. I agree buyers should be required to send some kind of email before leaving negative feedback, I'm not an idiot but I've made a few small mistakes buying items myself and only realised the fault was mine when I took the time to read the ITEM DESCRIPTION properly!

So far the only problems I've had as a seller are late payers and non-payers, no real "bad" buyers yet.

To hark back to the beginning of this thread (amazing it's been running since 2004) there are still a lot of people who can't understand why sellers don't instantly leave feedback upon payment; it's because some buyers are THIEVES and A$$H0LE$! (sorry, someone had to say it).

There are a lot of scams and dirty tricks some rotten buyers use to get an item for free or at a discount and your only real defense as a seller is FEEDBACK; it is your only opportunity to report a problem so you don't leave feedback until the transaction is complete. That's why I tell buyers in my auctions to contact me if there is a problem and that I will leave feedback after they have left feedback for me.

Things that can go wrong for sellers:

Item goes missing: If you're in the UK always ask for a free "proof of posting" and your items are automatically insured up to £34. you never know when an item may be lost in the post (beware, Italian and Spanish postal depots are rife with pilfering) or be damaged by a loutish postal worker; the Royal Mail are pretty good but packages are often THROWN across the room into the sorting bins (or even kicked) and some boxes are just made for sitting on even if they are marked fragile.

Fake Paypal "notification of instant payments": Check your Ebay or Paypal account, ordinary emails can be faked. :-O

Misread item descriptions: Some buyers are perfectly reasonable when they realise they've misread the description (it happens quite often with model kits) but there are a few people who once they feel p*ssed-off will blame you rather than themselves for feeling p*ssed-off; "I am in a bad mood because you made me make a mistake so now I want you to give me money for my trouble"... some people really are that nuts.

I've read a few forum messages from people who have covered the cost of return postage or refunded the buyer AND allowed them to keep the item for free but the buyer has still left negative feedback.

Nigerian Scams: Why, why, why in the World Ebay doesn't automatically block some African Countries is beyond me, I wouldn't send so much as a paperclip to Nigeria!

Unnacceptable payment methods: When you select the option to allow payments by cheque Ebay doesn't differentiate between domestic and foreign cheques; I still have no idea how to cash foreign cheques and postal orders or what charges they may entail - for some reason the whole internet seems to be devoid of useful information on the subject.

Collect in person scams: the buyer contacts you to say he or she is sending someone round to pick up the item (it could be a taxi) and sends payment by Paypal but later retracts payment with a "non-receipt or item" claim or uses a stolen credit card; you put the item in the car and it drives off over the horizon never to be seen again and you have no proof that the buyer received the item.

**Selling is most definitely not free of risk**

shoulda woulda coulda mabye

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 11:57:47 -0700

shoulda woulda coulda mabye you shoulda check the ebay policy again dumbass it does suggest that sellers leave feedback when payment is cleared anyway all this bloging wont change shit.

You did not enter the blog name correctly. It is ideas, contact me if the you have trouble
:D

Fix some eBay feedback problems

brad — Mon, 19 Jan 2004 09:56:21 -0800

Like many, I am interested in reputation systems, and eBay has built the largest public reputation system. Many have noted how feedback on eBay is overwhelmingly positive — a 97% positive rating would be a reason to be wary of a seller.

It’s also noted that people do this because they are scared of revenge feedback — I give you a negative, you do it back to me. One would think that since the buyer’s only real duty is to send the money that the seller should provide positive feedback immediately upon receipt of that money, but they don’t.

Some fixes have been proposed, including:

letting you see the count of total auctions the party has been buyer or seller in, so you can see how many resulted in no feedback at all. Right now only eBay knows how large that number is.
double-blind feedback. That is to say that feedback is not revealed until both parties have entered it, or if only one party enters it, after the feedback period has expired.
Marking revenge feedback, ie. putting a mark next to negatives that were a response to an outgoing negative.

Thus you could have very low fear of revenge feedback and there would be no argument about who should go first.

This idea’s fairly obvious, so like many other obvious ideas about eBay one wonders if eBay doesn’t feel some benefit to themselves from not doing it, though it’s hard to see. I’m also curious as to why eBay doesn’t offer a “going, going, gone” auction where the auction closes only after 5 minutes with no bidding. That seems to be in the interests of sellers (and eBay which gets a cut of the selling price) and it’s certainly not something they are unaware of.

The only proposition I’ve heard is that eBay has decided that there is a positive value to itself (and possibly sellers) from bid-sniping, the process of bidding preemptively in the last minute of an auction to not give other live bidders (who didn’t use the automatic rebidder) a chance to come in with more. The only way this could be good woudl be if Snipers deliberately overbid in order to trump anything. Any research or thoughts on this? It may also be the case that the sniped auctions are more “fun,” or more of a contest. And finally having fixed closing times does facilitate participating in multiple auctions for the same thing.

I have also posted updated eBay thoughts and an even simpler system which eliminates revenge and in fact now have an eBay tag for all eBay related posts, including thoughts on eBay’s solution to all this.