I googled "ebay feedback" to see if it was a well-known fact that the eBay feedback system really doesn't work, or if I was the only one who had noticed.

It really sucks, because I want very much to keep my 100%, so even if I encounter a horrible seller, and I really want to warn people against them, there's really nothing I can do. I haven't had a bad buyer yet, but I'd be scared to leave one of those negative feedback also, so I'd probably just endeavor to get my final value fee refunded and leave no feedback and hope they wouldn't either. I sure wish there was some way to make it better, because no matter how good a seller you are, someone who doesn't care as much about their feedback score as you do can rather easily ruin what you've work so hard to maintain.

Your ideas are good, but it seems to me that there would still be a problem because of the fact that some people care hugely about their feedback score and really want to keep a 100% or as close thereto as humanly possible, while others have less to lose, or think they do anyway, or for whatever reason simply don't care as much about it, and those people are therefore much less restrained, less judicious, and much more likely to leave negatives frivilously, callously, carelessly, out of spite, etc....because you didn't do what they wanted or give them what they wanted, or because you rightly objected to their improper behavior. It just feels so unfair that you can rather easily get stuck with a negative even if you haven't done anything wrong!

Many sellers are extremely conscientious and care very much about doing things right, but there are others that care most about making a buck and less about anything else, and these sellers figure as long as they keep their 98% by doing the minimum possible to keep most people reasonably happy, if a few brave customers do try to warn others by leaving a negative, they figure their negatives won't count for much in the long run, given an overwhelming number of positives. I'm dealing with one such seller right now, and it's just made me very upset and made me realize how much the system doesn't work, how there's no way I can warn others without risking a negative I don't deserve and want desperately to avoid.

I've had one idea which is that I could get a second account for buying purposes. I could still buy with my main account from people I already trust or who I can determine are nice people and good sellers, but if there's any doubt, I could just use the backup account and then whatever happens at least there'd be no threat to my reputation. Of course there's still the threat from careless, clueless, and/or unscrupulous buyers, but some people do manage to keep their 100%s even with thousands of sales, so I'm just going to keep hoping I will be able to also.

One thing I think eBay should definitely do is to not allow a buyer who has not paid to leave feedback, but they don't seem to take any action in that regard.

It does seem unfair, at least from one perspective, the way most sellers make buyers leave their feedback first. Sellers feel it's necessary to protect themselves at least somewhat from those few bad buyers I mentioned above (although it's not foolproof, because of course those buyers may just not care very much about their own feedback!). But on the other hand, buyers with legitimate complaints really are left with very little recourse.

I wonder if it wouldn't be better to simply allow people to leave comments with no ratings and no scores. Then you would just have to read and judge for yourself whether there were legitimate complaints against someone or not...

So, under your scheme:

1. I sell a widget and notify buyer it's shipped
2. on day 5, buyer starts asking where is package
3. on day 8, package I mis-addressed is returned to me by PO
4. knowing it may take 4 more days to get to buyer it seems I might get negative feedback over this (and deserved)
5. So, I leave negative for buyer "never paid"
6. buyer can't respond or retailiate, and my feedback record shows I am a great seller who doesn't tolerate non-paying buyers

The problem I experience with some sellers is this. They get too busy or forget about your order. I email them again and again and get no response. I left negative feedback for the seller (since I paid and never received item). Seller leaves intentionally false negative feedback for me ("No communication. Just send an email"). Then minutes later I get an email from seller asking if we can agree to mutually withdraw our negative feedback and he will ship the item (45 days later).
How about listing everything: Positive, negative, neutral feedback received, left, and withdrawn. Then others can be the judge. If you have received AND left 100 negative feedbacks and 97 of them have been withdrawn, something is fishy.

Thanks guys. Im glad to hear Im not the only one to think that the Ebay feedback system has some pretty major flaws.

My problem is this...I am a buyer only and I have had a few sellers screw me over with items not as described and not arriving at all. ("Sorry it must have been lost in the mail??")! I pay immediately on winning the auction by PayPal and really my part is over right at this moment. I should really get positive feedback automatically at this point. It seems that every single seller (with a few exceptions) waits for me to give feedback first and thus holds me to ransom on my feedback, as if I leave negative feedback they are going to negative feedback me. I have paid immediately upfront and done nothing wrong! This is not right!

I hope Ebay change there system one day. There are a few things to learn from this though. Dont deal with high volume sellers if they have feedback less than 98%, and even then check the negative feedback only and very carefully.

Here is the URL:

http://www.inetfeedback.com/ebay

This free, web based tool allows you to find and view negative, neutral, and withdrawn eBay feedback for any eBay user in the world. The tool is web based and requires you to install NO software on your computer, simply enter the URL in any browser and search for the user in question. Additionally the tool is written by a member of eBay's developer program and uses eBay's official API's to retrieve the feedback. This ensures that you are getting the correct and official eBay feedback. If you don't see the "right now on eBay" logo on a tool you are using, then it's not written by a member of eBay's development community!

I didn't read all the comments completly but a simple solution could be. Both parties have 30 days to leave feedback and it is not visable to anyone untill both parties have left feedback or 30 days is up.After the thirty days if only one party has left feedback then only their feedback is shown and the other party is out of luck and also can not retaliate or post any reason or note.However the person who did leave feedback within the time frame (could also be both parties) is allowed one follow up note to describe the situation.

My spouse sells clothing via eBay, from the nature of this question you can tell I'm not all that eBay savvy, she recently had something lost in the mail (USPS). Am I correct in assuming that neither side particularly has any recourse in the event something is (claimed by the buyer)lost in the mail (thus the reason for buying insurance)? I assumed that it has to be a common enough problem that there would be some sort of channel provided by eBay for dealing with this sort of situation.

I believe that most of you leaving post (granted I haven’t read them all) are not seeing the true nature of the Ebay business transaction. Ebay makes all their money from the seller therefore...

Ebay doesn’t give a Rat’s Ass about you.

As long as all the revenue comes from the sellers the rules will always lean to the sellers favor. If a buyer, who has gotten screwed from a seller that pays lots of transaction fees, files a claim, ebay is certainly going to rule in favor of the one who pays it’s bills. The fact is that the reason Ebay has not revised it’s feedback policy is because it’s written to make them more money.

The only way Ebay is ever going to start treating buyers fairly is if it has to do so to outdo the competition. Seeing how there is no real competition a the present, the only true advice I can leave is for the sellers. Always pay your ebay fees for every transaction on time and it doesn’t matter if you ever ship anything to your buyers. Ebay will still be happy with you.

Your suggestions for a better feedback system are fascinating and could bring major improvements but we may as well discuss how many angels fit on a pinhead. Ebay aren't bothered. They're actually degrading their system to make it less transparent - witness the introduction of Hidden Bidder ID.
Try visiting that useful feedback aggregator mentioned above: http://www.inetfeedback.com/ebay. The eBay developer is now forced to announce: "Sorry - eBay has requested that this site be shut down because it violates their feedback policy."

i agree with every comment on this page i hate the fact im scerd to leave a negative has im the buyer becuase of a nob.

why?- well i purchsed an item and it displayed next day delievery but to make sure i asked him when will i recive my item so would take one day to send and one day to my door but no reply so left him to it.
waited 3 days no item so i emiled the seller nicly and what did i get nothng but abuse saying i was threating him and saying payment didnt clear ect i emailed back but before that i checked to see if the monkey in my pay pal account was sent and it was now get this lmao

after checking pay pal i looked at his feedback all 100% (probly forced people) but i looked at his feed back has a buyer he purches summat straight after i payed for my item from him the exact amount i payed him a stupid modle airoplane ffs!.

so soon has i saw all that and geting abuse i got angry so replyed saying

"Dear windowseat2005,

actually it entered youR PAYPAL account on the 24th and secound i lost my password for my old account which has alot of happy people and recived my payments on same day end of that.
It wasnt aggresive, i was saying i EMAILED YOU AND YOU NEVER RESPONDED. paypal verified it was entered into your account.
so dont send me ABUSE BECUASE YOU COULDNT GET OFF YOUR ASS TO POSDT IT ON TIME.

AND IF YOU DONT TRUST BIDDERS WITH ONE FEEDBACK THEN YOU SHOULD OF STATED THAT INSTEAD OF ONE WORKING DAY IF YOU WANT THIS TO GO FURTHER I WILL BE CONTACTING EBAY FOR BAD RESPONCE BAD DISCRIPTION AND ABUSIVE FEEDBACK.

OH AND ANOTHER THING THERE IS NO REASON WHY YOU COULDNT RESPOND THE FIST emaiL STATING "WHEN WILL BE RECIVING THE ITEM I HAVE P[URCHASED FROM YOU"
YOU COULD OF SAID YOU WAS WAITING FOR IT TO CLEAR IF THAT WAS THE ISSUE.
if you read my message dose it have any CAPS AT ALL no! dose it have any abuse NO! is it a friendly question yes just like my first message. "

now that was me biting my toung lol
and it soon shut him up then becuase all of it was the truth.

end of my storey still makes me mad grrrr

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Heres my idea of a good system.

there should be a site were you can enter a buyer and explaine why and the person running the sytem should look into it and allow it if the person desivers to be on there.

just like sites banning people for cheating on pc games the name them shame them system.

Ps- never bother with this person there a waste of time windowseat2005
pss- SOrry for my bad spelling i just got up and typed it all lol off to make summat to eat lmao thanks for reading
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oh and if there is a sytem like the one i said drop me a line i would love to know shane_sarg@hotmail.com

I say, do it in stages. Allow the seller x amount of time (thirty days, perhaps) to leave feedback for the buyer (or only allow positive after this point.) That gives a seller plenty of time to report a np or bitchy buyer. then give the buyer a turn to report a scammy or dishonest seller. This gives the buyer time to make claims if necessary and to leave feedback for dishonesty without fear of retaliation.

Much as sellers are complaining, I think many are upset at the loss of their ability to retaliate. much of the negative feedback I see on buyer accounts is due to seller retaliation not honest upset. I figure if a buyer is communicative and pays on time, they deserve honesty and positive feedback. Almost the entire time I've used eBay, sellers have withheld feedback until they get some from me- a practice clearly designed to keep open the retaliation option, which is disgusting to me. Ironically, those that left immediate feedback on payment almost always got a pass from me, even in cases where I really would have left a negative.

The above would require honesty from both parties but to make it even clearer, feedack displays should also give the ratio of transactions to feedack- ie, how many transactions to comments left. I've seen many 100% sellers who had pretty low feedack for their volume, which said to me there were unhappy customers in the wings who just kept quiet to avoid retaliation. Additionally, feedback from buyers and/or sellers who lost an official dispute should be removed.

But even things as they are are an improvement, if not entirely fair. So yes, there might now be fewer sellers on eBay, which might be a good thing, especially if it weeds out the high volume/low service sellers that clog up the pipes. I also would like to see less of the (up to now) current policies of "I'll charge whatever postage I want" and "if you don't get your package, suck it." EBay sellers should be held to the same standards as any other vendor and their feedback should be reflective if they don't comport themselves. The feedback of a good honest seller will reflect that despite any dishonest buyers.