eBay just shot itself in the foot...again.

[nodtveidt]

So I go to leave some feedback for recent sales...opened up all relevant auctions in new tabs as I always do. In every f*cking window, I get a small dialog saying that I can no longer leave neutral or negative feedback. What the f*ck?! They were talking about this earlier but I figured they'd actually LISTEN to their sellers when the vast majority of them told them that this was a VERY BAD IDEA. I guess not. So, I will finish with my current sales and then wave goodbye to eBay for good. Sellers left in droves during the rate hikes (as reflected by the drastic reduction in video game auctions), I can only imagine more are going to leave because of this. And I'm sorry but I do not really like gamegavel...can't stand the name, the site's too weird, and there just isn't a big enough audience yet to sell the high-demand items I deal in. I'd rather sell items here on the forum when need be.

EDIT: Oh, and to compound the issue...now, neutrals count against your Positive rating. I went from having 100% positive this morning to having 97.9% positive. So hooray, if you're a seller, buyers can now f*ck you THREE ways. Two was bad enough, kthxbye. Three strikes, you're out.

[nat]

I don't really understand that. That sellers can't leave feedback, that is.

What's the point of a feedback system if you're forced to leave everyone positives? What if the transaction didn't go smoothly? I just don't get it.

[m1savage]

Yeah, strangely enough I first noticed this while leaving feedback for you this morning (all positive by the way    )  I can't imagine what the reasoning is behind this. 

[channelmaniac]

I stopped selling there when they announced it. I still shop there because it's a good source for some bargains on hard to find parts... but my sales are either through my website, through a few forums I hang out on, or on craigslist.com

Oh, and if you don't like the name gamegavel, how about www.chasethechuckwagon.com

RJ

[nodtveidt]

That one's worse. And it implies nothing about gaming. These people lack the vision of marketability. "But we're a community!" Great! Commune away! And good luck getting visitors. eBay succeeded because it's a brand, and a simple brand name that's easy to remember. You have to market your site whether you're a "community" or not. They can list all the nifty features they want, but unless they know how to market their brand (which they don't because they don't even HAVE a brand), they're dead in the water.

[ParanoiaDragon]

I was wondering why all of a sudden, my 1 negative feedback...disapeard!  Not to mention, it looks like, all feedback is counted now, no matter how many auctions you've won from the same seller!

[Keranu]

What the hell? This is beyond retard. What is the logic in that move whatsoever?

[termis]

I think gamegavel's a fine name.  I mean, it's simple enough, game & auction related, and it's pretty darn easy to remember.

Just a matter of getting more people on there -- I mean, it needs to be at thousands of regular users before I might really start seeing things I want. (And in turn, put things up for sale where I can get decent number of bidders.)

I certainly hope it succeeds, all the fees (insertion fees, closing fees, then paypal fees on top of that) are really starting to get on my nerves.

[guyjin]

I fully support sellers not being able to leave feedback. It was only used retributively against buyers who left them bad feedback.

As far as I'm concerned, once the seller has the customer's money, that's the only feedback the seller needs.

Ebay has actually been in financial trouble lately (hence the rate increases) due to the fact that there are fewer listings, due to the fact that there are fewer buyers. Ebay had been serving the sellers, forgetting that where their money REALLY comes from is the buying public. The scales are tilting back in the consumer's favor.

[Mobius]

As primarily a buyer on eBay, I think this is a fine change.  There have been times I've wanted to leave neutral or negative feedback in the past but decided to just not leave any because I was worried I would get a negative or neutral in return.  Sellers tend to wait until after I've left feedback to leave theirs, even though once I've paid, my end of the bargain has been upheld.  That always bugged me.

[jboypacman]

I dont know i think Chasethechuckwagon.com is great and we need to support it by getting the word out about it.

But i really will support any alternative to Ebay really.

[nodtveidt]

I fully support sellers not being able to leave feedback. It was only used retributively against buyers who left them bad feedback.

As far as I'm concerned, once the seller has the customer's money, that's the only feedback the seller needs.

Ebay has actually been in financial trouble lately (hence the rate increases) due to the fact that there are fewer listings, due to the fact that there are fewer buyers. Ebay had been serving the sellers, forgetting that where their money REALLY comes from is the buying public. The scales are tilting back in the consumer's favor.

That's so wholly wrong it hurts. Sure there are a few bad sellers out there but the vast majority of them are legitimate. That's not the same with the buyers...there are SO many f*cking shyster buyers out there. I've already had to deal with quite a few of them. eBay SHOULD be serving the sellers! Without sellers, there is no eBay...period. It's that simple. The scales can tip all they want, but eBay makes its money off of SELLERS, not buyers. Sellers make their money from the buyers. f*ck eBay, f*ck shitty buyers, and f*ck the few moronic eBay sellers who've f*cked it up for us legitimate sellers.

[Necromancer]

I support fixing the feedback system to protect buyers, but not at the expense of shafting the honest sellers.  If ebay wasn't so lazy, they could implement changes that would allow everyone to protest (and ultimately remove) dishonest and retaliatory feedback; it would be a huge drain on their resources at first, but eventually would weed out a lot of shady members and create a fair feedback system for both buyers and sellers.

That's so wholly wrong it hurts. Sure there are a few bad sellers out there but the vast majority of them are legitimate. That's not the same with the buyers...there are SO many f*cking shyster buyers out there. I've already had to deal with quite a few of them. eBay SHOULD be serving the sellers! Without sellers, there is no eBay...period. It's that simple. The scales can tip all they want, but eBay makes its money off of SELLERS, not buyers. Sellers make their money from the buyers. f*ck eBay, f*ck shitty buyers, and f*ck the few moronic eBay sellers who've f*cked it up for us legitimate sellers.

Double edged sword there: buyers can't buy anything without sellers, and sellers don't sell a damn thing without buyers (isn't that part of why you won't use gamegavel?).  Ebay should be serving its patrons, regardless of their buying/selling status; fair and equitable transactions are nearly impossible when either hand is given a clear advantage.

[nodtveidt]

It's somewhat of a double edged sword necro, very true. But who does eBay makes its money from? The sellers. The relationship between the sellers and the buyers is between the sellers and the buyers, eBay is merely a proxy between the two. The sellers should care for the buyers, eBay should care for the sellers. This is how it worked in the beginning.

[Michael Helgeson]

I fully support sellers not being able to leave feedback. It was only used retributively against buyers who left them bad feedback.

As far as I'm concerned, once the seller has the customer's money, that's the only feedback the seller needs.

Ebay has actually been in financial trouble lately (hence the rate increases) due to the fact that there are fewer listings, due to the fact that there are fewer buyers. Ebay had been serving the sellers, forgetting that where their money REALLY comes from is the buying public. The scales are tilting back in the consumer's favor.

That's so wholly wrong it hurts. Sure there are a few bad sellers out there but the vast majority of them are legitimate. That's not the same with the buyers...there are SO many f*cking shyster buyers out there. I've already had to deal with quite a few of them. eBay SHOULD be serving the sellers! Without sellers, there is no eBay...period. It's that simple. The scales can tip all they want, but eBay makes its money off of SELLERS, not buyers. Sellers make their money from the buyers. f*ck eBay, f*ck shitty buyers, and f*ck the few moronic eBay sellers who've f*cked it up for us legitimate sellers.

Agreed,Ive more then handled any neggies bad sellers left for me. I can deal with the few fake bad feedbacks left for me more then not being able to deal with tons of bad buyers using black mail tactics. Someone can still pay for  a item and manage to be a a$$hole in all sorts of manners making you never want to sell to them again,its a fact of life,and the buyers dont pay ebays power bill,the sellers do,whether a item sells or not,we have to pay the fees,ect,including the paypal fees. Its all on us,not the buyers. Without lots of sellers,ebay would be nuthin but  a online dollar general store,or gasp,Yahoo Auctions USA before it closed up shop. When sellers leave town,thats that,buyers have nuthin to buy.

And Guyjin,most sellers DO NOT leave retributive feedback. I have been on there since Nov 2002,I think I can solidly testify to that.