eBay's feedback policy makes no sense

Let me start off by saying I have been buying and selling on eBay since the inception. I have used it as a sports ticket brokerage in the late 90's and early 2000's, I manufactured and sold poker tables during the poker boom in the mid 2000's, and now I sell computer equipment almost exclusively.

I have never had any problems more severe than a non-paying bidder until recently when I sold a 16gb wifi only ipad to a Canadian customer with a short eBay feedback profile (10 - all positive).

I do not normally ship internationally, but for some reason I decided to make an exception when the customer emailed me and asked if I would. I am not one of those sellers that charge more than the going retail price for merchandise because they are willing to ship worldwide. The ipad was new, sealed in the box and I sold it for $475. The customer made immediate payment and I shipped the next day (insured, priority, return receipt).

Fast forward to 30 days later, and I get an email notice form paypal that the customer's credit card issuer has originated a reverse payment chargeback. The buyer had claimed that the purchase was made without authorization to use the credit card.

Now, long story short, paypal froze the funds pertaining to this transaction in my account for about 26 days. After that time period, I received another email from paypal saying that because I had followed their seller protection policy, paypal was going to cover me in the chargeback case. Even though the credit card issuer's investigation was still pending, paypal had already returned the funds to me and the case, at least on my end, was closed. (Great news!)

I appreciate that paypal honored their policies and protected me in this instance. I had read a lot of horror stories on the internet and had almost considered the money to be long gone.

SO.....time to leave a little bit of feedback for this seller....right? I was gonna let the whole world know that this deadbeat tried to scam me out of $500!!!! So, I collect my thoughts, made a deal with myself to maintain professionalism....and then sat down at my computer to leave this guy some NEGATIVE feedback.

But wait....I didn't see where to leave it! I could see the option to leave positive feedback. And I could see the option to "report a problem with this transaction" (which I did). But nowhere did it give me the option to actually leave negative feedback for this guy so future sellers would be informed as to his previous fraudulent activities.

After a quick internet search, i find that eBay has removed this option for sellers. If you are a buyer, you can still leave negative feedback for a seller. But if you the seller, you have no way to notify other sellers that it may not be in their best interest to do business with someone.

This erosion to the core of the feedback system will surely bring on its utter demise. The implied threat of negative feedback is what keeps the buyers and sellers walking the straight and narrow. They have removed any implications for these kind of shady buyers. The warning system is gone.

I know that I am a little behind on this....and that is because eBay never notified sellers of this change. You wouldn't realize that the negative feedback option was gone, until you were ready to use it!

I apologize if this has been gone over before.....I just had to rant.

Totally agree with you man. It's a stupid move to take that away.

Yeah...both buyers & sellers should be able to give both pos. & neg. feedback. I'm not sure either what e-Bay's philosophy is behind this.

I buy...and sell the occasional item on e-Bay. So I know that if I sold something...and had a problem with a buyer justifying neg. feedback...I would certainly would like to have the option.

- Nick

Maybe we need to bring Meg Whitman back? I agree, it's not the kind of policy change that induces sellers. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.

That is the way it has been structured for a couple of years now with eBay Australia ~ no protection or comeback by sellers if inappropriate feedback is left. They sure are interested in protecting buyers exclusively.

I too think the removal of the negative feedback was really stupid. That's why I have have strict requirements when selling.

What I hate more than this though, when dealing with ebay/paypal, is how paypal doesn't let you remove your bank account info when something is going wrong, and you know someone is about to jack your money. I HATE that so much!

Hello, I totally agree with you and I think ebay totally unfair to seller.

idrinorbarsaku said:

..., is how paypal doesn't let you remove your bank account info when something is going wrong, and you know someone is about to jack your money. I HATE that so much!

Click to expand...

And why my 8 yr old Paypal account never has and will never have a tie to my bank account and thus cannot be confirmed (or whatever they call it).

idrinorbarsaku said:

I too think the removal of the negative feedback was really stupid. That's why I have have strict requirements when selling.

What I hate more than this though, when dealing with ebay/paypal, is how paypal doesn't let you remove your bank account info when something is going wrong, and you know someone is about to jack your money. I HATE that so much!

Click to expand...

On the topic of PayPal, I recently purchased a 9800 Pro Mac Edition for my Quicksilver.

I have my PayPal setup with both my credit card, and my bank account (to verify).

When I purchased the Radeon using PayPal, it took the funds off my credit card, no problems at all.

When I went to use PayPal to make a purchase from ThinkGeek.com, they attempted to withdrawal from my bank account, whilst the funds for the purcahse were on my credit card (it's a prepaid mastercard attached to my bank account).

When I filed an unauthorized transaction dispute, because my bank charged me NSF $42.50, PayPal came back with the "insufficient evidence" excuse. I had obviously the exact funds for the purchase on my credit card.

The thing is, ThinkGeek received my payment, shipped my package, and I had received it before any notification of any kind came to me about my bank account not having the funds to cover the purchase.

So now I'm out $42.50 for the NSF, and my PayPal account is in a negative balance because of their mistake.

I'm not using PayPal anymore after nonsense like this. On top of this, you have to PAY PER MINUTE to contact their customer care by phone.

This is why I never sell on Ebay anymore. I've been scammed so many times I refuse to reward them by giving them anymore business. They give all the power to the buyers, but nothing for the sellers to protect themselves with. I honestly have no idea why anybody still bothers to have an online business by selling through ebay.

idrinorbarsaku said:

What I hate more than this though, when dealing with ebay/paypal, is how paypal doesn't let you remove your bank account info when something is going wrong, and you know someone is about to jack your money. I HATE that so much!

Click to expand...

This is when you go to your bank and have them issue an ACH stop payment. The bank will usually charge for this, and my bank charged me $25 to stop paypal from withdrawing funds from my account when I was almost scammed out of $800. Always transfer funds immediately from Paypal to your bank account so that they cannot take your money without permission.