Ebay--sellers can't leave negative feedback

[Moxlotus]

This seems like it is pretty important to our community

http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/31/smbusiness/ebay_fee_hike.fsb/index.htm?postversion=2008020917

[Apollyon]

I was really surprised to see this; the lack of negative feedback and the new fees.

The new feedback policy is completely asinine. I've talked with many a dealer who does business on eBay, and they all use negative feedback only in dire circumstances. Ultimately, I can't see either of the policies helping out eBayers in any real way.

[Smmenen]

You could see this coming.   Ebay instituted a more nuanced 4 level scale feedback system that measures communication, shipping time, etc.   

I think the whole feedback thing is just a red herring.   The restructuring of the fee system will have tremendous ramifications for magic sellers since most magic sellers auctions go for under $25. 

[ELD]

I'm very pleased to see sellers cannot leave negative feedback.  I purchased a card from E-bay which was in much worse condition than pictured.  When I left feedback saying the card was not the one pictured, I received a retaliatory negative feedback on my wifes perfect account.  Buyers should not have to go through that kind of nonsense.  As far as fee's go, the market will dictate if it's a good move or not.  Yahoo auctions was the nuts before E-bay took off. 

[The Atog Lord]

This isn't an easy thing. What ebay has, basically, is a reputation system. Reputation systems aren't simple and they're not nearly as fully explored as many other areas of computer science. There have been plenty of papers written on this subject, but no one seems to have determined the best way to do so yet.

[Polynomial P]

I, for one, am happy to see the new feedback system. My lone negative feedback is because some seller decided not to mail his cards out in a timely fashion, did not respond to 3 of my emails, and when I left negative feedback after over a month of waiting for the cards, I got a retaliatory negative feedback.

Personally, i think that ebay should have sellers leave feedback once the buyer has completed their half of the transaction (ie, payment) and that feedback should stay hidden until the seller's half of the transaction is completed and the buyer leaves feedback. Once the transaction is finished, the seller should have a chance to add a sentence to their original feedback, for example if the buyer wanted a refund or something of that nature, but they should not be able to change their feedback response from positive to negative.

[Moxlotus]

I can understand retaliatory feedback, but now there is essentially no way to deal with a buyer who just doesn't pay.  There is no way to know when to cancel someone's bid.  I imagine this would be even worse for people selling things like concert tickets where you can't afford to have a nonpaying bidder.  Or they can just leave negative feedback for the hell of it.  There is absolutely nothing to stop them from leaving negative feedback for fun.