Online auction site eBay has begun to introduce changes in the feedback that sellers can leave about buyers. The changes were first announced in January.
Sellers on eBay are no longer allowed to leave neutral or negative comments about buyers on the site. eBay has also changed the way it calculates a member’s positive feedback percentage score.
eBay told users on Monday that as it continues to update its database, some sellers would see a temporary difference in their scores displayed on their Item pages and on their Feedback profile.
eBay says the feedback change was necessary because of an increasing number of sellers leaving critical ratings for buyers who gave them negative ratings.
“What we discovered through research was that any negative feedback that the buyer gets reduces their purchasing or willingness to purchase within the marketplace,” Brian Burke, eBay’s director of global feedback policy told CNN. “The goal behind the changes is really to make sure that we’ve got buyer accountability and seller accountability.”
Sellers on eBay who want to leave feedback now see a new page that gives them the option of leaving positive feedback or leaving feedback later. The page has a link to another page where sellers can report problem buyers over the following issues, unpaid item, feedback extortion, feedback abuse, malicious buying, and customs fraud.
Some sellers are not happy about seeing changes to their percentage score. eBay Australia has a pop – up box that says,”Buyers, you can no longer receive negative or neutral Feedback from sellers. You should leave honest and accurate Feedback without the fear of receiving negative or neutral ratings.”
