Whatever happened to Positive Feedback ?-Ah-the good ole days!

[stillyesic]

Just wanted to get something off my chest-the fact that in my last 10-12 sales-I have not received any feedback at all-good or bad.I guess with this total crazy and cluttered Selling format-new buyers just can't seem to find the Positive button. -Its sad how after 20yrs of trying my dambdest to be a good buyer and seller-it doesn't matter now how high your rating is or what color your star is?-I thought that this was our ID-a ranking of how professional we were as sellers?-I always left my Positive feedback for the buyers after payment received -even changing their (0) to their first feedback ,welcoming them to ebay. I gave a great item at a great price with professional packaging -sent to another country safely arriving in the same condition as it was sent. I take pride in being a Seller and would like to receive just one positive note.It would be greatly appreciated . To all you buyers out there-if you were happy with the transaction and especially the item when received -please let us know by finding that feedback button-thank you.

Shortchanged Seller

[femmefan1946]

Feedback has never been higher than 40% of transactions and is only the buyer's opinion, since buyers can only get positive * feedback.

Personally ,  I think FB is a relic of the 20th century internet, when buying from a stranger thousands of kilometers away was scarey and only for the few brave early adopters.

I'd like to see it dropped entirely, in favour of a public count of transactions, that includes the number of Disputes and Claims the member has been involved in, whether they won or lost.

*And a good thing too.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

How it was in 1996 from the eBay founder.

https://pages.ebay.com/services/forum/feedback-foundersnote.html

Posted: February 26, 1996,
To: eBay Community

I launched eBay's AuctionWeb on Labor Day, 1995. Since then, the site has become more popular than I ever expected, and I began to realize that this was indeed a grand experiment in Internet commerce. By creating an open market that encourages honest dealings, I hope to make it easier to conduct business with strangers over the net.

Most people are honest. And they mean well. Some people go out of their way to make things right. I've heard great stories about the honesty of people here. But some people are dishonest. Or deceptive. This is true here, in the newsgroups, in the classifieds, and right next door. It's a fact of life. But here, those people can't hide. We'll drive them away. Protect others from them. This grand hope depends on your active participation. Become a registered user. Use our feedback forum. Give praise where it is due; make complaints where appropriate. For the past six months, I've been developing this system single-handedly, in my spare time. Along the way, I've dealt with complaints among participants. But those complaints have amounted to only a handful. We've had close to 10,000 auctions since opening. And only a few dozen complaints.

Now, we have an open forum. Use it. Make your complaints in the open. Better yet, give your praise in the open. Let everyone know what a joy it was to deal with someone. Above all, conduct yourself in a professional manner. Deal with others the way you would have them deal with you. Remember that you are usually dealing with individuals, just like yourself. Subject to making mistakes. Well-meaning, but wrong on occasion. That's just human. We can live with that. We can deal with that. We can still make deals with that. Thanks for participating. Good luck, and good business!

Regards,
Pierre Omidyar

And the reasoning for the change in 2008:

1. Why are sellers allowed to leave only positive Feedback for buyers?
   Sellers used to be able to leave negative Feedback for buyers. Unfortunately, we found that when buyers had bad experiences with sellers, they were often reluctant to leave neutral or negative Feedback out of fear that the seller would retaliate by leaving negative Feedback for them. And when buyers did receive unfair negative Feedback, they usually decreased their shopping on eBay. Overall, it became clear that the fear of retaliatory negative Feedback made it more difficult for good sellers to distinguish themselves from not-so-good sellers, and made the Feedback system as a whole less reliable.

 

Crazy how things have changed!!!

-Lotz