“Positive for me, or it’s a neutral for you”

May 16, 2008

This post was written in May 2008; specific information contained within it may be out of date.

And so it begins. A TameBay reader - we’ll call him Bob Anonymous - received this email from a buyer:

If you choose to send feedback, positive will be sent straight back to you. If feedback is not received, due to ebays new rules on feedback, after a short time neutral will have to be sent.

This is feedback extortion, and against eBay’s policy; as such, it should be reported to eBay and any non-positive the buyer left should be removed. Though eBay promised a dedicated “hub” for reporting feeback abuses, Richard Ambrose has posted on the PowerSeller Board today that this will not launch for a couple more weeks.

With buyers being told very forcefully by eBay that sellers can no longer leave them anything but positive feedback, is this the sort of thing we can expect in the future? Normally it’s hard to tell exactly what a buyer is thinking in such circumstances, but Bob’s buyer has helpfully highlighted that his threat is due to the new policy.

Sellers from now on would do well to take a more pragmatic approach to feedback. There is absolutely nothing to be gained anymore from waiting to leave feedback. On the other hand, leaving feedback on payment says that you have confidence that the transaction will be concluded to everyone’s satisfaction, and might even buy you the benefit of the doubt in case of a problem later.

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Selling Tips | 13 Comments