Mutual Feedback Withdrawal is being withdrawn
May 1, 2008
A sharp-eyed reader of the eBay UK Business Seller Board spotted a comment on eBay Germany, saying that mutual feedback withdrawal will not be available after the end of May. eBay Pink Richard Ambrose responded:
All eBay countries will be phasing out the Mutual Feedback Withdrawal process as part of the forthcoming feedback changes - with only buyers able to leave negs, there is little point in continuing the process as it is. Sellers will be able to appeal malicious, defamatory or accidental negs to eBay.
Richard’s logic is of course impeccable, but eBay need to consider that often, feedback is not the end of the matter. Frequently it’s used by inexperienced buyers to communicate a problem; and eBay’s insistance that feedback somehow “protects” buyers is part of the cause of this.
If a buyer uses feedback to notify me that their item has been lost or damaged in the post, should I
- (a) contact that buyer myself and try to make things right, or
- (b) shrug it off, save myself the money and the hassle, and not even bother responding to them?
Option (a) obviously makes for a better buyer experience on eBay, but without some way for the buyer to remove, change or edit their feedback, I don’t have much incentive to do it as a seller.
I sincerely hope that Richard’s post is only half of the story, because otherwise sellers are going to be backed into a very nasty corner, and that can only be bad news for both buyers and eBay.
