fyleow - Slashdot User

Comment Metal Gear Solid 4 doesn't even make the list? (Score 1) 109

by fyleow on Wednesday December 31, 2008 @04:07AM (#26277591) Attached to: The Best Games of 2008

Comment Re:Addons (Score 4, Insightful) 444

by fyleow on Thursday December 11, 2008 @07:22PM (#26083513) Attached to: Google Chrome Is Out of Beta

Comment Re:I want Grand Central/Google Talk intergration (Score 1) 219

by fyleow on Monday December 08, 2008 @08:43PM (#26041813) Attached to: Google To Sell Truly Open Android Dev Phone

Submission + - eBay changes feedback system to hurt sellers (ebay.com)

Submitted by jas67 on Tuesday January 29, 2008 @10:16PM

jas67 writes: * Buyers will only be able to receive positive Feedback.
* Positive repeat customer Feedback will count (up to 1 Feedback from the same buyer per week.)
* Feedback more than 12-months old won't count towards your Feedback percentage.
* When a buyer doesn't respond to the Unpaid Item (UPI) process the negative or neutral Feedback they have left for that transaction will be removed.
* When a member is suspended, all their negative and neutral Feedback will be removed.
* Buyers must wait 3 days before leaving negative or neutral Feedback for sellers with an established track record, to encourage communication.
* All Feedback must be left within 60 days (compared to 90 days today) of listing end to encourage timely Feedback and discourage abuse.
* Buyers will be held more accountable when sellers report an unpaid item or commit other policy violations.
Yes, there are lots of bad sellers on ebay trying to rip people off, but Ebay is totally not considering bad buyers (of which there are many). There are just as many ways for a buyer to rip off, or at least waste the time and money or a seller, as there are was for a seller to rip off buyers. Some of you probably remember the case of the fake cashier's check used to pay for a PowerBook G4 (when the PowerBook G4's where new, and >$2000).

Here is a copy of the email that I sent eBay (which will probably fall on deaf ears):

No negative feedback for buyers? What about deadbeats (non-paying bidders). I have been losing a lot of time and money to deadbeat buyers lately.

Also, you're now rewarding deadbeats by removing their negative and neutral feedback when their account gets suspended? How is this an improvement.

Additionally, regarding not being able to leave bad feedback for buyers, is bad for other reasons. On the FAQ for the changes, it says that buyers take the biggest risk. That is entirely untrue. Sellers have just as big a risk, against fraudulent charge-backs — PayPal's "chargeback protection" is worthless. I recently had a buyer hit me with a chargeback, because the laptop that I sold him supposedly had a bad battery — laptop batteries CAN fail without warning. He did not contact me first. I had a brand new battery here that I could have sent him (which only cost me $35). Instead, he forced me through the time-consuming chargeback procedure, which ultimately ended up costing me about $90. And what is to keep a buyer from damaging an item that they receive and then claiming it got to them that way. What about stolen accounts — the risk is once again taken entirely by the seller. And regarding the comment about "retaliatory bad beedback" — it works both ways. A buyer can freely give a seller undeserved bad feedback for no good reason, and the seller doesn't get a chance to answer that. Why bother with buyer feedback at all then?!?!? I'm a buyer and a seller. So are many other people. If someone is a bad buyer, they are probably a bad seller. I don't want to buy from someone who habitually pays late, returns things because they didn't Look at my feedback (well over 99%). eBay has made a lot of money from me. I have lost quite a bit of money over the years to non-paying bidders, and bids from stolen accounts where I could not recover the eBay fees. Now they make it harder for sellers to screen buyers. I have accepted returns from people, even though their complaint was for a flaw in an item that WAS DISCLOSED in the listing. This cost me time (which is money), and actual money in unrecoverable costs (shipping, my time, ebay fees, etc). eBay needs to treat there sellers better too. eBay makes their money FROM THE SELLERS!!!!! Not, directly from the buyers. Without the sellers, there are no buyer. Yes, they should protect buyers from fraudulent sellers, but they should also protect sellers from fraudulent buyers. These policy changes are driving me away from eBay. I am very seriously considering other ways to sell my merchandise, as the cost of doing business on eBay is becoming prohibitive. Please forward this to someone within eBay who makes these policies, and let them know that this is not accepted well by sellers (who are the ones that provide eBay with the money to stay in business).