Journal: eBay's Flawed Feedback System

Being new to this online auction system that has been around since the early 90s I believed wholeheartedly that eBay had their auction experience refined to such a degree that it's borderline perfect. Sadly today, I was dismayed at its complete and utter failure in holding accountability of sellers. Before I get to the root problem I must digress.

Having just recently unpacked my beloved Sega Dreamcast from its Rubbermaid confines I sought new experiences from this aged system. Recollecting the greatness of Virtua Tennis I endeavored to secure a copy to satisfy some of my retro gaming urges. Before long my search brought me over to eBay where Dreamcast games ran rampant. After I found one that had Virtua Tennis for a price of under a $1 I was ecstatic at the find. Several days later I won the auction for my initial bid. I thought that it couldn't even be possible, but it was... a game under $1.

My excitement soon diminished as I went to pay for the item. Egameuniverse charged $7.99 for shipping and $1.50 for insurance. Last I knew shipping a package weighing less than a pound via USPS cost only $4.05. Surely these prices were listed in the Shipping, payment details and return policy section but all it made reference to was the description. Alas it wasn't in the item description box either. It was stuck somewhere in the middle of a long imbedded document that talked about everything about the company policies, the game (twice actually), and its other advertised products. Before you even get to the store policies there is a bid now or buy it now button draped around a seal that says, "Bid with confidence 160,000+ Positive Feedbacks". Confident I was...

Although I liken it to be slightly deceptive as they don't use the normal shipping boxes, I can fault my noob self for not reading every detail in that long document. Then again, that just may be their intent. Who knows? However, I do like to believe that if I place an order where the shipping is more than double the current rate I do expect it to arrive in under 10 days. A quick search shows that any like package sent via USPS will travel from Anchorage to Key West in about 3 days. What's the discrepancy? Was it delivered via horseback courier?

Despite the overly late arrival of the package, I was excited to see that it was finally in my hands with no sign of physical damage. Life was good again. That was until I opened it up. They were right, Egameuniverse provided me a used Virtua Tennis CD with case and booklet. Apparently used means a case that's cracked/shattered with plenty of tape and tape residue everywhere. I could not believe for the life of me why they would send a product out looking like that.

I then took it upon myself to do what was appropriate; leave a negative feedback. Although they have 160,000+ positive feedbacks someone needs to hold them accountable. In return Egameuniverse felt inclined to leave me with negative feedback stating, "contact us and we'll gladly exchange item; we do not control shipping time". Scrolling through all of their negative/neutral feedback about the same issues they provide the same blanket response. After so many complaints about shipping price gouging and extremely late deliveries wouldn't the company want to take strides to go with a courier far more reasonable or timely? Apparently not.

Sad to say, Egameuniverse isn't the only one to try to extort positive feedbacks. I thought it was bold of a seller to tell me in an email that they will leave me a positive feedback contingent upon me providing them the same. Personally I'd rather reward those that are true performers. This is what leads me into the flaw of EBay's feedback system.

First, I did everything right in the transaction. I paid promptly. My feedback should be reflective of honoring my winning bid in a timely manner. It should not be based on any other reason. The sad reality is that the buyer is most at risk here as the seller can leave the final feedback.

And what recourse is there? EBay is more than happy to help resolve these situations using mediators provided through SquareTrade. You can file your complaint through them and it is filed. SquareTrade will contact the seller with the dispute in which they're not required to respond. However if the seller wants to dispute your claims you must pay $29.99 in hopes you can get that negative feedback withdrawn through a mediator.

So what do I do when my feedback history is now in jeopardy and the total cost of the product isn't even close to the cost of a mediator? Mutually withdraw negative feedback like so many others before me as if nothing happened? Do I let it stand and bear the negative feedback? Or do I allow SquareTrade to profit from EBay's ill designed system? What do you think?