eBay Site Problem Report: Feedback Count and Other Errors

Sometimes I get so frustrated with all the little bugs and problems that crop up as a seller on eBay (and no, PowerSellers are not immune by any means!) I could just tear my hair out. I am not alone.

Lately, I've been browsing through some of the eBay discussion boards, particularly since the "boycott eBay call" and all the rest of the "uprising" that's been seen since eBay announced and began to implement their latest round of (and many say the worst ever) changes. Apparently, one must be careful what one posts, as several sellers (and buyers) have taken "mandatory 7-day eBay holidays" for posting anti-eBay sentiments on the boards.

But that aside, I went today looking to see if anyone else had had strange feedback calculation errors and, yes, as I had suspected would be the case, they had. Here's what happened to me: I had a feeback score of 1199 and was anticipating rolling another hundred with my next feedback. Well, the next feedback (positive) came in and my total score went down 5 points instead of up one! More feedback came in and still the error--feedback showing 5 fewer than it should.

Someone did report this to eBay and got the anticipated canned response but no answers. And so far, there is no indication that the error is being fixed. I am guessing that, with all the upcoming IT-related changes at eBay over the next several months, this is only the beginning of the errors and programmatic bugs we'll be seeing.

Oh, joy.

InnerCityGoods

New eBay Feedback System - The Shape of Things to Come

InnerCityGoods

eBay Sellers abandoning ship due to pending changes after Meg's resignation

PowerSellers at eBay are not happy campers these days. No sellers are. The upcoming changes to eBay--including changes to the fee structure and feedback system--have sellers up in arms. No surprise there.

I buy on eBay myself. We buy on eBay. There are a lot of good things about buying on eBay. But just as sellers can't get along without buyers, buyers can't get along without sellers. And eBay is taking action to assure that there are fewer and fewer sellers out there. They claim their actions will benefit buyers (for whom they are generously tipping the scale, here), but their actions are shortsighted at best. Without the good sellers, or with fewer sellers, buyers will be paying more. That's just one thing. Sellers put up with a lot, and eBay isn't helping.

I still have the buyers' perspective at heart, as I'm still a buyer (oh yes, I do spend a ton of money buying all sorts of goodies on eBay). As a seller, though, one becomes exposed to the other side of the story. It's difficult enough to be a successful seller on eBay and, more than that, to be a successful PowerSeller. Difficult as it may be, it's going to become even more so this month when the new changes kick in. Several PowerSellers have left already in protest, and more sellers of all kinds will be leaving over the next days, weeks, and months. Many buyers don't realize (and some do) that both buyers and sellers need to be treated fairly in order for the eBay experience to be a positive one. As the saying goes, it takes two to tango. There are going to be an awful lot of dancers stepping on toes as well as would-be tango partners sitting out dance after dance on the sidelines.

eBay, though, isn't budging. Maybe this is what we get for wishing Meg would leave eBay. We got our wish, alright. And she's being replaced with an even more problematic CEO. What will it take for them to learn to do things differently? One would think the current problem they face with competition from Amazon and other marketplaces would have effected positive and proactive changes, rather than negative and reactive ones. Ah, but then that would be logical. Sigh.

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InnerCityGoods