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Re: Sometimes, I feel bad for people...
vbriel@oh.rr.com wrote:
On Jul 18, 5:24 am, "Michael J. Mahon" <mjma...@aol.com> wrote:
vbr...@oh.rr.com wrote:
I Ebay every now and then just to
do a little marketing and I try to knock a couple bucks off the price.
I don't want too much business, my hobby would be like work. Although
with the new feedback system I may stop using ebay.
Vince, do you really have that much trouble with buyers? Or is it
just a matter of principle?
The reason I ask is that the old system made it very unlikely that
a dishonest seller would get bad feedback, because of the likely
retaliation. That undermined the whole principle of feedback
reflecting actual experience, making it much less useful in
engendering trust.
eBay's new seller rating system provides even more helpful information
to a prospective buyer.
Many sellers will always be willing to take some risk to make money,
while buyers need never take the risk of buying from an unknown
seller (and many do not because of adverse stories)--which would
damage the market.
This is analogous to the "brick and mortar" market, where businesses
are rated and have reputations to protect, while their customers just
walk in off the street. A credit card is the only "reference" they
might need.
-michael
AppleCrate: An Apple II "blade server"!
Home page: http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/
"The wastebasket is our most important design
tool--and it's seriously underused."
I've never had a bad buyer, one seller took months to get my item to
me but I have 100% feedback. I still use ebay, so I'm not totally
against it. I just think that if a buyer decides he isn't going to buy
it after he wins, there is no negative feedback option. There is no
way to warn other sellers of a potential bad buyer. That's the key,
the feedback was suppose to be a tool that worked both ways. I do
agree that revenge feedback is wrong and should never have been
allowed. They should have had appeals for negative feedback though. It
just seems lopsided. While ebay can be considered a seller/buyer
marketplace, it is also a place where a transaction is held. If one
party of the transaction doesn't hold up his/her (political
correctness inserted) end of the deal, it is only fair that
appropriate feedback be left. It should never have been a 3 choice
selection but rather a scale of 1-10 like they have now for sellers. I
like that idea better.
I agree that there should be some way of making it work.
Years ago, when I first started using eBay, I thought that the feedback
system was a great "self policing" mechanism. It was only later, when
I was proud of my "100% rating", that I began to be paranoid about a
seller leaving a negative comment on a whim.
Appeals sound good, but how does one handle that without even more
opportunity for abuse? I suppose a "jury" could arbitrate such
matters, and then award final feedback. The "jurors" could also
be rated for impartiality, etc., but it gets hairy pretty quickly...
Ebay doesn't have to worry about attracting "new" customers worried
about feedback. The worlds largest online auction is doing just fine
business wise.
Actually, a relatively small minority of people feel comfortable
buying on eBay, so they have a quite significant problem with making
new customers confident.
There are regular news stories about buyers being defrauded in
eBay transactions, and that keeps the disproportionate fear alive.
For the record, when I do sell a board on ebay, everybody pays right
away which is a credit to the community. Since the new ebay feedback
system isn't that old, I'd like to see how it goes but I have to
admit, I get a little anxious every time I list an item now.
Well, maybe the asymmetry is closer to what works. It's good to
know that you haven't been burned. Maybe trust works. ;-)
-michael
AppleCrate: An Apple II "blade server"!
Home page: http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/
"The wastebasket is our most important design
tool--and it's seriously underused."