Fall Seller UpDate and What it Means for Canadian Buyers

[i*m-still-here]

I've posted here numerous times about the way eBay has been much more lenient about removing NFB and/or Low Ratings.

Even though this has been going on for quite some time now, they've just made a formal announcement in the Fall Seller Update 

 EBay has done quite a shift during the past year or so and while some sellers still complain that buyers have all the power.........

 That is just not true for Canadians buying from the States.

I get that we are encroaching on US territory, but we are paying customers just the same.

For Canadians buying from the States it feels more and more like eBay has put a bubble around American sellers.

I never leave NFB and I leave low ratings only in very extreme cases.

When those ratings are altered eBay sends a notice and the subtle message is that you, the buyer, behaved badly when in truth it was the seller.

Nothing you can do about it but suck it up!

........... Man that is so Intrusive.

[lady.stark]

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@i*m-still-here wrote:

When those ratings are altered eBay sends a notice and the subtle message is that you, the buyer, behaved badly when in truth it was the seller.

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???

How is that possible?

[i*m-still-here]

How is it possible that I'd behave badly?   You're right.  It's not ..................

But once in a while a seller on eBay a seller gets its all wrong.....

I've had it happen more than once....... The seller notices that I've left one or more low DSR ratings calls eBay, and they remove both the PFB and ratings.

EBay then sends out a message telling me that the FB was removed for some sin or other .......... yadayadayada........

Is that what you were asking?

It sounds like we'll be seeing more of that.

[surplusdealdude]

Keep in mind that, in almost all cases, ebay is dealing with a "he said/he said"  type of situation.

No matter which side wins, somebody's going to go away mad.

To address that problem, ebay has introduced courtesy refunds, which some buyers have abused.

To address THAT problem, ebay is now monitoring the abuse of courtesy refunds and complaints in general.  The system is still young, but some bad buyers have been identified.

You'll still get the 3% of buyers and sellers that have figured out how to game the system and they get all the press, but everybody ignores the fact that the system DOES work most of the time.

I'd be cautious about making blanket statements like the OP has done.

[lady.stark]

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@i*m-still-here wrote:

Is that what you were asking?

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No, I was asking how is it possible to receive a warning from eBay just by leaving a feedback with low ratings? But I think I got the answer in the rest of your post.

[i*m-still-here]

The trend to buffer US sellers has been going on for a while now.

The problems I've had were with issues regarding sellers who promised to ship for a certain amount and then billed much higher and wouldn't budge.

That clearly showed up in the discussions I had with the sellers and the FB was still removed.

I leave low ratings for about 5% of my purchases and never for all 4 DSRs.

That's why I was so surprised at the removal.    Trust Me:  When I don't leave PFB with 5's for all 4 of the DSRs the seller really has to be the pits.

Now, I worry a little every time I leave even one low DSR rating.

When I saw that they are now formally announcing that they will remove low DSRs in certain situations I'll worry even more.

In any case, this could be the beginning of the end of the FB system and that would be just fine by me.