A Good Comment About Rewarding Buyers for Leaving Sellers Bad Feedback (by Tim)

Thursday, March 27, 2008
Subject: A Good Comment About Rewarding Buyers for Leaving Sellers Bad Feedback (by Tim)
Time: 12:42:00 AM EDT
Author: mhogue3909

From:	LegendsOfBatman on http://forums.delphiforums.com/boycottebay/start	Mar-25 3:11 pm
		(1 of 17)

716.1

In an online article, Ina Steiner, on auctionbytes.com writes of the horrific incentives ebay is giving buyers. You can read it here:

http://blog.auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/blog/blog.pl?/comments/2008/3/1206374629.html

In all fairness to ebay, I suspect their goal is not based in stupidity; but, rather to reach out in support to giving a buyer a better experience.
But, once again, ebay in its infinite lack of wisdom, is going the wrong way.
And of course, meaningless, if not sending the wrong message.
First off, many are saying this will encourage people to leave bad DSRs. And, it might. And why not? Get paid to leave low DSRs? No sweat off your back, right? It isn't "hurting anyone". And, rationale can explain it this way, "I made ebay pay me up to $100". But, this is just so wrong on so many levels.
Second, it appears the coupon is worth merely 10% and is good up to only $100. Ie, to fully maximize the discount, you have to buy $1000 to save $100. Most buyers spend less than $100 per transaction. And, me? Well, I usually spend less than $50. So, my savings would be less than $5.
Now, let's say I was truly wronged by a bad seller. Is this less than $5 going to REALLY make up for a bad transaction? Get a clue, ebay.

Other companies offer discounts and coupons for free or future purchases, to "make up" for a bad experience. Why shouldn't ebay?
Let's go back to the "it isn't hurting anyone" statement. The truth is, it IS hurting someone. Esp. if it is not true. If it is true, then, no. But, we were speaking people wanting to get a free discount, and doing so by leaving a poor DSR.
As long as ebay continues to harm GOOD sellers by tying their listings to DSRs, any "ding" on a DSR hurts sellers.
Lets look at ebay's policy and WHY its wrong, and needs to be reversed.
Beginning today, ebay is offering a week-long listing fee of 1 cent, for items listed under $1. Don't drool too long. Its merely a 9 cent savings if you list in a "risky" category (Hey; that means they get to make you wait up to 21 days for your money; all the while they are making interest on it. I'd guess more than the 9 cents they're dangling in front of you. Oh, and since that's media mail, guess what? Impatient buyers will ding you, because media mail is slooooooooooooow")
and only 14 cents for the rest of the sellers.
Now, there is another wrench to this. In order for you to be played by ebay, you have to have a DSR of 4.5 otherwise, NO discount.
But, the good news is, there are buyers out there looking to cash in on free discounts.

Another reason ebay should not be doing this is ebay has always claimed they were just a middle-man; a venue. And while I have always saw that as a cop-out, an excuse to not protect buyers, the fact is, there is little ebay can do to fix things. Except bar the seller or buyer. Which, ebay would rather bite off its head than do. The fact is, ebay has very little to apologize for, if a seller screws a buyer. So, why should they even offer such a thing?

Ebay is a walking time-bomb, and they need to rethink their strategy and quick. Sometimes companies need to make radical decisions; extreme changes. Ebay was not one of those companies. Fearing that they were growing too quickly, and having little room for growth, ebay felt a spark was necessary. But, reality is, ebay is the LARGEST marketplace on the planet. As is, ebay would continue to make money. And, here's another thing: with all its acquistions, ebay would continue to grow. But, listening to experts (who usually know less than my great grandmother's dog) ebay feared they were going to collapse by year's end, if something drastic didn't take place. And now, maybe they are right. And, the various attempts to gain sellers back, or to get them to increase their listings, this phony 1 cent promo here in the US, the "double the DSR incentive" in the UK and now this ridiculous coupon inviting fraud is evidence that ebay appears to be spiriling downhill, at a fast and perhaps uncontrollable pace.
Tim
http://myspace.com/boycottebay
http://forums.delphiforums.com/boycottebay/start

Written by mhogue3909 Blog about this entry

This entry has 3 comments: (Add your own)

#3 Comment from bluehorizontals
3/28/08 7:45 AM | Permalink

Batman makes some valid points regarding eBay's coupon program and the futility of it, but even still many buyers are going to be tempted to leave bad feedback for sellers in order to get that 10% discount on their next purchases.
#2 Comment from cruzzer101
3/27/08 7:02 PM | Permalink

yeah lets just reward buyers for leaving bad feedback. thats a good idea, right, sure. freakin' ebay is screwing everything up for the sellers
#1 Comment from auctions4u2c
3/27/08 1:45 PM | Permalink

This giving of coupons to Buyers who leave negative feedback adds up to a system that is wide open to abuse at the Sellers' expense

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