Question
Saw a link to a preview of the new presentation format. Seems like a major improvement. A lot of ideas from eBay Live seems to register and implemented.
Answer
G'day Commentary,
Those major "improvements" include making it impossible to search for Neutral or Complaint with your page search by changing the words into icon buttons, making looking through 1000 feedbacks in the last 3 months much slower (and yes I use this in context, to see how it was responded to or whether it appears that an effort has been made to resolve the situation - or whether the initial feedback was just innappropriate).
The other major change that bothers me is the removal of accumulative totals that indicate how much repeat feedback has been left. I condsider this very much to be a factor of goodwill for a sellers business (and yes I have a vested interest, running at about 31% repeat feedback). Ebay seems to be making various moves to remove goodwill from long term businesses using Ebay, and this concerns me very much.
I do like the idea behind the split of Buying and Selling feedback, but again for long term users, the early feedback is not nominated in this way, and I assume will be subtracted from the feedback totals shown.
Kind Regards, Kevin
Answer
I can only say "ditto" to Kevin's most excellent response on the "improvements"....
...fix those two BIG problems (neg/neutral search and the repeat customer situation) and they can have a thumbs up for it.....
....otherwise it's just more "pretty chrome & tailfins" that doesn't really change the functionality of the feedback profile....typical eBay "change for change sake" stuff. http://community.here.com/infopop/em...n_rolleyes.gif
<---Ken....who has been successfully packratting for over 4 decades now!
Check HERE for things dragged down from the attic to sell THIS week!
Answer
I previewed it pretty quick so I could be mistaken. But, I thought I saw a page where one can view only negatives or neutrals.
I like the page where one can view only feedbacks for buying or selling without the two intertwine.
I think the elimination of the grand total was actually requests from eBay Live. I could be mistaken here also. Do not ask me why some users want that. One advantage of elimination of totals is repeat buyers not asking for feedback.
Answer
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by commentary:
But, I thought I saw a page where one can view only negatives or neutrals.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>If eBay rolls out the new feedback for the US site as it has for the Brazil and Mexico sites, there is a filter for Negatives and Neutrals. I didn't notice those filters on the Singapore site.
I did see the Grand Total of Feedbacks was present on those sites.
Answer
The intention is like so many other "improvements" - the change is meant to be aesthetic:
http://pages.ebay.com/services/forum/newfb.html
Quote: "Keep in mind that these changes only affect the way the Member Profile looks; we have not changed the feedback policy or the way the feedback forum works."
For the reasons that I outlined above, these changes are much more than aesthetic. Why we constantly need aesthetic changes to operate a straightforward marketplace that taps into worldwide resources anyway, I have no idea - but that is the subject of other discussion.
======================
http://pages.ebay.com/services/forum/newfb2.html
and
http://pages.ebay.com/services/forum/newfb2.html
Both show the new layout.
The current Ebay feedback method states (as a made up example):
1264 positives. 693 are from unique users.
16 neutrals. 3 were converted from users no longer registered .
4 negatives. 2 are from unique users.
The new layout states (using the same example):
Members who left a positive: 693
Members who left a negative: 2
All positive feedback received: 1264
* To be fair the positive repeat feedback is easy to work out from this layout, it is just much less obvious to anyone glancing over it.
The number of users leaving negatives has also been deleted from the table. Neutrals that are transactional (ie: anything from the last 4 or 5 years, and those prior that were not changed to neutral when a member was made NARU) are just as relevant to a buyer as the negative feedbacks are. Instead Ebay seems to have deemed them to be irrelevant once they reach a year old. They will sometimes even be a more balanced description of a bad transaction than a negative feedback, because the neg is often left in a much more emotional way than a neutral.
In the example shown on this page, the user has received 480 feedbacks, of which 452 are positive, at least 7 are negative and at least 4 are neutral. This leaves 17 unnaccounted feedbacks which may be either multiples left as negatives, neutrals left by any number of users or, since the user has been a member since 1997, they may be old feedbacks converted to neutral when someone was NARU'd - or any combination of this. The only way to be sure is to pull up the feedback (better if you use the 200 transaction pages) and check. This checking process has now been slowed down because you can no longer use "page search" on your computer to find the words "Complaint" and "Neutral", and then move on to the next page.
Do feedback figures that do not balance really give users more confidence?
=========
Commentary said above:
"I previewed it pretty quick so I could be mistaken. But, I thought I saw a page where one can view only negatives or neutrals."
No. From the Frequently Asked Questions Page.
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Why doesn't the Member Profile give people the ability to sort by positive, negatives and neutrals?
eBay believes that it is important for a member who is evaluating the reputation of a potential trading partner to look at the person's reputation as a whole, not just a single component of their reputation. We also understand, however, the need to easily identify different ratings (positive, neutral, negative) as part of the purchase decision-making process.
We have balanced these two needs by creating easy-to-identify icons for different types of feedback ratings, enabling members to scan for important information, while maintaining the importance of examining someone's reputation in the context of overall experience. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Other comments on the same page:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Why did you create the Member Profile?
Our goals with the Member Profile were to make assessing someone's reputation on eBay easier than ever, as well as to provide specific enhancements that members in the Community have requested, such as the ability to easily see all the feedback a member has left for others.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
I am having trouble at appreciating just how removing part of the information (as described above) actually makes "assessing someone's reputation on eBay easier than ever". Incomplete information that creates figures that don't balance only makes people feel that they do not have all the information and undermines confidence. Comparatively, I think that the current layout, where the figures balance (when it is working properly) is far better for the consumer who is a little tentative about dealing online.
As for "the ability to easily see all the feedback a member has left for others", does a tab really provide that much more ability than the current link?
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Repeat buyers are important to my business and are a reflection of my reputation. Why doesn't the Member Profile show the repeat buyer number?
The launch of Member Profile is the first step in a line of efforts associated with reputation on eBay. As we evolve the Member Profile, we will consider other measures, such as repeat buyers, that are important to the success of the Community.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
The Goodwill of the Ebay businesses of Ebay's clients, is of no consequence to Ebay. The fact that such goodwill probably inspires some confidence for some bidders (and thus stronger bidding), probably helps Ebay's bottom line, but they have no interest in such grassroots concepts.
Hmmmm, Kevin
Answer
Kevin
At eBay Live, some users object very strongly to users having the ability to view only negatives or neutrals. It seems that certain high volume sellers felt such a feature will make the negatives look worse since they will show up isolated and not mingle in with all the positives.
Other users also ask for old negatives to basically go away. They argue that the current feedback (last couple of years) is more relevant than all those from the past.
Answer
G'day Commentary,
I have no objection to how things stand for looking at neg's. I agree that they should be viewed in context, and that pulling them out as seperate entities removes the context.
People do clash in spite of best intentions. People do leave neg's wrongly. A traumatic event may cause a batch of neg's that are later resolved as best as possible (eg: someone hospitalised after a heart attack or accident, may take weeks to respond to buyers who have already sent payment). In all of this, context is very important. It is equally important how a person responds to neg's to understand how they do business. Everyone will read between these lines differently, but all the information is there and available. The context and overall feedback profile is important. I agree that the neg's should not be pulled out as a stand alone item.
"Other users also ask for old negatives to basically go away. They argue that the current feedback (last couple of years) is more relevant than all those from the past."
I do not agree that old neg's should go away. If that were the case old positives would also have to be removed. I think that the overall history is relevant, but it is valid that the more recent history is more relevant to expectations on current transactions.
I feel though, that all (transactional) feedback should stand, and should always remain available.
Kind Regards, Kevin
Answer
<shaking head>
another waste of salaries at the ebay corporate level
WHO friggin' cares what the feedback page looks like, or what it does, there is nothing wrong with the way it works now, it is flawed and always will be so.... like.... why bother.
does it truly make us anymore money?
ebay...take a message form me....stop wasting these peoples time, either put them onto something real like site stability, or how to let sellers list faster hence ....list more.........hence make ebay more money
or fire their butts and save the money.
_____________________
Answer
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>either put them onto something real like site stability, or how to let sellers list faster hence ....list more.........hence make ebay more money<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Unfortunately, Gabs, you are talking about concepts that are so simple that management types can't seem get their heads around them. They believe that they have to be seen to be actively doing something to justify their existance.
Whether it is person to person, business to business, business to consumer, or whatever - all that is needed is a straightforward market place where sellers can list productively and buyers can find stuff to bid on or buy outright. Ebay was founded on the most rudimentary elements of the market and was embraced mightily because it gave access to the broadest range of markets worldwide.
The concept was simple, worked extremely well and created an international marketplace that was accessible by almost anyone.... and Ebay had to make themselves look like they were actively expanding it for the benefit of Wall Street and have screwed with it until it is almost unrecognisable.
Bahh!!!!