http://forums.ebay.com/db1/thread.jspa?threadID=1000638812
| A letter from Matt Halrpin on Feedback | |||
[email protected]  View Listings | Report |
|||
| Hi folks - Matt Halprin, who normally posts as [email protected], had some technical issues posting, so I agreed to share his letter with you all. He's been reading your comments here and around the forums, and wanted to share these thoughts. Also, the webinar Matt references has just ended, but we will share the archive link shortly. --- Daphne "This is Matt Halprin, Vice President of Global Trust & Safety. I’d like to provide more of the rationale behind our decision to change the Feedback system the way we have. It’s a huge decision and a big change – one that we deliberated and debated extensively within the company at all levels. I understand and empathize with all the emotion everyone’s feeling about it – our internal debates were filled with emotion too. We landed where we did by relying on some key principles outlined below. Here we go: Purpose of the Feedback System – and how it was supposed to work The original intent of eBay’s public feedback system was to provide an honest, accurate record of member experiences. This accurate record of member experience depended on two key principles: 1. Accountability. Members hold each other accountable by leaving feedback appropriate to the experience they had with another member. 2. Transparency. Feedback is transparent – visible – for all to see. Over the years, we’ve adjusted the system to improve its accuracy, including making Feedback tie to transactions back in 1999 and last year’s addition of anonymous Detailed Seller Ratings. And we’ve also made changes that sacrifice transparency to maintain accuracy and accountability – like when we asked sellers for Non-Paying Bidder reports back in 1999. We use non-transparent feedback extensively to this day – and suspend thousands of buyers a month for Unpaid Item violations – all based on private seller reports to hold buyers accountable. Unfortunately, the current Feedback system isn’t working for the marketplace the way it should be. The system’s transparency is preventing buyers from holding sellers accountable. Simply put - buyers are more afraid than ever to leave honest, accurate feedback because of the threat of retaliatory Feedback by sellers marking their public reputation. Sellers used to retaliate with negative feedback after receiving negative feedback twice as often as buyers. Now sellers do this 8 times as often as buyers. As a result, most sellers look alike to buyers. 80% of sellers have 99.3% positive or higher. 50% have 100% positive. So buyers don’t trust the Feedback system so they don’t have confidence when they hit that bid or BIN button. And this actually hurts sellers who provide great buying experiences because they can’t differentiate themselves from sellers who don’t provide as good buying experiences. Doesn’t this take away a seller’s power? I just got back from our annual eCommerce Forum with 200 of eBay’s largest sellers. Several of them said “I wait to leave feedback because the threat of leaving a (public) neg is what keeps the buyer from doing bad things – you can’t take that away.” I get it. There are bad buyers out there. And the implicit threat of receiving a neg helps keep these buyers in line. Ironically, that’s the problem. This power – and the way many sellers have begun using it – is exactly why buyers don’t hold sellers accountable and why we’ve lost trust in the system – and why we need to change it. So how are you going to prevent bad buyers from taking advantage of this? Our job is to hold all members accountable. Buyers are going to hold sellers accountable now that they’ll be more comfortable leaving honest feedback. Trust & Safety has an obligation – which we take very seriously – to hold buyers accountable based on sellers’ non-public reports of buyer policy violations. And we need sellers to report these violations to us. For example - if a buyer doesn’t pay – the Unpaid Item system is in place. While only 2% of transactions result in an Unpaid Item – UPIs do happen. Still, 85% of the time a buyer gets an Unpaid Item strike – they don’t respond to the Unpaid Item system. If they don’t respond to the system, we’ll remove any negative or neutral feedback they leave (we only de-score it today). If the buyer does this to 2-3 sellers (depending on how new the buyer is) – we’ll suspend the buyer and remove any negative or neutral feedback they’ve left – something we don’t do today. If a buyer attempts to extort a discount by threatening to leave negative feedback unless the seller changes the terms of their listing, we need the seller to report the buyer to us. And we’ll have policy and process in place to hold small minority of bad buyers accountable and, if we have to suspend the buyer, we’ll remove any negative or neutral feedback they leave. What other protections are you putting in place? We’re putting in additional safeguards in place to help sellers avoid negative feedback: - To promote communication, buyers will be prevented from leaving a public negative or neutral Feedback within 3 days of a listing’s end for sellers with an established track record (new sellers can still pose a fraud risk); - We are reducing the number of days a member can leave Feedback from 90 to 60 days; - We are increasing a seller’s Block Bidder List capacity from 1,000 to 5,000 User IDs. This is something sellers have been requesting for years and we’re finally going to deliver; - We will be taking more action based on seller reports of buyers violating our policies, including generating referrals of repeat policy violators. What if the buyer leaves a neg and eBay doesn’t suspend the buyer – I’m stuck with the neg Only for 12 months in your percent score. The Feedback percentage which calculates a member’s percentage of positive Feedback will be based on just the last 12 months (not all a member’s lifetime transactions as it is today), although the total count remains lifetime. We’re doing this because a member’s recent feedback is the most relevant to their transaction partners. Over the years, many members have questioned why a single negative can affect their score for years. You’ve asked for this change, and I’m pleased we’re able to deliver. Now any negative Feedback left for you more than 12 months ago will no longer affect your positive percentage. Repeat Feedback Credit – coming in February And finally, we’re going to give members credit for multiple Feedback from the same buyer or seller when the listings close in different calendar weeks (Monday though Sunday). This transaction window limit will help prevent “Feedback padding,” or the use of transactions to artificially inflate Feedback scores. We think this is a great change for our sellers (and buyers). If you are delivering great customer service – and it shows through repeat buyers – your Feedback score will reflect this. Town Hall on Monday, February 4th – Call us LIVE during the event.. this is a great way to ask questions and learn more I’d like to reiterate that we realize these are major changes, and we will be watching carefully for any unintended consequences. I also realize that reading a post on the discussion board isn’t the best way to learn about this. Frankly – people I’ve spoken with begin to understand it more after listening to us walk through the rationale and answering questions. To this end – I’d really like to invite everyone to listen to our seller webinar (Friday) or Town Hall on Monday. See the details below. You can also see Bill Cobb’s original announcement about these and other changes. Monday 3pm - eBay Town Hall http://www.ebay.com/townhall Bill Cobb’s AB Post http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200801290559182.html Thanks, Matt" |
|||
/*
Technorati Profile
EventHorizon1984 Log
//