Thursday, February 1, 2007

The Jury Is Out on Feedback 2.0

eBay is tinkering with Feedback for the first time in a while. Their "Feedback 2.0" is being tested in the U.K. right now. I nosed around some of the UK boards and found that some sellers were worried that  eBay is too concerned with the buyers' end of things with the feedback changes. The new feedback features allow buyers to add star ratings to sellers' profiles, so they can rate certain components of the transaction, such as shipping, communication, etc.



Although I think the changes can make feedback more meaningful for buyers, I worry a bit about sellers feeling they are being dinged and judged in too many ways, when the burden is not shared by buyers.  Some sellers whined about buyers who have crazily unrealistic expectations.



Still, with these kinds of changes, one must often wait for the dust to settle, as it were. Let's see how it all shakes out. I appreciate that eBay seems to take its changes to its all-important Feedback system very seriously. And Bill Cobb, in the webcast I downloaded, gets that there is a whole wait-for-the -other-party-to-leave-positive-feedback-before-I-leave-positive-feedback thing going on..or, I'll leave you a neg if you'll leave me a neg. So they are right to address the issue, I think.  (Inasmuch as it can be addressed).



But is this the right way to do it? Stay tuned.



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