Saturday, April 25, 2015
Saturday, March 28, 2015
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Office of the President of eBay
Come and listen to a story about a man named Chet
A poor mediator, barely kept his boss ahead,
Then one day he was writin a la rude,
And up through a frown came a bubblin fool.
eBay that is, bottom lines, sellers screwed.
Well the first thing you know ol Chet feels aware,
Kinfolk said "Chet, tell the sellers to move away from there"
Said "Other venues are the place you ought to be"
So they changed their policy and drove the seller away.
Negative feedback, that is. Profit loss, lack of confidence
Well now its time to say good bye to Chet and all his manager friends.
And they would like to thank you folks fer kindly droppin in.
You're all invited back a gain to this locality
To have a heapin helpin of their lack of hospitality
eBay that is. Bend over, Grab your ankles.
Sellers come back now, y'hear?.
--------------------------------------------------
Well now that I've entertained you a little bit. Let me explain the reason for my eBay parody of the Beverly Hillbillies song. I've been selling on eBay off and on for years. And so have many of my friends and family, many of which make a good chunk of their living as sellers on eBay.
eBay recently created a policy where as a seller you could no longer give a buyer a negative feedback for a negative experience, even when the buyer had already given you a negative! As you can probably guess, I had a negative experience as a seller, and to my dismay, I discovered I was unable to have any kind of leverage of removing this feedback by giving the buyer a negative feedback as well.
So I did a little research trying to figure out how I could contact the CEO of eBay (mistakenly I thought it was Meg Whitman still - thank god it's not! ... errr, maybe it's worse now?). What I found was an email address for Meg (meg@ebay.com). To ensure my email would somehow make it to the President of eBay, I also used the email addresses megw@ebay.com, megwhitman@ebay.com, mwhitman@ebay.com, meg.whitman@ebay.com, whitmanm@ebay.com. One of these addresses worked, and shockingly, I received a personal email from the Office of the President of eBay! The following is our email exchange over the last couple of days:
My First email:
----------------------------------------------
To: Meg Whitman
Subject: Ridiculous Policy
Meg,
It was an absolutely ridiculous decision to change your policy for sellers being able to give a buyer negative feedback. You are basically saying that a seller cannot have a negative experience with a buyer? Buyer protection is just as important as sell protection, if not more so. Without the seller, you have no buyers.
Take my current situation as an example:
I sold some things on ebay several weeks ago. All of my items were shipped out before I recently had to leave the country for work. While traveling to India and once arriving to India, I had no internet access. Once I was able to access internet, I find out that I had received a message from a seller and since I couldn't respond in a timely-manner, the buyer gave me a negative. Now I have no leverage to get this negative removed because I cannot give them a negative for the bad experience I had with them. Assinine.
Sellers that feel they have no protection will not stay.
----------------------------------------------
My first response from the Office of the President:
Hello,
Thank you for contacting Meg Whitman, I am happy to address your issue
on behalf of Meg. I also wanted to bring to your attention that while
Meg is no longer the current CEO/President of eBay she will still remain
on the Board of Directors for eBay.
Although you may feel the recent changes to our feedback policy are not
the best, results show otherwise. Buyers are growing more and more
confident in eBay and eBay sellers. You know, It's a two way street. As
you mention in your email to Meg, without sellers buyers will suffer.
This is a two way street. Without buyers sellers will suffer.
The fact is this. Due to a negative buying experience buyers were
leaving eBay in alarming numbers. We could not allow this to happen and
had to take drastic steps. Clearly, not everyone is going to be happy
with decisions that were made but the results are clear. Buyers are
returning and making more and more purchases from sellers on eBay.
Although I am not sure what account you are referring to in regards to
the negative feedback comments you received, look at this from a buyers
point of view. A buyer had no idea you were out of the country and that
you did not have access to the Internet. The buyer did try reaching out
to you in regards to an experience that may not have gone as they had
wished and received no reply from you. So, is this your buyers fault?
They did try to reach you, regretfully, without luck.
What I don't understand is how leaving your buyer a negative feedback
comment would make this matter any better? In reality, your buyer did
nothing wrong.
If you wanted to let me know what account you are referring to I am more
than happy to review this feedback comment. However, from the
explanation given I do not think this comment could be removed.
I look forward to your reply.
Sincerely,
Chet Ricketts
Office of the President
----------------------------------------------
My Reply to Mr. Ricketts:
Basically, it works like this: Prior to the change, the buyer knew that they should try to work with the seller. They could: 1) attempt additional emails, 2) Dispute the charges and ask for a refund, 3) Last resort, give the seller a negative feedback. The reason the buyer knew that they should try to work with the seller is because there was a chance that if they as a buyer gave a seller a negative feedback, the seller would also have the opportunity to give the buyer a negative feedback. There was balance at play. Without the balance, there is no reason to 1) attempt additional emails, 2) dispute the charges. They can skip to 3) give the seller a negative feedback because, WHO cares?? There will be no retaliation for the buyer. What this also allows is a buyer who is not honest to give a negative feedback _just_for_the_hell_of_it_, because WHO cares?? There will be no retaliation for the buyer! To answer some of your other questions and or comment on some of your statements:
"Although you may feel the recent changes to our feedback policy are not
the best, results show otherwise. Buyers are growing more and more
confident in eBay and eBay sellers."
This policy change has been in place for just a few months, and you are already able to make a subjective call on the confidence of the Buyer? If that is the case, I feel that Sellers are growing less and less confident in eBay, eBay buyers, and eBay management.
"Buyers are returning and making more and more purchases from sellers on eBay."
You can make this statement after only a few months of data? Are you sure that buyers aren't returning and making more and more purchases from sellers on eBay because it's summer? Maybe because it's hotter than normal outside and people don't want go outside to the store? Or perhaps the increases in gas prices are driving people to make more online purchases to save on gas? Perhaps a year or so of data after this change could prove otherwise, after you've been through all the seasons, holidays, etc... etc...
"What I don't understand is how leaving your buyer a negative feedback
comment would make this matter any better? In reality, your buyer did
nothing wrong."
Human communication has an element called emotion. When I saw the negative, I wasn't happy. But I thought, well at least I've got my leverage to get it removed and work things out with the buyer by giving back to them what they gave back to me, since they _did_not_work_with_me_ to resolve the issue. I just wanted things to be fair, and emotionally, giving them a negative back to them was making things fair. In reality, myself as a seller did nothing wrong, yet I was punished because things were unfair and unbalanced. We have three branches of the government for this very same reason - it's called checks and balances. Furthermore, going back to your two-way street analogy; sure that's great. Now let's look at it like this: It's a two-way street, accept one lane (the buyer) always has a green light. The other lane (seller) always has a red-light. It's a two-way street, but it's not a very balanced two-way street! I'm only going to sit at that red-light for so long, being screwed, before I get frustrated, turn around and go somewhere else. And finally:
"A buyer had no idea you were out of the country and that
you did not have access to the Internet. The buyer did try reaching out
to you in regards to an experience that may not have gone as they had
wished and received no reply from you."
I wont go making a "factual-statement" such as you did, with little data, but I'm willing to bet that prior to the change, this buyer would've given me more than four days to respond before giving me a negative. Can you run some data on that type of scenario? That would be something good to know! Or perhaps it's the heat, or the high gas prices that ruined that buyers day and drove them to be short with me and resort to a negative feedback. Thanks for your reply, Chet! I look forward to your re-reply. And perhaps those share-holders and Meg would be interested in this exchange.
Aaron Jayjack
----------------------------------------------
Chet's Response:
Hello Aaron,
Thank you for your reply. In answer to your question, yes, we are easily able to determine that the recent changes to feedback have been positive. Sellers that are feeling less and less confident in eBay simply because they are no longer able to post a negative feedback comment for one of their buyers are more than welcome to adapt or find another venue. There are thousands of sellers on eBay right now who always leave positive feedback for a buyer the minute they pay for the item. Since leaving feedback first precludes the possibility of retaliation, these sellers are, in effect, using feedback as though the changes were already in place. And do you know what the numbers show us about these sellers? They tend to have the highest rate of positive feedback (in some cases, 100% positive feedback) when compared to those sellers who do not, either tacitly or implicitly, leave feedback first. So, in your particular case our feedback changes have prevented exactly what we were hoping. An emotional negative feedback comment left for a buyer. Even above paying for an item that was never received, receiving a negative feedback comment is the most prominent reason buyers leave eBay. When buyers are leaving in large numbers, and one of the main drivers is a seller posting negative feedback we have no choice but to take action. Sincerely, Chet Ricketts Office of the President
----------------------------------------------
My Response:
So how do you plan to solve the issue when sellers start leaving because buyers are leaving negative feedback? Do you not think conversely, the number one reason sellers will leave eBay is because of buyers leaving negative feedback? Actually, it would probably be a combination of your ever increasing seller costs and the removal of a fair-market that drives the sellers away! Thanks for your advice of finding another venue; that's the most brilliant thing I've seen come out of the Office of the President of eBay (I will definitely heed that). Good luck when competitors start taking your business!
Aaron Jayjack
----------------------------------------------
So there you have it folks! Proof that eBay cares little about the sellers, and only about their bottom-line. Without the sellers, there is no bottom-line. What an absolutely unprofessional response from an unprofessionally run business! As soon as another venue does come around, eBay is as good as screwed. Sellers - don't let these guys strong-arm us!
A poor mediator, barely kept his boss ahead,
Then one day he was writin a la rude,
And up through a frown came a bubblin fool.
eBay that is, bottom lines, sellers screwed.
Well the first thing you know ol Chet feels aware,
Kinfolk said "Chet, tell the sellers to move away from there"
Said "Other venues are the place you ought to be"
So they changed their policy and drove the seller away.
Negative feedback, that is. Profit loss, lack of confidence
Well now its time to say good bye to Chet and all his manager friends.
And they would like to thank you folks fer kindly droppin in.
You're all invited back a gain to this locality
To have a heapin helpin of their lack of hospitality
eBay that is. Bend over, Grab your ankles.
Sellers come back now, y'hear?.
--------------------------------------------------
Well now that I've entertained you a little bit. Let me explain the reason for my eBay parody of the Beverly Hillbillies song. I've been selling on eBay off and on for years. And so have many of my friends and family, many of which make a good chunk of their living as sellers on eBay.
eBay recently created a policy where as a seller you could no longer give a buyer a negative feedback for a negative experience, even when the buyer had already given you a negative! As you can probably guess, I had a negative experience as a seller, and to my dismay, I discovered I was unable to have any kind of leverage of removing this feedback by giving the buyer a negative feedback as well.
So I did a little research trying to figure out how I could contact the CEO of eBay (mistakenly I thought it was Meg Whitman still - thank god it's not! ... errr, maybe it's worse now?). What I found was an email address for Meg (meg@ebay.com). To ensure my email would somehow make it to the President of eBay, I also used the email addresses megw@ebay.com, megwhitman@ebay.com, mwhitman@ebay.com, meg.whitman@ebay.com, whitmanm@ebay.com. One of these addresses worked, and shockingly, I received a personal email from the Office of the President of eBay! The following is our email exchange over the last couple of days:
My First email:
----------------------------------------------
To: Meg Whitman
Subject: Ridiculous Policy
Meg,
It was an absolutely ridiculous decision to change your policy for sellers being able to give a buyer negative feedback. You are basically saying that a seller cannot have a negative experience with a buyer? Buyer protection is just as important as sell protection, if not more so. Without the seller, you have no buyers.
Take my current situation as an example:
I sold some things on ebay several weeks ago. All of my items were shipped out before I recently had to leave the country for work. While traveling to India and once arriving to India, I had no internet access. Once I was able to access internet, I find out that I had received a message from a seller and since I couldn't respond in a timely-manner, the buyer gave me a negative. Now I have no leverage to get this negative removed because I cannot give them a negative for the bad experience I had with them. Assinine.
Sellers that feel they have no protection will not stay.
----------------------------------------------
My first response from the Office of the President:
Hello,
Thank you for contacting Meg Whitman, I am happy to address your issue
on behalf of Meg. I also wanted to bring to your attention that while
Meg is no longer the current CEO/President of eBay she will still remain
on the Board of Directors for eBay.
Although you may feel the recent changes to our feedback policy are not
the best, results show otherwise. Buyers are growing more and more
confident in eBay and eBay sellers. You know, It's a two way street. As
you mention in your email to Meg, without sellers buyers will suffer.
This is a two way street. Without buyers sellers will suffer.
The fact is this. Due to a negative buying experience buyers were
leaving eBay in alarming numbers. We could not allow this to happen and
had to take drastic steps. Clearly, not everyone is going to be happy
with decisions that were made but the results are clear. Buyers are
returning and making more and more purchases from sellers on eBay.
Although I am not sure what account you are referring to in regards to
the negative feedback comments you received, look at this from a buyers
point of view. A buyer had no idea you were out of the country and that
you did not have access to the Internet. The buyer did try reaching out
to you in regards to an experience that may not have gone as they had
wished and received no reply from you. So, is this your buyers fault?
They did try to reach you, regretfully, without luck.
What I don't understand is how leaving your buyer a negative feedback
comment would make this matter any better? In reality, your buyer did
nothing wrong.
If you wanted to let me know what account you are referring to I am more
than happy to review this feedback comment. However, from the
explanation given I do not think this comment could be removed.
I look forward to your reply.
Sincerely,
Chet Ricketts
Office of the President
----------------------------------------------
My Reply to Mr. Ricketts:
Basically, it works like this: Prior to the change, the buyer knew that they should try to work with the seller. They could: 1) attempt additional emails, 2) Dispute the charges and ask for a refund, 3) Last resort, give the seller a negative feedback. The reason the buyer knew that they should try to work with the seller is because there was a chance that if they as a buyer gave a seller a negative feedback, the seller would also have the opportunity to give the buyer a negative feedback. There was balance at play. Without the balance, there is no reason to 1) attempt additional emails, 2) dispute the charges. They can skip to 3) give the seller a negative feedback because, WHO cares?? There will be no retaliation for the buyer. What this also allows is a buyer who is not honest to give a negative feedback _just_for_the_hell_of_it_, because WHO cares?? There will be no retaliation for the buyer! To answer some of your other questions and or comment on some of your statements:
"Although you may feel the recent changes to our feedback policy are not
the best, results show otherwise. Buyers are growing more and more
confident in eBay and eBay sellers."
"Buyers are returning and making more and more purchases from sellers on eBay."
"What I don't understand is how leaving your buyer a negative feedback
comment would make this matter any better? In reality, your buyer did
nothing wrong."
"A buyer had no idea you were out of the country and that
you did not have access to the Internet. The buyer did try reaching out
to you in regards to an experience that may not have gone as they had
wished and received no reply from you."
Aaron Jayjack
----------------------------------------------
Chet's Response:
Hello Aaron,
Thank you for your reply. In answer to your question, yes, we are easily able to determine that the recent changes to feedback have been positive. Sellers that are feeling less and less confident in eBay simply because they are no longer able to post a negative feedback comment for one of their buyers are more than welcome to adapt or find another venue. There are thousands of sellers on eBay right now who always leave positive feedback for a buyer the minute they pay for the item. Since leaving feedback first precludes the possibility of retaliation, these sellers are, in effect, using feedback as though the changes were already in place. And do you know what the numbers show us about these sellers? They tend to have the highest rate of positive feedback (in some cases, 100% positive feedback) when compared to those sellers who do not, either tacitly or implicitly, leave feedback first. So, in your particular case our feedback changes have prevented exactly what we were hoping. An emotional negative feedback comment left for a buyer. Even above paying for an item that was never received, receiving a negative feedback comment is the most prominent reason buyers leave eBay. When buyers are leaving in large numbers, and one of the main drivers is a seller posting negative feedback we have no choice but to take action. Sincerely, Chet Ricketts Office of the President
----------------------------------------------
My Response:
So how do you plan to solve the issue when sellers start leaving because buyers are leaving negative feedback? Do you not think conversely, the number one reason sellers will leave eBay is because of buyers leaving negative feedback? Actually, it would probably be a combination of your ever increasing seller costs and the removal of a fair-market that drives the sellers away! Thanks for your advice of finding another venue; that's the most brilliant thing I've seen come out of the Office of the President of eBay (I will definitely heed that). Good luck when competitors start taking your business!
Aaron Jayjack
----------------------------------------------
So there you have it folks! Proof that eBay cares little about the sellers, and only about their bottom-line. Without the sellers, there is no bottom-line. What an absolutely unprofessional response from an unprofessionally run business! As soon as another venue does come around, eBay is as good as screwed. Sellers - don't let these guys strong-arm us!
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