Feedback Forum

eBay's feedback system, which lets buyers and sellers evaluate the quality of their transactions, has evolved into a powerful enabler of trade on the site. Leaving feedback for your trading partner to let the rest of the eBay Community know your opinion about the transaction is a powerful concept which gives perfect strangers the confidence and trust to trade with each other on eBay.

The feedback system is simple to understand and easy to use. It has only three rating types – positive, neutral, or negative, which makes it easy for both new and experienced members to adopt. It has high visibility on the site – every member's feedback score is displayed in parentheses next to their User ID. Members can also easily view another member's total feedback score, percent positive feedback, and read comments left by other members on previous transactions.

The feedback system helps members make informed decisions before engaging in transactions with other members. Feedback has become a credible measure of a member's reputation on eBay.

Upcoming changes announced at eBay Live! 2005

Since its introduction in 1996, the system has evolved. Like the rest of eBay, the feedback system must change as the needs of the marketplace mature. We're aware the system has some weaknesses, and our job is to develop ways of improving those areas without causing unintended consequences that damage the integrity of the system.

This past spring, we carried out a comprehensive analysis to help us determine the best way to evolve the system going forward. The research results gave us some important insights about ways we can improve the system. As Bill Cobb, President of eBay North America, announced at eBay Live! 2005 in San Jose we will be making a number of changes to the feedback system that will increase members' comfort levels in using it to evaluate their trading partners.

Here's a quick overview of the major changes we're planning to launch later this year:

1. Neutralizing feedback left by members who don't participate in issue resolution processes. We believe that if a member is unwilling to participate in processes designed to help resolve issues, such as the Unpaid Item process or the Item Not Received process, they should forfeit their right to impact another member's reputation. If a member leaves feedback for a transaction and does not participate in these processes, eBay will neutralize their feedback. This means the rating (whether positive or negative) will not affect the recipient's feedback score. While the feedback comment itself will remain, it will include an administrative note from eBay indicating that the feedback was “de-scored”.

2. Removing feedback from users who are indefinitely suspended within 90 days of registration. We believe that members indefinitely suspended within 90 days of registering on eBay were never truly members of the Community, and so their feedback comments and ratings should not count. We will automatically remove feedback (positive, neutral, and negative) left by such users.

Doing this will help us more effectively address malicious bidding attacks, since as soon as the member is indefinitely suspended the feedback will be removed. It will also help address “feedback padding” issues, where a member attempts to build up a reputation to commit fraud. This is typically done by transacting on a large number of low-priced items, before committing fraud on a higher-priced item.

3. Requiring new members to complete a tutorial before leaving neutral or negative feedback. This upcoming change will require all new users (members with a feedback score of less than 10) to complete a short tutorial before leaving neutral or negative feedback. We hope that the tutorial will educate new members about the feedback system as well as ensure that they are aware of the various communication tools available to them prior to leaving feedback for their trading partner.

The importance of educating new members was underscored by our findings from a recent survey. We asked new buyers if they attempted to communicate with the seller prior to leaving negative feedback. Only 46% answered yes. We then asked those that answered yes if they were successful in working out the issue, thus avoiding having to leave negative feedback. A whopping 82% answered yes. By introducing a tutorial, we want to make sure new members are informed about their options before rushing to leave neutral or negative feedback.

We're planning to launch these changes later in 2005, and we'll be continuing to look for more ways to improve feedback. Watch the announcement board and the discussion boards for updates as we get closer to launching the changes.

Sincerely,

Brian Burke
Senior Marketplace Policy Manager