eBay to ban negative reviews

05/02/2008

The internet’s biggest auction site will deal a blow to its sellers from May, when it will ban them from leaving negative feedback about buyers.

The company, which has over 20 million users, said the function was ‘slowing down trade’, when sellers retaliated after buyers left negative comments about them.

“The problem we’re addressing is that a significant proportion of negative feedback left by sellers is retaliatory in nature, ie. the buyer has done nothing wrong other than honestly rate a poor transaction,” Jenny Thomas, spokesperson for the site told MyBusiness.

“The buyer is punished for doing so by the seller, and as a consequence is less likely to shop on the site altogether – which is clearly bad news for all sellers,” she said.

Sellers have been angered by the move, saying it will leave them unprotected and open to manipulation from problem buyers.

Critics told the BBC that by removing a seller’s right to complain about customers, they will have ‘very little recourse for action’ if a transaction goes wrong.

They added that by leaving the function for buyers but removing it for sellers, the company has ‘skewed’ the trading process.

However, Thomas said the changes were being made because some sellers were using the threat of negative feedback against buyers to ensure they don’t get negative feedback themselves.

“Frankly, the system has allowed them to do this,” she said.

“Come May, with buyers more confident to leave an honest rating without getting hit back, it will be much easier for buyers to honestly rate and spot who some of these poorer sellers are.

“We’ll be providing back-end support to make sure sellers aren’t unfairly hit by any bad buyers, and if they are, to remove the unfair feedback,” she added.