New Features Added to eBay’s Feedback Forum

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eBay is one of these places, because of the Feedback Forum. On eBay ... where everything is about helping you trade better ... a complete record of every comment ever made about an eBay member is just a mouse click away.

To begin determining who you are dealing with, look at the person’s feedback rating ... that is the number that appears next to their User ID. It is important that you do not misinterpret what you are seeing. Even if the person has a high number next to their name, you can’t tell how many negative and positive comments there are until you read the actual comments.

Now, click on the feedback rating number that appears next to the person’s User ID. This will take you to the user’s Feedback Profile. The Feedback Profile contains a summary of feedback comments by type, as well as a list of all of the comments ever left for that user. You will now be able to determine if that person is a flawless trading partner or someone with whom you would rather not do business.

eBay has recently introduced two new features ... transaction-related feedback and response, and follow-up messages ... to make the Feedback Forum even better. For an overview of the Feedback Forum, click on the following link: http://pages.ebay.com/services/forum/feedback.html. For an overview of our latest changes, click on this link: http://pages.ebay.com/services/forum/feedback-mock-up.html. For Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), click on this link: http://pages.ebay.com/services/forum/feedback-faq.html.

Transaction-related feedback is perhaps the most dramatic change. While you can still leave comments for any reason, you can now associate your comment with a transaction in which you were the seller or a winning bidder. In the past, it was impossible to tell with certainty if another person’s feedback rating was earned on the basis of transactions, or simple popularity. With transaction-related feedback, you can see a person’s true trading reputation much more clearly.

eBay provides some automation tools to make leaving transaction-related feedback easy. Links from the ended auction page or from the End of Auction email notice take you to the Leave Feedback for Another User page and automatically fill in the transaction number. All you need to do is complete the form and leave your feedback comment.

Response and follow-up messages make it easier to explain comments left for you and to resolve conflicts more clearly. With this feature you can write a response message about a feedback comment left on your Feedback Profile. Your response is inserted right underneath, so that someone viewing your Feedback Profile can see the two related messages. The follow-up feature allows the person who left the original comment to return to add a final message, if you have left a response. These changes make it easier to understand how buyers and sellers are doing business at eBay.

My dad recently retired, and he still prefers shopping in his neighborhood rather than on the Internet. But when he checked out the eBay site and our Feedback Forum, he had this to say: "There are quite a few people on eBay who I could do business with."