In January, eBay announced enhancements to its feedback system to allow buyers to better rate and evaluate sellers on important aspects of a transaction. AuctionBytes wanted to see what sellers thought of "Feedback 2.0," and conducted a survey of its readers.

The survey was announced in the February 20th issue of the AuctionBytes Newsflash newsletter. The survey was also announced in subsequent issues and on the AuctionBytes homepage. Note that the survey was conducted before the launch of the new system, which was rolled out in 8 markets during the week of March 5, and will be rolled out to the rest of eBay's sites later this Spring.

A total of 614 people completed the survey. Most (87 percent) were sellers, and most (86 percent) were from the US. Another 8 percent were from the UK, 3 percent from Canada, and 2 percent were from Australia.

First, survey respondents rated eBay's current feedback system on a scale of one (poor) to five (excellent). The response average was 3.21.

Next, readers rated the new Feedback 2.0 system. Ten percent gave it a positive rating, 61 percent gave it a negative rating, and 9 percent gave it a neutral rating. 20 percent said they didn't know.

At the same time eBay announced Feedback 2.0, it said it would retire the first two years of a seller's feedback. Survey respondents were asked whether they thought this move was good or bad. Twenty-five percent said it was good, and 61 percent said it was bad. Fourteen percent didn't know.

Part of the new feedback system is the addition of buyer ratings; buyers can use a one- to five-star scale to rate sellers on the accuracy of item description, communication, delivery time, and postage and packaging charges. Respondents were asked to indicate whether they thought the ability of buyers to rate sellers on each of the criteria was a positive, negative or neutral change.

"Accuracy of item description" and "communication" got more than 50 percent positive ratings. "Postage and packaging charges" was rated negative by 48 percent of respondents, and "delivery time" was rated negative by 58 percent of respondents.

Respondents were then asked if they thought eBay should allow sellers to leave similarly detailed feedback for buyers. Eighty-four percent said yes, 11 percent said no, and 5 percent didn't know.

Respondents were asked about the issue of retaliatory feedback. Sixty-eight percent said they had been affected by the problem of retaliatory feedback, 31 percent said they hadn't; 62 percent said Feedback 2.0 would not have a positive impact on the problem of retaliatory feedback, and 10 percent said it would have a positive impact on the problem 28 percent did not know.

Sixty-three percent of respondents left a comment about the upcoming Feedback 2.0 changes. Full survey results can be seen here:
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/pages/survey_02202007

Note: After completing the survey, respondents were directed to the AuctionBytes blog where additional comments were posted (http://digbig.com/4rree).