On March 26th 2021 eBay announced that they were increasing the amount buyers can type when they leave feedback for a seller…. And sellers immediately rolled their eyes. Here’s why:

Ok, I’ll be first to admit, the tiny little eBay feedback box was difficult to truly explain what happened with the purchase. You’re limited to using abbreviations and broken English like

“5 STR! Fast Ship. Pack Well. Vry nice girls gown! Will By Agn! TY!”

Meanwhile, Amazon and Google let you type a novel-length review for a business. So let me say, “I get it”. eBay want’s to update their site to be 2021-ish versus 2002-ish. BUT let me also state that eBay IS NOT Amazon, nor should it be. eBay is more of a garage sale mixed with retail mixed with flea market type-site. It’s a place where anyone can sell pretty much anything, regardless of how strange it may be (Be sure to read our Strangest eBay Listings in June 2021 and Weird eBay Listings July 2021).

With that being said, as a seller, you already know that a happy buyer often won’t even leave feedback, and if they do it’s usually something like “Great!” whereas an unhappy buyer will write paragraphs about how your $12 tank top ruined their life. Why? Well, it’s unfortunately human psychology I suppose.

I guess the question becomes how this feedback limit helps eBay sellers. You see, Amazon offers programs such as Amazon Vine in addition to “Top Reviewers” rankings and Google has “Google Guides” which is similar to Amazon Vine in the sense that Google Guides are people who also write excellent quality reviews and are rewarded with small perks in exchange for their time. These programs encourage people to post QUALITY, honest reviews in addition to adding photos and videos to the reviews. Basically, Amazon and Google have found the secret to success; success for a GREAT seller as well as the encouragement of HAPPY buyers to share their GREAT experience, whereas eBay is really missing the mark. The expansion of feedback length is basically useless with NO INCENTIVE for happy buyers to share. Additional the increased review length is equally purposeless without the ability to show photos demonstrating the honesty of the review. Here’s an example;

eBay buyer leaves a 1-star and types 2 paragraphs, claiming the shirt has a holes and ruined their year, "WORST SELLER EVER!!!". If photos were allowed this buyer could have shown the location of the hole which would demonstrate if the seller was careless, dishonest or simply didn’t know there was a pinhole-sized hole under the arm pit, which would essentially prove the seller isn’t a “BAD” seller and instead is just someone who overlooked a super tiny detail. Equally, were the holes intentionally placed in the garment to create a “destroyed” look?

Did the buyer fail to read the listing? Without images there’s no way of knowing if the buyer is a careless fool or if the seller is deviously trying to dupe people. 

So, as an online seller, I absolutely can understand why eBay sellers are rolling their eyes at this feedback limit increase and my heart goes out to them.  Stay strong, my fellow sellers!  Eventually eBay will catch up to modern times!