Hello everyone,

I'm Vidmay Naini, Manager, Trust & Safety, eBay India . I'd like to give you details about the changes we're making to Feedback over the coming months.

The eBay Feedback system was originally designed to provide a simple, honest, and accurate record of the buyer's and seller's online experience and to ensure safe and satisfactory trade. Over a period of time, we found that the current Feedback system was not performing to the desired objectives. Hence, we felt the need to modify the way the Feedback system works in the current business context.

We'll be making a few significant changes to eBay's Feedback system to continue to improve accuracy and accountability. Within the next six months, these changes should help to differentiate and reward sellers who provide a positive buying experience on eBay.

Repeat Feedback Credit

Starting in February 2008, we're going to give members credit for multiple Feedbacks from the same buyer or seller for listings that end in different calendar weeks (Monday to Sunday). We think this is a great change for our sellers (and buyers). If you are delivering great customer service – and it shows through repeat buyers – your Feedback score will reflect this.

Feedback Percentage based on Past 12 Months

Starting in February 2008, the Feedback percentage which calculates a member's percentage of positive Feedback will be based on just the last 12 months (and not the member's lifetime transactions, as it is today), although the total count remains lifetime.

We're doing this because a member's recent Feedback is the most relevant to their transaction partners. Over the years, many members have questioned why a single negative can affect their score for years. The Community has asked for this change, and we are happy to deliver. Going forward, any negative Feedback left for you more than 12 months ago will no longer affect your positive percentage.

Changes to Feedback for Buyers

To make the Feedback system more relevant to the buyers and motivating them to express themselves more freely by way of Feedback, we are making the below change:

Starting in May 2008, sellers may only leave positive Feedback for buyers, at the seller's option .

We all realise this is a huge change and that it's important we put appropriate seller protections into place so that buyers don't abuse the system. To ensure the system remains fair, we will continue to hold buyers accountable via non-public seller reporting tools, such as Unpaid Item reports. In addition, in May'08 we are also adding a number of new seller protections, such as:

• We will remove, not just de-score, negative and neutral feedback when a buyer doesn't respond to the Unpaid Item process.
• We will remove all negative and neutral Feedback comments left by a buyer or seller, when the buyer (or seller) is suspended. We're going to do this retroactively too. So all negative and neutral Feedback left by suspended members historically will also be removed.

Additionally, we're putting the following safeguards in place to help sellers avoid negative feedback:

• To promote communication, buyers will be prevented from leaving a public negative or neutral Feedback within 3 days after a listing ends for sellers with an established track record;
• We are reducing the number of days a member can leave Feedback from 90 to 60 days;
• We are increasing a seller's Block Bidder List capacity from 1,000 to 5,000 user IDs;
• We will increase our monitoring and take action based on seller reports of buyer misuse.

I'd like to reiterate that we realise these are major changes, and we will be watching carefully for any unintended consequences.

To learn more about these upcoming changes, please read < Upcoming Changes to Feedback (FAQs) >.

Stay tuned for an online workshop on the Feedback changes with me on February, 11 2008 at 5 PM IST.

Sincerely,

Vidmay Naini
Manager, Trust & Safety,
eBay India