It's Official - eBay Feedback Now Includes Pictures, Most Relevant Instead Of Most Recent Sorting
UPDATE
eBay community staff have confirmed this update is still going into effect this month, but for some strange reason they think this changes to feedback, which affect both buyers and sellers, should not be posted as an announcement but instead as a regular post in the Selling section of the eBay community.
A longtime community member pointed out that eBay appears to have down a 180 on the previous policy about using seller feedback as a way to leave product reviews - a practice that was once disallowed and grounds for feedback removal, but today appears to be actively encouraged.
When we first saw reports of FB photos my only thought was they're turning FB into a place for product reviews which used to be explicitly against FB policy until eBay removed that text from their help pages. The comment above from eBay about photos only applying to multi-item listings supports my suspicions.
eBay Australia also posted a similar update, though they seem to believe it's important enough to be kept as an announcement.
The Australia team also included a mocked up image to show what pictures in feedback will look like, though unintentionally may have proven seller fears are warranted by inadvertently using test information for different products resulting in feedback and images of sneakers being left for a purchase that shows as a steering wheel cover.
Images being displayed with feedback has become standard on most online shopping platforms. They help add credibility to reviews and allow other buyers to see your item in action.
Starting today, 8 November, we’re rolling out changes to eBay’s feedback system which means any images buyers submit with their feedback will now be displayed as per the screenshots below.
When does this change apply?
For now, this only applies to multi-quantity listings and only sellers will be able to see images in their own feedback. This change will start to ramp on 8 November, with all sellers enabled by the end of November.Why is eBay making this change?
From testing this change, we know the majority of photos submitted by buyers are associated with positive feedback, similar to what we see with text-based feedback. While buyers will not yet be able to see the images, we’ll update you as we expand visibility for this feature.
They also posted a link to an FAQ, which while it only applies to eBay Australia, it's a good bet most of this information will carry over to other markets as well.
Excerpts:
What happens to the text-entry feedback when the image is removed?
If an image is deemed inappropriate and meets our policy for removal, the text feedback associated with that image will also be removed along with it. In the short future, we will have the ability to remove the image and keep the feedback text. We will notify sellers when this change is available.
What is eBay doing to make sure inappropriate images aren’t uploaded?/ What happens if a buyer uploaded an irrelevant image?
At eBay we take our user’s safety very seriously and do not want to expose anyone on eBay to any inappropriate images. To ensure this, we have built an AI driven moderation model to ensure no inappropriate photos are displayed on eBay.
For inappropriate images, users can report any inappropriate content anywhere onsite. Our support teams have been provided tools to remove any images that violate our policies when a feedback entry is requested to be removed. For more information on our image policies you can find them here.
For irrelevant feedback, the feedback misuse policy will state “When leaving feedback, you need to accurately represent the item you purchased”, meaning that these kinds of feedback are also removable by our customer service team.
What happens if the feedback associated with the image is unfair, how does a seller appeal this? Is the process the same as it is today?
We understand there may be instances where you would like to appeal the feedback left by a buyer if it’s unfair or irrelevant. Our existing seller performance and defect removal policy will continue to apply. You can visit our seller help page as you do today or contact our customer service team, to request to remove feedback.
What if a buyer threatens to leave a bad photo unless I give them something that wasn’t part of the original listing?
Our feedback extortion policy helps to protect against misuse. Buyers aren't allowed to use threats of negative feedback to try to get something that wasn't part of the original listing.
Will I be able to reply to the photo?
Yes, the photo will be displayed next to a buyer's feedback comment, and you will be able to respond in the same way you do today.
The "Seller News Team" has now deleted the eBay Community announcement about these feedback "enhancements."
We've reached out to eBay to confirm if these changes are still taking place and will update as soon as we have more information - stay tuned!
eBay has finally officially announced that recent changes sellers have been seeing to how their feedback is displayed are an intentional update, not a glitch.
Over the past few months, we’ve been working to improve the feedback experience for buyers on eBay. We are making these changes in order to give potential buyers better insight into your products.
We recently updated the default sort to highlight the most relevant feedback for your potential buyers.
We have also started rolling out images on feedback to select sellers who have listings with multiple quantities.
Starting this month, sellers will be able to preview feedback images on their own sold items. At this time, other eBay buyers and sellers will not be able to view images in your feedback. Existing policies related to feedback and feedback removal will also apply to images. Once this rollout is complete, we’ll be expanding image feedback visibility to buyers.
With these updates, your potential buyers will see your most engaged buyers’ feedback and be more confident about their purchasing decisions. Richer text and images in feedback may add credibility and drive sales by instilling additional confidence for interested buyers as they shop.
To date, we've already collected almost a million images and the vast majority are associated with positive feedback and showcase the great products and positive experiences buyers have with our eBay sellers.
These updates will serve to add credibility to reviews and increase buyer confidence, while also elevating your feedback scores and helping to drive conversion.
Sellers recently noticed their feedback displays were "jumbled", no longer in the Most Recent order that has been the standard for decades and that their "feedback left for others" had gone missing.
Liz Morton
While the "feedback left for others" was eventually reverted, the change to show Most Relevant (according to eBay) rather than most Recent was not - leaving sellings missing what they say is a crucial part of their workflow that could negatively impact their ability to provide excellent customer service.
I check FB a couple times a week with a quick glance to make sure there aren't buyer issues I need to address. For me it's a form of customer service management. Some buyers communicate through FB instead of messages which is annoying.
With the way things are currently, it's not possible to sort newest to oldest. With the current sort, even filtering by past month, I can't locate FB left the past couple days from buyers. This makes it difficult to help customers, especially those that may express an issue within a pos FB.
If eBay wants to use this "best match" style of sorting and filtering, they need to offer a way for sellers to sort newest to oldest that shows all FB, not just select FB. With this change eBay has removed a customer service tool from sellers.
eBay started testing allowing pictures to be added to feedback starting in April 2023 and sellers expressed concerns that buyers may abuse the feature by posting incorrect images to try to force a return or partial refund.
Liz Morton
While eBay is not publicly displaying these images yet, they will be in the future and concerns about possible abuse are more than warranted - just ask anyone who sells on Etsy.
Unfortunately existing feedback policies may not offer much protection to sellers when eBay far too often falls back on buyer feedback being an "opinion" that is not eligible for removal except in very few circumstances...unless of course the seller is a big brand like Reebok, in which case thousands of negatives can be scrubbed instantly with no trace and no official explanation.
What do you think of these changes to the eBay Feedback system? Are there other changes you'd like to see as a buyer or seller to make feedback more fair and useful? Let us know in the comments below!
