The Power Seller Disussion Forum is over-run with threads about the new eBay Feedback policies and how it has affected their ratings. I thought a quick lesson in the new eBay math might help some buyers to understand the statistics from May 19th forward concerning POSITIVE FEEDBACK PERCENTAGES. Here is the story.

Once upon a time a man created eBay and thought it would be a good idea and keep folks honest if they could leave one another feedback. He made a system whereby a buyer and a seller could each leave one another either a Positive, Negative or Neutral Feedback comment. Now in this mans desire to keep things fair and open he made a mathematical error, which was never corrected until the new feedback policy was put in place on May 19, 2008. The error was thus: Neutral feedback did not count in the sellers or buyers score whatsoever. It was a non factor in the entire scheme of things-mathematically speaking that is. And the Feedback Rating was not affected by Neutrals. In this way, a buyer could express some dissatisfaction and not affect a sellers score, or there were some buyers who simply chose Neutral as the standard rating for all transactions. This error has now been corrected.

Unfortunately, sellers were given no warning that Neutrals would be RETROACTIVELY counted against their POSITIVE FEEDBACK PERCENTAGE, in advance of the changes being made. What this has amounted to is many sellers who went to bed on May 18th with 100% feedback and awoke on May 19th with a far lower %. Of course it affected those of us who did not have 100% as well, but it was especially difficult for the 100% feedback sellers to accept. The NEW MATHEMATICAL CALCULATION is this: The total number of feedback the seller has received is divided by the total PLUS all NEUTRALS AND NEGATIVES, and the number at which you arrive in that calculation is the NEW POSITIVE FEEDBACK PERCENTAGE.

What does it mean? It means that from here on out, buyers are going to need to become accustomed to seeing feedback scores more in line with the reality of mathematics. It means that a 97% feedback score is no longer going to be a bottom-feeder score, but more of the norm for the average seller. It means that finding sellers with perfect or near perfect feedback is going to become a thing of the past and that it will be even more important to look at MORE than JUST feedback percentages from here on out. It means eBay is changing and we are all going to have to accustom ourselves to the changes and move forward with an evolved idea of what it is to be considered a good and a bad seller. It means that I was a 99.5% seller before the change and I am a 98.1% after. Nothing about ME or the way I do business changed, only the perception of that has been altered...

Thanks for the correction Jana. Plus not minus...I was writing in the midst of chaos...Appreciate that!