Transferring eBay feedback

09 Aug

Posted by Mark Kenny as eBay Related

Back in 2007 I wrote this article about transferring your ebay feedback to alternative auction sites. The trend is still going, and more and more auction sites now offer you the chance to transfer your ebay feedback when you register as a seller with them.

Recently I’ve received some questions from a reader about this subject, seeking clarification on whether feedback transfer is authorised from ebay and if the article is still relevant.

Q. If it’s against ebay policy to transfer feedback to another website, how are some of other auction websites like ioffer.com and bonanzle.com have feedback transfer programs? Do they have some special agreement with ebay?

The latest ebay agreement still states that you are not permitted to transfer your feedback to any other non ebay site. I consulted Bonanzle customer services over the issue, who openly admitted that “We have no agreement with eBay for this, nor does the other alternatives who also import feedback from eBay and other marketplaces. We have had zero instances of trouble with this”

Q. How do these programs verify that you are the correct person? I don’t want somebody else using my ebay name to get my feedback.

Most of these services ask you to verify it’s your feedback by entering your ebay username and password – this should never be stored by the alternative auction site so it’s important to read the terms and conditions first. If you’ve any doubt or concerns about the security of this, simply avoid the issue by not transferring your feedback.

I’ve heard no reports of ebay closing individual accounts who transfer their feedback to alternative auction sites, and it’s good to know that ebay are not pursuing those auction sites yet. However it’s important to be aware of the risks - however minimal they are, that your ebay account could be closed. I’d love to hear your thoughts on transferring feedback to other sites? Have you done it and would you recommend it?

9 Responses

DesDrec

September 1st, 2009 at 10:54 pm
1

Hey Mark,

Wow, 2007 seems so long ago. It’s an interesting point though. I must admit, I haven’t personally done this but i know a few people that have. From what I’ve learnt, they haven’t had any problems. saying that, this is eBay we’re talking about and they can change their policies on the drop of a hat
Jerry

September 16th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
2

Hello Kenny,
We are going to bookmark your website and return as often as we can to read your articles, I am the owner of efleaa an online auction site that does allow our members to transfer their feedback from ebay and other sites.
We give each member a scode to place on their about me page on ebay, and this allows us to retrieve their feedback with out having to ask for a user’s password on ebay and this verifies that the ebay feedback retrieved belongs to that member.
As far as my feelings on who owns the feedback, I feel that ebay does not own that members feedback, because it was the ebay member that earned it and worked hard to get the feedback and paid for it by paying ebay the fees to sell on their site.
That is one of my issues with ebay now of days, they think they own you and your items and your feedback and dictate way to much on how and what you can sell.
I say ebay will go after other online auctions site when and if they become a threat to ebay, that’s when you will see them going after people who transferred their feedback from ebay to other online auction sites. thanks Jerry.

PS we will be tweeting your articles to our over 4000 followers on twitter as a reward for your good writing and being a dofollow site.
Dropship Bobby

October 31st, 2009 at 5:14 pm
3

Hi Mark,

We have just come across your site and would like to comment on how informative we found it, its great to see impartial and knowledgable news and opinions on eBay that aren’t just thrown together or just plain rants about recent policy changes that affect sellers.

We have just set up a ‘news’ site for online traders, many of whom are eBayers or using other auction sites that use dropship suppliers so we will be certainly recommending your site as a point of reference for eBay information.

We can see from some of your posts that you are well aware of the pitfalls of using dropship suppliers and our intention is to build up a database of information for anyone looking to trade online using dropshippers.

Keep up the good work and we will be certainly following your blog.
chinese electronics

December 3rd, 2009 at 5:14 pm
4

get ebay feedback is very useful, it’s good for the buyers. they are able to prevent being cheated.
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DROP SHIPPING COMPANIES

January 28th, 2010 at 4:35 pm
5

Transferring ebay feedback is very common nowadays
Derma Tend

March 6th, 2010 at 2:38 pm
6

I agree with you…. cheating is totally prevented from this service….. and thanks for the informative post.
tamz

March 7th, 2010 at 3:43 pm
7

i person lay seen many website those offer feedback transfer .and i personal know many developers those offer mods for ebay alternative auctions websites to import feedback from ebay .But on those website when you check a users ebay feedback you have to go on ebay site in order to view.
tearz

March 7th, 2010 at 3:44 pm
8

nice article .we are just about to offer this service to our users but from now i think its best way to stay back .
Leo Amador

March 15th, 2010 at 1:44 pm
9

First of all, I would like to thank you for bringing this issue back on the table. This is actually the first time I have heard of transferring your eBay feedbacks to other auction sites. I think the idea is really cool and buyer friendly. The thing that concerns me the most though is that it could really be risky doing this as there was no disclosure from eBay of such issue as you have mentioned in this post. When this happens, this could be a real deal breaker as most of us have built our reputation with eBay for at least several years.