eBay Gets Its Wires Crossed with Automatic Feedback Feature

eBay encouraged sellers on Monday to use its Automatic Feedback feature, but 2 days later, sellers began reporting a glitch. When the feature is turned on, it is supposed to automatically give buyers positive feedback for their purchases. But sellers said turning on the feature also resulted in positive feedback being automatically left for sellers when they bought something on eBay.

An eBay moderator confirmed the glitch.

A seller reported the issue on the Technical Issues board on Wednesday in a post titled, “Automatic Feedback option is automatically leaving feedback for things I BOUGHT,” writing the following:

“Just as the title says. I’m a seller, and had my automatic feedback options set to leave feedback for buyers as soon as they leave me positive feedback. However, after checking my purchase history, I noticed feedback was being left for SELLERS – people I’d bought from, as soon as they’d left me positive feedback (usually right after purchase). I had to disable automatic feedback entirely. Anyone else experiencing this issue?”

The eBay moderator said they found an open ticket confirming the glitch, which apparently started on June 10, 2022.

Sellers who use their selling accounts to make purchases should be aware of the glitch.

Ina Steiner

Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). She is a member of the Online News Association (Sep 2005 - present) and Investigative Reporters and Editors (Mar 2006 - present). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com. See disclosure at EcommerceBytes.com/disclosure/.