Feedback changes announced at the Town Hall on eBay radio

The last Town Hall of the year was held yesterday in the US. This is a chance for eBay members to ask general questions regarding eBay and for the first time was broadcast live as a radio phone in. Feedback as ever featured highly with two main developments being looked at

26 minutes in the question was asked now that buyers feedback is removed if they don't respond to an unpaid item dispute (UPI) when will the same happen with sellers. Although no specific time frame was given it's likely that during 2007 sellers that fail to respond to item not received disputes (INR) that their feedback will be removed similarly from buyers profiles. This is rather more complicated as the INR process moves across to the PayPal site if that was the method of payment.

53 minutes in "What's eBays plans as far as forgiving negative feedback older than a year?" was asked. An interesting question and even more interesting answer

This is something we're looking into. I wouldn't get into the time frame but as we're now 11 years old and grown as a site and changed as a site this is something we're studying. I think this is the right thing to do as a seller has proved their worth over an extended period of time that this is something that we should look to retire. This is a live discussion that we're inclined to try and figure out for sellers and for buyers.

Eleven years is a long time to carry around a red blot on your copybook, and it is possible in the future these blemishes may be removed in time. Personally I can't see what all the fuss is about - no one is perfect and to strive for 100% feedback is an impossible aim. You can't please all the people all of the time so why not just accept that if you trade enough on eBay sooner or later you'll get a neg?