Sites offer to transfer Yahoo feedback

Some small European auction sites are offering to do for Yahoo sellers what eBay won't: transfer their feedback ratings from Yahoo.

United Kingdom-based eBid and German auction site Hood.de both are allowing Yahoo sellers to import their feedback ratings. The offers have resulted in an upswing in registrations and listings on both sites, representatives of the upstart companies said.

"We're taking over from where Yahoo left," said Mark Wilkinson, marketing manager of eBid.

Yahoo has stopped accepting new listing for its sites that serve the United Kingdom and Ireland, as well as those that handle France, Germany, Italy and Spain; it plans to close those sites on June 28. In their place, Yahoo has begun promoting eBay's rival auction sites under a deal the companies announced last month.

Although eBay is becoming the featured auction provider for Yahoo in Europe, Yahoo has warned sellers that they will essentially have to start over on eBay, with a new registration and user ID and without their Yahoo feedback.

Moving feedback over to eBay simply wasn't part of the deal the companies signed, said Scott Morris, a spokesman for Yahoo's international sites.

"We were only looking at a marketing-services deal," Morris said. Transferring feedback "wasn't a consideration."

Part of the reason behind that was transferring data between eBay's and Yahoo's platforms could prove difficult, he said.

"We're dealing with platforms, not apples to apples," Morris said. "It's not always that easy in terms of migrating user data from one platform to another."

eBay representatives did not return calls seeking comment on why the company does not plan to transfer feedback from the Yahoo auction sites.

However, the company knows firsthand the difficulties involved in merging disparate feedback systems. Earlier this year, the company's attempt to merge the feedback system from its Half.com site into its own system resulted in inaccurate feedback scores for many sellers and precluded some Half.com buyers from leaving comments. The problems took days to iron out.