interesting - i think the sellers should still be able to comment on the bad rating as to their views.
however i like that there can be no retaliation, which i believe would have scared a few buyers to leave a negative comment in the first place.
we will now see more negative comments about sellers which is a good thing IMO.

I think sellers should be able to leave feedback, but they should be first to leave feedback.

As a former ebay Power Seller who enjoyed a 100% positive feedback rating, I believe this is a misstep by ebay. As it is, sellers are already unprotected by ebay, especially concerning the feedback system. Their policy allows a buyer to make any statement they like, false or otherwise, without recourse for the seller. The only feedback removals they will consider involve use of expletives and very limited slanderous comments. Even if you can prove that a statement is false with physical evidence, ebay will not stand behind it's sellers and remove the feedback, and they take no consideration at all to a seller's prior positive reputation as part of their decision. Example: Buyer makes purchase and chooses Parcel Post shipping (5-7 business days). Seller ships item same day AND upgrades shipping to Priority (1-3 shipping days) at no cost to buyer. Seller also pays extra for shipping confirmation falsely believing this will protect the seller according to ebay guidelines. Buyer receives item in less than 3 days as confirmed by USPS delivery confirmation (and then again later verbally). Then without explanation, no emails from buyer to seller , no email or verbal complaint to ebay or Pay Pal regarding a problem, 5 days after purchase, buyer makes a very derogatory false feedback comment stating item not received. Never-mind it is still within the 5-7 days allowed for Parcel Post that the buyer chose. The buyer refused to answer any emails or certified letters that were mailed to him. Ebay refused to remove feedback although they were provided with shipping & delivery confirmation that item had been delivered less than 3 full-days after ordering, along with copies of emails I sent to buyer inquiring about the supposed problem. I even gave the buyer the benefit of the doubt that the feedback was actually posted to the wrong seller. Ebay refused to take into consideration that the buyer had not followed ANY of the recommended guidelines to resolve a transaction issue. Therefore, a  Power Seller with 100% Positive Feedback decided to withdraw from doing business on eBay, and I was doing quite well. I made every attempt to persuade ebay to remove the feedback, but they refused to do anything. Considering the amount of fees I was paying them as seller, I expected a little more support as I had provided ample proof that the feedback was unfounded and fraudulent. So, sellers beware. Ebay will not protect you! Even worse, they now want to further hinder the ability of a seller to defend themselves. Of note, at the time I left Ebay, there was no safeguard in place to prevent buyers from buying but never paying, which wouldn't be so bad if you didn't have to fight Ebay to get your listing & selling fees reimbursed. I will admit that I have considered selling on ebay again, but in light of this new policy change, that is definitely not going to happen.