Seller Paranoia

[b_35190]

Any thoughts on leaving feedback for the buyer. I am finding a lot of paranoid Canadian sellers who refuse to leave feedback until they get positive feedback first. I always put the customer first when I sell  . Is this wrong ? Should I be more cautious. Any thoughts here would be appreciated.

[katlover1952]

I too usually leave feedback for the buyer right away. As we cannot leave negative feedback for a buyer no matter what it seems pointless to hold off with the buyer's feedback IMO.

As for feedback as a seller, I always include a note with my items asking the buyer to contact me if any problems & if everything is satisfactory to please leave feedback to let me know they are pleased. I don't get feedback on every item by any means but do get quite a few buyers who do leave it.

I have had notes with items that I have purchased that will ask me to leave feedback if satisfied & once they know I the buyer am satisfied they will reciprocate with feedback.  As a buyer I feel that feedback should be left for me first as I have paid & done everything a buyer is supposed to do.

[ricarmic]

My own personal belief is that the buyer's role and the transaction valuation continues until they have received the item and have decided everything is ok. Theoretically in that belief system the seller wouldn't leave feedback until they knew the buyer was happy and there were no problems through the whole process (because buyers can be a problem after they've paid). In those long ago, barely memorable days when we could leave negative feedback for buyers, I didn't leave feedback normally until I received it from the buyer.

When things changed such that we can't leave anything but a positive, there is no point anymore in waiting to leave feedback. The most "damage" you can do to a bad buyer is not leave any feedback which is no damage at all.

Not leaving feedback first bears risk that some buyers expect it first (now or in the good old days) and it can cause them to react in a less positive way when they leave feedback.

So despite my beliefs, I always leave positive feedback now, upon payment. I do get a pretty good reciprocal feedback rate so I think it helps.

[pjcdn2005]

That view isn't restricted just to Canadian sellers but I don't see any reason to hold off on leaving feedback and I leave it once an item has been mailed. As far as being more cautious...I don't see how leaving feedback right away can hinder you in any way. The buyer could still have a problem with the transaction whether you have already left feedback or not. And, if there is the problem, the positive feedback you already left doesn't really benefit them anyway.  And if there is a problem and you've withheld feedback, that doesn't hinder the buyer either.

[reallynicestamps]

All feedback for buyers must be positive, and all buyers have 100% positive feedback.

While FB gives your customer the warm fuzzies, which is not a Bad Thing, it is no more meaningful the cashier's 'have a nice day' .

But I do make FB work for me. Since I rarely ship with tracking, I leave the date of shipping and the method along with a thank you in my FB for customers.

And since I use international dates (9/30/18) and mention Canada Post as the service, it is my hope that the customer will notice that her purchase will be crossing a border to get to her doorstep.

If a transaction goes very badly, I can leave a Response to any FB, my own or my customer's, indefinitely. And while the most effective FB or Response is calm and factual, Responses are not required to be positive.

Keep in mind, the only ones who will read your FB are future customers. And while Buyer 's feedback is anonymous, the Seller's name is always public.

Calm and factual.

[fastman614]

As a buyer who has purchased a few items short of 200, I have a difficult time seeing that, once a buyer commits to purchase and sends the $$$, he or she has done anything but discharged his or her obligation. As a buyer, I have had several serious disputes with (of all people) sellers. Items NOT AS DESCRIBED are the most usual thing. I once bought lot of copper primary wire (with various coloured insulation) that was described as 100% Oxygen Free Copper. When I got it, it was copper clad aluminum wire - completely not the same stuff! His excuse was that it is what his supplier sold him - so he was not to blame. I had left positive feedback at that point.... I would have trashed him had I not done so! I no longer post feedback until I see the goods.....and, unless the issues are solved or at least resolved, I do not post positive feedback or star ratings - although, often, the sellers with whom I have had disputes, have offered to refund my money IF I return the item, which is usually not worth the cost of shipping it back. This, I believe is merely a ploy to bolster a claim of trying to work with the customer.  In the cases of the foregoing, I usually leave NO feedback at all....Or I will tell it like it is ... As in- $30 return shipping cost to resolve $20 purchase - NOPE!
I guess I would just hope that most sellers would simply be honest in descriptions...and if they do not know something, to say so.

[esclyons]

you should never have to pay return shipping for an item not as described.

[cumos55]

Each seller makes a choice as to when they will leave a feedback.  Some sellers will never leave a feedback.

Many buyers have left a feedback and then asked  the seller to leave a feedback.

The most important part of a seller's record is whether a buyer has left a negative feedback, and what  the feedback says.

A potential  buyer may get a view of the character of a seller, by viewing the character of positive feedback receive by a seller.

There is no paranoia, just a standard practice with respect to when feedback is left by a seller..  

[reallynicestamps]

@fastman614

As a buyer, I have had several serious disputes with (of all people) sellers. Items NOT AS DESCRIBED........disputes, have offered to refund my money IF I return the item, which is usually not worth the cost of shipping it back. 

I hope you never have to use it in future, but the particular case you describe would fall directly and clearly into the Money Back Guarantee .

If you had opened a Dispute in the Resolution Centre at the bottom of this page (and most eBay pages) the seller would have been required to pay for the return shipping, with tracking, and to refund you on arrival.

If he had not done so, he would get a Defect on his account which is more serious than having to refund an unhappy buyer.

While the Dispute suggests that the buyer Contact the Seller, this need not be a conversation or haggling.

Just "I want a refund. Send return postage" from the buyer and "Here it is." from the seller. 

The advantage of this to you is the refund. The advantage to the eBay community is discouraging bad sellers which is good not only for buyers but for sellers who are striving to provide good service and good products.

[muoraj_oqgrisn80]

As a seller I leave feedback when I want to . If I go a couple weeks and feedback's build up I figure I might as well do it . Nothing changes the people who have already left me positive feedback would of anyway the people who didn't leave feedback never do even after I do and the people who have problems using or setting something up get taken care of . Feedback isn't really what it use to be and buyers are getting smarter at communicating their problems without just leave negative feedback from what I've experienced . I also guess it depends on what you are selling as well though .