Feedback Questions - Retaliatory and Otherwise

[girgoofe]

The one thing, if not the only thing that frustrates me about the eBay is the feedback system. Sellers who will wait till the buyer leaves feedbacks to leave feedback themselves. If someone pays me quickly, they have every right to receive feedback from me, since after all, they completed their part of the bargain and fulfilled their obligation. I always leave positive feedbacks first, rather than waiting. Then it's my job to earn their positive feedback. I'm not sure why some sellers wait until they receive a positive first. I know it's to protect their record, but if the buyer pays fast, what's the problem?

The whole feedback system seems strange to me. Buyers can leave negative feedbacks upon winning an auction and not pay and insist they didn't realize the item was in Canada and had higher shipping to the U.S., or they don't like the shipping charge. Worse is if the buyer is at fault, and you leave them a negative, they can easily retaliate. Doesn't seem fair that feedback can be left for a seller when the buyer hasn't followed through and pay. Just wondering what your experiences have been like with feedback and if there are any tips you would suggest to manage feedback to protect yourself, but not at the expense of with-holding feedback from good buyers.

[nancyschina]

Hi;
I don't leave feedback until the buyer leaves me feedback or emails me to say that the item arrived safely. The buyer has more resposibility than just paying. If they have a problem with their item, they need to contact me before leaving feedback and give me an opportunity to make things right. I feel that a transaction isn't over until the buyer receives the item and lets me know they are happy with the transaction.

[tobyshitzu]

"The whole feedback system seems strange to me."

Yes, but changes may be coming. Could be quite a shock to some sellers who have been able to protect their rating with the retaliation thing

http://www.gardendreaming.com/feedback.html

More and more buyers seem to be realizing things aren't right - just saw one leave a neutral to say the seller waits to leave feedback.

[catalystpaintball]

I don't leave feedback anymore untill after the buyer leaves it for me. I have had several buyers try and blackmail me into giving them a partial refund in exchange for a positve feedback after I have given them one.

So if they leave me positive I leave them positive, if they wait for me, then they will never see it.

Steve

[mtfman]

I as well have been blackmailed, no more !!
I wait till they leave feedback, in fact Ebays Sellers Manager Pro does just that for you

[girgoofe]

What I am about to say is potentially controversial. I wonder whether the types of bidders who blackmail sellers, etc. have to do with the type of things that the seller is selling. For instance, my friend sells iPod and cell phone accessories on eBay. Based on his experience, most of his buyers are 20-25. I know another lady who sells older collectable books on eBay. She has sold over 2000 items and has not once had a bad feedback experience. Most of her buyers are 40+. My iPod accessories friend has had several nasty experiences. Perhaps the nature of the item sold has a correlation to the type of bidder you can expect? While I don't want to generalize per se, perhaps age does lend itself to more mature buyers. I wonder if my experience would be different if I was selling XBOX games...

[cartoonsinabox]

I always leave feedback upon receiving payment from client. And I have never had any problems. Communication is a key factor if package gets lost or damaged in mail we will replace or refund. We always find a way to accommadate the client. We have alot of repeat customers because of this.

Put yourself in the shoes of a buyer, there is alot of fraud on the internet today. If you go back 10 years ago this was less of an issue(I am not saying there wasn't any scammers but alot less).

[tobyshitzu]

"I wonder if my experience would be different if I was selling XBOX games..."

I've sold hundreds of video games, sent untracked to any address the buyers want them to go, always left fb first, never had a problem (1 person left neutral by mistake - would it have served any purpose if i had hammered them back with a neg as many sellers automatically do?). I believe some of the buyers doing the emailing were under the age to be dealing on ebay too.

[mmarway]

For the most part, I leave feedback within a few dys of getting payment, usually way before the items arrives to the buyer. On some items I will hold back feedback if the user is brand new, or has any recent negs.

Jaime

[mtfman]

Well let me tell you something
XBOX pain
Playstation pain
IPOD pain

Are you feeling my pain

[youreinthebook]

The "seller leaves feedback first" argument is usually based on the supposition that "once the buyer pays they have completed their end of the transaction".

If you have a policy that you accept returns, or exchanges, then the transaction does not necessarily end with the payment, does it?

If you leave glowing feedback for a buyer after payment, and then the buyer comes back with unreasonable requests or demands after receiving the item, then your glowing feedback is now not a factual representation of the transaction. Your feedback is a now a disservice to other sellers on eBay who rely on feedback to determine the legitimacy of the buyer as much as buyers use it to determine the legitimacy of sellers.

We used to give buyers feedback first until we came across a buyer who defrauded us. We left a follow-up feedback, but the buyer still went on to defraud several other eBay sellers. This buyer is savvy, he chooses to do business with sellers who leave feedback after payment, so as of this point in time he still has no negs.

We have also twice encountered buyers who have made a purchase, paid, and then plead for us to give them feedback right away so they could "build up their feedback quickly". We were were still "nice" back then so we decided because they asked us nicely, to leave them the positive feedback. In both cases the buyers racked up a lot of positive feedback quickly by doing the same with other sellers, then committed fraud and had their accounts shut down.

Our policy is to never leave feedback first. We have no problems sleeping at night with that policy in place and no one has demonstrated a compelling reason why we should go back to the old policy. We have left leaving feedback up to an automated system and not having to think about feedback is quite wonderful, thank you.

[whoscloset]

Ebay has now implemented a system whereby, if a seller files an UPI complaint and the buyer does not respond, any feedback left by the buyer, neg or pos, will automatically be removed. It's not perfect, but it is better than it was. Now you can wait through the UPI process and once you have received your FVF, if the buyer didn't respond, you can leave them a neg without being concerned about retaliation.
Monique

[funkywatch_com]

The Feedback is there to give both parties a chance to express their experiences on a transaction they have made through ebay.

In my mind, the transaction is not complete until:
a) I have been paid for the item;
AND
b) The buyer has received the item.

Therefore, i think feedback should be left after both these actions have occured.

Selling Manager Pro gives you the option to leave immediate positive feedback when positive feedback is received. This is an eBay implemented feature, so I assume ebay considers this an acceptable way to use the feedback system.

[auctionsalebargains]

Confuscious say: Only Fools with deep pockets leave Feeback First.

You only get feedback from me when you have the item & it isn't broken, damaged, wet, the wrong colour, lost, chipped, scratched, dented or any other phoney baloney hokey excuse for a refund you can think of.

I State in my listings: We always leave feedback when you do and we always leave what we get.

[moltencore]

I left a buyer a postive feedback a week ago for an item. Two days later they filed a chargeback through their credit card company saying it was unauthorized credit card use -- so now paypal is in the process of reversing the charge and has a hold on my $78.00 USD for an item I shipped to their registered eBay/paypal address.



They've been a member in good standing for 2 years and have continued bidding/buying the same kind of items I sent to them.



Obviously a credit card scam by an overextended buyer as after I sent them an angry email about the reversal they said they would pay me again as soon as they got their new credit card.



Bottom line - I left postive feedback BEFORE I knew how this transaction would end and I regret it. THAT is why sellers wait to leave feedback.



As an earlier post said - 'The buyer has more resposibility than just paying'.

Gail

[girgoofe]

Thanks for the post. This really brings to light the issue and why sellers wait.

I look at that guy's feedback record and think, how does this guy stay on eBay? I've never seen a buyer with 10+ more feedbacks have 68.4% and is still registered. Most buyers tend to be unregistered after their feedback percentage drops to a certain amount.

The other question I would pose is whether a BUYER'S feedback record affects anything at all on eBay. Obviously a seller whose feedback record is riddled with negatives may cause others to be wary or stay away altogether. From last I checked, there wasn't any tools to block bidders like this from actually bidding. Is the only thing that we can do simply to put a policy on our listing asking them to email us first, or something? But even this cannot be enforced and I guess potentially any bidder out there, no matter how bad the feedback record, can bid on any seller's item (unless geographic restrictions, etc. are in place). Is this true?

[sunshine2426]

I leave positive feedback as soon as the client pays and hope they do as well.

[wsboyd]

From last I checked, there wasn't any tools to block bidders like this from actually bidding. Is the only thing that we can do simply to put a policy on our listing asking them to email us first, or something?

You can set eBay to block Bidders with 2 or more NPB (in the last 30 days) marks against them, if that helps.

[wsboyd]

I usually wait as well. Some Buyers get upset at this so I have a 'canned ' e-mail I send when they ask "why no Feedback yet". I added the 'Smiley' on the end last month when a buyer screamed BlueMurder that this was VERY RUDE.

Opinions anyone ?

Hi,

I don't usually leave feedback when the Buyer just pays the contract price they have legally agreed to pay. I rate the entire experience, from start to finish.

My original auction Invoice asked you to leave me Positive Feedback when you received the items, as that's how I track what has arrived safely & what has not.

Over the last seven+ years, I have found that almost 20% of Buyers don't leave it on a consistent basis. So I leave Feedback to everyone who is interested in Feedback.

This means I leave it when they leave it for me OR they contact me & ask about it, like you have.
:-)

[gloriaguides]

I leave feedback first, because it gives my buyers confidence. However, I usually sell books to the 40+ crowd. It's telling that ALL of my negative feedbacks have come from video game buyers, whom I presume are younger, more impatient (or illiterate?), and less experienced with Canada Post. And yes, i occasionaly have a book buyer try to get a partial refund...I deal with each situation as it arises.... and it's not very common. I'm not too concerned about a few negs--after my first i got used to it and I believe the positive comments and the items i sell outweigh a few negs. Gloria