Feedback policies

[hdwrench1]

Hi All,
What is everyones feedback policies?
We leave feedback right after payment and have gotten some neg feedback from some jokers. We reply to these but what is everyone elses policies.

Just curious.
Heritage Cycle Works

[allstarsalez]

i always leave feedback when buyer gives me feedback FIRST. i NEVER leave feedback first unless some is !@#$@ing about it, if you know what I mean 🙂

this is our policy and i am letting my customers know about it once they paid that:

"We are going to leave you feedback as soon as you will give us feedback. This should tell us that you have received our item and everything is OK."

i think that this policy reduces amount of feedback u r getting from customers but at least i have a chance to respond to some lame complaints.

cheers,
john

[cmagor-ctvi]

Well I guess I was a bit off the mark calling it "blackmail", so I'll try again to explain how I feel about the practice of waiting for positive feedback from the buyer before leaving feedback.

It seems that among these posts the major concerns that people are trying to guard against are crazy, illogical feedbacks and fraudulent or abusive buyers and I can understand those concerns. But since the vast majority of buyers don't fall into this category I think it's wrong to build your policy around them. As an honest buyer, when I see that someone I'm considering buying from is going to wait for my feedback before giving me feedback it makes me wonder what they are trying to hide. If they provide bad service or a bad product and I am unable to resolve it to my satisfaction am I going to leave a negative, knowing with certainty that there's one coming back the other way? Not too likely. As sellers we ask for a lot of trust from buyers, to send us money when they don't know us and have not seen the product. Feedback is at least as important to buyers as it is to sellers and just as failing to submit a neg on an NPB waters down the feedback system, I feel that providing a disincentive to buyers to post justified negs also reduces its value. And I'm just as concerned about getting rid of lousy sellers as I am about bad buyers - they tarnish the credibility of all of us.

I don't fear negatives - I know that sooner or later circumstances beyond my control, or making a stupid mistake in the wee hours of the morning will get me some negatives - at least you have the opportunity to respond to feedback comments. And I firmly believe that those who care to check on the details of negative feedbacks will consider the source as well. I'm just going to continue to think like a customer because what's good for my customers is ultimately good for me and as long as I know I've done everything to the best of my ability I'm satisfied and let'em say whatever they will!

Sorry, I wandered around a bit in this post, and I probably still didn't express my position very clearly (again!) but I do feel quite strongly about this.

Chris.

[treasure-pot]

I have a simple question, Chris.

What benefit (to anyone) is there in leaving feedback for a buyer immediately after payment? No one has ever been able to give me a clear cut answer to this question.

As I said before, we all know that the transaction does not conclude immediately upon payment by the buyer or shipping by the seller. If the purpose of feedback is to let the community know about the business dealings of either a buyer or a seller, how can you make a valid comment before the transaction ends?

I'm sorry, I feel just as strongly that sellers should be equally responsible in advising the community of the good or bad business dealings of a buyer. I'm not of the belief that payment justifies a "pat on the head" statement when the transaction is really just beginning.

A buyer who emails me out of the blue and demands to know where his item is and says that he requires a response within 24 hours or "face negative feedback" is only kept at bay with the "cold war" strategy. If you personally don't encounter many of the:

a)crazy
b)illogical
c)fraudulent
d)abusive
e)all of the above

that's great for you. I don't speak for anyone but myself and I have had six goofballs in the last week. The majority of people I encounter are great folks who only ask for a good product at a great price with a reasonable level of service. I have absolutely no problem with leaving these folks glowing feedback when they tell me our business is concluded. But those six goofs are still out there and I prefer to wait until my dealings are completed with them before I leave feedback.

If you feel that means that I have "something to hide" and that precludes you from doing business with me, that is a price I am willing to pay so as to supply a fair snapshot of my business dealings with everyone else. I could make the observation that leaving feedback before the transaction is concluded to very similar to "russian roulette" - you spin the barrel and you takes your chances.

Bill

[deltone]

Bill, I TOTALLY agree with all you said. In all my dealings on ebay, the majority of people I've dealt with are great, and no problem, but unfortunately, I've come across a few goofballs, two who left me negatives, and one who is surely going to leave me one in the next little while. I did not one thing to deserve these negatives, and I negged the two who gave me the negs, and will neg this other guy once my NPB is complete, and some may call it retaliatory, but I call it giving "MY" feedback of the entire transaction.

There are SO many things a buyer can do after the fact, that would make him not deserve a positive. Bidder could give the wrong address, and then blame the seller when the item takes a long time to get there as the item had to be returned to seller, and then remailed to the correct address, at the seller's expense. The bidder then leaves a negative for slow delivery. I've seen it happen.

Bidder could buy a pair of size 7 shoes, when she really wears a size 8, and when they don't fit (DUH) give the seller a negative. I've seen it happen.

Bidder could ruin his Celine Dion cd, and buy a new one on ebay, and when he receives it, he emails seller saying, your cd sucks, it doesn't work, and seller is then stuck paying for the shipping of it to be returned, and has to refund the bidder. Bidder gets new cd, for nothing, and seller is out the cost of the cd plus two shippings. Happens a lot. Could be dvd's, or software, of vhs tapes. What about bidders who get the items, make a copy, and then return the original and asks for refund? Happens a lot.

What about the bidder who purchases a Royal Doulton figurine, because her son little Johnny broke the one she just paid $250 for. No problem, buy one on ebay. Pay immediately. Seller sends it in PERFECT condition. Takes out of box, replaces broken one with the new PERFECT one, and then emails seller, all angry DEMANDING a refund as this piece of junk is broken. HAPPENS A LOT.

I could go on and on and on. Are these rare occurrences? Sadly, not really. These things might not all happen to one seller but obviously, the more you sell, the greater the possiblity of being a victim os some of these scams.

Also, some buyers are p*ssed if your item doesn't arrive within 3 days, and frankly, I know that some of my parcels arrive in a respectable amount of time, but some don't. Why should I get a negative because the PO is slow with the mail? Happens all the time.

Whether to leave feedback immediately or not is a personal choice, and one we each need to make for ourselves. My guess is when someone has a confrontation with one of these fruitcakes, it does a lot towards changing that seller's beliefs on when to leave feedback.

Besides, ebay does recommend feedback not be left until the transaction is complete.

[off_to_uni]

Hi everyone,

This is a good conversation.

"Whether to leave feedback immediately or not is a personal choice, and one we each need to make for ourselves. My guess is when someone has a confrontation with one of these fruitcakes, it does a lot towards changing that seller's beliefs on when to leave feedback."

100% accurate. I used to think exactly like Chris about leaving feedback first but a few months ago I changed my policy with no regrets, sure I miss the appreciation I received from some buyers because I left them feedback first but there are to many problems waiting to happen and sellers need to protect themselves as well.

I also agree with Bill about troublesome buyers getting unwarranted positive feedback. I have seen many sellers leave follow up comments with the true negative story but unfortunately it can be too late.

[firedept10]

I leave feedback after all is completed. This almost forces the buyer to contact you and allow the chance to correct any problems. I used to leave it when payment was received but then ended up with 2 neutrals without any contact from the buyer that I would have gladly fixed to their pleasure. I have found since changing my policy on feedback I am now at least given an opportunity to correct any mistakes. Beside, after receiving bad feedback with no chance of fixing the situation, would you want to do anything for them then. Probably not. I also believe alot of buyers do not understand we are almost like a store and in fact some of us do have return policies. JMO.

Don

[treasure-pot]

A good point Don. To carry it one step further, if we are to be persuaded that most buyers are basically good and will allow the seller an opportunity to correct problems what can't sellers also be given the same courtesy.

There does seem to be a huge mistrust of people who sell on eBay. Many buyers paint sellers with a very broad brush and immediately consider themselves the victim of another scam if something, however insignificant, goes wrong. I believe that is why many buyers are so quick to pull the trigger when it comes to negative feedback. I feel you are on the right track when you say "since changing my policy on feedback I am now at least given an opportunity to correct any mistakes".

[catseye*]

What benefit (to anyone) is there in leaving feedback for a buyer immediately after payment? No one has ever been able to give me a clear cut answer to this question.
As I said before, we all know that the transaction does not conclude immediately upon payment by the buyer or shipping by the seller. If the purpose of feedback is to let the community know about the business dealings of either a buyer or a seller, how can you make a valid comment before the transaction ends?

I second this. Since ebay recommends leaving feedback WHEN THE TRANSACTION IS FINISHED, I've always wondered why some sellers leave feedback when payment is made when there's so much more left in the transaction. How can they consider the transaction finished?

And, when I check a persons feedback and see only 'paid quickly', I don't really see that as a good indication of how the transactions went, only the fact that they were paid for...so many things go on afterwards.

Lainey

[firedept10]

And being able to correct a mistake on my part is fantastic. But as you said a large amount of buyers pull the trigger to quickly. Yes there are some terrible sellers but I have come to find through my own purchases that the great majority are very easy to work with and are extremely honest. But you can not blame 1 or 2 bad people as everyone. My belief is no one likes a neg so lets work together to be a happy buyer & seller. If that means waiting to leave feedback then so be it.

[www-labels4less-com]

Paying for an order is Law whereas Positive feedback is to tell the community that this person is a good person to deal with.

If Positive feedback was meant for quick payers, Ebay would have only given sellers the option of checkmarking the following:
Buyer paid quick,Buyer paid slow
Buyer was a NPB

[flyingeagle88]

I recently got an unjust neutral fb from a buyer. Which they stated I was slow to ship, when in fact I shipped it out the next day with tracking number. When I tried to leave a postive fb with a neg comment I was warned by eBay that it was a violation of policy. I was dumbfounded. I tried to then have his neutral removed from my fb, but to no avail. Basically I was screwed and eBAy sided with them, even though I've been a loyal ebay seller for 4 years. WHAT'S UP WITH THAT...STUPID NEW SYSTEM DOESN'T WORK. PLEASE WE NEED MORE SELLERS TO COMPLAIN OR ELSE WE MIGHT AS WELL NOT EVEN HAVE A FB SYSTEM LET'S JUST ALL HAVE FAKE POSTIVES AND PRETEND THIS FB SYSTEM IS A JOKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[faerywishes]

I used to leave feedback after I received positive feed back. Now I leave it when I receive the payment. To be honest it has bit me once since the feedback changes. I feel more confidence in a seller when they leave it for me when they receive my payment or when they have shipped. They can see by my feed back that I as a very good buyer. I feel if a seller doesn't feel confident they did the best job they can and not leave it then it can make me a bit wary of the seller especially when I haven't bought from them before. When it is someone I have bought from several times and they still don't leave it when they receive the payment or when they ship I probably will look for another seller that appreciates me more.:-D