I noticed some sellers don't leave feedback. I always leave feedback, is it not important?

[sewran]

I have noticed lately some sellers don't leave feedback, I am usually a buyer and always leave feedback.  Has it become less important?

Charlina

[pierrelebel]

Feedback is and has always been voluntary.

Most (not all) sellers leave feedback and most (not all) buyers leave feedback.

In the three years since you joined eBay, you gave 789 feedback and received 709.  That is almost 90%. That is better than average.

[mr.elmwood]

Well, this is the buyer's fault. I leave 100% and receive 40% back. FB left by the buyer  has been declining for about two years now.

FB is ultimately meaningless, anyway.

[pierrelebel]

"receive 40% back"

???

Over the years, you have left 8,076 feedback and received 5,169 for a 64% average.  Not that bad!

The ratio over the last year appears to be consistent.

[mr.elmwood]

How do you see this stuff? Yer a better sleuth than me. The last six months I have received 165, I have left over 400.

[pierrelebel]

"How..."

In the box under "Feedback as a seller'" you will find the information:

5,169 Feedback received

8,076 Feedback left

[mr.elmwood]

Oh, that one. Yeah, it is the long term average. The last year has been very poor for FB received. I am 100% in giving and 40% in receiving.

Since I buy nothing, the lack of FB is from buyers.

[rose-dee]

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@mr.elmwood wrote:
Oh, that one. Yeah, it is the long term average. The last year has been very poor for FB received. I am 100% in giving and 40% in receiving.

Since I buy nothing, the lack of FB is from buyers.

---

I agree -- although my overall rate taken from my beginnings on eBay is a lot higher, in the last few months FB from buyers has been declining dramatically. They just don't seem to bother coming back anymore in the numbers they did a few years ago.  Why that is, is another interesting question, ripe for theories no doubt.

I occasionally still buy (from trusted sellers who I know will leave me FB), so that's been helping to keep my numbers up lately.  If the true buyer FB were looked at over the last 6 months, it's certainly nowhere near the 90%+ response I used to get from buyers. 

Interestingly, the other day a buyer actually emailed me to say how delighted she was with an item, but excused herself for having accidentally left 4 stars in a finger-slip on the "Enter" button when she really meant to leave 5 stars.  Yikes, I can't even manage to get full credit for DSRs when I deserve them and the customer intends them!  I'm just grateful her finger didn't slip on the button at "1" star throughout.

[rose-dee]

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@sewran wrote:

I have noticed lately some sellers don't leave feedback, I am usually a buyer and always leave feedback.  Has it become less important?

Charlina

---

Sorry I didn't answer your question directly up there!  I meant to say that as a buyer, even though FB is completely optional for everybody, I might be reluctant to buy again from a seller who didn't leave me FB on a transaction, as that says one of two things to me (just my own, personal opinion), either:

(a) the seller doesn't really care enough about his FB score or his customers to bother; or

(b) the seller has such a huge volume that FB is totally irrelevant to him, in which case you might also be irrelevant if as a buyer you ever had a problem with a transaction.

As I said, this is my own view, and although others may disagree, I think leaving FB for buyers is part of good customer service, whether the FB is meaningless on eBay or not.  It's the final "thank you" and acknowledgement from a seller for your business.  As a seller, I haven't ever failed to leave FB for my buyers. 

An addendum though:  Some sellers do take time to leave FB -- many don't leave FB immediately upon payment for an item, and wait to do so in batches once every few weeks, so you might want to give it some time.

[mr.elmwood]

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@rose-dee wrote:

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@sewran wrote:

I have noticed lately some sellers don't leave feedback, I am usually a buyer and always leave feedback.  Has it become less important?

Charlina

---

Sorry I didn't answer your question directly up there!  I meant to say that as a buyer, even though FB is completely optional for everybody, I might be reluctant to buy again from a seller who didn't leave me FB on a transaction, as that says one of two things to me (just my own, personal opinion), either:

(a) the seller doesn't really care enough about his FB score or his customers to bother; or

(b) the seller has such a huge volume that FB is totally irrelevant to him, in which case you might also be irrelevant if as a buyer you ever had a problem with a transaction.

As I said, this is my own view, and although others may disagree, I think leaving FB for buyers is part of good customer service, whether the FB is meaningless on eBay or not.  It's the final "thank you" and acknowledgement from a seller for your business.  As a seller, I haven't ever failed to leave FB for my buyers. 

An addendum though:  Some sellers do take time to leave FB -- many don't leave FB immediately upon payment for an item, and wait to do so in batches once every few weeks, so you might want to give it some time.

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That is your personal high standard of ethics at work.

It was, oh, 15 or so years ago, McDonalds was running TV commercials where the "customer" would walk up to counter and say "Gimme a burger". Gimmee. No please, no thank-you, no politeness.

It has been shoved down the throats of the masses that being polite is outdated, meaningless, not required as the seller is there to serve you, and is not entitled to anything more than your money.

I always stop, fully face the person I am dealing with, and personally thank them for serving me.

[rose-dee]

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@mr.elmwood wrote:

I always stop, fully face the person I am dealing with, and personally thank them for serving me.

---

Yes, and that reflects your high standard of courtesy and ethics, too!

"It has been shoved down the throats of the masses that being polite is outdated, meaningless, not required as the seller is there to serve you, and is not entitled to anything more than your money."

I have a different theory on this, which you might find a bit eccentric, and which I admit is based on nothing but surmise and observation.  This theory comes from the perspective of the baby boomer generation, whose mothers (for the most part) were still around when they (we) were in our formative years, wagging their fingers at our discourteous behaviour as toddlers, or constantly correctly our social faux-pas as youngsters, and teaching us to say please and thank you -- for everything, every time. 

I think the lack of parental input at an early age (since about the 1970's/80's, and mostly as a result of both parents -- and especially mothers -- having to work long hours and being too tired or busy to act as hands-on role models), has diluted the sense of social responsibility and created a feeling that courtesy is always optional, if and when one feels like it or isn't too busy.  There is also a sense of angry personal entitlement and refusal to take responsibility that's become pervasive. 

Whether this has its source in the shift in teaching styles and lowered expectations in schools from about the 1980's on, or whether it's just the progression of a society where individuals get less and less direct "practice" in honing social graces (and where such accomplishments are depicted in movies, TV, and other media as meaningless nonsense), is a sociologist's PhD-in-the-making.