How to leave positive feedback when refunded?

[sabinahorton]

So I bought an item from China. It didn't arrive. After some insistence from me, the seller did give me a refund. I have no reason to think the seller didn't ship the item. Items from China often seem to take more than two months to arrive, and with the Canada Post situation, I wouldn't be surprised to see my item in like a year from now, at which time I will repay the seller. I felt that I had to ask for a refund now, though, because otherwise I would no longer have any recourse through ebay.

Anyway, because the seller did refund me, I want to leave positive feedback for him while I still can, but it's been so long since I've used ebay that I'm not sure what counts as good feedback. If I leave some of the star areas blank, will that just not count, or will that count as "0 stars"? If I choose "no" for "Did this item arrive on time?", will that be bad for the seller? I want to be honest if I can, so I'd like to not select any stars  for "item description" and "shipping time", but I don't mean for that to be negative. Any suggestions? I'm not adverse to just selecting 5 stars for everything and explaining the situation in the comments, but I'd rather not if I don't have to. Would it be better for me to just not leave feedback?

Thanks for your help.

[momcqueen · Accepted solution]

I won't tell you what kind of feedback to leave but I can answer one or two of the questions.

If you leave zero stars as part of the Detailed Seller Ratings, there is no data registered for that reading. It is a pass. One will lower the number of stars displayed, five will increase it.

If you answer 'no' to the question as to whether it arrived on time, the seller will get a mark for a late-arriving shipment. No sellers like those but it doesn't kill their account like something called a 'defect' does but 'defects' are for other matters.

If you lost a 'case' against the seller for something, you won't be able to leave any feedback.

For more, there's this: https://www.ebay.ca/pages/help/feedback/allaboutfeedback.html

and also this: https://pages.ebay.ca/services/forum/feedback.html

[sabinahorton]

"If you leave zero stars as part of the Detailed Seller Ratings, there is no data registered for that reading. It is a pass. One will lower the number of stars displayed, five will increase it.

If you answer 'no' to the question as to whether it arrived on time, the seller will get a mark for a late-arriving shipment."

Thanks. That's what I really wanted to know and couldn't find an answer to.

I ended up giving five stars for "communication", "positive" for "overall experience", said in the comments that I was refunded and left everything else blank.

[reallynicestamps]

EBay does not use either Feedback or DSRs (stars) to assess seller performance.

Since the seller refunded you promptly and on his own account when you made a Dispute, eBay is quite happy with him.

Your FB and DSRs will be read by some buyers.

Most of those think 95% is just peachy, instead of incompetent or crooked.

Almost no one understands DSRs, and I believe it is only still there because removing that legacy code would mess something else up.

If you buy from Asia, Free Shipping will mean Surface which takes a long time. It also means untracked, and if a buyer complains about non-arrival the seller will lose any Dispute.

Some sellers of very cheap items will just not send anything (vapourware) and refund the few complaining buyers. Most buyers will either forget they bought or won't bother claiming a refund over a few dollars. For scammers this is a win. Refunds are just a minor expense.

If your item ever arrives, do repay the refund. It is always a good idea to reward honesty.

My FB if any would be "Paid 9/20 Not rec'd Refund 11/20"  and neutral.

Neutral FB does not affect the seller's percentage, but is more likely to be read by future buyers than positive.

You can leave a Response to any FB indefinitely. For example "Arrived 1/31 /19 I repaid refund"