E-bay feedback for buyers?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Last week ended up managing a e-bay business for a freind of mine. Answering e-mails filling orders freight claims ect. This account generaly has 1500 active auctions at any given time in addition to a extensive e-bay store. Thankfully no new auctions were being posted durning this time. Handling that account is normaly a full time job for at least 2 people. I got the fun of being thrown into it without any help. I still have a fulltime job besides that.

Basicaly I had hundreds of people a day emailing me. A large percentage of those people were requesting possitive feedback for there purchase.(them buying something from me). Of those there was a small number of people that were demanding it as though they were entitled to it.

Feedback makes sense to me for E-bay sellers. When I shop on ebay I am looking at all the pottential people I can buy from and a higher rating gives me a comfort in buying from that person. I choose who I buy from.

If I buy from someone and they are easy to deal with and I get my item in a timely manner I feel they get a possitive feedback. Letting others know I think they are a safe person to buy from

If I buy from someone and there is a problem like I don’t get the item(ever) or it is not as the auction stated and they make no attempt to resolve the issue. I give them negative feedback. Warning others that person may not be safe to deal with.
Feedback for buyers doesn’t make much sense. As a seller anyone can bid on my auctions. I don’t say this or that person isn’t high enough rating to bid on my auctions. If someone is truly a problem(generaly based on them screwing me in the past) they get banned from my auctions. What is the point of me leaving negative feedback? I can’t think of anytime I’d leave negative feedback on a customer.

The only time I leave possitive feedback for a customer is if they stand out above the rest of my customers. Simply buying something doesn’t justify any feedback. If they spent a truly large amount of money with me I might give a possitive feedback. If I screw up(or the shipping company in many cases) and the customer is patient and/or coopertive in letting me resolve the issue I tend to leave possitive feedback.

With this particular account it would literaly take a full time person dedicated to leave accurate feedback for every buyer. Generaly requests for possitve feedback are just deleted. It isn’t worth anyones time to do so.

What are your thoughts on buyer feedback?

2

Sorry but I am more likely to buy again from a seller who can be bothered to leave feedback. If my purchase isn’t worth the extra minute at most it takes to give the feedback then I see little reason in trusting the seller is offering anything but the bare minimum service.
I look at other buyer’s feedback when I see a negative in a seller’s feedback for a seller I am considering I then look at the feedback of the buyer who had the problem with the seller. This gives me a good indication if the buyer was just a jerk, or had a legitimate problem with the seller.
It shouldn’t be difficult to automatically give +ve feedback to any buyer either when they pay, or when they leave +ve feedback for you. If there isn’t a program to do that automatically I would be surprised.

3

Agree. If someone can’t spend 2 seconds leaving feedback which is more or less a thank you from purchasing something from them instead of the next guy, I wouldn’t buy from them again.

4

I just want to add that I never leave feedback for a seller unless I receive feedback from them first. I really can’t remember buying something where the seller didn’t leave feedback though.

5

I am a very small buyer. I prefer to buy from large outfits with stellar reputations, so as not to get screwed. That being the case, if the large sellers are too busy to give me feedback, I would get no feedback at all, which doesn’t seem fair.

A lot of these big sellers seem to have one copy-and-paste feedback comment they slap on every concluded transaction. Sure, it’s basically a rubber stamp, but what the hell. If the transaction went smoothly and quickly and everyone’s happy, that’s a positive thing, right? Why not say so, if it only takes a few seconds? Just paste “Thanks for shopping at XYZ!” into the box and click a radio button. Done!

6

My thoughts are that it’s not your account. What do the owners of the account want?

If you want to leave feedback quickly, you can do it thru MyEbay. Just bring up a list of all auctions needing feedback and check off positive for all the ones you completed. You can just type “+++” in the comments space, if you are at a loss for words, or cut and paste something. Ten seconds a feedback, tops.

By the way, I’ve only been a buyer. After a few hundred positives I no longer care about it. But some people do.

And buyers, if it is all that important to you, you can click on “Feedback left for others” and see how many feedbacks the seller left. A number a lot less than their positive feedback will let you know to buy elsewhere.

7

As a buyer, if I’m looking at a seller who doesn’t have a great big history then the feedback they got as a buyer can help me feel more or less sure about whether I want to do a transaction with this person. For example, 2 sellers are selling the same item that I want:

Seller 1 - Has only sold 1 or 2 items in the past, but has purchased several. Most of the feedback for them as a buyer says they’re late in paying, hard to get money from, return items that are in good order.

Seller 2 - Also has only sold 1 or 2 items in the past, but also has purchased several. All of the feedback for them as a buyer says they’re a good buyer, pay promptly, etc.

I’d be more likely to buy from seller 2. Even though the feedback is based on them as a buyer, they’re more likely (IMHO) to be a reliable seller, get me my goods on time after payment and etcetera.

8

The owner of the account has a similar attitude to my own. ‘Feedback like many other E-bay options is optional not a requirement.’ This paticular account is a newer one. It is an E-bay business. The account has a 14080 rating with a 99.1% possitive feedback. I think accomplishing that in just over a year proves the average E-bay buyer is more concerened with quaility reliabilty and speed then feedback that is only meaningful if you are also using ebay to sell. When things are sold through this account she has no expectation of possitive feedback. She certinly doesn’t email people requesting they leave us possitive feedback.

No news is good news. If someone doesn’t leave possitive feedback thats fine by me/her.

If it is a slow day and she or an employee just wants busy work yeah she’ll go through and leave possitive feedback for a number of customers at a time. While many here argue it’s only a few minutes/seconds to leave feedback it does still take some time. The profit margin selling on e-bay is nothing spectacular volume makes the money. Dedicating time to leave feedback pays very little if anything. The loss of a customer that expects extra time is hardly damaging to the business. Even if it only works out to 1 second per responce thats still 15 minutes out of the day for a 1000 auctions.

I think expecting feedback from sellers is like expecting an associate at wallmart to be helpfull. Sure it’s nice when they do but thats not the reason for shopping there people shop there because it is cheaper then other places.

9

Except that the basis for Ebay IS the fact you get feedback and can judge your purchases/sales accordingly. That is really a key to Ebay. Many people limit bidding on their auctions to people with x+ feedback. I am a long time buyer on ebay, but I’m not especially prolific and I value my feedback.

Now, my peeve is when sellers will not leave feedback until the buyer does. Excuse me, I paid you promptly and accurately, I have done my part, leave me my damned feedback you extortionist. If you do screw up, it has no bearing on me fulfilling my portion of my obligation,so stop being a dick.

It is 15 minutes for 1000 sales? Are you freaking kidding me? Does this sound like an unreasonable amount of time really? Oh please, tell me the name on the account so I can make sure I don’t take up any valuable seconds. That is probably less by an order of magnatude time than those buyers took to decide to use you instead of someone else. FWIW, I just spent $150 on a halloween costume because a friend sent me a link to the one she bought and told me she just paid for it and got a shipping # within an hour and a ship date via UPS ground within a week. NFW would I have risked that much money on a costume this close to halloween without that person taking MORE time to tell me how pleased she was with the service of that vendor than you are quibbling about over 1000 sales.

FWIW, my space bar is broken and it has taken me more time to type this out to try to educate you than you are willing to spend on your CLIENTS.

10

I run an ebay business and we always leave feedback. Mainly because positive feedback encourages repeat sales, but also because you can block people below a certain feedback score from bidding on your auctions. As we use this facility, it seems fair to leave negatives where someone has really messed up or tried to defraud us.

11

Feedback for buyers doesn’t make much sense. As a seller anyone can bid on my auctions. I don’t say this or that person isn’t high enough rating to bid on my auctions. If someone is truly a problem(generaly based on them screwing me in the past) they get banned from my auctions. What is the point of me leaving negative feedback? I can’t think of anytime I’d leave negative feedback on a customer.
For one thing, a seller who leaves negative feedback for a buyer could be warning **other ** sellers about the buyer. eBay is a community and people are supposed to share their feedback on transactions. I do agree that feedback for sellers is generally more useful than feedback for buyers. However, as mainly a buyer, I do read a seller’s feedback (from and for buyers) to assess whether the seller is someone I’d want to deal with. From the manner and tone of the seller’s comments, I can usually form an opinion about the seller’s responsiveness and willingness to resolve transactions that go wrong. I always favor sellers who leave positive feedback as soon as payment has been received in full. Those sellers get added to “My Favorite Sellers” list.

12

Sure, it’s optional, you don’t have to do it. But you’re daft if you don’t do it, because it improves customer satisfaction and buyer confidence.

When checking out sellers, I very often click the ‘left for others’ link in their feedback page - if their feedback is unbalanced (as yours sounds like it may be), I might just move on and find another seller.

However, you’re not obliged to give feedback just because it was requested/demanded, and you certainly shouldn’t leave feedback for a buyer immediately upon payment.
As a seller, I only leave feedback for buyers when they have signalled that the entire transaction is complete - and they can do this either by leaving feedback for me, or sending me a message/email to let me know everything is OK.

13

Prompt and accurate payment is only part of your side of the transaction as a buyer. Please don’t tell me you expect feedback as soon as you’ve paid.

14

What else is there? If the buyer only pays promptly, and does nothing else (including giving no feedback, positive or negative), what more can a seller expect or require? Yes, I know that a buyer can later stuff up the transaction with unfair complaints about the seller or the product, but it is unfair to assume that the buyer is going to do that.

When I buy things on eBay, some sellers give the positive feedback right after I’ve pad, and others wait until after I’ve received the goods and sent my positive feedback. I won’t complain about that, because feedback is voluntary, but I do know which sellers are being more friendly in their behaviour.

15

Waiting until the transaction is over before leaving feedback isn’t assuming anything; it’s just a case of waiting until all relevant information is available.

For example, I’ve had buyers contact me on receipt of the items to gush about how pleased they are with the item, or with the fast delivery, or ask if I’ll be selling any more, or suggest modifications to the product. When I leave feedback for these buyers, I am able to comment on their good communication, or their friendly attitude, or helpful advice.

If I’d left them feedback immediately upon payment, what would there have been to say about them other than that they paid promptly?

Of course there is always the possibility that a buyer will raise a stink either because of some genuine fault, or because they are trying to defraud the seller, or because they are just an asshole. Again, waiting until the whole transaction is over allows the feedback to properly reflect the sort of experience that others might be able to expect in dealing with the member.

Feedback isn’t about little green circles, it’s about accurate information.

16

Furthermore, my stance on this is consistent with eBay’s own instructions on the topic, to wit:

and

When the buyer has only just paid and the goods have not yet even been sent, the seller is simply not in a position to be able to accurately comment on the entire transaction.

I don’t believe in holding the buyer to ransom for their feedback though - as I said, I’ll leave honest feedback as a seller if they just indicate by email or message that the transaction is complete.

17

I’m interested to see that Ebay actually recomend looking at the -ve feedbacks. I always try to do that. Is there a way to filter a feedback list to see only the neutral and negative feedbacks?

18

To give a concrete example of why feedback is important to buyers…
I recently bought a CD via ebay, after a couple of weeks it hadn’t arrived so I contacted the seller (who had a healthy +ve feedback score), the seller immediately sent me another identical CD saying that the first had probably got lost in the post.

Now I’m sure if I have none, or very little feedback or some -ve feedback the seller might have thought I was pulling some kind of trick against him/her. The fact that I have about a hundred all +ve feedback from a large selection of sellers would have shown this seller that I am probably trustworthy.

Also if I leave a negative feedback (I’ve never had to yet) someone investigating the seller will see that I have been able to have many succesful ebay transactions with other sellers. This will help them decide if they trust my jugement of this particular seller. On the other hand if a jerkish buyer leaves a -ve to a seller, looking at that buyer’s feedback will show many -ve’s from sellers and indicate that their feedback for this seller should be ignored.

To be reasonable, now with ~100 +ve feedback, I don’t care too much for a seller who is too lazy to leave feedback. But with only a dozen or so feedback every feedback is important.

If the OP could persuade her friend to at least leave feedback to any seller with 20 or less current feedback then that would be a big improvement. Some sellers only sell to those buyers with 1 or more (or 10 or more…) net +ve feedback.

19

Yes, and I get it within hours most of the time. The rest of the times it is either from “FB withholders” (those sellers who are paranoid and think that if they give you a POS you will NEG them) or those sellers who just plain never give FB.

When I get my item, I check to see if the seller has given me FB. If not, I send them a quick message telling them that I got the item. In theory, this should satisfy the sellers who claim they need to wait until the buyer agrees they have rcvd the item 1st. But it doesn’t. If they haven’t already given me FB, my email to them saying “got the item, all is fine, thank you” is pointless- they are waiting until I give them a POS 1st to reply with their FB. So, those sellers usually get no FB from me at all.

Now, I have learned that the “FB with-holders” are just paranoid- so I won’t refuse to do business with one. BUT, I do remember those who trust me enough to give fast POS FB, and willoften buy from them again.

I do check FB left by a seller. If a see a pattern of retalitory FB- that is a NEG left only & always because they got a NEG- I won’t buy from them. Sometimes a seller does screw up, and deserves that NEG, and they shouldn’t retaliate if the NEG was deserved. Sometimes some Newb will leave a Neutral thinking that that’s the right thing to do if they are neither happy or really mad- and the seller will retaliate with a NEG- that’s wrong too.

In other words- the NEG should be supported by the actions of the other, not just the FB they left. Sure, sometimes you are unhappy, but are thinking to not leave any FB at all, but the other dude NEGs you so you think “Ok, what the hell”. That’s different.

But really, Sellers- if the buyer isn’t a Newb or a crazy- you should leave a POS upon payment. If you can’t discern a Newb or a crazy upon one minutes looking at their FB, you shouldn’t be selling on eBay- stick to garage sales.

“FB Withholding” Sellers just hurt themselves. A high FB rating is important to a seller. To a buyer- not so much. If you leave fast POS FB a Seller will get more POS FB, which means more sales. Many sellers bemoan slow sales- maybe this is a reason? :confused:

OTOH, FB isn’t a requirement. No one has to leave it. So, don’t get your panties all in a bunch 'cause the other dudes doesn’t. Just remember that for the next time, and move on. One gentle reminder is OK.

20

I’d say you should do it, too.
Besides import CDs, I buy a lot of hobby supplies on eBay, and I’m picky about my hobby supplies. If there isn’t enough information on the listing, I can get into some pretty arcane questions before I go ahead and buy something. I have, for example, been known to ask about batch numbers on paint; some manufacturers are pretty bad about cross-batch consistency and I wanted to make sure I got one that was close to the one I had. This means I’m much more likely to buy stuff from other hobbyists who are getting rid of excess supplies, but really I don’t care, so long as I get the stuff I need. So I ask questions.

Thing is, I don’t want to waste my time or yours, so, given a choice between two sellers, I go for one that looks more communicative. If you can’t even be bothered to spend the five seconds to leave feedback, what does that say about the chances that you’ll bother to answer my question accurately, instead of telling me what you think I want to hear? I know I’m a pain in the ass, so when someone is good about answering, I go out of my way to pick through their other auctions and pick up anything else I might need at the moment.

No feedback, no question. No question, no answer. No answer, no purchase. No purchase, no extra sales.

But I’m weird like that.