I just think it’s because people are lazy. Once they receive their item, they don’t think to leave feedback because they got what they wanted. (Also this thread reminded me that I had feedback to leave. Most of my transactions are sales of books on half.com, which is slightly different because half.com processes the payments immediately, so there is no such thing as a person who is slow to send payment. )
Worked for a Powerseller. You wouldn’t believe the number of buyers who will find “flaws” within the items and use feedback as a bargaining tool to be able to keep the refund AND the item. If we had left them feedback straight off, we would’ve been defenseless (and indeed at first we left feedback right after the purchase–and quickly learned our lesson). Your responsibility as a buyer ends when we are both happy with the transcation; you have to be graceful about returns as well.
No, we withhold feedback because your responsibility doesn’t end at payment. Period.
Wait a minute - it’s my responsibilty to be happy with the item before you consider the transaction to be complete??!!??
I have never had an issue with anything I have bought off ebay. I read the auctions carefully before I bid. I check to make sure the shipping and handeling costs are clearly stated. If there would be an issue, I’d like to think I am a reasonable enough person to conduct myself as an adult and be graceful. I have sold a few things on ebay and left feedback as soon as the item was sent - mostly to let the buyer know it was sent. I also send a follow up email to the buyer after they get the item just to make sure there aren’t any issues. I guess because this is not how I make a living, I am not worried about having one negative feedback if someone wants to be a jerk. I also have no problems with leaving a negative feedback in the situation warrents it. I hope that enough buyers/sellers out there realize when looking at someone’s feedback that there are jerks out there and some of them leave negative feedback for no other reason than because they can.
BTW- have you noticed this thread is 3 years old?
I have two IDs on eBay… my first one for buying and the most recent one for selling my so-called art. 
On the former, I have almost 600 positive feedbacks with no negatives and don’t really care if someone skips it, although considering how it’s broken down under My eBay, I don’t feel that should ever be the case. ::: shrug ::: On the latter, although I’m under a 100 still, it’s the same thing and I immediately leave feedback once there has been payment and I have a complete refund guarantee. What limited problems I’ve had, both directions, have been resolved without much hassle. And I’ve left exactly two negatives in eight years. One for taking my money and not responding to repeated emails, then phone calls (as per eBay guidelines on the steps one must take first), and finally submitting it to arbitration. Even then I was reluctant and put in all the caveats above.
The other was for a book that I never received, which I then followed the same procedure as above. Considering this was a Power Seller with great feedback, I didn’t understand the lack of response and said so. Much later it was found out that their warehouse had burned to the ground with all computer records in it. They sent out refunds (plus interest) as soon as they could sort out the whole mess and many an apology. After that, I went through the proper channels and had my negative retracted and finally left a glowing review of how well they handled the situation.
Last of all, when I’m looking for something to purchase, I too read all the instructions carefully and if I find out some screw up is on my part (like I thought the shipping was lower), then I realize it’s not the seller’s fault and it’s my responsibility to make sure I understand all the fine print. If I don’t, too bad for me if I’m not paying attention. If what I need to know isn’t there, I email them with questions. If I hear nothing back, I weigh that into consideration on whether or not I proceed. Which I typically don’t because I hate non-combined shipping on letter size items.
Anyway, I also agree that a negative from a newbie will not register, no matter what. I take that into account despite a seller having several. I always assume that they either just don’t know what they are doing or don’t care. Also, I follow one to another to see if there is any retaliatory issues coming into play. I understand the reasons behind it, however, I simply don’t think that’s fair and if someone is displeased with my service/product, but they upheld their end of the bargain successfully, then I’ll just take my lumps and do whatever is necessary to make them as happy as I possibly can, grasping that there may be some disgruntled anyway, even if you move heaven and earth for the transaction. Once whichever end is completed first, in my humble opinion, feedback should follow.
No. It’s your responsibility to not to take the seller to the cleaners. You’d be surprised at how many buyers attempt that.
Then you’re not the problem, obviously.
Yes, and that negative feedback happens a lot less often when the buyer is the one leaving it first. To my knowledge, we’ve left only one neg feedback and that was in response to a person who was upset over clearly stated sales tax terms, though there are some clearly immature sellers who will neg for a neg regardless of their liability.
When the buyer knows there’ll be no consequence no matter what he does/says to the seller, because the seller has squandered his/her only line of defense, you’d be surprised at how many buyers turn into jerks, demand partial refunds for imaginary flaws, demand partial refunds on the shipping costs they imagine are too high, and so forth. These compliants mysteriously dwindled down to almost nothing as soon as we stopped leaving feedback first.
If you’re not part of the problem, and you apparently aren’t, then there’s no need to be defensive.
No. Thank you for pointing that out. I wasn’t the one who bumped it, though.
By the way, does anyone ever read the added comments about the transactions? I always do and take note when it’s been a tit-for-tat type thing.
For those who missed this. I bumped my own thread instead of starting a new one.
As a seller, (and occasional buyer), my policy has evolved thusly:
Send an email to acknowledge receipt of payment, as soon as it is received. Reassure buyer that package will be shipped next day, with delivery confirmation.
I ship package.
I respond to feedback when received, as this constitutes acknowledgment of receipt and customer satisfaction; end of transaction. I would also leave feedback upon receipt of an email with the same information, but nobody ever seems to do this. If people don’t let me know it arrived and they are happy, I can’t be certain they did receive it, or that there is not some problem I overlooked.
Some people do not leave feedback, and I do not ask for it, and I certainly do not attempt to manipulate by saying “I’ll leave you some if you leave me some” (which can be considered feedback extortion). So, every so often, maybe once a month or so, I’ll go through my ‘old’ transactions, the ones which must have been received and the buyer satisfied (because they didn’t complain in over a month) and leave a nice generic positive, like 'Thanks for your business!". Sometimes they respond with feedback, mostly not.
I leave negative feedbacks for non-paying bidders after at least 3 attempts to contact via email, and going through the Unpaid Item Dispute process on Ebay, allowing a week to respond before closing the dispute. Such “buyers” get a factual negative, stating date of purchase, attempts to contact, UID dispute filed. Nothing personal, no anger. Just the facts ma’am. I have received retaliatory negatives for such negatives, but anybody who actually reads feedbacks can see what happened, and I don’t flinch over a negative that tells that kind of story.
When I buy, I leave feedback upon receipt and examination. If I don’t leave feedback, it’s due to some dissatisfaction I can’t figure out how to explain, or which would look stupid in text. I recently left someone a positive feedback for a cashmere sweater I bought, but really, if I’d paid more for it I’d have probably sent it back to her. The doggone thing was a very pale spring green, NOT cream colored as described in the text, and it mattered for the patchwork quilt project I was making, for which I needed cream colored fabric. It wasn’t worth returning to her, it wasn’t useless in the long run, it wasn’t worth a negative, but I did email her to tell her to check items under several kinds of light for accurate color, because I would not have bid on a green sweater. 
But then- the Sellers responsibilty doesn’t end at shipment. :rolleyes: It’s a circle. There is no end to it, until someone leaves FB. But threatening to send a NEG if the seller doesn’t give a refund AND allows the buyer to keep the item is feedback extortion, and is against eBays rules.
Like I said- I have read through countless Feedback threads from Sellers- every single time the seller got an unjustified NEG there were unmistakable warning signs:
- A newbie buyer
- A buyer with a history of leaving weird FB
3/ A buyer who had already sent demanding or strident emails.
I have seen exactly ZERO cases where where a good solid Buyer with a reasonable FB score has left an unjustified NEG “out of the blue”. And, if a buyer has sent you an email saying “everything is fine, thanks for the fast shipping!”- it’s going to be very hard for him to justify a NEG later.
I have left one neg- a seller charged me shipping as if Priority Mail- they shipped “book rate” (and it wasn’t a book)- and they didn’t even ship until after 3 weeks had gone by. When I asked why, they said they were “too busy to ship”! :eek: I NEGed them despite the fact I hadn’t yet- nor did I ever- recieved FB. I left a Neut for a seller who advertised a “excelent cond” T-shirt but shipped a very used t-shirt, stretched out of shape, and smelly. They did tell me to keep the shirt and refunded- but only the price, not the S&H. 
So, a NEUT. When I am just a bot unhappy- usually over slightly slow or "mosre than a bit"overcharged for shipping- I leave no FB.
However, Sellers- it is true that leaving FB last will slightly cut down on certain complaints and NEGS. But it will also cut back drastically on you getting a high FB score with lots of POS’s -as many eBay *buyers * also don’t leave FB 1st. Since a good high FB score means more sales, it is in your best interests to issue a POS ASAP to any buyer who does not exhibit one of the 3 “warning signs” above.
Putting it another way- for every argument a Seller gives why he doesn’t leave FB 1st, a buyer can give an equivilant argument why he shouldn’t*. Yet, someone has to leave FB 1st. The Seller has more to gain than the buyer does.
- Crazy sellers are pretty common on eBay, too you know!
No. There are two scenarios:
- Buyer leaves feedback first, after item is received.
- Seller leaves feedback first, after payment is received.
In #1, the seller has -no- reason to leave negative feedback. The seller cannot extort the buyer for anything else.
In #2, plenty of scam opportunities are still available for the buyer to pursue.
Heh. Only if it’s direct.
They rarely tell the whole story. With many of our most contentious buyers, no feedback was left at all. I have no doubt that we’d have a lot more negs if we had left feedback first.
Also, your argument is rather like, “Anyone with a $2 Slim Jim can unlock a car door. Thus, why not leave your car doors unlocked?” Logically, it seems like there’s no reason to leave your car door unlocked, but in reality, a bit of inconvenience will greatly cut down on your chances of being victimized.
You should’ve filed a compliant with eBay and also with PayPal if the item was not as described, or wasn’t shipped as promised.
We, and our buyers, cared far more about our feedback ratio. I’d rather have 5 positive feedback than 19 positives and 1 neg. You’re also overlooking our monetary loss here in trying to appease a buyer so they don’t neg us.
Not true, and even if it was, it’s not practical to look through bidders’ feedback if you’re selling hundreds of an item a week.
Back to lurking.
See, you’re looking at it from a Sellers viewpoint. I have had sellers demand more S&H as it “cost them more than expected”. I have found a defect later, and emailed the seller just to hear “You already left good FB, sorry”. I also had one seller leave me a NEG (after I gave him a POS)as I paid him with a Paypal credit card payment instead of a cash balance transfer. :eek: eBay removed that one. So, yes, a crazy seller can & has had a reason to leave negative FB afterwards.
I did file a complaint with ebay- it was under $25, so they said they wouldn’t do anything. I paid by MO.
It’s your job, so I think I’d try and make it "practical’. It takes mere minutes.
I only ever bid on one item on ebay, and I was outbid within 24 hours. I’m kinda glad I didn’t win that auction. I prefer the face-to-face transactions where the only etiquette rules I have to remember involve not paying in counterfeit money and not spitting on the counter as I hand over the cash.
Well, I’m not a “Power Seller” on ebay, but I do post about 300 auctions a week. I always leave pos feedback as soon as I receive payment. As for those who say “But feedback is my only resort if the buyer gets nuts and starts trying to extort stuff from me”, well, no, it’s not. There are many other channels eBay offers that you can go through.
At some point in the future, I might get bitten in the ass on this philosophy, but it’s working so far.
shrug I don’t mind if the sellers wait for me to leave feedback, personally. I’ve had some sellers give me feedback as soon as payment was recieved, some wait till I’ve left feedback. It’s really kind of irrelevant to me. I give feedback when I’ve recieved the item and am happy with it and not before, and whether sellers wait till I’ve left mine or do it when I pay matters to me not at all.
Buyers have the same setup. I’ve only ever bought stuff at Ebay, never sold anything, and I have options to leave FB when I make a purchase listed under both Feedback and the My Ebay Home Page.
The My Ebay homepage lists my latest transactions and gives an option right on the homepage to leave them feedback. I’ve never once tracked down the corresponding auction to leave feedback as a buyer.
Damn it. I REALLY need to stop opening Ebay threads. Every time I open an Ebay thread, I end up going to Ebay to verify what I’m posting about, start surfing around browsing, finding something I want and buying it.
sigh Gratz me on some brand new throw pillows for my couch. I promise I’ll remember to leave feedback when I get them. 
SkipMagic:
I did, thanks for caring.
When I sell, I leave feedback when I have received payment.
When I buy, I leave feedback when I have received the item purchased.
I wish everyone would do the same.
I used to leave feedback as soon as I got the payment. No more.
I sold a motorcycle part on ebay, a rather expensive one for a vintage bike, and the buy took full advantage of the fact that Ihad already left feedback. I had to refund an unreasonable amount of the price because of a nitpicking problem or face a neg. I could have negotiated on a more even basis if I hadn’t left it already.
And this was an experianced ebayer with a lot of good feedback.