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Crazed over feedback


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Tell me if i'm the one who's crazy.

I've recently bought several items on ebay, one of them from a member here. Once a buyer has paid for his item in a timely manner or within the seller's allotted time, he deserves good feedback right? As a buyer i've lived up to my end by paying promptly for my item. Yet there seems to be a trend, that sellers expect you to leave them high praise without having to leave the buyer any feedback or after the buyer has given feedback. Am I crazy or is my line of thinking wrong? Buyer pays, gets good feedback, when the item arrives safely and as described, the seller gets good feedback. It's only right!

The seller who is a member here (and I won't say who) may have simply forgotten and i'll give him benefit of the doubt even though the item was never marked as shipped either, but it seems to be an ever growing trend that sellers only care about feedback when it's positive for them. Why is that?

I know it's not right, you all know it's not right, so why do so many sellers get away with this? Some of them even ask for positive feedback in thier ads! Yet ebay does nothing.

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I won't leave feedback for a seller until it has been given to me first period. Like you, I feel when I have have paid for an item the same day it sells, that I have lived up to my end of the bargain and should get feedback accordingly. If a seller doesn't give me feedback first, I WILL NOT leave it for them and will no longer buy from them ever. There are too many other good sellers on Ebay for me to do business with those type of sellers.

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As both a buyer and a seller I can see it from both sides.

eBays new feedback policy leaves sellers without any way to give negative feedback, all sellers can do is give no feedback. Paying for an item is only the first part of the transaction for the buyer. The buyer can cause a lot of problems after the sale by claiming damage and wanting a refund, claiming non-receipt, and giving negative feedback. A lot of sellers, me included, often wait until the seller has given their feedback.

Also with the new feedback policies, even a small amount of negative or less than 100% positive feedback in any area can cause eBay and Paypal to make live difficult for a seller.

It's not bad when you are like me and you only sell stuff once in a while, but if you are selling hundreds of items monthly, it's easy to get one seller who leaves less than glowing feedback and screws up your whole business.

The new feedback is simply not fair to sellers and is very skewed in favor of the buyers. I know in the past, some sellers used the feedback system as retaliation against buyers who weren't happy, but eBay went way to far the other way in an effort to protect buyers. Sellers need some protection against unscrupulous buyers too.

Not giving feedback to a buyer until they have giving feedback may not be a great system, but it is all that sellers have.

Edited by Nitro Neil
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I never leave feedback until I get my item and check the condition. If it's in good shape and I got it in a timely manner, then I'm perfectly happy to leave positive feedback. I've only really had one transaction go bad, and I think that was more my fault for not researching the seller.

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In the past when I've sold items I waited until they recieved their item and left feedback before I left anything. The transaction can still go south after the buyer has paid so giving feedback once payment is recieved is too early for me. I've only had one transaction go poorly and I was the buyer, it took almost four months to get an item shipped after a prompt payment.

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I agree.

Although, I have been known to forget to leave feedback as a seller, I try to leave positive instantly if the buyer paid instantly.

As a buyer, I have received the "demand" from sellers that they won't leave feedback until I do, although I paid instantly.

So, I cut and paste their "demand" verbatim, and then they go ballistic.

I say if a buyer pays instantly, yes, his obligation is fulfilled, and should be left feedback right then and there.

But, like I said, I have forgotten some more than I should admit, and that's not right either.

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Why is this a competition? What's the rush? The transaction isn't done until the buyer receives his product, is satisfied and all chance of dispute are past. Only then, buying or selling, do I leave feedback. As a seller I'm not going to leave feedback the moment the money arrives, only to have the buyer make accusations against me to get out of buyer's remorse.

It's also not a standoff. "He didn't leave me feedback, therefore I won't leave him feedback." That's not honest. Feedback isn't cash. If they followed through with their end, I'll leave good feedback regardless. You can't know why someone didn't leave feedback first. Maybe he's waiting for you first. It just strikes me as kind of petty.

Edited by Lunajammer
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Why is this a competition? What's the rush? The transaction isn't done until the buyer receives his product, is satisfied and all chance of dispute are past. Only then, buying or selling, do I leave feedback. As a seller I'm not going to leave feedback the moment the money arrives, only to have the buyer make accusations against me to get out of buyer's remorse.

Exactly my point Mike. The buyer is not done as soon as they pay the money. There are still plenty of things that the buyer can do to mess with the seller. If you aren't a regular seller, you can't understand how frustrating it is to do the best you possibly can and still have a buyer jerk you around, or how easy it is for one buyer to ruin a perfectly good seller's business.

Edited by Nitro Neil
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My problem is a bit different. As a seller I try to remember to leave feedback for the buyer as soon as they pay but sometimes forget or have too much activity going on at the same time to keep up, but my problem is the fact that Ebay and Paypal heavily lean towards protecting the buyer moreso than the seller. They make most of their money from the seller but yet we are left out in the cold if there is a problem. For example, I just sent out a completed auction to a buyer who took longer than normal to pay. Not a big deal. But 5 to 7 days after I shipped the package I get a message from the buyer stating that they are returning the item. I ask why but get no response. Over a week later I get the package back only to find that the buyer never opened the package and merely added a return to sender label on it. The next day I refund the original purchase price but not the cost of shipping. Two days later I have a dispute filed against me from the buyer claiming that I had no right to refuse the shipping cost return because the item was not as described. So basically they lied to Ebay and as a result my account gets locked up until I resolve the issue. I sent a response to Ebay about the issue but get no response. The only way to resolve the issue is to refund the money. This part of the Ebay experience is wrong. I have had few issues with Ebay but this part of it is very disheartening as a seller.

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My problem is a bit different. As a seller I try to remember to leave feedback for the buyer as soon as they pay but sometimes forget or have too much activity going on at the same time to keep up, but my problem is the fact that Ebay and Paypal heavily lean towards protecting the buyer moreso than the seller. They make most of their money from the seller but yet we are left out in the cold if there is a problem. For example, I just sent out a completed auction to a buyer who took longer than normal to pay. Not a big deal. But 5 to 7 days after I shipped the package I get a message from the buyer stating that they are returning the item. I ask why but get no response. Over a week later I get the package back only to find that the buyer never opened the package and merely added a return to sender label on it. The next day I refund the original purchase price but not the cost of shipping. Two days later I have a dispute filed against me from the buyer claiming that I had no right to refuse the shipping cost return because the item was not as described. So basically they lied to Ebay and as a result my account gets locked up until I resolve the issue. I sent a response to Ebay about the issue but get no response. The only way to resolve the issue is to refund the money. This part of the Ebay experience is wrong. I have had few issues with Ebay but this part of it is very disheartening as a seller.

And this is exactly why I would rather sell my kits at a show or via email. I do not have the time or money to play these kind of games with people who are out to scam honest sellers. Sure, it can be argued that these situations are not a common occurence but ask Wayne how much time he spent dealing with this and everyone has a price for their time and therefore it isn't just the shipping and price of the auction item he is out.

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I know it's not right, you all know it's not right, so why do so many sellers get away with this?

eBay decided a year or two ago to remove a seller's ability to leave negative feedback, so some sellers use the ability to leave positive feedback as leverage. Nobody is required to leave feedback, but it's mutually beneficial for both parties to have a positive experience, and ideal if they both leave positive feedback for each other.

As we can tell after reading the replies in this topic, not everyone agrees on what should be done once a buyer pays, nor what is "right". Those differences are what makes life interesting. ^_^

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If I'm not satisfied with the product I bought, I e-mail the seller and explain why. Their response determines the feedback I leave. I have over 1100 transactions as a buyer mostly and some selling,and can count possibly 10 bad experiences as both. I find that communication before you buy has a lot to do with how well things go.

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I recently had two buyers claim that they did not receive their order. I did not question their claims, at least not to them. Then I resent their orders and even included a little extra for their troubles. Guess what. Neither of them left any feedback. And I still believe they did receive their original orders. Sadly, they let these people breed.

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I have over 400 positive feedbacks on my account. If everyone I actually bought from left me feedback, I would have well over 1500! I just do what I'm supposed to do and pay in a very timely manner. When I get the product, if I'm happy, I leave positive feedback for the seller. If I'm not happy I won't leave negative feedback but I will contact the seller to make it right. There's only been a couple times that I had to do that and the seller took care of me so no neg. feedback was needed. After everything is said and done, I just hope the seller will leave me positive feedback but if they don't, oh well. As long as nobody leaves negative or neutral feedback on me, I'm happy.

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