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Don't give feedback to sellers until they give it to you.......

Time and time again, I buy something on Ebay, I pay immediately with PayPal, and the seller does not give me any feedback until after I leave it for him first.

This is agains Ebay policy I am almost sure. A bit ago Ebay changed policy so sellers could not leave "retalitory" feedback, that is giving a buyer bad feedback who paid quickly, just because they gave well-deserved bad feedback for a good reason.

This ruined the feedback system for ebay, making it useless.

Now, apparently most sellers simply hold off on giving feedback as long as possible. Are they hoping the buyer gets tired of waiting? Are they hoping the buyer simply slips up and leaves it before they are supposed to?

Whatever the reason, there is no GOOD one for not leaving positive feedback for a buyer that pays lightning fast with PayPal. The buyers job is done at that point, and done very well.

Then it is up to the SELLER to pack the item well, ship it promptly, and have the item be as described in the auction.

If the seller screws up or sells something that is not as advertised, then they damn well deserve bad feedback so that the next buyer can be informed of the bad apple.

So in a nutshell, if you are a buyer on ebay, lets start holding that feedback back until the seller does what they are supposed to for a prompt-paying customer. And if they do not leave feedback, lets report them to Ebay so the feedback system is not compromised as it once was, and so buyers can be properly informed of a sellers performance when they are shopping.

Thanks
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424 REPLIES 424

Re: Don't give feedback to sellers until they give it to you.......

reply for dongreenlee:
Feedback used to work as a general acknowlegement of payment and receipt. That's pretty much all it should be. If the buyer has paid in a timely manner the seller acknowleges that. If the seller ships and buyer receives item as expected the buyer acknowleges. Why would it matter WHEN either leaves feedback?
Message 271 of 425
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Re: Don't give feedback to sellers until they give it to you.......

I feel the same way.  If I am bidding on something I always get an email alert that I have won, if I am sitting there watching.  Immediately I pay for it with paypal.  So there is no debate in my opinion.  I fulfilled my obligation and paid you in full and in a very timely manner.  The seller should acknowledge that with positive feedback.  In the last few years there have been at least 20 times I have gotten zero feedback.  None. And this is AFTER I give them great feedback. I guess I will no longer give feedback until they do.  I am pretty much done with it.

Message 272 of 425
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Re: Don't give feedback to sellers until they give it to you.......

I never give feedback to buyers first, they have nothing to lose.  Why? because I had a buyer who sent me an e-mail, saying everything was wonderful, thought the packing was great, delivery brilliant.  I returned his reply in a feedback with the normal remarks, what a great ebayer, instant payment and thanked him.  He replied with "item not as described", wanted a refund,  of at least half of what he paid.  I was shocked and dismayed after the original e-mail he sent me.  He was told to return the item, but no he did not want to do that!  Then to finish if off, he sent me an awful Feedback.  So buyers think of the sellers.  If a buyer sends me a feedback I always reply with good comments, of course sellers always appreciate buyers.


@manchmal wrote:
As a buyer i leave feedback after i receive and check out the product. As a seller i wait for the buyer to do the same. Pretty much all the cards are with buyers.

 

Message 273 of 425
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Re: Don't give feedback to sellers until they give it to you.......

The only guarantee a seller ever gets from a buyer is to receive their money. Nowhere does an online transaction require buyers to show respect or even basic decency in return for merchandise, only their money. It is disappointing to discover how many sellers operating in an online marketplace expect customers they've never met in person to automatically be generous and fair at all times. Unjustified negative feedback is a normal risk of doing business over an inhuman platform like the internet. Griping about getting lousy feedback is the same as complaining about trolls posting nasty comments. Just like bloggers lose face every time they get into flame wars, sellers will only lose business by taking bad feedback to heart and not giving it out proactively.
Message 274 of 425
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Re: Don't give feedback to sellers until they give it to you.......

kfurber
Adventurer

I hate to burst your bubble, Sparky, but the seller is NOT SUPPOSED to leave feedback until the transaction is completed, and the transaction is not completed until the buyer has received the item and is satisfied with it. And of course the only way the seller knows this is by receiving positive feedback from the buyer. DUH! This is really the only logical way to do it and that is why it’s done this way. Also when the seller waits until the appropriate time to give feedback it often gives him more to say than just “fast payment” which is a good thing. For example you might find out that the person is easy to communicate with if you have to e-mail each other to resolve an issue and then you can write “good communication” in your feedback.

 

In any case, if you don’t leave feedback then eventually the seller is going to forget that he is even waiting for feedback from you and you will probably end up getting none yourself. The really sad thing is that people like you are enoraging this kind of childish behavior in others and now many buyers are witholding feedback. Ten years ago 80% of my customers left feedback but now that number has dropped below 5% and this is probably mostly due to people like you confusing others as to when they are supposed to leave feedback.

Message 275 of 425
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Re: Don't give feedback to sellers until they give it to you.......

Hear, hear. 

Message 276 of 425
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Re: Don't give feedback to sellers until they give it to you.......

As a buyer who has recently had several good sellers fail to leave any feedback, I have made the personal decission to wait until the seller gives me feedback UNLESS I feel they either deserve a really good feedback (like they went out of their way to help or if shipping was extremely fast) or I decide to leave neutral or negative feedback. 

 

I understand that the feedback as a buyer doesn't mean much and many are a simple THANKS or QUICK PAYMENT but it does raise your feedback score.  That might not seem like a big deal if your feedback score is already hundreds or thousands but it does help encourage good feelings and possible repeat business.  I also avoid any future purchases from a seller who hasn't left me any feedback even if they did a perfect job otherwise.  There is almost always someone else selling the same or similar product even if you have to go to a non-ebay site.   

Message 277 of 425
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Re: Don't give feedback to sellers until they give it to you.......

When I (the BUYER) go into a "brick and mortar" store I don't first thing hunt down the owner (the SELLER) to thank them for allowing me to come in and shop!!? No, after I (the BUYER) pay for my purchases I am first thanked for being a customer and choosing to spend my money in that establishment .......then I can let the proprietor (the SELLER) know how much I appreciate them....it is no different just because the transaction happens on ebay.

Message 278 of 425
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Re: Don't give feedback to sellers until they give it to you.......

Wow! And with all due respect, the people on here telling you that buyers' feedback is the only way for sellers to know if they're satisfied with their purchase is spot on.  And as for your observation that there are other sellers selling the same product...there are millions of buyers too.  I've blocked quite a few buyers over the years, so they can't buy from me anymore.  These are people who caused me grief, tried to extort me for partial refunds, etc...and I still sell, so there must be more buyers out there too, right? I leave feedback immediately after my buyers leave it for me letting me know there are no problems and they're happy with their buying experience with me. 

 

You could email the sellers, asking them to leave you feedback, just to remind them, and ask them to do it now while they're thinking of it.  I used to do that when I first started buying on Ebay and it worked every time, so instead of being hateful, why don't you just take a few seconds, leave feedback for the seller and ask them to kindly do the same for you? There's no need to be ugly or fight about it because I never have had a seller not leave me feedback after I sent that email.  Good grief! Life can get busy and people honestly can forget.  Most sellers and buyers are sincerely good people.

 

 

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Re: Don't give feedback to sellers until they give it to you.......

Wrong. The buyer has done all they need do to warrant feedback as soon as payment is made. That's what the seller's feedback indicates; they got paid in a timely manner. That's it . Regardless of what happens after that, whether the item was lost in the mail, not as described, damaged in shipping, slow to arrive, anything that happens after the item has been paid for cannot influence the feedback since the seller completes all of their obligation by paying on time.
Message 280 of 425
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Re: Don't give feedback to sellers until they give it to you.......

hi

Message 281 of 425
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Re: Don't give feedback to sellers until they give it to you.......

I agree!!! I always pay instantly. That's deserving of an instant positive feedback. I have done the same thing giving them feedback first and they still do not give me any feedback. Feedback is important when you are fairly new and trying to establish trust by having 100% positive feedback. And the higher the number the better. How can a buyer who pays instantly get a negative or neutral feedback anyway. Actually it's rude to expect the buyer who pays instantly to leave feedback first. Makes no sense. Ebay is to blame for this policy of seller's not being able to give feedback. Ebay would not be in business if it didnt have any seller's, so why do they treat them unfairly? 

Message 282 of 425
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Re: Don't give feedback to sellers until they give it to you.......

I don't agree that mere payment is grounds for positive feedback.  In the past year I've had three buyers give me a real hassle after the sale.  One wanted to extort a partial refund.  He claimed a problem with the item, but would keep it if I gave him a percentage off.  I said I would take the item back for 100% refund and would pay for shipping.  He then left me negative feedback and kept the item (I knew it didn't have a problem).  There's nothing positive about that.  Another insisted on a full refund of item and shipping even after admitting that he ordered the wrong product so it wouldn't work for him.  The third simply left a neg, no reason why, no responses to e-mails, nothing.

 

As someone who both buys and sells in about equal numbers, I see both sides, and there's no easy answer.

 

Message 283 of 425
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Re: Don't give feedback to sellers until they give it to you.......

The answer was very easy:  in every case seller calvarez kept cool and correctly kept the money received from the buyer.  Buyer regret is not something the seller needs to pay for when there's no meaningful evidence of a problem with the delivered item.  If there was a legitimate complaint then the buyer could have opened a case for resolution.  Whatever emotional compensation regretful or dishonest buyers receive thru using negative feedback will not make their wallets any richer.  Sellers should hold their ground with dodgy buyers, stop worrying about receiving unjustified negative feedback, and proactively post feedback in order to encourage receiving it back more often.

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Re: Don't give feedback to sellers until they give it to you.......

Since sellers can only leave positive feedback when they sale an item and if you only buy you will always have %100 positive feedback.

Sellers can't tell you apart from the scamming buyers.  ALL buyer profiles are identical.  What good is it?  Not much.  Some sellers have discontinued participation in the feedback system as a result. Unless ebay allows sellers to leave negitive feedback for buyers, I think ebay should make it so Sellers can not leave feedback at all. It would take the burden off my to reply to buyers asking for feedback. I have heard of  scammers building up feedback by buying low price items then start a selling scam.

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