Buyer feedback

[pjx2-2]

Well...   I have been in the habit of leaving buyer feedback (because it has been available and it's a way to thank the buyer).  I tell the buyer of my gratitude for their purchase, I tell them when the order will be shipped and how, I tell them the tracking number, and I mention that positive feedback would be appreciated. I've received a couple of notes commending my communication.

     Lately, for the past 2-3 weeks, whenever I try to leave buyer feedback, I receive a red-letter notice saying that "It appears that you've already l;eft feedback for this transaction".

     Any clue as to what I'm doing wrong?   As we all know, ebay makes no mistakes.

[powell-memorabilia]

It should be fairly easy to check if you have already left feedback.  My guess is that you already left feedback and forgot, or that you set up automatic feedback.  

are you actually seeing items in  an “awaiting feedback” section, then trying to leave feedback, and then getting an error?  Or, are you just going  into a sold items list and trying?

[chevymontecarlo88]

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@pjx2-2 wrote:

Well...   I have been in the habit of leaving buyer feedback (because it has been available and it's a way to thank the buyer).  I tell the buyer of my gratitude for their purchase, I tell them when the order will be shipped and how, I tell them the tracking number, and I mention that positive feedback would be appreciated. I've received a couple of notes commending my communication.

     Lately, for the past 2-3 weeks, whenever I try to leave buyer feedback, I receive a red-letter notice saying that "It appears that you've already l;eft feedback for this transaction".

     Any clue as to what I'm doing wrong?   As we all know, ebay makes no mistakes.

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My guess is that you already left feedback and forgot, or that you set up automatic feedback.

powell-memorabilia Most likely this above 👆

[tobaccocardyahoo]

Looks like you have recently left other more typical FB for some of your buyers.

Are you aware that many, if not most, buyers do not look at the FB left for them?

You are going through a lot of effort duplicating information they receive in emails from Ebay and are not likely to be getting any positive value for the effort.

[pjx2-2]

Thank you all!!

     It's interesting that the general feeling seems to be that "buyer feedback" isn't worth the time spent on it.   I cannot disagree, but in my old world of face-to-face retailing, it was deemed polite to thank the customer and "buyer feedback" seemed to ask for that  wee small personal touch.  Sure, the huge impersonal ebay "notifies", but that's not really the same (or am I missing the point?).  BTW: the red-letter notification is received instantly when each "buyer feedback" is entered.  I'm not saying that I can't make mistakes, but there is a step-by-step procedure I go through: get the product, check the weight, print the label, print the packing slip, add personal note to packing slip, print and save copy of note, pack the product for shipment, and THEN enter "buyer feedback".  Each buyer feedback is unique because it identifies the product being shipped, how it is being shipped, WHEN it is being shipped, sends the tracking number,  "sign" my name, and suggests that positive feedback would be appreciated.   OK, OK, it might be unnecessary, but it's the way I believe in dealing with my customer (rather than "the buyer").  The total extra time and effort is minutes, and minute.  I like to think that it's an extra touch you get at my "store".  I will do my best to explain a product to a questioner.  My favorite was the guy who asked if my Swagelok 1/2" SST street ell was "strong". I went through an explanation of PSI ratings for different pipe fittings.  What he really wanted to know was whether or not my fitting, used in a pressure washer, would survive falling off his truck on the interstate where his original broke. Yada, yada... he gave me a negative feedback.   But I'm still not going to accurately and completely describe my product.  And maybe I'll just become another drone and stop thanking people from doing business with me.

     Many thanks for the folks in the "community" who spend time and energy trying.....and trying.

Peter

[wastingtime101]

I suggest @pjx2-2 not putting tracking numbers in feedback. If any of those buyers reports to eBay it will be seen as a privacy violation.

[pjx2-2]

Thank you!

     I'm wondering how it might be an invasion of privacy when ebay sends the same info to "buyer".   However, your comment does add to the thoughts I'm having about "why bother?".   And, if that's the end thought, why does ebay, which as I noted makes no mistakes, offer the seller the option of leaving buyer feedback?   If the whole thing is useless, unread, unnoticed, unpaid-attention to, why does it exist?  Unless it's just to suck in old-time folks like me who do see the value of thanking their customers (again, rather than "buyers").   This's the kind of quasi-dilemma akin to counting angels standing on a pinhead. I'm starting to think that being polite and grateful has no place in today's marketplace and that maybe (just maybe) I should think about other issues.  Maybe I'll just be crude.

     Thanks to all for insight.

[pjx2-2]

Thanks for taking the time to think about the question.  However, with the utmost respect for your opinion, you are wrong. Dead wrong.  It isn't as simple as that.  But many thanks, again.

[wastingtime101]

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@pjx2-2 wrote:

Thank you!

     I'm wondering how it might be an invasion of privacy when ebay sends the same info to "buyer". 

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Feedback is public. eBay sends tracking to buyer via eBay messaging / emails - not publicly.

My suggestion is to set up automatic feedback then forget about it entirely. That's what I do. Buyer gets FB when they pay.

Why bother? Because some buyers are oddly obsessed with feedback and think it speaks well of them to build up a count of positive feedback.

Automatic FB settings page @pjx2-2 : https://www.ebay.com/uas/selling-pref?show=automated_feedback

[ebooksdiva]

It can be seen as a privacy violation because eBay takes great care to not publish what a buyer has purchased to the public, when you post it in feedback you're announcing it to anyone who looks at the buyers feedback what they bought. When I look at your feedback as a buyer, your purchases are not shown to me. 

Tracking numbers are already sent by eBay to the buyer in an eMail confirming shipping as well as in their order details in their purchase history. All of which are not published publicly as the feedback you leave for your buyers. 
In a nutshell it's not necessary to put all that in feedback, a simple thank you for their business is usually sufficient. 

[adamcartwright · Accepted solution]

I've experienced the same issue with feedback, at least twice within the last month or so.

I submit feedback and get an error message saying I've already submitted feedback, when in fact there is no feedback showing up on either my account or the other party's account.

I've messaged ebay about this and gotten crickets.

[pjx2-2]

     And you epected an answer?   To whom did you address your concern?   Did you get to a (shudder) "live" person?    Can you, or perhaps anybody care to venture just WHY there is an option to LEAVE "buyer feedback"?  I been told that buyers don't pay attention to it. Also, that telling buyer the tracking number is a possible violation of privacy (?) and / or reveals the location of the buyer to all of the scammers and other ne'er-do-wells out there.  I've been told it's a waste of my time and energy.  I've been told that ebay notifies buyer of my shipment and the tracking number (vioklating privacy and exposing innocents ?) so my effort is meaningless.

     Here's my point:   I WANT to thank my customer as they are, so to speak, leaving MY store.  I think it is important for me to do so and have done so for as long as I've been selling, either face-to-face or ebay-anonymous.  Why and for what good reason is ebay falsely telling me that I have "ALREADY LEFT FEEDBACK" for "THIS" transaction?  Where is the benefit to ebay in preventing me from thanking?

     Perplexed in Fqalmouth

[pjx2-2]

     With utmost respect:  you miss my point.  I WANT to tell my customers that I LIKE to have them shop at my store.  Ebay is a corporate, anonymous, faceless entity.  MY thanks come from a real person to whom you have just given money. "Not likely to get positive value" is, to me, not enough reason to not be polite, informative, and courteous.