honest feedback
This has bothered me for awhile. I have a modest hobby business in fishing items, have faithfully left buyer feedback for years, but the options available to me as a seller have been whittled away until now the ONLY OPTION AVAILABLE from eBay is to leave a glowing review dripping with positivity.
Why are we leaving "feedback" when we're not allowed to be honest every time?
Most transactions are UNREMARKABLE -- seller has a product, buyer has financial resources, there is an exchange and that's it. I get it: eBay is trying to encourage further buying by eliminating neutral or negative feedback options. In doing so eBay has also debased "feedback" into a meaningless participation trophy. And I get that too -- why should eBay want to get between a buyer & seller when things don't go well?
But really, ... why the window dressing when there's always that 1 scamming buyer out of 100, 200 or 500 who's going to scam, cheat or steal???
fern*wood
·2 years agoSince giving honest feedback concerns you, what does “m†mean?
chapeau-noir
·2 years agoMaybe the feedback has been whittled away.
If not, the OP is "punishing" the buyer for something the buyer has no control over.
hartungcards
·2 years agoI think it's short for, "many thanks for your overwhelmingly amazing purchase, it was the best experience of my entire life."
soh.maryl
·2 years agoThe ONLY option for a seller leaving FB for a buyer is a positive FB, that or none at all.
"Whittled away"? Sellers have not been allowed to leave negs for buyers for at least 10 years, maybe longer.
As for eBay getting between a buyer and a seller, they don't. As stated above, per eBay rules, sellers have a choice of leaving positive FB or none at all.
Buyers can leave positive, negative or none at all for sellers.
This is not a new policy by any means. And many of us would be happy if the FB system just vanished.
chapeau-noir
·2 years agoI think "glowing review dripping with positivity" is a little dramatic. You can just say "thanks for your purchase."
hartungcards
·2 years ago"Dripping" doesn't mean what it used to mean. At least, that's what the kids tell me.
chapeau-noir
·2 years agoIn this context it still does.
hartungcards
·2 years agoFeedback has been "a meaningless participation trophy" since 1995.
fern*wood
·2 years agoI thank all my buyers for purchasing from me and that is entirely honest on my part. What does the feedback you are giving your buyers mean? Maybe you should just skip this step.
eburtonlab
·2 years agonow the ONLY OPTION AVAILABLE from eBay is to leave a glowing review dripping with positivity.
That is not your only option, though.
Leaving no feedback at all is an option.
Leaving feedback that says "Thanks for your payment" is also an option, assuming the buyer actually pays.
Feedback for a buyer does not need to be a positive character reference, nor should it be relied on as such.
why should eBay want to get between a buyer & seller when things don't go well?
eBay stopped allowing sellers to give negative feedback for buyers in 2008 because when sellers were able to leave negative feedback for buyers, some sellers would use the opportunity to threaten to leave negative feedback for buyers who left well-deserved negative feedback for those sellers, or else sellers could actually leave negatives and then push for mutual withdrawal of feedback comments. Such behavior made it harder for buyers to distinguish between good sellers and bad sellers, which is the whole point of the feedback system where buyers, not sellers, initiate transactions.
Scammers are not deterred by the threat of negative feedback, or even by getting negative feedback.
By the time a seller has an opportunity to read a buyer's feedback, it is often too late for the seller to avoid a buyer-initiated transaction without violating policy and cancelling for a false reason.
dhbookds
·2 years agoWhy? because more than a few sellers used feedback as **bleep** for tat.........they got a neg, they left a neg ............which ticked off honest buyers who had a legit beef. What buyer wants to put up with that kind of stuff?
maxine*j
·2 years agoSince 2008, so for 15 years now, it has been possible to leave only positive feedback for buyers, if sellers care to leave any feedback at all. Leaving feedback remains optional, for both sellers and buyers.
Nor does eBay require, or even suggest, that a seller leave feedback that is "a glowing review dripping with positivity," if a seller does choose to leave feedback for a buyer.
-