Buyer has very large feedback count

[books2014bits]

Would I be right to assume that the number next to the buyer's name shows how much feedback they have given?

If so, since all the counts are in the hundreds, most in the thousands and one has a figure over 5000, I'm guessing they are accounts set up to give fake feedback.

Should I assume that the seller has paid for them and is not to be trusted?

[nocoolnamejane]

No, that number is the number of feedback they have received from individual members (within a week, they only count as one, even if multiples are left).

A member cannot give feedback to another member without being in a transaction with them, so no it’s not possible to create accounts simply to give out feedback.

[Anonymous]

Some people have feedback in the multi millions. It doesn't mean it's fake, not sure why you would assume that.

https://www.marketplacepulse.com/ebay/top-ebay-sellers

[mudshark61369]

@books2014bits 

Feedback numbers on every member's account are for feedback received by buyers and sellers.  If you click on any member's feedback number to take you to their feedback profile page, you can see feedback they have received as a buyer or seller, and feedback left for others.  Check mine if you want.

[eburtonlab]

The number in parentheses is the amount of feedback received by that user -- one for each buying or selling transaction. Multiple feedback received from the same user in the same week only counts once toward that number.

While it is possible for an unscrupulous seller to create new accounts in order to inflate a feedback count, doing so would require also creating fake transactions and require paying eBay actual fees for those transactions in order to leave that feedback.

To see an example of what that typically looks like in practice, see here:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/How-to-read-a-seller-s-feedback-page-and-spot-a-fraudulent/td-p...

By looking at the actual feedback the seller has received, it is often possible to spot such fake transactions.

The amount of effort needed to create hundreds of new accounts and provide each of those accounts with hundreds or thousands of unique feedback ratings in order to build up a seller account's feedback rating typically would greatly exceed any possible gain from making such effort.

[Anonymous]

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@eburtonlab wrote:

The amount of effort needed to create hundreds of new accounts and provide each of those accounts with hundreds or thousands of unique feedback ratings in order to build up a seller account's feedback rating typically would greatly exceed any possible gain from making such effort.

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Great point

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@books2014bits wrote:

Would I be right to assume that the number next to the buyer's name shows how much feedback they have given? ...

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No. Any member's feedback score is based on the feedback that they have received.

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@books2014bits wrote: ... since all the counts are in the hundreds, most in the thousands and one has a figure over 5000, I'm guessing they are accounts set up to give fake feedback.

Should I assume that the seller has paid for them and is not to be trusted?

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No, there's no reason to assume that. It just means that that member has purchased a lot of stuff.  Or maybe their feedback score is high because they  have SOLD a lot of stuff as well as buying.

[books2014bits]

I think you are saying that the count is for buying and selling added together. Since I don't think the majority of buyers will have bought thousands of items, I think the feedback is likely to be coming from businesses who have received a load of feedback for selling thousands of items. That means that there is no reason for me to suspect that the feedback is fake. However they won't have used the item themselves, just stocked/sold it. So their feedback is not as useful as from someone who has used the item themselves.

[nobody*s_perfect]

You are just way overthinking this.

I have been an active member of these boards for many years, and this it the first time I've seen anybody say that a member's feedback score was too HIGH to be credible.

[eburtonlab]

I think you are saying that the count is for buying and selling added together.

The feedback number represents both, but you can look at all the feedback just for buying or just for selling, or feedback related to a particular item by going to the seller's feedback page directly.

Keep in mind that feedback is a measure of a transaction, not necessarily a review of the product itself, other than to say whether it matches the seller's description.

[Anonymous]

Instead of worrying about feedback, you should read the MBG

[nocoolnamejane]

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@books2014bits wrote:

I think you are saying that the count is for buying and selling added together. Since I don't think the majority of buyers will have bought thousands of items, I think the feedback is likely to be coming from businesses who have received a load of feedback for selling thousands of items. That means that there is no reason for me to suspect that the feedback is fake. However they won't have used the item themselves, just stocked/sold it. So their feedback is not as useful as from someone who has used the item themselves.

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Huh?

[kathiec]

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@books2014bits wrote:

I think you are saying that the count is for buying and selling added together. Since I don't think the majority of buyers will have bought thousands of items, I think the feedback is likely to be coming from businesses who have received a load of feedback for selling thousands of items. That means that there is no reason for me to suspect that the feedback is fake. However they won't have used the item themselves, just stocked/sold it. So their feedback is not as useful as from someone who has used the item themselves.

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I've bought thousands of items. Lots of members have bought thousands of items. And I think you're somehow stuck in the Amazon mindset that feedback is for the item purchased. On eBay it's not. Feedback is for the seller's or buyer's handling of the transaction. The item seldom figures into it.

[nocoolnamejane]

Some people have been on eBay for over 20 years, it’s not unrealistic that they may have bought thousands of items.

[Anonymous]

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@kathiec wrote:

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@books2014bits wrote:

I think you are saying that the count is for buying and selling added together. Since I don't think the majority of buyers will have bought thousands of items, I think the feedback is likely to be coming from businesses who have received a load of feedback for selling thousands of items. That means that there is no reason for me to suspect that the feedback is fake. However they won't have used the item themselves, just stocked/sold it. So their feedback is not as useful as from someone who has used the item themselves.

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I've bought thousands of items. Lots of members have bought thousands of items. And I think you're somehow stuck in the Amazon mindset that feedback is for the item purchased. On eBay it's not. Feedback is for the seller's or buyer's handling of the transaction. The item seldom figures into it.

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People on Amazon use reviews incorrectly as they do here. 

A majority of seller reviews are product related and a many product reviews are seller related. People don't distinguish between the two.

I also laugh when it says product was PERFECT, so HAPPY...one star.