question to buyers about feedback

[bigyellowdog2012]

I have noticed that many buyers don't leave feedback anymore

can anyone answer why? As a buyer I always leave feedback ---positive only

I know it is not obligated --but it sure helps sellers if you are happy with your item.

[7606dennis]

Since 2008 feedback has been a somewhat one sided affair.  Sellers are prohibited from leaving other than positive feedback for buyers and thus many sellers simply don't leave any.  I would venture that buyers often don't bother either.

By the way, feedback is and always has been voluntary.  Leave it or don't leave it.  It is totally up to the individual.

[rock.star]

I leave sellers feedback if they leave feedback for me .

[bigyellowdog2012]

ok.

thats probably good advice.

I guess since buyers seem to have some advantages it doesn't pay a seller 

to wait to leave feedback. I'll try that.

[eburtonlab]

Some buyers are buying as a guest and cannot leave feedback.

Some buyers almost always leave positive feedback (unless there is a problem).

Some buyers almost never leave feedback at all (unless there is a problem).

Not much you can do as a seller to influence those buyers one way or the other if you want positive feedback, aside from doing what you can to ensure a smooth transaction, which I assume you are already doing anyway.

However, there are some buyers who only leave feedback if a seller leaves feedback first. And some sellers wait for buyers to leave feedback first. When those two types are involved in a transaction together, neither gets feedback, as each is waiting for the other to blink.

Therefore, leaving positive feedback first is one of the few things you can do to positively impact your chances of receiving feedback.

[mudshark61369]

@bigyellowdog2012, @rock.star ,

As has already been pointed out, feedback is voluntary.  However, paying is mandatory, do you really feel you deserve a feedback for doing the minimum required of you as a buyer?  Your 100% ratings are shared with the scammers, and non-payers so receiving one as a buyer isn't really special. 

[bigyellowdog2012]

I'm not sure I understand what you are saying

I asked --with full understanding that feedback is NOT mandatory --why some buyers don't leave it.

as a seller ( lets say) I ship you the item usually within 24 hours of payment

and hope you are happy when you receive.

just wondering why some buyers don't leave it

[4la57or]

I used to leave feedback all the time. A lot of sellers of only leave feedback after I as a buyer leave one. I actually appreciate that because it feels like the the seller is waiting to get a heads-up from me that everything is fine, before leaving feedback to me and "closing the transaction".

Lately I'm starting to look more at the seller's feedback profile before leaving feedback. If they consistently don't leave feedback themselves, especially if they are also buyers (you can that by looking at who left them feedback), I don't leave feedback.

I'm totally ok with sellers who don't want to participate the voluntary feedback system. As said above, it's flawed anyway. But if they don't participate in it, I won't be the one who'll help them benefit passively from it.

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

On the buying side: As soon as I open up my package and it's ok then I promptly leave a positive feedback ( not a generic one either) On the selling side: I wait until my buyer leaves one and I know everything is ok...if I don't hear from them in about 10 days ( which is rare) I go ahead and leave them a FB.

[soh.maryl]

How does one "help them benefit passively from it"? How does a seller benefit passively from feedback?

[4la57or]

If I leave positive feedback for a seller it helps his sales (a little) by increasing his reputation, his rating, and prioritizing his listings on searches.

If the seller himself is also buyer, and if as a buyer he doesn't leave feedback, then he benefits passively from the feedback system (provided he is a decent seller, which most are) without contributing actively to it by leaving feedback to others.

It's ok even if they left fb on their purchases only 20% of the time. I don't leave feedback only if I see someone that never leaves fb to another seller / buyer but had many fb left from them.

To give an example: I've purchased an item from a seller and everything went good, I was satisfied with the purchase. I would have left a positive, but I looked at his fb profile and saw that while he has many positives both as a seller and as a buyer, all the fb he left in the past year were negatives. He mostly left negs to other sellers in the same category he mainly sells in (plastic toys, though I was buying something in another category). I don't think it was false fb to harm competitors, because there were only like 15 negs that he left over a year and he had many more positives received as a buyer (thou still - you must think, 15 negs in one year...). I think that he just only leaves fb when it's negative, and it's even more convenient for him because he leaves it for other sellers in his main selling category. I decided not to leave any feedback to him.

[soh.maryl]

Surely I am misunderstanding this:  Even though YOUR experience with this particular seller was all good and you were satisfied with your purchase, you decided to leave a negative because this seller left mostly negatives to other sellers?  

[4la57or]

No! Absolutely not!

I just didn't leave any fb at all. Leaving fb is voluntary after all.

[4la57or]

And just to be precise - it wasn't "mostly". Said seller left ONLY negatives. So he participated in the fb system only when he wasn't satisfied. Maybe he doesn't think positive fb are also important, so he shouldn't feel bad if he himself doesn't get them.

[southern*sweet*tea]

As a buyer, I leave positive feedback or none at all. The only three times I've ever negged a seller in 18 years were three who LIED and cancelled my order stating that I had asked to cancel, when I did not.  They were trying to dodge an out of stock defect. They were also reported to Ebay.  

If I don't leave feedback, it's because there was an issue that was not positive, but it was not  egregious - examples being the item was received in good condition but the packaging was awful (a collectible plate shipped in a padded mailer with no other packaging) or the item was okay, but was not in as good a condition as the seller described (book described as good condition with no issues but it had page stains - not a deal breaker, I would have bought the book anyway, just not at the price listed since it was supposed to be in good condition) .  I'm not going to potentially damage another seller's career for what could have been an honest mistake. I just won't buy from them anymore.

As a seller, I leave the buyer a thank you feedback when I ship. This avoids issues with buyers who think they are owed feedback. 

This is an actual neg I saw once on a seller's feedback profile.

As a seller, I don't care if I get feedback or not to be honest. In Ebay's eyes, no feedback = positive feedback. That said, of course I love receiving positives.  Who wouldn't? 😊