Can we PLEASE go back to giving Buyers NEGATIVE Feedback?!

[wranglerparts4x4]

Sellers are held to such high standards (which we should be), but why aren't buyers?! An unpaid item strike doesn't mean much of anything to a buyer unfortunately.  I'm tired of buyers who waste my time, and make offers, (which I accept), and then never pay.  It doesn't happen a whole lot, but I've had several this week, and  its  quite frustrating. Can we please go back to giving Sellers the option to leave Negative/Neutral feedback for a buyer?! I feel like if buyers were held a little more accountable, at least this problems would occur a little less. Just my two cents! Thanks!

[fern*wood]

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@deech21 wrote:
I made an offer for some lens wipe 2 days ago and have not heard from the seller,so I bought from another seller.
dont expect me to pay the first seller when he finally comes around to accept my offer.

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If it has been 2 days, then the offer probably expired, but you should have been notified of this.  As long as an offer is live it can be accepted and you would be expected to pay.  I wouldn't buy elsewhere with it hanging around if I didn't want two of the item.

[mam98031]

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@kataggr-44 wrote:

Actually yes.  I just realized that Uber drivers can rate their passengers.

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You feel Uber is a comparison to Ebay?  

[apple-2-online-store]

It is NOT just non-payment in our opinion.  We've experienced folks just claiming that an item was "not as represented" just to coax us into giving them a partial refund.  Our policy is we don't do partial refunds but the buyer has 7 days to let us know if they want to take advantage of our "buyer's remorse guarantee" - they can send it back and we will refund the purchase price sans S&H.  IF, on the other hand, the item truly isn't as represented, we ALSO refund them their S&H AND pay for the return S&H.

We've also had competitors buy under a different ID so that they can leave us a negative that is totally false.  We had that happen several times this year alone & it took us weeks - months - to get eBay to take down false negative feedback as well as remove slanderous remarks in the buyer's listings about our store.  [Aside: That's eBay's idea of protecting their sellers - allow competition to make false and slanderous comments to go weeks before eBay removes the listing.  And to allow the same seller to pull the same stunt repeatedly before threatening to cancel their store & accounts.]

There are also "problem child" customers out there who have unreasonable expectations & leave negatives for sellers when the negative has nothing to do with the seller - e.g.,  lost deliveries or delayed deliveries by the shipping companies.

There are also "problem child" customers who don't give the seller any opportunity to "make it right" before they leave negative feedback.  When someone is quick on the trigger and doesn't give us an opportunity to address an issue FIRST, we abandon that customer and block them for all future sales.

These are just some examples of why a seller might want to leave negative feedback about a buyer so that other sellers have an opportunity to see the buyer's behavior BEFORE they sell to them.  Someone already said something along the lines of 85% are fixed price sales and you don't have an opportunity to see the buyers feedback profile before the sale.  Yes you do - just because a buyer buys an item does not mean you have to sell it to them - you can cancel the transaction before shipping the item out.  We've done that - granted, on a very rare occassion, but all the same, you don't have to accept a buyer - you can cancel the eBay transaction and they are refunded their money.  You're out the transacitonal fee on PayPal, but its worth $0.35 to avoid a "problem child".

As far as we are concerned, the eBay feedback system is a farce and we refuse to participate in it.  We state that up-front in each and every one of our listings so folks know before they make a decision to purchase from us that we will not be leaving feedback.  Should eBay change their policy back to the original policy, before the force us off eBay altogether with their "managed payments" policy, we will reconsider our participation in the feedback system.  Until then, no way Jose!

[kataggr-44]

Do you know any other site that allows the public shaming of their customers?  Probably not.  (by mam)

This is what I responded to --any other site.  

[mam98031]

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@kataggr-44 wrote:

Do you know any other site that allows the public shaming of their customers?  Probably not.  (by mam)

This is what I responded to --any other site.  

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OK, I guess I thought that would be self explanatory, my bad.  I guess I should have been more descriptive for the topic we are discussing.

[luckythewinner]

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@wranglerparts4x4 wrote:

Sellers are held to such high standards (which we should be), but why aren't buyers?!

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Because buyers can create a new account in a matter of seconds and wipe the slate clean. 

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

Sellers rarely see those buyers coming and bad buyers are happy to fling off damaged ids for new. It’s the GOOD buyers who take pride in their reputation who are hurt and leave the site.

Furthermore those competitors you speak of are happy to drive your good buyers  off the site with retaliatory feedback.

not to mention the ridiculous feedback angry sellers used to leave in retaliation which said things like LAIR!!! SCAMER!!! THEEF! And made eBay sellers look like anger driven idiots.

my only negative feedback of thousands was a retaliatory feedback. I did nothing wrong. Gave the seller weeks to get my item in the mail. they sent me trash and would not refund my money. I negged them and got one right back.

Do you really want these people to have a weapon against your good buyers? Seems to me there are enough sellers complaining about a dearth of good buyers already.

[2015mhfashions]

Well if you read correctly what i wrote the offer is actually binding on other sites, if the offer is made and you accept the money is paid and the purchase made, if you are not paying what are you offering for ? That is also in the real world.

[2015mhfashions]

I think a good idea for a trial run would be an automatic Negative for non paying bidders,a generic automatic comment stating feedback left for non payment, that would make any buyer think twice before bidding and non payment. Keep the 2 strikes if a seller has it set up but let sellers be aware of potential problem bidders.

This would help any seller running auctions to monitor bidders and their history, therefore easy to cancel bids from previous non payers.

No buyer likes Negative feedback same as any seller, but if they are aware Negative will be left automatically for non payment then this will go a long way to clean up their act before any bid.

Before anyone says things can change after an auction ends then it is the responsibility of the bidder to make sure there are sufficient funds for them to follow through.

 I understand a new account can easily be opened but only takes 1 non payment and that account now caries a negative and so on, how many accounts do you think they would open just to bid on items again and not pay ?

I think this is a genuine solution for a long overdue problem. Good buyers would not be affected by this as good buyers pay.

Sellers have to wait a full 6 days with a non paying bidder, they also lose the Paypal transaction fee 0.35c.

There has to be some form of accountability on the bidders part, this would be a start.

[melsieh67]

If a siren went off and a blinking arrow flashed at me in Walmart when I put back the jeans I'd been toting all around my shopping trip, hence cruelly denying the next shopper those exact jeans, you can guarantee I'd never set foot in the place again long enough to determine that the cashiers had all "flagged" me to use their discretion whether they were willing to sell me orange juice on my next trip.

And before we all hear "Ebay isn't Walmart," let's remember that it's a sight closer to it than to Uber.

 Sellers always court customers. They always have. They always will. Customers are giving up their money. It takes work to make them do that. Announcing they'll have to "behave" and never, ever change their minds, and even that they'll be auto deducted and must earn the privilege of handing strangers money, will send them running back to Amazon, I've auctions, estate sales of about a thousand your B&M plus online spending portals.

[melsieh67]

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@2015mhfashions wrote:

Well if you read correctly what i wrote the offer is actually binding on other sites, if the offer is made and you accept the money is paid and the purchase made, if you are not paying what are you offering for ? That is also in the real world.

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What sites are you referring to, offers are "binding"? Apologies if I missed this.

[ms.rodriguez*]

It's pointless. The buyer's IDs are masked. If you gave this buyer a negative, I wouldn't know who he is to block him. Only by checking the feedback of a bidder on MY seller page will I know. But that won't help me much since right now, almost all of my items are Buy It now. So if a deadbeat with a negative wins my item , too late.

I would rather that the buyer be suspended for a much longer time than a year once they accumulate a 2nd unpaid strike. I would forgive the first one.

[buyselljack2016]

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@2015mhfashions wrote:

I know of at least 1 other venue where if you make an offer the offer is binding and if the seller accepts the money is paid immediately, what a great idea, would put a halt to all these people simply wasting a sellers time.

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Does this other site that takes the immediate payment have a "no returns/no refunds" policy?

Forcing someone to buy an item, even if the committed to it by bidding, or offering, has the possibility of it coming back at the seller's expense.

[albany_sellers]

Feedback is pointless anyhow, for buyers and for sellers.

eBay has poisoned the well by catering to large sellers and removing well deserved negatives for them, simply because they are large sellers.

Without naming the seller and breaking any rules, I have bought bubble wrap from a seller on eBay, and this seller sent about half my order, then sent me a first class label for a 4lb package, and ignored me until eBay had to step in. Many other buyers report that this seller does the same thing to them, and as a bonus, when they DO take the return, they refund only half the cost and lie to eBay about the buyer only sending half back.

I have watched dozens upon dozens of negatives vanish from their account, as well as their other usernames on eBay such as one that without naming names and breaking any rules. When I called to ask why my well earned negative was removed, guess what I was told? You are going to love this.....

"The seller suffered a natural calamity and that is why the negative was removed"

They must suffer perpetual calamities with how often their feedback is "cleaned up"

Long story short, had I been able to see some honest feedback on this seller, I would have never bought from them, instead eBay has taken to cleaning their feedback up to sucker unsuspecting sellers into buying from them when they see the amazing feedback that is not accurate one bit.

As for buyers, feedback is nothing more than a participation trophy.

[buyselljack2016]

"free returns" sellers have the eBay bonus of no negative feedback when they accept the snad returns.

It is a benefit of "free returns".