Feedback should be abolished

[meme6253]

The feedback system should be abolished, It is an unfair one-sided system that does not accurately portray the customer side, We have 2 choices, we either have to send a positive feedback for every customer no matter the circumstance, or leave no feedback at all, I just got a neutral from a fellow seller, that i all way's ask customers to contact me prior to leaving any feedback if there is any problem, & i think that is a courtesy that should all way's take place, You don't contact then you cannot leave feedback, I state in my store that all my items come from a smoke & pet free home & that is the truth!, Period!, so this wonderful seller/buyer blames me for odor that i had nothing to do with, without ever contacting me, Sellers know how important feedback can be & how hard it can be to maintain, If they have an issue they should extend the courtesy of contacting you., I know it's just a neutral but this type of thing infuriates me!

[chevymontecarlo88 · Accepted solution]

Abolish it but add total transactions, defect rate, late shipment rate, cases closed without resolutions, and tracking uploaded time/validated for buyers to see.  

[fashunu4eeuh]

If it bothers you this much, don’t get mad. Instead, express your concern that the buyer is dissatisfied with an element of the transaction. Turn this around with an eye towards resolving the issue (and perhaps getting a feedback revision?)

Buyers, of course, do not have to contact a seller before leaving feedback. Yes, it seems entirely counter-productive for a buyer to do so if they are unhappy.

But  i am against stating in the listing that the buyer should reach out before leaving poor feedback. Just the psychology of it suggests the seller is anticipating a problem with the transaction. Putting such a blurb in the listing is a fear-based action—the seller is not confident that he has this all under control.

[simba6]

Feedback served a purpose back when there was no protection on eBay.  Like the sport of fox tossing,  it  needs to go.

[meme6253]

I completely disagree with your assessment, I requested a feedback revision, I don't see how it can be counter productive for a customer to contact you if they have an issue, It is not a fear based action nor is it anticipating an issue, Many things can go wrong with a delivery beyond the sellers control & if there is an issue , Then yes customers should have the courtesy of letting you know prior to leaving any feedback, If it is something you can correct or offer to satisfy the customer than you should be allowed to do that before receiving feedback, so i couldn't disagree with you more.

[meme6253]

Yes it does!

[luckythewinner]

Can you clarify your comments about the smoke smell? 

Are you saying there was no smoke smell and the buyer was wrong?

Are you saying there may have been a smoke smell but since you don't smoke it was not your fault? 

Or something else?

[krazzykats]

My recent neutral surpasses yours.

A buyer expressed dissatisfaction with the materials used in a product that I did not manufacture. I take neutral feedback seriously and will not sell this item any longer because of the complaint. 

But I've moved on, it is what it is...My life isn't over.  🤣

[pastimpressions]

Is any of this distressed feedback corelating to Ebay's morphing of Feedback re: seller with product reviews?

I only mention this because when I sold full-time on this platform previously (10+ years ago) & was a TRS, I almost always received feedback from every customer. Now I am lucky to receive it from 1/2 of my customers.

Perhaps unrelated, but if customers are being pressed to "review a product" in lieu of reviewing the service experience?

Just putting that curiosity out there in the mix of the conversation.

[soh.maryl]

Another possibility is that not all work environments are smoke-free.  Last summer, driving with my windows open, pulled up beside a USPS vehicle.  Suddenly I was hit with the smell of cigar smoke.  Guess who was smoking a giant stogie? 

[johnrj1226]

When you are in charge at eBay - you can do it  your way

[tobaccocardyahoo]

You could not get seller agreement to remove FB from display, and neither could Ebay,

Many sellers have nothing going for them but 100% FB and they would never want to give it up.

You would need another measure of seller quality to replace it, and there is none that all sellers would agree on.

Amazon tried it some years back, tested two potential replacements, and seller opposition to any action was LOUD. So loud that Amazon would not risk buyers who thought they were losing some protection.

On Amazon, the percentage of buyers who leave FB is single digits, but the negative PR risk keeps the admittedly useless metric on every listing. And Ebay is not know to take any risk it does not have to.

If Pierre's wealth is not enough of a monument, FB should mark his grave.

[fbusoni]

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@meme6253 wrote:

I state in my store that all my items come from a smoke & pet free home & that is the truth!, Period!, so this wonderful seller/buyer blames me for odor that i had nothing to do with, without ever contacting me

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@meme6253 

I find it odd that the buyer would go to the trouble of lifting the ornament up to his proboscis.  Who does that?

Unless the smell of smoke was so powerful that he did not need to.

In which case you would doubtless have noticed it as well when you were preparing it for shipping.

Unless your sense of smell is not that good, which I understand is not uncommon.

So the question becomes: if the buyer is lying, do you respond to the neutral, and if so, how?

Was the ornament packaged inside a larger box and taped shut?  If so then there would be no way for any environmental pollution to get inside the box... unless a disgruntled postal worker who smoked intentionally blew smoke inside the box by pushing smoke between the box flaps.  Or the box was in a postal facility that was on fire for an extended period of time.

The whole thing sounds bizarre and I wonder if the buyer holds a grudge from some past transaction.

[pickapaper]

You're right; your new neutral takes the cake.   Unbelievable.

I once sold some antique curtain clips, advertised them as antique curtain clips, and the buyer gave me a neutral because she didn't want to use them as curtain clips; she was going to use them to hang Christmas cards from.  

[krazzykats]

Has the item always been in your possession since it was new? If you acquired it from sourcing, many old ornaments were exposed to cigarette smoke during a time when indoor smoking was common.

I also sell vintage Hallmark ornaments, and certain materials will retain odors they were exposed to.

One of my worst purchases was a box lot of nice Hallmark ornaments full of cobwebs, dirt, dust, mold, unpleasant smells...undisclosed.  Junk.

Some materials can hold onto smoke odors even over 30 years ago.  I have a ceramic lamp in my garage I purchased (10+ years ago), thinking I could air it out.  It still stinks and isn't inside my home.  I don't think I can ever get the smoke smell out.  Very nice lamp, but it stinks.

BTW, I do do the smell test on everything I sell.  If it stinks, its junk.

I don't smoke, but I also don't know where all my ornaments have been.  😁