@mam98031 wrote:
@obojoekn wrote:
To me, the feedback system is a way of letting buyers see if they can expect to be treated fairly and honestly, with a high degree of chance that they will get the item they expect based on the listing they are buying from. It used to be a seller could look at feedback on potential buyers to see if they would be treated fairly and honestly as well. Like it or not, there are lots of scammers out there (both buyers and sellers). The buyers can still use the feedbacks of sellers as a tool to help them. It would be nice if sellers could have the same tool again. I never knew it to be a problem before, but it was helpful against possible fraudulent buyers.
What sites are you aware of that allow for negative comments about their customers in a public forum?
Don't really know if there are any, and really don't care. I don't sell on those sites. I do buy on ebay and other sites, and as an honest person, have no problem whatsoever with being rated or not rated by any one that I shop from.
My point earlier was that feedback was one of, if not the only tool that was available to ebay sellers, that might give them a chance to avoid fraudulent buyers before getting burned by them. A seller would have no reason to balk at a sale to someone with only a negative or two over the course of a year or dozens of sales. I, as a seller, would like to be able to view real buyer feedbacks again (not the mandatory positives or no feedback in place now). If I saw someone purchasing my items, and saw that they had 5 neg feedbacks the previous month for returning different items than the ones purchased/sent to them and claiming for refunds, I would be able to cancel the sale if i thought it wasn't worth the risk. I wouldn't want to lose my merchandise, my money, and my time. Honest buyers and honest sellers probably, for the most part, would have excellent feedback ratings. The scammers wouldn't. What is wrong with that? Buyers currently get to see sellers real feedbacks and then make a decision if they would feel comfortable buying from that particular seller. I don't see a problem with sellers being able to do the same thing. It is fair.
Brick and mortars have and use tools to screen their customers as well. Many restaraunts, bars, retailers, etc... decide who they want to serve and who they don't. Dress codes, Cash only, no checks, no weapons, credit checks for apt rentals and others, etc...
While sellers on ebay can block buyers, it is only feasible to use AFTER you have been scammed once by EACH different dishonest buyer. Sellers have virtually no info pre-sale about a buyer that would lead them to blocking them. It used to be that sellers, through leaving neg feedbacks, were giving other sellers a heads up to be careful or not deal with particular dishonest buyers ahead of time.
I think all honest buyers wish to deal with honest sellers and vice versa. Maybe a public feedback rating system isn't the best way, I don't know. It seems that what is in place now would work just fine if ebay would actually protect/advocate for the sellers when appropriate during disputes.
Over the years, I haven't really had many bad transactions as a seller or a buyer, so this isn't a huge issue for me. I do think that being warned somehow (feedback or other) about a bad seller or bad buyer BEFORE the transaction happens would be a good thing for everyone, including ebay.
mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999
