How low will you go?

Searcher

Just out of interest more than anything else but if you are bidding on or buying an item on Ebay, what's the lowest seller feedback you will consider before you start to think twice?

soolin

Searcher wrote:

Just out of interest more than anything else but if you are bidding on or buying an item on Ebay, what's the lowest seller feedback you will consider before you start to think twice?

It depends on the number as well as the amount.

As a buyer I would be unlikely to buy unless someone had at least 10 feedback, and for selling items the same as I was buying, I would buy from a 10 feedback seller who had only bought before but only if he took paypal and it was a small transaction. In other words I wouldn't buy a phone from a seller who had only sold 8 ebooks before, or a laptop from a seller who usually sold £2 card kits.

AS for percentage, for larger sellers ie those over 100 feedback I would not buy with less than 98.5% feedback, I might consider slightly less if I could see the negs looked really for a reason beyond the users control. For even larger sellers I would stick to the 99% again. For small sellers I would check all the feedback as the rating might be poor due to one neg and very few positives, but it would depend on what that neg was for.

Soo

tigrul

If I'm not sure how trustworthy the seller is, I email a question. If I get a prompt, well-written response, that gives me confidence. No reply or an incomprehensible reply with atrocious spelling indicates to me that, should something go wrong, the seller would be unhelpful. I would thus not purchase from him/her.

Buddhabellybutton

I will only buy from a seller if they have 100% feedback, but that is me.

Nadia

If I was buying a cheap item I would buy from anyone really even if they have 0 feedback. Everyone has to start at 0 feedback anyway and from experience new sellers actually go out of their way to keep buyers happy. The only time I had a problem with item not received was from a seller with 400+ fb and no negs but within a week she was NARU.

If I'm buying an expensive item I would go for more experienced sellers and read their fb carefully (not just look at the percentage). I would only buy a laptop or a mobile phone for example from someone with at least 99.5% (maybe even higher) and like a previous poster on this thread said I would ask them a queston first and see how they respond.

bonnie_2

it dosent bother me. how are you meant to get started on ebay if you have no feedback. surely you had no feedback when you started.
a lot of the feedback is made up anyway if someones dodgy.

kezw

Buddhabellybutton wrote:

I will only buy from a seller if they have 100% feedback, but that is me.

That's all well and good but what if someone's one or two negs are just out of spite?

My feedback is something along the lines of 99.1 with one neg from an idiot and a few neutrals from equally stupid people.

In one case, I had left positive feedback saying the item was quick to be posted but that the packing materials had been inadequate and overcharged for, yet he left me a neutral anyway just because he didn't like what I said.

My girlfriend has 149 pos and 1 neg - because she left a neg for a person who took five weeks to post (despite three or four lying emails in between time saying it had been posted) and they gave her a spite neg back.

I think you're shooting yourself in the foot if you only deal with people who have 100%

rdwarr

kezw wrote:

I think you're shooting yourself in the foot if you only deal with people who have 100%

Definitely.
100% feedback is easy to obtain anyway. You can buy a few 1p eBooks (there appears to be a "cartel" of sellers who all trade with each other) and you're away. I reckon I could go from nothing to 50+ 100% feedback in a couple of days for under a quid.
Much better to use somebody who's been around a while and actually read any negatives if it bothers you. I'd trust an oldie with 99.1% far more than a newbie with 100%, especially if the latter has just changed their trading model.

mike230652

I think soolin has it about right... although I've recently been stung by an eBayer with over 2000 feedback ( got my refund via Paypal ) and a 0 feedback eBayer. He paid up when I knocked on his door last Saturday afternoon....LOL..he must have though he was safe living 120 miles away from me.....and he paid me in cash!! ;-)

mike

sheraz2

I have 100% feedback total n umber is 18. All of them have been phone sales. INteresting thing is when I had 0 feedback I sold 2 phones for a reasonable Ebay type of price.



Actually one of them went ridiculously cheeeeap! :rotfl: :eek:

Chalky87

For me it's dependant on price as well....I think for an item under £10, then a seller with 100% 15 feedback would be ok...for an item say over £20 then I would probably be looking at in the region of 30+ feedback and so on...as the price gets higher I would be looking for a seller with higher feedback and good percentage feedback too.