Positive feedback for lousy sellers

rainbow_carnage

Last month I bought an item for £40. The seller was selling two other things that I had considered bidding on but didn't. All three auctions ended on the same day. A couple days later, the seller marked my item as posted.

I waited two weeks for the item. It didn't arrive. I e-mailed the seller twice, but he didn't reply. Ended up filing a claim with Paypal. Two days later, the item arrived. It was postmarked the day before. The seller sent it the day after I raised the claim.

I left the seller negative feedback. There's no excuse for waiting more the two weeks to post the item, lying about it and ignoring e-mails.

I noticed that the buyers who won the other two auctions left positive feedback the same day. Both commented on the lack of communication and the long delay in posting, but neither left a negative or even a neutral.

Why do people do that? Why not leave a negative to warn other buyers? Clearly, neither one was happy with the service. So why not leave a neg? That's what it's for.

Oliver14

rainbow_carnage wrote: »

Why do people do that? Why not leave a negative to warn other buyers? Clearly, neither one was happy with the service. So why not leave a neg? That's what it's for.

They may have been happy with the item so showed their displeasure by marking down the sellers DSRs (these can do far more damage to a seller than a neg anyway)

westendguy

I suppose the seller could possibly have had more than one, and (being generous here) assumed it was lost sent another in response to your claim. But they should certainly have emailed to let you know and at least deserve low stars.

What are their overall feedback/stars like?

Personally I am reluctant to leave a neg, and in the past 3 years have only left a couple of neutrals, despite on occasions receiving some absolute crap.

I guess I put it down to "buyer beware".

soolin

I would leave a neg purely for lying to me, I am not as forgiving us others.

rainbow_carnage

westendguy wrote: »

I suppose the seller could possibly have had more than one, and (being generous here) assumed it was lost sent another in response to your claim. But they should certainly have emailed to let you know and at least deserve low stars.

What are their overall feedback/stars like?

It was a used piece of music equipment. There's no way that he had more than one. And based on the sale and feedback dates, he clearly posted the other two items the same day as mine, more than two weeks after he sold them.

His stars are pretty low. 3.6 for dispatch time, 3.8 for communication.

I just don't see why you'd leave positive feedback for such crap service. The item was nice, but it took so long to get it that I had already started to shop around for another one. It's a good thing I didn't need it for a gig in the meantime. I would've had to go to a shop and buy it new for almost £100.

When I look at a seller's feedback, I don't really look at the positives. Who has time to read through all those comments? I look at the negs and the neutrals. I imagine a lot of people do the same. So if you're leaving positive feedback for deceitful sellers and qualifying it in the comments, most people aren't going to see that.

Crowqueen

westendguy wrote: »

I suppose the seller could possibly have had more than one, and (being generous here) assumed it was lost sent another in response to your claim. But they should certainly have emailed to let you know and at least deserve low stars.

What are their overall feedback/stars like?

Personally I am reluctant to leave a neg, and in the past 3 years have only left a couple of neutrals, despite on occasions receiving some absolute crap.

I guess I put it down to "buyer beware".

Buyer beware shouldn't matter in this day and age of a lot of consumer laws written with the increased distance selling that the internet has brought us. You have rights - stand up for them. It's a commercial transaction, not Facebook - it's your money, and other people's, at stake.

I may be pugnacious here, and sound like I leave a lot of poor feedback, but sometimes I'm playing the "devil's advocate bolshy buyer". I've left one negative and one neutral in nine years on eBay. To me, a transaction is positive even if I don't get the item if (a) the seller responds to my polite emailing and (b) I end up getting what I bought in the end (e.g. a replacement for a lost item or the ability to return an item that didn't work) or a decently timed refund. Since the DSRs came in I've only left one low rating, mainly marking things I'm not happy about down to 3 or 4 stars (usually dispatch time as I check postage costs carefully before buying so very rarely feel the need to mark that score down).

The non-posses I've left have been for two INRs. The time I left the neg the seller didn't respond to any emails or disputes/claims over two weeks and only even replied when I left him the neg. The neutral was when I had to go to dispute but the seller responded immediately with a refund, but held me at bay for three weeks, ignoring me at the point where she had promised to replace the item if it hadn't turned up.

When I look at a seller's feedback, I don't really look at the positives. Who has time to read through all those comments? I look at the negs and the neutrals. I imagine a lot of people do the same. So if you're leaving positive feedback for deceitful sellers and qualifying it in the comments, most people aren't going to see that.

Same here; if someone has less than 99% FB I don't even bother looking at the FB, unless I desperately want the item (and very few things are unique on eBay), I just go back to the search screen.

pinkshoes

Crowqueen wrote: »

Same here; if someone has less than 99% FB I don't even bother looking at the FB, unless I desperately want the item (and very few things are unique on eBay), I just go back to the search screen.

Really?!?! 99%?

I personally don't mind what the FB % is. It would only put me off if they'd been left multiple negs by different buyers, indicating an overall cr*p seller!

I see lots of people with poor FB all due to one person buying several items and leaving several unfair negs!

No wonder I get such good bargains if people write off sellers with FB lower than 99%!

Crowqueen

The thing is, Pink, it's very rare for a seller with high feedback to have less than 99%. That represents one neg in 100. Most people have fewer than that and people who get wrecked or get "unfair" negs only pick them up over time - the people who accumulate more negs than that could be said to be somewhat careless. Even when I was wrecked on an account I originally set up for a business that went nowhere fast, I had more than 99%, because I had 300 FB+ when I was hit. And even then it was a struggle to sell anything, so I abandoned the account. I still was pretty damn mortified tbh even if the negs were pretty unfair.

I'm only being realistic. I'd rather pay a bit more from a good seller than trust someone who has managed to accumulate more than their fare share of "unfair" negs, and from a lot of people I see on the community boards and on here, "unfair" is somewhat subjective - and we don't see the other side of the story, we only get to hear about the "TSFE buyers" from sellers who are obviously biased. Even the most inarticulate, shouty-ranty neg still represents someone who was unhappy with the seller's service. I don't think it's easy to sell on eBay but most sellers I see have more than 99% FB anyway. I take responsibility for my selling and accumulating negative feedback, even if it's unfair, is not a good idea. I did get my fair share of fair negs as a seller - one because I forgot to check my email while campaigning in an election, one because I packaged an item badly - but I didn't get any that I really thought were unfair. That was two out of 800+ FB on a buying/selling account.

At the end of the day it's my money and every time I buy online I'm making a calculated risk. On Amazon and other commercial sites, that risk is very small. On eBay, with five issues in the last year alone, the risk is greater, so I'm more careful about reading feedback. I'm still at the point where buying on eBay is worth that risk - particularly for items you just can't get elsewhere - but the stuff I buy there is very limited and I no longer buy things with moving parts there.

I'm sorry if that sounds unfair, but I'm only acting like 99% of eBay buyers react.

pitkin2020

pinkshoes wrote: »

Really?!?! 99%?

I personally don't mind what the FB % is. It would only put me off if they'd been left multiple negs by different buyers, indicating an overall cr*p seller!

I see lots of people with poor FB all due to one person buying several items and leaving several unfair negs!

No wonder I get such good bargains if people write off sellers with FB lower than 99%!

I agree i don't look at the % i do look at what the negs are themselves and how (if) the seller has responded to them that tells me far more than if they have 91% or 99%.

Half of the negs left are usually pathetic or for no apparent reason, "Item received it was great thanks!!" or a classic "Postage charge was £1.80 label on packet said £1.60" like i said pathetic and pointless.

Crowqueen

pitkin2020 wrote: »

I agree i don't look at the % i do look at what the negs are themselves and how (if) the seller has responded to them that tells me far more than if they have 91% or 99%.

Half of the negs left are usually pathetic or for no apparent reason, "Item received it was great thanks!!" or a classic "Postage charge was £1.80 label on packet said £1.60" like i said pathetic and pointless.

Though those sort of negs do beg the question - in the case of the first, why hasn't it been removed as a wreck, or in the second, why has that gone to a neg when someone else doesn't have a neg for that sort of thing, or is charging less postage in general?

I'm going from bitter experience here, like I said I was wrecked myself and didn't get the negs removed, but with more sales going wrong in the last year for me as a buyer than they ever have in the past, there are plenty of other items out there from sellers who strangely have never met any of these allegedly TSFE picky buyers. As someone who is pretty careful with their money, I just move onto the next person. Accumulating so-called "unfair" negs like a badge of some kind of honour is not responsible in itself, particularly since you can negotiate with buyers to get them removed nowadays.

Oliver14

pitkin2020 wrote: »

I agree i don't look at the % i do look at what the negs are themselves and how (if) the seller has responded to them that tells me far more than if they have 91% or 99%.

Half of the negs left are usually pathetic or for no apparent reason, "Item received it was great thanks!!" or a classic "Postage charge was £1.80 label on packet said £1.60" like i said pathetic and pointless.

I only look at the negs if there are more than one or two. For me the important thing is the DSRs as that can tell far more than the FB as buyers will mark for things that arent mentioned in the FB.