Unfair feedback again!

spadge_2356

Hi All,

I see alot of eBay sellers posting on here about unfair feedback, so I thought i'd also come and vent my frustrations!

I sold a product on eBay with free P&P and the buyer left neutral feedback saying "Good product but took ages to get here" referring to the delivery. I like people giving me candid feedback but on this occasion the buyer made no effort to sort this out with me before leaving feedback, and plus eBay says that you shouldn't mark sellers down for postage when its free!

So because he couldn't give me less than 5 stars for P&P he decided to give me neutral. Not fair considering I put free P&P to guarantee 5* P&P rating, and I know its not relevant but I sold the product at a small loss to use the listing to direct traffic to my e-commerce site and to build a good eBay feedback reputation. I have applied for feedback revision but I doubt that I'll get it changed to positive eBay has almost no interest in protecting its sellers (in my opinion).

Thoughts anyone?

RainbowDrops

It depends - how long did it take you to dispatch the item?

mwddrwg

If you list P&P as free then buyers can't rate this aspect anyway (or am I wrong? - please feel free to correct me)

lovinituk

spadge_2356 wrote: »

on this occasion the buyer made no effort to sort this out with me before leaving feedback, and plus eBay says that you shouldn't mark sellers down for postage when its free!

To be fair - how could you sort it out? If they were not happy with how long it took there is nothing you could do to retrospectively speed that up. Unless you were going to offer them a partial refund?

Free postage only secures your P&P DSR (cost of P&P)- length of time of delivery has nothing to do with the P&P stars.

***cupcake***_2

spadge_2356 wrote: »

Hi All,

I see alot of eBay sellers posting on here about unfair feedback, so I thought i'd also come and vent my frustrations!

I sold a product on eBay with free P&P and the buyer left neutral feedback saying "Good product but took ages to get here" referring to the delivery. I like people giving me candid feedback but on this occasion the buyer made no effort to sort this out with me before leaving feedback, and plus eBay says that you shouldn't mark sellers down for postage when its free!

So because he couldn't give me less than 5 stars for P&P he decided to give me neutral. Not fair considering I put free P&P to guarantee 5* P&P rating, and I know its not relevant but I sold the product at a small loss to use the listing to direct traffic to my e-commerce site and to build a good eBay feedback reputation. I have applied for feedback revision but I doubt that I'll get it changed to positive eBay has almost no interest in protecting its sellers (in my opinion).

Thoughts anyone?

Your buyers comment to me means they were expecting it sooner than they did - perhaps they had an event or date it was needed for? Dispatch time is different to postage cost on the DSR's, and that is what they seem to be unhappy with.

How long between their payment and you sending? And how long between sending and receipt?

What I am trying to see is if the implied slow delivery was anything you had control over?

If it was, ie your dispatch was slow, then you need to take that on board and address the issue.

If not, and there was a delay between dispatch and delivery then you could contact your buyer and explain, detailing when you sent the item and how the delivery timescale was then out of your hands. Apologise and then they may be more receptive to a f/b revision.

I wouldn't think an unhappy buyer would otherwise revise feedback unless they felt the issue had been addressed and dealt with.

Those are my thoughts xx

Edit - your thread title says 'Unfair feedback again' - have you received other neg/neut feedback along these lines?

RainbowDrops

mwddrwg wrote: »

If you list P&P as free then buyers can't rate this aspect anyway (or am I wrong? - please feel free to correct me)

They can't give you stars, but they can complain about speed of delivery & mention it on their feedback comments

spadge_2356

In regards to delivery time, the listing says allow 6-8 working days, the buyer paid instantly through PayPal it was parceled up immediately and parcel2go picked up and delivered within the given time scale, a tracking number was also given.

So I had adhered to the timescale, the P&P was free. Apart from giving him some sort of good will gesture what was there to complain about?

I just received a message from eBay saying "The buyer will have until 6-November-2011 to respond to this request. If the buyer decides not to respond or declines your request, please respect that decision."

In other words, regardless of the fact its possibly unfair feedback eBay wouldn't consider changing it. Oh well lesson learnt, I shall not be offering free P&P again.

RainbowDrops

Maybe email the buyer asking why they complained about the delivery time as you delivered within the expected times on ebay. The tracking number might help to show that you sent it as soon as you received payment.
Did they tell you they needed it quickly? Did you have any alternative postage options for quicker service. Perhaps say had you know they wanted the item sooner you would have suggested a different postage method.

***cupcake***_2

spadge_2356 wrote: »

In regards to delivery time, the listing says allow 6-8 working days, the buyer paid instantly through PayPal it was parceled up immediately and parcel2go picked up and delivered within the given time scale, a tracking number was also given.

Here's a for instance:

I buy something this evening. I pay immediately, and I'm really looking forward to receiving it. The listing says 6-8 working days. So that means that in real terms, the seller has until a week on Wednesday to get it to me - the 9th November. Whilst that is within the quoted timescale, my perception is of almost 2 weeks to receive my item and hence I may not be too happy.

Do you see my (hypothetical) point of view?

That may be what has happened here.

(That is why, as a seller, I always dispatch next working day, use a faster method if at all possible (i.e 1st class is only a few pence more sometimes and I don't pass the cost on to the buyer) and email to update the buyer as to when they should expect their item. Most of my '6-8 days' deliveries are then often in 2 or 3 days and my DSR's for dispatch reflect that (4.9).)

Just another thought!

mwddrwg

***cupcake*** wrote: »

Here's a for instance:

I buy something this evening. I pay immediately, and I'm really looking forward to receiving it. The listing says 6-8 working days. So that means that in real terms, the seller has until a week on Wednesday to get it to me - the 9th November. Whilst that is within the quoted timescale, my perception is of almost 2 weeks to receive my item and hence I may not be too happy.

Do you see my (hypothetical) point of view?

That may be what has happened here.

(That is why, as a seller, I always dispatch next working day, use a faster method if at all possible (i.e 1st class is only a few pence more sometimes and I don't pass the cost on to the buyer) and email to update the buyer as to when they should expect their item. Most of my '6-8 days' deliveries are then often in 2 or 3 days and my DSR's for dispatch reflect that (4.9).)

Just another thought!

If you wanted the item in less than 6-8 working days why bid for it in the first place? Just yet another thought!

***cupcake***_2

mwddrwg wrote: »

If you wanted the item in less than 6-8 working days why bid for it in the first place? Just yet another thought!

Ummn - I didn't?!!!! It was hypothetical to help the OP given the issue with their f/b?