Good old days of Ebay.... long gone!!

RFW

soolin wrote: »

If they don't pay then they cant leave feedback, if they do pay just ship out as normal. I open quite a few NPBs, not got a neutral or neg yet.

Nor me, if they never pay they can't leave feedback, if they do, or if they get irked, I usually send a message explaining why we opened the NPB (to reclaim fees) and that, having paid, their account won't be affected.
If we didn't file NPBs we'd be losing over £500 per year, that's a fairly good reason to not worry about possible negs that I could likely get removed anyway.

Ellejmorgan

Haffiana wrote: »

Let's say I was a buyer with a 100 percent negative feedback. I bid on your item in the last 10 seconds, as I always do. What possible difference would my feedback make to you?

My seller preferences are so tight if a buyer had a certain amount of negs or non payments they would be prevented from bidding automatically..

Crowqueen

You can't block buyers with negs (except e.g. with -1 feedback, basically impossible now unless a seller messes up their first sale).

Feedback is too subjective as a measure of buyer control. Sellers still leave false positives for other issues when a buyer complains, so more and more I think the whole system should just be abolished, it serves no purpose and no-one else uses such a system offline or online.

eBay needs a strike system since payment is not instant unless the seller deliberately sets it that way but customer references are a silly system which was a non-starter from the beginning, given the way it has distorted seller expectations.

aeb_2

As a seller with about 450 + feedback I'm happy enough with most things on E*ay. I use NPB to claim back fees and haven't found this difficult, just a couple of clicks and an honest reason. I also cancel bids if a buyer contacts me as we all make mistakes and I'll usually sell to someone else anyway

Having said that I do like to know the item was well received. I know the buyer would contact me if it was INR or NAD but it was still somehow nice to get feedback, as a way of saying 'thanks'. If I buy something in a shop as I leave I say 'thanks', so just like that really. I know it's business and there is no need for feedback but I just think it was nice how it was when there was much more incentive to leave it. I suppose it's the emotional side of me becaues I'm selling family stuff and I'd like to know that grandma's 'precious' old pot went to a nice home where someone said 'thank you ' for it.

However, the ones I feel sorry for are the new small sellers trying to get feedback when they start. My neighbour started out selling her mum's bits and pieces. She did well and sold lots, at least 35 items on the last free listing day but only has a feedback of 11 + so far. She has heard nothing from the others so by now presumably they are happy but have just not left feedback. Some buyer will look at this and move on to another seller with more feedback. Maybe someone like me who gained most of their feedback in the early days but not so much recent feedback. Sort of working with two systems just now.

Crowqueen

On eBay where buyers can get feedback that helps encourage them to leave it also - I leave it on receipt of payment because buyer has fulfilled their obligations and anything else is down to me to handle. In the few instances of fraud there are usually better remedies than feedback anyway.

I think the distance of sellers from buyers is playing a part in reducing the emotional impact of selling. I'd far rather receive a sincere thank you than feel obliged to thank someone or worse still have someone demand it. The people who post to forums kicking up a fuss, whether buyer or seller, because people don't leave them it and saying things about manners are often the rudest people on the thread. It seems to send some people wild. It's much more important for sellers than buyers, but ... why get obsessed? It's not compulsory - and the threads just end up reeking of hypocrisy.

People who don't come back to eBay in between purchases - which is going to be most people who don't sell - are not going to be the people who leave feedback. Fortunately the take-up rate is still higher than that on Amazon; I've sold over £40 worth of items there (average price per item £4) and have yet to receive any feedback. But I know I don't leave it at all as a buyer on Amazon so can hardly complain.

PS - you don't have to blink out the name of the site. The forum is called 'eBay etc.', so don't panic about advertising concerns etc. People use the name 'Big River' on the official community boards because it used to be the case any posts mentioning Amazon would be yanked, but nowadays things are a little more open and certainly here I've never seen anyone use circumlocutions, unless they are trying to insult the sites/services.

aeb_2

Crowqueen wrote: »

I think the distance of sellers from buyers is playing a part in reducing the emotional impact of selling. I'd far rather receive a sincere thank you than feel obliged to thank someone or worse still have someone demand it. The people who post to forums kicking up a fuss, whether buyer or seller, because people don't leave them it and saying things about manners are often the rudest people on the thread. It seems to send some people wild. It's much more important for sellers than buyers, but ... why get obsessed? It's not compulsory - and the threads just end up reeking of hypocrisy. I agree, I would never ask for feedback, life's too short, it's sold, I'm happy, move on. As a buyer I don't like being asked/hassled so I don't do the same. I agree about the sincere thank you too. I sold something for just £1.04 and got an email from an archivist to say it completed the collection in that particular section. That made me happier than any amount of + feedback!

People who don't come back to eBay in between purchases - which is going to be most people who don't sell - are not going to be the people who leave feedback. Fortunately the take-up rate is still higher than that on Amazon; I've sold over £40 worth of items there (average price per item £4) and have yet to receive any feedback. But I know I don't leave it at all as a buyer on Amazon so can hardly complain. I'm doing slightly better on Amazon, I just checked and no feedback for over 10 months when I've averaged 5 or 6 sales a month for nearly 5 years. My total feedback is 14:o but I don't worry about it

My point was really about feeling a bit sorry for new sellers who may be disadvantaged by low feedback when it takes them so long to build it up nowadays. Personally, if it's something I want and the new seller had low but good feedback I would still buy.
Is this the normal feeling when buying? Do buyers take much notice?

Crowqueen

I certainly would be sceptical of someone selling a high-value item with low feedback, though I don't tend to buy much costing over £20 on eBay anyway.

I would be somewhat happier, actually, to buy from a private seller with low feedback than a business with low feedback. A private seller would have fewer sales in general and might only be selling off an unwanted item, like a competition win or an unwanted gift. I would be more sceptical of a business because I would want a better track record from someone selling loads of high-value items. I know I'm protected through Paypal but it's such a f*g getting money back from the dispute process I want to get it right first time.

I also look at feedback closely, particularly if the seller has dodgy terms. A seller with bizarre ideas of their responsibilities is fine if they are also TRS and don't appear to have many problems. If they do have problems, they are definitely one to avoid. If they don't, it may be that they have yet to be disabused that they are not responsible for loss or damage in the post because in reality they are more flexible than they appear or conscientious enough to have maintained good feedback anyway. It has been a deciding factor in 'least worst' decisions before, though I buy anything with moving parts away from eBay because of some frustrating purchases.

Yes, it's annoying, but feedback is usually representative of an average sell-through rate so you just have to hang on in there.

Inigo_Montoya

Crowqueen wrote: »

On Amazon there is no such thing as buyer feedback and the site is better off for it.

There used to be a few years ago but it has now been removed so you sell completely blind

At least with ebay you can still see 'feedback left for others' so sometimes you can get an idea if a customer is more likely to give you trouble post sale
- personally I find this useful as I can send something with tracking if a customer has a lot of non delivery feedbacks

Not quite sure your reasoning wrt 'the site is better off for it' - better for buyers, yes, but not sellers

Crowqueen

RD doesn't track, nor does it always get a signature, nor does it protect against genuine loss, so a lot of non-delivery feedback only means that some items have gone missing.

I've had ten items go missing in the last two years, and I never ever leave feedback saying anything about non-receipt unless I am leaving a non-positive because the seller has been unhelpful (three times out of ten).

If Amazon saw fit to remove it, so should eBay. You sell blind everywhere else, and have to deal with fraud, shoplifting and so on in most other commercial enterprises, even car-boot sales as a prviate seller, so it's really not something that should even exist.

RFW

Inigo_Montoya wrote: »

Not quite sure your reasoning wrt 'the site is better off for it' - better for buyers, yes, but not sellers

The only important part is to be better off for buyers, if it wasn't there wouldn't be any, just lots of disgruntled sellers going in ever decreasing circles.