Do sellers have to leave feedback?

smashed

When I sell I leave feedback once the buyer pays.
After all, that IS what is required of the buyer.

So what are you saying, if you go to Currys and buy a Washing Machine, but it doesnt turn up... it might be the buyers fault?

Hardcore sellers only leave feedback once they receive it, and it wont change. Its rubbish IMO But thats the way the system works, and it helps a lot of them keep their very high rating.

The only problem is if the buyer leaves a neg without trying to contact the seller. IMO the negative should be reversible within a week, to give the seller a chance to reason with a disgruntled buyer who may have acted a bit too promptly without going to the seller 1st.

mummysdragon

I send my buyers an email stating their item has been posted by what ever postal service, I then add if you have any problems please let me know asap. Finish off with I always leave feedback once left for me.
Paying for an item quickly is not the end of the transaction until both partys are happy....hence giving and receiving feedback. In the interim of feedback being left both parties buyers and sellers alike have a ball in their court....which in a way can help to make them both respect each other.

mummysdragon

Just to add, if I sell an item and the buyer pays quickly, this does not mean I am happy until they are. If they receive a damaged item in the post, which has only happened to me twice in over 1,000 transactions and both times when sent to the States, I am as gutted as they are.

No matter what ever anybody says the key to a good feedback rating is COMMUNICATION and mutual respect and trust.

Moglex

kevinyork wrote: »

It can be but its worded in the most polite way at the end of an email which is strongly worded in favour of providing good customer service.

If a buyer gets wound up about the mention of feedback then they are oversensitive IMO. The email has actually intercepted a couple of people who were about to leave negatives because they had not received their item so it actually heads off negatives in some cases.

You have to remember that everybody does not have the same 'world view' as you.

When I started using ebay, my first transaction went very smoothly, but the second took three weeks to arrive (and it was from a seller who sold the same type of item a lot).

I would have liked to have left a neutral but I didn't want to risk a negative (as 50% would have looked rather bad).

Then this person had the cheek to send me an email requesting feedback.

I replied that as I had fulfilled my part of the transaction long before he did I would not leave feedback until he had done so. That was the end of the matter - no feedback left on either side.

The point of the above is that my world view at the time was not influenced by what I have since discovered about ebay.

As far as I was concerned here was a seller who deserved a neutral (if not a neg) but whom I could not risk using the feedback system to warn others about their tardiness without risking having my account effectively destroyed (you can imagine a thread here: "Buyer with feedback of 50% on two transactions has won my auction").

To a new ebayer the habit of sellers not leaving feedback when you have paid seems like an implicit threat that if you leave them a justified neutral or negative they will retaliate with an unjustified one.

After a few hundred trouble free transactions and hearing about some of the idiot buyers that neg sellers for bizarre reasone your world view will change, but nonetheless, the 'seller leaves feedback last' way of operating is a bad seller's charter.

Moglex

frivolous_fay wrote: »

You'll note on page 1 an ebay employee puts himself in the 'buyers first' camp.

Ah - ha.

So another argument for the 'sellers first' camp!

CHR15

Moglex wrote: »

To a new ebayer the habit of sellers not leaving feedback when you have paid seems like an implicit threat that if you leave them a justified neutral or negative they will retaliate with an unjustified one.

EXACTLY!!

You can tell who the buyers and sellers are on this thread haha!!

I'm outta here before I get lynched!! There should be a warning sticky at the top of this forum!!!:D:D

demonblade

CHR15 what you you do in this situation.

you are a seller with an excellent 100% record who leaves +fb instantly for the buyer. You sell different t-shirt small med large ex-large. A person buys 1 large from you but realises its too small and complains that its the wrong size or that the shirt is incorrectly sized when you know its not, in reality he/she was too fat to fit in it in the first place and didn't want to admit it, so they leave a negative fb for you instead not worried about getting one in return.

In this situation, do you still feel that the seller should leave fb first? This example happens alot you know. As you might have guess i am mainly a seller, and no, i dont sell t-shirts.

Moglex

CHR15 wrote: »

You can tell who the buyers and sellers are on this thread haha!!

Well, I'm not really in the 'buyers' camp.

You can argue the 'who goes first' question either way with equal sincerity, conviction and valid points.

However, at the end of the day it is the sellers who are affected more badly by unjustified negative feedback so even though I've never sold anything on ebay I would tend to come down on the side of 'buyer leaves first'.

CHR15

I understand your situation but it goes back to the awkward customer issue.

If a fat customer bought a large t-shirt from a shop without trying it on, they soon go stomping back demanding an exchange in front of all the other shoppers. This can create and unwarranted and potentially embarrassing issue in the store for the clerk.

In this case it would be polite for the buyer to contact you and explain the problem, reach some kind of mutual agreement which satisfies both parties. This shouldnt affect either persons feedback

As the seller, unfortunately for them, the customer is always right and all that jazz. The buyer is the consumer after all.

If you Sell on Ebay, you take on the role of the trader, it is wrong to assume you have no obligation to provide a good service just because It's only Ebay

For the record, I only ever BUY on ebay (sold a couple of items in the distant past) and I always leave feedback first.

My annoyance comes when an item states it will be delivered in 1-2 Days First Class Post. I then wait 14 days before I recieve it by Second class post!
The item is good, packaged well but just took an age to arrive.
I know if I leave a neutral and comment on long delivery time I will get negged (as has happened to me before)

I feel cheated in that instance, I bid my money and paid within seconds of the auction end. What more can I do??

Thats it!! difinitely going now! Evil Forum this one!!!

demonblade

since you are a buyer then negs dont really matter but with the new feedback system, it is perfect for you. you can give them +fb but mark them down on everything else. But if all sellers follow your advise and leave +fb first, each unjustified neg will impact the next sale eventually leading to a ruined reputation. For me a sale it never complete until the item is in their hand and they have told me so, either via email or fb.