HOW many Negs?

[Deleted User]

Having a bit of trouble with a buyer (and I haven't even dispatched the item he purchased last night yet!!), so I just had a quick look at his history.

Out of 962 feedbacks left for others, 76 are negs and 12 are neutrals. And too many to count are revised fb's from neg/neut to pos. Unbelievable that people can get away with this, really, isn't it?

I feel a big fat neg coming my way for no good reason at all.:(

In good news, however, he (very stupidly) sells off the same account.

Corelli

Oh dear. Fingers crosed for you.

soolin

That should be a relatively easy one to discuss with CS if you get a neg. Definitely showing a pattern of malicious feedback.

campdave

I'd be on the phone to ebay asking them to look at their account - getting on for 10% of transactions being worthy of non-positive feedback suggests an issue with the buyer and very little to do with the unfortunate sellers.

ilikewatch

Deleted_User wrote: »

Out of 962 feedbacks left for others, 76 are negs and 12 are neutrals. And too many to count are revised fb's from neg/neut to pos. Unbelievable that people can get away with this, really, isn't it?

How can you be sure that all these negs and neutrals aren't completely deserved?
I'm pretty sure that if I left a neg every time an item or the delivery service/shipping time was significantly not as described I would be leaving negs for more than 10% of my purchases In fact looking back over my last 10 eBay purchases, I think I could produce a convincing argument to leave negs for 3 of them.
My current bugbear is cheap BIN's from high volume sellers that promise free 1st class delivery and are marked as despatched the same day that I pay, but invariably turn up 5-7 working days later with no postmark and self printed "stamps" that don't indicate the postage class or date of posting. If I choose to spend a little more to buy from a seller who promises same day despatch and 1st class post this is generally because I want the item the next working day. Whilst I appreciate that this isn't guaranteed, I would still expect the majority of these items to turn up within 2 working days, but sadly this now seems to be the exception rather than the rule.

*rant mode engaged*

Also, sellers who state they use courier A, and then send it via courier B. Several times I have ordered from a seller who states they will send by a courier with a depot local to me, but then send via either DPD or Citylink whose depots involve a 70 or 80 mile round trip to collect - when contacted to explain that they have just cost me a 2 hour drive and a tenners worth of fuel do they offer to compensate me? No.

Also, volume sellers who take no notice of any communications until you leave a neg, then fall over themselves to put things right. I'm sure many, many sellers just play a numbers game, providing shoddy products and services knowing that the majority of people will never neg, and the few who do will agree to change it once they are offered the product/service they originally paid for.

EDIT: I quite agree that in the event that a seller has made a mistake, or the problem is outwith their control, then communication is the key and negative feedback is a last resort. However, I genuinely think that the majority of problems I encounter are not mistakes - they are the result of calculated business strategies to mislead in order to reduce overheads and increase profit.

For anyone who thinks that I'm just another difficult buyer who would be better off blocked, I actually sell more than I buy, with 1307 feedback as a seller and 652 as a buyer - all my feedback as both a buyer and a seller is positive and my DSR's are currently 5.0, 5.0, 4.8, 4.8. Hopefully proof that I do practice what I preach!

[Deleted User]

campdave wrote: »

I'd be on the phone to ebay asking them to look at their account - getting on for 10% of transactions being worthy of non-positive feedback suggests an issue with the buyer and very little to do with the unfortunate sellers.

Think I've calmed him down now - his emails have gone from borderline aggressive to quite pleasant (killing them with kindness - never fails!)

But I'm just surprised that someone with a pattern of leaving this level of neg/neut hasn't flagged something in eBay's system before now. It's over a period of YEARS that it's been going on.

Frankly, I think anybody leaving over about 3% neg/neut needs investigating.

campdave

Probably because everyone is so afraid of negatives and low DSR that they pander to buyers like this. They should be reported to ebay - ebay may not act immediately, but if a pattern can be established, they will.

[Deleted User]

campdave wrote: »

Probably because everyone is so afraid of negatives and low DSR that they pander to buyers like this. They should be reported to ebay - ebay may not act immediately, but if a pattern can be established, they will.

I don't disagree with what you say, but sadly in my experience, I'm better off 'pandering' to a difficult buyer to avoid a neg, than wasting my time reporting them to eBay. The pandering will result in a better outcome for me.

Although I appreciate others have had more luck than me, my own bitter experience has taught me that contacting eBay for help with anything is a waste of my time.

[Deleted User]

campdave wrote: »

Probably because everyone is so afraid of negatives and low DSR that they pander to buyers like this. They should be reported to ebay - ebay may not act immediately, but if a pattern can be established, they will.

Having said all that in my above post, however, if there was a quick and easy way for me to report his account, I would do, as I don't think it's right that he's getting away with leaving this level of neg fb.

What's the easiest way to do this that doesn't involve me having to phone eBay?

[Deleted User]

ilikewatch wrote: »

How can you be sure that all these negs and neutrals aren't completely deserved?
I'm pretty sure that if I left a neg every time an item or the delivery service/shipping time was significantly not as described I would be leaving negs for more than 10% of my purchases In fact looking back over my last 10 eBay purchases, I think I could produce a convincing argument to leave negs for 3 of them.
My current bugbear is cheap BIN's from high volume sellers that promise free 1st class delivery and are marked as despatched the same day that I pay, but invariably turn up 5-7 working days later with no postmark and self printed "stamps" that don't indicate the postage class or date of posting. If I choose to spend a little more to buy from a seller who promises same day despatch and 1st class post this is generally because I want the item the next working day. Whilst I appreciate that this isn't guaranteed, I would still expect the majority of these items to turn up within 2 working days, but sadly this now seems to be the exception rather than the rule.

*rant mode engaged*

Also, sellers who state they use courier A, and then send it via courier B. Several times I have ordered from a seller who states they will send by a courier with a depot local to me, but then send via either DPD or Citylink whose depots involve a 70 or 80 mile round trip to collect - when contacted to explain that they have just cost me a 2 hour drive and a tenners worth of fuel do they offer to compensate me? No.

Also, volume sellers who take no notice of any communications until you leave a neg, then fall over themselves to put things right. I'm sure many, many sellers just play a numbers game, providing shoddy products and services knowing that the majority of people will never neg, and the few who do will agree to change it once they are offered the product/service they originally paid for.

EDIT: I quite agree that in the event that a seller has made a mistake, or the problem is outwith their control, then communication is the key and negative feedback is a last resort. However, I genuinely think that the majority of problems I encounter are not mistakes - they are the result of calculated business strategies to mislead in order to reduce overheads and increase profit.

Perhaps you ought to avoid buying on eBay? Seems not to be doing your blood pressure any good!;)

campdave

Deleted_User wrote: »

I don't disagree with what you say, but sadly in my experience, I'm better off 'pandering' to a difficult buyer to avoid a neg, than wasting my time reporting them to eBay. The pandering will result in a better outcome for me.

And all the other sellers who take the same attitude have left you in the situation where you're now dealing with them, and by not acting on it, other sellers will continue to come across this buyer.

I appreciate it's the path of least resistance, but you can't really complain at ebay for not taking action when you're not willing to take the time to contact them about this buyer.

If you phone ebay, they will be able to look at the messages this buyer has sent you, see if there is a pattern and may be able to protect you from a negative.

In the time it took you to post this thread and several replies, you could have rung them.