Real-life MMD: Should I change my eBay feedback now the seller's replaced my item?

Fujiko

I agree entirely that it should be possible to leave negative feedback for buyers. I do not sell on ebay but I have heard from people who do that some buyers are serial complainers! I understand it is possible to block them from future transactions? Has anyone done this?

Talent

No. No. No.

phillabels

ALWAYS unfair to leave a seller bad feedback without contacting them 1st to give them a chance to put things right. The seller won't know there is a problem unless you tell them.
If they don't put things right then you have a just reason for bad feedback. If the seller puts things right then that is good service & deserves positive feedback. Sounds to me like the seller is quite rightly trying to rectify the problem & I feel there is a case to alter your bad feedback

phillabels

neilleeds wrote: »

The review should not be changed, that would be taking a bribe to give a false positive opinion of the product. Just get a refund and take your business to another seller. If the buyer feels they should change their feedback then fine but that should not be done in exchange for money or goods from the seller.

Buyer should not leave negative without contacting the seller to give them the opportunity to put things right. If the seller is trying to correct things now they know about the problem surely it's the negative feedback which is false, not the amended positive feedback?

phillabels

neilleeds wrote: »

The review should not be changed, that would be taking a bribe to give a false positive opinion of the product. Just get a refund and take your business to another seller. If the buyer feels they should change their feedback then fine but that should not be done in exchange for money or goods from the seller.

ALWAYS unfair to leave a seller bad feedback without contacting them 1st to give them a chance to put things right. The seller won't know there is a problem unless you tell them.
If they don't put things right then you have a just reason for bad feedback. If the seller puts things right then that is good service & deserves positive feedback. Sounds to me like the seller is quite rightly trying to rectify the problem & I feel there is a case to alter your bad feedback

Hails1309

Did you give the seller the opportunity to rectify the problem, before leaving negative feedback?


I personally would have given them a chance to sort out and then feedback would have been left accordingly.


If you did give them the chance to rectify the problem and they weren't interested until after you left bad feedback, then that's not on. They really shouldn't be offering to sort out only on the basis of you changing your feedback.

Cloudane

This is why you should never leave negative feedback unless you've already attempted and failed to resolve the problem with the seller and have written off the cost (there's no guarantee the resolution system will give you your money back, and even if they do, they deduct fees).

Negative feedback is not friendly, it's not even a particularly useful or detailed review of their customer service (which eBay doesn't really provide unfortunately, the nearest you get is those star ratings), it's an equivalent of saying "up yours", storming out of the shop and telling everyone you can find going near the place not to deal with them. Sometimes they deserve that (but sometimes people do that for the most minor of transgressions, unfortunately for the seller).

It's not to be given lightly. It means either "I've lost money and want others to be warned about it more than I want my money back" (because at that point there's no incentive for the seller to refund you of their own free will; you're down to whether eBay/Paypal believe you've done everything you can and reverse the transaction) or "I want the seller to contact me and offer to change it if I change it back to positive" (against eBay's Ts&Cs but is the example used for this thread)

Always try to reason with the seller first. Maybe they weren't being malicious - not many are if they're trying to make a livelihood on eBay, as it's not in their best interests unless they're a quick one-off scammer on a throwaway account. Maybe you bought something "too cheap to be true", guess what, it usually is, try to take responsibility for buying cheap poopoo from China and just politely ask for a refund/replacement.

If that fails, try again through the formal system (Resolution Center) as then eBay pokes the seller with a stick as well and it all goes in their logs for if you decide to try and claim. This is also the point at which to threaten them with negative feedback (not leave it, just hover it over them like a club), as that would get them to sit up and take notice where they might not have before.
If all else fails with the seller and you've given up all hope and placed them all on the claim system (which is only valid if you've tried quite hard with the seller to resolve the problem) that's when to leave negative. (If it'll still let you by then.)

Fact is there's just no easy way of saying "the products this person sells are mostly cheap rubbish from China" or "this seller wasn't exactly helpful but they did replace the item after I threatened them" and leaving them a 5/10 or whatever. Yep, it sucks (try eBay's "contact us to suggest something we can improve" avenues). But trying to force the feedback system to do that is very severe and rarely constructive unless they're SO BAD that you're willing to lose money just to warn others / just to hurt them.



BTW I'm not sure eBay even let you change negative feedback back to positive any more. I think they stopped that to try and do something about this problem a while back, and to further reenforce that negative feedback is basically like a termination of any negotiation or friendly terms with the seller.

IDProtected

Be kind to the seller - they are being kind to you! They are trying to rectify the error, what else can they possibly do to make things right? Perhaps here, the lesson is "do unto others ........."

meknowalot-51

Perhaps you were a little quick off the mark and should have contacted the seller first,this would give them the oppertunity for offering a full refund or replacement.Then you could have extended the honest feedback with their response.Under no circumstancies should you change the feedback as it's an honest and accurate account as to what you recieved.That is the whole point of feedback,it's to give other potential buyers a guide as to what they are likely to receive,this is why we all look at it.You say they are trying to rectify the problem,as i see it all they are doing is bribing you into lying.If a refund/apology was offered with no strings then great,then you could have upgraded the feedback with how they resolved the issue.What i'm slightly concerned with is a lot of people on here would take up the offer and change the feedback,which makes a mockery of the whole point of feedback.Some have said bad reviews could ruin his bussiness,my answer to that is don't try and rip people off with shoddy goods.You should report them to ebay.One final comment.....if you had recieved quality goods in the first place,as expected,none of this would be required.

King_Drax_I

Cloudane wrote: »

BTW I'm not sure eBay even let you change negative feedback back to positive any more. I think they stopped that to try and do something about this problem a while back, and to further reenforce that negative feedback is basically like a termination of any negotiation or friendly terms with the seller.

The seller has a limited number of requests allowed per year, to get negative feedbacks removed. The seller has to talk about it first with the buyer, then send the feedback removal request to the buyer who then has to agree. I have had a buyer agree to the removal request, then I sent the request and he denied it, thereby losing me one of my requests for that year. Thankfully I did not need any more that year!

The other way of doing it is to contact eBay directly and ask them to remove the negative. You can only do this if certain conditions are fulfilled, such as comments from rogue buyers who consistently leave bad comments, or from buyers who are then suspended from eBay (or cease being a registered user, which may not be the same thing) within three months of leaving you the neg. Sadly, my buyer was suspended four months after leaving my negative, so eBay could not remove it You takes the knocks.....

Finally, removed negative feedback is not upgraded to a positive; it is simply removed.

To be fair, the vast majority of my buyers are good people who ask first if they have a problem, which I usually manage to sort out for them. People who complain to me first always receive top class customer service, up to and including a clearly-offered no-quibble full 100% refund with no return of the goods required. (eBay cannot understand that sort of service; they simply assume that all sellers are crooks!)

But for those buyers who are completely unreasonable, sure they get their refund, but they do not get positive feedback. That's the only recourse I have now. But they still get top-class service, no matter how awkward they are.

Just one more thing. I sell software packages. At Christmas, I used to put in freebies like upgrades, extra discs, all kinds of goodies. Until one idiot ruined it for everyone else by leaving a neutral feedback for his free upgrade - 'Ok but nothing to write home about' without contacting me first. The item was exactly as described, the disc worked, it was despatched and received quickly, and it was a free upgrade above his original purchase. He left me a neutral without contacting me first; if for any reason he'd expressed his dissatisfaction I'd have refunded him and he'd have been allowed to keep his disc. Guess whether or not I give free upgrades anymore.....