Buyers not leaving feedback

charlies_mum

Since the new rules, I have noticed a lot of buyers aren't bothering to leave feedback. At one time about 80% would leave it, but now probably less than half are bothering.

I suppose there isn't any point in them leaving feedback unless they have had a bad experience, as they don't need our feeback any more. If they are all on 100%, then nothing a seller can do will change that.

The only problem I can see with this, is that if you are unlucky enough to get a negative, you would have to sell lots to try to offset it.

Are other sellers noticing this drop in feedback ?

DGJsaver

charlies_mum wrote: »

Since the new rules, I have noticed a lot of buyers aren't bothering to leave feedback. At one time about 80% would leave it, but now probably less than half are bothering.

I suppose there isn't any point in them leaving feedback unless they have had a bad experience, as they don't need our feeback any more. If they are all on 100%, then nothing a seller can do will change that.

The only problem I can see with this, is that if you are unlucky enough to get a negative, you would have to sell lots to try to offset it.

Are other sellers noticing this drop in feedback ?

I think it`s a vicious circle
I think a lot of sellers couldnt be bothered to leave FB before the changes as well

StaffsSW

yep - I'm around a 40% FB return rate against sales, and a lot of people are reporting the same.

Buyer feedback was never really worthwhile in the first place - sellers rarely check it before a sale, and if it is a BIN then they never got the chance. It was rare to see a buyer with a -1 or below rating, so that block was worthless, and even more so now.

Since the rule change it has been devalued further - there is now no distinction between a decent, polite and honest buyer, and a habitual scammer. There are still some buyers that are a bit uptight about collecting feedback points, and still the argument about who should leave it first. My belief has not changed. It's entirely voluntary, so if a buyer volunteers to leave me one, I will obviously return the favour. Besides, regardless of how quick somebody pays me, if they turn out to be a PITA or a scammer, I don't think they deserve a shiny green blob.

Feedback is not part of a transaction, and many buyers just want to find their item, pay for it, receive it and enjoy it as quickly as possible. Feedback plays no part in this, and is merely a load of extra keystrokes for the buyer, click a pos, neut or neg button, think about and type a comment, click 4 star buttons, click submit - if it's a non-positive, there is another screen with more check boxes to tick - it's all a chore.

As the feedback system is now appearing to be under more abuse than it was previously, I would not be surprised if this time next year the whole concept has been done away with, and buyers simply leave a star rating. The eBay Customer Service department take more calls and emails on feedback issues and disputes than they do on any other area of the business. If they got rid of feedback, think how much time they could then spend on dealing with the real problem issues on the site.

eBay are a simply revenue-driven corporation - feedback provides no revenue, but plenty of cost to them. It's only a matter of time before somebody at a high level sees the obvious huge cost saving.

pinkgem

i'm also not getting much feedback as a seller. i am still leaving feedback for buyers after they leave me some.

as a buyer i am still leaving feedback and stars when i receive items

pdel61

stevew8975 wrote: »

I would not be surprised if this time next year the whole concept has been done away with, and buyers simply leave a star rating.

That would be the first decent thing Ebay would have done for a long time. I'd also like to have DBRs so seller could rate buyers on certain things:

Communication
Speed of Payment
Likely hood to maon groan and complain
Honesty

There's probably a few more.

charlies_mum

pdel61 wrote: »

Communication
Speed of Payment
Likely hood to maon groan and complain
Honesty

There's probably a few more.

What about ability to read and understand the description. I always put the postage costs on my listings, but have lost count of the number of times I have been asked the cost of postage :rolleyes:

LilDevil

It does annoy me when I don't get left feedback. My personal way of doing things is that if I'm the buyer, then I leave feedback first. If I'm the seller, then I wait for feedback.

It is a big can of worms though, I think the best thing would be for Ebay to either make it compulsory to leave feedback, or ditch it altogether!

custardy

i'll admit i leave FB but often leave it a few weeks and do it in blocks