Sellers giving feedback

drewboy · Subject: Sellers giving feedback Tue 19 Feb 2008, 14:46

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7250971.stm

About time too.

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dididave · Number of posts: 637 Registration date: 2006-03-01

I am reading right that sellers will not be allowed to leave any negative feedback? Not sure about that.

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Ciao's Favourite Member · Number of posts: 1075 Registration date: 2006-12-20

I've only ever had one failed transaction and I was the seller. A buyer pulled out of a £320 auction AFTER bidding had ended with the flimsiest of excuses and eBay weren't interested in hearing my claim.

I didn't even bother pursuing it as I managed to sell the item for more off-site a day later, but eBay really *Bad word* me off.

That was 6 years ago when they weren't even that big. I dread to think what they'd do now in similar situations. I haven't listed an auction since then, mind you.

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drewboy · Subject: Re: Sellers giving feedback Tue 19 Feb 2008, 15:48

dididave wrote:

I am reading right that sellers will not be allowed to leave any negative feedback? Not sure about that.

Yup.

I agree with it in principle. There have beena couple of times when, as a buyer, things havent went right but of course the thing the seller has a hold of you for is that if you give bad feedback, they can too.

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koshkha · Subject: Re: Sellers giving feedback Tue 19 Feb 2008, 20:54

That's rubbish. Buyers are every bit as evil, deceitful and dishonest as sellers. This is just another example of ebay taking the side of the buyer (from whom they earn nothing) against the seller who pays the listing, the commission and those bloody paypal fees. It's far too one-sided.

plipplop · Number of posts: 210 Registration date: 2006-04-25

koshkha wrote:

That's rubbish. Buyers are every bit as evil, deceitful and dishonest as sellers. This is just another example of ebay taking the side of the buyer (from whom they earn nothing) against the seller who pays the listing, the commission and those bloody paypal fees. It's far too one-sided.

A buyer is only expected to do one thing. Pay. If they're late, it's not ideal, but given that they don't get the goods until they've paid, the seller has lost very little.

A seller has to do many things. He must send the goods, charge fair postage rates, package them well, send them promptly and, of course, describe the item accurately in the first place. He has a lot of opportunity to break his side of the deal. And he has the seller's money before any of this is realised.

Worst case for seller? Buyer doesn't pay. Seller still has goods and relists. He can claim a credit for fees paid as a result of a non-paying bidder.

Worst case for buyer? They lose all their money or end up with rubbish goods, with little or no recourse.

Sellers enjoy many benefits from using eBay. They can avoid the costs of running their own web site / business; they benefit from the huge brand and pay fairly low fees on the items they sell. If it's cheaper to do it another way, they'd, erm, do it another way.

To say that eBay earns nothing from the buyers is, frankly, astonishingly naive. The sellers may pay the fees directly to eBay, but there is the small matter of somebody buying something off them in the first place. Both parties are therefore critical to the eBay operating model.

I generally only sell stuff on eBay and I welcome the change, which will start to add value to the feedback system. Buyers can finally say what they really think, without fear of retaliation and decent sellers have nothing to fear. There will ALWAYS be a minor element of nut cases (my only negative feedback comes from a seller who stated "won't give me feedback, perhaps now you will". Whuh?) but the reality is that an active seller who generally does the right thing won't suffer.

Realistically, 100% positive feedback should be virtually unknown as you simply can't please all of the people all of the time. A system that enables buyers to be honest without fear of retaliation is entirely a positive thing.

drewboy · Subject: Re: Sellers giving feedback Wed 20 Feb 2008, 00:34

koshkha wrote:

That's rubbish. Buyers are every bit as evil, deceitful and dishonest as sellers. This is just another example of ebay taking the side of the buyer (from whom they earn nothing) against the seller who pays the listing, the commission and those bloody paypal fees. It's far too one-sided.

Um, wot Phil said.

As soon as a buyer pays, they should get feedback as they have done what is required.

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dididave · Number of posts: 637 Registration date: 2006-03-01

I think rather than scrapping sellers feedback they should have to leave feedback as soon as a buyer has paid before the buyer leaves feedback. That should sort things out better than scrapping sellers feedback altogether.

It's the fear of getting negative from buyer that stops sellers leaving positive feedback until later on and as Drew said, after a buyer has paid, really they have fulfilled there end of the bargain.

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koshkha · Subject: Re: Sellers giving feedback Wed 20 Feb 2008, 10:53

Buyers send cheques that bounce.

Buyers make paypal payments using stolen credit cards and paypal takes the money back

Buyers don't pay for weeks and then only after many reminders

Buyers claim the product didn't arrive when it did

Buyers claim the product was broken after they broke it.

Don't be so naive as to think that all buyers are angels. There's plenty they can do that's *Bad word* and plenty of sellers who've had their fingers burnt by dishonest buyers.

koshkha · Subject: Re: Sellers giving feedback Wed 20 Feb 2008, 10:55

dididave wrote:

I think rather than scrapping sellers feedback they should have to leave feedback as soon as a buyer has paid before the buyer leaves feedback. That should sort things out better than scrapping sellers feedback altogether.

It's the fear of getting negative from buyer that stops sellers leaving positive feedback until later on and as Drew said, after a buyer has paid, really they have fulfilled there end of the bargain.

Again I disagree. As a seller, I want to know that the item has arrived and the buyer is happy before I leave feedback. If I give them a positive only to find that a week later they claim it hasn't arrived, start demanding compensation and THREATEN that if they don't get what they want they'll neg me, then that's hardly fair.

And I speak as someone with a 100% rating as both a buyer and a seller but also as someone who no longer sells much at all because the odds are stacked so much in favour of the buyers by eBay's attitude to protecting the buyer and not the seller.

dididave · Number of posts: 637 Registration date: 2006-03-01

koshkha wrote:

dididave wrote:

I think rather than scrapping sellers feedback they should have to leave feedback as soon as a buyer has paid before the buyer leaves feedback. That should sort things out better than scrapping sellers feedback altogether.

It's the fear of getting negative from buyer that stops sellers leaving positive feedback until later on and as Drew said, after a buyer has paid, really they have fulfilled there end of the bargain.

Again I disagree. As a seller, I want to know that the item has arrived and the buyer is happy before I leave feedback. If I give them a positive only to find that a week later they claim it hasn't arrived, start demanding compensation and THREATEN that if they don't get what they want they'll neg me, then that's hardly fair.

And I speak as someone with a 100% rating as both a buyer and a seller but also as someone who no longer sells much at all because the odds are stacked so much in favour of the buyers by eBay's attitude to protecting the buyer and not the seller.

Surely these are minority cases though and will only make up a tiny percentage of your feedback? I think the positives outweight the negatives (groan) in that case as most buyers are clever enough to realise when feedback is false and you still have the option to respond on your feedback received.

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Ciao's Favourite Member · Number of posts: 1075 Registration date: 2006-12-20

I agree. I think the crap buyers are a minority and this system whereby sellers don't leave feedback until the buyer has left their own is ridiculous. In the majority of cases, the buyer fulfils their obligation once they've paid. Feedback should be left then.

Perhaps there is a place for a secondary feedback system IF things don't go according to plan, like an after sales feedback system (is there such a thing? I don't use eBay that often), but the old system was pants IMO.

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dididave · Number of posts: 637 Registration date: 2006-03-01

Ciao's Favourite Member wrote:

I agree. I think the crap buyers are a minority and this system whereby sellers don't leave feedback until the buyer has left their own is ridiculous.

Perhaps there is a place for a secondary feedback system IF things don't go according to plan , like an after sales feedback system (is there such a thing? I don't use eBay that often), but the old system was pants IMO.

Well there is an option to comment on the feedback someone has left for you so you do have a visible right of reply. I know as a buyer I read these before writing a seller off.

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plipplop · Number of posts: 210 Registration date: 2006-04-25

koshkha wrote:

Buyers send cheques that bounce.

I never send goods paid for by cheque until funds are cleared.

koshkha wrote:

Buyers make paypal payments using stolen credit cards and paypal takes the money back.

So? If they do that, it's a criminal offence. I hardly think you leaving them negative feedback will help. They'll be long gone!

koshkha wrote:

Buyers don't pay for weeks and then only after many reminders.

No payment - no goods. What does a seller actually lose from this scenario? It's frustrating but otherwise no big deal.

koshkha wrote:

Buyers claim the product didn't arrive when it did

Get a certificate of posting. If they say it didn't arrive, you can claim off the Post Office. No loss to seller.

koshkha wrote:

Buyers claim the product was broken after they broke it.

Get a certificate of posting. If they say it's been damaged, you can claim off the Post Office. No loss to seller.

koshkha wrote:

Don't be so naive as to think that all buyers are angels. There's plenty they can do that's *Bad word* and plenty of sellers who've had their fingers burnt by dishonest buyers.

I agree - but I think the exposure on a seller's part is far less than that of a buyer. And I think the ratio of evil sellers to evil buyers is about 200:1. Of all the items I ever bought off someone on eBay, I would argue that at least 50% were described incorrectly, were packaged dreadfully or I was ripped off on the postage.

helencbradshaw · Subject: Re: Sellers giving feedback Wed 20 Feb 2008, 23:04

I would agree with Phil overall.

I have spent a bit of time reading those message boards, blimey.

Mind you it is amazing how shocking some of the stories are about buyers being ripped off big time AND yet they still don't want to leave a neg in case they get a red gif in return.

Madness.

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