Buyer Not Rating Seller?

[ausgeoff1946]

I recently sold an item to a buyer, which was confirmed

as delivered—with the tracking note—two weeks ago.

A week ago, I contacted the buyer to ensure they were

happy with the item, and politely suggested they leave

me a 5-star positive rating.  I have yet to get any response

from this buyer, and no seller rating.

I'm a new seller with only half a dozen successful sales so

far—all with positive ratings—so it's important for me to

be increasing my favourable seller status as soon as possible.

So... do I send another request to the buyer for a rating?  Or

do I just write this off as a failed seller/buyer relationship?

BTW, does eBay send any sort of prompt to buyers who fail

to rate sellers for successful transactions?     Is there any

exigency  for buyers and sellers to rate each other?      Is

it just etiquette, or are there generally accepted "rules" about

this?

—Thanks in advance.       👍

[oldtiger2016]

I've considered all the responses to my initial question,

and I thank those people for taking the time to help me.

This is my final word on the topic, and I post it here verbatim

from eBay's site:

Leaving Feedback is an important part of buying and selling on eBay.

If you are a buyer, leaving a review for your purchase is a great way to rate your experience with a seller on eBay and help other buyers make informed decisions. If you're a seller, leaving Feedback for your buyer is a great way to say thank you. This mutual feedback process enhances the eBay shopping experience for everyone and also helps eBay be the best possible platform for you.

[springyzone]

I'm a buyer, and quite often in the past, I have received little cards in with my purchase, that say something along the lines of, 'If you are happy with your purchase, please consider leaving positive feedback for us. If you have a problem at all though, please contact us directly so we can rectify it.'

I have absolutely no problem with those sorts of notes. I do not take it as harrassment.

I wouldn't really like to be asked to leave '5 star feedback'  though & I am not sure exactly why that puts my back up whereas the other message doesn't. Probably because it is too needy or just that bit too coercive.

So be careful how you word any request. And after one request, just leave it. Drop it.

Most businesses these days seem to ask for feedback. I am constantly being asked.

A few months ago I lost my temper with one request from Target and I left feedback alright. I wrote something like-I have been asked to give feedback about my purchase. Pity they don't follow up on their sales as carefully as they follow up with feedback requests or they would see from tracking that they haven't even posted it off to me yet. Very poor service.

So requests for feedback can misfire. I would not have given that feedback at all if they had not sent a request.

What some others have said is true anyway. You've got almost 400 in feedback score. That will be good enough for most buyers, it shows you've been around ebay a while. Only a few will check how many of those scores are for sales and if all the sales are positive, then all is fine. You'll eventually get more feedback from some buyers, Stress less.

[sandypebbles]

And still, despite eBay's 'feel good' copy and paste footnote

The fact remains that feedback is voluntary (as said numerous times)

Plus, since buyers can only be left positive feedback or nothing at all, that in it's makes a mockery of their 'enhancing the eBay experience' line

[sugar249]

And where in the Ebay cut and paste does it say it is compulsory,  or that sellers (or buyers) should harass the other party insisting on 5 star feedback.   I must have missed that part.

[countessalmirena]

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@oldtiger2016 wrote:

I've considered all the responses to my initial question,

and I thank those people for taking the time to help me.

This is my final word on the topic, and I post it here verbatim

from eBay's site:

Leaving Feedback is an important part of buying and selling on eBay.

If you are a buyer, leaving a review for your purchase is a great way to rate your experience with a seller on eBay and help other buyers make informed decisions. If you're a seller, leaving Feedback for your buyer is a great way to say thank you. This mutual feedback process enhances the eBay shopping experience for everyone and also helps eBay be the best possible platform for you.

---

As I said earlier in this thread, eBay’s feedback policy had been reworded — several times, actually. In none of the iterations of the policy has it been stated that feedback is compulsory. Rather, the original wording specifically stated that feedback is voluntary.

When I went to the feedback policy pages again for this thread, I noted that the latest changes had removed the word “voluntary” from the respective pages, even though it is still voluntary.

What you have quoted in no way negates this. Feedback is still voluntary. And eBay’s saying that feedback from a SELLER is a thank you does not make it so. It’s in fact a ridiculous thing for eBay to say; sellers can only leave positive feedback so there are only two options for a seller: green dot or no dot. Positive comment or no comment. Proscribed type or nature of content cannot reflect how every seller feels about every transaction.

As far as a thank you from sellers goes, most of my purchases include a thank you somewhere along the line. (Often at the actual time of purchasing, with “Thank you for your purchase”.) That rather knocks eBay’s suggestion about seller feedback being a thank you right out of the water.

eBay’s reason for removing the word “voluntary”…? Probably to encourage feedback as much as possible without making it mandatory.