Feedback System is a complete FAILURE

[djm_fibre]

I would like to stress my opinion on the complete failure of the ebay feedback system. As a business seller in all my seller adds i offer a complete refund or product replacement with no questions asked, weather it be postal damage, buyer not happy , whatever the case the option is to return the item and a full refund is granted. with offering a policy like this as  business owners in Australia have to by LAW, why is it that a buyer can still out of frustration post negative feedback ??? this is in no way a fair system to business owners who pay thousands of dollars in fees per year.

Also i would like to add that as a percentage on my sales alone only 55% of buyers have left feedback, so with this figure it is not an accurate reading on my seller performance.

Ebay needs to accomodate business sellers with new terms and conditions set out, as being a registered business is already has laws involved and is much differant to a public person selling an odd item here and there, that is where the feedback system creates confidence in buying from a stranger.

In my opinion being a business seller on ebay and with current laws and poilicies from ebay itself it is always a battle and very stressful to be able to trade efficiently. as a business seller the feedback system should be completly overhauled as a buyer is already assured of a secure purchase with current laws.

In summary the system in place is a complete failure and as a business owner i feel like a naughty school child when a complaint is handled by ebay itself.

Regards.

[digital*ghost]

I'll preface this by saying I understand where you're coming from, and agree that the feedback system leaves a bit to be desired, but ultimately (JMHO) it's not quite as bad as it can feel when someone leaves a neg out of the blue, especially now that neutral and negatives no longer impact a seller's account standing with eBay.

The thing is, any business - whether they are online, B&M only, or a combo of both - can receive publicly posted negative feedback, be it through review sites or social media, and the person posting the feedback is under no obligation to alert the business to their dissatisfaction (no matter how nice it would be - personally I consider it a matter of respect, I don't expect to always be able to make it so the problem never occurred at all and to receive glowing positives after an error), I just appreciate knowing what's happened so I can A) offer options to help as much as possible, and B) try to ensure it doesn't happen again), but my point is that these kinds of scenarios are not exclusive to eBay, it's just that the feedback is a little more accessable to prospective buyers. 

I get all kinds of less than perfect feedback on the sites I sell, (I don't mean I get heaps of negative reviews, just that the ones I do get are about all sorts of different things). I recently had one where the length of the item is kinda the primary item stat, so was in the title, in the description, along with pictures of it next to a ruler. A person who had previously bought a different length purchased these (obviously) shorter ones, then left the equivalent of a neutral because they weren't as long as they would have liked. I spent the day intermittently entertaining myself with the various replies I could post (my two favourites were "sorry to hear that, just out of curiosity, how long would you like 40mm to be?", and "I know how you feel, I wish 6" was longer than 6", too" Cos, you know.... a 6" Subway sandwich is never quite enough....  ). But ultimately I just left it as, really, that feedback reflects more on the other person than on me. 

In the case where the feedback accuses or blames me of something, I simply leave a calm, factual response intended to show other customers (not the FB leaver), how I handle and respond to such things. It probably comes as no surprise, but sometimes having something to recommend you after a problem is actually worth more than 100% feedback, so to be perfectly honest.... I no longer care anywhere near as much as I used to about maintaining a perfect record. (I won't say I don't care at all, because I definitely do, and I have had more than one buyer just straight out lie in FB which really grates, but I also recognise that the more I let their actions bother me, the more effect I allow them to have on my performance).

What I would really like to see in an extra stat on the seller info summary on listings, and their feedback profiles, one that shows the total number of completed transactions - this is done on another site where I sell, and shows at a glance that I've had a respectable number of sales, that the feedback I've received is for less than 30% of them, and (via an average star rating) that customer satisfaction is high, which is easy enough for prospective buyers to interepet as very positive overall. 

[davewil1964]

I tend to treat members who have been with eBay for 11 years and only come to the boards today for a whinge with ignore.

We all know the system. Those of us who actually use the boards know all the pitfalls.

Consider yourself lucky. My feedback is running around 30%. And I am sure I'm not the only one who would love 55%.

[saarzi]

Having a law in place that requires sellers to refund faulty or poor quality goods doesnt make receiving poor quality or broken goods a positive experience. I dont understand how you could possibly think that sending customers poor quality or broken items is ok to begin with, let lone think that giving a refund makes everything better?!

When someone buys a product they have a legal right to expect it to be *exactly* as described, and expect to be told of any issues etc beforehand, and expect it to be of reasonable quality in line with the price paid (yes, quality vs. price is part of the refund laws in Australia).

Clearly with your items this isnt happening. Giving a refund doesnt mean they didnt have a sh*tty experience with you / your store. It doesnt magically erase all the time and energy they WASTED in buying something from you and the disappointed they felt when they received a **bleep** item, or what a terrible seller that makes you look like.

Therefore, have a right to leave you a negative review when they have gone through a negative process / experience. Giving them a refund is not the point.

This really isnt complicated. Don't give customers negative experiences, like sending them items that are faulty, poor quality or dont do what they are supposed to do, then you wont have so many refunds, and you wont have so much negative feedback.

Everyone here is in the exact same boat as you ...... and for the small number of items youve sold, you have a huge amount of negative feedback.... thats not normal. All the feedback even has similar complaints - poor quality or broken or doesnt do what its supposed to. Surely you realise something youre doing isnt quite right?

I dont think youll have to worry though, I suspect eBay will shut your store for you soon.

[heihachi_73]

Not only that, negative feedback doesn't do anything to seller accounts anymore. If I was the OP I would be more worried about their detailed seller ratings.

[casbit33]

I wish they would get rid of the feedback system altogether.

It's not a true representation of anyone because not everyone gives feedback, and sellers can ONLY give positive feedback.

I would like to see it all gone and replaced with a puplic board that shows serial bad sellers and buyers. A real name and shame showing their real names as well.

This way the sellers could block all the pests and buyers not buy from bad sellers. Then we are left with the good ones.

On another note, I would like to see Aust post put simple tracking on letters. It wouldn't be hard to do and would save a lot INR false claims.

oh well it's nice to dream when everything else is just scary.

[*tippy*toes*]

AP can put tracking on letters, it's called registered post.

The sellers can only give positive feedback rant is starting to get old now. It's been like that for years and it's about time people started accepting that. If anything, it has cut the amount of negs a seller gets because buyers aren't leaving them negs out of spite because a seller left it for them first. Buyers having negs does absolutely nothing to their ability to buy. Nothing. Zero. Zilch. Nada. It does nothing to "warn" sellers because a lot of buyers use the buy it now option these days, so even if they had lots of negs, there is nothing a seller could do to stop them buying.

[mydiyau]

The feedback system is a fking disgrace.

http://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Selling/Serial-Scammer/m-p/1787752#U1787752

[bestbuyaus]

The feedback is derogatory and non specific regarding the reason it was left. There would be a case for having it removed on that basis as it gives other eBay members no reason or information for the negative comment.  If you still have the returned item packaging I would take a photo as it will have most likely a postage date, the incorrect address the buyer advised and the post office reason for returning the item to you. That should be sufficient to have what appears to be unreasonable feedback removed.

[casbit33]

I know about registered post, but no-one wants to pay extra for it, uless it's for something expensive which most of my items aren't.

I would like to see Free tracking.

[imastawka]

Wouldn't we all?

But looking at some of your 'inexpensive' items,  how is it that a silk scarf

is $6.50 standard postage?

That's a $2 large letter if ever I saw one. 

Same for the embroidered placemat and others

Your postage may be hindering sales.  I know I wouldn't pay that much for standard post

Just sayin'