Negative feedback Woes

[noseinabook2011]

As a seller I take great care to describe my items as closely as possible and go to the trouble of including 3 or more photos of the actual item. This morning I received a message from a buyer - strongly worded - stating her dissastifaction with her book.

While I stand by my item description, I decided it was better to cut my loses and so I immediately organised a full refund. And then... I noticed she'd already left negative feedback.

Is it too much to ask for buyers to contact a seller first and try to come to some sort of amicable solution? It's a simple matter of courtesy, something this buyer is obviously lacking.

[phorum_junkie*]

Well I am a pom and I am not exactly known as a whinger.

There are carp buyers and there are carp sellers, they are just something we all have to put up with and I will give up on ebay, and probably life, when a silly red dot on a computer screen means so much that I have to waste even a second whinging about it.

The only time I ever received negs I did post about them but only because the story behind them was so amusing and I was almost disappointed when ebay removed them when the member was NARUd. The word cerise is still well remembered by some of the old timers LOL.

[i-love-my-sheep]

I used to add in my invoice asking them to leave feedback when their item arrived so I knew they had received it and were happy with it. Then I'd leave feedback for them. Very few did. I wondered whether buyers felt pushed, so I stopped doing that and it made no difference.

I always send sellers a message when I get what I've bought. I feel it's a courtesy, so they know, plus I leave feedback for them. Most are so grateful.....and shocked! I am very particular about sending a message to international sellers, even if it's a signature on delivery item, because I know how easy things can get lost. Every international seller has replied expressing their immense gratitude for letting them know. It only takes a few seconds to send a quick message, I wish more people would do that. I don't think I've ever got a message from a buyer, so unless they leave feedback, I never know whether they've got it or not! I suppose not having an INR opened they have got it, but sometimes it would be nice to know for sure.

[phorum_junkie*]

 It only takes a few seconds to send a quick message, I wish more people would do that

I hope you realise that ebay see it as a fault if you communicate with a buyer outside of the standard email messages. There are also a lot of people like me who do not need or want any more emails cluttering up our in boxes, if it were possible to turn off all the ebay notifications I would do so. I do not need an email to tell me I have paid, I do not need an email to say my item has been posted and I certainly don't want an email asking if my iitem has arrived unless it had been at least 4 weeks for domestic parcels and I have not left feedback. The ultimate do not want is the emails asking for feedback, they either get none or some they would probably rather not have.

[i-love-my-sheep]

I was referring to letting a seller know when I had received the items I bought, especially from international sellers. I nearly always get a reply thanking me for the message. Is that a breach of policy, even though it's regarding the items I bought, and sent via eBay messaging?

[digital*ghost]

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@phorum_junkie* wrote:

 It only takes a few seconds to send a quick message, I wish more people would do that

I hope you realise that ebay see it as a fault if you communicate with a buyer outside of the standard email messages. 

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No they don't. 

They award an auto-5 star for communication if none outside the standard auto-emails was necessary (plus a couple of other specifications), that's all - bit of a difference, and it doesn't suggest that communicating with buyers is a fault, it suggests that if a seller's listing (photos, description and any other info) was communicated well enough and they did everything else post-sale "right", they can assess that as A1 communication on behalf of the buyer, as it were (communication isn't limited to direct messages - everything in a listing communicates something, as does marking items as sent etc). 

If the seller doesn't meet the parameters for an auto-5 (in any of the qualifying ratings), it doesn't mean it's a fault, it means the buyer gets to rate the DSR independently. 

[noseinabook2011]

Refunding was a darn kneejerk reaction.  

Anyhow, what is really frusgtrating now is, to quote ebay: "primarily we haven't seen the item so we don't know exactly what is the condition of that item..."  

Basically, I can upload as many photos of the item as I can and still that won't be enough to provide supportive evidence of the item's condition. 

In this instance, it comes down to the buyer's ignorance of books that are printed on vellum like paper (thick).  Traditionally, the pages have 'deckled edges' (rough cut).  The buyer refers to this rough cut as 'torn'.  

[ajarnjenny]

A book? Someone left a neg for a book?

If I buy a book that I want to read the words of (isn't that what books are about?), I couldn't care less if there are marks and creases. I want to read the thing, not have it as an accessory.

I would be more inclined to buy a much read and dog eared book than a pristine, never read book.