When I want to leav e feedback, I only have two options: positive or leave feedback later. Why?

[jogging_jade]

When I want to leave feedback, I only have two options:  positive or "leave feedback later" - why can I not leave negative or neutral feedback??  I have had buyers bid on multiple items then not pay up - even after weeks and ignoring all messages.  Also how do I report non-payment of items to Ebay?  It refers me to the resolution page but when I click on the link, it goes to a page where other buyers' items are advertised??.

[digital*ghost]

eBay removed the option to leave a buyer anything other than positive around 5 years ago, so that won't be an option at all.

You can open an unpaid item dispute - in My eBay, next to the sold item, should be a dropdown menu, if you pull that up and select "Resolve a problem" the next screen will give you the option to select "I sold an item and haven't received payment". Keep following the prompts, and an unpaid item case will be opened. The buyer will then have a minimum 4 days to pay, but after that point, if they haven't paid, you can close the case and received a credit of your final value fees, plus the buyer will receive a strike.

You might also wish to go to My eBay > Account > Site preferences > Buyer requirements. You can set it up so that anyone with 2 or more UPI strikes won't be able to bid on or buy your items (2 or more strikes in the last 12 months is the strictest setting).

Edited to add the link to the resolution centre: http://resolutioncentre.ebay.com.au/

You will need the item number to open the case if you go to the RC directly.

[jogging_jade]

Thanks for that but the buyer told me they were still "buying" and I left it to that as the buyer was supposed to let me know when they were done shopping  so I could issue the invoice - this resulted in the non-payment to fall outside of the allowed non-payment period to log a complaint and I can not open a non-payment case! I'm stuck and have no way of warning other sellers of this buyer who buys multiple items then don't pay and don 't respond to any messages.  I know I can block the seller but they can now just go and do the same thing to other sellers.  So much for the credibility of the ebay feedback system.  Why have feedback at all if you can not have honest feedback??  I never leave negative feedback but this time I feel it it justified and now I cant.  So who is ebay fooling with a feeback system which is only "for show"?!...  Not a happy camper! 

[digital*ghost]

If it is still within 45 days, you could try sending them a mutual cancellation request. The down side of that is that the buyer needs to agree to the cancellation for you to get a FVF credit, or ignore it completely, which will then mean you have to wait 8 days to close it manually and get a credit.

eBay has decided that the feedback system is not the way to deal with NPBs, but that the strike system is, so even though it's too late for this transaction, the best I can advise is to keep the time frame in mind in the future and decide on some policies around that time frame - then stick to them no matter how nice etc a buyer seems. (eg I state payment within 5 days from the date of sale. I send one polite enquiry around day 4, and am willing to negotiate an extension only once - that is, if a buyer communicates with me and asks if they can pay on a day outside of that, I'm happy to oblige - within reason, of course - but if that day comes and goes without payment, I just let them know I'm unable to withhold the item from sale any longer and start the UPI).

[jogging_jade]

Thanks for the advice.  

With all that in mind I think that ebay then needs to do away with the feedback system alltogether as it creates a false sense of security for people like me who only buy from members with 100% positive feedback.  It seems to be a system which favours the buyer over the seller and it's integrity is questionable.

I've been a member since way  back when and I am finding a huge increase of non-payers and people who win a bid and then quibble about the price, the postage costs or even the product itself. This would not happen if people know that behaviour like that would result in neutral or negative feedback.  I've had a buyer who waited 16 days and ignored all my messages for payment and only paid once I've opened a case.  Other sellers will now not know this and will have to wait weeks for their money too.  All in all it is simply not worth the effort as you end up spending hours chasing up payments, sending messages, pacifying unreasonable buyers (I even had a buyer telling me that my cost for a 5kg predpaid satchel was excessive while I was charging the exact price of the bag I purchased it for)! I used to enjoy ebay but no longer feel like it's a fair deal and that sellers are getting the short end of the stick.   

Anyway, I appreciate you taking the time to respond and explain.  Maybe I should not be so kind to buyers and take a tougher line. Or just stop selling stuff.  

Thanks heaps!  

[*crikey*mate*]

Jade, there really are some tosser people out there, buyers and sellers, but I reckon most people will say that the vast majority of their trading members are excellent.

It's not a foolproof system, I'm not sure that any are, but there are a lot of things you can do to go a long way towards protecting yourself against those who we may not want to trade with.

As a seller, just have all your blocks in place, that's really the best you can do.

As a buyer, no impulse buys and really look at your seller's feedback before trading, always pay by PayPal and if prudent, research your product beforehand and ask questions of the seller if in doubt.

Above all, common sense.

I've been guilty of failing to employ a few of these things, especially the common sense and impulse buy ones. Sometimes there has been something I really wanted and ignored the little warning explosions going off in my head, and so took a chance, took the risk despite my better judgement.

But I have learned to listen and as hard as it is sometimes, if there is any doubt, just don't.

as I said, it's not failproof, but from my experience, if I stick to the above, the outcomes are usually excellent.

oh, and for both seller and buyer, know the rules, policies and obligations of each party, so you know what you have to do and what is expected of the other party.

Often people have bad experiences, simply because their expectations are unreralistic and not compliant with what is supposed to be

[digital*ghost]

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@jogging_jade wrote:

Anyway, I appreciate you taking the time to respond and explain.  Maybe I should not be so kind to buyers and take a tougher line. Or just stop selling stuff.  

---

I understand the frustration and the time you can invest in following up on a transaction, but things can actually get a lot simpler.

There are only two things you're not in control of - 1, whether or not the buyer pays, and 2, the minimum amount of time it takes to go through the UPI process. 

Everything else is up to you - payment timeframe, if / when you follow up, and how long it takes to do so, and so on. NPBs annoy me, and I do wish there was some tighter control / restrictions, but I spend max. a few minutes following up on and dealing with them (my enquiry is saved to a document and just copy-pasted to a direct message as needed), mostly because I have paying customers that need / deserve the majority of my time and attention. I know it's a little easier for me to do and say, as I have a store with only BINs and an NPB doesn't mess with me or my finances as much as it can for others, but I think the "take control of everything you can and don't spend any energy on things you can't" approach is fairly universal. 

I hope that helps in some way, anyway. 🙂

[jogging_jade]

It's just very frustrating.  A democracy is not a democracy if you can only vote for 1 candidate.  In the same sense, feedback is not feedback if you are limited to only give positive feedback.  So why have it at all?... 

Thanks guys, much appreciated!