topic Why do eBay make you feel guilty about neutral feedback in Buying

Why do eBay make you feel guilty about neutral feedback

jean2579 — Mon, 08 Sep 2014 01:13:10 GMT

I have just received a bridal veil which is completely unsaleable. There are about 3 small holes in the design, threads are hanging off the sewing and there is no way that I can sell it to any buyer.

It is not worth the return postage to China to get a refund, and yet eBay constantly ask if I am sure if I want to leave neutral feedback.

I thought that the idea of feedback was to alert other buyers to a possible problem.

Re: Why do eBay make you feel guilty about neutral feedback

cq_electrical — Mon, 08 Sep 2014 01:24:30 GMT

Forget about eBay, I'm more curious as to why you're only considering giving the seller neutral feedback. If I'd received something in such an appallingly unsaleable condition, the seller would be copping a neg as fast as I could type one, plus 1s on all their DSRs. You should never allow 'guilt' to prevent you from being 100% honest in your opinion.

Re: Why do eBay make you feel guilty about neutral feedback

jean2579 — Mon, 08 Sep 2014 01:30:03 GMT

@cq_electrical wrote:
Forget about eBay, I'm more curious as to why you're only considering giving the seller neutral feedback. If I'd received something in such an appallingly unsaleable condition, the seller would be copping a neg as fast as I could type one, plus 1s on all their DSRs. You should never allow 'guilt' to prevent you from being 100% honest in your opinion.

cq, I guess to date I have been lucky that everything that I have purchased has been good. I was unsure what damage to an item warranted an negative. But thanks to your post I now have a better idea.

Re: Why do eBay make you feel guilty about neutral feedback

cq_electrical — Mon, 08 Sep 2014 01:57:04 GMT

Under the circumstances Jean, I think the only thing that would prevent me from leaving negative feedback would be if the seller was prepared to refund without return (given that the cost of return to China would be prohibitive), so you may want to email them and see if they're prepared to do so, but if they refuse, or demand that you return the original item, or don't refund the full amount within 7 days, then nothing on this earth would be saving them from the dreaded (and well-deserved) red dot. Perhaps it might encourage them to do a bit better next time as well.

Re: Why do eBay make you feel guilty about neutral feedback

cmcoins2000 — Mon, 08 Sep 2014 02:21:27 GMT

By all means leave the 'red dot'..

The item is not as described - you have waited for posting from China - you have a useless product - and paid for it.

These sellers in my experience hate the red dots - so leave one and let them resolve the problem.

Odds are they will offer another - offer a refund without having to return the item - and bigger odds are they will ask for revised feedback.

Do not revise until you are happy with a replacement - a refund.

If you want to revise at all - may save others from the same fate.

Re: Why do eBay make you feel guilty about neutral feedback

phorum_junkie* — Mon, 08 Sep 2014 08:58:27 GMT

I too would have left a neg unless the seller refunded without question or return then it would probably be a neutral.

Re: Why do eBay make you feel guilty about neutral feedback

cq_electrical — Mon, 08 Sep 2014 09:33:08 GMT

I see you left them a neutral, Jean. Why didn't you neg them? A neutral does them no real harm at all and doesn't even count against their feedback percentage. A neutral would only have been applicable had they refunded you without return, so did they?

Re: Why do eBay make you feel guilty about neutral feedback

lane-ends — Mon, 08 Sep 2014 13:26:26 GMT

Ebay ask you if you are sure because there are buyers who leave feedback like this with a neutral, "Would be one of the best vendors I've dealt with. Easy 2 deal with & great coms." (left for same seller)

Re: Why do eBay make you feel guilty about neutral feedback

buyer1017 — Fri, 12 Sep 2014 14:24:27 GMT

@cq_electrical wrote:
the seller would be copping a neg as fast as I could type one, plus 1s on all their DSRs. You should never allow 'guilt' to prevent you from being 100% honest in your opinion.

Just my opinion, but this is not the correct way to deal with such situations,I would contact the seller and see what he is willing to do first, send hm pics as proof of damage and if he does nothing then a negative is deserved, but you should contact the seller first before feedback. I know a bit about selling and sellers usually want to avoid a defect and will try and resolve the issue for you.

If there is an issue, the best way to resolve it is via communication, not by leaving feedback.

Re: Why do eBay make you feel guilty about neutral feedback

cq_tech — Fri, 12 Sep 2014 15:07:48 GMT

Unless the seller is using trained chimpanzees to do his stock control and packing, it's pretty unlikely he could have missed seeing an item in such an unusable and unsaleable condition, yet he elected to send it anyway.

However, I do actually agree with you for the most part, but my immediate response would be governed by such things as item price, previous negative or neutral feedback, number of revised feedbacks, T&Cs in his listing, etc. There's no 'one size fits all' I'm afraid.

Re: Why do eBay make you feel guilty about neutral feedback

buyer1017 — Sat, 13 Sep 2014 07:41:12 GMT

I'd just give the seller an opportunity to resolve it first, mistakes do happen, items could be folded, boxed, etc and a defect may have been missed. Most of the replies I see from sellers to negative feedback left are usually "contact us first before feedback:

I had an item not arrive from an overseas seller, I could have very well opened a dispute and left a neg, I chose to contact the seller and he requested me to give a few more days and finally issued me a refund (without a dispute)

The item did arrive eventually and I paid him back for it. There are too many elements at play, mistakes do happen but as long as the seller is willing to make it right I am ok with it.

I am rating his product as well as his service after all.

Have a good weekend 🙂

Re: Why do eBay make you feel guilty about neutral feedback

foxette-in-sox — Sat, 13 Sep 2014 08:31:15 GMT

Having just scrolled through your feedback left for others, I'm astonished that you have left positives with negative comments and neutrals with negative comments-why didn't you simply leave negatives ?

Re: Why do eBay make you feel guilty about neutral feedback

davewil1964 — Sat, 13 Sep 2014 12:21:30 GMT

@cq_electrical wrote:
I see you left them a neutral, Jean. Why didn't you neg them? A neutral does them no real harm at all and doesn't even count against their feedback percentage. A neutral would only have been applicable had they refunded you without return, so did they?

A neutral does, however, contribute the same to a seller's defect count as a negative, and thus contributes to eBay's quest to weed out 'bad' sellers.

You need to keep up.

Re: Why do eBay make you feel guilty about neutral feedback

cherry*135 — Sat, 13 Sep 2014 12:36:52 GMT

Because she is a polite lady, and would rather let the seller know things weren't quite right in a positive FB than slam them with a neg.

Wouldn't sellers prefer that type of buyer?

How many times did she do that? I only spotted 2, in a quick look.

Re: Why do eBay make you feel guilty about neutral feedback

cq_tech — Sat, 13 Sep 2014 15:07:39 GMT

Actually Dave, I only realised yesterday when checking my seller's dashboard that a neutral is the same as a negative as far as defects are concerned so I've changed my entire feedback philosophy as a result.

Re: Why do eBay make you feel guilty about neutral feedback

davewil1964 — Sat, 13 Sep 2014 15:13:28 GMT

There you go.

It's only been 4 months since they brought it in.

Re: Why do eBay make you feel guilty about neutral feedback

lyndal1838 — Sat, 13 Sep 2014 15:35:23 GMT

Yes, I have done the same CQ.

I bought some handmade items in July and paid on 23/7. They were in stock and the seller had a 2 day handling time. From Victoria to Sydney should have been no more than 4-5 days so I expected them to arrive by the end of July. When they had not arrived by 1/8 I messaged the seller as they were also not marked as posted.

I finally got a message back that she had been away for work and would post them on 3/8 (obviously just in a red postbox as it was a Sunday). She finally told me they were posted on 7/8....and arrived 11/8.

I was so annoyed about it I was determined to leave a neutral and ding her stars but the items were so good that I felt rather mean. I decided to leave no feedback. I was stewing about it right up till the last day for feedback and finally left positive but mentioned slow postage and poor communication and only marked the postage and communication stars down slightly.

This new Defect system is sure to have an effect on how most clued up buyers think about feedback.....I know I will be more careful, especially if there is any doubt at all about whether the seller is at fault or AP for slow delivery. Most of the time the postmarks are readable but just occasionally it is a guess as to when they are posted.

Re: Why do eBay make you feel guilty about neutral feedback

cq_tech — Sat, 13 Sep 2014 15:58:31 GMT

I'm currently negotiating with a Chinese seller via an as yet unescalated Paypal dispute with regards an item which was purchased on August 1 and has not as yet arrived, and I discovered only yesterday that it left China on August 29, arrived in Australia on September 3, and should be delivered before I need to escalate to a claim on September 25.

Now, the seller has been extremely polite and helpful, has kept me apprised of events including tracking information when it became available, and I'm assuming that I'll receive the item during this coming week. However, had I not just discovered that a neutral is now worth a defect, I'd have had a problem

Prior to the introduction of defects, I would have probably left a neutral with low postage DSRs, but I don't want to crucify the poor fellow simply because he posted it a bit late. Now although a seller can only receive a maximum of 1 defect per transaction, under the circumstances I don't think he deserves a defect so to prevent that from happening I'll have to leave a positive, and a DSR score of 2 for postage because a score of 1 will give him a defect.

I fear I may have already caused my seller a defect simply by opening an "Item Not Received" dispute in Paypal, even though it's not yet been escalated to a full claim (although I'm hoping that the defect may not apply unless the case has been escalated, but I can't find any information anywhere which lets me know one way or the other).

I can see how difficult it's going to be for a seller to avoid defects though, as buyers simply don't understand that a neutral, a postage DSR of 1, or a description DSR of 3 or less will all constitute a defect (and it's particularly unfair that eBay tell buyers that a description DSR of 1 or 2 will cause a defect, but they conveniently neglect to mention that a 3 will do the very same thing). I think if it was possible for sellers to score more than 1 defect per transaction, there'd be none left on eBay within a month! 😞