Feedback Etiquette

[leerhyne71]

Hi all,

I'm very new to eBay and have made about 25 purchases in the past week or so.  I'm yet to leave feedback for my purchases as I'm not sure what is appropriate timing.  A bit of background, I paid for my purchases promptly, in most instances the goods I have bought have been shipped by the seller (s).  But, I really can't leave feedback until the purchase cycle is complete .... can I?  Until I receive the things I've bought, how can I leave honest feedback?

So, what's the etiquette involved?  Am I annoying the seasoned eBay'ers by not leaving feedback if they've shipped the goods so promptly?  I don't see how I can truly rate something I haven't received yet.

(I have left feedback for only one purchase, I just assumed that's what I was supposed to do - particularly given how quickly the goods were marked as shipped).

Thanks in advance 🙂

[impressionscount]

Thank you for the question.   Lots of member's have questions about feedback.

I agree as a seller, don't leave fb until you receive it from buyer as IT IS THE WAY I KNOW THAT THE ITEM HAS BEEN RECEIVED.

As a buyer I leave fb after I have received the item and all is OK, if it was not all OK I would contact the seller before leaving fb (mine has been OK so far).

However, I sell under a different ID and I find that buyers are marking the DSR's without watching carefully what they are doing, I would sooner a buyer did not complete the DSR's.  For instance, recently (April 2013) I sold an item after a 10 day auction, sent invoice immediately, PayPal payment almost immediate, I posted in medium satchell with tracking number, asap (same day) sent message to buyer that item had been posted, gave the tracking number and stated that they did not need to leave the DSR's,  BUT, what do you know, got lovely fb and 2 DSR's were reduced (I know as I can check), buyer reduced Description and Communication, I asked the buyer what were the reasons for this, listing was very clear with lots of detail, measurements + 5 photos and payment was on the Thursday, posted on same Thursday and Tracking details shows delivered on the Friday, i.e. one day after buyer sent the PP payment, this buyer was not watching what they were doing,  I could not have delivered any quicker unless I did a personal hand over.   I can't prove the condition but I can prove the delivery time!    This buyer has tried to change this but as we all know eBay do not allow the DSR's to be changed.  (Feedback can sometimes be changed).   Buyer said they intended to leave top ratings for everything.

I lost 0.8 in my star ratings, which will take 12months to go away!

Why do I tell you this? because if you leave DSR's make sure you get it right, don't leave them when you are otherwise busy (like minding children) DSR's are not necessary, the average buyer does not read the DSR's but eBay's computer reads them and then the seller pays the price as in reduced positioning in selling etc for at least 12 months.

Thanks for the chance to tell you a bit about the DSR's

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

I agree as a seller, don't leave fb until you receive it from buyer as IT IS THE WAY I KNOW THAT THE ITEM HAS BEEN RECEIVED.

As a buyer I leave fb after I have received the item and all is OK, if it was not all OK I would contact the seller before leaving fb (mine has been OK so far).

I have found, from personal experience and reading threads on these boards, that those eBayers that are "Buyers-Only" seem to get more worked up over receiving feedback than those that are Buy and Sell.

Even though they can't do anything but read it and get a warm fuzzy feeling over their 100% rating (unless your name is MARY).  Thing is, all members that are Buyers-Only have a 100% rating, which puts all those great fast-paying wonderful buyers into the same 100% feedback rating bucket as the non-paying troublesome Buyers and scam buyers who try to get their items for free by making false PayPal or Chargeback claims.

Those that are Buyers-Only should have a transaction count rather than a feedback rating,  after all, I can predict the feedback percentage of Buyers-Only with 100% accuracy!  I predict, without even knowing the IDs of all you Buyers-Only that read this post, that your feedback percentage in five years time will be . . . . . wait for it . . . . let me think . . . . . 100%.  Come back in five years and let me know if I am wrong.