Feedback time too short for buyers

[fa1r1e]

I've never left negative or neutral feedback in all the time I've used Ebay.  

I have a few items refunded, but I think that has only been a total of 2 times in 15 years of using ebay.

Currently, I'm assuming because of Covid, packages are taking longer than in my past experience to arrive from China, and this is reflected in the "expected delivery window".

I purchased 3 items on 16th Oct, and the expected delivery windows extend to 17th Dec and 30th Dec.

The 60 day limit on feedback is unfair for both the buyer and seller.  I've noticed quite a lot of negative and neutral feedback for these sellers being "Item not received".  It's not fair for the seller, as, given the current circumstances around Covid, the package legitimately might not arrive within the feedback window.  If the package doesn't arrive within the feedback window, the chances of the seller getting a positive rating for the transaction are close to zero, while the chance of a negative or neutral rating are greatly increased because the buyer can only leave feedback prior to receiving the item.

It's not fair to the buyer either, as if the product doesn't arrive before the feedback cutoff, the buyer doesn't really get the choice to offer fair fairback.  The buyer either, unfairly, rates the seller based on not receiving the product, or alternatively, doesn't get to leave a rating. Being able to rate a seller is what gives me confidence in buying from ebay.

It also diminishes the trust and reputation of Ebay by supporting scammers and penalising honest sellers.  I googled "speedpak" after all three of my purchases being stalled for over 10 days after clearing Australian customs.  It seems a number of sellers are scamming they system, and buyers not being able to leave feedback after 60 days enables the scammers.

[csbowesuk]

Thanks for the reply. It was a very interesting read and I don't necessarily disagree with much or anything you say actually. 

However I still wonder why FB needs a limit at all. I can't think of a negative that would come from feedback being left well after a transaction is finished. How would that be a bad thing if fair feedback, good or bad, was left 100 days later for example. 

If it's a true reflection of the transaction then it should be allowed. 

There are sellers in this thread who seem to have an axe to grind against buyers. I've been both, never had an issue as a seller, only a couple as a buyer. I just feel as a buyer I should be able to leave feedback once the transaction is complete from my perspective. 

If there is a good reason for there to be a limit, I'd love to hear it, because it would be enlightening. 

It just seems to me a limit has been applied for no reason. 

[imastawka]

If it helps at all.....follow up feedback can be left at any stage, even years later.

It's open ended.

The buyer always gets the last word.

[kopenhagen5]

If there is a good reason for there to be a limit, I'd love to hear it, because it would be enlightening. 

Retaliatory negs could be left from completely unrelated and different transactions.

As well as an item breaking down well outside the product guarantee and buyer unreasonably expects a replacement.

I could go on............but there are many very good reasons.

[digital*ghost]

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@csbowesuk wrote:

However I still wonder why FB needs a limit at all. I can't think of a negative that would come from feedback being left well after a transaction is finished. How would that be a bad thing if fair feedback, good or bad, was left 100 days later for example. 

If it's a true reflection of the transaction then it should be allowed. 

There are sellers in this thread who seem to have an axe to grind against buyers. I've been both, never had an issue as a seller, only a couple as a buyer. I just feel as a buyer I should be able to leave feedback once the transaction is complete from my perspective. 

If there is a good reason for there to be a limit, I'd love to hear it, because it would be enlightening. 

It just seems to me a limit has been applied for no reason. 

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Every site that I know of which had no limit on the time to leave feedback has ultimately implemented a time limit.

If I had to guess why, I would venture to suggest it being done as a concession to sellers; one of very few they typically get provided on sites like eBay, which are considerably buyer-centric (they have to be, ultimately).

Those who constantly bemoan the lack of ability to leave feedback indefinitely or at least for a longer time period, almost invariably couple this with an implication FB is a reward / punishment for sellers, and that attitude is actually precisely why such limitations get imposed.

It's not because responsible buyers use the system appropriately, but because irresponsible buyers don't. Same reason sellers have many (many) more rules, restrictions, limitations and policies to comply with, because a few bad ones don't do the right thing.

If buyers want the ability to leave FB indefinitely, then the best way to do that is to ensure no buyer can abuse the privilege - come up with a way to do that, and maybe more sellers will get on board. 

[springyzone]

I think there does need to be a limit because a seller is entitled to know that the dealings with any particular item are finished. If I were selling, I certainly wouldn't be happy if a buyer could give me a neg maybe 18 months or 2 years after a transaction, even for what could have been a small item. You'd be wondering why you deserved it so late in the game.

Also, if you look at seller feedback ratings on ebay, you'll notice they only cover the last 12 months. In other words, if a seller had a few negs 5 years back but has lifted their game, they could well be back at 100% by now. And that's fair enough, because ratings should ideally reflect reasonably recent experiences. The only use of feedback is to help inform other potential customers, so keeping things current is important.

So there does need to be an arbitrary limit imposed somewhere along the line. There is nothing intrinisically holy about 60 days, I can see that 3 months might be better. I think most transactions should be finished in that time.

No arbitrary limit is going to fit every circumstance so I think if buyers really want to give feedback and the time limit is approaching, just give it on the transaction as it stands at that point. As Stawka said  earlier, follow up feedback can then be given later, at any stage. That pretty much covers things. And if a buyer had given a neutral or neg based on something not arriving within the time limit,  then it arrived later, it may even be possible to change that to a positive later if you contacted ebay.

So I'd go with the idea of feedback needs to be for reasonably current & relevant transactions, there needs to be an arbitrary limit of some sort, but the main thing is if things go pear shaped, make your relevant claims & leave your feedback within the required time limits then sort out any feedback issues later if you need to.