Feedback time too short for buyers

fa1r1e
Community Member

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.

 

 

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Feedback time too short for buyers

The majority of buyers do leave feedback

 

Got numbers to back that up? The consensus among the SELLERS here is that the majority don't. Do you have any proof to back your assertion up? Given you are a buyer, not a seller.

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Feedback time too short for buyers

LLOLL

Message 32 of 45
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Feedback time too short for buyers

I'll take that as your usual unsupported assertion, then.

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Feedback time too short for buyers

The usual

 

Sprouts nonsense, gets called out on it and their retort is to laugh 

 

 

Message 34 of 45
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Feedback time too short for buyers

You realise you just whined about buyers not leaving FB but provided no reason as to why a limit is required. Well done. 

Message 35 of 45
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Feedback time too short for buyers

I didn't whine about anything. I was directly calling out a poster who said most buyers do leave feedback. They don't.

 

Over 50% of my items are tracked, so I can see when they are actually delivered. They do not take 60 days to arrive with the buyer, therefore a ridiculously overlong feedback time limit will make no difference.

 

People these days just want to select, pay, receive. Feedback is an antiquated mechanism to judge buyer satisfaction. No disputes is far more relevant.

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Feedback time too short for buyers

Go back and look at your reply to me. You just whined.

 

So based on your experience, a sample of one? How convincing. That said, you haven't provided any reason as to why feedback cannot be given once a transaction is complete, regardless of the time it takes to get to that point. 

 

Why should people who provide good service be denied a positive report?

 

You may not value feedback but others do and this thread is literally about the time limit associated with it, not whether sellers value it or not. 

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Feedback time too short for buyers

In addition, the time it takes for your item to be delivered does not signal the end of the transaction. 

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Feedback time too short for buyers

No whine, just facts. And I am not alone. Maybe spend some time reading the boards so you can get a relevant sample.

 

Either way, it is irrelevant. eBay is not likely to revert to 2008 (when sellers could leave negs - now that's an interesting idea), so your whinge is not germaine to the current situation, and is unlikely to ever be.

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Feedback time too short for buyers

@csbowesuk,

 

Possible reasons for giving a (generous) time limit for feedback rather than leaving it an eternal blank slate for the disappointed or happy buyer include:

 

  • seller is entitled to assume a transaction is done and dusted after a reasonable time
  • buyer is not entitled to even hint at using feedback as a lever (in effect, a product warranty through feedback threat) after sustained period of use
  • the very great majority of transactions are (and are intended to be) complete within a certain timeframe - and sixty days is a reasonable timeframe
  • feedback has lost a good deal of its value in the wake of eBay's various changes (including sellers no longer able to give negative feedback (some pros, some cons to that), timeframe changes, ability to change feedback after giving it, neutrals once upon a time having a bad effect, negatives once upon a time resulting in seller defects, and quite a few others), and it no longer drives buyer behaviour in the same way
  • for buyers who really want to visibly thank their seller, it may be a little frustrating if a transaction takes far longer than 60 days, but if the item delivery is going to take that long, the seller is hardly going to expect feedback... (If they did, they'd be shipping via a method that is likely to cut down that shipping time)
  • good sellers with high feedback numbers will have ceased to care about feedback (unless they suddenly receive a Red Sea of negatives and need some appreciative green dots to counterbalance that - highly unlikely)
  • good sellers are focused upon selling, not upon individual feedback
  • when buyers have a valid negative to give, sadly it does not seem to stop most other buyers from buying from that seller... (It's still a valid process for prospective buyers to look through the seller's feedback, which I certainly do... but I can see - from the vast hordes of buyers purchasing from Chinese sellers on eBay whose feedback certainly shows persistent problems - that many many buyers just go for the "too good to be true" transactions

 

From my perspective, I continue to leave feedback for almost every purchase, probably because when I started buying on eBay, feedback was important. It's now ingrained in me for eBay purchases. I am also aware that new sellers or casual sellers are more in need of positive feedback than are high-volume sellers, and I have purchased from such sellers. Partly too it's to remind me of what I've purchased from whom and when, I suppose. However, if an item arrived too late for feedback, my concern would not be "Oh no, I can't give feedback". My concern rather would be to lodge an INR claim, and if the item ended up arriving later on, I'd repay the seller through PayPal.

 

The only time I'd not leave feedback is when I'm not really satisfied with the transaction, but the seller's error isn't egregious. I'd be hovering between leaving a bland comment and a neutral, or saying nothing and leaving nothing. I can count on one hand the number of times I've had an unsatisfactory transaction. That also informs my views on feedback.

 

But really... feedback is not personally important to me. I buy for the items, not for feedback received, and presumably sellers sell to make a profit, not for feedback received, which after all can't be used as coupons, discounts, Frequent Flyer points, currency, chat-up lines, or fuel in one's car...

 

 

I can see from the feedback you leave for sellers that you're an appreciative buyer. You haven't left a swathe of red dots in your wake. I don't think you're likely to misuse feedback - but there are some horror buyers, some unreasonable buyers, and some overly demanding buyers, in respect of whom the unfortunate seller wants only to be able to draw a line under the whole thing and never ever have to deal with that buyer again, including feedback, phone calls, messages, emails, house visits, threats of motorcycle gang violence, and repeated attempts to disrupt further transactions, etc.

 

Feedback has to have an arbitrary time limit. I wouldn't object to a longer limit but I have no need for it myself. In my experience, 60 days is long enough, and I think for the majority of buyers on eBay, it's long enough.*

 

 

 

 

* CAVEAT: there are some buyers who allow themselves to be strung along with excuses from bad sellers (usually Chinese) until it's too late to make a claim for either INR or SNAD. Such buyers have posted on these boards, often complaining bitterly of not being able to leave feedback, but they're actually out of pocket when they didn't need to be. I continue to think that getting a justified refund is more important than venting in feedback... and in any event, as I mentioned, if it were I, I would simply lodge a claim in good time, and upon receiving my refund, I would leave factual feedback. The timeframe would not be up because I'd be acting within the apppropriate timeframes for everything involved.

 

(Also, if it were I, I'd not have bought from a dodgy Chinese (or any nationality including Australian) seller who sends either fakes/SNADs or doesn't send at all.)

 

I hope that explains it to some extent, at least from my perspective. This is a bit of a scroller, admittedly, but I'm feeling rotten and should be in bed, and I let my fingers just roam free for a little while.

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