Is feedback irrelevant for buyers?

[moviemem]

A buyer told me that he never leaves feedback unless he has a problem with a transaction. He said that he couldn't care less about his own feedback because he will automatically have 100% rating and he thought that the amount of feedbacks received means nothing.

He said he never needs to leave feedback when using other sites so why bother with ebay. He is basically saying that feedback is irrelevant for buyers.

Just curious as to what others think.

[***super_nova***]

Of-course, FB is totally irrelevant for buyers, seller can only leave positive.  I guess the only reason eBay keeps FB for buyers is so they are more likely to leave FB for sellers.  It is important that people do leave FB for sellers, without seller FB potential buyers cannot judge how trustworthy the seller is.  So it is sad that you friend does not spend the few seconds to leave FB for their transaction.  But ,many people nowadays do not.

[ian959]

No it is not completely irrelevant but it sure is not worth much under the current system. As a buyer I always try to leave feedback but with Ebay misusing the feedback to charge sellers more fees etc then I am not so inclined to leave less than 5 stars unless the seller is truly bad. Kind of defeats the purpose of feedback on the whole.

[zanadoo_56]

That's his viewpont, but as a buyer that's not mine.

I like sellers to be able to read what other sellers have said about me, particularly if it's an expensive purchase and I've never bought anything from them before.  If they don't read what has been said, fair enough, but I want people to read that I am reliable and trustworthy and I pay promptly.

I look for good feedback about sellers, but maybe sellers don't bother to read feedback left for buyers?  I don't know if they do or not, never having been a seller.

For me personally, I'm happy to receive good feedback from sellers probably just as much as they would from buyers. 🙂

[kopenhagen5]

True, buyers only have 100%.

But feedback is also a way of signing off on a transaction as it's faceless over the internet, it lets both parties know item received, all is well, thank you, etc.

A courtesy that can make a newish ebayer feel satisfied on a transaction.

[hawksheroes]

i have only had one so far not leave feed back so far i have given up worrying about it i still have my 100% and thats all that matters , i send as soon as they pay , i worry when they take a little while to pay as they one i have now the book sold on the 30th nov , i have sent a new invoice and come monday i may open a not paid case which i have never done and really do not want to , if i am buying i always leave feed back i think it is the right thing to do so others know the seller is a good seller or bad seller

[kopenhagen5]

Hawks, my procedure on slow payers -

Ebay send an automatic reminder 2 days after purchase.

I usually send a message at 5 days asking if there is a problem with payment.

If no response, I open an Unpaid Item Case and that can sometimes spur a response or payment.
If not, I close the case as soon as I can, 4 days after it's opened.
Final fees are returned, buyer gets a strike, I add them to my Block Bidders List and re-list the item or offer to an underbidder.

You have already given them ample time, I would open the case now, as they get another 4 days, that will be nearly 2 weeks. And to not give you the courtesy of any contact, the case may spur an explanation. Their account is not affected by opening a case, only once the case closes without payment. 😉

[***super_nova***]

I snipe, therefore seller can only see my FB once I won their item, so what use is my FB to them?  Of-course, the buying FB brings up the score if somebody is selling on the same account, so if such seller then gets a NEG the % is not as bad as it would be if they only sold on that ID.

 generally, i never  check my buyer's FB, I did once for some reason and found heaps of false positives for non payment, yet this buyer paid immediately and was lovely. 

[hawksheroes]

cool thanks i will do it that way now on for sure 🙂 thanks 

[digital*ghost]

A buyer told me that he never leaves feedback unless he has a problem with a transaction. 

I think there are quite a few buyers who do the same, which is a little unfortunate for some sellers when feedback / DSR ratings / percentages can greatly affect their ability to sell, and if many buyers are only leaving feedback when they have a problem, their percentages don't truly take into account the satisfied buyers who won't leave FB to reflect that.

IMHO the buyer who only leaves FB if there's a problem is actually doing themselves a disservice, to. Sellers can see FB left for others, I am willing to be no one will ask a buyer to clarify why 100% of their FB shows they had problems with their transaction, if they see it they'll just block. I know many sellers will bring buyers who a higher than average percentage of bad FB (and that includes positives that mention a problem) to the attention of other sellers so that they can block them too.