Ebay's Feedback System

[pandoras_prints]

Do you think Ebay will ever restore the feedback system to how it use to be 'FAIR'. ?

Sellers not be allowed to leave a negative feedback for a buyer is as every seller know's completely unfair.

Both buyers and sellers should have the same rights, to leave feedback on their transaction. If a seller has had a bad experience with a non- paying buyer or one of 1000 others reason's why can't this be reflected on the buyers feedback?

If I could see that a buyer has many neg's I would block them from my store.

Shouldn't a seller have that option?

[phorum_junkie*]

it is quite feasible for an excellent buyer, who has diligently purchased MANY items over a number of years - to still have zero feedback. If that buyer then tries to buy an item which a seller has defined as 'no zero feedback bids accepted' - BOTH the seller and the buyer LOSE OUT on what could have been a straight forward transaction on the parts of both members.

Unless needing more than 10 feedback to reply on these boards is important why would it matter if a buyer had zero feedback after many years and hundreds of purchases? No seller has the ability to block buyers with zero feedback.

[rabbitearbandicoot]

it is quite feasible for an excellent buyer, who has diligently purchased MANY items over a number of years - to still have zero feedback. If that buyer then tries to buy an item which a seller has defined as 'no zero feedback bids accepted' - BOTH the seller and the buyer LOSE OUT on what could have been a straight forward transaction on the parts of both members.

Unless needing more than 10 feedback to reply on these boards is important why would it matter if a buyer had zero feedback after many years and hundreds of purchases? No seller has the ability to block buyers with zero feedback.

I have seen dozens of items with 'zero feedback - do not bid' and No, I can't give you an example right at this time.

[digital*ghost]

No! That is not what I am saying. As in the shop scenario, once the item has reached the buyers hands and he has checked that it is what he ordered - THEN he leaves feedback.

If something goes wrong in the transaction ie you sent the wrong item - of course it's STILL YOUR obligation.

If you sent the right thing and AP broke it then the obligation is for one of you to fill in a lost item claim - probably best for that to be you - BUT it's STILL not time for the buyer to leave feedback, unless you want a NEG of course which would be a little unfair.

If  feedback is NOT given by buyers until / unless the buyer leaves a positive for the seller - it is quite feasible for an excellent buyer, who has diligently purchased MANY items over a number of years - to still have zero feedback. If that buyer then tries to buy an item which a seller has defined as 'no zero feedback bids accepted' - BOTH the seller and the buyer LOSE OUT on what could have been a straight forward transaction on the parts of both members.

As a few have said, it's eBay's site - they introduced the theory of feedback and it being a guide to a member's selling / buying reputation - eBay made feedback voluntary - if people are not going to use it as it should be then why not delete it altogether?

You missed my point - the one about the fact that there are a lot of things that can happen in a transaction from payment to completion, therefore just because a buyer has fulfilled their one official obligation, it doesn't mean there aren't a bunch of things that the buyer can do afterwards that make the transaction non-positive for a seller. As a seller, I have an obligation to deal with anything that may arise after I posted the item in a calm and professional manner and I personally feel buyers have the same obligation, so in my eyes a buyer's "obligation" absolutely does not end once they have paid.

The fact that an item has been paid for does not immediately mean the transaction is a positive experience for the seller, so why do buyers think they deserve it for paying, to the extent of demanding it? If payment was all there was to the buyer's part of things, then no one would have a problem with buyers having some kind of auto-feedback for each transaction. (1000 generic "buyer paid, woot!" for everyone). Frankly, the second a buyer tells me to give them feedback, the transaction is soured. (Being told I should do something that I have no obligation to do just rubs me up the wrong way).

Sellers don't have the ability to leave negs, but they have the right to choose the (positive) comments they leave and when; if they choose to do it at all. It's as simple as that.

I also think people need to stop comparing buying online and the feedback system to a B&M retail situation - the only similarity is the retail part. If I was a checkout chick, do you think a buyer would refuse to leave with their groceries until I'd given them a badge that said "A+++ Buyer, so fast payment!!!"

[rabbitearbandicoot]

OK. So what you are saying is that the seller should not leave feedback until they find out if the buyer is going to complain about something - real or imaginary? So, the positive feedback that a seller eventually leaves is a reward for the buyer keeping quite about any problem with the seller's service or product. Now I see.

So, the buyer who is unfortunate enough to have a problem (eg wrong colour, wrong item) with the item  he/she has bought is to be penalised even further by being deprived of the positive feedback that he would have received had he not complained.

Now it is all clear.

[digital*ghost]

OK. So what you are saying is that the seller should not leave feedback until they find out if the buyer is going to complain about something - real or imaginary?

No.

Sorry you don't seem to be understanding the point I am trying to make, but I'm not going to keep trying to make it until you do.

[freightcar2009]

now where is the fun in that ghost?

[koalablue12]

Okay - I have sat on the fence, and kept quiet (unusual for me I know) but I gotta say, even as a seller, I do beleive if the buyer pays promptly, asks Q's before buying not after, that I do ( 'YES' I do), leave feedback. I honestly do believe the buyer's only responsibility is to pay.

After all what else is there to for them to do ? (honestly and realisitically) Let me think - if an item is delivered damaged, I need to rectify that however I can, not recieved - same, not as described - again my responsibilty.

I was once reading a thread where a seller complained that a buyer had left a negative because the seller did not refund the postage for return of an INAD - the reply on one of the posts was 'bet you wish you had have waitied to leave feedback to the end of the transaction don't you?' My thought was 'why?' any problems afteer the buyer has paid, has to be the problem of the seller surely. And in the case of a 'numpty' buyer who is wanting to cause a ruckus, if a seller gives them no reason to, why would it happen? Looking at it from the point of view that a transaction is not completed until the item is received, and all good, really means, so long as the buyer doesn't squeak about anything, feedback given. JMO

[digital*ghost]

now where is the fun in that ghost?

None. I lied - I'm going to give it one last shot.... :8}

The function of feedback is not to acknowledge payment, nor thank a buyer for it. It is there for the seller (not for the buyer) to tell other eBay members about the experience the seller had with that buyer and that transaction.

If a seller does not want to tell other eBay members about their experience with that buyer until they consider the transaction (and ergo their experience) has been fully complete, that is their absolute right.

And for the record, I leave FB upon receipt of payment. I argue this point consistently because I understand and respect the decision of others to leave it whenever they like.

[freightcar2009]

None. I lied - I'm going to give it one last shot.... :8}

Cos you could always ask sparkalz to borrow her wall to bang your head against.... She isn't using it, it got taken off her.

[freightcar2009]

sparklz= humble appology