buyers who consistently leave bad feedback

[lm-entertainment]

i know this is an issue which comes up from time-to-time and i also realise that a lot of people don't care about red or grey dots. 

for those that do though; do you think that ebay needs to either take some form of action against buyers who are serial leavers of bad feedback to educate them about how the system works or how they should negotiate with sellers prior to leaving poor feedback? should ebay implement some sort of system where a buyer should at least be forced to make contact with the seller to reach some form of fair resolution prior to leaving negative feedback?

the reason i ask this is because in the past 24 hours i received a red dot - and since then, the same buyer has gone on to leave many, many neutrals and negatives (as seen below - all which say "during past month" left in the past 24 hrs).. is this justified? should it be up to the buyer to just leave feedback as they see fit? is it fair on sellers who aren't given a chance to compensate should the buyer not be happy? in my instance it came totally out of the blue; no contact from the buyer and the item was delivered 20+ days ago.. 

just interested in other people's thoughts on this. 

[cezm]

It is frustrating but ultimately, I suppose, feedback is about the buyer's perception of a transaction.

It's possible that even if a seller adressed any issues the buyer had, the buyer would still percieve the transaction in a less than positive light because they didn't get what they were expecting first up.

In this instance it looks like the buyer has levels of tolerance for damage, poor packaging etc. because they don't always seem to go straight for the neg.

I received a neg once stating 'obviously a reproduction'on an item that was listed as a reproduction. I don't think anything I could do would have changed that buyer's mind - that would be admitting he didn't read the title or description  

[springyzone · Accepted solution]

This is the buyer's perception and I don't think anything is going to change it. 

Maybe it was better that they didn't contact you. Would you really want to give compensation then find the red dot stayed?

If they haven't opened a not as described dispute, then look on the positive side, you are, at least, no worse off financially.

I'm in 2 minds about their feedback. I suspect they are on the VERY fussy side of fussy & a bit harsh, probably much more so than I would be. But at the same time, I don't know what they are buying or why.

They seem to have purchased several trolley/shop front items ( all I can think of here is they might be the Coles little things items). If this person bought for resale, then any damage to the original packaging would be an issue. And if an ad mentioned new with tag, they would want that on too.

I'm not 100% convinced though that this buyer is always fair. Obviously he or she does not read the ads through. I can see one where a neg was given for damage mentioned in an ad.

But it is a buyer where you have to give exactly what is promised in the ad, not the slightest mark or bend, or look out.

Should ebay do anything? It's hard to say. Perhaps a reminder of how the system works could pop up before anyone could enter their neutral or neg, but I don't think buyers should necessarily have to negotiate with sellers beforehand or 'reach some form of resolution' before leaving feedback. It would be making the whole process too complicated.

With this buyer, I do think they are, in their mind, being fair and judging case by case.

Just try not to worry too much about it & trust other buyers to be able to make a call about how much that buyer's feedback will affect their own decisions. (If a buyer bothers to check at all.). The answer may well be-not very much. And that's all you have to worry about.

[cezm]

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@springyzone wrote:

Should ebay do anything? It's hard to say. Perhaps a reminder of how the system works could pop up before anyone could enter their neutral or neg, but I don't think buyers should necessarily have to negotiate with sellers beforehand or 'reach some form of resolution' before leaving feedback. It would be making the whole process too complicated.

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Further, if the buyer was dissatisfied and inclined to leave a neutral (which I think sellers see more as a bad thing but buyers probably think it's the option if they are neither overjoyed nor underwhelmed), they may change that to a neg if they are 'forced' to negotiate with a seller.

[collect247]

The problem is that the description was way down the bottom of the page and not many buyers read that far down,perhaps if there are any problems with an item it should be stated at the header.

I'm sure that if you contacted ebay they would have removed the neg but because you have replied to it then it won't be removed.

[digital*ghost · Accepted solution]

Someone once suggested that buyers who start messages with sentences like "before I leave feedback...", as much as they are likely to get the seller off-side immediately, could well be due (at least in some cases) to ebay suggesting buyers contact sellers at the feedback stage, if they originally went to leave a neut or neg, because that's how the situation has been presented to them, i.e. before you leave bad feedback, contact the seller to get things sorted out. 

When a buyer is in that mindset, but is forced to contact the seller instead, I think communication is likely going to start on shaky ground, and I suspect in some cases you'd probably end up with buyers sending a token message just to be able to leave the FB they want, or start things in a way that can't progress things to a constructive communication, and resent the process all the more. 

eBay used to have a policy for these kinds of situations, claming to detect accounts that left a high number of negs and neuts and deal with them accordingly, and accounts in the past (while not detected automatically), have been reported and deregistered, but I can't find reference to that in any of the new help pages. I suspect they are consistently downgrading the importance of FB and trying to shift things to performance based (with debateable success). 

[joztamps]

I like the reply from the seller who effectivel;y said the only reason the buyer couldn't screw the item together was because he was hamfisted.

[countessalmirena]

Buyers who leave quite a lot of negative feedback seem to me to be buyers who need to be making better choices.

• Perhaps they're consistently buying from sellers who sell non-genuine or cheaply made items, sellers who misrepresent the item or their location, etc., or sellers who don't bother packaging their items well.
  
  
• Perhaps they're not bothering to read descriptions at all, which would be frustrating in particular to when it comes to purchasing from sellers who meticulously describe every bump and scratch.
  
  
• Perhaps they are unrealistic perfectionists whose standards can rarely be reached - i.e., fingerprint smudge on a CD case would be grounds for complaint.
  
  
• Perhaps they deliberately buy items where their experience tells them there is a good possibility for negotiating a partial refund.
  
  
• Perhaps they have a doxaphilic delight in giving negative feedback.
  
  
• Perhaps they're not feeling well and are currently in a grumpy mood which is expressing itself in giving negatives, neutrals, or very grudging positives.

[digital*ghost]

I think one of the biggest issues that results in this sort of thing, and / or buyer dissatifaction (with sellers, which is often consequently reflected in feedback), is that there's this underlying belief? culture? ethos? that not as expected means it's the seller's fault; often to the point that the buyer believes the item is not as described, which utterly fails to address the reasons the item is not as expected (commonly due to lack of attention to detail), and unless there's a way to actually get people to think about why an item didn't meet their expectations, and to recognise that it's not synonymous with not as described, this kind of thing is going to remain a constant.

One of the ways I like to address this, if the buyer actually contacts me to make a complaint, is say things along the line of "sorry to hear you're disappointed with the product. I do strive to ensure [the issue the buyer has raised] is made clear in my listings, by having the information in the [title, items specifics, photographs, listing description - usually all of the above] but I'm always happy to get feedback and make improvements in the hope that such misunderstandings won't occur again - if you would be so kind as to oblige, I would welcome your suggestions on the improvements I could make so that this issue is much more clear in future."

My intention is to either A) get the buyer to give me some insight from their perspective, and maybe point out something I missed, or - more often than not - B) get the buyer to actully assess the listing and see if they can recognise the failure wasn't mine. Never had anyone make a suggestion, but have had quite a few apologise after realising the oversight was theirs. 

[the_dutchess_of_dork]

I think digital*ghost is absolutely correct.  Buyer's perceive every dissatisfaction as being the seller's fault.

Years ago I sold a brand new in box pair of Nike sports shoes which had a mesh upper so the feet can breathe.  I received Neutral feedback because the shoes weren't waterproof.  I felt I was not really responsible for the fabric Nike used to manufacture the shoes but whatever ...

In addition, some people simply have unrealistic expectations and fail to understand the concept of "you get what you pay for".  I sometimes read feedback left for high volume sellers and frequently see Negative feedback for items costing under $1.  I guess on principle perhaps the cost of the item is irrelevant but what can you expect for less than $1?

Which leads to the next point.  I believe Ebay's reliance on the feedback system encourages buyers to express their dissatisfaction in situations where they may not if the purchase had been made from a B&M retailer or other online retailer.  How many people would go back to a store to complain about a .50c item which did not live up to expectations?

Buyers still expect ebay to offer bargains yet they hold sellers, many of whom are not professional sellers, to a higher standard than established retailers with infinite resources.

Of course I'm not suggesting sellers should not be held accountable but fairness and objectivity should be part of the equation.  Maybe the question should not be "am I dissatisfied" but "is it reasonable to be dissatisfied" and, if so, is the seller at fault.