One thing that constantly drives me nuts about eBay/Half.com

[thewayne]

Is that people don't leave you feedback. Had everyone with whom I'd done business had left me feedback, I'd have a score of 58. That is how many feedbacks that I have left. Instead I have a 38. TWENTY PEOPLE have gypped my of feedback. At least mine is 100% good.

Bastards. :-)

I think I may stop leaving feedback for the mega-sellers and only leave it for smaller people who leave it for me first.

I needed to leave feedback for a book that I just bought that came in late last week, that's when I decided to see how big my gulf had grown. I think it's ridiculous that you have to send someone an email asking them to leave you feedback, that shouldn't be the case. It should be automatic: as the seller, as soon as the buyer pays and the product ships, LEAVE FEEDBACK. For the buyer, as soon as you receive the product and verify it is in the stated condition or better, LEAVE FEEDBACK.

How friggin' difficult is that?! Apparently far too difficult for a lot of sellers, a lot being about one third of the sellers out there.

Sigh.

Comments

[magic-rat.livejournal.com]

Admittedly, I don't make that many transactions on Ebay. My current rating is only 6, and I've only had two sellers who refused to leave me feedback even after I emailed and asked them to do so (and they are the only two that I've had to email about feedback). I don't really worry about it since I don't plan to do a lot of selling on Ebay any time in the near future, and I can counter my low rating with sellers by emailing them to assure them that I'm a reliable and trustworthy buyer.

Who knows, maybe I'll even start a PayPal account sometime.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

Just be sure to have a dedicated account for PayPal that you can transfer money into and out of via the web. Joe just had a credit card number stolen, fortunately it was one that had a low limit that he used only electronically, so the disruption wasn't too great.

Seller Chimes In

[deborak]

Speaking up as a frequent eBay seller (with 200+ feedbacks) . . .

I no longer leave feedback for buyers immediately. Buyers always complain that they should get instant positive feedback once their payment is received. But if a seller does that, and for whatever reason the buyer later decides to leave him a negative, the seller can't go back and adjust his feedback rating of the buyer (even if the buyer deserves it - say they decided to lie about the condition of the object). The buyer can even go to PayPal and claim that they never received the item, and PayPal will suck the paid money back out of the seller's account. If a seller has already positively fed the buyer, all he can do now is comment on the negative feedback mark left on his account and eat the loss.

So, if a buyer leaves me a + feeback, I immediately reciprocate. If I hear nothing from the buyer, I will leave them a + feedback just before the timeframe for doing so expires.

I have never e-mailed anyone asking them to feedback me. I don't expect feedback from powersellers. As a buyer, I leave feedback immediately upon receipt of a satisfactory item.

Re: Seller Chimes In

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

I'm not looking for instant positive feedback, I'd be happy with delayed feedback. I haven't done nearly as much selling as you, but I've sold a LOT of textbooks via Half. Generally I avoid power sellers when it comes to books, prefering to go with smaller sellers with low feedback to help them along. The thing that I can't figure out is the number of book sellers, frequently power sellers, who price books above retail when there are plenty of people selling said book at nice prices.

Re: Seller Chimes In

[deborak]

I'm not looking for instant positive feedback

Ok, but the way you stated this:

as the seller, as soon as the buyer pays and the product ships, LEAVE FEEDBACK.

. . . sounded pretty darn instant to me. ;-P

I took a look at my eBay feedback numbers after my first comment here. I have left 265 feedbacks, and have received 226 (although my basic score shows only 198 because ones from repeat customers are only counted once). So on about 40 auctions I head nothing, about a 15% rate of non-response.

[cardigirl.livejournal.com]

My numbers aren't huge either as buyer or seller, but when I communicate with them as a buyer I specifically ask that they leave feedback. I expect to be doing more selling in the near future (that a/c thing) and will do my best to stay on top of the situation. However, deborak is right that it had best be mutual.