Ebay buyer left Neutral Feedback because I didn’t leave Feedback First
With the impact that a neutral feedback can now have on your Sellers Feedback scores, basically the same as a Negative, I was worried to see a buyer leave me a neutral feedback on all 15 items they purchased because I hadn’t left them feedback first! Here is the actual comment:
Excellent, as described - disappointed I have to leave feedback first
Now I openly email my customers for these particular items as they are affected massively by the buyers physique (ie. they are slim fit as stated in the auction) and if they find that they are too tight I simply get them to send them back and I will supply a looser fitting replacement of the exact same item (at my cost!). I tell them that feedback will be left once the transaction is complete and that I deem it complete when the buyer leaves me feedback, I fully state my reasons for this (experience tells me that feedback issues on the sizing, although clearly stated, happen) and even state that as per the new rules I am only able to leave a positive and that I am confident that everything will be 100% as promised with the transaction.
When Ebay announced the changes I was a little sceptical but was willing to give the system a go as I was confident that my own business practices would not generate me any issues, as they haven’t for the last 6 years..but how was I wrong. I am now firmly starting to move over to the community of doubters, I was going this way after reading lots on the forums about these issues anyway but this buyer has firmly planted me there now. I have reported this to Ebay but got a generic reply back, as expected really, because Ebay expect the seller to leave feedback first and deem this correct.
I have no intention of changing this business practice for these lines (feedback) but will monitor the situation and if things continue will simply drop the line and focus on other things but this is obviously going to be limiting to my business and something that I am not willing to simply sit back and take so looks like I may be increasing my exit rate from Ebay.
Only one seller you may say but how many other sellers (inc. powersellers) will be seeing the same effects, I’m not asking for a biased marketplace to the sellers but surely a little more of a level playing field would be appropriate?
May 27th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
You can see more @ http://www.ebay-reviews.info
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June 4th, 2008 at 1:05 am
wow that is pretty sad. I bet you see a lot of this type of thing, mainly people giving an excuse to not give positive feedback.
sukosakis last blog post..Do Classified Ads Work for Affiliate Marketing?
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June 18th, 2008 at 5:22 am
I’ve gotten my first neutral since this new FB issue and let me tell you not having any recourse for a buyer leaving a neutral that could have been solved easily but has now turned my 100% fb into a 91.9% fb stinks!
Even if I try to rectify the situation the fb stays. eBay doesn’t care about sellers any more.
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Mike reply on June 18, 2008 8:15 pm:
Yeah Ive gained a few recently, however I’ve stopped worrying about this now…leave a reply and move on. Genuine Ebayers that check feedback can pick up on the idiots quite easily. The question now is do buyers still use feedback as a guide? How many major sellers have major negs/neutrals and still sell their products…
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February 10th, 2009 at 8:05 am
Buyers should be able to differentiate between genuine feedback and fake feedback. As long as the seller has a decent number of positive feedback, it should work out fine in my opinion. At least this is what I did.
Wei Liang | Earn Money Onlines last blog post..Lesson 26: Affiliate Marketing (Part 3)
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February 11th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
OK let me put you sellers right on a few things:
1) You absolutely should leave feedback first. The buyers responsibility is pretty much only to pay for the item and if they do this correctly they deserve positive feedback. They generally will receive a lot less feedbacks than you do since they are a buyer and using this power differential to blackmail them into leaving feedback first is unacceptable.
2) Neutral does not affect feedback rating. Leaving you neutral feedback because you adopted the irritating seller feedback extortion position is perfectly acceptable.
3) You look down on buyers because you think “this is my business”. Well if it is your business then the buyer pay your bills, buys your food, clothes your children. They deserve to receive a good service from you, which includes giving them feedback first.
4) Before eBay made these changes, when operating as a seller I always left feedback first and maintained a 100% feedback score (couple of negatives, but not enough to knock it below 100%). Try trusting the buyer more.
5) If you think about the words, neutral should be reserved for experiences that were not positive. Being subjected to annoying feedback extortion by sellers is a neutral experience.
6) Most buyers (those people who pay your bills) are decent, honest, normal folk. Only a very tiny portion of buyers will attempt to screw with you so don’t worry about the 1 or 2 who do, as you say normal buyers can easily see from your feedback record what you are really about. So try trusting and respecting those who pay your bills and leave the feedback first.
7) Let go you control freak! As a buyer with a seller who leaves positive feedback first I’ve more than once left a positive feedback about an experience I would otherwise have left a neutral for (item not quite as described, i.e. described as perfect condition but has minor cosmetic blemishes for example). Getting in a stress about it won’t help anyone, least of all you.
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March 13th, 2009 at 10:59 am
Online auctions, as rightly mentioned, are addictive-provided you have enough time to spend upon. Coming to feedbacks, we need to really please the customer with our product/service-a positive feedback is what the customer feels at the end of the deal.
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