giving FB when experience is not great but not terrible

[sdkitty]

So please forgive me if this doesn't belong here but my question applies to any CS experience. Online purchases, phone service, ebay, Tradesy, etc.
If you have a good outcome but don't feel the experience was great in terms of communications or attitude, do you post honest FB?
Or do you hesitate to but the bad along with the good when the end result was good?
I had a recent purchase where the initial communication wasn't great but the purchase turned out very well. Rather than say that, I've chosen to say nothing for the time being.
I also had an experience just last night with the cable TV company. The girl sounded bored and cold but she got the job done. So I give no FB

 

[BeenBurned]

So please forgive me if this doesn't belong here but my question applies to any CS experience. Online purchases, phone service, ebay, Tradesy, etc.
If you have a good outcome but don't feel the experience was great in terms of communications or attitude, do you post honest FB?
Or do you hesitate to but the bad along with the good when the end result was good?
I had a recent purchase where the initial communication wasn't great but the purchase turned out very well. Rather than say that, I've chosen to say nothing for the time being.
I also had an experience just last night with the cable TV company. The girl sounded bored and cold but she got the job done. So I give no FB

I prefer the red on sites like ebay where sellers are (for the most part) independent and many aren't professional. In fact, that why ebay became so successful when they started; sellers (and buyers) were novices and you could get great deals.

As for the cable TV company, you say she got the job done and that's what you wanted. Businesses like cable companies hire and pay the least they can get away with and the person you spoke to probably puts up with a lot more BS than good non-BS customers. (Most people call when they have an issue and are p.o.'ed and treat CS people with less respect than they deserve.) Personally, I don't advocate shooting the messenger. She resolved your issue and that's what you wanted so I'd let it go.

If she's rude, that's different but it doesn't sound that way. Those types of CS people eventually get fired anyway because CS isn't their thing and the complaints will come from other customers too.

 

[caannie]

My feeling, at least as far as Amazon, eBay and other online sales sites go, is that if I ordered something, it showed up on time and in the condition I paid for, that's a successful transaction. No bells and whistles required as long as no one was outright rude or hostile.

Detatched disinterest is what I normally expect from businesses, so if I get someone friendly that's a plus. Again, if my problem is solved without extraordinary work on my part it's successful. I have low expectations.

 

[DaBish]

I sell on Mercari and also buy some things there too.
I give everyone good feedback unless the item isn't as described. I've never given bad feedback there at all. Luckily I've gotten everything as described . But I've had some illiterate buyers and pushy sellers. I don't say anything bad though unless and until my item isn't what I expected.
Sometimes we read tone into text that isn't there or assume someone is an idiot because they're message is wacky but it's really hard to tell. I just try to be nice as possible because I really don't know what the real deal is.
Maybe the person needs the extra money for food or essentials so I never want to give someone a bad Mark unless they truly deserve it . If my item isn't as described then I'll have no problem giving bad feedback.

 

[whateve]

I sell on Mercari and also buy some things there too.
I give everyone good feedback unless the item isn't as described. I've never given bad feedback there at all. Luckily I've gotten everything as described . But I've had some illiterate buyers and pushy sellers. I don't say anything bad though unless and until my item isn't what I expected.
Sometimes we read tone into text that isn't there or assume someone is an idiot because they're message is wacky but it's really hard to tell. I just try to be nice as possible because I really don't know what the real deal is.
Maybe the person needs the extra money for food or essentials so I never want to give someone a bad Mark unless they truly deserve it . If my item isn't as described then I'll have no problem giving bad feedback.

Mercari is different. Everyone is expected to give feedback. That is how the money is released. I've had two buyers on Mercari not give me feedback, so Mercari stepped in and released my money. I hope these buyers didn't rate me because they were new to Mercari and didn't realize it was important, rather than that they were unhappy.

On ebay, I often don't give feedback to sellers if my experience is less than stellar. My reasoning is that if I'm not going to give 5 stars, I should give the seller a chance to make me happy rather than blindside him with bad feedback. But if I don't actually want anything from him, like a return or refund, it seems kind of pointless to contact him. So if I don't contact the bad seller, I don't leave feedback. If I have had problems and contacted the seller, and the situation was resolved to my satisfaction, I'll give good feedback. If I contacted the seller, and they didn't take care of the problem, then they deserve whatever feedback I might give. Great sellers get great feedback from me. I don't care about their personal situation. If they are dependent on selling on ebay, then they should be motivated to give good service.

I give feedback to most buyers, but buyers that cause problems don't get any feedback from me.

 

[xincinsin]

I've had eBay sellers chase me for feedback because they say it's important and the only way eBay can rate them. Some also tell me that they will leave me feedback only AFTER I leave them feedback which is a rather annoying implicit strong-arm tactic.
I usually give feedback unless RL gets in the way and I forget. That said, I'm never too sure about the rating for comms. If it was a straightforward purchase, I paid, they sent, I received, and not a single message between us, does that still merit 5 stars for "Seller Communication"?

 

[threadbender]

I've had eBay sellers chase me for feedback because they say it's important and the only way eBay can rate them. Some also tell me that they will leave me feedback only AFTER I leave them feedback which is a rather annoying implicit strong-arm tactic.
I usually give feedback unless RL gets in the way and I forget. That said, I'm never too sure about the rating for comms. If it was a straightforward purchase, I paid, they sent, I received, and not a single message between us, does that still merit 5 stars for "Seller Communication"?

Feedback for buyers is close to worthless. Sellers can only leave positive ratings and statements for buyers. Seller feedback does matter.
That said, unless I have a horrible experience with a seller, I would never leave anything less than 5 stars across the board and positive feedback. If I don't feel the transaction deserves 5 stars, I just don't do the stars.

 

[whateve]

I've had eBay sellers chase me for feedback because they say it's important and the only way eBay can rate them. Some also tell me that they will leave me feedback only AFTER I leave them feedback which is a rather annoying implicit strong-arm tactic.
I usually give feedback unless RL gets in the way and I forget. That said, I'm never too sure about the rating for comms. If it was a straightforward purchase, I paid, they sent, I received, and not a single message between us, does that still merit 5 stars for "Seller Communication"?

There was a time when ebay gave sellers automatically 5 stars for communication if there was no communication between buyer and seller. I would give 5 stars since you had no reason to contact the seller so you don't want to punish them with less. Or you could just not rate that category.

 

[xincinsin]

Feedback for buyers is close to worthless. Sellers can only leave positive ratings and statements for buyers. Seller feedback does matter.
That said, unless I have a horrible experience with a seller, I would never leave anything less than 5 stars across the board and positive feedback. If I don't feel the transaction deserves 5 stars, I just don't do the stars.

I know, which is why I find this tactic annoying.
I usually give less stars if the seller doesn't bother to update that he/she shipped or if they don't put in the tracking number. It leaves me floundering because I don't know if they have sent it yet. A seller was once quite rude to me: she had entered the wrong tracking number. I was wondering why my parcel was getting delivered to New Mexico and sent her a message. Instead of apologizing or even acknowledging her mistake, she corrected the tracking number, then sent a message "yelling" at me for creating work for her.

 

[BeenBurned]

That said, I'm never too sure about the rating for comms. If it was a straightforward purchase, I paid, they sent, I received, and not a single message between us, does that still merit 5 stars for "Seller Communication"?

You know, sellers are damned if they do and damned if they don't.

@xincinsin wonders whether sellers deserve 5 stars for communication if there's not a "single message between us."

Yet other buyers complain that there's too much communication; ebay sends reminders that listings we've been watching have other watchers. They send messages saying that listings will be ending and to bid or buy. Then when you bid, win, purchase and pay, you get a message from paypal that your payment is received and that the item is on the way. Then finally when the seller prints a shipping label, the buyer gets an update with tracking.

Now you're complaining that you want MORE, this time some type of acknowledgement from the seller!

So is it not enough communication or too much communication?

Do you realize that all those other automated messages are also from the seller? In ebay, the seller chooses how the messages will go to the buyer and when the seller wants them sent. So even if there's no "real" communication, every message from ebay IS from the seller.

As a buyer, if I can't leave 5 stars on a category, I don't leave any.

 

[BeenBurned]

I usually give less stars if the seller doesn't bother to update that he/she shipped or if they don't put in the tracking number. It leaves me floundering because I don't know if they have sent it yet.

Without commenting on a rude seller (since there's no excuse for rudeness), I want to mention something I've seen.

When printing shipping labels, whether through ebay or paypal, the tracking number is supposed to be automatically uploaded and transferred to the transaction on ebay. When all goes AS IT SHOULD, it shouldn't be necessary for the seller to do anything else to let you know what the tracking number is.

BUT there are rare cases where for whatever reason, the tracking number is not automatically shown on the transaction page. And unless the seller goes to her "sold" items and looks at it, she has no way of knowing that it's not there. (The few times I've found this to happen, I merely C&P the tracking number in there. But one time that it happened, it was a couple of days since I'd shipped and I believe for the buyer, it looks as though it was shipped late when it really wasn't.)

Buyers need to understand that most sellers are good sellers who have IMPOSSIBLE standards that ebay requires them to uphold and in dinging those sellers and their DSR ratings, they're not only hurting the sellers but they're hurting themselves since those dings cost the sellers money and in turn, those sellers have to raise their prices so YOU as a buyer will pay more.

 

[sdkitty]

my two most recent purchases were from pro sellers - not huge ones but not selling their own items.
First one was ebay. I asked lots of questions and she answered very patiently - really disclosed more about the bag than most would have.
Second was Tradesy. She would not answer my detailed questions. But bag turned out fine.
Ebay one I gave positive FB.
Other one they don't really have FB but I did get a message from the company asking about the transaction. Rather than say it turned out fine but communication could have been better, I've done nothing.

 

[whateve]

Without commenting on a rude seller (since there's no excuse for rudeness), I want to mention something I've seen.

When printing shipping labels, whether through ebay or paypal, the tracking number is supposed to be automatically uploaded and transferred to the transaction on ebay. When all goes AS IT SHOULD, it shouldn't be necessary for the seller to do anything else to let you know what the tracking number is.

BUT there are rare cases where for whatever reason, the tracking number is not automatically shown on the transaction page. And unless the seller goes to her "sold" items and looks at it, she has no way of knowing that it's not there. (The few times I've found this to happen, I merely C&P the tracking number in there. But one time that it happened, it was a couple of days since I'd shipped and I believe for the buyer, it looks as though it was shipped late when it really wasn't.)

Buyers need to understand that most sellers are good sellers who have IMPOSSIBLE standards that ebay requires them to uphold and in dinging those sellers and their DSR ratings, they're not only hurting the sellers but they're hurting themselves since those dings cost the sellers money and in turn, those sellers have to raise their prices so YOU as a buyer will pay more.

I think that might happen because you buy your labels through paypal. I buy mine through ebay and it has never happened to me on ebay, but sometimes they don't show on paypal.

 

[whateve]

There was a time when ebay gave sellers automatically 5 stars for communication if there was no communication between buyer and seller. I would give 5 stars since you had no reason to contact the seller so you don't want to punish them with less. Or you could just not rate that category.

You know, sellers are damned if they do and damned if they don't.

@xincinsin wonders whether sellers deserve 5 stars for communication if there's not a "single message between us."

Yet other buyers complain that there's too much communication; ebay sends reminders that listings we've been watching have other watchers. They send messages saying that listings will be ending and to bid or buy. Then when you bid, win, purchase and pay, you get a message from paypal that your payment is received and that the item is on the way. Then finally when the seller prints a shipping label, the buyer gets an update with tracking.

Now you're complaining that you want MORE, this time some type of acknowledgement from the seller!

So is it not enough communication or too much communication?

Do you realize that all those other automated messages are also from the seller? In ebay, the seller chooses how the messages will go to the buyer and when the seller wants them sent. So even if there's no "real" communication, every message from ebay IS from the seller.

As a buyer, if I can't leave 5 stars on a category, I don't leave any.

The reason ebay originally changed it so sellers got automatic 5 stars for communication was to stop all those "thank you for your purchase" messages sellers were sending. It was to reduce the number of messages that went through ebay.

 

[BeenBurned]

I think that might happen because you buy your labels through paypal. I buy mine through ebay and it has never happened to me on ebay, but sometimes they don't show on paypal.

Perhaps but over 99% of the tracking numbers do show up on the transaction.

In the last 10 months, it's only been 2-3 times that I've had to manually add the tracking number to ebay.

I was just pointing out a possibility.