Leaving feedback - Whose responsibility is it to do it first?

[Natalietwo]

This is an issue that really gets my blood boiling!

The buyer's part of the transaction is complete upon payment and FB should be left first by the seller. If the buyer is not happy with the product, that has nothing to do with their rating as a buyer, so waiting to see if they are "happy" is really a pretty word for seller extortion of feedback.

I refuse to leave FB for a seller before they leave FB for me.

When I started selling, not too long ago, I followed the advice of sellers saying I should withhold FB until a buyer leaves it for me (so I can respond with a neg if the buyer would have the balls to leave anything less than positve FB for me). Parentheses are my words, not theirs.

So that's what I did, but I received a low % of FB in relation to the number of sales. So I started giving FB first, and not only am I receiving it, but I'm receiving glowing remarks.

My ethics do not permit me to use FB as a means of manipulating the outcome.

Naive? I don't think so. I have great communication with my buyers, and when they have a concern, they email me first instead of leaving a neg. I include a note in their shipment asking them to contact me if there are any problems, and if not, to leave FB for me. I point out that I have already left positive feedback for them. It works for me, I can feel good about it.

 

[mooks]

The buyer's part of the transaction is complete upon payment and FB should be left first by the seller.

I have great communication with my buyers, and when they have a concern, they email me first instead of leaving a neg. I include a note in their shipment asking them to contact me if there are any problems, and if not, to leave FB for me. I point out that I have already left positive feedback for them. It works for me, I can feel good about it.

You've been incredibly lucky then! I have had some rather unpleasant, generally newbies, who have negged instead of e-mailing if they weren't happy.

In the bad old days I left fb when the buyer paid but I have not done this for at least 4 years as I got stung too many times.

A transaction is only complete when the buyer has received their item and not before.

Do you consider a transaction complete when buying from online retailers once you have paid? Of course not, it's complete when you have your item in your hands

 

[Natalietwo]

Do you consider a transaction complete when buying from online retailers once you have paid? Of course not, it's complete when you have your item in your hands

The issue isn't the completion of the transaction, but rather the obligations of either party. If Land's End were rating my buying/paying reliability, then I would expect them to rate me at the completion of my end of the transaction, which is when I have paid.

You're right in that the transaction is not complete until the item is shipped, but that is related to the seller's responsibility.

So yes, when ordering online, the transaction is not complete until the item is received. But, when ordering online, my end of the transaction IS complete upon payment.

Sellers who wait to leave FB are doing so because they are afraid of a neg. That says it all.

 

[mooks]

Sellers who wait to leave FB are doing so because they are afraid of a neg. That says it all.

Exactly! You can be the most efficient seller in the world but there will always be unpleasant buyers and as a seller I will do whatever I can to protect my reputation

Six weeks ago I sold a $7 computer game and erroneuosly put that the game had the manual, it turned out that it didn't and instead of simply e-mailing me the buyer with 4 fb negged me. I of course negged him back for his lack of communication. The buyer was shocked that I had......what did they expect?? An eBay transaction is a two way deal and it's not complete till both parties are happy

 

[mooks]

Oh and had the buuyer e-mailed me, not only would I have shown where they could download the manual I would have refunded them in full

 

[Ali-bagpuss]

Like lots of others - as a Buyer I leave feedback as quickly as possible.

As a Seller I normally wait until I have received feedback before I leave it. I know that the seller should be leaving feedback on the transaction, how fast payment was etc etc but I have been burnt before by leaving good feedback then the buyer turns out to be a right pain and causes no end of problems and leaves negative. Then it just looks as if you are sour if you reply to their feedback with negative remarks when you have already left positive.

 

[Smoothoprter]

As a buyer I leave feedback when I've received the item and I am satisfied.

As a seller I leave feedback only after the buyer has received their item and is satisfied and has left feedback. Feedback is not mandatory, some give it, some don't.

 

[mooks]

Feedback is not mandatory, some give it, some don't.

 

[cola262]

...says the seller who hasn't been burned yet...
I always see sellers like you, then they get a buyer who takes advantage, and poof, you become like me. lol...
if you can keep up with leaving feedback first, more power to you, but it's very easy to steal from or blackmail a seller who already left feedback.

This is an issue that really gets my blood boiling!

The buyer's part of the transaction is complete upon payment and FB should be left first by the seller. If the buyer is not happy with the product, that has nothing to do with their rating as a buyer, so waiting to see if they are "happy" is really a pretty word for seller extortion of feedback.

I refuse to leave FB for a seller before they leave FB for me.

When I started selling, not too long ago, I followed the advice of sellers saying I should withhold FB until a buyer leaves it for me (so I can respond with a neg if the buyer would have the balls to leave anything less than positve FB for me). Parentheses are my words, not theirs.

So that's what I did, but I received a low % of FB in relation to the number of sales. So I started giving FB first, and not only am I receiving it, but I'm receiving glowing remarks.

My ethics do not permit me to use FB as a means of manipulating the outcome.

Naive? I don't think so. I have great communication with my buyers, and when they have a concern, they email me first instead of leaving a neg. I include a note in their shipment asking them to contact me if there are any problems, and if not, to leave FB for me. I point out that I have already left positive feedback for them. It works for me, I can feel good about it.

 

[print*model]

...says the seller who hasn't been burned yet...
I always see sellers like you, then they get a buyer who takes advantage, and poof, you become like me. lol...
if you can keep up with leaving feedback first, more power to you, but it's very easy to steal from or blackmail a seller who already left feedback.

Yep! So true.

 

[86leo]

I believe it IS Catch 22.

I, as a buyer and short time seller, see both sides of the fence. And there are snarky buyers and sellers. There are bad sellers and buyers. There are crooked buyers and sellers.

As a buyer, I have received + feedback FIRST and LAST. So, really, I am pretty neutral on the whole issue.

However, at the end of the day. I just dont care if a Seller waits for my feedback. It doesnt affect me or my rating at all, as it is still 100% regardless (so far!!) !

 

[Melisande R.]

If I were a seller, I'd wait till the buyer leaves it. I used to feel differently (back when I had little feedback as a buyer!) Now, I don't really care about more feedback.

The new feedback system at eBay is cumbersome - I can't find a way to get all my feedbacks to show on one page the way they used to - now I have to click through three pages or so just to do one feedback and frankly, I'm giving up on it. Unless it's a big ticket item and the service is stellar, I'm just not bothering.

I'm not fond of being reminded to do it, either. eBay needs to streamline the procedure. My homepage says I need to leave feedback for 17 items - but when I click on that reminder, I just get one at a time. Sigh.



If I know the seller is a tPFer, though - I"m on it!

 

[bellafleur]

As a seller, I ALWAYS wait for the buyer to leave feedback first. I don't believe that a buyer's feedback rating should only be a reflection of their ability to pay on time. It should be a reflection of the whole transaction, including what happens after the sale is made.

For instance, if you owned a bricks and mortar store, a customer would come in and buy a bag, pay at the checkout, and take her purchase home. Technically her job as buyer is done. If you as the seller were asked at that point what you thought of the buyer, you would have nothing bad to say, because the transaction was pleasant and kind of a non-event. However, what if she came back in the following week, and tried to return the bag for a full refund, but you could see that she carried it all weekend out to the bars because it was dirty and stained. You wouldn't think so highly of her at that point, and you probably wouldn't want her as a customer anymore. You'd also want to warn your friend who owned the boutique down the street that she was a terrible customer, and it isn't worth selling to her because she'll just return it and you'll be stuck with merchandise in unsaleable condition.

I feel the same way about internet transactions. If the seller leaves feedback first, I have no power or leverage to protect myself against the above scenario. I would much rather have the opportunity to rectify the situation before any feedback has been left by either party.

I've also run into this situation as a buyer twice. A seller has left me positive feedback before I recieved the item, and once I got it, I saw it was fake merchandise. I tried to contact the seller for a refund but got nowhere. In one instance, I left negative feedback and felt bad about it, but I had no choice. The other item I still haven't left feedback at all, because I'm just not sure what to do about it. You would think the seller would bend over backward to make things right once they see I have the power to leave them negative feedback when they don't anymore. Instead, I feel like some malicious person leaving negative feedback. My point is that I am trying to be nice about it, but most buyers wouldn't do that. My reputaion as a seller is too important to me to be sabotaged by someone trying to get something for nothing.

 

[bellafleur]

If I were a seller, I'd wait till the buyer leaves it. I used to feel differently (back when I had little feedback as a buyer!) Now, I don't really care about more feedback.

The new feedback system at eBay is cumbersome - I can't find a way to get all my feedbacks to show on one page the way they used to - now I have to click through three pages or so just to do one feedback and frankly, I'm giving up on it. Unless it's a big ticket item and the service is stellar, I'm just not bothering.

I'm not fond of being reminded to do it, either. eBay needs to streamline the procedure. My homepage says I need to leave feedback for 17 items - but when I click on that reminder, I just get one at a time. Sigh.



If I know the seller is a tPFer, though - I"m on it!

Melisande, there is an easy way to leave all your feedback at once. Go into "My ebay" and look on the lefthand column about 2/3 the way down the page. Under the "My Account" heading, the 4th item says "Feedback". If you click on that, it will bring up a page with all the transactions waiting for feedback. On the top of that page is a button that says "Leave Feedback". If you click on that, it brings up a list of all your transactions with photos to make it easy to remember. You can click on positive or negative, and a box will appear for you to type in your comment. You can do that to the whole page at once before submitting it. It's actually pretty nice the way they changed the system to show the photos of your item!

 

[flare4fashion]

Ok, so I am a seller and I usually leave feedback after a buyer does. I feel that it should be that way in case there is something wrong. If you leave a pos. and they wanna all of a sudden leave a neg to be mean or something. When I buy on Ebay I leave feedback no more then two days after I receive the item. I am a believer in that it is the ONLY way you can feel people out, trust and etc on there. I believe people should always leave fb. Lately, I have been selling and hate when the "you need to leave feedback" thingy remindes me. I hate that because I would leave it I just do not want to leave it and not get any in return. I have done it, and actually I left fb for someone that received there item 2 weeks ago. I left it and wrote them to thank them and to kindly leave fb as I did. I was thinking ok maybe he/she will. Can you believe that this buyer has 383 positive (100% FB) and get this has only left DRUMROLL PLEASE...........3 FB EVER!!!! That is so wrong!

Am I being ridiculous? I just don't think it's fair.