posted on May 1, 2001 08:45:15 PM
Newbie bidder (feedback 4) wins one of my auctions on April 26. In my EOA I ask for reply within three days. Never heard from them, resent original EOA email (as a reminder) on April 30.
This evening I receive a NEUTRAL from the bidder. Are you ready for this?
I will pay be billpoint from home tonight.
I now have 509 positives and one neutral from an idiot.
I can feel steam coming out of the top of my head as I type this. If I think about it much longer I might cry! Getting a deserved neutral or negative would be one thing, but this is ridiculous!
What kind of response would you leave for the feedback? What kind of feedback would you leave for the bidder? Assuming he ever does pay that is. And what would you email the bidder to let them know what feedback is actually supposed to be used for?
posted on May 1, 2001 08:55:23 PM
I had a sort of similar experience a few months ago. Newbie with FB of 14 leaves me a positive but complains that mint CD (played once) had "marks" on it. Aggravated me. Left him a neutral that said neutral because it would be nice if he'd attempt to resolve issues with seller before posting and that CD - sent uninsured at his request - had no "marks." I do wish eBay wouldn't be such a wimp about removing undeserved bad feedback...tends to make people afraid to tell the truth, I think. Just my $0.02 worth.
posted on May 1, 2001 08:56:39 PM
I have 2 neutrals. The first one says something like "great seller, very happy." they hit the wrong button. The second one is more recent, the item was broken so the sale was cancelled. The prospective buyer left a neutral & said "Handled problem well"
I'm still mad about that, why did she even bother.
I know how you feel & sometimes think there shouldn't even be a neutral catagory. I don't think my buyer even understands the purpose for it. Neutral isn't bad, but certainly isn't good either. Those two mistakes messed up my perfect feedback
of 463
posted on May 1, 2001 09:07:52 PM
I got a neutral from a newbie a couple of months ago because the figurine I sold her looked smaller than the picture on her monitor. I did have the size in the description. I think it was one of the first feedbacks she had left. She did not contact me that she was unhappy.
She then auctioned some hubcaps. My friend was tempted to bid on them and then complain that they were bigger than the picture on his monitor.
You can respond to the neutral but most people will see it for what it is anyways. It gets buried pretty fast and doesn't show up like a red negative.
posted on May 1, 2001 10:13:32 PM
If you have 509 positive feedback you could have a dozen NEGATIVE feedback and I wouldn't hesistate to bid on any of your items. A couple of negatives for every 100 positive are virtually meaningless. Especially considering how many negs are in retaliation or from unrealistic buyers, etc.
I have 500 + positive feedback and 6 negatives. The negatives don't bother me. I would rather have a few negatives than let some unreasonable people walk all over me.
posted on May 2, 2001 03:23:47 AM
I received my only neutral from a newbie "item was used". I stated in the description that my 3 year old grandson had used it, a swimming goggles and fins.
posted on May 2, 2001 03:41:27 AM
Hi! I have 1200+ Positives and 19 negatives from idiots, mostly newbies. All are ridiculous and they were posted as retaliation from non-apying bidders or because I refused to let a buyer walk all over me with threats such as "I will leave negative if you don't refund my money. The item didn't fit", etc. One buyer bid on a swimsuit and upped the starting bid from $14.99 to $36.00. I listed in the auction that the swimsuit had noticeable, small pulls in the bodice. She demanded a refund because of the pulls. I listed in capitals at the beginning of the description for all to see that the suit was not perfect and had the pulls. So, don't feel so bad. We either take crap or get some negatives along the way. Show me a seller with lots of positives and no negatives and I'll show you a seller who will do ANYTHING to avoid negative. I work too hard and honesty list all my items to let some jerk undermine what I do just because they feel like it. I also stopped leaving feedback when I receive payment.Now I leave it when the buyer leaves feedback for me. If they think they stand a chance of getting negative, they aren't so quick to leave negative for the seller.
posted on May 2, 2001 04:37:27 AM
bhall53 your post bothers me. First, all that leave negative feedback are not "idiots" nor are they always "newbies". Some Buyers DO have legitimate grievances and the feedback forum is usually thier only means to express that displeasure. I cannot tell you how often a Seller fails to respond to ANY email after he/she has received payment.
Furthermore, refuse to leave feedback as a Seller and wait until the Buyer has posted for you is, in my opinion, self-serving and extortion of sorts. The Buyer fulfilled their part of the bargain with you THE DAY YOU RECEIVED PAYMENT! There is no excuse to withhold feedback once you receive payment--that was the fulfillment of the Buyer's obligation to you.
It appears from where i sit that Seller's that fail to post feedback until the Buyer posts a positive for them, are actually insecure about whether or not the item will be delivered as described and/or shipped in timely fashion.
posted on May 2, 2001 05:12:16 AM
ebay would probably remove that neutral because the feedback had nothing to do with the merchandise sold. I would contact them if I were you.
posted on May 2, 2001 05:40:39 AM
You could respond with "new member misunderstands the use of feedback"
Or just ignore it and move on. Don't worry about a couple of neutrals or negs.
posted on May 2, 2001 06:12:52 AM
Don't waste your precious energy on one silly neutral! It certainly is not a *disaster*. Anyone that cares to look at the comment will realize what happened. And NO ONE will be dissuaded from buying from you because of such a comment. Yes, the buyer misunderstood the use of feedback, but the comment is in no way negative toward you as a seller. rosbudscottage - you're kidding, right? No way will eBay remove this feedback. It practically takes a realignment of the planets to get them to remove feedback (or a really good letter from your lawyer).
posted on May 2, 2001 06:18:40 AM
sounds like the buyer was from yahoo. in yahoo we often left such things to communicate because we could redo it later. on ebay you can't. i found out that the hardway myself lol
on bidville you can't respond to feedback at all and you also get only one shot at it. I also found that out the hardway.
posted on May 2, 2001 07:03:52 AM
I liked Vinnie's suggestion about the followup comment being "new user, doesn't understand". Please don't let this episode upset you too much. I have 3968 positives, 27 neutrals and 18 negatives. It's pretty obvious most of the negs are from complete basket cases.
posted on May 2, 2001 07:23:30 AM
rosbudscottage, ebay will not remove a feedback for this reason. (feedback had nothing to do with the merchandise sold)
If the feedback was racist or obscene, linked to a website, mentioned an investigation or revealed personal information about you, like your name... you could ask that it be removed. And it must fall into one or more of those reason to be removed.
Or if it was a neg meant for another user and a second neg was then left for the correct user, that neg can be removed.
Or you're a Very Special User, in which case feedback has been known to disappear without trace.
I have 2 neutral thanks to a time when eBay converted all feedback left by a user to neutrals when they became NARU, even if it was POSITIVE. One of those users in now a current user but the feedback still says it is from a user no longer registered. Anyone have any luck getting eBay to change/remove this type of neutral?
posted on May 2, 2001 07:38:52 AM
If you were to respond to the neutral in a professional manner, and mistakenly include the bidder's name in the response, eBay will remove the whole thing (initial neutral included) upon being notified of the mistake. I can't recommend this, however.
posted on May 2, 2001 08:23:54 AM"Show me a seller with lots of positives and no negatives and I'll show you a seller who will do ANYTHING to avoid negative."
I have 4395 positives, and 25 (undeserved) negs for a 99.44% positive feedback rating. Less than 1% of my feedbacks are negs. That, my friend, is NOT a bad rating.
So you only have 3 negs out of 1640 (so far)?
Well good for you! But what happens when you get an idiot customer who is dead WRONG and negs you for no reason? What if you get a bunch of them? What if a customer negs you without letting you know there is a problem? What if a customer negs you by ACCIDENT? Will that make you a bad seller? NO! Just because a seller has some negs does NOT make them a bad seller.
A couple negs per 100 feedbacks is not a bad rating either. I personally consider anything above a 97% positive feedback rating as excellent.
You also have to take into consideration what the NEGS were for. Slow shipping? I can handle that, within reason. A bunch of negs for being a rip-off? No thanks, I'll pass.
Judging a seller just by the number of negs they have and not looking at the ENTIRE PICTURE is just wrong.
posted on May 2, 2001 10:23:28 AMA couple negs per 100? WOW! Stay away.
I would think this is a little too general a policy. You might want to include in your evaluation:
- The category in which the seller typically sells (some attract more irresposible bidders than others).
- The type of feedback generally left by the seller (professional or rude).
- The feedback record (feedback left and feedback received) of those who have made complaints against the seller.
Although bidders can check out a seller's feedback record prior to bidding and choose which auctions to bid on, not all sellers screen their bidders during the auction. They are pretty much stuck having to deal with the high bidder once the auction is over, regardless of his fedback record.
posted on May 2, 2001 10:47:59 AMIf you have more than 1 neg per 400-500 positve feedbacks, YOU are doing something wrong.
So what am I doing wrong? I have 15 negs and 4500+ positives which works out to about 1 neg for every 300 positives.
10 of my negs were retaliation from deadbeats.
1 said I never sent him merchandise. Which is understandable considering he never sent me money or even won one of my auctions. Of course, that was before feedback was transaction based.
2 were from a person who said he never received his merchandise. He never contacted me about it. When I contacted him, he said an employee jumped the gun on it and wasn't supposed to neg me. We later got everything settled and he left a follow-up statement apologizing for the negs.
1 was from a person that claimed I didn't respond to his emails. He later discovered the problem was on his end and left a follow-up admitting so.
1 was from a person who claimed he didn't receive his merchandise. I did 2 postal traces which he claimed never received and I asked him to send a signed statement about his lost purchase for insurance purposes, but he didn't do that either. I guess he was just hoping I'd refund his money without him having to sign anything official.
posted on May 2, 2001 11:10:11 AM
I have 841 positives and 4 neutrals, the newest neutral came a couple of days ago. I sent out a pair of sneakers that I had bought new, never wore them and when she received them, she just left me a neutral. It stated, this auction says never worn, obviously they have been, MISLEADING AUCTION!! She never contacted me that there was a problem, just left the neutral.
I've been selling for three years now, and I have heard and seen everything in the book.
I'm tired of dealing with "lost" packages that mysteriously are found when I send a trace, bounced checks, payments with absolutely no identifying ebay auction numbers, etc., so called "damaged" goods (I want to put a claim against the insurance but then the merchandise is suddenly ok), you get the picture.
So what did I do with the latest bidder that left the neutral with no contact to me? Cry?, stomp around?, NO I left her a negative.
It may have been harsh, but if there is absolutely no contact from her, and leaves a neutral for no reason, I have every right to leave what I feel is right.
posted on May 2, 2001 11:11:44 AMEVERYBODY has screwball bidders they have to deal with.
EVERYBODY has the vast majority of their transactions run very smoothly.
It is how you deal with the occasional problem situation that determines how good you are at handling customer service issues, which is often reflected in your feedback--negatives especially.
This notion that "97%" positive is acceptable is unreal!
97% is absolutely HORRIBLE! We're not talking about a high school science test where 97% is great, we're talking about a situation where MOST transaction will go smoothly. The fact that problems pop up is normal, but having a neg result from this tells how YOU are perhaps not very good at handling these problems when they DO pop up.
99% is horrible as well!
99% means that 1 out of every 100 feedbacks is a negative! THAT is AWFUL! Look around, MOST sellers don't have such horrible feedback.
I suggest that instead of blaming the customers, you look inside yourself and maybe rethink your customer service practices. If you can't manage to go 100 feedbacks without a neg, then you are clearly doing something wrong.
posted on May 2, 2001 11:24:07 AM
"Bob Jones was nice as pie, but hit the wrong button"
It will be removed?
Has anyone seen this with a negative?"
***
I left a negative for a non-paying bidder: "Auction ended 12/10, email x3, no reply, no pay by 2/10." They replied using my name in the reply and eBay removed the neg. I wasn't able to leave another feedback as eBay's system felt a feedback had already been left on this transaction.
posted on May 2, 2001 11:38:38 AM
We have a 9500 feedback with 74 negatives. When you deal in the volume we do, you'll get the nutcases every week. Not worth our time to babysit them. I'll take the negative over having to send 40 emails reassuring them that their item is still on it's way to them.
We did get one person who accidentally gave us a negative instead of a positive but why worry about it?
posted on May 2, 2001 11:44:23 AM
Thanks Xifene~!!!
;(
That was my concern.
Did they leave you a neg, too on your feedback?
So in a bad situation, you could reply to your own neg, not using a name - doing the calm answer thing - then they could add the last comment, again no name and the neg would stick.
BUT if you neg them and a name is mentioned then it is gone. Even if you don't mention the name!
posted on May 2, 2001 11:46:38 AMmapledr16: It would seem obvious to most frequent users what the bidder had done; however , if it still irks you , and doesn't " sit " right with you , I think what capotasto, et al, suggested would cover it . i.e. stating briefly in FB response that
"New user used FB forum in error. I'd add Trans. still in progress!"
This may advise any " researchers" that it doesn't reflect on any disatisfaction with your item or transaction....how could it?
It also leaves the seller leeway, if posted in the "reply" section, to post a neg or neutral if the buyer deadbeats ! The scenario is clear from the start; but new bidders can make goofy mistakes and hopefully he/she'll realise this mis-use. At least they can't leave a neg now !
