posted on July 22, 2001 04:28:03 PM
Usually I sell, once in awhile buy something. I won a bid on Sat evening, June 30. I immediately paid with paypal. After 3 days of not hearing from the seller, I wrote an email stating I won the auction and did not receive a winning bid letter. He replied, the next day saying he rec'd my payment and would send product out later that week. After waiting 2 weeks and no product I emailed him asking if he'd shipped it? No reply. Emailed again 2 days later asking again, no reply. Emailed 2 more times the following 2 days, no reply. I got the package last Thursday almost 3 weeks after winning the auction. This is an inconsiderate seller to say the least. I'm not happy!!
My question is, does this warrant a negetive or neutural feedback? Do I run the risk of retalitory feedback by this jerk? I'll put this out as a survey and go with what you all say.
posted on July 22, 2001 04:40:42 PM
I expect you do run the risk of a retaliatory negative - have you looked to see what kind of feedback this seller leaves?
I don't think I would leave a negative, but I might leave a neutral.
posted on July 22, 2001 04:45:20 PM
To be honest with you With the additude of some ebay Buyers and sellers these days you run the risk of retalitory feedback even when you leave positive feed back.
here is how I and from what I have read here over the last few years.
Item shipped and received within 2 to 4 days of the winning bid is excellent service.
Item received 5 to 10 days is typical or normal part time sellers on Ebay.
to receive an Item 14 to 20 days after your bid is annoying but still fair service as some sellers only ship once a week a postive with commet about slow shipping or communication is warented.
anything over three week to a month is very slow with out notice to the buyer with a reasonable reason for the delay acidents do happen and usually these people get labeled careless sellers these sellers get netrual but usually negtives for feed back.
other then useing a gauge like this you must decide for yourself what you will do.
Before you post any feedback for this guy, I would recommend you consider a few things. First, in regards to lack of communication from the seller, it is possible that the seller may be on vacation. During the summer this is a common occurance. He could easily be away from e-mail access for a period of over a week.
Secondly, look at the post mark on the package you received. It is very possible that the item was shipped when the seller said it was. Lately the post office has been taking a long time to deliver things. I received a PRIORITY mail package on July 14th that was postmarked July 6th. That's EIGHT days for what should have reached me in two-three. So, it is possible that the blame lies with the post office and not the seller.
Finally, consider this... did you get the product you ordered as described? If so, then I do not believe negative feedback is deserved. Less than three weeks to deliver a package is really not an excessive time period.... especially considering typical mail order service is 4-6 weeks. At the very worst, I would leave a neutral indicating dissatisfaction with the speed of delivery.
posted on July 22, 2001 05:12:49 PM
anytime you leave any type of feedback, positive,neutral or negative, you run the risk of negative feedback being left for you.......
posted on July 22, 2001 08:04:59 PM
Thanks for the input all! Can't check the postmark on box because I already threw it out. Product is as described. Seller is not on vacation. Checked and he had auctions ending daily! My emails to him were polite. He "chose" to ignore me. Of 250+ sales he has 5 negetives and 6 neutrals. I'm mad because I didn't check his feedback before bidding. Shame on me.
Still irks me that there are people who shy away from leaving the correct feedback for fear of having their's tarnished!
posted on July 22, 2001 08:31:30 PM
I am primarily a seller on ebay, but do occasionally buy. Here is my input from my standpoint as a primarily a seller. Because I give prompt shipping on paid items, if I buy I expect the same. Because I either put a vacation notice in my auction descriptions if I know this ahead of time, I expect the same. If something comes up and I have to go out of town unexpectedly, I will put up an automated email that sends out to everyone that sends me an email (usually these are auction related emails incoming) that says I was called out of town unexpectedly to let others know that I'm not ignoring their emails. If a buyer takes the time to let me know they have mailed out their payment on such and such a date......I give the same curtosy and email to let them know when it is recieved and their shipping date so they can watch for their items arrival.
I do not base my feedback on whether or not I will recieve a retalitory negative......I base my feedback on how the over-all transaction went. I do have 7 negatives in my file to show that I am not afraid to post negatives where they are needed. Too many ebayers are concerned with preserving their own feedback histories instead of using the feedback system to rightfully warn others of bad buyers/sellers and this was what the feedback system was created to do. I think that my other feedback speaks for it'self and when checking out my negatives most can follow the thread back to see it was a retalitory and unfairly posted. I know people who have lots of feedback with no negatives but I have to say it upsets me when I learn the reason is that they don't post comments that should be posted to warn others that will come after them and learn the hard way when they get stiffed.
I say post a negative for poor mailing service, ignoring emails and lack of communication. After all this is this sellers customer service.....which appears to need lots of improvement.
posted on July 23, 2001 12:40:56 AMkwnaz316 in my opinion, your attitude warrants you a negative feedback. I would love to neg the S*it right out of you! Because you said "product was as described."
posted on July 23, 2001 12:55:44 AM
Neg this guy..but wait until 59,23,59,50...no chance of a retalitory...(59 days, 23 hrs,59 minutes, 50 seconds after the closing time)
Keith
I assume full responsibility for my actions, except
the ones that are someone else's fault.
posted on July 23, 2001 01:23:27 AM
Three weeks during the summer is not exceptionally long. Even if he was not on vacation, summer is a busy time. I would not post a negative. If you don't want to post positive, just don't leave any feedback. IMO this situation does not warrant negative or neutral feedback. Just an FYI, if someone emailed me 2 times every 2 days I would probably ignore them too. That is a little excessive. I am thinking that may be the reason he didn't respond. I have never emailed anyone unless it has been 3 weeks or more since payment was received and I haven't heard anything or received anything yet. Then I only write one email and wait a week before writing again.
Also, it has been in the news that there have been some mail delays due to natural disasters in some areas. That may have accounted for the long time it took.
i definitely wouldn't leave a neg. you did eventually get the item, and it was as described. perhaps a neutral, if you feel strongly about it. but since you don't still have the box and don't know if it got to you late because of the seller or the post office, i think no feedback would be the best choice.
imo the seller should have replied to the first email you sent after two weeks had passed, telling you if your item had been shipped, or if it hadn't, an eta. not all sellers work that way, though.
Considering that the seller had auctions ending daily, I agree that it does not seem likely that the seller has been on vacation (although it IS still a posibility). However, one other thing to consider, is that your e-mail messages may have never gotten through to his account. Some e-mail accounts filter out certain e-mail addresses. Did you try sending him messages from alternate e-mail addresses? This usually works for me.
Secondly, the fact that you did not check the postmark definately indicates that you should not leave negative feedback. You honestly can not say with certainty that the seller did not uphold his end of the bargain. Summer IS a very busy time for packages. You should also be aware that the 4th of July (a government holiday) occured in between the time your auction ended and you received the package. This holiday closed the post-office and surely delayed package delivery.
Finally, what type of delivery service did you request? If you wanted this item quickly, did you request priority mail or express mail? If not, was it sent first-class or media mail? There is just as much difference in the speed of delivery of these services as there is in the price.... and as they say... you get what you pay for. I just don't think you have much grounds to leave a negative feedback.
The old 60 day limit went out a LONG time ago. Now some auctions are still in the database from up to 120 days ago. Unfortunately, there's NO guarantee if you neg someone when the auctions over 60 days old that they can't neg you back.
My lone neg came in 91 days after the auction had ended (and a day after I'd negged him).
No guarantees these days, folks.
kwnaz316,
If you aren't satisfied about the total transaction whether it's about the condition of the product or the length of time to get it to you, feel free to leave appropriate feedback.
It's hard to really know in this case if 3 weeks was excessive. If you purchased books & they were sent book rate, it could take longer than usual.
As for the seller being on vacation, that doesn't cut it as an excuse. If we changed the words in this original post to "buyer" instead of seller, would people be suggesting to cut them some slack because a buyer might be on vacation & take 3 weeks to get a payment there?
posted on July 23, 2001 07:05:41 AMAs for the seller being on vacation, that doesn't cut it as an excuse. If we changed the words in this original post to "buyer" instead of seller, would people be suggesting to cut them some slack because a buyer might be on vacation & take 3 weeks to get a payment there?
posted on July 23, 2001 07:58:05 AM
It's poor service. I would let him know by email that you were rather disappointed by his lack of response and delays in shipping. He may or may not wise up.
I'd leave a neutral as the item was satisfactory but the service was not.
posted on July 23, 2001 09:36:33 AM
In cases like this, I always say you have to check the sellers TOS.
If he said he would do something, and then did not do that - then you are justified in leaving a bad feedback.
If he did not say he would do something, and you didn't ask, and you therefore expected/assumed he would do that, and he didn't - then you are not justified in leaving a bad feedback.
I don't condone the practice of taking 2 1/2 weeks to send something or not responding to emails, but you always have to realize that your perception of what is "acceptable" does not necessarily align with anyone else's.
I routinely have buyers who take 2-3 weeks to send payment and I never hear an email or anything from them. I'm delighted that they paid. To them, this practice is acceptable, I think they regard me as just another "bill" to be paid and they do not see a need to let me know any status of the payment.
posted on July 23, 2001 12:51:31 PM
"As for the seller being on vacation, that doesn't cut it as an excuse. If we changed the words in this original post to "buyer" instead of seller, would people be suggesting to cut them some slack because a buyer might be on vacation & take 3 weeks to get a payment there? "
I just have to reply to that. I don't get ants in my pants if a payment takes a few weeks to reach me. Life happens and I like my buyers enough to cut them some slack.
posted on July 23, 2001 01:48:10 PM
NANAS TURTLES: You said it all. I do the sme thing and feel the same way. I recently purchased an item which was NOT in the great condition the listing said. Upon receiving it, I sent a nice e-mail to the seller, explaining this and that I would like a refund of the item cost and shipping cost. I received back a very nice e-mail saying she was sorry and of course she'd refund me. Since then, we have been in close contact; I e-mailed her when I shipped the package back, she returned an e-mail saying she received it. Today I got another e-mail from her saying the money order would go out in tomorrow's mail. SO TO SUM IT UP.....in this case, even though the transaction didn't really work out, our communication and professionalism in this matter really helped each of us out. She had already left me a positive, and I am tempted to leave one for her (although maybe it should be a neutral), because she handled the refund so courteously.
In your case, I would probably not even bother leaving feedback at all, because it would only be because you're ticked with this seller. Obviously, the decision is yours and you should do whatever you think is right.
