posted on April 15, 2003 04:44:03 PM
I just noticed I had two neutrals from a buyer, with a comment of ok - Not sure why they would do that, I looked at several of his transactions (he has been a member for about a year) and almost all have the same thing - this guy gives a neutral rating with ok as the comment. Stranger that he has no negatives. Well, he has two now. Maybe he will change his ways, we'll see.
posted on April 15, 2003 05:22:52 PM
did this buyer pay late?, refuse to answer EOA? or just leave a remark you didn't like?
so you were a real adult and left neg feedback in retaliation...guess who needs a DUH sign here?
anybody can see retaliatory feedback for what it is.
I personally don't check check every sellers feedback, but when I do and see they leave the type you do...they are on my watch sellers list so I will remember to never bid on their items.
you could have left a factual remark under your neutral feedback and accomplished much more.
posted on April 15, 2003 05:45:30 PM
Retaliation, no. As far as I am concerned, retalitory feedback is when a buyer leaves negative feedback after they have not paid, etc. Poor feedback hurts sellers, there is no reason to leave negative or neutral feedback if you haven't contacted the seller, and certainly no reason to leave it if the transaction was satisfactory. I left the feedback so maybe he will think twice about doing it again. He is already on my blocked list, so it won't help me.
If you check the feedback that sellers leave for buyers, you have entirely too much time on your hands. You also give buyers too much credit for knowing the difference in types of negative feedback. Sorry, but half of them would have problems naming the state next to them...
posted on April 15, 2003 07:54:15 PM
Although I understand your frustration, relatiatory feedback is exactly what we, as sellers, have been fighting. If this bidder paid on time and otherwise did everything right, leaving him a neg because he or she left you a neutral is a bit uncalled for. It makes you no better than the bidder.
Leaving a remark as suggested by rarriffle would have shown much more class.
posted on April 15, 2003 08:18:24 PM
I have to agree with ahc3 on this one. I don't leave retaliatory feedback if I did something wrong (and I have been known to make mistakes and get neg for it.) But if they have a habit, then heck yeah, teach them a lesson!
Stick by your guns ahc3
posted on April 15, 2003 08:27:44 PM
I agree with ahc3 as well. This buyer thinks it's perfectly acceptable to leave an unjustifed neutral with zero attempts to resolve any problems. Thank god some sellers have the sense to leave a justifed negative feedback to these numbskull buyers to show them that thay are wrong and can receive some just feedback responses in response for their stupid actions.
posted on April 15, 2003 08:30:20 PM
Thanks...I've gotten feedback that is not flattering, and when it is MY fault, I will not leave poor feedback in return. In fact, I've even left positive in return. However, this is a different type of situation. This person is rating a positive transaction as a neutral one, and it isn't just to me, he has done it to many other sellers too. I received payment, and this was in the mail the next day. I checked delivery confirmation, it got to him within 3 days...
posted on April 15, 2003 09:17:09 PM
I always give positive feedback if I get paid in a reasonable amount of time. Isn't that all the buyer is required to do?
posted on April 15, 2003 09:24:08 PM
Gotta weigh in here.... he said nothing negative about you and his comment did not effect your rating. Negging was petty and classlss. You are a seller, not a teacher. It's not up to you to teach him a lesson. If you wanted to communicate with him or educate him then email him, don't damage his feedback because he bruised your ego.
The feedback obsession around here is flat out silly.
Do you honestly believe that someone is not going to bid on your items because some guy said his transactions were "ok"? Do you really want that anal buyer anyway?
posted on April 15, 2003 09:25:07 PM
That's like saying all a seller needs to do is ship on a timely basis. I expect a buyer
1) to pay on a timely basis
2) to include the full amount due (you would be surprised how many weasel out of this)
3) to include what they are paying for. I get tons of checks with no information as to what they are bidding on, over the past two weeks I have had 400+ auctions. I'm not being paid to be a detective
4) to write legibly, name, address, etc. I know I've made mistakes reading some of the writing
5) to notify me if there is a problem. It is actually in ebay's guidelines and customers are reminded that neutral or negative comments shnould NOT be left unless they contact the seller first.
While these are all expectations (and I think reasonable ones) the only thing that will get a neg from me is #5 - If there is a problem and they don't give me the courtesy of trying to work things out, then they get a negative from me. If they contact me, and still give me poor feedback, I wouldn't necessarily give a negative back to them, because they at least contacted me and tried to work the problem out.
posted on April 15, 2003 09:25:46 PM
This is my take on the ebay feedback system.
The buyer is the key to the feedback system. The buyer should let the seller know that the sale has been completed after the delivery of the auction goods with the appropiate feedback. After the buyer leaves their feedback the seller should then and only then post their feedback. Otherwise the seller is at the mercy of every nutcase buyer out there that leaves misrepresented feedbacks without any fear of consequences of their their actions.
posted on April 15, 2003 09:31:09 PM
He didn't bruise my ego, he damaged my feedback - I sell enough that 1 month from now, this will be so buried that nobody will look to see what it says, they will see that I have 2 more neutrals than I had before. I don't choose my customers and have no control over how anal they are, but there are those who consider a neutral to be equivalent of a negative.
posted on April 16, 2003 02:30:45 AM
I'm with rarriffle, CBlev and neon on this.
The buyer fulfilled your "expectations" criteria...
Maybe a neutral "okay" means everything went fine for him. Maybe he isn't the type to jump up and down, do the happy dance, and/or whoop and holler over positive things - maybe he just doesn't get overexcited.
If it was bothering you that bad, you could have emailed him and politely asked if there was something wrong with the transaction. This would have given you a perfect opportunity to explain your "case" for positive feedback.
Bottom line, the buyer did not deserve two notches in your belt...
"Be kind. Remember everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." - Harry Thompson
"I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it." - A Few Good Men
[ edited by wgm on Apr 16, 2003 02:33 AM ]
posted on April 16, 2003 06:07:34 AM
Hi, I have to give my two cents worth here. I always give feedback after I feel the buyer has had time to receive the item whether they have contacted me of given feedback. I do give negs and, so far so good, never a retaliatory one, however, I also give neutrals in some cases. I also always file NPB and FVF. If they pay but I have had to send several reminders or if it takes a long time for them to pay while repeatedly saying 'the check's in the mail' are things that I feel deserve a neutral. Yes, they did complete the transaction but not in the most positive way. To me a neutral is 'so-so', not great but not terrible. I can see a buyer leaving a neutral if the item is what was advertised but not quite as pristine as expected or if the buyer got a little testie in their reminders. I feel it would be good if more people did give neutrals, then a positive would mean more.
[ edited by antique519 on Apr 16, 2003 06:09 AM ]
posted on April 16, 2003 08:59:12 AM
I had a low-feedback buyer do this to me on what is now my bidding ID. She did the same thing to a few other sellers in that category and we all three ganged up on her - nicely of course - and finally brought her to an understanding of the error of her ways. We all responded to her neutrals that they were left by mistake, and the bidder then responded to our responses "Transaction went fine, I am pleased."
That would have been a possible solution to your problem, but I doubt your bidder would be willing to do that now.
When I bid on eBay, ahc, I almost always check the FB the seller left as well as the FB they got, especially when there's a neutral or neg involved. (it only takes a few seconds once you know how, and you can often tell just as much about a seller from the feedback they've left as from the feedback they've received.) I steer clear of sellers who leave considerably less feedback than they receive OR leave obviously retaliatory negs. If I just stumbled across this, and hadn't heard your explanation of the transaction, I'd assume that there was some problem with the auction, your bidder was too legitimately unhappy to leave a positive and you retaliated.
As far as responding goes, I wouldn't. That would give your bidder the opportunity to respond to your comments with something considerably more damaging, and that, again, would show up on YOUR feedback page.
[ edited by msincognito on Apr 16, 2003 09:00 AM ]
posted on April 16, 2003 09:17:37 AM
I'm more worried about Saddam Hussein being the next president of the US than a buyer checking my feedback left to bidders and deciding not to bid.
What I find funny about this is if I would have lied and said something like "deadbeat bidder, did not pay", you would have just taken it as truth. Feedback as it stands is really worthless.
posted on April 16, 2003 09:24:01 AM
Yahoo Auctions lets both buyer and seller change the ratings they leave. The old feedback comments are still there along with new comments but the rating changes. That is what ebay should do with their poor system.
Cheryl
- Harry Thompson