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eBay Feedback Hostage
May 5th, 2008 - 10:31 pm
Filed Under: Verbal Diarrhea
3 Comments
It REALLY gets on my nerves!!
As of today I started stating in my feedback when a seller has yet to leave feedback for me. Sellers aren’t liking me much today.
eBay has an official stance on the subject stating “sellers being the one to leave feedback first is the proper way to operate“.
Anyone else experiencing this problem more often lately? How do you handle it?
When I receive a product, I email the seller saying that I have received the item, all is well and that I will leave feedback if they do the same for me. If their reply is that they will (or they have – even with no reply) then I will, but if they say they will only upon receiving a positive from me, then I mention eBay feedback hostage in my feedback. I don’t really know how else to deal with this?
Edited (May 28 2008) to add: eBay has recently implemented a change to their feedback policies: Sellers may no longer leave negative or neutral feedback for buyers. Buyers are the only transaction participants enabled to leave negative feedback, as of May 2008.
I think this may be going a little too far. It does help as a buyer but it stinks as a seller. If I sell something and lets say the buyer gives me grief, I should be able to state this don’t you think?
I think this is actually a fascinating subject. I am an eBay seller and I usually wait to leave feedback until the buyer has acknowledged receipt of their package. Sometimes they do so by leaving feedback, though I encourage them to just send me a quick email saying that everything arrived as promised.
I do this, as a seller, because I feel as though the buyer’s responsibility extends beyond just paying. I also expect them to not email me after-the-fact and say that the free stuff I sent them was not what they expected or that my shipping wasn’t fast enough, despite the fact that I shipped days earlier than I promised. These are just a couple examples of thousands.
There are some truly insane buyers out there that can absolutely ruin a transaction after they receive the shipment, even if you, as a seller, have gone above and beyond from your end.
I never withhold feedback until I’ve received feedback, though. I just wait for acknowledgment that I fulfilled my end as promised so they can’t absolutely flip on me later for no good reason. If they are dissatisfied (within reason), I always go above and beyond making it up to them, if I can.
Okay, I’m supposed to be writing this kind of stuff on my eBay column over at Sparkplugging. Thank you for a new post topic!
Mind if I link to this post? It’s perfect.
[...] interested in the “who should leave feedback first– buyer or seller?” debate. An endless debate, I assure [...]
[...] interested in the “who should leave feedback first– buyer or seller?” debate. An endless debate, I assure [...]