Author Topic: ?? about e-bay feedback (Read 151 times)

richbass939 · « **on:** March 23, 2007, 01:17:45 PM »

I haven't done a whole lot of e-bay transactions and have never had to leave negative feedback on someone's account. Unfortunately, that changed recently.
The short story:
I bought my son a PSP on e-bay. I PayPaled within 6 minutes and got the PSP 27 days later. In the mean time I got excuses for not communicating and promises to send the item right away. When I nasty-grammed the guy about what is going on I got this message about ?I?m really busy and I have other things to do and if I don?t get around to sending you a message then I don?t send one.?
Enough venting; now to the question.
I plan to give the guy a negative and I fully expect him to give me a negative back. I hope I?m wrong, but that?s what I?m prepared for. Further, I expect him to try to negotiate with me to withdraw the negative.
If I end up with a negative on my account am I able to post a note to potential sellers asking them to contact me? If a seller contacts me about it I have e-bay messages to and from this guy that will make it very clear that I acted responsibly and the guy was a total jerk.
What I don?t want is to shaft my own e-bay account in the process of giving this guy the negative feedback that he deserves.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Rich

olieoliver · « **Reply #1 on:** March 23, 2007, 01:56:46 PM »

You should be able to post a response in your feedback section as to why you received a negative feedback.
It's really a shame too, you did what you were supposed to and he didn't.

Goodluck

lowlife · « **Reply #2 on:** March 23, 2007, 01:58:39 PM »

Rich,

Only from personal experience can I offer what my usual M.O. is in these types of situations. I am firmly of the opinion that the seller wants as much positive feedback as possible and that negative feedback although annoying is not the end of the world (my opinion, only).

Since I am not obliged in any way to offer feedback, when I am unsatisfied (obviously after due course), I leave NO feedback and obviously expect NO feedback. The four times (out of 21 transactions) where I had problems, three were rectified to my satisfaction (in my judgment) by NOT leaving any feedback and just ignoring the seller.

For those three times when the sellers contacted me my response was simple. I believe that I got %$&*^#. I've already emailed you so you know how I feel, therefore I am unable to offer any feedback. If you choose to correct the situation, feedback will be forthcomming.

There are however some power-sellers who have racked-up so many transactions that they don't care about the negative or no feedback.

Hope that this helps.

Ellery (Lowlife)

olieoliver · « **Reply #3 on:** March 23, 2007, 02:09:02 PM »

One other option is to not leave feedback at all. This is probably how I would handle it.

lbpesq · « **Reply #4 on:** March 23, 2007, 02:48:00 PM »

I have one negative feedback out of 174. I bought an old guitar player mag and didn't receive it. I emailed the seller several times with no response. Finally, when I threatened to report it to ebay and paypal, he responded, claiming to have sent it. Eventually I did receive the magazine. I left neutral feedback saying that it had taken a long time to arrive and there was poor communication. This was the first and only time I left anything but postive feedback. Of course, the guy left negative feedback on me. Considerieng that this is the only negative I've ever received, and the rest I've received have been glowing, it has never been a problem. Personnaly, I expect everyone with more than a few ebay transactions to have one or two of these. 100% positive is rare. 98% is good enough.

Bill, tgo

dfung60 · « **Reply #5 on:** March 24, 2007, 01:41:53 AM »

Sorry to hear about your problems.

If you give him negative feedback and he gives it back to you, you can post a response to his negative which can include an e-mail address or URL. So you can tell your story fully if you want to.

There's an asymmetry about feedback that works to your favor. Even if you get a negative feedback as a buyer, this is unlikely to impact your ability to buy other items in the future, as long as it's a relatively isolated case. Some sellers may reject your bid if you have a lot of negative feedbacks, but will probably give you a chance to explain. Everybody knows that there are lousy sellers out there, and I don't think anybody will hold a negative from one of them against you.

But, a negative feedback on a seller, especially a recent one, IS a big deal and will definitely affect their business. Most buyers will look at the seller's feedback history before they even consider making a bid. If the negative feedback is he took an inordinately long time to deliver and was rude about it too I suspect most potential buyers will immediately pass. They aren't going to write to him and ask what happened (and the only thing he can claim is that your comment isn't really what happened which nobody will believe).

If the seller sells a lot, this will be a pretty big deal for the 4-6 months until the link to the item/auction times out.

I think you can make an argument for both negative and no feedback and it's just sort of how you feel. Of course, you can lay this situation out for him - if he didn't realize that your feedback will matter more than his before, he will certainly get the message now. If you aren't trying to change the outcome of the transaction (e.g. get some money back from him) then it's probably not worth all the work.

I doubt that he will lay negative feedback on you first (his best outcome is probably no feedback mutually). If he does try to put a negative feedback on you, then you should response by dropping a nuke on him - Seller ripped me off - I paid in 6 minutes and never received the item. He can't comment anymore other than to say that you're a liar and you've just shut this account down for good.

Good luck,

David Fung

0vid · « **Reply #6 on:** March 24, 2007, 02:22:41 AM »

It's improving but I take feedback with a pinch of salt. I have 3 negatives personally, all in dubious circumstances. One left negative feedback after I refunded his money - and what makes it stranger was I re-listed and sold the item, got postive feedback on ebay for the same item that this fella never got round to paying me for in the first instance.
Another, - I put a high buy it now price fro an item and and in minutes someone bought it and paid me. Then when he receives it, he says it's only worth half what he paid (which it isn't and isn't the point either)... so he insists that I refund him half his money or he will LEAVE NEGATIVE FEEDBACK... I reported it to ebay but they did nothing.....
Best you can do is to leave a retort in fact and not appear hysterical.....in the first case I left the number of the auction that did sell....

They are changing things but I doubt it really matters.....the only time I took some feedback seriously was when I bid for a Ricky lefty, and there was one other bidder who had minus one. I pulled out in fear for shill bidding, but my bids were deleted and the item sold for a lot less than had I been in it.....

richbass939 · « **Reply #7 on:** March 24, 2007, 08:06:08 AM »

Thanks for the comments everybody. I am not all that concerned about having one negative on my record. I have e-bay e-mails that show that I did everything a seller could expect. Any reasonable seller would contact me for an explanation before rejecting my bid. I'm not really worried about it. I will be able to explain thing well enough within an 80 character feedback reply and response.
Thanks again,
Rich

jahnahisti · « **Reply #8 on:** March 24, 2007, 11:52:41 AM »

I think you're just asking for a headache.
I'd turn the other cheek. You got it...It took too long. He gets a positive or a neutral, but don't destroy the guy. I'd leave a neutral and say took almost a month. You don't want to give negatives unless somebody really hurts you.

(Message edited by jahnahisti on March 24, 2007)

inthelows · « **Reply #9 on:** March 25, 2007, 03:26:50 PM »

Remember that even if the actual rating is withdrawn the comments stay posted. The explanation why the mutually agreed to negative goes into limbo-land commentary but gist of what you say and the tone in which it is said is there for the world to see. At least for those who look for things like that.
I've had many good experiences with e-bay and had a a few bad apples. I contacted them through e-bay and their private e-mail explaining just how dissatisfied I was with them in plain English no holds barred. I've gotten money back each time. Didn't leave negative feedback, you also can leave neutral feedback with with same effect. With 80 characters choose your words wisely. As others have counseled, if the recipient is as cold as ice as you've described, is it really going to have the affect you want?
As far as contacting you,ebay has a way of blocking direct contact with members not involved in transactions with each other.
My 2 cents.
Either way-- I got your back.....
NLP

made_a_rose · « **Reply #10 on:** March 28, 2007, 02:12:27 AM »

Since the 80 character space really gives no room to explain what happened, when I leave negative feedback I give my email address with a note if you want to know my side of the story email me. I've never been asked about it, but the 2 times I did that I was not retaliated against.