Ebay-Why Aren't Buyers Leaving Feedback?!

[millenium0chi]

I've had several Ebay auctions/BINs lately, for items ranging from ponies to an Apple Watch.  Only two completed auctions resulted in the buyer leaving feedback for me!  This is VERY frustrating because I put a lot of effort into including good pictures, thorough descriptions and shipping quickly with tracking numbers and good packaging.  And since I'm relatively new to selling on Ebay, I'm really needing this feedback to show that I have a good history!

Why are people not leaving feedback?  Is anyone else experiencing this on Ebay?  Is it good practice to send these buyers a message to ask for feedback, or is that bad form?

[bluerose9978]

For some reason, buyers don't think it's worth their time to leave feedback anymore. I don't know whether some are just forgetful or they just don't think it's worth their time of day. I know, it's frustrating! I have had this complaint recently as well! And it's against eBay's policy to mention the word feedback in messages because they assume it's a threat (I will leave negative feedback for you unless you give me a partial refund, etc). So what you might want to do is mention in your listings that if the buyer is happy with the purchase to leave positive feedback or that you have a goal of 5-star feedback. I have had some sellers send feedback reminders with their items. I don't know if that's worked for them. I have always left feedback as a buyer, so I can't say I'm sure. It would be nice if eBay would send feedback reminders to buyers.

[Kikwifluff]

I've sold some things over eBay recently; and I am in the same situation. It's the holiday rush, so my guess is that buyers simply don't have the time. Sometimes buyers just don't leave feedback, as frustrating as it is. I would not send them a message, personally. I think that can aggravate some buyers, it's better just to move along.

[BlackCurtains]

Some people leave feedback in batches too. I do that on Amazon, not so much eBay but I shop a lot more on Amazon. So part of it could be that, especially this time of year.

[millenium0chi]

Thanks for the comments and advice!  I like the idea of politely requesting feedback as part of my future listings.  I didn't know it's against Ebay's policies to ask about feedback in messages, so I'm glad I haven't done so.  It would be GREAT if Ebay gave a feedback reminder like they give a payment reminder after 48 hours.

I guess I'm just frustrated because I ALWAYS leave feedback for the people who buy FROM me, even though it's always going to be positive anyway.  So it would be nice for those people to recognize my efforts to satisfy them as the seller.  But I guess no feedback is better than bad!

[tulagirl]

I think that a lot of it is just people being really busy and not remembering.  So hang in there, before you know it your feedback will build.  When ebay changed the system, buyers kind of lost interest in leaving feedback unless there was a problem.  I have noticed newer buyers or buyers with low feedback leave less feedback than buyers with lots of feedback.  Just something I have observed with my own selling experiences.

[lockette]

I know I totally forget a lot of the time, then I do feedback in a batch all in one go. I think I'm used to buying from companies online and stuff, where you don't really need to leave feedback, so I've gotten out of the habit of doing it right away.

[Teddy]

I think this is why alot of sellers do not leave feedback for buyers until the buyer leaves feedback for them (when the item has arrived). I think alot of buyers just simply forget to do it, though.

[achab1984]

I have been having this problem also! I have many items that I am still waiting for feedback on also! I don't know how many of them I have send a nice message to asking how they like the item and if they could leave me feedback when they have the time. Most of them never get back to me on it! I wish they were better about this cause I feel that feedback is very important! 

[glitterball]

Let me explain something...

Ebay have recently changed the feedback page.

I buy a lot of things from Ebay and I send feedback on the day I receive my item - sometimes I have multiple fb to leave (e.g. when buying beads or craft supplies)and the old page was straightforward enough.

The new page is clumsy, imo.

Before, you could pop in your comment, select your stars, continue down the page, complete more feedbacks, scroll up to review, then hit the button at the bottom to submit it all off. Job done.

Now - you need to hit 2 buttons - "arrived on time y/n?" and "pos/neutral/neg"  before the star ratings and comment box appears, then there is a separate submit button for that particular fb. Leaving multiple fb is now such a chore, too much clicking about.

For buyers who don't use ebay so much, I think that this new fb page is trying to be easy to use but has over complicated itself in the process! 

[Stormness_1]

^^ this. The new feedback page is a pain in the rear. I also am a fan of batch rating, because I tend to batch buy, and once I have everything together at home ready for purpose, I go and rate the things I bought. Don't get me wrong, I still do it, but it's so tedious!

[Taffeta]

I always leave feedback in batches and ebay's feedback page is always a pain. I like how it used to be, when it would be really quick to leave...but now it isn't.

I am a slow person to leave feedback, but I absolutely hate people sending me messages asking for it. Most people who leave feedback leave generic copy pasted comments anyway, and sellers especially do this on buyer accounts, especially those who are power sellers. So there's no personal touch involved in feedback leaving these days anyway. I used to try and wait till I had time to sit and write every feedback individually to the seller or buyer so they knew I was acknowledging their service, rather than just copy pasting 'great transaction, thanks', but that became really difficult to do, so now the whole system is just depressing.

I admit I don;t really care about feedback on ebay, getting it or leaving it, because the whole site has become impersonal and unfriendly. Even on here, I care more about getting a PM from a member to tell me ponies arrived than I do about them leaving a feedback comment, although those do tend to be more personally tailored and less copy paste.

I don't know if it's a cultural thing or if it's just me, but yeah. People sending requests for feedback...I find that rude :/ What it's essentially saying is, "I don't know what other things you have going on in your life, but leaving me feedback ought to take priority over all of them." It might not be meant that way, but that's how it feels when people send a feedback request. Last summer I had a guy harassing me for feedback at a time when my mum was in hospital, I had a PhD deadline and everything was messed up (it still is) with my disability support. No seller KNOWS the circumstances of their buyers' lives before they send those messages, but it's still a bit off to assume that a buyer is just deliberately ignoring the feedback option, when in fact most people have real life to deal with that comes first.

So yeah, a lot of us get around to it but en masse and quite late, when it's possible to do it in among all the other things going on. I admit that nothing makes me less likely to go leave feedback immediately than a request for feedback.

[NightGliderSA]

I buy ponies on eBay. Most months. And eBay have reminded me to leave feedback in the past, but I am not sure if they are still doing that. I always try to leave feedback, but my problem is that eBay does not allow enough time for international shipments to reach their destinations if they are sent via the postal service and especially at this time of year. I can only submit the feedback once I have received the item/s and it has happened in the past that it is then too late to leave feedback. There is nothing that I as a buyer can do about that and I did try to explain it to the people at the eBay customer 'service' buuuut...

This has become much less of a problem now that I make use of the reshipping service as the shipment time is shortened from a minimum of 2 months to about 2 weeks. Which comfortably leaves me time to submit that feedback. However I did recently purchase some ponies from a seller in Canada which were sent via post and which arrived about 3 months later. I could not submit feedback, no matter what, but I sent a polite message to the seller letting her know I had received them, thanking her, and explaining why I could not leave the feedback I would like to. She did not respond, but I had done everything I could.

[LadyMoondancer]

It's always been a struggle to get people to leave feedback on eBay, but I do feel like it's become even harder recently.  Also, I agree that eBay's new feedback page is annoying.

Don't get discouraged, your feedback will still build over time even if not everyone leaves it.

[DazzleKitty]

I will admit, I am guilty of this because I either forget or get distracted by other things in life. But this thread is a nice reminder to go to eBay and do it. I should really go leave some feedback....