The MLP Arena
TCB => Trader & Shipping Support => Topic started by: millenium0chi on December 11, 2017, 04:25:08 AM
-
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?
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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!
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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!
-
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! :lol:
-
^^ 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!
-
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. ;)
-
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.
-
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. :)
-
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....
-
not only do i forget, but honestly, its just not that important to me (as a buyer). Its not something i think about. When i go buy from the shop downtown, i dont leave a review there either, so it feels really out of my way to have to leave feedback on ebay. I think thats not great, but i just forget and i have too much other stuff in my life to worry about it.
reading this post though, ill try to be more punctual with leaving feedback.
-
I get frustrated by this, its so bad I would say only 1 in 10 buyers leave feedback for me, even on the arena most people don't leave feedback anymore. It's a bit of a shame really. I think this is just the way of the world these days get something your happy with, move on without feedback but I dare say get something your not happy with there would be immediate action
-
I appreciate everyone's comments and again, I'm glad to see it isn't just me.
For those of you who've commented that leaving feedback is not that important to you, I give you some food for thought. The trend of advice around these forums is to beware of sellers (buyers too) with little feedback or no feedback, so if everybody thought like this, we'd be shooting ourselves in the foot. Also, I'm sure you'd be quick (and right) to leave negative feedback for someone if your experience is bad. Why should someone who worked hard to give you a good experience suffer because there's no personal gain for you to recognize that?
Just saying!
-
I appreciate everyone's comments and again, I'm glad to see it isn't just me.
For those of you who've commented that leaving feedback is not that important to you, I give you some food for thought. The trend of advice around these forums is to beware of sellers (buyers too) with little feedback or no feedback, so if everybody thought like this, we'd be shooting ourselves in the foot. Also, I'm sure you'd be quick (and right) to leave negative feedback for someone if your experience is bad. Why should someone who worked hard to give you a good experience suffer because there's no personal gain for you to recognize that?
Just saying!
^^ agreed! That's why I always leave fb as in the long-run it helps everyone in the buying/selling community! :)
-
I know I haven't left feedback for a book I ordered because I'm trying to figure out what to say. Granted, the book only cost me $6.97 and shipping was free, but it came with a Half-Price Books $3 clearance sticker still on it. :lol: I'm thinking something along the lines of maybe a one-star ding on the price and saying everything else was satisfactory, then messaging them along the lines of, "hey, I don't care about the $4 increase - you gotta make a profit, else why run the business - but someone else might raise holy h-e-double-hockey sticks about it, so make sure you take these stickers off in the future." :huh:
Edit to Add: And I understand it's the holiday season, and everyone is busy, but really it takes maybe 5 seconds to leave feedback if everything went smoothly. Less time, actually, if the last comment you left is one that can be used for the next feedback as well. My main issue with that is once I'm done shopping, if I'm away from ebay for awhile, I'll completely forget that feedback is a thing I need to do (especially with being in school), and the next thing I know it's been the 45 days, and I can't do it any more. :( Always makes me feel guity, because I know sellers need that feedback.
Come to think on it, since most of them are for ponies, I have to wonder if some of the sellers are on the Arena, and maybe I could leave feedback for them here, instead? Not sure whether that's allowed, though... :huh:
-
I don't sell on ebay, but on Etsy it's definitely noticeable as well. Sellers in my group estimate 20-25% buyers actually leave feedback. It sucks. Especially for new stores (I just got my 3rd sale, hoping this one finally leaves me feedback).
Come to think on it, since most of them are for ponies, I have to wonder if some of the sellers are on the Arena, and maybe I could leave feedback for them here, instead? Not sure whether that's allowed, though... :huh:
The Arena feedback system is for on-site transactions only.
-
It drives me crazy too- especially after I've sent a nice note asking whether they are happy with their purchase-
I'd say one in four maybe post feedback.
Reasons for not
1) they don't care
2) maybe they are using a proxy buying service
3) it never occurs to them
Oh and did I mention they just don't care?
-
The Arena feedback system is for on-site transactions only.
*nods* That’s what I thought, so thank you for the confirmation :)
If it’s any consolation, I just left feedback for about ten purchases...?
-
This has been happening for quite sometime now, at least a year. I just don't understand why people don't leave feedback :huh:
Love pkw xxx
-
I appreciate everyone's comments and again, I'm glad to see it isn't just me.
For those of you who've commented that leaving feedback is not that important to you, I give you some food for thought. The trend of advice around these forums is to beware of sellers (buyers too) with little feedback or no feedback, so if everybody thought like this, we'd be shooting ourselves in the foot. Also, I'm sure you'd be quick (and right) to leave negative feedback for someone if your experience is bad. Why should someone who worked hard to give you a good experience suffer because there's no personal gain for you to recognize that?
Just saying!
I always make a special effort when it's a new member, to make sure that they are off the mark. I think that's important. I find it less easy to sympathise with people on ebay whose feedback is in the thousands.
My own ebay feedback is 900ish. That's since 1998 but Ebay will only now be able to tell you that I have positive feedback at 100% since the last year. So anyone who has 100% feedback on ebay really only has it in their most recent transactions. If they sell a lot, it means serious digging through old feedback now as those negatives no longer show up. The more positives a power seller has, the easier it is to hide those negatives. Not that I think all or even most power sellers are bad in any way. My point is that Ebay's feedback is transient and not very meaningful. Sellers cannot leave honest feedback about bad buyers. Buyers feedback about sellers can be removed or disappears from the statistical overview in 12 months.
When I joined ebay in 1998, every feedback I had mattered because a negative you got in 1998 would still show up as a negative on your account status in 2003. It didn't just get wiped and disappear. I used to be proud of my 100%. Now it's basically irrelevant :/
When the system changed was honestly the time I stopped really taking the whole ebay thing seriously. I am sorry to sellers who are frustrated by that, but I find it hard to find meaning in something that's wiped clean every 12 months and is biased towards quantity of sales, rather than quality of service.
...But I still do leave feedback. I just don't rush to do it the moment I receive my item. I do it en masse when I have a moment to sit and do all of my transactions.
With the Arena, I do leave feedback as it actually matters. Although I admit I don't always remember, and other people don't always remember to leave it for me, and that's fine too. But I will always leave feedback for a newer member who has not much transaction history here.
The thing is, though, even Arena feedback is probably as transitory as the site. In the old days we had the Good Trader List and people reported good transactions to it and people would ask other members for contacts who could give them references that they were trustworthy. I was very lucky that one of my first trading partners was one of the most well trusted traders in the community at the time, and she vouched for me so I could get going. But it got to a point where people would say, "nah, I don't need references from you, I know you're fine." And that worried me a little. It's why I don't believe in a Good Trader List now and why I think feedback is ok but not the really important thing in a transaction. I mean, I am always going to send the ponies I am selling or trading so I know I won't scam another person. But another person shouldn't assume just because other people say so that I am going to be the best seller or whatever in the world.
So feedback is great. But ultimately, you have to remember that a lot of good traders in the past did go bad. And some traders who got off to a bad start reformed. And some were just intermittent and unreliable, and you don't know if they are good or not until you take the risk.
My chief piece of evidence when people talk about feedback is this.
I have only ever been scammed twice in 20 years so far (I have had some idiots on ebay, but in trading in the community). Neither person is here now so I need not name them. One of them has all positives on here, and on ebay. She not only scammed me but her behaviour was extremely threatening. When I tried to report her to the community, nobody believed me, because she had good feedback. I have never forgotten what she was allowed to get away with because she had that reputation and nobody thought she could be crossed. That included her. I was not the only person she scammed. Just people were far too intimidated to talk out about it because of the way she behaved.
Sellers shouldn't want feedback stats. They should want people to talk to each other about the customer service, the communication, the willingness to fix something if it goes wrong. Feedback is impersonal. Communication is more important, and so is protecting yourself. Feedback is only a part of that process. I feel when I am a seller that my reward is partly the money made on the transaction, and partly the PM telling me that my item arrived safely and the buyer is happy. If the buyer never contacts me, I assume it's all okay. I don't mind if they don't leave feedback specifically. I just hope they will contact me if there is an issue to be resolved.
So yes, feedback is important. But no, it's not the be all and end all.
-
I always leave feedback, with the exception of a few instances where I was left unsure of what sort of feedback to leave (i.e. a seller who didn't ship an item until I opened a case against him more than a week after I paid, a seller who sent an item to a hacker 2 days after I had the transaction flagged as a fraudulent purchase by PayPal, etc...)
-
I leave feedback, but like to do it in one go as it's more convenient for me that way. I always try to mark the stars too for performance on ebay to help with seller ratings.
-
It is this way in the world.... I work customer service we send a survey after EVERY call. The average return rate is about 8%. This stinks because my ratings are determined by only 8% of my contacts.
I am guilty of it, I do it in batches (when I think about it) If I had to guesstimate it would be about 70%.
Right now sales may mostly be for Christmas, so when you buy something for someone else you may not even open the package until the recipient see it.
-
In my recent experience ebay actually made it impossible for me to leave feedback. By the time my most recent package had arrived the window I was allowed to leave feedback during had already closed. Which was annoying because there was an issue that caused a postage delay that, if it had turned out poorly, I most certainly would have wanted to leave feedback about.
-
I appreciate everyone's comments and again, I'm glad to see it isn't just me.
For those of you who've commented that leaving feedback is not that important to you, I give you some food for thought. The trend of advice around these forums is to beware of sellers (buyers too) with little feedback or no feedback, so if everybody thought like this, we'd be shooting ourselves in the foot. Also, I'm sure you'd be quick (and right) to leave negative feedback for someone if your experience is bad. Why should someone who worked hard to give you a good experience suffer because there's no personal gain for you to recognize that?
Just saying!
So yes, feedback is important. But no, it's not the be all and end all.
Well I seem to remember a bit of that trouble-
Here's the thing though- feedback may not be important - but on ebay, it IS important because
1) if you have a certain number of positive feedbacks, they give you a break on the final value fee.
2) your feedback profile (with the stars for communication etc.) don't even show up until you hit a certain amount of feedbacks per year-
So THAT is why I at least am disappointed when people won't leave feedack. I know it's useless practically speaking, but I want my fee break from ebay. And I don't want my feedback profile to disappear- because it makes me look like a sketchy new seller. It's as simple as that for me.
-
I'm a buyer and I make a point of leaving feedback, especially when someone has put a lot of effort into packaging something well/nicely, and/or been a pleasure to communicate with (the latter is quite rare so I really like to give them a high star rating!).
My experience as a buyer is that *sellers* often don't leave feedback, even though I always pay immediately and am very communicative. I think it's six of one and half a dozen of the other, with neither buyers nor sellers in particular not leaving feedback.
I think it depends on the type of person you are. You only have to log in to Ebay and look at the summary to see which items you still need to leave feedback for, so even for the most disorganised person, Ebay takes the hard work out of it.
-
I appreciate everyone's comments and again, I'm glad to see it isn't just me.
For those of you who've commented that leaving feedback is not that important to you, I give you some food for thought. The trend of advice around these forums is to beware of sellers (buyers too) with little feedback or no feedback, so if everybody thought like this, we'd be shooting ourselves in the foot. Also, I'm sure you'd be quick (and right) to leave negative feedback for someone if your experience is bad. Why should someone who worked hard to give you a good experience suffer because there's no personal gain for you to recognize that?
Just saying!
So yes, feedback is important. But no, it's not the be all and end all.
Well I seem to remember a bit of that trouble-
Here's the thing though- feedback may not be important - but on ebay, it IS important because
1) if you have a certain number of positive feedbacks, they give you a break on the final value fee.
2) your feedback profile (with the stars for communication etc.) don't even show up until you hit a certain amount of feedbacks per year-
So THAT is why I at least am disappointed when people won't leave feedack. I know it's useless practically speaking, but I want my fee break from ebay. And I don't want my feedback profile to disappear- because it makes me look like a sketchy new seller. It's as simple as that for me.
That only works on quantity of auctions, because as you indicated, the % flatlines if you take a break in selling.
When Ebay took away the idea that having positive feedback overall forever was less important than doing a lot of positive transactions in a 12 month period, I lost interest in feedback as a valid system of reputation building. Ebay fee rewards come for people who sell a lot, thus pay a lot of fees, thus feed into Ebay's system. It has nothing to do with actual customer service and prejudices private sellers who sell small amounts intermittently, even if they are honest, friendly and helpful.
I am not interested in a feedback system with multiple tiers and benefits for individuals based on quantity of sales. Someone has to pay for the deficit when people receive a fee break. Given the current cost of listing and selling on ebay for me if I and when I sell (given that I'm mostly at uni and can't), I suspect it's people like me.
The bottom line is that feedback is not about giving higher quantity sellers a fee break. It's about reporting on a transaction. And since ebay devalued their feedback by removing the % from being all feedback ever and stopped sellers being able to leave honest feedback on bad buyers, the whole concept became a waste of time.
I also feel the wiping slate after 12 months prejudices against sellers like me. And maybe it affects my sales and maybe it doesn't. But I don't think buyers leaving feedback or otherwise is the issue. It's the fact ebay's feedback system is broken.
-
I wish ebay would stop trying to be a crappier version of amazon. The changes to the feedback system over the last several years are all due to this "we're an online store without any of responsibilities or overhead" garbage. They're not an online store, they're an online garage sale. You go to ebay to buy the things you can't get on amazon(or anywhere else). If it's available on amazon, you get it on amazon and take advantage of the less hassle/better return and refund policies. Ebay really needs to get back to what they are good at and stop trying to be what they're not. Ebay used to be a community, and every time a small seller leaves due to all the policy changes that punish them for not being a massive powerseller, ebay gets just that much worse. All the changes have watered down feedback on both sides, but especially for buyer's feedback. There are bad buyers, and they really should have some consequences when they behave badly.
I do try to remember to leave feedback for sellers, and when I do, it's not copy and pasted. I do have some go-to phrases that I use a lot, but I do try to make it applicable to each individual transaction. For the best sellers, I really try to give particularly excellent feedback. I know how ebay punishes sellers with the entire feedback system, so I do make an effort for any seller that's made an effort for me.
I miss the old feedback system. It was actually useful. Now it's empty. Being called a "good buyer" used to actually mean something. Still, if leaving a few "good seller! A++" feedbacks makes life easier for some of the smaller sellers, I'll play that game.
-
Lately Ebay asked me to 'review' two items I bought. Bear in mind these were second hand items, and this wasn't a request for feedback, as I am up to date with that. THis was a 'review' request. You're absolutely on the nail when you talk about it trying to ape amazon, goddessofpeep. Ebay isn't what it used to be, and I think for me I've started to treat it the way it seems to want to be treated.
In any case, instead of complaining at people for not leaving feedback, complaints should be made to ebay for not making their feedback system worth anything. Interestingly that never happens.