eBay Feedback - The good, the bad and the ugly

For me personally, I don't get eBay feedback as an entire package. I obviously think there needs to be something but there is so much I just don't understand about the current system.

Do you remember back in the day when it was the unspoken rule that sellers don't leave feedback until it's left for them and they would use that as a tool to try and avoid being given anything but positive?! So then eBay doesn't allow sellers to give anything but positive or neutral because if it's negative, they can just keep the product, right?

Well then I find that sellers are still up to their old tricks, which in the end just hurts the buyers from accumulating a feedback score. That pisses me off. Here is my solution...

There should just be a transaction score, the more you do, the higher your score gets. Meaning, as a buyer, I shouldn't have to wait for a seller to leave me feedback, I should just get a transaction +1 every time I do a deal... no? I probably have 100 deals I've done on eBay where I've left positive feedback first and then the F'ing seller never leaves me feedback... BS IMO.

And I guess to end it, having 100% use to be such a huge thing... is it anymore? I mean does anyone even care anymore? I have 100% but I guess I don't think of it as such a big deal anymore as I use too when selling.

Anyways, anyone else have feelings one way or another about eBay feedback? I mean does anyone REALLY look at a sellers feedback before buying and has decided against buying a card they wanted off a buyer because they didn't like some of the comments people had left him!? I doubt it...

I know some sellers do it a different way, but I leave Feedback for buyers as soon as they pay. This leaves me in the opposite quandary where many buyers don't leave feedback. As for your question on whether non-100% feedback deters selling/buying, I definitely take a closer look at feedback when it is not 100%, but unless there is some glaring issue I end up bidding.

Lowry said:

I know some sellers do it a different way, but I leave Feedback for buyers as soon as they pay. This leaves me in the opposite quandary where many buyers don't leave feedback.

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This goes back to my point of there should be a transaction score to just show # of transactions complete because that would solve both our problems really. It would give both buyers and sellers the ability get credit for deals when the other party is lazy or doesn't care.

I don't understand why a seller would ever want to give a buyer feedback BEFORE receiving feedback. I either wait to be given feedback first or wait 14 days after a buyer has, according to USPS tracking, received the package. Anything else is welcoming regret.

As a buyer I always leave feedback as long as everything was received in good order.

As a seller I leave feedback once tracking shows the item delivered and as long as I don't get contacted with an issue (since a buyer could try to get up to something fishy).

Juan Gris said:

I don't understand why a seller would ever want to give a buyer feedback BEFORE receiving feedback. I either wait to be given feedback first or wait 14 days after a buyer has, according to USPS tracking, received the package. Anything else is welcoming regret.

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As the seller, you can't leave negative, so if the buyer wins your auction, pays right away and you ship to him, what more is there for the buyer to do to warrant anything but feedback at that point?! I mean the buyer has done everything he can and if you've sent him the item, must of been good and therefore should be positive feedback. What would you regret? You leave positive because it was positive but something on your end of the equation goes wrong and you get a negative and therefore would regret actually giving a positive when a positive is due?

Not trying to get into a pissing match with you but what exactly would you regret? Or are you saying that in the event he thinks you didn't hold up your end of the bargain, then that would not be a positive experience with him, so he shouldn't get a positive for that?

jaydub said:

As a buyer I always leave feedback as long as everything was received in good order.

As a seller I leave feedback once tracking shows the item delivered and as long as I don't get contacted with an issue (since a buyer could try to get up to something fishy).

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See that's my point.... if the bolded is how sellers feel, then they should stop with the feedback from the sellers and just have a transaction count. IMO it's stupid for a buyer to do everything he can right (buy, pay right away, wait for item) and still either (1) not get feedback at all or (2) not get positive feedback

MansGame said:

See that's my point.... if the bolded is how sellers feel, then they should stop with the feedback from the sellers and just have a transaction count. IMO it's stupid for a buyer to do everything he can right (buy, pay right away, wait for item) and still either (1) not get feedback at all or (2) not get positive feedback

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So let's say you leave positive feedback on buyer after payment but before buyer gets item. Let's say buyer gets item (per tracking) but comes back saying something patently false such as "received base card but auction item was gold ref" or something similar and opens a case - but you know you sent the right one. Why as a seller would you want to leave feedback before knowing for sure that the buyer deserves the positive feedback?

The vast majority of buyers and sellers are honest folk but one doesn't have to wait too long on this board or BO to read horror stories of bad buyers to give one pause.

jaydub said:

So let's say you leave positive feedback on buyer after payment but before buyer gets item. Let's say buyer gets item (per tracking) but comes back saying something patently false such as "received base card but auction item was gold ref" or something similar and opens a case - but you know you sent the right one. Why as a seller would you want to leave feedback before knowing for sure that the buyer deserves the positive feedback?

The vast majority of buyers and sellers are honest folk but one doesn't have to wait too long on this board or BO to read horror stories of bad buyers to give one pause.

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Fair enough. I don't think everyone thinks the way that you do but it's interesting. Can't really argue against that. Just wish there was a way for both the buyer and the seller to get feedback or credit for the transaction outside of any issues or problems like that arising.

At least on eBay, you can count on getting feedback 75 to 80 percent of the time.

On forums, like this place and Blowout. If you even get feedback 50 percent of the time you're doing well. This even if you do leave the other person feedback every time.

shayscards79 said:

At least on eBay, you can count on getting feedback 75 to 80 percent of the time.

On forums, like this place and Blowout. If you even get feedback 50 percent of the time you're doing well. This even if you do leave the other person feedback every time.

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True.

I think I remember something within the last 4 or 6 months that ebay has a reminder program in place to remind people to leave feedback? I vaguely remember seeing that somewhere. Does it exsist, and if so, does it work?

I used to write a small note in everything I sent out saying I will promptly leave feedback once it was left for me. Seemed like it maybe helped a little.

To your original point, buyers don't really need feedback, unless it is feeding their ego or they buy and sell with the same account. There are some sellers who will avoid zero and low feedback buyers, but it won't take long to collect a couple dozen feedback and get yourself off those no bid lists.

I had always maintained a policy that I would leave sellers appropriate feedback after they had left me feedback (unless it was a poor transaction, then they got the negative feedback regardless of whether or not they left me feedback first). In my book, as a buyer, I am done with my end of the transaction after I pay. That is when a seller should leave me feedback. I realize that this doesn't allow for possible returns, etc, but that is rare. I have always had good success that way, although the percentage of sellers withholding feedback seems to grow over time.

As a seller, although infrequent, I would follow suit and leave my buyers feedback once they paid.

In recent times, say maybe the last year or so, I have found that I buy a lot of low priced items from multiple sellers, but often many from the same sellers. Feedback became incredibly slow to leave at some point and ebay doesn't seem to care to fix it. In all honestly, I stopped leaving any feedback at all for sellers now. Most deserve positive feedback and I feel a little bad just ignoring it, but I just don't feel like it is worth the time to leave it. I will still leave negative comments when I have to, but that is rare as well. I would like to leave feedback for buyers, but ebay needs to fix it so that it doesn't take me forever to do it. I'm pretty sure they have a bulk FB option for sellers, as i have paid for lots of 60-100 cards and it seems shortly thereafter I had feedback for all of them and I know the seller didn't do what I have to do to leave feedback, otherwise it would have taken much, much longer.

Just edited to add this, in case anyone wants to cry about "my type" who don't leave feedbag for sellers. This is a recent decision for me and just using my primary account (I have 2 others that I don't use any longer), I have: "26,739 Feedback left" as of today.

I used to go back when I had a free weekend, but found that I had 10, 15 or even 20 pages or more of feedback owed (my fault for batching it, I know) and I could end up spending multiple HOURS leaving feedback. Not worth it, sorry to say. One final thought. At a certain point, feedback just doesn't matter to a seller either, at least in totals. A seller with 1000, 5000, 100,000 or more feedback is all the same to me. It's the negatives that matter to me and with buyers being protected more so, even that doesn't scare me away at times, knowing i can get a refund if something wrong happens.

Consider the source here though for my thoughts on the subject. I have been on ebay since April 1998, primarily as a buyer, and have 1000s of transactions. I consider myself an honest buyer with reasonable expectations and a fair amount of patience. I let a lot slide with regard to poor packaging, slow ship time, etc. Don't get mew wrong, I have left my fair share of negative feedback over time, but every single one was fully deserved.

A seller should always leave positive feedback as soon as payment is received. That is how I do it and have never had any issues. It also helps to increase how often you will get feedback from the buyer.

If you are holding out because of the one exception where a buyer tries to pull a fast one on you, you are doing a disservice to all the good buyers who pay quickly.

I don't look at feedback that was left for me at all. I leave positive at payment when I sell and positive if the item arrived as described when I buy. If the other party is to much of a lazy ass to leave feedback I'm not going to lose sleep over it.

To the question in the OP, yes I look at feedback when I buy. If it is less than 100% I look at feedback history for details before I will bid.

shayscards79 said:

At least on eBay, you can count on getting feedback 75 to 80 percent of the time.

On forums, like this place and Blowout. If you even get feedback 50 percent of the time you're doing well. This even if you do leave the other person feedback every time.

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Feedback need is minimal here on this site. I leave it the first few times for guys I've never dealt with or that don't have much feedback yet. Otherwise, your status here is usually discernible soon enough. Bad transactions here can get you booted so it's not like ebay where a guy can pull the same stunt several times.

On ebay, as long as you have at least a few hundred feedback and a good percentage isn't from the same seller, you're good. Meaning...you probably don't need any more feedback left. I agree that not being able to leave negative feedback as a seller has pretty much killed the ebay feedback system so other than showing you've used ebay before and gotten at least some feedback, there is no point in even having it anymore.

I wouldn't worry about it Mac. You're good here(not that it's ever been called into question), and I'm sure you have a nice chunk of feedback from ebay. Nothing more to prove.

MansGame said:

Not trying to get into a pissing match with you but what exactly would you regret?

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I would regret leaving a positive remark before a transaction became negative in nature. I take pride in the feedback I leave and, if the buyer did something wrong, I could comment as such even if I were forced to leave a positive feedback (I have left constructive comments in the past, nothing nasty). I've never had a buyer request a refund but, as a buyer, I did request a refund a couple of times due to problems on the seller's end. I can't imagine being in their place and wanting to leave a positive feedback before everything was hashed out.

Crewfan82 said:

If you are holding out because of the one exception where a buyer tries to pull a fast one on you, you are doing a disservice to all the good buyers who pay quickly.

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How is waiting to leave feedback a disservice before either 1) the buyer leaves feedback, or 2) the 14-day refund period has expired? The only plus I can see for a seller to leave feedback first is that it might, might remind the buyer to leave feedback. I eventually leave feedback, no matter what happens, so that should still remind the buyer to leave me feedback.

My $.02, feedback on eBay has been and always should be "optional"
As a seller and buyer, I give feedback once a month at most, as I just do want to take the time to analyze each and every transaction.
As a buyer, if I get my item as described, 5 stars across the board. As a seller, if a buyer pays me in a reasonable amount of time, you get positive feedback, not like I can leave anything else. On the other side, if I forget to leave feedback for a buyer or seller, oh well, not the end of the world to me. And if I dont get feedback, oh well again, not the end of the world.
We have all started at ZERO on eBay, but never have I begged and pleaded and emailed anyone Ive done a transaction with on eBay to leave me feedback, its tacky. Just go with the flow, leave or dont leave feedback at your leisure, as its your option too.

Musial Collector said:

My $.02, feedback on eBay has been and always should be "optional"
As a seller and buyer, I give feedback once a month at most, as I just do want to take the time to analyze each and every transaction.
As a buyer, if I get my item as described, 5 stars across the board. As a seller, if a buyer pays me in a reasonable amount of time, you get positive feedback, not like I can leave anything else. On the other side, if I forget to leave feedback for a buyer or seller, oh well, not the end of the world to me. And if I dont get feedback, oh well again, not the end of the world.
We have all started at ZERO on eBay, but never have I begged and pleaded and emailed anyone Ive done a transaction with on eBay to leave me feedback, its tacky. Just go with the flow, leave or dont leave feedback at your leisure, as its your option too.

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I agree with this, eventually your feedback will build up and usually if I don't leave feedback it is for a reason, and most likely that person would be better off with no feedback from me. Other times I'm just busy and eventually feedback gets left.

Juan Gris said:

I would regret leaving a positive remark before a transaction became negative in nature. I take pride in the feedback I leave and, if the buyer did something wrong, I could comment as such even if I were forced to leave a positive feedback (I have left constructive comments in the past, nothing nasty). I've never had a buyer request a refund but, as a buyer, I did request a refund a couple of times due to problems on the seller's end. I can't imagine being in their place and wanting to leave a positive feedback before everything was hashed out.



How is waiting to leave feedback a disservice before either 1) the buyer leaves feedback, or 2) the 14-day refund period has expired? The only plus I can see for a seller to leave feedback first is that it might, might remind the buyer to leave feedback. I eventually leave feedback, no matter what happens, so that should still remind the buyer to leave me feedback.

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Because when a buyer has paid you quickly they have done all they need to do. The whole I won't leave you feedback until you leave it for me first attitude is childish in my opinion, and is what I was referring to as a disservice.

Crewfan82 said:

Because when a buyer has paid you quickly they have done all they need to do. The whole I won't leave you feedback until you leave it for me first attitude is childish in my opinion, and is what I was referring to as a disservice.

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Childish? Waiting for the buyer to leave feedback is not a game, it's good business. If I'm offering a refund to the seller as per my item's description (usually 14 days), the transaction is not complete until either the buyer is satisfied with the shipped item (and leaves feedback) or 14 days have passed since delivery (at which time I will leave feedback no matter what). Couldn't be more simple.