Am I the only one?

[susandennis]

I do not buy a lot from eBay but every once in a while I do. I appreciate an email from the seller saying they got my payment and telling me when the goods will be shipped.

But, why oh why, do they have to ask me for my positive feedback and promise to give me the same????? It's really tacky. I understand the system and will do the feedback thing if it is appropriate. A specific request with a bribe is not appropriate. And, pretty much guarantees they will get no feedback. They got my money. Anything else should be gravy and gravy at my discretion.

GRRRRR

Comments

[qnetter]

The culture seems to be that feedback is expected to be given on every transaction. So... I do.

[susandennis]

And that's exactly why I find it so offensive to be told to do what is expected.

My new rule is that I only do when I am not instructed to.

[davmoo.livejournal.com]

The problem is that while you know its the expected thing to do, a great majority of buyers on eBay either do not, or do not care. They want good feedback for the sale from the seller, but they don't bother to do the same for that seller. And what's the main thing that people look at when they go to buy from someone? That's right, feedback. Higher feedback = more sales.

While I don't go the "please leave me feedback" route, because I agree its tacky to ask for it, on my sales I have gone the unspoken "I don't leave for you until you leave for me" route on sales.

When I'm the buyer, I'll leave feedback as soon as I receive the item(s) and see that everything is okay.

The other thing that pisses me off is the ones who snipe an auction in the last 30 seconds, but then it takes them 5 days to pay me. I also just had one where I waited 30 days for payment, the winner still hadn't paid and I put the item back up (where it sold within 20 minutes with 'buy it now' and was paid for immediately afterwards), and then the next day the original buyer emailed asking for more time. Fuck that.

[susandennis]

Interesting perspective. I haven't sold anything on eBay in years. Since I know when the auction ends, I am there and pay within 5 minutes - via PayPal. I've had way more problems with sellers.

Last month, on the same day, I bought an egg cup from England and an egg cup from Canada. The one from England was here in 4 days. The one from Canada finally got here in 29 days and my email inquiries to the seller netted me some of the snottiest notes I've read in a long time.

It's just nature of the beast, I guess.

[davmoo.livejournal.com]

The biggest problem I've ever had with an auction is I sold a stack of Maxim Magazines (think "a magazine pointed at men with photos of lots of scantily clad women") to a dude in Canada. When it got to customs, you would have though I was sending him a box of nuclear waste. Canada apparently has a problem with their citizens buying foreign media.

[katbyte.livejournal.com]

I am a sniper, guilty, guilty, but I pay with pay pal the minute I get the email

I have all positive feed back over a couple of years, and one neg still on there from a nutcase back in the late ninetys.

esnipe is my friend.

[davmoo.livejournal.com]

Oh, don't think I'm condemming snipers in general. I assure you, I can snipe with the best of 'em. I bought the car I drive now on eBay by snipping in the last 22 *seconds* of the auction. But as soon as the auction ended, I was on the phone to the dealership to give them the credit card info for the deposit.

I've never used any of the available snipe applications though. I prefer to snipe in person...something about the "thrill of the hunt" and all that :-)

[katbyte.livejournal.com]

I agree about sniping in person, but I always seemed to forget and this little gem costs pennies to use. I have used it for 4 or 5 years and it is much faster than I am.

[keelamonster.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't do much on eBay, and I can count on one hand--make that 3 fingers-- the number of items I've bought there. And the problem I ran into, sadly, was that I found something I wanted and it had already been taken down from a sale because it didn't sell. So I tried to contact the seller to see if they had it still and wanted to sell it to me directly. But because I use paypal and don't have any actual credit cards registered with eBay (even though they OWN paypal), and I had no ratings, I couldn't contact the seller myself.

So there was no way I was going to register a credit card to find out about buying a $3 record. It just sucked.
So I respect your annoyance.

On the same note, though I'm much more likely to bid in an auctio for someone who has a great rating rather than someone who has none or a low rating. Nature of the beast, of course. So if someone is trying to make their living running an eBay store (foolish, I think, but there you go) and they're just starting out, of course they want a good rating.

Not that begging for it is a good way to get it: being a good seller and sending it quickly and perhaps just saying "if you had a good or bad experience with us, please let us know in your feedback! Thanks for your business." Rather than begging for it. You know?

And also, instead of leaving none, leave mediocre feedback and tell them "hey don't beg me for the feedback, I'll give it if I feel inclined."

Of course, this is from someone who deeply resents automatically added gratuity and has walked out of restaurants leaving notes on tables for bad service as her tip. So, you know, this is an issue to I have opinions about.

[susandennis]

Ok, 2 things...

1. "if you had a good or bad experience with us, please let us know in your feedback! Thanks for your business." BRILLIANT!! Perfect. A+++ :)

2. I am so there on your tipping policy!! I will leave a minimum tip for mediocre service but I will NOT tip bad service. I don't care how many poor waiter and waitress stories I am told.

[machupicchu.livejournal.com]

.
.
I will leave a minimum tip for mediocre service but I will NOT tip bad service. I don't care how many poor waiter and waitress stories I am told.

Although it's very rare that I don't tip at all, I am totally with you on this one -- particularly the part about poor waitperson stories. I have friends who like to say "I always tip because I was once a waiter and I know how hard it is." Yeah, well, it seems to me there is a reason you're not a waiter anymore, right? If you don't like the nature of the work you're in, stop bitching and find another job!

Rewarding bad service makes no sense whatsoever, and that's the bottom line.
.
.

[davmoo.livejournal.com]

Feedback is not the first place to post about a bad experience. If you were not satisfied, the first thing to do is to contact the seller and give them the opportunity to "make it right". Only if they refuse to do so should feedback be used like that (in which case they deserve a negative comment).

The reason I say that is this. Once feedback is entered, it can't be removed except under very specific circumstances. Sometimes "stuff happens", and in my own sales for example, if something happened that you're not happy with, I'd like the opportunity to fix it before you give me a permanent black eye. I try to do what ever it takes to make a buyer happy (although I've never had a problem with a buyer), although I will admit that I know there are a lot of sellers who truly don't give a damn.

[susandennis]

No, no. I get it. I actually do not leave negative feedback. I just note to never deal with the seller again and move on. I don't buy that much so it's not an issue. I actually only had one bad experience and the bitch deserved negative feedback (from the snotty emails she sent me alone) but I took the high road.

extortionate feedback

[henare.livejournal.com]

as a seller i leave feedback when i receive good funds for the purchase. as a buyer i leave feedback when i receive the merchandise. unless they tell me i need to leave feedback. i don't *need* to do anything other than pay and deliver.

people who withhold their feedback until you provide yours are the lowest scum of the earth.