posted on March 15, 2002 09:09:51 PM new
I primarily sell on ebay but do I also buy (too much). I bought a tray from a seller about one month ago. The woman took a few weeks to ship the item,even though I paid via Paypal within 2 days, saying she had a " tragedy in the family" and had been out of town for a week. In the meantime, on my end, I completely lost internet service due to the changeover from the bankrupt EXCITE IP to COMCAST. What a fiascoe!!! Anyway, the tray arrived and it was awful! It had ALOT of damage that was not mentioned or noticeable in the description. I mean, I shop at flea markets all the time, I sell the stuff, I am not a nit-picky person. This piece was junk!
I emailed her as soon as I could ( not having service) , but it was within a week of recieving the item, I explained how my service had been interupted and politely told her I wanted a refund including my shipping costs as I would'nt have bid had the description been forthright. Her response " You had 3 days to return it, your 3 days IS up, you are just out of luck". I was floored! She never mentioned her late shipping, nothing. I have been dealing with ebayers for over 3 years (over 550 feedbacks). Rightly so, I left her a negative feedback, fully expecting her to do the same in retaliation. She showed her true colors and did leave me neg. but it was a total lie! She said I had been a " RUDE" customer, that I had the item for over a month, then asked for a refund and that the item was not damaged!
What is the point of leaving an honest negative feedback for a legitimately negative transaction, when the person can just lie and
make you look bad in retaliation? I have customers that I work hard to keep happy ( and we all know it is hard work sometime). SO in my genuine attempt to warn other buyers about this sellers business practices, I get shafted. What is the point?
posted on March 15, 2002 09:39:01 PM new
Do you use a separate ID for buying? That way the negs won't harm your selling ID.
I do know how you feel though as I had a seller leave me two negs in retaliation after I gave her two for sending me damaged goods. I did try to work it out with her first but she wouldn't refund. She lied and called me ignorant and rude and abusive but she also called her other customers the same thing when they left negatives.
Respond to your feedback with a factual statement. It sucks but that's about all you can do.
posted on March 15, 2002 10:40:57 PM new
Who knows who is telling the truth on these negative feedback situations? I had a buyer neg me saying he didn't receive what he expected, even though there was a pic in the listing, and it is new in polybag.
I just know from experience buyers are more emotional and tend to lie or exaggerate. Buyers have less to lose by overreacting, so I side with sellers when it is hard to tell what's true or not.
Can you post the exact description so we can determine ourselves if seller was misleading? There are many ways to interpret different descriptions. Also, sellers may be selling something for it's content and not for looks.
posted on March 16, 2002 12:12:36 AM new
This is why it is necessary to keep 2 ebay accounts. I honestly don't care if I get negatives on my buying only account, I have a lot of positives, and if I get a negative, it really does not affect the buyer. Of course, if you use one account, then you are affected.
I just assume they are going to lie when the leave feedback...
posted on March 16, 2002 05:42:16 AM new
Buyers don't lie any more than sellers.
Leaving negatives is often necessary. I have had a number of bad buying experiences and I don't hesitate to leave a neg any more often than I would as a seller.
State negatives neutrally. Not as described, paid on date, shipped on date, received on date, poor packaging, EOA on date, FVF credit on date. Subjective terms get people bent out of shape. Stay cool. This is business.
posted on March 16, 2002 07:18:11 AM new
When checking out negative feedbacks, I look to see who left the first negative and see what was stated. Then I look at the second or other persons feedback to see what was left. Ususally you can tell what was truthful and what was a retalitory neg. Retalitory negs by sellers show up much easier than they do by buyers as the buyers usually have a legite complaint assuming that the transaction was made.
Also, if a bidder leaves a retailitory feedback, it is almost always because they did not pay for their item and the feedback left by the seller will show that, but only if the seller leaves feedback FIRST. If a seller does not leave feedback first, then a negative feedback stating that payment did not arrive will not hold water because it is assumed that the buyer received there item in poor condition or was delayed because of bad service.
As a buyer and seller, I look at all of these situations to determine what kind of person I am going to be dealing with and when I am bidding, holds all of the weight.
bp
posted on March 16, 2002 08:15:32 AM new
Thanks all, I did intend to set up a separate account but, why should I?
I am happy to be held accountable for all of my transactions as buyer or seller.
It is about the integrity of the transaction.
I guess some sellers do try to pass damaged goods off, especially after they realize that there are many buyers who won't leave a neg. for fear of retaliation.
I would do it again. I just wish there was a better feedback system.
posted on March 16, 2002 09:58:59 AM new
I don't rely on theories to determine who is telling the truth, I rely on past experience. Some buyers act emotionally; without much thought to their actions; are more demanding; more rude, and want to save the world because the seller didn't get the item to them within 14 days. Buyers have less credibitlity because they are less subjective.
Sellers tend to act more professional; they likely want repeat business or want good feedback to protect their reputation; they have more motive to act subjectively to make a customer happy, and aren't out to save the world, only out to make a buck.
"Retalitory" feedback by a seller usualy means the buyer was uncooperative, rude, or made up terms as they went along, or the buyer's opinion was far from the norm.
[ edited by quickdraw29 on Mar 16, 2002 10:05 AM ]
posted on March 16, 2002 10:36:13 AM new
Telling the truth is more important than what results from it. Integrity counts so much more than your feedback number.
I never bothered getting a separate account. This way sellers and buyers know that I know what I am doing and don't play favorites.
There's a utopian seller bias on AW which makes some of the opinions here laughable. The majority of sellers on eBay I've dealt with are definitely amateurs regardless of their status or volume. I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I ran my business the way many of them did.
posted on March 17, 2002 10:48:23 AM new
As others have suggested, it is a good idea to see who posted first, and to see what tone that post took. If it is factual, and the response is emotional, there's a clue.
Some people over-react, or react to their own mistakes by wanting to hurt the person who criticized them. So it is always wise to stick to the facts.
Any seller who says a buyer was "rude" or "demanding" falls into the questionable area for me in any case. Buyers can be difficult, it comes with the territory. The way it is used is as if it excuses not refunding or making good on an auction.
I am a very forgiving seller, but a very demanding buyer. It all depends on which way the money is flowing.
posted on March 17, 2002 11:11:07 AM new
"Any seller who says a buyer was "rude" or "demanding" falls into the questionable area for me in any case. Buyers can be difficult, it comes with the territory. The way it is used is as if it excuses not refunding or making good on an auction."
We should allow murderers in our society because it comes with the territory of freedom! We should allow terrorists bomb our cities because they are free to be angry!
I disagree. Our society should not tolerate rudeness, and certainly should not tolerate uneducated people to make their demands forcing others to carry that cost.
I believe you say we should tolerate that is because you are greedy, just like a cop who accepts a bribe to look the other way.
A buyer who is rude by saying I should have emailed him over a holiday is not tolerarble. A buyer who is demanding because I don't respond to his thirty emails over the weekend is not tolerable. A buyer who does not receieve their item in five days is not tolerable. Why make excuses for their behavior? Do I need their money? No, I will void their sale whether their money has been sent or not. If I already sent their item they may receive a negative.
By tolerating rudeness and demanding buyers only
promotes that behavior.
If you walk into a store and buy something, you agree to what you're buying, you accept their return policy. If the cs person won't take your item back you deal with it like an adult, not scream and throw a tantrum. I have seen store who throw rude buyers out, no store in their right puts up with that.
[ edited by quickdraw29 on Mar 17, 2002 11:16 AM ]
posted on March 17, 2002 07:41:50 PM new
Sounds like the consensus is: buyers bad, sellers good.
But, as for feedback, I think the best way to tell is to look at the feedback left for others. If the feedback they left uses ALL CAPS, exclamation! points!! and loaded words (rude, obnoxious, fraud), then I'd stay away, as they clearly want to avoid stating the facts. I think all eBayers can recognize when there a few wacko feedbacks left.
What I wish eBay would do is to let people to see all the neutral/ negative feedback w/o the positives, as most +'s read about the same.
posted on March 18, 2002 12:20:33 AM new
I don't have two IDs but here are a couple reasons why some may choose to
1) Protecting a seller account from retalitory
negs. If you (as a buyer) neg a seller, their retalitory neg can't hurt your seller ID
2) If you buy and sell a certain type of item,
it is possible that you could be bidding against current or potential customers.
Why give them a chance to become angry at you?
3) If you have expertise in a certain area (like OOP rare books) some people may look at what you are buying (possibly for resale) because they think it must be a hot or valuable item....This may lead to a bidding war.
posted on March 18, 2002 03:34:01 AM new
My family knows my main ebay ID, so I got a second buyer's account in order to buy gifts on ebay without having them find out.
Now I'm glad that I got the second account since more and more sellers are withholding feedback until after the buyer leaves it. This way if I'm genuinely not satisfied with the transaction, I can leave a neg or neutral without really caring if the seller retaliates since it won't affect my selling profile.
