Question on Ebay Etiquette
Robgetty
Posts: 1,112
I recently purchased a proof set from a dealer on Ebay. I received the coins promptly,
and had no problems with the quality of the coins. I waited a week without seeing
any feedback from the seller. I sent an email asking for feedback to be posted, and
got no response. I sent another email asking for feedback, and was told that if I left
feedback, he would respond.
At this point I sent another email stating that once I pay, the seller has no more interaction
with me, and should post feedback. When I sell, as soon as I get paid, I post. When I buy,
I post after I have received the coin, provided that the seller has posted.
I know what his concern is; he doesn't want to get negative feedback without a chance to
retaliate at the buyer with negative feedback of his own. My issue is that when I have posted
first, I have often had the seller not bother to post feedback. SOMEONE has to post first; I see
no logical reason why it should not be the seller considering he/she has no further interaction
with the sale after the money is received.
I sent a final email saying that I was still prepared to post positive feedback if he posted feedback
of his own; however, if he did not I intended to post neutral feedback saying that "the coins were
great, shipping was fast, but seller refused to post feedback". Am I being reasonable here?
and had no problems with the quality of the coins. I waited a week without seeing
any feedback from the seller. I sent an email asking for feedback to be posted, and
got no response. I sent another email asking for feedback, and was told that if I left
feedback, he would respond.
At this point I sent another email stating that once I pay, the seller has no more interaction
with me, and should post feedback. When I sell, as soon as I get paid, I post. When I buy,
I post after I have received the coin, provided that the seller has posted.
I know what his concern is; he doesn't want to get negative feedback without a chance to
retaliate at the buyer with negative feedback of his own. My issue is that when I have posted
first, I have often had the seller not bother to post feedback. SOMEONE has to post first; I see
no logical reason why it should not be the seller considering he/she has no further interaction
with the sale after the money is received.
I sent a final email saying that I was still prepared to post positive feedback if he posted feedback
of his own; however, if he did not I intended to post neutral feedback saying that "the coins were
great, shipping was fast, but seller refused to post feedback". Am I being reasonable here?
Robert Getty - Lifetime project to complete the finest collection of 1872 dated coins.
0
Comments
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
You got your coins and were happy with them; you should leave a positive feedback or none at all.
It’s become very common for buyers to use feedback as leverage to change the terms of an auction so buyers are becoming very cautious about leaving it first. It may not seem right but the seller is trying to protect himself. I’m a seller and I never leave feedback first. Most veteran sellers will tell you that they do the same.
To answer your question “Am I being reasonable here”
I have to say no.
Just my opinion.
Novice collector, occasionally selling some coins on eBay. Click HERE to see all my auctions.
peacockcoins
If you choose NOT to leave feedback for him, should he leave a negative for you regarding your neglect?
No??
Then if you want feedback from this guy, you should just leave positive feedback stating that you were satisfied with the items and the transaction went off without problems.
Leaving a neutral for not posting first is PETTY! He might block you from future bids as a troublemaker (not a good thing if you were satified with his coins and might want to do business with him again).....AND......he might let friends of his on an internet Message Board know about you so they don't have the same problems! LOL!
I buy and sell on eBay and leave feedback in bulk once every month or two. If a seller contacts me looking to build his/her reputation quickly and asks for me to leave some, I'll leave an odd one or two here and there. But overall, it may be on the date of payment receipt, or it might be 2 months later.
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ebay auctions for ronsrarecoin-com
I buy and sell on Ebay, and as a buyer, leave feedback, usually within a week of receiving the item. I don't EXPECT return feedback from the seller, but it is a nice gesture.
As a seller, I do feedback in a couple of different ways. I respond to feedback left for me from buyers USUALLY very quickly. If I get someone who HAS to have feedback left quickly, I'll usually instruct them to let me know once they receive the item(s) and if they were in good order, and then I'll get feedback done AT MY NEXT CONVENIENCE, which is usually within a week. For the ones that I never hear back from (these are usually the buyers who I never hear from period. They just send payment, with no email confirmation etc.. which is ok!) I'll go through that type of feedback once a month or so.
Feedback is optional, and it is not the end of the world. If I was the seller and received the multiple requests for positive feedback, I may be hesitant, thinking I might have some psychotic Ebayer that I'm dealing with.
I've dealt with plenty of psycho's on Ebay to stick to leaving feedback AFTER I receive feedback, or an email, from the buyer.
LSCC#1864
Ebay Stuff
Baley said it best for me.
Do not let someone else's actions steer you from doing what you think is right. I leave feedback when I receive payment and I leave feedback when I receive the coin and I don't stress out over whether or not the other party has or hasn't left feedback.
I always feel good because I know I did the right thing (for me).
Joe.
<< <i>Feedback is optional and should reflect the transaction as a whole. >>
great point. we leave feedback for every successful transaction as a seller. we receive feedback on only about 25% to 40% of our sales. when we post feedback relative to the buyer posting is not an issue to us.
<< <i>It’s become very common for buyers to use feedback as leverage to change the terms of an auction so buyers are becoming very cautious about leaving it first. >>
another excellent point. we are currently being held as a feedback hostage from someone with 'buyers remorse' on an auction that did not include a return privilege. as an aside, the buyer got a very good deal but was looking for a 'rip' and now wants to return the item.
our policy, as sellers, is to leave feedback and close out the auction when the item is shipped for non-returnables. for lots with a return privilege, we post feedback and close out the auction about 2 weeks after shipment.
K S
I saw a seller once had a neutral saying "Seller didn't leave feedback"
When you linked over to the Buyer's feedback, he had a complaint that said "You got your feedback now, hope you are happy"
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since 8/1/6
Ebay etiquette is an oxymoron!
I read your last paragraph as ransom.
Move on.
Got quoins?
Besides looking at someone's received feedback comments, I now also check out comments they have left for others. If I'm thinking about bidding on something, I want to make sure that the seller doesn't make a habit of going around leaving nasty, unwarranted neutral or negative feedbacks. If I see that they do, I pass on their item.
Jade Rare Coin eBay Listings
<< <i>SOMEONE has to post first; I see no logical reason why it should not be the seller considering he/she has no further interaction
with the sale after the money is received. >>
Unless the coins are returned, or a chargeback is made, or the buyer opted for no insurance and is now making a fuss over a non delivered package etc. so there can be further interaction.
SOMEONE has to post first; I see no LOGICAL reason why it should not be the BUYER if they have gotten the coins quickly and they are happy with them. What are they worried about? getting a negative for leaving posiive feedback? Realisticly the worst that will happen is you get no feedback from the seller. Big deal.
Also since feedack is optional, to leave neutral or negative feedback because he didn't leave you positive feedback first is petty.
You sent him 3 emails begging feedback but never sent him a message letting him know you received your item & was happy about it. What were you buying? Coins or feedback?
Yes, you are being unreasonable.
Don’t get me wrong, there are bad sellers that deserve negative feedback but most good sellers are starting to realize it’s not best to leave it first.
The last auctions I ran I had two buyers who paid and I then sent their shipments promptly. Both buyers were on the East coast and I’m on the West coast. One of them I shipped on Tuesday and sent them an email verifying that I shipped. On Friday this buyer was already bugging me that they hadn’t received their shipment. I politely explained about the shipping distance and come Monday I get another email asking about the package. They ended up getting it the next day. Buyers think that you have control over how fast it can get to them and you don’t unless you ship express. They don’t want to pay for that. Needless to say, neither buyer left me feedback and had I left it first I am pretty confident I would have had a neutral at the very least. All my other buyers left positive feedback (first) and I left feedback in return.
BTW, take a look at the feedback policy for the current power seller of the month on eBay.
Click You have to scroll way down to the bottom.
Novice collector, occasionally selling some coins on eBay. Click HERE to see all my auctions.
--csw
Tiger trout, Deerfield River, c. 2001.
csw: out of curiosity -- why do you prefer to have a lower rating count?
In fact, I've never thought to check and see whether or not I've received feedback for every transaction. Except for a fairly new buyer ID, the feedback rating is more important for the seller than the buyer, so I have no trouble leaving it first. Sellers who know me from repeat business -- who originally waited until after I posted -- now regularly post beforehand. It's about money, yes, but it's also about relationships and reputation. Frankly, a "neutral" is as bad as a "negative"; experiences should be rated +/-.
Come on over ... to The Dark Side!
I think others have pretty much covered all the bases here, so I won't repeat them. If you take this attitude with your sellers, even when you get a nice item as per the auction description, you will get your feedback all right, it just won't be the color you are looking for.
I once sent him an eMail asking if I could return the set if I didn't find a $3000 half dollar. He told me to bid elsewhere.
Russ, NCNE
Robgetty- There's no doubt in my mind that you are already on that sellers "blocked bidders list". Like someone above said- Were
you buying coins or feedback? Sending that final e-mail skirts along the edge of violating eBay's feedback extortion policy.
Play nice on eBay!
Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.
I guess I was just getting irritated that I had been blown off by several
of the last sellers I had dealt with after I had posted first, and wanted
the system to work the way it was intended to; i.e. both the buyer and
the seller provide feedback on the transaction.
I'll go ahead and post him his positive feedback for the coins; I'll be
interested to see what he does at that point.
One thing you will find, especially with sellers who sell in large volume, is that they use one of several automated programs to leave feedback, and these all work by using the seller's feedback received to post reciprocal feedback.
One thing to do when you find a seller, and you don't know if they'll leave feedback for you, is to look at the feedback they have left. If they have left more feedback than they have received, chances are they will post feedback for you.
As a seller, I leave feedback upon reciept of the payment.
For those of you who are primarily buyers, try selling 50 or 100 items on eBay sometime. Then when you get the one or two buyers who have the item and their positive feedback try to extort a partial refund out of you perhaps you will come away with another viewpoint.
<< <i>A transaction is not complete until the buyer has received the item and is happy with it.
For those of you who are primarily buyers, try selling 50 or 100 items on eBay sometime. >>
I've sold far, far more than that and I leave positive feedback as soon as good funds are received in a timely manner. As far as I'm concerned that completes the buyer's obligation to me, and there is no reason for me to "withhold" feedback.
Edited to add: However, if I were being attacked as you are, Eric, I would very likely adopt your approach.
Russ, NCNE
You obviously haven't run across the buyer yet who has his item and his feedback and decides he wants a 50% cash refund or he "will leave appropiate feedback". Once you get one or two of those you will have a new outlook on it.
CoinPeople.com || CoinWiki.com || NumisLinks.com
Novice collector, occasionally selling some coins on eBay. Click HERE to see all my auctions.
<< <i>You obviously haven't run across the buyer yet who has his item and his feedback and decides he wants a 50% cash refund or he "will leave appropiate feedback". >>
Eric,
Actually, I have run in to that - and worse. I've had several use that tactic to try and force me to upgrade my PayPal account so they could pay by credit card - even though it says in FIVE different places in my listings that I don't take credit cards. I told them all to stick it where the sun doesn't shine.
Russ, NCNE
<< <i>Yes Russ but that is obviously before you left feedback. >>
Eric,
Actually, no it wasn't. The notification system doesn't tell the seller whether or not the payment is by credit card or cash. Before I smartened up and figured out I'd better check the PayPal site to verify, I left feedbacks because I thought I had been paid. Now, I check after each payment.
Russ, NCNE
<< <i>So what happened? Did they demand you switch to a pay account or "appropiate" feedback would be left? >>
That's exactly what happened. In a couple cases I had even already shipped the item. Then I logged in to my PayPal account and instead of seeing a "Completed", I saw an "Accept or Deny". When I denied the payments and sent the bidders eMails explaining why, some decided to threaten.
The whole thing caught me off guard because before eBay absorbed PayPal, the notification mail stated whether it was credit card or cash. After the change it just says "Instant Payment".
Russ, NCNE
Sometimes as a seller I get nervous leaving feedback first. A quick email to the customer to see that
he is satisfied can help relieve that nervousness. But there are no guarantees.
If I don't like how the buyer sounds I just don't leave feedback. After having a couple hundred
I can afford to be picky.
-KHayse
Yep, some more clearly than others.
Glad to hear your deal turned out ok. I was afraid the seller might leave you a positive but say something mean like "rude & demanding buyer, avoid" or something like that.
I leave feedback as soon as I get the $$ as a seller or as soon as I get the item as a buyer. No real reason other than accountability purposes; as soon as I get the $$ and mail the item & leave feedback it's off my page so that means 1 less coin I didn't forget to mail. If I haven't left feedback that means I either haven't got the $$ or item yet so I double check to make sure everything's cool.
If somebody holds me hostage or slams me then oh well shame on them. I rarely sell on eBay so it's not going to ruin my life. I'm used to getting shat on.
I don't even mention feedback in my emails or auctions other than when I get my coin I send the sellers an email saying "Hi. Got it. Like it. Thanks. Left you feedback."
I don't tell my buyers: "HI BOB!!!
I say: "Mr. Smith, Thank you for your prompt payment and I'll mail you coin tomorrow via insured mail. Regards, Dog"
That must mean something to sellers & buyers because I have left 458 & received 404 feedbacks.
Just thought I'd mention all that since this is an Etiquette thread.