Thoughts on Ebay Feedback.

JBrules

As a seller on Ebay when someone makes a purchase from me I almost immediately leave positive feedback especially if they pay right away. Recently on couple of cards that I purchased the seller emails me and asks that I leave feedback for him/her and then they will reciprocate. I have never had any negative feedback as a seller and I have never left negative feedback for a seller so I am not sure what happens when you get negative feedback.

Just curious to thoughts on who should leave feedback first. Should the seller leave feedback first or should the buyer leave it first? Thanks for your input.

galaxy27

I don't play cat and mouse games with buyers and sellers. I handle my feedback obligations and move on, regardless of what they have/haven't done or will/won't do.

LarkinCollector

Seller, as soon as the buyer pays, their obligations are complete. I leave buyer feedback at the same time I'm printing up the shipping label. The buyer has to wait to receive it before the sellers obligations are complete.

jdip9

+1 Larkin.

travis t

It's only annoying when eBay bombards you with reminders to leave feedback for people who pissed you off. There's a reason I didn't leave feedback, ahem. A quick analysis would indicate that I graciously acknowledge all but the most persistent troublemakers. But, they're too busy squeezing dollar bills out of my hands to bother with that.

JBrules

Thanks everyone for the comments. What Larkin said makes sense. I have always left feedback for the buyer not waiting for the them to leave feedback. Since I am not a big seller on Ebay I do not solicit feedback from the buyer but am always happy to see the feedback when they leave it. I have been following pretty much what galaxy stated by doing my part and leave it at that. I am guessing the sellers that said they will leave feedback for me after I leave feedback for have had some bad experiences.

miwlvrn

I almost always leave prompt feedback for my buyers when selling an item. However, before doing so I will usually take a quick click on their feedback history, not for specific numbers but just to see if they are in the general habit of reciprocity. If people have a history of generally leaving feedback, I'll leave mine first even if their quantity left is notably less than their quantity received. However, if for example I have a buyer who has 5,000 feedbacks received and zero left for others, then no, I'm not going to bother leaving them any. Not sure exactly why but that sort of disparity bothers me a bit.

garnettstyle

As a eBay seller, I recently quit giving feedback to buyers. I have noticed that too many ebayers with several thousand feed backs don't bother to leave feedback to the sellers anymore. So I only leave feedback, if they feedback me first. It's frustrating selling $100+ items and not getting any feedback in return.

swish54

I always leave feedback as I ship as a seller and when the item is received as a buyer, regardless of if the other person left me any. It does perturb me though when I'm doing them a favor by leaving feedback and they don't return the favor, especially if everything went smoothly. As a seller, it seems like I'm at about a 50% or so feedback received in return from buyers. Is it really that hard to take a couple seconds out of their day to leave some.

mrmopar

This has always been a frequently debated topic and almost always comes down to personal perspective. Ebay has also changed the rules before too, which has altered how a lot of sellers decide to leave feedback, mainly because they can no longer leave negative feedback for buyers (unless it has changed yet again and I am unaware).

As Larkin said, the way it SHOULD be done is the seller leaves feedback for the buyer once the payment is received. Once the item is in the hands of the buyer, they should leave feedback for the seller and we call it a complete transaction.

However, then factor in all the issues that fog up a clean transaction and that has everyone playing games. Sellers who won't leave feedback for buyers until the buyer does, so they ensure they get some feedback or until they are clear of a potential negative. Buyers who won't leave feedback at all. In the old days, there were even crappy sellers who would retaliate on buyers who left honest, but negative feedback about bad dealings, only to get one back from the jacka$$ seller who ripped them off or who jerked them around in the first place (hence the rule not allowing negative feedback for buyers at all). As usual, it is the dishonest people who have screwed up the feedback system completely.

My personal policy (as a buyer) is to leave feedback for those sellers once I satisfactorily receive my item, but only if the seller has properly provided me feedback for my prompt payment. I also only leave feedback for one item per seller, as it is the only one that changes the overall feedback count. This may sound bad if I buy 40 items from a seller and they leave me 40, but I think sellers can do it in bulk (or automatically) and buyers have to do it one at a time (i know you can do 25 at once, but each box and rating needs to be filled in, so it is still one at a time). I found it took a great deal of time to leave many feedbacks and the system ebay had often glitches and failed as well.

I don't care if I get feedback at all and probably don't on 1/2 of my purchases, but I figure if a seller is waiting for me to leave feedback first as a buyer, then they are playing games and I don't need feedback as a buyer anyway, so they are the only losers in the end. On the other hand, if I were to sell, then it would be left for the buyer upon receipt of payment and I'd hope that the buyer did the same for me, but wouldn't email them or pester them for it.

HighGradeLegends

Feedback is an overrated stat on ebay.

miwlvrn

@HighGradeLegends said:
Feedback is an overrated stat on ebay.

For buyers, that is possibly true. For sellers, maintaining a certain level of feedback and associated ratings is directly linked by ebay to FVF discounts for TRS. It is not an overrated stat when it yields lower financial overhead costs.

59Horsehide

My thinking is the "seller" should be the first to leave appropriate feedback once payment is received. The seller initiated the transaction by putting an item up for sale. Unless the seller has something to hide or knows they are not conducting an honest transaction, there should be no fear of leaving feedback first. I am a "collector" who purchases more than I sell. I can see where a "dealer" seller might not agree with me.

Sdub

@HighGradeLegends said:
Feedback is an overrated stat on ebay.

++ I've bought a lot of baseball cards over the last 7 years; have no idea what my feedback is or what it means. I pay for everything, have no retractions, and bid on what I can afford.

From what I know, it doesn't weigh the "amount" of the purchases, just the volume of purchases. That stat alone makes me think it's worthless.

MULLINS5

@mrmopar said:
buyers have to do it one at a time (i know you can do 25 at once, but each box and rating needs to be filled in, so it is still one at a time). I found it took a great deal of time to leave many feedbacks and the system ebay had often glitches and failed as well.

This is one reason why I rarely leave feedback for my purchases. Another reason is that nearly everything I purchase on eBay is re-sold at a mark-up, so I prefer there not being a feedback trail.

jackstraw

I always leave feedback when I am happy with the card. If I get a card that is wrapped in tape and or it takes me 30 minutes to get to the card then my silence is my feedback. I have never left or received a negative..