Negative feedback EBay seller - red flag or no big whoop?

[notfast]

If you didn’t do business with a person or place because of one negative review, you’d never go anywhere or buy anything from anyone.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by notfast

If you didn’t do business with a person or place because of one negative review, you’d never go anywhere or buy anything from anyone.

^^THIS^^ eBay feedback has been completely worthless from the beginning. Most transactions never give/receive feedback. Plus who wants to completely waste their time going through someones feedback. When it is very rare that eBay won't force a refund so buyers are protected.

[D. Bergin]

I know you don't want to out the seller, but can you post the negative review and the response to it?

[Jim65]

Originally Posted by notfast

If you didn’t do business with a person or place because of one negative review, you’d never go anywhere or buy anything from anyone.

Its not just one negative. The sellers nasty response could mean hes not reasonable to deal with if theres a problem.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Jim65

Its not just one negative. The sellers nasty response could mean hes not reasonable to deal with if theres a problem.

1 in 1000?? I would take my chances.
The guy walks on water.

[Jim65]

Originally Posted by Leon

1 in 1000?? I would take my chances.
The guy walks on water.

If it were just 1 negative and no response, I'd agree. Most sellers are awesome but its how they handle problems that I'm interested in. If a seller responds to a negative feedback with a response that is "confrontational and sarcastic" it could be a red flag that he might not be helpful if a problem arises. If I'm spending $2000, his response would make me look for another seller. I understand that people will disagree.

[Mike D.]

I have one negative feedback on eBay. Someone bought a card and when it arrived wrote to say the card wasn’t near mint. I said “the listing doesn’t say the card is NM, but if you send it back I can give you a full refund”.

They left negative feedback instead. I didn’t reply to the feedback, with or without snark.

The guy never sent the card back and never asked for a refund…so I kept his money.

[G1911]

If I didn't deal with people because they had only 999/1,000 happy deals, I would have nobody to buy anything in this world from.

[bnorth]

I went and looked. I made 16 purchases in the last 60 days on eBay. Not a single seller had perfect 100% positive feedback. It ranged from 97%-99% and all those purchases went perfectly. With eBay buying/selling over the years I expect 1 problem per 100 transactions.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Jim65

If it were just 1 negative and no response, I'd agree. Most sellers are awesome but its how they handle problems that I'm interested in. If a seller responds to a negative feedback with a response that is "confrontational and sarcastic" it could be a red flag that he might not be helpful if a problem arises. If I'm spending $2000, his response would make me look for another seller. I understand that people will disagree.

It's 1 in a 1000 chance. Roll the dice, live dangerously.
.

[drcy]

A local restauranteur said he got a negative review on Yelp before the restaurant had opened. He said he assumed it was from competition.

[Snowman]

The only time I avoid buying from bad sellers is when a good seller is offering the same item at a similar price. I'll buy from sellers with far worse feedback than 1 bad review. There's really no risk. If you don't get your item or if it's not as described, eBay will just refund you.

[buymycards]

I have had a few negs during the 23 years that I have been selling on eBay. I can recall the details on 2 of them:

The first one was when I was selling a partial set of non-sports cards. It was mentioned a couple of times in the listing that this was a partial set and that the buyer would receive 90 of the 108 cards that were in the set. So, I received a neg because the buyer didn't receive a full set. He didn't ask for a refund, he didn't ask for a return, and he didn't contact me except for the neg.

The second was on a $2 card that I sent to Canada. The large scan clearly showed a crease and the description stated that the card was creased. So, the buyer gave me a neg because the card was creased. He didn't contact me, he didn't ask for a refund (I did give him a refund), and he didn't ask for a return. In the neg he called me several names, including being a crook. All of that for a $2 card.

I think a have had a couple of other negs along the way, but I don't remember the circumstances.

I received a neutral around a year ago. Again, the buyer didn't contact me so I didn't know there was a problem.

So, the negs happen, no matter how hard a person tries. I don't waste my time calling eBay to get the negs and neutrals removed. I just move on. I have 8400 feedbacks as a seller, with several thousand more items sold where feedback wasn't left.

So, when I am buying, I do sometimes look at the negs for a seller, but generally, if their feedback if over 99%, I don't worry about it. I have over 1700 unique feedbacks as a buyer, and I have only had a few minor problems that were easily resolved.