eBay: Seller's feedback 'not given until feedback received'

[D. Bergin]

Did you also ding their stars?

[OldEnglishD]

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

Did you also ding their stars?

Nope, from my perspective everything was smooth. Just didn't like feedback to me being held hostage.

[drcy]

First of all, there are one thousand avenues and arguments to this topic, and I don't take the facebook feedback system seriously-- it obviously dubious in anyways. Trying to find a simple, correct answer that everyone agrees with to a messed up and stupid system is impossible. That the seller can give feedback but it can only be positive says how stupid is the feedback system. And that the lowest possible feedback a buyer can have is 100 percent is pure satire-- as in "What's the point?" The feedback system has always been messed up and comical in one way or the other over the years.

But, in defense of a seller who gives feedback second, the seller can't give negative feedback. It's not possible for him to retaliate with feedback. So for him to say, because of that, he will give it second isn't unreasonable. A problem for sellers, that buyers may not realize, it that the really and monetarily can be damaged by negatives. If a crabby buyer leaves an unwarranted negative or even neutral-- or even a positive with less than stellar star ratings-- the buyer can be charged a higher selling rate by eBay. That's why sellers, who have no almost no power over feedback, can be anal about feedback. I don't agree with a seller deciding to give feedback second only (I think it's good policy to be gracious with customers. Being a curt cashier doesn't attract customers), but I see the reasoning for it. It's a messed up system, and it's usually the seller who gets the short end of the stick in it.

I would say "It's an idiotic system, so just forget about it." Many sellers would respond that they one hundred percent agree it's an idiotic system and they'd love to forget about it, but the problem is their revenues are tied to it. They'd say buyers can just forget about it, because their feedbacks will always be 100 percent.

[D. Bergin]

Well I guess there's just certain things that annoy certain people.

Thinking from a logical standpoint, for any Ebay sellers out there, there is absolutely zero tactical advantage gained by withholding feedback. The only thing it can accomplish is to aggravate the type of buyer who likes to see his feedback score go up, for whatever reason, it doesn't matter.

For those worried about scammers, there is no reason withholding feedback would discourage them. There's nothing left in the feedback tool for sellers to warn others of bad buyers. All you as a seller can do is file a Non Paying Bidder report if a bidder doesn't pay, and send everything with Delivery Confirmation or Signature Confirmation to protect yourself if they say they haven't received the item. If you see somebody who raises a red flag in your mind, then block them from bidding/buying your listings.

For buyers, all I can say is there is not a seller out there who can hold your feedback "hostage". It doesn't matter. He can't hurt you with feedback. He can't lower your score. He can't leave you a negative. He can't ding your stars, because there are no stars to ding. He can't hurt your percentages by NOT giving you feedback. He can't even post a positive feedback and write a negative message within that feedback without raising the ire of Ebay.

The buyer CAN conceivably hold the sellers feedback "hostage", and even attempt to extort a seller in exchange for positive (or NOT negative) feedback. A buyer CAN leave a negative, a buyer CAN ding a sellers stars. A buyer CAN post a positive AND write a negative message within that feedback and Ebay will likely not do anything about it (citing it as an opinion).

As a means of feeling like they have some sort of control over the issues, many sellers feeling somewhat helpless over the matter, may try to make themselves feel less helpless by instituting policies like: "When you leave feedback, I'll leave feedback". Blocking buyers who they think can hurt their business. Blocking buyers who leave negative comments within their feedback (whether it's a positive or negative), blocking buyers they think have dinged their stars.

Personally I've already thought too much about this. I just try to post positive feedback fairly quickly after somebody has paid for their items and don't worry about if I get it in return, even though it is directly beneficial to me (as a seller) in my overall stats with Ebay, if my positive is reciprocated by the buyer.

[drcy]

A funny thing is with the last sale I had and while this discussions was going on, the buyer messaged asking me to give feedback first because his half of the deal by paying (That's fine, I don't care one way or the other, and gave him positive feedback).

So some sellers are insisting they get feedback first, while some buyers are insisting they receive feedback first.

In short, if you think this debate is going to be solved anytime soon (or ever) good luck.

And no doubt there are some eBayers who, whether buyer or seller, always give feedback second. Or first. Or all at once at 7pm on Sunday or when mood suits them without referencing who has or hasn't given feedback. There are so many computational possibilities.