FEEDBACK

[toms19]

Hello everyone,

I got a neutral feedback   a couple of days ago. This is it ...."Haven't used them yet"

I asked the buyer and ebay to considder removing it as it did not appear to be a fault of mine that the buyer has not used the item yet. I have not sucseeded in getting it removed.

Makes me wonder what I am doing wrong.

[cobwebcottage]

You aren't doing anything wrong. We all get that odd feedback at sometime which is by no fault of our own but Ebay will not remove them.  At least it doesn't affect your 100% score, it's just a downside of selling on line.

[vintagechinashop]

I had virtually the same comments on negative feedback some time back. It's so frustrating. Why will eBay not remove feedback like that. It's so unfair 

[zebra_park]

It could be seen as really more dodgy to have "100%+" ... I had a few negs on my private account, was nice when they ran out but pressure of a frankly silly expectation?

...I saw some kid on YT one who reviews/sells apple stuff & he said "of course i'v 100% feedback" & recommended people only buy from such accounts, So one or two negs out of 100s or 1000s? & acted like it was a reflection on him, but seemes more like he just haden't lived much yet (some buyers will always be unfair) ...&/or a total bend over backward creep ?

... I really don't follow  the 'buyer always right' thing, It's two way transaction ...& I won't be discoraged buying from "imperfect" sellers. 

[zebra_park]

"the 'buyer always right"

Come to think of it this seems more a "rule" for compliant employees, but my business is my business & owners never really act like this or can. ..No, all items are not free no matter how much the buyer says it's right. 

[bravergrace]

To be honest, I think eBay should bite the bullet and abolish feedback altogether.  It no longer reflects the seller's performance in any meaningful way. 

There are a few reasons for this:

- Buyers can now leave neutral or negative feedback for reasons unrelated to the seller's performance or the item (eg "bought this for my boyfriend, but he dumped me so I can't use it", or "doesn't match the handbag I bought in 1962"), and eBay won't remove it.

- The really bad sellers have ways of circumventing bad feedback - ways that the eBay system permits and frankly encourages.

- Some persistent problems (like buyers abusing the "cancelled due to problem with buyer's address" bypass) result in many buyers being unable to leave feedback, because it's not obvious how to leave feedback for a cancelled transaction.

- Buyer's feedback left is being progressively hidden, to prevent sellers from realising their latest buyer is a serial non-receiver of items, or serial negger.

[m25jet]

Unfortunately eBay does seem to attract a certain amount of buyers who either have over-realistic expectations of what the item should be like, or who just seem to like nothing better than having a good whinge.

Although eBay's attitude is often rather infuriating in that they will often point blank refuse to remove unjustified neutral/negative feedback, the best option going forwards would be to add the buyer's User ID to your Blocked Bidders List so that he/she cannot purchase anything else from you in the future and cause you any further aggravation.

Although it is annoying to have received an unjustified neutral, you still have a 100% feedback score and many buyers, myself included, would not be put off of purchasing from a seller who has received some neutral or negative feedbacks.

[ilgatto]

I think ebay have really made a big mistake with their policy change regarding not removing obviously unfair feedback. The pursuit of a perfect score is something that pushes sellers to provide a good service, but if ebay is going to leave people lumbered with silly feedback comments it will lead to apathy or good sellers leaving the platform.

[bravergrace]

There is another aspect of unfair feedback scores, which is that eBay does periodically change its seller standards, and when this happens, they are effectively backdated. 

There have been times when eBay has used feedback - and detailed seller ratings - left by buyers to evaluate sellers' performance.  They may well start doing this again.

Suppose you sell 100 items in your 3-month or 12-month period, get 8 undeserved and unremovable negatives - and the undeserved low DSRs that often accompany them - and then eBay announce that as from next month, any sellers with more than 5% negative feedback or any DSR of less than 4.8 will be penalised (higher fees, lower visibility, listing restrictions or whatever).   You are then being penalised, not for your own poor performance, but for the facts that your buyers are unreasonable and you don't have an eBay account manager to remove the feedback for you.

They've pulled this stunt in the past, and they may be intending to do it again.  Sellers could end up with 11 months of punishment, all for undeserved feedback left BEFORE the new rules were announced.

If this seems far-fetched, ask a seller who remembers what happened when low DSRs started being a punishable offence, and the hours it took to work out WHO had left the low marks, so you could try to appeal them.

[indigo-island]

1 year - 225 😀 vs 1 😐

you're not doing anything wrong.

[sagr2519]

Neutral feedback doesn't affect your score. Buyers will only see it if they check your feedback page, in which case they'll see that it says "haven't used them yet".

[sagr2519]

With feedback and reviews, it's a problem that the ratings are abstract and mean different things to different people. The system prompts buyer to contact seller before leaving negative but not before leaving neutral. Some buyers might think neutral means 'as expected' and postive is only if it's better than expected. With eBays messages asking for feedback, the buyer then thinks they want a response now and now their feelings about it are neutral because they haven't tried it yet.

It's the same with reviews. eBay wanted me to review a product which was good but didn't do everything it was supposed to. I thought that would be 4 star (with 5 star if there would be nothing wrong with it). When I tried to leave the review, the form said that 4 star is better than expected. I chose 3 star as a compromise between my first intention and their prompts.

Is it any wonder people leave negative after getting a full refund, even if they're allowed to keep the item? After all, they intended to buy a certain thing and now a week later they need to start over. True, they got something a bit different for free, but it might not serve the purpose for them.

Does anyone have suggestions for improving the system, on the off chance that eBay will implement your ideas?

[rirette123]

Ebay WILL remove it if they decide the buyer left unfair feedback! 

[rirette123]

Try ringing them up again to get a more sympathetic staff member. 

[bazinga-games]

I'm not so sure.  I was told years ago, they never remove neutrals.  They don't affect f/b score, so that's probably why.

[the-nutwood-collection]

Yesterday, I ordered a couple of items from a seller.  Today, at lunchtime, I get a text from eBay asking me to leave feedback for the items.  Late afternoon, another text from eBay, telling me the seller has despatched the items - first expected delivery date is tomorrow (2nd Class).

No wonder we get neutrals, negs and INRs from idiots.