Incoming moan - Why are buyers so quick to hit the negative button these days

[yorkshire*flower]

Ok this is not my selling ID but I have been on Ebay for 18yrs and rarely get a negative infact recently worked out it was 12 in 18yrs (so not even 1 a year) but this month Ive had 3!

One "Not impressed" - With what? (tried contacting to ask but no reply)

Two complained that their 99p crystal wasnt perfect and flawed eventhough it was clear to see the markings on the images and of course crystals are natural. Ebay refuse to remove as its "their experience" eventhough the images are clear but they told me that its the description that matters not the images!! Btw buyer was offered a return but didnt as they wanted to keep the item and refund!

3rd that RM had fined them £1.50 for extra postage - annoying as my post office have old scales so it must have been 1-2g over and RM slapped the fine on but rather than contact me for a refund leaves FB.

What is wrong with people lately? They want something for nothing and would rather complain on Feedback than message for a return or refund, but looking at their FBs left for other sellers clearly thats what they do, but seems like this is now some buyers goto in the first instance and Ebay just accept this.

I cant even be bothered contacting them to "grovel" for retraction in all my years Ive never had one retracted even after Ive refunded - I sell on Amazon, Etsy and my own website and never get any issues.  I know Ebay is full of scammers and bad sellers but seems to attract as certain type of buyer - the something for nothing crowd! i used to ignore them as the sales out weighed the 1 or 2 bad apples but with less sales, they really impact my FB which is now at 99.6%, which is annoying but really past caring now.

[vintagechinashop]

I think that's the only way to handle that. Feedback revision is unlikely for this type of buyer 

[bravergrace]

It is annoying.  On the other hand, I do find that buyers who leave negatives like yours don't go on to ask for refunds or open cases.  

It may be that having a negative is actually better than losing the money by having to refund.

Especially as far fewer sellers nowadays manage to maintain 100% feedback.

[yorkshire*flower]

That is true - and find it quite odd that they would prefer to moan than ask for a refund - "Nowt as queer as folk as they say"

[whf-southampton]

Same here. We have had two ebay accounts for over 20 years, both with a clean sheet until recently. In neither case did the buyers make any contact  or request what could have been a free return. Our images are extensive and show individual items from every conceivable angle and in both cases, prove the buyers were being, shall we say, very economical with the truth. 

Why is is that ebay breeds such a toxic buyer community? It is because they know that they will always 'get away with it' . We even had one buyer say to us once 'it's ebay, as a buyer, i can ger away with anything i want' which, i have to concede, is absolutely true . I have a theory that when they leave negative feedback with no contact, it is because they know there is nothing wrong and they don't have a case (if something just does not fit for instance.)  It is an easy and cowardly way to 'have a go' and should not be allowed by ebay.

What should be done? If ebay are going to operate a system of this nature, it would be so easy to add a clause into the feedback process which does not allow the buyer to leave negative feedback unless they can prove that they have contacted the seller first, or requested a return through the managed returns process. If the seller then resolves that problem, the option to leave negative feedback should be taken away altogether which would stop this problem in its tracks. Negative feedback would only be left then for sellers that deserve it, leaving the rest of us to run our businesses without ebay playing 'god' with our livelihoods with their back room cut and paste go to  of 'it's the buyer experence' excuse every time we  contact.

I

[sea.n.van._60]

Not quite the same but still a bit annoying, I got two feedback at the same time from one buyer. One was positive saying item as described and the other neutral saying not used yet! Like, they couldn't give me the benefit of the doubt or even just not leave feedback at all on the one they had yet to use...

[yorkshire*flower]

 It would be "have you contacted the seller prior to feedback " and a warning

Ive been on ebay for 20yrs, im sure this used to be something that used to happen🤔 Im sure im not imagining it but if i am then definitely should be something now.   I know there are some awful sellers on Ebay, Ive been on the otherside of many. Out of my negs only 1 contacted me first to complain about the 99p crystal being flawed but didnt want to return it.  Ebays AI systems should see the messages, see i offered a return, then see they chose not to do that and then leave a neg. Also look at the buyers prev messages to other sellers to see if this is a pattern of behaviour.  AI is clever enough to look at the whole situation via messaging surely...  How many sellers would be giving refunds for 99p items??  probably 99% and this buyer probably does it all the time getting freebies, but i stuck to my guns and got a negative!  This encourages this type of behaviour.  Amazon (eventhough they never declare the parameters) Will block accounts who return too many, abuse the systems etc, this was on watchdog years ago as ppl were having their account closed.  ppl fear losing their amz account, that will never happen on ebay, ppl abuse the system with little repercussions 

[toolboss15]

Most good sellers have left, "all down to ebay", so now left with a lot higher persentage of poor sellers to good sellers.

[theelench]

I've noticed something similar in the vintage glass area I buy and sell in.  When I started buying on ebay I learnt so much about the subject from ebay sellers and their descriptions.  Often several paragraphs full of knowledge about the manufacturers and names or design numbers of pieces for sale.

So many like them have gone now, so search now for a specific maker or piece and the results are often inaccurate.  Not because of the search, but because so many sellers seem to know so little about what they are selling that they can't use their titles to get items to show in the results.

So we now get "Descriptions" of two or three sentences, with multiple manufacturers in titles and frequently mis-attributed items.  These sellers might be good 'traders', good at spotting bargains that they can flip for a profit.  They might or might not be good sellers within ebays definition.  But to me they are not as good as the sellers of the past, appearing to have little interest in, or knowledge of what they're selling beyond how much they can buy for, sell for and how much profit they can make.

[vintagechinashop]

I commented just this idea on a previous post. There is already a system in place which doesn't allow buyers to leave negative feedback before 7 days 

it should be easy therefore to add another to prevent buyers leaving a negative without contact with the seller  as stated by others it seems that buyers who leave negatives neither contact or make any attempt to get their issue resolved. That makes me think that the problem is not there in the first place. I know as a buyer on my buying account that if I have an issue with an item that I've purchased my first recourse is to get in touch with the seller and or raise a case for return.  Why don't they realise that feedback is their bargaining tool in case the seller doesn't resolve their issue, which most reputable sellers will do, and that there is in fact ample time to do so should this not happen. I believe it's partly due to the constant hounding by eBay to do so which starts just days after the sale