[Smurfysmurf]

http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200610.sht ... 0-02120653

[Bunno Smurf]

about time too...I guess we will be seeing a ton more new sellers and ids instead now though...least if you see private feedback you can be a little suspicious.


hmm is it just me or is everyone cynical of ebay??

[JT]

Finally. It´s been odd option since feedback should be helpful to buyers. Way to go eBay

JT

[steveparkes]

I can see a few people on ebay not liking this news as they have stuff to hide. I think it's a great decision by ebay though

[SMURFYSTEVE1]

Here here ebay, at last this should deter some people from trying to pull a fast one with their feedback and sales.



Smurfy regards
Steve

[samismurf]

It was about time yipppiiiiiiii

[Rachel]

That is excellent news. Thanks for the good news Maureen.

[Gerda]

this is GREAT news. I think the private feedback was always odd for ebay to allow. But yes I too think there will be alot of new sellers now, it's still too easy to get an ebay id..


Speaking of feedback, something that I have thought about. Who should leave the first feedback? Seller or buyer?

In my opinion as a seller once the item leaves your hands and all went well you should leave feedback right away as your part of the transaction is done, but I have noticed more and more sellers leaving feedback only after the buyer has left feedback. I think this is wrong, it's almost like they are waiting to see if you leave good or bad feedback so they can retaliate.
How does everyone else feel about this?

gerda

[SA Smurfette]

I agree with you Gerda

Once the seller has received payment they should leave feedback first as the buyer has fulfilled their part.
It's always a good way of knowing the seller has sent your item or it's on it's way

[samismurf]

yeah i feell it this way tooo
the seller should let the feedback as he receiveid the payment
and when i receieve my package i rapidly put the feedback to the seller

[Rachel]

I totally agree Gerda. As far as I am concerned, the seller should leave feedback as soon as the payment has arrived. I also agree that the practice of waiting by the seller seems to be growing too. I have to admit occassionally I forget and leave the feedback a few days later but I do normally try to do it as soon as possible. The only time I purposely wait is when I am waiting for a cheque to clear although most of the time I send the smurf straight away.

[Guest]

I used to leave feedback immediately but I wait now, because there are too many buyers who don't care about how hard you work for your feedback and have a go at you on a whim, like when I got a negative because they thought the smurf was too small, and another time I got a neutral when someone was just trying to leave me delivery instructions in the wrong place. I do always email the buyers to say when their items are being posted, but I rarely leave feedback first now. I know I'm honourable in that I will replace stuff free of charge if things get lost, or aren't as expected, but not all buyers respect that and I've received a few nasty emails in the past. Obviously if you get a dodgy seller and they haven't left feedback then it makes it hard to complain. But it works both ways, there are dodgy buyers as well as dodgy sellers out there I am afraid, just because they paid doesn't always mean they have handled the transaction fairly, many don't make allowances for third party problems with the postal service, things beyond the sellers' control. And at the end of the day, it is the seller more than the buyer who will be penalised more for having bad feedback. Also, I found that many many buyers don't even bother to leave feedback, so why should a seller spend hours leaving feedback when a lot of buyers can't even be bothered?

Anyway, I don't do eBay much now, for various reasons which include these above.



Don't get me wrong, I do understand where you guys are coming from, maybe it's just me that has bad experiences with some buyers.

[Gerda]

I can see your point Karen in not wanting to give feedback right away. And I agree that there are unreasonable buyers out there. I once had someone set pay pal against me because and item took two weeks to arrive and they only paid for economy mail which we all know takes alot longer
I have found that if I email a seller that the item arrived and that I am happy with it they almost instantly leave me feedback, but I have noticed too that the people with the highest number of feedbacks hardly leave you any, it's like they can't be bothered.

I wonder if ebay should set up a membership program to have an ID.. like a fee to get on ebay? Nothing too high and the fee can be used against purchases... like lets say it costs you $25 a year to be a member of ebay, but if you bid and win something that 25 can be used toward the purchase.. don't play on ebay loose the membership fee. Just a thought.. Ebay needs to think of something because I think more and more people don't take ebay seriously any more and think it's a game, and that really makes it shitty for the rest of us who still enjoy ebay.


Well that's my rant for today

[Guest]

I have found that if I email a seller that the item arrived and that I am happy with it they almost instantly leave me feedback

That's what I normally do, leave feedback the minute I know they are happy. I've been a bit late with feedback lately due to not listing as much so I don't login daily. I agree that eBay need to make some changes. The problem with it is that a small percentage of people ruin it for the majority, they feel they have the right to be really rude to other eBayers just because they are safely hidden behind their computer screen. They speak to people in a way they probably wouldn't dream of doing if they were making the complaint face to face. I actually wonder whether the feedback system should be more comprehensive, like a set of five questions to rate service, etc. For example..

Have ratings of 1 to 5 for the person completing feedback to choose from

1) Was the item delivered quickly?
2) Were you happy with the item? (5 would be very happy, 1 would be NO!)
3) Was the item well packaged?
4) Did the seller respond to questions to your satisfaction?
5) Were you happy with your overall experience?

And then score the transaction based on the scores. At the moment it is very difficult to know whether a seller actually excels at something, what does 99.9% feedback mean? We all know that people very rarely leave bad feedback, especially if they think they will get it back in return.

Wouldn't it be nice to look a seller's ratings and discover they score highly from 99% of customers for their packaging? If you are thinking of bidding on a ceramic item and they have poor feedback for packaging then you might think twice. Or perhaps you are buying for someone's birthday, if you can immediately see their delivery scores are excellent then you bid with confidence. Basically I think it is too difficult to discern between good sellers and bad sellers. The good sellers don't shine enough and the bad sellers too easily dupe people.

Another rant! We should work for eBay as consultants, Gerda!

[Smurfysmurf]

Have ratings of 1 to 5 for the person completing feedback to choose from

1) Was the item delivered quickly?
2) Were you happy with the item? (5 would be very happy, 1 would be NO!)
3) Was the item well packaged?
4) Did the seller respond to questions to your satisfaction?
5) Were you happy with your overall experience?

And then score the transaction based on the scores. At the moment it is very difficult to know whether a seller actually excels at something, what does 99.9% feedback mean? We all know that people very rarely leave bad feedback, especially if they think they will get it back in return.

Karen, that is a great idea.....I really like that one, I think it would be very fair...And maybe have a similar system for sellers to grade buyers on.

I admit as a seller I 99% of the time leave FB after I receive it.. For me the transaction is over when I know the buyer is satisfied. I have had very rarely problems with that..I usually let the buyers know by e-mail when the item will be shipped and they let me know when it arrived.
I do believe it is very inconsiderate and rude of buyers though to leave negative or neutral FB without contacting the seller, as this no longer really gives the seller the opportunity to make up for the mistake. Like Karen, I try to work problems out and if I hear that something was broken in transit or lost, I will replace it if possible or refund the money right away. However, if I learn of that via FB, I won't..This has only happened once (negative FB) but I was quite mad about it since I did not feel it was deserved. I had auctioned off a signed CD for a friend who to this day swears she was there when the artist signed the CD. The buyer left me neg FB stating this was not an original signiture.. Had he contacted me about it, I would have asked him to return the CD and given him a refund, even though I believe my friend was right, but he left a neg FB without any contact.. I received a neutral FB from a buyer who waited three weeks and an unpaid ebay process before paying...There was no contact before that, so I didn't appreciate that either. I do understand money problems, however, do request that buyers let the seller know if they can't pay within seven days.
Another neutral FB was from a buyer who was missing a small piece...This was an honest mistake, so despite the neutral FB I immediatly shipped that item off (didn't know until the FB it was missing) To this day the buyer hasn't acknowledged that, which I think is rude.

If I have a problem as a buyer, I always contact the seller to give them the chance to give me their side...I love ebay, but it to work there needs to be communication between the buyer and seller.I mean how long does it take to send a short e-mail?

Well, that's my rant....

Overall, I had never had any problems and I can really see both sides since I am on both sides of the fence (smurfysmurf is not a selling ID by the way, I am pretty sure a lot of you have that figured out by now )

[Guest]

smurfysmurf is not a selling ID by the way, I am pretty sure a lot of you have that figured out by now

Hehe, yes, I bought from you a long time ago before you ever joined the forum with my buying id. I use the same paypal address for both so you probably realised.

[Smurfysmurf]

yeah, I remember, didn't think you would though...

that was back when I only collected certain smurfs. (looooonnnngggg before joinging this forum)...... you don't know how often I kick myself now for selling certain smurfs back then without even realizing they were rare I buy them now for big money

[Gerda]

Another rant! We should work for eBay as consultants, Gerda!

i don't think they could pay us enough with all the bull sh*t we would have to put up with
great ideas though with the rating system. I often brouse through peoples feedbacks and I get a bit anoyed with things like.. "nice transaction" Exactly what does that mean. Did the person wait long to get it and finally are thrilled it arrived at all or is the person not one to speak much I guess it is a hit and miss and you take your chances. Although I must say I have become alot more carefull in my ebaying now than I was when I started out. Before I never looked at feedback, now I read through some of it before bidding too high on things in fear I might get ripped off.

Gerda

[Gerda]

(smurfysmurf is not a selling ID by the way, I am pretty sure a lot of you have that figured out by now )

That's news to me, I did not know this. I use the same ID for buying and selling, maybe not the smartest thing to do in the long run As for that buyer saying it wasn't the legit signature, maybe they just wanted a free cd. I once had a buyer tell me a package did not arrive so I refunded them the money after they gave me this story about it being a present, it was an item I did not have a double for so I thought I did the right thing till after I refunded it to them I heard nothing back, no thank you or nothing so I think I got taken..


gerda

ps.. maureen, if you don't mind me asking what is your seller ID?

[Smurfysmurf]

Hi Gerda,
the only reason I have two IDs is that when I started on ebay I didn't look for smurfs so I came up with the first thing in my mind (I was really looking for books that I was only able to get in England or so I thought)
A few years later, I really wanted a smurfy name, but didn't want to lose the reputation I had gotten by then as a seller, so I chose another ID... I am really too stupid to have both, because I confuse them all the time when buying and actually have bought smurfs on both IDs from the same seller during the same week... He was a bit confused, (he is a very beloved member of this forum, and it is not that hard to confuse him at first but figured it out )
Anyway, I haven't made it too public here, simply for the fact that I am not much in the advertising business and really don't sell anything rare, just doubles, now that I seriously collect smurfs

I know quite a few sellers have a different buying ID just in case of negative FB from another seller... I try to pay right away, so that problem doesn't arrive, however I do have a little problem right now with one Canadian seller who only accepts money order or cash and still hasn't received it after four weeks. I sent it to him by registered mail, but he is of course hunting me down now, so I expect something negative from that...I did call the post office though, and all they could tell me was that the letter left the US on Sept 25.

maureen, if you don't mind me asking what is your seller ID

I don't mind, I'll pm you... you probably will recognize the name, as we have been bidding against each other before I joined the forum