eBay - Feedback from buyers...

[The Elf]

Only significant problem I've had with eBay is as a seller. As a buyer I'm 99% happy. I've had (and continue to have) some absolute bargains - my 'as new' RC-505 being the latest example.

The one serious piece of trouble I had was early days when I couldn't prove an item had been delivered (though I am pretty sure it had). Lesson learned and no further problems.

But the feedback system is fairly meaningless now.

[Mike Stranks]

Never been a big user of ebay, and often aren't there for months or years. When I last did (last week) I noticed that it feels much more like a regular selling site (a-la-amazon) than the old auction site.

True. The Chinese now seem almost to monopolise the low(ish) cost gadget/household segment. But they bury their origins/locations deeply. So even if you set searches to 'UK' only and then buy from a trader who proclaims 'UK Seller'... you more often than not find it arrives about 10 days later from Hong Kong or somewhere else in China...

... but I'm still buying second-user stuff there - obviously with eyes wide open.

[OneWorld]

Is it just me or has anyone else noticed a marked tail-off in EBay buyers leaving feedback?

I use EBay quite a bit and have always had the odd one or two buyers who've never left feedback. Now it seems to be the exception that I get any feedback from buyers.

I'm not particularly bothered as I'm 100% positive in the mid-700s anyway, but just wondered if any other sellers had noticed this.

Yes I think you're right there. Come to think of it, my partner used to sell on eBay more than I ever did, till the commissions started creeping up, but she had this policy of issuing a positive feedback to each and every buyer before she'd even posted the item(this was way back when before they changed the rules) she said that might engender goodwill between her and the buyer, and her method did seem to work - apart from the handful of contrarians who seemed to delight in having a problems, but her having reached over 1200 transactions all positive seems she must have been something right, but yes nowadays people hardly bother, even if she has left a positive feedback by default.

[OneWorld]

used to be such a key mechanic in the process,

Agree, in fact i rely on it to differentiate whether I sell or buy based on this. I like to keep a buyer up to date with what’s going off, even offering a few pointers if it’s a more complex purchase, say a synth, to web resources. It’s a bit galling not to get any acknowledgment of this when the deal goes through

If I don’t get any, I usually drop a nice follow up email asking if they’d be good enough to offer some feedback, it works 60% of the time I reckon. I also do feedback come what may

What is it with some folks, it’s hardly a difficult task.......
Ian

Yep, I have done the same thing, even going to the extent of downloading the latest drivers, manuals, updates etc and putting them onto a USB key along with links to YouTube etc and not even a 'thanks' I suppose it's the same as people don't wait their turn at the bar, open doors or offer their seat up, or deposit litter in the correct place, or give way at junctions or don't bark into their phones such that everyone on the train/bus are subject to a blow by blow account of the mundane events of the caller's day or park correctly between bays at car parks, or not stuff their wheelie bin to overflowing such that the rubbish gets scattered all over the pavement or park their cars on the pavement such that even people in wheelchairs or someone pushing a pram has to step out into the road in order to get by the selfishly parked car etc etc etc Don't get me started LOL

[OneWorld]

Never been a big user of ebay, and often aren't there for months or years. When I last did (last week) I noticed that it feels much more like a regular selling site (a-la-amazon) than the old auction site.

And when you buy something in a shop, it's only a minority that thinks about leaving positive feedback..

I bought a monitor stand from Amozam and was asked if I would like to leave a user review, so yep, in order to help I did, oh my days, after that, and for a considerable period of time my email was literally festooned with spam emails, many attempting to sell me monitor stands (I'd just bought one for goodness sake!) arrived each and every day - never ever again will I leave a review.

On another occasion I mistakenly pressed an opt-in button for something I am not clear about even yet, years after the event. This meant I had in ignorance opted in to a authorised payment option where Amozam took £20 a month out of my bank. Try as I may I could not get them to rescind the payment order, they called me/emailed/even wrote to me to say a mistake had been made and that a case had been risen. The following month yet another £20 taken from my bank account and so I contacted them again and again I got called/emailed/even wrote to me to say a mistake had been made and that a case had been risen, and so it went on, they were just stalling techniques, I could not get my money back.

I got my bank to stop making the payments and get my money back, the bank did get my money back but then a month later got in touch to say they had to return the money to Amaswine, in other words a UK bank had to prostrate itself before Amaswine. OK I only lost £80, but it was the principle, they took money from my account without my explicit permission (I had been in touch with them before the first payment had been made and they assured me they had made the mistake and would not deduct any money from my account, then they went on and did it.

I am not a man of violence but if I ever met that $hecklehead Bezos it would take me all my resources to resist tapping his cork

[CS70]

I only use e-bay as a very last resort and avoid PayPal like the plague.

Oh, why PayPal? There's not much wrong with PayPal - no more no less than any online payment system there is. Just curious.

[CS70]

True. The Chinese now seem almost to monopolise the low(ish) cost gadget/household segment. But they bury their origins/locations deeply. So even if you set searches to 'UK' only and then buy from a trader who proclaims 'UK Seller'... you more often than not find it arrives about 10 days later from Hong Kong or somewhere else in China...

... but I'm still buying second-user stuff there - obviously with eyes wide open.

Well, chances are that the seller is in the UK but - like for most of these things nowadays - production is in Asia and he simply orders and marks up. Most of the time you can buy the items from AliBaba or AliExpress directly. We have the same in Norway, they capitalize on people who prefers to buy "national" or don't know of the sites above. Thing is, most gadgets/households items are made in Asia, so it matters not where you buy from. The only advantage of buying national is if the seller has a warehouse or an inventory, but I definitely wouldn't expect it from any purely online shop.

[John Willett]

I only use e-bay as a very last resort and avoid PayPal like the plague.

Oh, why PayPal? There's not much wrong with PayPal - no more no less than any online payment system there is. Just curious.

Because it's not safe IMHO.

I have heard so many stories from sellers who sell good stuff and the buyer complains, the seller loses the money and either does not get teh goods back, or something else, or damaged.

I won't use them at all.

[CS70]

I have heard so many stories from sellers who sell good stuff and the buyer complains, the seller loses the money and either does not get teh goods back, or something else, or damaged.

Ah ok, I see - from a seller perspective. Thx!

[wireman]

I purchase a lot from Ebay from vintage postcards to small value one-off haberdashery/ironmongery/tools where local shops don't exist or I refuse to pay the B&Q markup. I do take note of who the seller is and what sort of volume they have but not the feedback details. I do take note of comments on Amazon reviews if they include useful product or reliability information. The protection for buyers from Ebay is very strong especially if it is a business seller, to the extent that I just ignore seller policies that are unenforeceable (things like the 'you will need to contact the post office if the item does not turn up or insure the package' nonsense.)

Nervous of selling as you either amortise the postal losses, real or fraudulent or send everything tracked.

[James Perrett]

The only advantage of buying national is if the seller has a warehouse or an inventory, but I definitely wouldn't expect it from any purely online shop.

There are a few Chinese sellers who have warehouses of stuff in the UK. I remember buying something that was obviously from a Chinese seller but they claimed it was in Portsmouth. I didn't really believe it but sure enough, it turned up a day later with a Royal Mail label and a return address to an industrial area in Portsmouth.

[Mike Stranks]

The only advantage of buying national is if the seller has a warehouse or an inventory, but I definitely wouldn't expect it from any purely online shop.

There are a few Chinese sellers who have warehouses of stuff in the UK. I remember buying something that was obviously from a Chinese seller but they claimed it was in Portsmouth. I didn't really believe it but sure enough, it turned up a day later with a Royal Mail label and a return address to an industrial area in Portsmouth.

Yup! I've used the Portsmouth one... they seem to stock a wide range of stuff - I bought some cheap LED spots - and they did indeed arrive very quickly.

My issue is with the ones that pretend to be like the Portsmouth setup, but in reality seem to be a few front people for stock that's held and dispatched from China.

But enough! I'm just a MOG really.