Buyer feedback on eBay- what's the point?

[stalepie]

One time I sold a bunch of books to somebody on Ebay and had to pack them in about six boxes. It was quite a lot of paperbacks, hardbacks, really miscellaneous and I didn't get that much for the auction ($150, iirc). Nonetheless the buyer claimed only two of the boxes arrived so I said let's wait and I'm sorry, hope it comes and then we waited and they still didn't arrive and he demanded a refund (total refund) and I said but you got some of the books (of course I felt shitty saying that, but I also wondered if he was scamming me) but he wanted a total refund so I gave it to him and he didn't leave feedback of any kind.

I can't remember if I left him feedback, but it makes me wonder: what's the point of leaving buyers feedback on Ebay? Shouldn't you be able to say things like "attempted to scam me by saying items didn't arrived and wants a refund?" But how do you know if he isn't telling the truth?

My point is that if multiple people left a certain buyer skeptical feedback (like, "Might have tried to scam me by saying items didn't arrive") then it'd be obvious if a buyer is untrustworthy. But I imagine a lot of people get away with scams like this. And I was thinking of selling off a lot of my old games in big auction lots, but don't want this to happen again.

Was I supposed to file an insurance claim?

Well, it kind of just makes me want to throw this old stuff away actually or maybe take them to Goodwill (but I think they threw away most of the books and movies I donated them - they don't accept a lot of them or see them as valuable because they're too niche).

Also what is the legality of searching landfills for stuff thrown away? I assume it's very illegal but don't know why. Besides that it's obviously gross and may even spread disease or something.

[megasdkirby]

I can't remember if I left him feedback, but it makes me wonder: what's the point of leaving buyers feedback on Ebay?

Well, you might think of it as building a rapport. Whenever a new person on DP sells, many of us wants to see how good of a person he/she is. Granted, we want to see "seller" feedback, but many of us just buy on Ebay, like me.

Buyer feedback may also help to "reduce the blow" of a negative given by another buyer (to a seller). Say for instance I sell a game and I got a cunt for a buyer. He leaves me a negative for a failed scam attempt, and of course Ebay does shit to help the seller, even with overwhelming evidence. So i decide to simply buy items using the same account I got the negative. As more and more positive feedbacks are obtained, so is the overall score. So this helps to hide a potentially damaging negative feedback AND increase positive percentage.

So positive feedback does have it's merits. Of course, for buyers who never actually sell with the same account, it just gives a sense of "worthiness" which for me is quite worthless.


Shouldn't you be able to say things like "attempted to scam me by saying items didn't arrived and wants a refund?" But how do you know if he isn't telling the truth?

This was what truthful negative feedback was meant to be. However, as we all know, many sellers would use feedback as a retaliation tool, even if it was true that the seller did something bad (and would not take responsability). So when a buyer would leave truthful negative feedback, some sellers would get their balls in a knot, get pissy, and leave retaliatory negative feedback. This is why negative feedback for buyers is no longer around.

I think a form of "buyer evaluation" should be done, not involving feedback. For instance, if Ebay would actually do something to help sellers, they might permit a system, similar to that of Angie's List, in which sellers can post comments without actually rating the buyer. That way, a buyer never gets a negative but will be exposed for any bad things they might have done.

[Gameguy]

Shouldn't you be able to say things like "attempted to scam me by saying items didn't arrived and wants a refund?" But how do you know if he isn't telling the truth?.
There's a simple way of knowing. Check the tracking on the packages to see if they arrived, or make sure to use signature confirmation which is even better.


Also what is the legality of searching landfills for stuff thrown away? I assume it's very illegal but don't know why. Besides that it's obviously gross and may even spread disease or something.
You don't know why? It's the same reason why kids aren't allowed to play on construction sites, so they don't get hurt or killed. Nobody wants to be held responsible in case anything happens so it's not allowed. It's the same reason why stores don't allow anyone to go through their dumpsters, they don't want to be held liable.

[Rev. Link]

I always thought eBay feedback should be double blind. That would have put a stop to retaliatory negs, and bad buyers could still get their bad feedback.

[Icarus Moonsight]

Buyer feedback is useless. It's +1 or a Thank You at best. Sellers should always wait to be paid before shipping anyway. Unless it's someone you've previously forged trust with... In that case, neither parties feedback matters for much.

[TRM]

Yeah the feedback system is pretty silly. When I sell things, I always get nervous about leaving feedback first, and then having the buyer claim that they never received the goods and leave me a negative. Unfortunately though, it seems that so many buyers will not leave feedback after receiving their goods, until I leave them feedback. I guess this goes back to the days of retaliating via feedback.

Even though sellers cannot leave negative feedback to buyers, I would much rather leave no feedback than a positive, and then have the buyer cheat me later.