Feedbacks

Our policy is to leave a feedback on every transaction. The exception would be if the customer requests that we don't, and we agree. We strive for appropriate feedback - that is: the customers receive what they earn. That means we leave negative feedback for defaulting bidders and we leave various grades of positive feedback.

We disagree with many of our peers about when feedback should be left. We think that the feedback system, as it was designed, is an invaluable tool for on-line business. It can give the knowledgeable buyer valuable insights about potential eBay sellers - IF it is used correctly. A trend among eBay sellers, especially large ones, is to leave feedback only after the customer has done so. They want to make the feedback system a part of the process rather than a judgement of how the process went. That's NOT the way the feedback system was designed. Using feedback that way lends itself to both retaliation and extortion - a self-serving and warped usage of a potentially valuable tool.

As the system was designed, a buyer's obligations are fulfilled when payment is in the hands of the seller. Appropriate feedback should be left at that point. The seller's obligations are fulfilled when the product is in the hands of the buyer, and the buyer should leave appropriate feedback for the seller at that point. It's obvious that the bulk of the judgement is directed toward the seller - as it should be, in our judgement. The buyer's responsibility is to get the payment to the seller. Period. The seller is (or should be) judged on: accuracy of product description, communication, packaging, speed in shipping, and, usually, other things that the buyer might find important.

Okay, what does that mean in the real world? It's been our experience that 2 or 3 folks out of 1,000 are just plain unreasonable - they're so irrational that you just can't deal with them. Because of that, if you're a seller on eBay, you will receive negative feedbacks, so you might as well accept that fact and move on. But if you fall below a 99.6% rating on eBay, you need to examine how you're doing business. That's relative, of course. A small number of feedbacks can be skewed by very few negative feedbacks. But if sellers have more than 1,000 feedbacks and they are falling below the 99.5 to 99.7% range, we think they should re-examine how they're doing business.

Some interesting stats: By 1 Feb 2004 we had left 4,994 feedbacks in our eBay career and had received just over 3,000 feedbacks. That's about a 60% response rate. During that time we had left 85 negative feedbacks and received 7. We had also left 10 neutrals and received 6. Our feedback rating was 99.8%. It's obvious from this that we leave a lot more feedback than we receive. That's okay with us - we're doing what we know is right and other folks will have to do as they see fit. Besides, think about the 2000 election for President: do you really want the votes counted of people who are unable to figure out how to vote correctly?

We're not going to say much about the actual process of leaving feedback - eBay seems to change how they want thing done all too often. But the main thing is: BE CAREFUL! Once a feedback is left, it can't be changed - it's there forever, just as you left it. As sellers, we are very careful not to leave feedback in the heat of anger, no matter what the provocation - we will wait a day or two to respond. On the other hand, if you make a mistake it's not the end of the world. There is a process where you can add a follow-up comment to your feedback and you can use that to at least explain your mistake! We, like most sellers, are always happy to help guide new eBayers through the process. It's not really difficult, but it's not intuitive in a lot of ways, so sometimes a little help goes a long way in getting it done.