When eBay took away the ability for sellers to leave anything other than positive feedback, a lot of sellers decided they were done with feedback entirely. Some sellers don’t leave feedback at all while others only leave it only once the buyer has left it for them. But whatever display of passive resistance these sellers feel like they’re committing by not leaving feedback, they’re actually only hurting themselves.
Sellers, you should be automatically leaving positive feedback for your buyers at the time that their payment clears. Here’s 3 good reasons:
- Buyer goodwill. Leaving the buyer feedback is a sign of good faith. The sooner you do it in the process, the more good faith it earns you which, in turn, makes the buyer that much more likely to cut you slack if things don’t go 100% perfectly. Besides, it’s not like you can leave them any other kind of feedback. So what do you think you’re accomplishing by holding back?
- Increases the likelihood of return feedback. Many buyers are old-school about feedback and that they’re only willing to leave feedback for you if you’ve already left feedback for them especially since the seller’s end of the transaction happens first, so the seller should be the first to leave feedback. In addition to the goodwill mentioned above, simply leaving feedback at all greatly increases your chances of getting feedback back from the buyer. In the world of DSRs, the more feedback ratings you have, the less a low rating can damage you, so you really need as many as you can get.
- Shows professionalism. Let’s be honest, you can’t give a single reason for not automatically leaving positive feedback that isn’t petty or, on some level, mean-spirited. The “if I can’t leave negative or neutral feedback, then I won’t leave any at all” philosophy is childish. Withholding feedback until you get it from the buyer is unprofessional: you already have their money and their end of the transaction is complete. And leaving a negative message in a positive feedback is against eBay’s policies anyway!
Do you automatically leave positive feedback upon payment clearing? Why or why not?
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Probably more out of habit than anything else but I always leave it after printing my shipping label. Basically the same comment saying how wonderful the buyer is and adding that the package is on its way.
Same here, Cliff. It thanks them for their fast payment and for shopping with us. The only thing is I don’t have any automated service doing it, I do it “manually” with the eBay bulk feedback tool so sometimes it’s 24 hours after shipment or similar if I forget. 🙂
Regarding #2 I’ve heard this many times along with the exact opposite. Yet I’ve never seen any research done into this to actually prove either side.
One thing to consider, why even bother to wait for the payment to clear before leaving feedback? The buyer can’t be harmed in any way except through the UPI process which, unless things have changed, is still possible to go through after feedback has been left. Therefore, just leave it the moment they click BIN or the auction ends.
blogged: 3 Reasons every eBay seller should be automatically leaving positive feedback when payment clears http://goo.gl/fb/b5Mnp
Like Cliff, I leave feedback when I’m printing shipping labels. It’s a convenient time to do it, since I’m already dealing with each individual sale while I process the labels. I ship within 24 hours of the payment clearing, so I think the timing is reasonable.
Same here, Tula. I know some people like to add a “Your item shipped” kind of message to their feedback and I don’t go that far but I do leave it right after I print the label.
I leave feedback after the buyer leaves feedback. Childish or not, I am not going to leave positive feedback for someone who gives me a neutral or negative or a crappy positive comment. It is still my right to not leave feedback. One of the few rights eBay has left sellers.
Paying for an item doesn’t make me a good buyer. If a seller can’t leave honest feedback, then what good is it? Feedback WAS a tool for those buying or selling on Ebay to determine whether or not a person could be trusted. Yes, feedback could have been used as a weapon, but at least both buyer and seller had the same weapon. Now, if you are a seller on Ebay, you are at the mercy of the buyer, they know it and Ebay doesn’t care.
“Shows professionalism. Let’s be honest, you can’t give a single reason for not automatically leaving positive feedback that isn’t petty or, on some level, mean-spirited.”
(1) “members aren’t required to leave Feedback”
http://contact.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?CustomerSupport
(2) It’s the way a business conducts business on eBay.
Since Griff and a few other eBay staff sellers post feedback after a buyer, the “petty”, “mean-spirited”, “childish” name calling is unprofessional and uncalled for.
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“I don’t work for anybody; I’m just having fun.”
The Doctor, Doctor Who
I stand by my comment. 🙂
I see no reason for any Buyer to receive positive feedback. Afterall, payment is a requirement (no way to make that positive or negative) and if the buyer does not pay for an item eBay has a 3 strikes policy. Amazon.com or other online marketplaces do not give positive feedback to their buyers. Why? Because it would be silly. On the other hand, sellers can create a positive or negative experience in many ways and therefore both positive and negative feedback could be relevant. IMO.
I agree that there is really no reasons anymore for sellers to have to leave feedback. That said, because the option is still there, you really need to still make sure to leave a rating for all the reasons above until they get rid of it.
“I agree that there is really no reasons anymore for sellers to have to leave feedback”
Well then why did you write an article that sellers should leave feedback? Yeah makes a lot of sense Hillary, if that is your real name. Feedback is useless and unfair. Period.
“If that is your real name.”
Wow, Lee, I’m floored by how astute you are! I’m actually a 50 year old squirrel named Nutso who’s been pretending to sell on eBay for all these years, (I wear my robotic human suit for in person interviews, you know) and I just pretend to be a woman named Hillary using a photo I stole from some playwright as part of an elaborate ruse to get all the acorns for myself. I can’t believe in a decade and a half you’re the first person to finally catch on to my evil plot. Curses!
I also love how you voted your own comment up. It hardly makes you look like a goofball at all! 😉
I am a goofball and Lee is not my real name. Come on this is a three year old post, someone has to vote up my awesome comment. Even if that person is me. Go ahead click that up arrow “Hilary”.
its not childish as you say, its a matter of principle. The system is unfairly flawed and to take part in it is only perpetuates it. If you don’t think its fair, by not particiating in it you are standing against it.
Even once you have received payment things can still go wrong. If they open a pointless dispute with a baseless argument that causes you no end of stress then you might not want to leave positive feedback. Especially when the messages get personal and insulting. No offence but your argument here is naive and flawed.
I’m not sure my argument can be naïve consider how long I’ve been selling on eBay. J
As a buyer I would not leave feedback first. Fast payment is nice but the real part of the feedback I see is how the buyer reacts if something goes wrong during shipping. Things may break in the packages no matter how well they are packed and packages may get lost because that is just something that happens. If the post office lost a package or the item was damaged during the transaction I would certainly give a refund! If the buyer got the item though and left negative feedback for me without contacting me first, I would not give them positive feedback because they didn’t give me a chance to fix the faultless mistake.
as a SELLER**************
Yeah, leave feedback right away since it doesn’t matter in the long run anyway?
Unless you’ve sold things on eBay before and gotten burned by time wasters and non-paying bidders, this idealistic reality distortion field point of view is nothing but altruistic.
EBay doesn’t care about sellers. Buyers are given plenty of latitude to abuse the system.
EBay only cares about getting their cut.
Point in case: BUY IT NOW with immediate payment required. On the surface this sounds self-explanatory. It’s actually very deceptive. Should a buyer choose a buy it now option and then navigate to another page before making payment two things happen. One the listing is immediately ended and marked as SOLD. Two the final value fees and other charges are applied to the seller.
What does this mean? Well any goof ball can end your listing, not pay, cost you time and money, and ultimately make you waste more time to recoup fees and charges. Oh yeah, and then you have to re-list the item all over again if you decide to try the whole process again.
Then you’ve lost all the watchers and bidders who were previously interested in your item. Some of which have probably gone on to make their purchase elsewhere. Since the whole process takes a minimum of 8 days for a non-paying bidder, it may be nearly two weeks to get back to square one with the item you had for sale.
Ebay is a predatory two-faced hypocrisy of a company whose only existence is to chip away a small portion of money from every step of their monopolized process. They own Paypal, they charge fees which anything but transparent, they impose unilateral one-sided policies and decisions that serve only to keep their facade looking fresh and impartial.
They are by definition a parasite. Actually they serve to facilitate fraud, abuse and extortion as well. All the while making the process of selling so agonizing and arduous that most would rather endure a root canal procedure than jump through the flaming hoops and illogical processes they impose.
Good or bad, right or wrong, they come out with a portion of every transaction at the expense of everyone else.
When I’ve made my last sale, I’ll happily set back and only be an occasional buyer. Trying to be an honest seller is all but impossible with the hardships that must be endured to do so through eBay,
Doesn’t automatic feedback cost us money…part of a subscription service called manager something or other? Leaving feedback is time consuming. Once ebay took away the ability to leave negative buyer feedback, they should have offered free automatic feedback to sellers, but of course, that would have made it too cheap and easy for us, so they sell it as part of a service subscription. If buyer feedback is not important enough to eBay as part of their business brand to offer automatic feedback free to sellers, then It’s obviously not important enough for me to worry about, either. Your arguments are sensible, but that doesn’t mean they are real. What’s the evidence that buyer feedback makes enough difference for me to take the time to do it? On the rare occasion someone asks for it, I give them very wet hot buyer feedback. One guy wrote asking for the feedback, but funny thing is, the guy’s email was only three words, which I forget, but they had no meaning I could deduce, and there was no item reference. I wrote back something like, “OK, that’s nice.” and he then wrote me and threatened to slander me in online forums having to do with the merchandise. I left him the most sycophantic feedback I could dream up, and he wrote back apologizing for being such a dicg. I didn’t reply. He had left me positive feedback, but with a negative comment about slow shipping. I’m glad that’s the only contact I’ll ever have with him.