This is a thing that's very recently annoyed me... eBay feedback beggars.
It's story-rant time folks!
So, here I am... I am Joe Shmo, the customer...
I go to buy a thing. I buy it and then after I have received it I'm asked by the dude that sold it to me (or more accurately I'm asked by the service through which the item is sold) - "hey chap, would you leave some feedback about your purchase experience so that others can know how the seller is?!"
Which is good, I think it's awesome that we the customer are granted power.
But that power is a two-way street... and involves the seller meeting their promises.
Accurate Feedback
So, when I leave NEGATIVE FEEDBACK, it is for a reason. That reason is that I am informing future customers of my experience so that they can be aware when, or before they make their purchase.If the seller says, sure I'll deliver it on about day X ... Aand it then arrives on day X+20 (yes, nearly three weeks late) I will damn sure be marking delivery as 'poor' and perhaps even making a comment of it in the 'description'. There's even a giant button at the top which completely encompasses such occurrences... It reads: "Did this item arrive on time? [ Yes ] [ No ]"
I'm not about to lie to other potential buyers, If it arrived late I'll damn well say so. If I wasn't happy I'LL DAMN WELL SAY SO.
Now, fast forward into a world post-purchase, post-feedback-leaving world. I've moved on with my life, my eBay thingy is here, the seller has my money, the exchange is complete.
But then, what's this in my Inbox? A message...? From the seller? (aside from correcting some punctuation I copy/pasted the following verbatim- )
"Dear friends，we have received your negative feedback from eBay regarding to the following item:[cool item number here yo]
We are really sorry for all the inconvenience caused. I hope I can solve the problem for you. if there is anything I can do for help, pls let me know,
Meanwhile, it would be much appreciate if you could revise the feedback to POSITIVE one, as it is really very important for me
We sincerely look forward to hearing from you soon and sorry for any inconvenience caused.
Best regards"
First off, I'm super, super stoked that there is an apology of sorts in there (I mean it, apologies are in short supply these days, regardless of sincerity the fact it's there is good stuff).
But, with apology accepted... I reply to them that No, I shall not change my feedback, to do so would be lying. I had rated the 'dispatch time' as poor because of a THREE WEEK DELAY ... And honestly, even giveing two stars out of 5 seems like I'm being kind. I guess I'm marking it as such because it did arrive, and was in one piece when it did so.
Oh There's a kicker;
After I formed this rant, but before I'd typed it all up... I went over to eBay and noted that the seller had not left me ANY feedback. Even though I paid immediately (PayPal via Android)So, not only are they complaining about my accurate and IMHO, fair feedback ... but they've not even given me any or perhaps are about to give me negative feedback as some kinda blackmail bargain tool.
You know what, I think all in all I was right to mark as a negative experience, even now, well after the purchase, I'm still getting negative experience because of it.
Aaaaand /rant
TTFN peeps.
