The other problem with eBay feedback is people lie to make themselves look
best. There is no proof behind the claims or even any means to ensure the
comments made are accurate. There has been a trend for a long time where
new bidders will run and make a negative on someone over the smallest
problem without so much as even asking the seller if they could help them
out on it.
Also, a lot of bidders don't understand that just having that "eBay" brand
name doesn't mean it's just like shopping at K-mart and you can return stuff
just because you feel like it. So there's bad feedbacks left for that
reason.
You can bet that if K-mart sold on eBay they'd have thousands of those bad
feedbacks, typed out all in capitals with misspelled words.
I don't know where you get the idea that eBay reviews "unfair" feedback -
feedback is only removed if it contains contact information, web addresses
or links, vulgar language, refers to an investigation, or if you have a
court order for it's removal. Even then sometimes you need to hold them by
the hand; the last time I had a feedback issue I think it ended up staying
even though it violated one of their rules. There's no impartial panel,
just the trained chimps in the eBay help department to fire off form letters
back to every complaint.
In my book anything over 90% is acceptable and reasonable. I'm not going to
knock a seller because a handful of idiots didn't read what they were buying
into and fired off a negative at them over something obvious to the rest of
the planet. If a seller really is causing a problem, it only takes a few
non-performing-seller reports/fraud reports to get their account suspended.
eBay didn't even used to post the percentage, that's a relatively new thing.
It's incorrectly calculated, because it doesn't take into account multiple
positives from the same bidder. Result is the negative feedbacks people
could leave out of the blue, from back in 1998 when you could leave feedback
for any reason on any account, take away from your percentage, but the 5
items you sold the same guy last week only count as one.
When I look at a feedback report, I just use the chart on the main page. If
I see no or very few negatives in the last 12 months, I don't worry about
it. If I see several, I go read them and see what the situation was about.
If the negatives are about shipping cost, item damage, typed out in capitals
with mispelled words - I ignore them. When I see one that says "EOA (date),
Paid (date), item not recieved" or to that effect, that's worth paying
attention to. "damaged in shipping" doesn't mean much, either, you can't
hold a seller responsible for the actions of the postal service.
Shipping costs are sometimes overly high because eBay forces sellers to hide
them on you. Real businesses pass on their added costs to you any way they
can, but eBay won't let you charge an up-front handling fee (yet in their
invoices include a box for a "shipping & handling" charge). They call it
"fee avoidance" and pull your listing. Result: sellers pad the shipping
charge to cover the fees.
Anyways, it's not a perfect world, and if you don't fully understand the
flaws in the feedback system the only person you hurt is you, choosing not
to bid on some item you really want over a few percentage points that may
not mean anything.
Which means you probably won't be bidding from me, since I'm around 95%
myself.
Bill K.
----- Original Message -----
From: "William Huff" <wbh@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, May 07, 2006 6:40 PM
Subject: Re: [FWDLK] '57 Dodge in Ft. Lauderdale, FL
> Well, I still believe that anything less than 99% is cause for
> worry. There are numerous sellers on eBay with hundreds or even
> thousands of feedbacks who have a rating approaching 100%. In my
> opinion 97% or 98% is not in that range, 99% to 100% is what I look
> for. I agree that everyone doesn't post feedback,however if I am
> interested in buying from a seller with lower feedback, I check out
> the people who have left negative feedback. If they have poor
> feedback themselves, then I tend ignore their input, but if they have
> very good ratings themselves then, I feel their opinion is important
> with regard to the seller's job performance.
>
> Back to Walmart or Target, go by the return section, there are
> usually folks their returning either items that were defective, or
> that they bought in error or even that they had used and now wish to
> return. Nonetheless, the store realizes that maintaining a good
> reputation, feedback if you will, is important, thus they try to keep
> the customer satisfied. And this is for customers who can see, feel,
> touch and generally know the item before they buy. If they
> maintained those policies and sold on eBay, I would bet that their
> feedback would indeed be very high.
>
> Sellers on eBay are dealing with customers who are solely dependent
> upon them for accurate descriptions, prompt shipping, realistic
> shipping costs as well as for customer service after the sale. There
> is no word of mouth on eBay except for the feedback rating, to ignore
> it or belittle it is to throw away the only tool we have to make a
> prior judgement regarding a prospective transaction. Why should we
> accept a lesser standard for an Internet buy/sell than we would for a
> mortar and brick sale?
>
> And you are correct, a private feedback rating is cause for concern
> as well, what is being hidden? Negative feedbacks that are unfair or
> unwarranted can be removed by eBay after review by an impartial
> panel, I think we must believe that negative feedbacks that are
> allowed to remain have validity.
>
> Everyone must make their own value judgement when dealing on
> eBay. Rarely is there only a single source for any given item, so
> why take a chance, especially for a big ticket item like a classic
> car? I have bought 3 cars on eBay, all from trusted eBayers based on
> their feedback, and I was satisfied. I wouldn't touch this '57 Dodge
> unless I personally inspected it, drove it and had the title
> researched. That is due to the feedback. Just my opinion, but that
> is how I do business.
>
> Bill Huff
>
>
>
> At 5/7/2006 05:00 PM, Bill K. wrote:
> >I think that 99% is unrealistic, especially in high volume sales.
> >
> >The problem is maybe 50% of good transactions get a positive feedback,
but
> >every bad one generates a negative, a percentage of which may not even be
> >deserved - they're left by disgruntled bidders who didn't read or
understand
> >what they were getting.
> >
> >You have to look at it this way - if say K-mart, or Autozone for that
> >matter, sold on eBay, what would their profile look like? I'd be willing
to
> >bet it wouldn't be 99% positive. But those places are generally
considered
> >good, or at least acceptable, businesses.
> >
> >I've seen a seller getting expensive bids on items with his feedback set
> >private and a rating of 16 that is like 78% positive. Some people don't
> >care, or don't look. I'm doing an NPB on him because he didn't even
respond
> >to the auction of mine that he won. You never know what you're going to
> >get -
> >
> >
> >Bill K.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: "William Huff" <wbh@xxxxxxxxx>
> >To: <L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> >Sent: Saturday, May 06, 2006 4:05 PM
> >Subject: Re: [FWDLK] '57 Dodge in Ft. Lauderdale, FL
> >
> >
> >I'm not an expert, but I do enough eBaying to
> >cause my wife continually ask "Do we really need that?" :-D
> >
> >In my experience, someone with feedback in the
> >hundreds should have a 99% or more feedback. If
> >you read the comments on most sellers with poor
> >feedback, they often seem to involve incorrect
> >descriptions or outright fraud. Also, power
> >sellers often do not respond to email complaints,
> >they are selling dozens of items a day and just
> >seem to not have time or don't care. A seller
> >with only a few feedback can have his rating
> >capsized by one or two negative feedbacks, but
> >someone with hundreds or feedback and who still
> >has a poor rating has torqued off a lot of people.
> >
> >Do not forget that negative feedback is usually
> >not a first sign of displeasure, it is the end
> >result of a very frustrating experience wherein
> >the seller (or buyer) has not responded to
> >attempts to communicate or has not adequately
> >addressed the complaint. If 3 or 4 people out of
> >100 were so teed off at their buying experience
> >at Walmart or Target that they took out newspaper
> >ads voicing their displeasure, you would have the
> >equivalent of a 96% or 97% feedback rating. I
> >suspect the store in question would not consider
> >that a successful business plan. If it were a
> >store with big ticket items, such as Furd, then
> >the company might even go out of business, oh
> >wait, that is what is happening to Furd.
> >
> >A favorite ploy for unscrupulous eBay sellers is
> >to string a dissatisfied customer along until
> >after a month has passed after the auction
> >ended. After that the customer doesn't really
> >have any recourse with eBay or Paypal, not that
> >either of them do much to begin with. If you
> >have a problem, register it with eBay and with
> >Paypal if applicable. You can always withdraw
> >the complaint or mark it resolved. On eBay it
> >is always Caveat Emptor. OK, end of rant.
> >
> >
> >Bill Huff
> >
> >At 5/6/2006 02:30 PM, Jan & Roger van Hoy wrote:
> > >This is a bit collateral, but what is the
> > >consensus about eBay ratings? Seems to me that
> > >in the "real" world a business with a 96%
> > >success rate would be doing quite well. Yet on
> > >eBay, any negative feedback is looked at unfavorably.
> > >
> > >Also, I'm mostly a buyer [buy high, sell low] on
> > >eBay, and pay immediately, yet a number of
> > >sellers haven't given me any feedback.
> > >
> > >--Roger van Hoy, Washougal, WA, '55 DeSoto, '58
> > >DeSoto, '56 Plymouth, '66 Plymouth, '41 Dodge
> > >----- Original Message -----
> > >From: <mailto:wbh@xxxxxxxxx>William Huff
> > >To: <mailto:L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > >Sent: Saturday, May 06, 2006 4:25 AM
> > >Subject: Re: [FWDLK] '57 Dodge in Ft. Lauderdale, FL
> > >Beware, be careful. This seller has a poor
> > >feedback rating, lots of negatives stating
> > >misrepresentation. Plus, there are several bad
> > >feedbacks that were withdrawn, or feedback
> > >rating would be even worse. Any feedback out of
> > >the 99% range is a warning sign in my book. As
> > >it stands, almost 4 out of every 100 sales was unsatisfactory.
> > >Bill Huff
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >At 5/6/2006 02:44 AM, Jim Hoekendijk wrote:
> > >>Hi all,
> > >>
> > >>There's a really interesting '57 Dodge in Ft.
> > >>Lauderdale, FL and I wonder if someone is in
> > >>the vicinity and could go and look at it for me.
> > >>It's currently on eBay:
> >
>><http://cgi.ebay.com/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4637284346>http://cgi.eba
> >y.com/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4637284346
> > >>
> > >>eBay item number: 4637284346
> > >>
> > >>I've been trying to get additional information
> > >>off of the seller, but he doesn't want to send
> > >>me the additional pictures I've asked for, nor
> > >>does he want to tell me about data/trim plate or any identifying part
> >numbers.
> > >>I recall seeing this car before, but can't really remember.
> > >>
> > >>It's been listed three consecutive times before:
> >
>><http://cgi.ebay.com/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4628347529>http://cgi.eba
> >y.com/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4628347529
> > >>
> > >>http://cgi.ebay.com/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4630979938
> >
>><http://cgi.ebay.com/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4634551760>http://cgi.eba
> >y.com/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4634551760
> > >>
> > >>Bidders don't come close to his reserve, which
> > >>is 60K, which is what seller told me.
> > >>I am seriously interested, but only if it is a factory original.
> > >>
> > >>It's not listed on his homepage
> > >><http://www.carsfromyesterday.com/>www.carsfromyesterday.com
> > >>
> > >>Jim Hoekendijk
> > >>Apeldoorn, The Netherlands
> > >>'57 Dodge D-500
> > >>
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