There’s been some interesting comments regarding feedback left by buyers on eBay on Tamebay recently. One reader said that anything up to 40% of buyers don’t bother to leave feedback any more. From my own experience of selling on eBay I have an overall 75% of feedback received compared to the number of sales completed.
I have a theory that with more buyers (anything up to 40%) purchasing on mobile devices it may simply be too troublesome for them to bother leaving feedback. If you don’t routinely buy on eBay using one of eBay’s mobile apps then you should try it for yourself. There’s no highlighted items awaiting feedback as there are when using My eBay in a browser. Plus you have to click into each item that you’ve already purchased to leave feedback – it’s a long drawn out process.
We’re interested to hear what percentage of buyers leave you feedback, click on the poll to let us know what your overall percentage of feedback received compared to sales is and let us know in comments below if you have any further insights such as do you leave feedback first. Do you see a difference between categories that you trade in and do you yourself always leave feedback for everything that you buy on eBay?
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21 Responses
Can’t vote – you’re missing the one that applies to all my accounts – 50% OR LESS…
If you add a less than 50% I can vote. None of the above.
were in the dont care and dont check as long as its not a negative with low dsrs
Over a period of about 12 years I am on 72.74%, however I do suspect that the figure is boosted by higher levels in the early years, and that the current rate is lower than that.
I do leave feedback for the things I buy, but then again I don’t use a mobile app.
Always leave feedback first on shipping as I am too busy to faff around monitoring feedback and getting paranoid about it. With 20-30 shipments a day going out I’ve not time to check it and I get repeat business so that is the only feedback that is important. Just checked and score over 90% or more buyer feedback left anyway all positive. My buyers are broadly the more mature type less likely to use mobile. I do free shipping and most of the other ebay “wants” and pretty much comply with whatever ebay would prefer without complaint. I just get on and do it keeping descriptions to a minimum without all the clap trap and waffle that a lot of sellers seem to include. Clap trap and waffle and home made ebay terms work arounds = seller problems and feedback nightmares and sellers who do this get all they deserve.
I’d say it’s around 50%. I don’t generally leave feedback first unless asked; it’s the only control I have (albeit small) over not having to say good things about bad buyers. I’d rather leave them no feedback than a false positive. And so I have SMP set up to leave a positive upon receiving a buyer’s positive.
As a buyer, I leave feedback once I am satisfied that the item is ok.
Just checked and we are 55% over the last 6 years with much greater percentage in the first few years. The event that made the biggest difference is when they took negatives away from sellers. It changed the whole ethos almost overnight and now we get about 1 in 10 leaving feedback.
I am a little luckier than average I think with approx 70% though a lot not counted officially because of multiple F/B, due to returning buyers and multiple buys.
I used to leave F/B on purchase but changed within a month to only leaving on receiving F/B. We have been trading now for just over 2 yrs.
Though this system has been kind to us in a highly competitive market, (Jewellery), I agree that the system is flawed in many ways.
About time too that someone spoke about this unfair system and subject seriously.
Thank you!
Kindest regards,
Andrew.
I have plenty of feedback, don’t want any more. I am thinking of telling buyers thanks but they don’t need to leave me feedback. That way the DSRs don’t get messed around so much.
When I buy a cable from China for 99p I’m sure they don’t need to know it arrived and it’s a very nice cable so I’ve stopped bothering there as well.
I do still reciprocate feedback from buyers so I haven’t completely abandoned ebay circa 2001. But as ebay work off DSRs and ignore feedback, why should we bother either?
I was bemused by the feedback left for me yesterday – it said ‘Broil isn’t.’
I messaged the buyer, saying that I was somewhat mystified but hoped he was happy with his purchase. He wrote back and said ‘Sorry I meant Brilliant’.
Sheesh. I guess he typed it on an i-phone. With gloves on.
I too have feedback of over 10,000, 100% positive so I don’t need more – I’m always happy if customers don’t bother – no feedback = good feedback. My main gripe is that as I am only a fairly small seller, I am judged on the last 12 months so if I do get a low DSR it remains on my record for a year. Big sellers are only judged on 3 months. It would be nice if they had an ‘in between’ level of, say, 6 months for ‘medium’ sellers as that would include me and it would return my DSRs to 5 out of 5. I have a low one for postage (undeserved!) from last April that will still be there till next April, yet I have been doing free postage since April so I really should have a 5 – annoying to have to wait months for it to go.
Just to let others know in case:
There is a seller protection discussion with eBay from 2.30pm TODAY until 3.30pm.
Might be worth checking in to discuss or read about the many gripes us sellers have with eBay’s supposed “Seller Protection”
https://community.ebay.co.uk/