Do you think there is a lot of FALSE positive feedback by eBay Buyers, out of fear of having bad feedback...?

Question

written about them?

I Just often wonder when i see "Positives" that are brief or short, and that focus mainly on the transaction, like "Fast Shipping." or simply, "Great." or "Thanks." I wonder if they gave the seller a "Positive" in order not to have their OWN reputations marred by the inevitable negative response, but are in fact angry b/c the product is not up to par, and this short reply is their silent way of showing it. lol.

Anyway, do you think buyers OFTEN give false positives for this reason, or am I just projecting what I'm thinking of doing myself?

Answer 1

I wonder the same thing but I can honestly say that I will give negative feedback when I feel it's due and have only had one person do it back to me in retaliation...ironically that person still hasn't refunded my purchase or sent the item out and that was two years ago.

Answer 2

A good seller should give positive feedback as soon as the payment clears, as the buyer has already done their part. A smart buyer will not leave feedback until they have received and inspected the merchandise, and if it is not satisfactory, should contact the seller to resolve the issue before leaving feedback prematurely.

In most cases, the feedback % is much more important to the seller than the buyer, because it's easy enough to make a new buyer's account, but sellers need to establish a high positive feedback rate with a large number of transactions before they qualify to offer Buyer Protection on their auctions or earn PowerSeller status.

As a buyer, I won't leave feedback until the seller has left theirs :)

Answer 3

The problem is that there're four possible responses:
1. Positive
2. Neutral
3. Negative
4. No response.

I wish I could grade the seller separately on issues such as:
a) appropriate packing
b) promptness of shipping
c) cost of shipping = cost of shipping charged to me
d) I got the right thing
e) the text description of the object was good
f) the object was what was pictured

For example, I bought an object described thus:
Condition is good with manual and system disk
A TRUE COLLECTOR'S GEM!

When it arrived, it had the thickest cigarette smoke fur I had ever seen on any object!
The picture in the auction was so blurred, I couldn't tell that, and the text didn't say anything like "Dirty and smelly from decades in the home of a chain smoker." I wish I could give the seller a bad grade in "text description" because he got everything else right. Instead, I may have to just give him a "neutral" feedback and state "Furred with cigarette smoke, not a Collector's Gem as claimed"

Answer 4

I think you are right that buyers give positive feedback for fear of retaliation. We just don't know how often it happens. However, when you look at someone's feedback you can get a sense how sincere it is. I got retaliatory feedback once, I knew she will do it, but she was so bad (shipped goods three weeks after my payment and they were falsely described, in very bad condition).

Answer 5

Yes I do.

You can this confirm this by checking out the sellers/ buyers - you can read their individual feedback by clicking on the name and a lot of them just say exactly the same phrase over and over. It is definitely not personalized.

Answer 6

it is always possible but lets give them the benefit of the doubt.