The views and opinions posted in this forum are not necessarily those of Jim Wilson, AuctionHints, or any of the employees or associates of AuctionHints.com. Jim Wilson and AuctionHints.com cannot be held accountable for any liabilities that may result from any post.

We invite anyone to email us with any questions: forum@nospam.auctionhints.com

EMAIL ADDRESSES ARE NOW COMPLETELY OPTIONAL!
ENTER YOUR EMAIL ADDY WHEN YOU POST...OR DON'T. IT'S UP TO YOU!

AuctionHintsForum

Some more food for thought

Posted By: Jim Wilson
Date: Friday, 6 May 2005, at 10:39 a.m.

In Response To: Re: Holding Feedback Hostage et al LINK (Natalie Williams)

First and foremost I cannot begin to tell everyone how much respect I have for both Robbin and Nat. It is literally immeasureable. Having said that, here is some more food for thought as to why I started placing the statement right in my ads "I issue positive feedback to all buyers once the transaction has been totally completed." And I go on to say that this means payment was made, the item was shipped and received, inspected and accepted, and positive feedback let me know that all was ok.

Now it might be perceived that this is a sort of feedback hostage situation but I made this decision based on three situations in which buyers essentially held me as the seller hostage. "Either give me a refund or else I will issue negative feedback." In all three cases the items were brand new, exactly as advertised, and once returned in now opened and used condition were worth only about 1/2 the original value. Because of the threats I was not even able to at least ask what was wrong that they felt the need to ask for a refund. In one case the guy used the clubs (golf irons) for a round or two and could not hit them and thus he now wanted his money back. I lost about $400 on that deal alone.

And so I had to make a business decision. This was back in 2002 when my ebay business was in full swing. (pun intended since I was selling new golf stuff) I was not going to allow buyers to simply threaten me in order to essentially test out expensive golf equipment. By changing the way I went about issueing feedback to my buyers I completely eliminated the problem and never once faced it again. The mere fact that their threat could be met with a "let's discuss why you are asking for the refund, was there a problem with the irons" along with a "negative feedback is supposed to be the last resort and I don't like leaving it but..."- completely ended the problem and as a matter of fact I actually sold more clubs. People knew that when they bought the sets of irons that I would ship them the same day they paid via Priority Mail at exact cost, that they had the manufacturers' warranty, and that so long as the clubs were still completely new that I would gladly issue a full refund once the clubs were sent back to me. (This happened once when a guy found out the irons he got were too short. In the end he bought longer ones and positive feedback was left by both of us for each other)

I believe that the feedback system is indeed flawed in that:
1. Fundamentally a lot of people simply don't know how to use it.
2. There is no way to prevent retaliatory feedback.
3. It doesn't really tell the whole story.

When someone reads a negative feedback it tells them that something went wrong with that deal. That is the perception they are left with. Regardless of how much you might have done to assure total satisfaction this is what potential customers are left to believe. And frankly this is not fair to sellers who are honest and work hard to earn their feedback.

Final thought: it isn't really a hostage situation for one other simple reason. The fact that it says right in my ads that the positive feedback won't be left until the transaction is TOTALLY complete prevents it from being so. Those who bid and buy from me know the rules going in. And they should also know that I offer a no questions asked money back guarantee so long as they return the item in the same condition I sent it to them in the first place. It too is in my ads.

Just my humble and believe me, I don't like having to do things this way but I dislike unwarranted negatives a whole lot more.
Jim Wilson

Messages In This Thread

Words of Warning To All!
Jim Wilson -- Saturday, 6 April 2002, at 4:25 p.m.

Re: Words of Warning To All!
Martin Hopkins -- Saturday, 6 April 2002, at 5:16 p.m.

Unfortunately...
Jim Wilson -- Saturday, 6 April 2002, at 8:47 p.m.

Re: Unfortunately... LINK PIC
Alan -- Thursday, 5 May 2005, at 8:13 p.m.

Re: Words of Warning To All!
Steve -- Wednesday, 4 May 2005, at 3:41 p.m.

Ok, Steve...
Jim Wilson -- Wednesday, 4 May 2005, at 6:51 p.m.

Re: Words of Warning To All! LINK
Natalie Williams -- Wednesday, 4 May 2005, at 7:21 p.m.

Re: Words of Warning To All!
Audrey -- Thursday, 5 May 2005, at 4:02 a.m.

Re: Holding Feedback Hostage et al LINK
Robbin K. Tungett -- Thursday, 5 May 2005, at 5:55 p.m.

Re: Holding Feedback Hostage et al LINK
Natalie Williams -- Thursday, 5 May 2005, at 6:49 p.m.

Some more food for thought
Jim Wilson -- Friday, 6 May 2005, at 10:39 a.m.

Re: Some more food for thought
Jim Bowie -- Friday, 20 May 2005, at 10:23 a.m.

AuctionHintsForum is maintained by AuctionHints Admin with WebBBS 5.12.