vote on what feedback i should give...

[lucykate]

here's the background - i won an orla kiely dress on the 25th june, heard nothing or received anything from the seller until i had an email on the 2nd july saying it would be posted early the following week as she's just given birth, fair enough. the week went by, and nothing arrived so i emailed her on the thursday (7th july), no response, so i emailed again on monday (11th), she responded the next day to say it would be in the post by wednesday, with me thursday. it's finally arrived this morning, i really like the dress, but i was posted in an asda carrier bag with a scrap of paper sellotaped to the front with my address written on, even the postman kind of did a double take when he handed it over.

so, what feedback to i give?, it took nearly 3 weeks for the item to arrive in a plastic bag, but do i bear in mind she's just had a baby and go easy (although i only have her word for it, but the flip side is the baby could be ill, she could be ill etc). don't want to be mean but a flippin asda carrier bag fgs!

[FuzzpigFourFiveSix]

Sorry for total hijack - I bought a couple of things off eBay (via the iPhone app) for the first time ever a couple of months ago. Totally forgot about leaving feedback. How do I do it? I feel a bit guilty that they were perfectly good but I haven't given them feedback for it

[ragged]

yup, my only npb was a teen who bid on a modem or something, using mom's account without telling her. Amount was small, too, only like 7 quid (eejits).
Probably depends what kind of goods you are flogging, too. Some types of stuff are more attractive to deadbeat people, I imagine.

[aswellasyou]

I've sold about 60 items and had 5 people not pay at all and 2 who did after numerous reminders but before the cases I opened were closed. I've had two overseas buyers who refused to pay the postage costs despite saying to contact me before bdding. One did in the end, the other was one of the non-payers. It's so irritating and such a waste of my time.

[saoirse86]

ragged only one non-payer?!?!?!? I've had absolutely countless non-payers. I'd say about 10% of items I've sold I end up relisting!

And it's sad how aged 18-21 just before end of year deadlines and/or festivals is when the GP's die.

[lucykate]

"The grandparents dying isn't so incredible; about 20yo is when most of us have our grandparents die"

i know that, but 10 grandparents over the space of a 3 year degree course?? i'm talking unbelievable quantities, no doubt there are some that are genuine.

[ragged]

I've got a f/back rating of 268, about half of it sales, over last 10 yrs. Only once ONCE can I remember somebody pulling a "Somebody just died on me" line, and I believed it, to be honest. Never had unexpected baby/trip to hospital. Only had one npb. maybe two faulty items I bought and one or two I sold. Just lucky? Or...
I doubt that's a higher % of difficult transactions than you'd get doing any other type of mail order purchases/sales.

The grandparents dying isn't so incredible; about 20yo is when most of us have our grandparents die.

[aswellasyou]

I left feedback after two or three days I think. I was deciding what to give becuase she'd been such a nightmare, but my computer wasn't working properly so I wasn't able to submit feedback anyway. I still had about 4 messages asking to leave it after I'd already done it.

[lucykate]

no, not left it yet. never a good idea to do feedback when you're a bit mad!

am wearing dress today

[fergoose]

I hope you didn't leave immediate feedback!

[aswellasyou]

I had a woman selling me tickets who took days to respond to each message I sent her asking to create a BIN, send asap, etc. as the event was a week and a half from the first message and I had to book accommodation. I was very nice and calm in the messages but she kept ignoring me. The tickets arrived at 9am the day of the event and immediately she started sending message after message asking me to leave feedback so she could get her money from PayPal. It's interesting she was suddenly so available when it came to getting her money.

[fergoose]

well maybe i am cynical, but in over 10 years of ebay I have known plenty of sellers with disasters, hospital visits, house fires etc.

I am afraid i don't believe a word I am told anymore. From sellers saying something has been posted, when it finally arrives the postmark shows it was sent days later, to something in 'good condition' which is wouldn't let my dog sleep on, to 'damaged' so here is your refund on a 99p item, then they relist it at a higher price due to 'non paying bidder', to 'no smoking' households which send stuff absolutely reeking of smoke. Oh yes and packaging, thin torn bin bags, a cadbury's biscuit multipack wrapper with just a bit of cellotape, christmas paper or a torn single layer of brown paper, then seller is indignant you complain a piece of china is smashed to smithereens. Then the old chestnut of not responsible for lost in the post, to no returns accepted. Sorry - I will stop now, this is no good for anybody's blood pressure!

So I always leave very honest feedback, and make absolutely no apologies for it. That is what feedback is for. There are far more sellers on ebay now, and many just want easy money selling rubbish with absolutely no customer service whatsoever.


So yes you are being far too nice and generous - or maybe I am just bitter! :)

[lucykate]

i couldn't decide between positive or neutral, i've been very lucky so far on ebay and only ever needed to give positive feedback. it was a £40 dress, was p'd off yesterday when i saw how she'd posted it.

so, having babies/going into hospital is an often used ebay excuse?, i had no idea! although dh is a uni lecturer and he says its amazing how many grandparents some of his students have that keep dying meaning they need time off/deadline extensions. it's very sad each year that so many of them loose a grandparent in the week running up to glastonbury.

[fergoose]

i don't understand why you asked for us to vote, but never had any intention of leaving the seller a negative.

I don't believe for 1 second that your seller is telling the truth.

[saoirse86]

It's funny how I always have non-payers and late posting sellers who end up in hospital/have a baby/are seriously busy but they have all the time in the world to send endless messages explaining all this!

She's probably either lying or bending the truth, she sent it badly packaged (shopping bags are often dirty and have crumbs etc in - I woudln't package something for 99p in one), and it was faulty. fergoose is right, you're a seller's dream!

If she genuinely had just given birth and it was a surprise then there would people around her (DP/DH/Mum/IL's etc) who would be able to do her a favour of just popping down to the post office. I know if I'd asked my DP to go out for 10 minutes in those first few days he would've jumped at the chance!

My vote - NEGATIVE!!!!

(Can we vote on other things in your life? This could be exciting! )

[lucykate]

i'm being very lenient on the basis she says she's just had her second baby, and could easily be a mnetter

[fergoose]

so not only was it late and poorly packed it was also not as described, damaged and faulty! and you wonder what feedback to give?

I think you are far too patient, if i had paid that amount, waited 3 weeks then it arrived damaged/faulty I would def leave a neg

Did you email the seller about the faults? I bet you paid over the odds for postage too!

You are the perfect buyer - wait weeks, receive faulty goods and don't complain!

[aswellasyou]

[lucykate]

thanks for all the different views on this. the dress was ok when it arrived, although there is what looks like a small felt tip mark on the front and a seam had split (i've repaired the seam). i was just a little shocked about the way it had been posted given this is an expensive dress.

[fergoose]

I agree - no wonder the NHS is on its last legs.

[aswellasyou]

I'm surprised quite a few people here would be happy for items to be packaged in a see through plastic bag. Personally, I wouldn't mind a plastic bag, but any see through packaging isn't appropriate.

I'm starting to fear for my life with the number of eBay sellers and buyers who find themselves in hospital.

[80sbabe]

I agree with Fergoose - this transaction has clearly annoyed you, the delay seems very unreasonable. As a buyer you should not have to chase a seller up at all for delivery, let alone twice.

It's amazing how many people on Ebay list items then have babies, medical treatment, holidays, prison sentences etc....
After a while you do get a bit cynical.

The whole experience does not seem to have been a positive one for you, therefore you can either leave a neutral, a negative or no feedback.
Feedback is supposed to be an honest appraisal of how you found your transaction and experience with this seller.

The seller cannot leave retaliatory feedback for you and if it wasn't a good transaction then you really should tell others why that was so. It may have been a one off, if so then previous and subsequent good feedback will endorse this for the seller.

BTW - I am a regular seller on Ebay, I did have a prem baby 2 months early and I still managed to get all items bought from me during that time out with only a one day delay. My DH and friends packed them and went to the post office on my behalf, so it can be done.

Three weeks is certainly very unreasonable.

Also do follow the advice about leaving 1 star rather than 0 and hopefully the seller will think twice before behaving like this again.

[ragged]

Did it arrive in good condition?
I'd only neg if it arrived in bad condition (or never came at all).
Can mark her down on the stars as you see fit.

[moonferret]

Personally I'd check the existing feedback. If it's flawless and fairly large (50+) I'd not give any feedback. If it's already tainted I'd give a neutral with poor DSRs. I reserve my negs for the complete losers who take your money and send nothing, don't reply to your messages and you have to claim money back from PayPal. I've given 3 negs in about 280 transactions.

[Tryharder]

I wouldn't leave negative for this. Yes, the packaging was crap - would you have been happier if it were a Waitrose carrier?? - and the time delay was crap but if the dress itself was what you wanted and as described then I don't think there is a major problem. I personally don't like ruining someone's otherwise positive feedback and wouldn't do so unless the buyer was fraudulent or rude.

I would leave positive but mark down on the packaging and communication; something like "loved the dress but delivery slow with poor packaging" Of if you cannot bear to leave positive, leave nothing at all.

[cheesesarnie]

id leave nothing.
if you liked dress(?),packaging didnt harm it(?),time was a bummer but....is it worth the stress?