Ebay advice: negative or neutral?
 

So here's the situation:

I ordered a pair of Miche Primato hubs off of eBay last week. They arrived very quickly, but were packed terribly. They're not damaged in any substantial way - nicks and dings, but that's it - but I'm still a little peeved. The dealer simply taped up the Miche box and stuck a mailing label on it - no padding or anything on the inside so the hubs were free to knock around. The inside of the box got torn up and the aforementioned cosmetic damage happened.

I emailed the seller earlier and am waiting to hear back, but I doubt they're really going to do or say much besides apologise. I mean, the hubs work fine and I got them really quickly so technically there is no real problem here; however, I wouldn't necessarily jump at the chance to order from them again, you know?

So does this seem like a negative feedback situation or a neutral feedback situation?

m.

If you give him negative you're gonna get negative.

Just leave him a positive and shoot him a constructive email.

I'd say that's a neutral. If the hubs had been functionally damaged or had fallen out of the box in transit, then I'd say go negative, but throw them a neutral and let them know that they need to do a better job. As a general rule, I think people really have to do something sh*tty to deserve negative feedback.

email him saying you'd love to leave feedback, but your policy is the seller has to leave some first. after he leaves you positive, i'd leave a neutral.

i'll never leave anything but positive feedback before the other person leaves me some. retaliatory negative/neutral feedback is the worst.

I was leaning towards neutral, but worried that I was being a wuss about it. I've only given negatives to people who didn't pay me.

m.

I would agree with Dave, but then the feedback you give him would have to depend on what happened during the shipping process, not in his actions. Regardless of how torn up the box did or didn't get, that guy is dumber than a box of rocks. Or inconsiderate.

As someone that works in the 'shipping business' that (aside from not labeling something correctly) is the stupidest thing someone can do-not package something well.

I say neutral as well. However, some things are easier said than done. :)

i would still give the seller a positive, but in your feedback comment, maybe say the hubs arrived safely but with minor dings because they were poorly packaged.

i've only sold one thing on ebay, so i don't quite understand this from a seller's perspective. other than the actual payment not being received promptly, what could possibly and logically be the excuse for a seller to leave negative or neutral feedback for a buyer. even for reactive negative feedback from the seller, what could possibly be said that would have any base to it?

I would ONLY leave neutral if there was an issue with the hubs and ONLY negative if there was an issue with the Hubs AND the seller refused to make it right.

Personally I agree with Raygunner. This seems like a positive experience, just give the dude some constructive advice and hopefully he packs his stuff better in the future.

But since your hubs have no issue and you got the stuff really quick, besides what "could" have happened, it doesn't seem like you have any reason to give him anything but positive. That's just my opinion.

i say go with positive and with comments write "quick fast but POORLY packaged"

1. demand he exchange it for a new one and cover all associated shipping costs

if he doesnt comply, leave a neutral or negative

Well there's absolutely no point leaving anything until you hear back from him. This is moot.

i agree with operator. the whole point of the feedback idea is to encourage professional business practices by holding people accountable for what they do, but more importantly how they handle disputes. you are not supposed to leave feedback until he has handled the situation. if he has good customer service and accomodates your concern (refund, partial refund, exchange, etc.), then he gets a positive. if he is responsive but doesn't give adequate accomodation, maybe a nuetral is in order. if he tells you to f off, or you email him for several weeks without a response, then he gets negative. there's a whole article about it in the "feedback forum" on ebay, possibly even shorter than this post.

Feedback is your leverage in this negoitiation. Figure out what price you would have paid for the damaged goods you now possess. Request a refund for the difference, or a replacement if you're not satisfied with what you've got. If necessary, you can go through PayPal to get your money back, but then you'd better not build them up, and it can take a month or so. If the seller makes it right, it is a positive. If not, you're dealing with the feedback dance as others have mentioned.

I left a feedback for a seller that said-- slow ship otherwise fine-- something like that.

I received 2 negative feedbacks, i bought 2 items:

"WARNING SELLERS A REAL PEST! LIMP-WRISTED ANT-AMERICAN LEFTY.BAN HIM!!!"
"WARNING! SELLERS! THIS LIMP-WRISTED MORON LEAVES SEDITIOUS POSITIVES!"

The guy got 2 positive feedbacks and i got 2 negatives. Guess what? There isn't ANYTHING that can be done.

Morale of this story? Don't leave feedback until you get it from them first. If they don't leave it, don't do it either.

Don't leave a negative, i promise.

isn't it clear, though, that this is complete nonsense? i mean, what about those comments implies anything substantive about the transaction?

Positive feedback - 100% satisfied
Negative feedback - you got hosed - payment not received, or item not received. Reserve this for crooks & cons.

For everything else, I'd say leave a neutral with a brief explanation of your concerns.


Before feedback, I'd do my best to get in touch with the seller and see what he/she is willing to do to make things right. I'm pretty sure eBay has some sort of counselling system to help you out, too.

Exactly- why not ask the seller to take them back. I've done that twice after buying crap wheels (bent rims that were not disclosed).

Thanks for all the advice, everyone. Just to clarify, the hubs aren't damaged in any way that would make them unusable. They just have some surface scratches and nicks - I wouldn't want to go to the trouble of sending them back or anything like that. Mostly, I just want the friggin' store to email me back and say, "we're sorry we packed those so badly and we hope it won't stop you from shopping with us in the future." I didn't ask them for a refund or anything, I'm mostly just looking for an apology.

Mostly, I think it's just this strep throat making me cranky.

m.

Yeah it didn't hurt my rating really. If anyone bothers to read them it jumps right out that the guy is a complete idiot as i always pay instantly and nobody but him ever had any problem with me.

I did start to read people's feedback prior to bidding-- you look at a guy with thousands of feedbacks and think it's ok-- it might be, but if you look at this guys closely u see that about 1 in 100 gets royally hosed by him.

Ebay does not police jack or ****.