Feedback on eBay

Updated on July 27, 2011
J.K. asks from Phoenix, AZ
9 answers

I recently posted a video game for Playstation 3 on eBay. I accidentally put it for PSP and not PS3. I had no idea there was even a difference as I used eBays picture and description. After we sold it and the customer paid, I was double checking everything and noticed that it said PSP instead of PS3. I was confused and asked the buyer about it. He told me that it wouldn't work on his portable playstation. I refunded his money on Paypal immediately with an explanation of what happened and an apology etc. I also paid an extra $2 to pay the 45 cents that Paypal charges for the services and I gave him positive feedback. This person also won the game at the very last minute and I refunded the money the same day he paid. He gave me neutral feedback saying that I posted the wrong description but refunded his money. What does neutral feedback do? I've always had positive feedback and 100% feedback so this is a little irritating. He failed to mention how quickly I made things right and he failed to mention that I gave a couple extra dollars and positive feedback. I was hoping there was a place where I can explain myself but there isn't. Is it that big of a deal or not? I recently sold some things and the buyer asked for a couple extra weeks to pay and I was totally cool about it and gave her positive feedback for communicating with me. I wish this person could have been cool too. Does neutral feedback hurt me even though it didn't bring down my score? Thanks so much!

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J.L.

answers from Chicago on

Sounds like the guy is a jerk but when you are selling to strangers you take the risk. I am an avid buyer and shopper on Ebay. I've had issues with sellers this last couple of weeks but still provided positive feedback because they were great at resolving the problem and I stated that.

Don't worry about it!!! :)

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J.G.

answers from Cleveland on

Neutral feedback does not help or hurt you. It just lets people know that an issue happened... sadly I think people use feedback a little incorrect sometimes, but we all think differently of situations and use the feedback to explain ourselves and how we feel at the moment we post feedback.

Also, in most cases, the seller is the one who pays all fees (E-bay and Paypal) & when you refund any money, it takes the fees off of your Paypal account as well and sometimes you can also get your E-bay fees back, but it takes a little more time and effort to get them back.

Oh and I have ran into a scam once on E-bay... I sold a text book to someone. They said it got wet & damaged and they couldn't use it - they wanted back their money plus some & wanted to keep the book. I told them if they returned it I would refund their shipping cost to get it to me and the price they paid... they refused to send back the book. I found 10 other E-bay sellers they did this to in less then a week, all of the sellers were given negitive feedback even if they did refund the money. We did reported them and because of the scam the feedback was removed and the person was kicked from E-bay.

So, sadly in everything there has to be bad situations... I haven't sold on E-bay since :(

4 moms found this helpful

M.L.

answers from Houston on

For one thing, you didn't need to refund him an extra $2 b/c of fees, those fees come out of the money you receive, not from his pocket.. he doesn't have to pay them.

Also, neutral feedback drives me bonkers, I have over 100 positive, 0negative and 1 neutral and I hate seeing that. However, it doesn't lower your score, and most people aren't worried about it, unless they read the feedback and see that you were outright scamming them or something.

Really, his neutral feedback was justified, in that he felt he had a neutral shopping experience. He should NOT be asked to change that. No seller is perfect. I've sold things that I was out of stock of without realizing it, and refunded the money quickly with a profound apology note and have received positive feedbacks even for those. Just take care of your customers and pay extra attention to details so it won't happen again.

3 moms found this helpful
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M.L.

answers from Colorado Springs on

Ebay has changed its feedback procedure (for the better) in the last several years. A neutral rating will neither help you or hurt you.

The would-be buyer probably did the best he thought he could; he was justifiably disappointed that what he bid on was not what he thought it would be.

You also did absolutely the right thing by refunding his money right away. He may not have mentioned your speed in refunding, but if you had been slow about it, you may well have received a negative rating instead! Think about the same thing happening in a physical store; if "I'm returning this product and I want my money back" does not receive an immediate response, you don't want to shop there again, right?

I, as an eBay buyer, might look through your feedback and see a neutral rating, but I wouldn't worry about it as long as I didn't see any negatives. I wouldn't wonder about your products or your integrity as a seller.

Don't stew about it. You inadvertently made a mistake in listing, and you know you'll never make that one again! :^)

3 moms found this helpful
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A.B.

answers from Pittsburgh on

When i was new to eBay, I gave a seller either positive or neutral (I can't remember why now) and they got really upset - I didn't know it was that big of a deal, honestly. I've noticed that many sellers now actually say on their post to please give positive feedback OR contact them before posting negative feedback if there were any concerns.

When the seller contacted me, I changed it.

I think you should contact the seller and remind him what measures you took to make things right and if he has no other concerns, to please consider changing the feedback rating. All he can do is blow you off or say no. At least you tried!

If I was new to your shop, I would consider the fact that all the other ratings were positive and this was a pretty minor concern. If there were more neutrals or negatives than positives, I wouldn't buy from you. Otherwise, I wouldn't hesitate!

2 moms found this helpful

C.O.

answers from Washington DC on

Neutral feedback does NOT hurt your 100% rating....at one point it did and sellers were having a class A conniption fit - and rightfully so...

I don't know why you paid extra money...when you refund a buyer their money - it should be the EXACT AMOUNT and that's it...Paypal does not charge fees for refunding the money. You must have "sent" him money instead of REFUNDING his money.

It sounds like you are also new to ebay. While mistakes happen, I can tell you from experience that attention to detail is what counts - on ANY transaction you make - whether it's ebay or craigslist (without feedback)

Yes, you can explain yourself - you can update feedback - but really? it's over and done with. You learned from this and won't make the same mistake twice....if you revise or update your feedback - see the Community Forum - then you will be sounding, in my opinion, like a whiny child...just leave it alone.

1 mom found this helpful

L.S.

answers from Los Angeles on

What everyone has told you is correct. Also, he may not retaliate since he has already given you feedback. There is a way to write a short note right under his feedback and you can figure it out through the help icon; it's pretty easy. However, it's true that you did make a mistake and although you refunded his money right away, his experience was neither positive (didn't get the item he had wanted) nor negative (since you refunded the money right away).

1 mom found this helpful

A.H.

answers from Portland on

From shopping on ebay there are positive, neutral, and negative feedback on the sellers. It will list each type of feedback and it probably won't hurt you, especially not just one. As a shopper I always look at feedback on ebay (and other sites like etsy) but if I saw the neutral comment you have I wouldn't be phased b/c he said you refunded the money, etc. I wouldn't not buy from you because of that at all. I look at reviews for negative "he scammed me" "shipping took forever" "no communication" "crappy quality", etc reviews. I agree with Amyj156 I don't mind as long as neutral doesn't outweigh positives.

So what happened:

That's awesome. I didn't think you'd have a problem selling a PS3 game. I'm saving up for a PS3 lol. I want one, they are awesome

1 mom found this helpful

R.R.

answers from Los Angeles on

It won't hurt you, because even though the buyer gave you "neutral" feedback, since he said that you listed the wrong item, but refunded his money, potential buyers will see that and should feel confident that you rectified your mistake. Don't worry, we've all made mistakes in listings!

And, in the future, don't refund more than you received, PayPal gave him back the money they charged you, so he came out $2 ahead.

1 mom found this helpful
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