Feedback - do you bother are you honest?

[490808]

I'm a fairly passionate giver of feedback. Amazon, ebay, adverts what have you if I buy something online or do something and there is an option to leave feedback I do so.

The reason I was thinking of the subject is because I'd just left crap feedback for an item I like. That may sound a bit weird but I reckon some things deserve negative feedback even though they are basically sound.

I'll give some examples.

IT gear that is known for being the best but has a really steep learning curve, really poor documentation and a fanboy forum that won't hear a word said against it. I have a strong IT background but if it takes me a while to work out there is something wrong somewhere - I'm also a fanatic reader of documentation and small print.

Stuff that if you bother to check is cheaper to buy locally

Items that are fine for your purpose but don't actually live up to the description you get from reading the listing. Say a TV mount that works fine for a 28 inch TV but obviously won't be up to the job of holding the 40 inch TV the listing suggests.

Something that does the job as per the listing but is just plain cheap.

There are times when the star rating is low but the the actual feedback I write is good. This maybe something to do with me taking more notice for example of 3 star ratings on Amazon than one star or 5 star ratings.

I also take the view that if something is wrong its wrong I don't amend the star rating but I may add an explanation to the text. I had one guy on ebay sell me something that was badly flawed. I left feedback that said so. He went mad about it saying because he's refunded me I should leave positive feedback. My argument was because he'd sent out crap to me and would send out crap to everyone else buying the same product my feedback stood.

Do you bother leaving feedback and do you bother with an honest description of why you are leaving that feedback?

[Del.Monte]

I leave feedback on eBay, Delcampe and Adverts.ie but never on Amazon. I despise the company but have to use it quite frequently for items not easily obtainable in Ireland or a fraction of the price. In 20+ years buying and selling online I have left virtually no negative feedback and received only one negative on eBay from a confused idiot who was entirely to blame and left the wrong feedback. From what I gather I have been unusually lucky!
On the rare occasion when something has got broken in transit, or gone missing, I always kill the complaint with kindness i.e. immediate refund or replacement - a habit that I learnt a long time ago and it has served me well.

[490808]

I've no problem dealing with honest sellers who have problems with their chosen courier service. But how do you deal with an ebay item that eventually arrives 6 weeks after payment with the final excuse from the seller that he gave the item to his sister to post and she forgot it and left it in her car. Previously I'd been told it had been sent the day after I paid and this was reiterated for several weeks? Can't be bothered gets nul point from me.

[95438756]

Well, I did on Ali Express. when my shit was delayed in shipping by the pandemic. Made not a single difference.
I also gave feedback to the makers of Magix Vegas video editing software because it does not support USB webcams (but it does support firewire webcams) - made no difference - I got laughed at.
It does not work with Supervalu either.

[CelticRambler]

For "significant" purchases, yes - I try to give an honest appraisal, within the limits of what's allowed by the site. By "significant" I mean something that I've bothered to do at least a bit of research on myself, and for which I feel it's important to confirm, refute or clarify comments that I've come across. The most recent was for nothing more exciting than generic printer cartridges, but I wanted to indicate that my particular printer (which stubbornly refused to print a black and white page of text using a brand new, Epson-branded black-ink cartridge because the yellow ink had also run out) grudgingly accepted the non-Epson cartridge and got on with the job.

When it's something for which I have no great expectations, or that's going to need several years to prove its worth, I don't generally bother, especially if the site insists on a written commentary as well as a star rating.

I have three products that I bought recently for the camper that I'll leave reviews for, too, although one of them will be pretty basic, and I left a positive-but-not-glowing review yesterday for a new razor.

When a seller invites direct contact in the case of dissatisfaction before leaving a negative review, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and hold off on the review until they've had time to sort out the problem. The only time I've had to do this was with an AliExpress seller, who couldn't fix the problem, but made a very reasonable counter-proposal. In that case I, left a "mixed" review indicating both the original problem and the cooperative attitude of the seller.

[Del.Monte]

On a related matter, what do you do with sellers - especially on eBay - who refuse to respond to polite messages. I have recently enquired twice to one American seller about two items that he has had listed for more than a year - one is a black n white holiday snap of an obscure Irish author, the other a typed one page letter from same author. I asked could he combine postage or offer some sort of discount as he had them listed for such a long time (£15 p+p) on each item! No reply. A month later contacted again still no reply. What sort of clown is he? Plenty of positive feedback but why should I trust him to send on the goods if I was to agree to his mad prices. Manners are no hardship.

[490808]

Its really down to how much you really want the item. Very occasionally I've bitten the bullet and bought from a seller that I thought was going to be problematic but each time its worked out OK.

Or play the the system and be prepared to leave negative feedback if it goes as badly as you expect it to. Assume you are paying by PayPal so that does leave you with the upper hand. One thing you have to think about is that sellers often have to send stuff by registered post because of buyers lying about receiving anything. Although in this case you'd assume he's combine postage.

Another roose is to find the most expensive item the seller has and ask if he will combine postage for that. Then when if he says yes go ahead and buy the cheaper items

[490808]

.

[Wibbs]

On a related matter, what do you do with sellers - especially on eBay - who refuse to respond to polite messages. I have recently enquired twice to one American seller about two items that he has had listed for more than a year - one is a black n white holiday snap of an obscure Irish author, the other a typed one page letter from same author. I asked could he combine postage or offer some sort of discount as he had them listed for such a long time (£15 p+p) on each item! No reply. A month later contacted again still no reply. What sort of clown is he? Plenty of positive feedback but why should I trust him to send on the goods if I was to agree to his mad prices. Manners are no hardship.

Down the years on ebay I did find in very general terms mind you certain national characters come to the fore at times. I found American sellers to be one or the other, really sound, or dour unhelpful fcukers. I found UK sellers to be similar actually. Either really cool or wankers. Spaniards, French and Italians were generally sound as pounds, but with an initial wariness, particularly the French. With the latter, a matter of fact, even dismissive initial exchange very often became much friendlier with more back and forth. I often trawled non .ie/.com ebays for watches for example and you'd find stuff listed "locally" that were only for local sale, but more times than not would post to Ireland after a quick PM exchange. The least likely to go along with that were Americans, Germans and UK sellers. Particularly Americans. I never had a French, Spanish or Italian refuse that. Italian sellers would often get into a back and forth general chat, just shooting the breeze.

[Del.Monte]

@ Wibbs

I find the the Brits the best to deal with and the Americans as you say are either really helpful or complete tossers. In general I don't buy much from Europe and have most of the continent (with the exception of Germany and the Nordic countries) barred from bidding on my sales. That said, eBay particularly has become increasingly to sell on that I tend to only use the site for buying on.

[NickNickleby]

I always read feedback before making an online purchase, and I think its useful way of doing your 'due diligence' before parting with your hard earned cash. Bearing that in mind, I always make sure to give honest and constructive feedback. I've been lucky in that I've never had to post negative feedback. I once made a purchase from the UK costing hundreds and was horrified to find the wrong item in the box. In my subsequent feedback I outlined how the vendor fixed the problem within 48 hours, having acted immediately on my first email.

[490808]

^^^^^

I always say everyone has problems with stuff they sell (and couriers) what sorts out the good guys from the bad is how they deal with it.

Often you can't even leave feedback for the guilty party. I had an issue with a DeWalt repair. I'd signed up (registered) for the full 3 year warranty but the Irish (ROI) repair service didn't want to know because I'd bought the item on Amazon (30 months on neither did Amazon but that's not surprising). In the end a company on the that does all the DeWalt repair work in the North took the item and eventually fixed it after sending it back to DeWalt but is was over 3 months before I got a replacement.

Positive feedback for Amazon and a good item.
But annoyingly can't leave any feedback for the repair network for DeWalt who are crap or DeWalt for being so slow to sort it out once they got it. I love to give positive feedback to the company in the North that took in the repair but again I can't.

Anyway I've just fallen out with Amazon and I won't be bothering with anymore reviews as I've been banned from leaving reviews for the last two items I've reviewed. No idea, perfectly sensible reviews well within Amazons guidelines, they ask me to resubmit them then when I try I get a notice saying I'm banned from leaving reviews for those items?