Neutral Feedback

I'd put a comment on that one, Juanita. Something like "Auction for 12 beads, picture showed 12 beads, winner sent 12 beads" Let your other customers draw their own conclusions - like that bidder's an idiot.

Plus this guy left 22 feedbacks today for 14 sellers and out of those, he gave two neutrals and one negative. I hope he never finds my store...

Mj

Yes, I would definitely comment. What can he do? He can't neg you...

I did not get a neutral from this woman (very nice woman btw) but she said it would have been nice if the measurements were in the auction description -- they were! LOL.

So yeah, I would definitely say something. Not that a neutral is

Mary T. 8-)

Aunt Molly's Bead Street

My thing is, i would like to have a feedback system similar to Amazon's (or how they used to have it), a 5 point. There is no way for a person to say "they went above and beyond", and there isn't any real way to say "they just sent it and that was that". With Amazon, and a 5 point system, you could use "4" for the "nice communication, quick shipping", 5 for the "gee, they went above and beyond, they hand delivered it with cheesecake and coffee"...and the 3 being the "I paid them, they sent it. I got no communication from them except the invoice".

I think that was the original point, then everyone started giving the 3 star level, and now, if someone leaves a neutral, people freak.

JMO

Mary (who would freak over a neutral, also!)

In this case the complaint sounds rediculous.

I do think there has been "grade inflation" on the system (or maybe it was always that way? I have only used eBay for the last year or so). As far as English meanings go, "neutral" would sound like a fine response if everything went normally in a transaction. However, because everyone does it, it seems that if you don't give a "positive" and a message like "A+++++++++ [seller|buyer]" you are giving a complaint.

This means that the uninitiated might unknowingly leave a neutral, which they feel is a fine thing to do, and be hit with a negative out of anger in return. It also means that there is no way to reward someone who did something over and beyond.

marisa2

Juanita Floyd wrote:

I have an odd attitude about feed back I guess.

I have trouble remembering things sometimes. Like leaving feedback. I often just space it out. And I am not as quick as I'd like to be. The feedback I consider most important is going back and buying more beads.

And I have a problem with people who think neutral means bad. I do almost always leave positive (every time that I can remember) because I know that's what I'm supposed to do. But I can understand someone thinking, unhappy gets negative feedback, OK and what I expect for my money is neatral, and service above and beyond is positive. You know, like when you answer a survey.

I don't think everyone knows a neutral feedback is considered an insult.

Tina

Thanks for the "feedback". :0). I responded and that is that. He won't answer my emails, so there is no way I can understand what he was thinking. Life will go on, I just wanted to understand what his gripe was so I could make it better.

The Amazon system was good. It allowed more latitude without having to say something that wasn't quite meant.

Have a great week, Juanita

I agree to a point. A neutral in general is not necessarily a bad thing, but when the person tells an untruth in the message, that's not cool. In Juanita's case, the person should have read the auction description and counted the beads in the pic before leaving feedback. In my opinion anyway. As much as I don't like it, neutrals in the eBay world are regarded as negatives. However, if someone left me a neutral, I would be looking at why and at possibly trying to make changes so their experience is better, rather than retaliating with a negative comment. I would hope others would do the same, but often times they don't. I have left neutrals before, when I was satisfied with the transaction as a whole, but something specific wasn't great. Like shipping took forever, or the merchandise wasn't packed as well as it could have been. I watch my comments though - in hopes that the user will understand what I am saying instead of reacting to the fact that it is a neutral. Of course, I have left my share of negatives - when the transaction isn't completed due to someone not paying, etc. Oh, and when I never receive merchandise I have bid on and paid for. That kind of thing. Anyway. Ramble.

I think Juanita did the right thing by responding to the comment made.

ya, i often wish i could say 'above and beyond' for great sellers. although i must say just a promt shippment and no hassle is sometimes more pleasant than a lot of friendly communication and helpfulness in the midst of a problem.

it would also be nice if you could change your feedback, like talk it over and w/ a negative giver and see if you can work it out... ??

alia :)

or at least be able to post a rebuttal (?) comment/update...i.e. "spoke with seller, and he refunded shipping, making me satisfied". So that way, you could put "oops, forgot to hit "good"" or similar...

Of course, some of the bad sellers would try to pay you to make it good again, or something, but that would help out the legitimates (i.e. husband dying, etc...)

Mary

I should have stated that I was talking about the system.

As far as this guy goes, he was clearly out of line.

Tina

Maybe he was drunk when he bid on the auction, so it looked like twice as many beads...

I have a negative feedback because a buyer's bottle opener got lost in the mail (I'm assuming) and at the same time, Qwest pulled the plug on their ISP without migrating ME, and I was without email... since I thought all my auctions were completed, I didn't worry about it, etc.

Did I deserve that neg?

YES.

Regardless of whether it was my fault, he never got his bottle opener and I never responded to his emails. (Well, I did replace it, plus one, when I found out, but that was later.)

It absolutely doesn't matter WHY your end of the interaction went bad; if someone's experience was less than satisfying, they should be able to feedback accurately without fear of retaliation. Why punish the vendor because your payment was late? It wasn't his fault, either! Neutral feedback doesn't hurt your rating.