Anyone else worried about leaving negative feedback even when justified?
I very rarely leave bad feedback even if a sale falls through but sometimes when I have a particularly bad experience I do leave a red face. The reason I rarely leave bad feedback is because I dont want to deal with getting retaliatory feedback. Someone who has a feedback score of 57% bought 13 items from me and I emailed them three times over 2+ weeks, no response. Because this person already had so many red face feedbacks from other sellers saying this buyer buys stuff and doesn't follow through, and the fact it was 13 items which is a pain to go through each one to request a success fee refund, I left this person an appropriate red face stating they had no communication and never paid. A few weeks later I got hit with 13 negative feedbacks from this person claiming I told them they weren't allowed to pay for the items after 4 days of auction closing (what?? I literally asked them for payment for more than 2 weeks) and they claimed i had no intention of actually selling the items (then why would I list the items?) they also falsely claimed I relisted the goods, which isn't true either. I've disputed the feedback with trade me now and im sure they'll remove it, but it just feels so unfair that buyers with such poor buying history are still allowed on the site and as a seller I have to worry about getting retaliatory feedback. This is why i never bother with leaving red face feedback anymore, its not worth the hassle.
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I've pretty much stopped leaving negative feedback due to retaliatory feedback. In the past it wasn't a problem as trademe would remove it when I made a feedback dispute (provided I have evidence to back up my what I'd said) but I recently gave negative to a customer who hadn't paid or responded to e-mails. They left a retaliatory red face that simply said 'I was going to be pay tonight' (tonight being two weeks after the purchase). Trademe refused to remove the red face.
I think Trademe's thinking was that it was fair the customer was disappointed that their failing to meet trademe's trading guidelines had resulted in a negative outcome for them? And somehow my account should be marred even though I was only the victim of their failing to meet trading guidelines?
My conclusion: no longer safe to place honest feedback.0 -
On the other hand, I've had negative feedback left by a customer who hasn't even contacted us before placing negative feedback. Personally I think the feedback system is fundamentally broken. People are reluctant to leave negative feedback when negative feedback is justified, and other people leave negative feedback before even allowing a seller/buyer the opportunity to rectify the issue.
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SharonEditedI never place negative feedback on trades unless it is a complete no show (trader buys and then does a ghost on you). If there is something that annoys me about the trader i just don't place any feedback. 1. set clear terms under each listing. I have always had trade me remove unfair feedback - 2. you have to produce evidence that you have contacted the trader (promptly) after the auction/ listing has ended. 3. you have contacted the seller/ buyer before placing any feedback and about anything that is wrong about the trade 4. retain all emails and communication including text messages exchanged with the trader (buyer or seller) - even if they dont respond. 5. After all of the above I in the end ask trade me to intervene and sometimes even request them to remove unfair feedback if needed. Most important: Raise a ticket with trade me about unfair feedback (there is a formal process to do so) Trade me has always removed feedback that is unfair.
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Callum Community SuperuserYou can always use the good old 45 day trick if you are worried. Leave a positive feedback on day 40 or whatever that says "No payment received yet, please contact me" or whatever the issue is. Then after 45 days if the other party hasn't come through with the payment change it to negative.
After 45 days the other party is not able to leave feedback. So they can't leave a retaliation. However there is no limit on changing feedback. You can do that weeks, months, or even years after you have placed it.
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Yes - I do worry.
I tend to make my red face's very sterile something like this "Auction closed on 1/8, auto instructions sent, emailed them on 8/8, no response, contact requested through T-Me sent 12/8. No contact from buyer - relisted"
Pretty clear cut, but I still worry that even though I have done everything, that I will still get a retaliation back. Which has happened - every-time I have been able to reach out to T-Me though the dispute Feedback function and get these removed. But there is still the anxiety of waiting for it to be removed, wondering if the customer service rep will have pity on us, and take it away.
Although - I do like Callum's Idea that is funny, but also genius!
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The issue with this however is that they too can alter their feedback just like you can. If worried about retaliatory feedback then it would make sense to have the same concern for retaliatory altering of feedback! Unless.. they didn't place feedback at all, only then would this be a safe option, but, it is a rather underhanded way to operate and not really in keeping with open and honest trading conduct. It's surely better to lead by example than to act reprehensibly on the possibility that somebody else could (but has not) do the same.
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Callum Community Superuser
You are correct of course Julia. Many years ago before Trade Me had the retaliation feedback policy it was more common. People timed the feedback down to the last minute even. So they could leave a negative and the other party wouldn't be able to, unless they happened to be online to get the notification and instantly leave one back.
There are some further issues that stop people altering feedback though. This is because only the last 1000 feedback are able to be accessed. For my account feedback disappears after about 3 months, so can't altered after that time. There are some mega big sellers on here whose feedback can't be accessed or changed after only a matter of days!
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