Leaving negative feedback on E-Bay, is it worth it?

[mblax10]

I finally decided to set up an Ebay account and start making purchases a couple weeks ago (I know welcome to the 21st century). Since than I've bought less than 10 items and currently have 2 feedbacks, both very positive. I just bought a couple items from a seller that I'm very unsatisfied with. Seller's feedback is over 3500 with 99% positive.

I win an auction on June 27 from this seller, and pay for it that day. After I pay I see that seller offers combined shipping. I look through his other auctions find another item worth buying. I send him an e-mail stating the item # I just purchased and to hold shipping as I'm interested in another item of his. I ask him how much combined shipping will be. He says the new item will be an additional $1.99. Good deal, I bid on the acution and win it on June 29.

That night I e-mail seller requesting that shipping be discounted to the 1.99 I was quoted. Seller writes back: "that only works if the payment is made in one transaction so I can mail the together easy and theirs less of a fee from paypal"

A couple e-mail's later (seller's communication was poor throughout), I tell him I will just pay the full shipping amount but am very unhappy with it. I pay for the 2nd item in full on July 2. 3 or 4 days later he requests payment. I tell him it's paid for and to please ship. A couple days later I get an e-mail saying he'll split the difference in shipping. I don't respond because we're talking about a few dollars here that I've already paid. It's the principle of the matter. Today, I recieve an e-mail that both items were shipped today.

All in all we're talking about a couple dollars, no big deal, but I felt the communication was poor, shipping was slow and the seller re-nigged on his discount offer. Is it worth it for me to leave negative feedback? Should I expect him to leave me a negative which may make other sellers weary of selling to me? Keep in mind I have bought very few items, but plan on purchasing more soon.

[Voltron87]

its reneged, not, re-nigged

[Joshssj4]

I left negative responses on a 10,000+ seller. Not only was my negative opinion barely visible, but he left a response to my opinion stating it was my fault, something that I could not respond to. With sellers this big, it is inevitably pointless to give bad feedback for problems this minute.

[-Skeme-]

[Homer]

If you don't feel comfortable leaving negative feedback, at least leave neutral feedback and explain why you're doing so. Whenever I buy something on EBay, I look at the actual comments and not just the positive feedback percentage. If I see more than one or two neutrals, I don't buy from that person.

[siccjay]

He's right about the paypal fee. You should have waited and paid for them all together.

He should have worked with you more, but it's tough if he is selling and shipping a lot of items.

Is it worth negative feedback? Ehh, kinda. If you want to wait til the 45th day and leave it and then he won't be able to return it. (unless its that day)

[nolanfan34]

That's not worth a negative feedback.

OK, communication wasn't that great, and your stuff might get delayed a day or two. But if you leave a neg, I'll tell you right now what his reply in his feedback will be - "Offered to split dif. on shipping, customer refused".

I'd say you better get used to small problems like these, from large sellers. The majority of them are fine. Once in a while, you'll have a small snag, like this one.

But if this is the type of thing that you're going to feel compelled to leave a neg about, then you're going to amass a ton of them very quickly, because sellers use them in a retaliatory fashion. It sucks, but that's just a part of eBay. If YOU get a few negs, your bids are going to be cancelled by people, because they'll view you as a risk.

Here's my two cents then. If you get the products in the condition you expect, then leave a POSITIVE feedback, but make the comment honest. Say "Product as advertised, communication was a bit lacking" or something like that. You won't get a neg that way, but future buyers will see it.

I also agree with Homer, you have to look at those comments, not just the sheer number of positive feedbacks. There's a particular seller of unopened baseball cards who I usually check out, just for comedy value. This seller is very clearly manufacturing some high dollar packs, like 1986 Fleer basketball. It's insanely obvious to see. Yet, he still gets suckers buying them, because he has a ton of legit feedbacks through regular, volume priced packs and items. And when someone leaves a neg, his response is invariably the same "I have over 10k+ positive transactions vs. customer's 200?", etc.

[ChipWrecked]

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You're going to hell.

[MMMMMM]

Not worth leaving a negative feedback over a fairly minor thing like that.

[Blarg]

I'm very keen on negative feedback, but I'm not sure it's that clearcut that a negative is really warranted here.