Should I feel obliged to leave positive feedback on an eBay item that was shipped without incident or special attention?
I recently placed an order for an MP3 player from Creative Labs. Their entire refurbished sales department operates through eBay. They’ve sold hundreds of refurbished items, so their reputation for successful transactions is not hurting. Plus they’re a giant corporation with a generally good reputation. So why would they send me an email asking for feedback?
We noticed you have not left feedback for item number 5828610064, Creative Zen Micro 5 GB Black MP3 Player w/ Warranty, and we were wondering if there was a problem with the transaction. If your item has not yet arrived or if you are experiencing any problems with it please let us know.We also encourage you to leave feedback for us as you feel appropriate.
Well, ok, they’re concerned that something didn’t go well. And that’s good. That’s a sign of good customer service. But since they’ve done nothing that I would complain about and nothing out of the ordinary that I would rave about, I would only feel comfortable giving them neutral feedback. And really, that’s not what they’re looking for. More to the point, being a large corporation, they probably wouldn’t care as much as any of the smaller sellers that would prod me into giving them the thumbs-up/thumbs-down feedback.
As I buy more things on eBay, I find myself pressed to concoct something to write in the feedback field. I had recently resorted to writing about the shipped product in Haiku:
Book received early Arrived in bubble package Blooming spring reading
And even feedback for a buyer:
paypal payment comes package hits the blistered road excellent buyer
Who isn’t sick of the typical “AAA++++++++ Buyer! Quick Response. Friendly Emails.”? As if I ever exchanged email with this person apart from sending PayPal payment. Shouldn’t these feedback ratings be meaningful?
I guess the ratings are somewhat useful in aggregate. If you have more just a handful of unsatisfied people in a pool of thousands sold, you’re not doing bad. Sales between individuals don’t really provide that kind of statistic, though.
If would be nice if sellers would leave individual and accurate responses. Perhaps, “Received paying in 14 hours. Delivery instructions clear. No issues.” Or, “Payment only after 5 days and 3 email reminders, but received.” Should both be positive? They both paid.
Eh, I’m not going to waste my time trying to find a fix for yet another thing that is out of my power to change. I still find it odd that a seller would goad me into feedback, when I’ve been purposefully avoiding it.
“Feedback: Negative - Kept spamming me to provide feedback.”
