Where's My Feedback Lately?

I sell a bit on ebay, and am noticing recently a sharp drop in buyers leaving feedback. I currently have more than a dozen purchasers from as much as a month ago who just blew me off on it. I always leave it for them, seldom wait for the buyer to leave it first. I as a rule don't try to chase these people down but just for chuckles have been doing so recently. Out of about six reminders I heard from two in the form of late feedback. The rest I am not bothering with.

It just seems inconsiderate. And strange that this is an issue I have never had in 15 years on ebay. Maybe part of some general trend in society or something..

I like receiving feedback just to know the buyer received it. I know a lot of buyers will leave feedbacks in lumps on a Sunday morning or something.

Sometimes I'll check their feedback left for others and notice that they haven't left feedback in a long time for anyone. It used to give dates but now it's just, last month, withing last 6 months, ect.

The last few things I sold I didn't get feedback either

Never a good idea to go chasing for feedback either. You might not get the feedback you wanted just for the sake of being seen as a PITA.

Could it be that ebay is now considered nothing more than a business now in our ever changing world and people no longer feel the need to leave the feedback which was once important for the seller?

I think ebay has a lot of culture based on ideas and values that are rapidly becoming outmoded and passe. They always assume 'people are basically good' and act accordingly, usually it's the buyers who are considered 'good'.

I would be scared to try and make them, what if they leave you a neg

People are busy and forget (others maybe just lazy). Also, not everyone logs into ebay on a regular basis. I buy occasionally, but certainly don't log in everyday necessarily and often when I do, I just browse for things. I don't check "My ebay" or whether I have feedback I forgot to leave. In fact, you just reminded me that I have a couple auctions I didn't leave feedback for.

There's no requirement to leave feedback. Fine if you get it, no problem if you don't. I suspect that chasing buyers will simply irritate them - it would me.

Stamps1962,

Agree. It is inconsiderate. Especially when you leave feedback first (which sellers should do because the buyer has fulfilled his end of the bargain once payment is made.)

Jack Kelley

Thank you Jack! It p..s me of when a seller does not leave feedback, but insists on me leaving a stellar report!
I am of the same philosophy, sellers ought to leave feedback as soon as payment is received. By the way, I really don't care about feedback - I do not know what my numbers are!

Peter

I send Buyers feedback immediately after receiving payment. If they have purchased in the past, I check to see if they have left me feedback for previous purchases. If they did not, I don't leave them feedback in the future. I do always send a thank you email after each purchase as well as a thank you email when I receive their feedback.
I also see a slight drop in feedback from Buyers recently and I think it may have to do with both Buyers & Sellers being fed up with the whole feedback system in general. I do receive some really nice feedback from my repeat Buyers as well as many emails with nice comments. In general, I would say about 65-70% do leave me feedback.
I don't ever email reminding a Buyer to leave me feedback. That would seem tacky to me.

There are, of course, many different opinions with regards to feedback...

Historically, many sellers liked to have it piled it on, preferably
into the thousands, as this demonstrates a level of both credibility
and trust... and rightly so...

Some seem to never get enough, and, indeed (do) chase their customers
for it, which, as some have mentioned above, can become risky business...

Some really need to learn when "enough is enough"... if you are able
to sell everything you list, and people are noticing your listings,
and you have repeat buyers, think about it... does it really matter?

And for those already up into a high number (relatively speaking)...
how much credibility do you feel you need?

We have had 31,700 ebay transactions, and have only received 18,200
feedbacks... this represents 57% ... and this has been in 9 years...
at this stage, it really doesn't matter to us whether we ever receive
another feedback... we've established ourselves and our reputation...
nothing else really matters...

Lastly... we quit giving buyers 'instant feedbacks' more than a few
years ago, and, now, only issue them when buyers message us for them.

Like I said... there's many schools of thought with regards to the
feedback system... the above is ours.

It does me too. Sometimes there's a reason I don't leave feedback.

I recently purchased a mercury dime that was listed as "full split bands." This is something that a lot of people don't understand so a lot of them described as such are not. Well I got it, and it's not. Since I only spent 6 bucks on the coin and it was still decent looking, I chose just to not leave feedback at all. But after his third "reminder" to leave feedback, I left him a neutral.

Bobby... well, done my friend... a well deserved feedback for the seller

I usually refer to this type of a justified action as "a dart to the heart"...

Randall

Agree with others here. I am primarily a buyer for 15 plus years on ebay and now only occasionally leave feedback for the reasons above. I use to always leave it.

The system with stars has become unwieldy for buyers to get through in bulk. Feedback must be left within 60 days which often is not enough time especially with the onerous and abstruse returns and opening a case process.

I also don't care to receive feedback as a buyer anymore as I have over 2000. If I bought and paid, and didn't complain, and don't get added to a blocked list then that infers the seller was happy with me and vice versa. I have considered starting to provide neutrals to sellers who say Stamps are sound when they aren't, as a way that I can track who I will no longer buy from in my feedback left for others area. The hassle of contacting sellers to talk about misdescribed condition of listings, equitable partial refunds, or returns is a thing of the past for me.

As a somewhat related add on feedback, I have published several Guides on philately on ebay. The guides also receive helpfulness votes which then allow the writer to be ranked on ebay by the value of her/his guides.

The first line in all my guides politely asks for a "Yes" on helpfulness as it inspires and helps me to write more guides. My most popular guide has 13,000+ views, and has received about 120 Yes votes. So that is a feedback ratio of about 1% on my most popular guide. The other guides are well below 1%.

It baffles me that 99/100 people can read what I took great care to write and share and not click a simple convenient yes button. So in comparison feedback conversion for sellers still might not be that bad.

I used to always leave Feedback as a buyer. (I'm not a seller.) The changes ebay has made in the Feedback system have made it virtually meaningless. I never leave Feedback anymore.