Ebay: "Only leave the kind of feedback you expect to get"

[Watercolor]

For my birthday my mom gave me some money to buy an auction on Ebay. I found one with a Tickled Pink with her full costume for $20 + $9 shipping. $30, total and I got a fully dressed Tickled Pink! Yay!

Well, I got my item the other day...a crushed shoe box with holes all in it, being held together then postal tape, and my dolly wrapped in used tissue paper.

So I went to leave feed back and decided I couldn't leave possitive stars for shipping when I got a shoebox that fell apart on delivery...$9 for that? Seriously?

So I emailed the seller letting him know before I said anything:

I got my dolls the other day, but I'm rather disappointed in the packing. The package I received was a shoebox, and it was full of holes and barely held together by post office tape. The shipping price of $9 was not worth receiving such a poorly packaged item. I'm afraid I cannot leave positive packing feedback on this item because of this.

and I got this as a reply:

I am sorry you were not pleased with the box. As far as the shipping price we do not controll how much the post office charges. You receieved the product we advertised in the condition we advertised. That is what feedback should be based upon! Not the packing material! We will be sure to leave feedback for you also telling sellers that they better beware of this buyer because if you dont spend $5 on a new box instead of trying to recycle then they also will receive bad feedback. You bought the dolls not the box! We will leave the same feedback for you that you leave for us. Right is right and this complaint does not warrant bad feedback. I am sorry you did not like the box!

WHAT?! When did ebay feedback become "Only leave what you expect to get in feedback"?

So I replied again:

There is no reason to be threatening, please allow me to explain.
The reason for my message is because ebay allows you to leave "rates" on feedback based on the following:
item description
seller's communication
shipping speed
Ship & Handle charges

the buyer is to leave anywhere from 1 to 5 stars based on these in addition to a text message.

Everything would be 5 stars, but for the packing because it fell apart, had holes but did get here, and would be 3 stars which is neutral.

In the future considering what you charge for shipping: for a $1 more a medium size flat rate box from the USPS would have been the same size (box is free when you ship priority), and would have traveled better in the postal circualtion. I would also suggest using a plastic grocery bag to protect your items from rain.

Right now I have still left no feedback because I want to give you a chance to reply.

Already this guys stars seem to be going down! His communication is threatening and rude!

Am I WRONG for feeling this way?

EDIT: Most recent reply

I think you took our response the wrong way. It was not meant to be a threat. It was to simply let you know that us getting bad feedback because we like to use recycled boxes where ever possible is simply ridiculous. If your product arrived damaged or broken I could understand the bad or neutral feedback. And if you prefer priority mail and dont mind paying the extra cost for it then why did you not request it, we would have been more than happy to send it to you priority. Our response to you back was simply letting you know that we feel it necessary to inform other sellers that if they do not send your products in new boxes they will receive bad or neutral feedback themselves. I truly am sorry that you are not happy with the box and I do not like to have anyone unhappy with us in any way, but I truly feel that when we work as hard as we do to deliver the product that we advertise and do every thing in our power to get it to you as fast as possible. and it arrives as advertised then we should not have our 100% rating fall because of the mail system handling. When that box left our house it was fully intact and in good shape. We also buy from sellers and have gotten shoe boxes sent to us and we had no complaints as long as the product was OK! I do not believe that a box should affect either of our 100% ratings. Just a piece of advice for you if you do not want to receive boxes that are recycled than ask your sellers before you pay to send it priority, as I said we would have been more than happy to do that for you. Just trying to save our buyers some cost on shipping and this is what we get for doing so! I do appreciate you getting back to us before leaving bad or neutral feedback and giving us a chance to reply, I hope this helps you understand our frustration thinking we did everything we could to make you happy but still receiving a complaint.

*facepalm* this guy doesn't seem to get it, does he?

[Clinozoisite]

That person is a jerk. Plain and simple. They used inferior packing materials and got called out on it. Their response was to get defensive and hope that as a new eBayer, you would roll over. If you feel that everything but the packing was 5-stars, then I'd leave neutral feedback.

[Watercolor]

That person is a jerk. Plain and simple. They used inferior packing materials and got called out on it. Their response was to get defensive and hope that as a new eBayer, you would roll over. If you feel that everything but the packing was 5-stars, then I'd leave neutral feedback.

If only I was a noobie...LOL I've both bought and sold on ebay for 8 years, and this guy has only been on for 1 year. As a seller I would not send anything in a shoe box. I looked up postage on USPS too, and it was only $7 for shipping from their postal code with the measurements and weight entered. If he hadn't been so mean, I don't think I would be this offended.

[Tom-sprite]

@ Watercolor :

I do not understand the sellers reaction.

As far as the shipping price we do not controll how much the post office charges.

Oh come on ... what a bad excuse ... I fear he could be one of those sellers who wants to earn some extra bucks with inappropriate shipping costs.

You receieved the product we advertised in the condition we advertised. That is what feedback should be based upon!

simply not true ... the rating-system is much more complex.
It s about the complete deal ... he tries to alibi !

We will be sure to leave feedback for you also telling sellers that they better beware of this buyer because if you dont spend $5 on a new box instead of trying to recycle then they also will receive bad feedback.

Insolent !!! What is he thinking ... that your mood about the deal gets better when he talks nonsense like this. He seems to have no sense of guilt.

You bought the dolls not the box! We will leave the same feedback for you that you leave for us. Right is right and this complaint does not warrant bad feedback. I am sorry you did not like the box!

It gets even worse ... OMG !!! How rude is this !? ...and now he even tries to instruct you ... Get outta here!
He deserves neutral ...
His second reaction was quite anxious ... well ... a hard decision for you I guess.

[Chibi Rachy]

See, this is where I get iffy with ebay. The seller should leave the feedback for the buyer after they pay for the product, but many sellers wait for buyers to leave feedback first. Usually there's no issue with this since one leaves positive feedback anyway, but there are those bad eggs and if I want to I would leave them okay positive feedback, but knock their stars down. Why did you tell them your plan to lower the stars on the shipping? That's private and the seller wouldn't know it was you.

Leave the feedback you feel they deserved and if they leave feedback on you based on that, then keep an eye on it. As for the comment about overcharging on shipping, I don't see the problem with that. It's kinda expected. Sometimes people overestimate as it is because the weights and size aren't always going to be accurate costs. It's better to overestimate some than to underestimate and lose on a profit.

[Blondine Arc-En-Ciel]

I've been in this situation before.

One of the many problems ebay has is the feedback system.

First of all, sellers can NOT leave negative feedback for buyers as this seller would like you to think.

You can give one to five stars in four areas. NONE of them have to do with the quality of the packing. I think this is a bad thing to leave out because poor packing increases the possibility of damage to the contents during shipment.

If everything else went right, give stars in the four areas honestly. Then make a written comment like "Item perfect but very poorly packed for shipment".

In your case I'd give one star for communication and no more than four for any of the others. Then you can leave a spicy comment about the box and his comments to you. I'll let you choose to be positive (undeserved in this case), neutral, or negative in the overall rating.


I recently gave someone a negative over shipping costs. I bought four booklets from someone in the UK in a fixed price transaction. Each had a shipping cost of GBP 3. I went through checkout and noticed the shipping was going to be GBP 12. I didn't pay and asked for the correct shipping cost to another country in the European Union. The answer was that the correct price was GBP 9, a 'huge' savings of GBP 3. When I got the item I noticed the actual shipping cost was GBP...2.15! Without hesitation I gave him one star for shipping costs and a negative rating overall. My written comment was something like "Items perfect. Was charged GBP 9 for shipping, actual shipping was GBP 2.15". I never heard anything back from them. I did not want to discuss this with him. I felt that had I got a refund on the excess that it would not have changed his behavior and he would keep doing this nonsense with everyone.

By the way, I think that ebay has turned into the 'Evil Empire' over the past few years. They keep getting closer and closer to the old USSR in their dictatorial policies and the poor user interface. But that rant is for another day.

[Watercolor]

Why did you tell them your plan to lower the stars on the shipping? That's private and the seller wouldn't know it was you.

A lot of people ask why I even brought this to the seller's attention:

Well, I used to sell on ebay personally and for a company I used to work for. One thing that was frowned upon for the company I worked for was getting negative comments with no communication.

I decided to inform the seller of the damaged box for 2 reasons:
1: A courtesy
2: to test their communication skills. If the user had been polite or even appologetic I may have changed my mind, but as you can tell he's pretty much failed that.

Also, the seller had not left feedback for me, even though I had paid and...I feared a backlash or negative comments if I didn't at least try to communicate.

Some people I have spoken to say I should submit a complaint to ebay and request the whole shipping costs back for their rudness, but I'm not cut-throat. I did get a good deal on the doll, however I fear the seller's life on ebay may be short if he responds to EVERYONE like this.

And as for feedback....since they have left none for me, I shall leave none for them....if they request feedback they will get my original complaint. "Good price, poor packing"

One thing the seller said was that if I had used the "Priority" option I would have gotten a better box. Last I checked "Priority" was the method shipped, faster, but doesn't say there would have been a different box.
If I HAD gotten priority (.50 cents more) and gotten the same box, I would have been more angry then I was, because honestly when I did ship ebay for the company I worked for that is what happened, we used the same boxes, all new and well packed, but if sent priority we just put a "Sticker" on it.

The seller in question does not sell toys much, mostly other items, so if someone else says something negative at least he will get a good idea to why and may reconsider their packing methods.