Should I post bad Trade Me feedback and feel the burn?

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#1475121 20-Jan-2016 09:25

Trademe has removed negative feedback placed about me when it was obviously retaliatory in nature. I'd probably place it, then if they respond badly politely respond to their bad feedback and ask Trademe to remove it. The whole feedback/rating system doesn't really work because of the fear of not having 100% reputation.

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#1475134 20-Jan-2016 09:42

I have about 1200 good feedback and about 12 bad feedback, only one of which I felt I deserved. In the the past when I have placed bad feedback and got some in return I email trademe, and in almost every case they remove an older bad feedback, so my rating stays the same.

I try to be fair with my feedback, factual and keep emotion out of it. Obviously not so easy when you might have lost considerable sums of money. Where ever possible I put transactions on my CC.

Rikkitic

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#1475173 20-Jan-2016 10:16

My Trade Me experience has always been pretty good. Nearly all traders I have dealt with, public and private, have been very decent. On a few occasions, I have received refunds or replacements on items I complained about. This has always been done promptly and professionally. Maybe I have been lucky, but the quality of the people I have bought from has always been pretty high, a lot like the quality of people on GZ.

There have been only a few exceptions to this. Early in my Trade Me career I gave someone a negative feedback, not fully appreciating the significance of this. She went ballistic and reciprocated in kind. After some back and forth negotiation, I decided I had been too quick to hit the negative button and changed it to neutral, with an explanation of the circumstances. She also changed my feedback to neutral and that was the end of the matter.

Only once have I had a truly bad apple. This was a 'trader' I bought a laptop from, who then started making endless excuses when I asked where it was. I think she lacked intelligence, as well as values, and didn't realise how much it would cost to ship the laptop when she put up the auction. She kept trying to get me to pay more after the auction was concluded. I had to pile the pressure on and repeatedly threaten her with legal action of all kinds before she finally caved in and sent the thing. Trade Me also got involved and helped with the resolution. I gave her a (well-deserved) negative feedback and got one in return. Then she went on to collect numerous others before finally being banned, at which point Trade Me removed the negative feedback she had given me.

These days I have mellowed and would be hesitant to give a negative feedback to anyone. I usually find that if you communicate politely and respectfully with someone, most matters can be resolved amicably. Most recently I bought some Kingston RAM. One module was faulty and got very hot before I realised what was happening and cut the power. I was afraid (still am) that it might have damaged my motherboard, though the computer seems okay at the moment. I didn't think this was worth pursuing with the trader though so I just left a neutral feedback with explanation instead. He immediately got in touch, apologised, and said he would send a replacement.

I guess my advice would be to email the trader one final time and warn him that you are intending to leave a negative feedback if the situation cannot be resolved, and then to do so if you have to. But I would make that my last resort, not my first one.

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networkn

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#1475177 20-Jan-2016 10:22

Rikkitic:

My Trade Me experience has always been pretty good. Nearly all traders I have dealt with, public and private, have been very decent. On a few occasions, I have received refunds or replacements on items I complained about. This has always been done promptly and professionally. Maybe I have been lucky, but the quality of the people I have bought from has always been pretty high, a lot like the quality of people on GZ.

There have been only a few exceptions to this. Early in my Trade Me career I gave someone a negative feedback, not fully appreciating the significance of this. She went ballistic and reciprocated in kind. After some back and forth negotiation, I decided I had been too quick to hit the negative button and changed it to neutral, with an explanation of the circumstances. She also changed my feedback to neutral and that was the end of the matter.

Only once have I had a truly bad apple. This was a 'trader' I bought a laptop from, who then started making endless excuses when I asked where it was. I think she lacked intelligence, as well as values, and didn't realise how much it would cost to ship the laptop when she put up the auction. She kept trying to get me to pay more after the auction was concluded. I had to pile the pressure on and repeatedly threaten her with legal action of all kinds before she finally caved in and sent the thing. Trade Me also got involved and helped with the resolution. I gave her a (well-deserved) negative feedback and got one in return. Then she went on to collect numerous others before finally being banned, at which point Trade Me removed the negative feedback she had given me.

These days I have mellowed and would be hesitant to give a negative feedback to anyone. I usually find that if you communicate politely and respectfully with someone, most matters can be resolved amicably. Most recently I bought some Kingston RAM. One module was faulty and got very hot before I realised what was happening and cut the power. I was afraid (still am) that it might have damaged my motherboard, though the computer seems okay at the moment. I didn't think this was worth pursuing with the trader though so I just left a neutral feedback with explanation instead. He immediately got in touch, apologised, and said he would send a replacement.

I guess my advice would be to email the trader one final time and warn him that you are intending to leave a negative feedback if the situation cannot be resolved, and then to do so if you have to. But I would make that my last resort, not my first one.

Personally I wouldn't place bad/neutral feedback without communicating my issue to the seller/buyer first. There is a matter of good faith where you should allow the person an opportunity to resolve issues before escalating them.

BTR

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#1475242 20-Jan-2016 11:57

Tar and feather them I say, at some point in your trading history you will get negative feedback from someone. I doubt anyone is going to not purchase from you if you total feedback rating is 99.1% positive. Anything below 90% I would be looking into before buying.

Do you have the listing number so we can have a look at the listing and give further advice?

Geese

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#1475318 20-Jan-2016 12:53

A way I've found works 9 out of 10 times to give negative feedback and avoid one back, instead of waiting the 45 days, and doing it precisely 5 minutes before the 45 days, is to give a good feedback and write something bland like average trade... the seller usually won't bother to place feedback in return, then after the 45 days when they can't place feedback, you do the switcheroo and change your one to a negative and write proper explanation.

I had a guy once buy an item off me, knowing that shipping was going to be extremely expensive if possible at all, and he gave me the big run around, and in the end wouldn't pay the massive price of the one only place that was prepared to take it depot to depot. So I never wanted to deal with him so I blacklisted him. He gave me a (good) feedback, but I was so wild about the whole thing I gave him no feedback, because if I did it wouldn't be good. Then a year later he saw me selling something he really wanted, went to buy it only to discover he was blacklisted. So he scrolled through 100s of feedbacks until he found the one he gave me, and edited it to a negative just to spite me.

My blacklist is like 20 screens long of names, I dish them out pretty lightly, If I'm selling something for $100 and someone offers $30, its instant blacklist material for me. If anyone asks a question that seems like trouble to me, I pre empt what might come if I trade with them, and the interesting thing is I used to regularly have stressful drama trades and get negatives, but not for years since I just nip it in the bud as much as possible.

MurrayM

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#1475526 20-Jan-2016 16:24

If people are scared of leaving negative feedback then it sounds to me like the whole feedback system doesn't work very well.

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mattwnz

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#1475538 20-Jan-2016 16:32

You need to point it out to the seller, that they have the contract of carriage with NZ post, so they have to manage any claim, if they believe it has been damaged. I would make a complaint to trademe, as the seller should know that.

Yes the trademe feedback system is broken, because if you leave bad feedback, it is highly likely that you will get negative feedback in return. So I don't usually do it. However I did recently when a seller failed to pay, and that didn't result in any retaliatory feedback. If it had, I would have asked trademe to remove it, as retaliatory feedback is a breach of the feedback system. But what they seem to do is remove both the byer and seller feedbacks, so it really makes the whole feeback system flawed. eg If you get bad feedback, you leave bad feedback in return, and then all bad feedback may get removed if the other person complains to trademe.

loceff13

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#1475542 20-Jan-2016 16:34

The sender is the one who is to fill out a claim form for damaged goods as they are the ones with a contract with the carrier, you don't have to do anything(other than provide the goods to the sender or the carrier if requested).

Let them know that and if they refuse place negative feedback(ie sellers goods arrived damaged and they refuse to claim insurance or refund me) and contact trademe to complain about them and their behavior.

richms

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#1475545 20-Jan-2016 16:35

especially complain if they are an "in trade" seller. That seems to mean nothing to trademe it seems.

Richard rich.ms

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#1475551 20-Jan-2016 16:39

If people were just honest with their descriptions, feedbacks would be better......

I purchased a PDA years ago, was listed as "perfect condition, works well" etc.... I got it and the thing wouldnt even turn on. Contacted the seller and asked what the story was... got told "battery probably dead, buy a new one" - I asked for a refund and said I'd send it back, they told me to get stuffed. But they had given me a positive feedback...mainly because they had my money. I ended up giving them a neutral (after buying a battery) and said why.

Ive had an odd negative feedback.... was selling something, someone purchased it, paid me promptly, sent me their address. I couriered item next day... week later I get a negative feedback accusing me of being a rip off artist and that I had never sent the item. I checked the tracking and it showed it was at the buyers local depot. So I contacted the courier and asked why, "Noone ever there to sign for it, tried 3 days running". So i emailed that to the buyer, they went off at me saying I was lying and that they had security cameras recording and no couriers had ever arrived etc etc..... so I confirmed location again and asked courier to try again. Nope, again, noone there. Buyer then started going on about how they had to go away for a grandmothers funeral etc - courier tried one last time and finally someone answered the door and signed for it. They never changed the feedback on me.

Few months later, I looked up their account and found they had bought something else and the seller had the same issue as I did..... buyer even gave them the exact same story about a grandmother dying! I commented on one of the sellers other listings to say to check my feedback from them....... buyers account got disabled few weeks later and the feedback removed from my account.

Got a neutral recently.....

just received today not happy about the time to deliver it took over a week to get here normal time is 2 to 3 not 9 days

trader responded:

28/8/14

(me)

Considering it was free postage (cost to me), waiting for payment to clear, no post on Sundays and slow snail mail in NZ these days... cant please everyone.

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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#1475679 20-Jan-2016 20:21

joker97: Post it at the 55th second of the 59th minute of the 23rd hr of the 44th day. Everything is disabled after 45 days. I'm not sure when they count their days though. Whether by the minute of the hour or the stroke of midnight.

I've done that, when a trader really did deserve the feedback and I didn't want the backlash...

They seem to remove the ability to place feedback 45 days from the time the auction closes, so if the auction closed at 10:05 am then wait the 45 days and leave feedback at 10:03 am.

RUKI

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#1476029 21-Jan-2016 11:59

reven:

whenever you post negative feedback about something you always get negative feed back in return. but as a person generally buying stuff, i dont really care about my feedback percentage (its like 97% or something), so I would leave bad feedback.

I have no negative feedbacks on TM. Feedback of the Buyer is important to me. My tolerance for the number of negative feedbacks the buyer may have is no more than 4 in total with no less than 80 positive feedbacks in total. I read what excactly those negative feedbacks of the buyer were.

When the auction does not come through - when buyer refuses to complete or does not make a contact - then TM will return money but I would not post negative feedback.

When I see too many negative feedbacks (usually when they ask questions) they are immediately banned from my auctions. There will alwasy be a genuine buyer why be bothered with a trouble maker? Have a huge DB of banned ones. Sometimes I do not check feedbacks when they ask questions but always when they put a bid. If their feedback is bad - I remove the bid. Wont' be bothered... That is why absolute NO to buy now so that feedback can be checked and bid removed. Happens regularly..

What is not fair - many people are not bothered leaving positive feedback even after I have posted one for them and they confirmed at the pick up they "will do it tonight".

RUKI

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#1476038 21-Jan-2016 12:10

shanes:

joker97: Post it at the 55th second of the 59th minute of the 23rd hr of the 44th day. Everything is disabled after 45 days. I'm not sure when they count their days though. Whether by the minute of the hour or the stroke of midnight.

I've done that, when a trader really did deserve the feedback and I didn't want the backlash...

They seem to remove the ability to place feedback 45 days from the time the auction closes, so if the auction closed at 10:05 am then wait the 45 days and leave feedback at 10:03 am.

If feedback was unfair and you can prove it - Trademe will remove it.

freitasm

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#1476047 21-Jan-2016 12:21

networkn:

I have about 1200 good feedback and about 12 bad feedback, only one of which I felt I deserved. In the the past when I have placed bad feedback and got some in return I email trademe, and in almost every case they remove an older bad feedback, so my rating stays the same.

I try to be fair with my feedback, factual and keep emotion out of it. Obviously not so easy when you might have lost considerable sums of money. Where ever possible I put transactions on my CC.

I have ONE bad feedback. Some low life (I still have the emails from ten years or so ago) tried to get goods out of me without paying. Kept saying payment was made, and every few days the money wasn't in my account I got a different excuse - a cheque they were cashing in bounced, they didn't get paid that week and so on. Obviously they didn't make the payment because otherwise why would they have different excuses.

I posted a bad feedback saying the person didn't complete the transaction and in return got one bad feedback saying I was grumpy and shouldn't be trusted. Trade Me answer to my request to remove that? "We don't get involved in private transactions."

They might have changed policy in the last ten years but that's bad taste left. I try not to use Trade Me if I can.

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