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

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shortcircuit

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#191012 20-Jan-2016 08:21

So, I purchased a pair of matching (secondhand) items from an 'In Trade' seller. They had images of the items in one piece on the auction, but when delivered to me one of the items was broken and was packed broken- ie the broken parts were all wrapped individually in newspaper, but the other undamaged item was wrapped in one piece. It looked like to me that he knew the item was broken before he sent it, but just hoped I wouldn't complain.

When I the-mailed the seller and pointed this out he was not helpful and denied any responsibility (repeatedly), just kept referring me to an NZ Post form to fill out to claim.

The seller has had a few negative feedback comments and his responses have not been too good (pretty common on Trade Me auction feedback)

My problem is that I am willing to wear the loss from damage to the item- it's just not worth it to go through the claim process. But I have had quite a few items purchased on Trade me that the seller has not been upfront about condition and I feel like these traders get away with it

Should I post negative feedback to help alert future buyers and wait for what will likely be a bit of a rant and denial... or just suck it up and move on?

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#1475036 20-Jan-2016 08:21

Hmmmm. Here we go.

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Batman

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#1475046 20-Jan-2016 08:31

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.

GeekGuy

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#1475050 20-Jan-2016 08:36

Whenever I see negative feedback, I always check the feedback of the person that posted it.

xpd

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#1475052 20-Jan-2016 08:40

Just be honest on your feedback, highlight the fact the broken parts were all wrapped separately, which indicates the seller knew about it. Sure, he may put bad feedback on you in return, but thats the way TradeMe runs - people will look at your past trades and judge you on those more. 99 (random number) positive trades vs 1 bad ? Id still deal with you.

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LinkTree

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#1475053 20-Jan-2016 08:40

For little things i don't bother. But i have been bullied by a large scale trader who did that to me. Item missing a major component bit, i tried to negotiate refund but instead of politely declining and stating his policy is i pay return shipping of a big item, he threatened me with lawyers etc, and one evening i discovered bad feedback with no way of responding.

shortcircuit

86 posts

Master Geek

#1475054 20-Jan-2016 08:42

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.

That Peter Reader guy is very insightful :0

Excellent suggestion though Joker 97, I shall wait upon the Stroke of Midnight rather than the Minute of the Hour

reven

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#1475058 20-Jan-2016 08:46

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.

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richms

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#1475061 20-Jan-2016 08:47

What a tosser seller. Did you pay now with them or bank deposit?

Richard rich.ms

shortcircuit

86 posts

Master Geek

#1475063 20-Jan-2016 08:48

joker97: For little things i don't bother. But i have been bullied by a large scale trader who did that to me. Item missing a major component bit, i tried to negotiate refund but instead of politely declining and stating his policy is i pay return shipping of a big item, he threatened me with lawyers etc, and one evening i discovered bad feedback with no way of responding.

I have taken to only posting positive feedback recently. If I have trouble with a trade I have posted no feedback because of the inevitable denials when the seller responds- but I am starting to think this is not fair on future buyers who might have otherwise seen the negative feedback and thought twice about dealing with the seller.

dolsen

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#1475091 20-Jan-2016 09:05

If they post bad feedback against you, you can respond to it and it shows up underneath the bad feedback. Someone reading your feedback can see your response and discount their bad feedback (assuming they do post bad feedback).

Jaxson

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#1475092 20-Jan-2016 09:09

Trademe will intervene with feedback if it's obviously retaliatory in nature.

My peeve with their system is that if I sell something, and then someone doesn't buy it, they get to place bad feedback on me. As I pointed out (twice now) to Trademe, from my perspective I couldn't have done anything differently. I listed an item, the buyer bid and won it, and it went downhill from there. My involvement would have been the same for a good buyer as a bad one. Stupid system.

Good luck with yours. I guess an eye on the desired outcome is important. As in where do you want it to go from here? Refund?

Hammerer

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#1475094 20-Jan-2016 09:11

Agree with XPD. Make your feedback as factual as possible so others can see what has happened.Try to construct a case to support the bad feedback with dates and times and even quotes from emails.

In your case, the trader you are dealing with doesn't sound at all reasonable and you probably can't avoid bad feedback in response. But that is another opportunity to show them up when by responding to their feedback claim with more facts so your calm, reasonable and factual response will be there for all to see. When I have responded in this way, traders have even removed their bad feedback because it made their feedback look unfair and petulant, which it was. But your trader doesn't seem the type to do this.

I can understand the desire to maintain 100% positive feedback because I have that from over about 1,500 trades. The only way I've found to keep 100% positive feedback it is to treat people politely and honourably even if you end up out of pocket. You also have to avoid risky traders who overreact, are unreasonable, are rude, who don't correct bad feedback after the issue is resolved, who don't answer questions on their auctions either accurately or at all, etc. I have removed bids from such traders and I also blacklist any I find.

The negative side of having 100% positive feedback is that some traders will think that you value your reputation more highly than the trade itself. They assume that they can deal with you with impunity because you won't want to lose such a good reputation. This makes it even more important to screen the traders you deal with.

P.S. Agree with dolson.

I should add that I have placed several neutral feedbacks and a couple of negative feedbacks which have not been reciprocated because the other traders were acknowledged it was reasonable.

idle

175 posts

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#1475095 20-Jan-2016 09:14

Honest feedback is essential for future buyers or sellers. The majority of traders will be able to sort out where the blame should lie, regardless of rants and negative comments.

keewee01

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#1475096 20-Jan-2016 09:15

I would go back and re-read the auction very carefully to make sure there is no comments that suggest it was broken. Then photograph the broken item wrapped in individual pieces.

If the seller has really mis-represented the auction place fair feedback and report them to TradeMe (TM probably won't give a stuff, but if they seller places unfair feedback against you, then you should be able to get TM to remove it)

You could also report it to the police as it is fraud, but that may all depend on the value of the items as to how far you want to go. And if you are reporting, make TM aware of this also - that might make them sit up and take a bit more notice then their slack @rses normally do.

richms

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#1475116 20-Jan-2016 09:23

Jaxson:

My peeve with their system is that if I sell something, and then someone doesn't buy it, they get to place bad feedback on me. As I pointed out (twice now) to Trademe, from my perspective I couldn't have done anything differently. I listed an item, the buyer bid and won it, and it went downhill from there. My involvement would have been the same for a good buyer as a bad one. Stupid system.

Not really, there are many sellers on there that are slow or don't respond to queries etc, want you to use BS checkout sites that are not even secure etc.

IMO if you are wearing the in trade badge on there, then there is a certain amount of professionalism that you need to show. I will place a negative if the process is crap, bought it or not.

Richard rich.ms

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