Feedback - a suggestion

Graham

Some thoughts for consideration: -

Feedback is a very important component of on-line trading - anywhere.

If accurate then it gives a good "character" reference - and instills confidence for both buyers and sellers alike.
Also, and perhaps equally important it gives and builds confidence in the sales venue itself.

The biggest problem I have seen here already is a lack of feedback, granted my policy as a seller is to leave feedback AFTER I receive same.
However, as a buyer I expect to leave feedback first, this signifies to the seller that I have received the goods and am happy with the transaction.

I would like to suggest a unique "system" for you to consider, a hybrid without the flaws of other venues of eBay, Amazon and BL

First the major pitfalls of those venues: -
EBay - seller can only leave positive feedback - buyer fraud is on the rise! Also the star system is seriously flawed, a buyer may think they are "being nice" leaving 4 rather than 5 stars, but eBay see anything less than 5 stars as underperforming!
Amazon - little feedback occurs, - which is similar to BrickOwl
BL - several but the worst is warentless and/or tit-for-tat negative feedback.

of those 3 - Amazon DOES have some good features, you can't leave negative feedback without there being a record of comunication between buyer and seller.
eBay also has a good feature - sending (several) automated reminders to "leave feedback" and explaining why it is a good idea to take time to do so.

My suggestion, then, is that both buyer and seller should be able to leave appropriate feedback; either positive, neutral or negative...

BUT to leave a neutral there should be a record of communication between buyer and seller (at least one message to enable)
eg Buyer sends message, seller does not respond only buyer can leave neutral, seller responds then without resolution both may leave a neutral.
To leave a negative you should be able and willing to back up the claim AND provide evidence to have this strike on a buyer/seller's record entered.
Something like "negative feedback pending approval" will show whilst a decision is made, I don't believe this will make much work for Admin, because I do not believe it will occur often (IF at all) - negatives are usually made hastily in an "angry" reaction to something said or done, therefore - UNLESS it is a serious issue - the most likely outcome would be a neutral (which would still require communication between both parties)

AND also implement the eBay style reminders to get folks to leave feedback!

Graham

theHellmouth

Good suggestions, upvoted. Might I also add the suggestion to have a fixed rating system based on predefined tags like: product, packaging, shipping, communication, etc. This way it is very very clear where the seller is good and how he/she compares to others.

TheBrickMill

As I seller, I do like knowing a buyers reputation. As a buyer I really dislike Ebay and Amazon emailing me hounding me for feedback. I think most buyers just want to get their stuff and be done, feedback leaving seems a little outdated. I think the system is fine the way it is. Just my two cents.

Aladine

When this site started, I was hoping that there would be something really different in the feedback system. For instance (and without any feedback import from elsewhere) just a point for both, buyer and seller, for each transaction made here. And in addition a sort of a guestbook where buyer and seller can eventually leave a comment if there's REALLY something special to say, for instance if the transaction was much better or worse than it normally should.
However, I don't mind if a buyer doesn't leave feedback, but I do mind that most buyers here don't even mark the order as received.

Graham

As I seller, I do like knowing a buyers reputation. As a buyer I really dislike Ebay and Amazon emailing me hounding me for feedback. I think most buyers just want to get their stuff and be done, feedback leaving seems a little outdated. I think the system is fine the way it is. Just my two cents.

But at the moment sellers can't leave a buyer with anything but +ve feedback - so you really won't know a buyer's reputation!
AND buyers really like to know a sellers reputation too!!

If I have two or more choices from sellers I haven't bought from before - feedback will seal the deal.

As a buyer I always leave honest feedback - if I have nothing nice to say I usually don't leave anything.

In something between 10k- 15k on-line trades I have left a neg (or neutral) less than 10 times

Graham

Plastic-Paradise

I agree Thunor, my biggest 2 issues are not being allowed to leave proper feedback and not getting an email address for the buyer. These are eBay standards and eBay is blah with all their silly rules assuming all sellers are bad. If you have to worry that someone will spam the customers then I think that there should be a bit of screening of new sellers versus assuming someone is going to do something bad. They will and for those looking to cause problems they will find a way. That should not hinder other sellers from doing their normal thing.

These issues are relatively minor I suppose but I don't feel I should have to change my shipping process as a preventative measure because someone else may or may not spam the buyer. Furthermore as I stated in an earlier post ADMIN here does take a good proactive approach to everything so far but once the site it in full swing and has thousands of members there is no way they will be able to warn more sellers/buyers of a potential scammer or trouble maker than the seller or buyer that was duped and leaves appropriate feedback. Just the time zone difference alone is going to be a good delay in getting things done. I notice that already. When I am on in the evenings there is normally not to many people here as I assume it is late at night across the water.

Aside from that I love Brick Owl so far.

Gary