So I have an acution for a Les Paul Faded DC.
With about 12 minutes left to go a zero feedback bidder zooms in and wins the acution.
Within about 7 minutes I get the notification from PayPal that the bidder has paid.
I go to my account, and sure enough she has paid and has a PayPal confirmed address.
Now here's where it get's kinda weird - I haven't heard one thing from the winning bidder.
I replied to her initial PayPal payment saying I would ship the next day.
I did, and emailed again with tracking info.
I later sent a message via eBay with the tracking info.
I also sent a message via PayPal with the tracking info.
The guitar was delivered on Tuesday and I've attempted to contact the winning bidder three times since then - still no answer.
Wierd. What kind of feedback (if any) would you leave?
I check my PayPal account daily expecting a retraction of the sale, but since I shipped to a PayPal confirmed address I am elligible for the seller protection. Weird.

She paid instantly and hasn't barraged you with emails? Give me 100 of those type of buyers! I
like to wait for the buyer to leave me pos. feedback. Once she leaves you pso feedabck, leave her the same...she paid instantly!!

Face it; people like us are on a gear forum because we like to talk, especially about gear and music. But some people simply don't want to get involved to that level. It sounds like this is one of those people. She probably figured, "hey, I paid him; how much more communication does he need?" As long as you have confirmation that the guitar was successfully shipped, I wouldn't worry about it.

And yeah, I'd leave a positive feedback, but mention the situation in my comments, like "not a great communicator, but very prompt payer." Has she left you any feedback?

The other possibility is that she's new to ebay, and just doesn't know the drill yet. Remember, we were all zero feedback buyers or sellers at one point.

Gman,
I'd leave positive feedback--instant payment and NO hassles. That's the bottom line. Sounds like the person just didn't want to be penpals, but hey, no biggie.

I would leave + feedback. I hate when I buy something and the Seller won't leave me feedback until I leave them feedback. I came through first so I expect my feedback. I guess it is because there are to many idiots that like to leave neg feedback at the first sign of trouble instead of giving the other party a chance to make it right.

Id agree with Adam......


Hey whens the last time you read someones feedback before bidding ??

Bob

As long as you're protected by Paypal (yeah, their protection is like a wafer-thin profylactic!), then I'd say give her instant positive feedback and be happy you had such an easy time of it. So I'd agree with everyone elses reactions here.

DonneR

I got lazy on checking feedback from potential sellers and then I got BURNED during that lazy spell. The seller simply stopped shipping the completed auction items out to folks and I didnt bother to look at his recent transactions and see it coming (he had a 97% positive total, with all the neg. ones in the end of his profile >>> that I didnt bother to look at!).

Fortunately the Internet Police (yes, they do exist!) got involved and all of the scammed buyers got their $$ or gear delivered, c/o the Baltimore Police Dept.

FWIW, my 'loss' would've been only $16.95 for an Arion Phaser pedal... no biggie, but nice to see this Christian Country/Rock guy busted... how's that for irony???

(hey, no offense towards any of the faithful out there!)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: cubba,

dos - I wait for the buyer now. I had a buyer who paid instantly then a couple of weeks later wanted to return the pedal due to defect (which upon return there was none, as I expected). I had already left feedback, they didn't,so they could have left me negative just to piss me off. IMO, 100% positive is more valuable.

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Originally posted by DonneR:
Id agree with Adam......


Hey whens the last time you read someones feedback before bidding ??

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Everytime before I bid. If there are any negatives in their feedback I want to know what happened. I want to see how recent they've been using eBay, what they've bought, what they've sold. If they have 100% positive feedback, on twenty plust items, but's it's all in the last week buying and selling $1 Yu-Go-Oh cards I'm gonna think twice before clicking buy-it-now on that Les Paul Histric '59 Flame Top. I always check feedback. I wish eBay would keep the dollar amount of the transaction in the feedback, then I could easily determine if the other party is a low dollar or high dollar eBayer.

Normally I do leave postive feedback immediately upon recieving payment as I know I accureately represent all my items. This transaction just seems weird, as it's the first that I've never had any contact with the other party.

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Originally posted by adambake:
I like to wait for the buyer to leave me pos. feedback.

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If the buyers pays what he owes you in a prompt manner, why would you wait for his positive feedback to give him positive feedback?

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Originally posted by dosmun:
I would leave + feedback. I hate when I buy something and the Seller won't leave me feedback until I leave them feedback. I came through first so I expect my feedback. I guess it is because there are to many idiots that like to leave neg feedback at the first sign of trouble instead of giving the other party a chance to make it right.

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Exactly.

But some sellers wait for positive feedback but don't give any in return.

I sent two + feedbacks recently when I got my items, but the sellers didn't even bother to return the favor. AND the transaction went smooth as silk for both of us I may add.

If someone gives you + feedback, you do the same, whether or not the guy pissed you off with numerous emails. You got what you wanted and he got what he wanted.

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Originally posted by DonneR:
Id agree with Adam......


Hey whens the last time you read someones feedback before bidding ??

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I always do now...

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Originally posted by Hendrix2430:

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Originally posted by adambake:
I like to wait for the buyer to leave me pos. feedback.

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If the buyers pays what he owes you in a prompt manner, why would you wait for his positive feedback to give him positive feedback?

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Because I used to do that and some idiot left me neg feedback 30 days after I shipped the pedal claiming it was broken...too bad he never emailed me first. I always test pedals the minute before I wrap them up to ship and always insure the pedal for the full amount of the auction. I even email the buyer and say if you have any problems please email me immediately so I can make you happy. So I told this guy, if you had emailed me, I would have given you your moeny back and filed an insurance claim, since it worked perfectly before I shipped and it must have been damaged in shipping. He said he didn't have time for that. Too badfor m, I had already left him pos. feedback when I got his payment...

I ALWAYS check feedback, whether I'm buying or selling. And when I'm selling I wait till the buyer posts feedback before I post in return- after all the feedback is regarding the entire transaction, not just how quickly they pay. My single negative feedback is from a guy that claimed an item was damaged in shipping but then he wanted me to pay him to get it fixed without making an insurance claim- I said I'll file a claim because that's what insurance is for, and within 15 minutes he negs me saying I'm "unhelpful". I'm glad I waited to leave feedback and was able to explain my side of the story, I wouldn't have been able to do that if I posted feedback right after he paid me. I checked his feedback later on, it appears that someone sent him $1000 for a guitar and he never shipped it to them... if only they had read his feedback before bidding

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Originally posted by Hendrix2430:

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Originally posted by adambake:
I like to wait for the buyer to leave me pos. feedback.

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If a buyer pays what he owes you in a prompt manner, why would you wait for his positive feedback to give him positive feedback?

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WaHuh? A buyer does his part and has to assume all the risk? I would NEVER buy from a seller if I knew that in advance.

The buyer ALWAYS assumes the risk first by paying for an item and HOPING it will be delivered by the seller. If the buyer is expected to (also) leave feedback first, the seller is accepting NO risk at all. As a buyer, I would expect the risk to be shared.

If I knew in advance that a seller would assume less risk than me (the buyer) I would NEVER buy from that seller...

On Ebay, your feedback rating is king. I used to always leave feedback as soon as the buyer paid. A while back I had a guy do a chargeback 5 months after the sale, just to hose me down for $90, we had already left each other positive feedback. It was my fault, I shipped Priority without Delivery Confirmation, so I lost. A while back, a guy left me negative feedback after I left positive for him. He didn't even bother to email me first. Here's the clincher, it was for a beat Arion distortion pedal that sold for $11. I would've gladly given him back his cash and let him keep the pedal.

The bottom line is that some people are just not very smart or nice. In almost 2000 Ebay transactions(99% pedals ), I've dealt with maybe 5 total jackasses. I guess that's just the price of doing business.

Guitartman, the circumstances of that transaction are definitely weird, but as long as you have a tracking #, and they were Paypal Confirmed, you should be all set. I would definitely keep that tracking# stapled to a copy of the auction page for 6 months, that's how long a buyer has to do a chargeback. Without the tracking #, you have no rights through Paypal.

Wait on the feedback, that's you're only insurance against a nut leaving you a bad negative. When the buyer is totally satisfied, they will leave you feedback. You can in turn leave them glowing feedback as thanks. Many buyers don't bother to leave feedback at all, that's another reason to wait.

As a buyer, as soon as I test an item and find it to be as described, I leave positive feedback.

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Originally posted by LeoFenderBender:

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Originally posted by Hendrix2430:

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Originally posted by adambake:
I like to wait for the buyer to leave me pos. feedback.

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If a buyer pays what he owes you in a prompt manner, why would you wait for his positive feedback to give him positive feedback?

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WaHuh? A buyer does his part and has to assume all the risk? I would NEVER buy from a seller if I knew that in advance.

The buyer ALWAYS assumes the risk first by paying for an item and HOPING it will be delivered by the seller. If the buyer is expected to (also) leave feedback first, the seller is accepting NO risk at all. As a buyer, I would expect the risk to be shared.

If I knew in advance that a seller would assume less risk than me (the buyer) I would NEVER buy from that seller...

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Huh? Sorry buddy, you lost me there... this thread has pointed out plenty of reasons why it doesn't make any sense for the seller to leave feedback before the buyer. If you're worried about losing your money sending it to an ebay seller, the only thing you can do is get paypal buyer's insurance, because leaving a negative feedback isn't going to get you your money back.

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Originally posted by cerebralpaul:

Huh? Sorry buddy, you lost me there... this thread has pointed out plenty of reasons why it doesn't make any sense for the seller to leave feedback before the buyer. If you're worried about losing your money sending it to an ebay seller, the only thing you can do is get paypal buyer's insurance, because leaving a negative feedback isn't going to get you your money back.

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I'm your buddy? Thanks man!

If protecting your feedback is more important than doing the right thing, you are absolutely correct.

Ebay already has plenty of means in place for squeezing money (or goods) out of a nonperforming seller. That, I know from experience...

the point many here are making is that "the right thing" becomes protecting yourself from people who abuse the feedback system if they don't get exactly what they thought they were getting or if something bad happens with shipping. unfortunately, CYA is a necessity of life. you can stick your neck out if you want - those of us who have learned our lesson the hard way will continue to preserve ours.

i *always* wait to hear from my buyer first before leaving feedback as the seller. if i'm the buyer and things go fine, you BET i'll leave the seller positive feedback first, because the buyer is the first person to know the final status of the transaction (receipt of item). the onus is on him to communicate and leave feedback responsibly... there are consequences to irresponsible use that the seller simply can't afford to ignore if he cares about his ebay feedback. it just takes one lousy moron to blemish your reputation, so it's prudent to take precautions.