I'd like a way to respond to negative feedback

Robert Welander · November 2016

I just received my first negative feedback. I certainly earned it, as I listed an item as MNH, and the buyer tells me that it is hinged (I believe the buyer is telling the truth). I've since sent a replacement to the buyer, but the negative feedback has already been left.

I'd like to see the ability to add a comment after the negative feedback, to let people know that I'm willing to "make right" any mistakes that creep into my listings. Is there a way to do this currently? If not, is it something that could be added to the wish list?

Thanks

Rob

Richard Willis · November 2016

It's to bad the buyer did not contact you first. I am with you for the ability to leave a comment.
Richard

Lee J Coen · November 2016

Here here, 'replacement stamp sent' money refunded' hell of an idea....(please add six likes to his score, thank you)

Dave Bennett · November 2016

Today's grammar lesson . . .

Hear, hear vs. here, here

Hear, hear (usually with a comma and set apart as a self-contained sentence) is the conventional spelling of the colloquial exclamation used to express approval for a speaker or sentiment. It’s essentially short for hear him, hear him or hear this, hear this, where these phrases are a sort of cheer.

Here, here is widely regarded as a misspelling, although it is a common one, and there are ways to logically justify its use. But for what it’s worth, hear, hear is the original form (the Oxford English Dictionary cites examples going back to the 17th century) and is the one listed in dictionaries. English reference books mention here, here only to note that it’s wrong.

. . and now you know!

Doug Noernberg · November 2016

In the grand scheme of things, it shouldn't make a difference. But it does tarnish and it stings when you have an otherwise "perfect" record. Rather than just a comment to respond, another idea would be to have the ability to have a follow-up score, sort of like the BBB. Was the issue brought about to a satisfactory resolution? Mistakes happen, but what I see as more valuable information is how a seller resolves the issue, not whether or not there was an event. There are some curmudgeons out there that will never be happy no matter what you do, but most of the time, it's probably a good news outcome and it would be good to find a way to communicate that if feedback was already left. And instead of "negative", perhaps it would be best to rank them as "issues" or "no issues". I think this would be more enlightening. It's not so stark. We could even have categories, such as missed faults, packaging issues, etc. with space for details if an issue were to be reported. As a seller, I would rather have feedback data that would help me improve (such as packaging didn't work as intended) versus all positive feedback if the issue wasn't severe enough to cause a buyer to make a negative feedback rating. It has too much stigma. And for those who are just @$$es, i think their complaints would run hollow in light of the other more constructive ones.

Robert Welander · November 2016

Just to provide an update on the need for this ... I e-mailed the buyer, apologized, took responsibility, refunded his money, and sent a replacement stamp. The buyer e-mailed back, and accepted my apology (along with my solution).

I'm comfortable with accepting the responsibility for the error that I made. I'd like to be able to point out in the feedback area, though, that I've provided the buyer with an acceptable resolution.

The argument against this concept is I could be a really bad seller, get bad feedback, and respond with lies every time one shows up. Then it becomes meaningless.

I welcome other suggestions on what functionality could be put in place to deal with this kind of issue.

Rob

Lee J Coen · November 2016

HEAR, HEAR

Mark Schwing · November 2016

I like the star system over at Feebay. Give positive feedback, but you can knock them in the lacking area.

Luree Hughes · November 2016

I like Doug's idea the best so far. Giving me positive FB is always making me think I did every thing correctly. Giving me a positive critic reassures me that I've done it well. i.e. packaged well, arrived on time, speedy delivery, got what was pictured, etc. But, if the buyer was not happy, please contact me FIRST, let me try to make things right then leave a positive FB because I did correct the error. I'm human and stuff happens, please don't fire at me because I had a Senior Moment. We all have them, that's why we invented post 'em notes!

Gina Brewer · November 2016

The issue I have with the feedback system is that so many sites ask for feedback.I know a
lot of people only leave feedback if they have had a negative experience. It's interesting how people put so much importance on a feedback rating but don't take a second to let buyers know that you did a good job. I know as a buyer I don't put a lot of stock in a little negative feedback anymore. I think the new sellers are the ones that really get hurt by it. Could there be a way the buyer could be given a chance to edit their feedback? I think that it may better than a seller's response. It would mean more to have the buyer say we solved an issue than for the seller to say the same thing. That's all I've got

Steven Wilner · November 2016

This is one reason I had indicated I wish there was a way (like there was on Bidstart) to block buyers who do this. I had a buyer on Bidstart who purchased about 100 items - 2 of the items he said did not meet his criteria (they were cheap stamps) and he gave me negative feedback immediatel. He did this without the courtesy of sending me a message first because I would have gladly refunded him for the two stamps. Instead I was left with some negative feedback and there was no way to respond on the feedback system but I was able to block the buyer so he would not do that to me again. I just know this will happen to me again here and I would not be surprised it will be the same buyer who finds me again ! Steve

Steven Mahler · January 2017

I think that people need to learn how to feedback, period.

I had a customer a few years back who left me neutral feedback, "As stated in listing." Now I am not trying to read between the lines, but that to me is that he received exactly what was represented in the listing. He never contacted me beforehand.

I checked his feedback for others, and out of 17 feedbacks, he had left 6 negative, 8 neutral, and 3 positive, all with similar comments to my feedback above. I simply responded with a neutral feedback of "As stated in listing."

He left the site after a couple of weeks, but in the mean time I did not want to deal with this person again, so I used the Block Buyer function (hint, hint).

andrew Hellenschmidt · January 2017

I don't think you should be able to change feedback. While your heroic efforts to save a customer are noteworthy and the customer's actions seem obnoxious. Who gives negative feedback over a .60 stamp because of a hinge mark. I think most sellers would agree blocking in this case.

Thomas Keesling · February 2017

This is one of those rare times when I would like to have the option to respond to feedback! I hadn't checked my feedback since November, but just did so and found a buyer had left over 30 negative comments in December for a large purchase we cordially agreed to cancel in early November! He said,

"There was a problem with the seller's Paypal and after waiting weeks for him to relist the stamps I bowed out. Doesn't seem to care about selling his stamps."

While this buyer was in my store, he said the HipStamp site froze for 20 minutes. However, he was able to complete his shopping when access was restored. He completed the purchases and paid via PayPal. However, when I went to PayPal to print a shipping label (this purchase required insurance), The PayPal system informed me they had no mailing address for the individual and couldn't print the label. I initially thought it was just a temporary problem with the PayPal system. after failing several times to get the PayPal system to find the buyer's address, I contacted HipStamp about the problem since there had been some sort of technical problem while the buyer was shopping in my store. HipStamp was already working on the PayPal problem and said it might take a while to resolve. Given that uncertainty and the fact the buyer was preparing to leave on an extended out-of-state visit, we agreed to cancel the order and re-do it upon his return home. I offered to delay re-listing the stamps until he returned home and he liked that idea. I expected him to contact me when he returned at which time I would relist the items at a time convenient to him.

I didn't hear from the buyer for a few weeks, but my time was devoted to more serious family matters and I wasn't concerned. When I finally found some free time, I contacted the buyer to ask if was back home and still interested in the stamps. He was definitely still interested, but I explained it would probably be a few days before I would have time to relist the stamps. He didn't have a problem with that. Then, a few days later, before I got the stamps relisted, the buyer sent an email to express his displeasure with my not yet having listed the stamps and said he was no longer interested. No problem. I later relisted the stamps and thought nothing more about it.

Then, a short while ago I found the 30+ comments from this buyer on a transaction that we cordially and mutually agreed to cancel due to: 1) a technical problem beyond our control; and 2) his imminent departure for an extended out-of-state family visit! He knew PayPal was having a problem with his transaction and that HipStamp was working on the problem. He didn't contact me upon his return home. I took the initiative to contact him! It never occurred to me he would leave feedback of any kind for a transaction we agreed to cancel, much less negative feedback for a problem neither of us created nor had any control over. Inexplicable behavior!

Ted Tyszka · February 2017

Actually, I think you should contact support to have it removed, period.

Ted

Steven Wilner · February 2017

Another reason why I like to be able to BLOCK Buyers from my store like we were able to do in Bidstart. !

Genaro Contreras · January 2019

I had a similar situation,customer never contacted me first and left a long feedback note. I stated on the listing I would resolve any issues before any negative feedback and told him why he had done that,he just said to deal with it. I would never leave negative feedback without first contacting the seller. Maybe its this polar vortex driving ppl insane.

Michael Generali · January 2019

Obviously some buyers expect immediate perfection to match their own godlike perfection at all times (sounds like my demented mother). As a buyer I realize that mistakes can happen. When it does, I contact (that means COMMUNICATE) with the seller to advise of the issue. I give the seller time to correct the problem. If the seller handles the matter and makes it right, the seller gets positive feedback from me. But them, I don't expect immediate perfection at all times. I expect others to do their best, and to make it right if something went wrong.

Genaro Contreras · January 2019

I agree Michael sellers must be held responsible and at least given a second chance. At the end of the day we are a big community and we must considerate of one another buyer and seller we are all this together.

James Gunnells · April 2019

Ever booked a condo on the beach?

Hal Nathan · May 2019

It looks like in here is the same as feebay...The buyer can do and say what ever they want and the seller is forced to give positive to the worst crooks on the web

Mark Rosenberg · May 2019

As I understand, on ebay, a Seller can only leave positive feedback for a buyer - which is not the case here. On HipStamp, both Buyers and Sellers can leave negative, neutral or positive feedback accordingly.

We believe allowing Sellers to leave appropriate feedback for buyers helps to keep our marketplace and community safer, as it allows us to quickly identify problematic buyers who need to be removed from HipStamp.

Liberty Stamp Shop, Inc · May 2019

I have complained about this for several years now. I would say that 95% of negative and neutral comments are totally uncalled for. I have complained to the staff of Hip Stamp without satisfaction.
I just received a neutral on a undelivered order. $5.00) I wrote to customer stating the order was shipped. I told the buyer, I would issue a refund after 30 days. Mail out of Chicago can be horrible.
I just received 5 negatives for a 25 cent item. I told the buyer to keep the stamp and I would issue a refund. About 2 years ago I received 25 negatives for late delivery to Costa Rica. The office was closed for the Passover Holiday and I posted that the office is closed. All contacts to Hip staff have been ignored!! I have 95K feedbacks with a 99.9% positive. I guess that is not good enough.
Liberty has been in business since 1946 and a member of major stamp associations.
I respond to all inquiries. Steve Eaton/Liberty Stamp.

Michael Duehr · May 2019

Mark,

That's only good if people are actually using the feedback system and assuming that the sellers are leaving feedback LAST not first. And if you are trying to use the feedback system to weed out bad sellers,going by what's happening on Hippostcard that is not going to work very well either due to the fact that MOST of the buyers are no longer leaving feedback on Hippostcard. The amount of feedback now being left by the buyers on Hippostcard is UNDER 50%. The amount of feedback being left on Hipstamp is also dropping. The whole reason being is that Ebay made the feedback far more important than what it was designed to do.

Hal Nathan · May 2019

Liberty, by them not receiving the package is acceptable but what about when you send someone a package and they decide to place a negative on your feedback because the stamps on the outside of the package were not in a perfect straight line??? This happened to me around 2007 in feebay ... Another thing i do for every customer is i send them a picture of the tracking number and a pic of the package via the feebay message system so feebay has it on file. Not because i am a nice person...lol ...What about when buyers move residence and dont update the information in their accounts?? How are sellers supposed to know and by law, we have to send to the exact place stated on their account s the site will not cover us in any way..But buyers expect all sellers to be perfect... As the old saying goes, it only takes one rotton apple to destroy the case of fruit. I saw what you said liberty and unfortunately, places like this site only want 100% and not 99.99999999%..I say this is all thanks to feebay and their policies and nothing else...

Michael Duehr · May 2019

Are you selling stamps or are you looking for perfect feedback? The purpose of the feedback was to deal with sellers and buyers that had continuing ongoing and chronic problems. The longer you do this and the more orders and items you deal with the more likely that at some point something will go wrong and the buyer or seller will leave negatives or neutrals. It goes with the territory. And no matter how much a seller wants to complain about about some of the feedback left by a buyer that should ideally NEVER have to deal with a problem with an order EVER,the experience right off the bat is a NEGATIVE experience for that buyer. The best a seller can do at that point is to try to turn into a positive experience for that buyer. Remember you can not please 100% of the people 100% of the time. Life just does not work that way.

The real questions should be are those feedback true,is there anything I can do to correct it,are they affecting my sales or for me to be able to sell on the site?

Steve,

Just as a question to think about Do you really think that there would be anyone trying to go through hundreds of pages of feedback left for you to find any comments that you responded to? Remember Hipstamp is not set up to only view positive or negatives comments. What would be the point of being able leave comments when it's not practical to wade through hundreds if not thousands of pages of feedback to view the few responses left for those few feedback?

Paul Molloy · June 2019

I was surprised to see 24 neutral entries for a seller that are like this

- hsfeed

I'd like a way to respond to negative feedback

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