Call For CPAPAuction.com Feedback System Opinions

[GumbyCT]

Long Time Ebayer here:

The Feedback system on EBay got to be a joke. Sellers withholding Feedback from Buyers until the buyer posted feedback. If the Buyer posted legitimate negative Feedback the Seller would trash the buyer.

Here was my suggestion. The Seller cannot process payment until feedback is left. It goes to escrow or withheld by paypal until the seller posts feedback.

The Seller should leave feedback based on these criteria.

1. Buyers Communication
2. Buyers Timely or untimely pay.

Sellers can be held for:

1. Condition and correctness of item
2. Validity of descritpion
3. Shipping promptness
4. Shipping costs and options
5. Ease of payment
6. Problem Resolution

When I get a box of broken crap I don't want my feedback threatened for making a valid complaint.

Another thing getting out of hand is charging 3 dollars for a 20 dollar item and charging 25 dollars to ship it. Ebay does not charge sellers fees on shipping and I don't think Paypal charges percentages for shipping.

I would add "Seller's Communication" most sellers stop communicating when the auction ends.
And what is wrong with updating the auction if the seller is going on vacation or there will be a delay because of a "Death in the Family".

Where do you put - the seller doesn't respond to emails and when he does gives incorrect information but when the item arrived (2wks later) it was exactly as described?

[kteague]

Whether it is the buyer or the seller that defrauds, a loss is suffered. It is not merely an inconvenience when a buyer defrauds a seller.

Any system that doesn't motivate both positive and negative feedback, buyer and seller, runs the risk of unbalanced feedback, and needs to have a plan to preempt that. Maybe it's just human nature to find it worth the time and effort to complain more than compliment. Except in blatant situations, I think it should be required that negative feedback not be used to initiate a complaint, but rather be a response to unsuccessful conflict resolution.

Criteria for feedback to be deemed negative needs to clearly not be subjective. With the types of items cpapauction carries, much is clearcut. But something that is beyond the seller's control should not be counted in the percentages of negative feedback.

My daughter and her husband make their living in internet sales. One negative feedback said the package was sent to the wrong address, and a neighbor brought it to them. Well, all address labels are printed from downloaded data that the customer provides, so either the customer typed it wrong or the postal service left it at the wrong house. They got a negative feedback over something that had nothing to do with them. And that's just one example.

It's a fine line between safeguarding customers (and the site's reputation) and throwing sellers under the bus. I know it's not feasible to micro-manage feedback, just please don't implement automated procedures that penalize vendors based on feedback percentages without a means of considering the validity of the complaints. (Yes, that was a direct reference to another site's moronic policies and procedures that I can't name until a particular conflict is resolved, and besides, they weren't a part of the initial question of the thread).

Johnny, I'm sure with you being an online vendor you are sensitive to the pitfalls of the feedback system. The "big boys" don't always get it right, so make your decisions based on what you know. One of the "big boys" I made reference to has implemented options that provide an environment ripe for either unintentional or intentional sabotage of vendors, and cause a feedback rate triggering an automated lockout and resultant loss of vendors. Every new idea is not a good idea. Whatever you decide to do, I'm sure you'll think it through, and thanks for asking our opinion.

Kathy (admittedly a bit biased)

[Zoot]

Long Time Ebayer here:

The Feedback system on EBay got to be a joke. Sellers withholding Feedback from Buyers until the buyer posted feedback. If the Buyer posted legitimate negative Feedback the Seller would trash the buyer.

Here was my suggestion. The Seller cannot process payment until feedback is left. It goes to escrow or withheld by paypal until the seller posts feedback.

The Seller should leave feedback based on these criteria.

1. Buyers Communication
2. Buyers Timely or untimely pay.

Sellers can be held for:

1. Condition and correctness of item
2. Validity of descritpion
3. Shipping promptness
4. Shipping costs and options
5. Ease of payment
6. Problem Resolution

When I get a box of broken crap I don't want my feedback threatened for making a valid complaint.

Another thing getting out of hand is charging 3 dollars for a 20 dollar item and charging 25 dollars to ship it. Ebay does not charge sellers fees on shipping and I don't think Paypal charges percentages for shipping.

I would add "Seller's Communication" most sellers stop communicating when the auction ends.
And what is wrong with updating the auction if the seller is going on vacation or there will be a delay because of a "Death in the Family".

Where do you put - the seller doesn't respond to emails and when he does gives incorrect information but when the item arrived (2wks later) it was exactly as described?

That is ebay allowed mutually withdrawals. I could completely understand if something like the above examples happening. I also completely agree cpapauction us a completely different animal than EBay.

I grew very tired of having my feedback held hostage as a buyer when I paid within 24 hours.

[maizeandblue]

plantgram

I agree with zoot. I have made 3 purchases from cpapauctin.com. 2 were excellent. However, the third was a nightmare and I never received the merchandise I paid for. My negative feedback resulted in a very unfair and "payback" negative evaluation from the seller. Even though I never received the merchandise, the negative feedback still exits. I will not use the website again due to this.

[sleepycarol]

I like the feedback system the way it is now on cpapauction. I always read feedback to determine if I want to deal with a particular seller. I read what type of feedback and the comments carefully and weigh whether or not I actually want to have a transaction with that seller.

I have sold on eBay for a number of years and have stopped selling on eBay in part due to the changes in their feedback system. I have over 1600 transactions as a buyer and seller with only 5 negative feedbacks both as a buyer and seller.

It is not a perfect world and mishaps do happen and at times negative feedback is unwarranted. Yet when it happens frequently one should take heed in the fact that something is amiss.

I say leave the feedback system the way it is.

For what it is worth when I have sold items and am paid using paypal -- their charges are based on the total amount submitted to your account which includes postage.

[looking4zzzz]

Please don't stop allowing negative feedback...it helps future buyers decide if they want to purchase from that seller. As buyers, we can go in and look at the specific comments to determine how credible we think the commentator is. I'd like to see sellers be required to post their feedback within 3 days of receiving their money; they should not be allowed to base their feedback on the feedback the buyer leaves for them. A buyer either pays on time or doesn't...then it's up to the seller to meet their part of the bargain-ship the item they advertised, and then the buyer can leave their feedback based on the item they receive. I've had 2 sellers in the last month advertise masks as new, never opened...then send me 1) a mask that wasn't even in a plastic bag and 2) a mask that came in an opened bag. Both were new sellers. If other buyers knew that, it might or might not influence whether they bought from those sellers, but at least they would have had the chance to make an informed decision. I hope you continue things basically as they are. Thanks for asking our opinions.

[Zoot]

Please guys I am agreeing with you as to cpapauction.com and I am sure those sellers here on Ebay acted with integrity, I am just giving my experiences with Ebay.

If ebay was not having such a huge problem with sellers trashing good buyers why would they change it. They didn't do it overnight, I complained to Ebay for 2 years. Between that and the shill bidding was rampant.

[chrisd]

I disagree with the notion that a seller that hasn't paid for an item should not be able to leave a negative comment. As stated in another thread recently, a buyer "won" an auction but then the seller didn't respond to buyer emails. I didn't hear how it turned out but failure to communicate should be pointed out so sellers may understand how important it is. The eBay system did allow for seller rebuttals which I think is also appropriate.

What about the buyers who bid and win but refuse to pay, because they bid on multiple items or they just didn't read the terms? The seller leaves them negative feedback because they didn't pay and the buyer reciprocates. Is that fair?

[chrisd]

Please guys I am agreeing with you as to cpapauction.com and I am sure those sellers here on Ebay acted with integrity, I am just giving my experiences with Ebay.

If ebay was not having such a huge problem with sellers trashing good buyers why would they change it. They didn't do it overnight, I complained to Ebay for 2 years. Between that and the shill bidding was rampant.

eBay was having a lot of problems so they finally changed, but one of the unforseen consequences, was that winning bidders could still leave negative feedback even though they never paid. eBay has now changed that and allows for the removal of negative feedback when the buyer never pays for the item. Sounds fair enough to me. A buyer who refuses to pay should not be allowed to post any feedback on a seller. As it stands now, anyone of us can bid on items, win, refuses to pay, then post negative feedback on the innocent seller. That is a potential, huge problem for any auction site.

[johnnygoodman]

Howdy,

Thanks to all who have spoken their minds on this topic. Unfortunately, both sides make good cases. I still don't know how to play this.

I am going to get with Becky and again and revive the thread when I've got a firm opinion. In the mean time, if you are reading this and still want to make your case, I'll be reading this thread again soon!

Johnny

[roster]

Howdy,

Thanks to all who have spoken their minds on this topic. Unfortunately, both sides make good cases. I still don't know how to play this.

........Johnny

I remember reading that one of our U.S. founding fathers, maybe Thomas Jefferson, said at the time of our founding, "This country will not work if the citizens do not voluntarily obey the laws." If sellers and/or buyers often act unethically, then markets work poorly. I hope the auction survives and is a trusted part of the market.

[papdad]

Johnny -- One question that I have not seen addressed elsewhere. If a seller should get enough negative feedbacks that they feel it could affect their future sales, are they, the same seller, allowed to start selling under another screen name thus showing no negative feedbacks?
Norm

[Songbird]

I've done one cpapauction transaction, and it went very well. Before I placed a bid, though, I checked the seller's rating, and it was excellent. I wouldn't have placed a bid if the seller's rating was anything BUT excellent.

I'm a frequent ebay'er and amazon'er, and I always place a high priority on the seller's rating.

I think ebay was wrong to change its policy. If a buyer is only allowed to give positive feedback, it only gives part of the picture and makes things much riskier for the buyer.

Please don't change your feedback policy.

Thanks for requesting our feedback -- positive AND negative.

Marsha

[BillyBob]

I don't think CPAPauction.com is useful to anyone trying to sell CPAP equipment. I went on there yesterday to see what I could expect to get out of my ResMed AutoSet Respond APAP machine, and there were two listings that had just closed that were at $50.00 and never even got a bid. That's crazy! How would you expect me to list my machine on there if I couldn't even get $50.00 out of it?

Good luck.

[johnnygoodman]

Howdy,

Johnny -- One question that I have not seen addressed elsewhere. If a seller should get enough negative feedbacks that they feel it could affect their future sales, are they, the same seller, allowed to start selling under another screen name thus showing no negative feedbacks?
Norm

No. We have a fraud system in place and monitor it daily. It isn't impossible for the sneaky, but it is very difficult and we make it long term unprofitable to do it. In the one case where a seller pushed us harder than that, the authorities were invited in and the problem resolved itself.

I don't think CPAPauction.com is useful to anyone trying to sell CPAP equipment. I went on there yesterday to see what I could expect to get out of my ResMed AutoSet Respond APAP machine, and there were two listings that had just closed that were at $50.00 and never even got a bid. That's crazy! How would you expect me to list my machine on there if I couldn't even get $50.00 out of it?

Good luck.

BiPAPs are a low volume item inherently. Here's some data on the CPAP vs. APAP vs. BiPAP mix of the cash buying public.

https://www.cpap.com/cpap-user-preference.php

This is a free market. Its not my job to set the price of a BiPAP, its my job to host the medium and make sure the policies create a safe market place. At $50, maybe you should be a buyer.

Lastly, we're not the only game in town. We'd love your business but there are alternatives. If you can get a better price for your BiPAP elsewhere, more power to you! Please post on CPAPtalk about how and where you pulled it off so I can learn.

Johnny