Call For CPAPAuction.com Feedback System Opinions

[johnnygoodman]

Howdy,

Currently, CPAPAuction.com allows positive, negative and neutral feedback. Ebay used to do this and moved away from it to a system which supports only positive feedback but which allows sellers to filter buyers and report bad buyers.

Here's a discussion Becky Polk, who runs CPAPAuction.com and I had this morning. I'd like to know what everything thinks. Should CPAPAuction follow an Ebay style model or stick with what we have now?

(10:04:03 AM) becky.polk: do you remember that eBay has stopped allowing sellers to leave neutral or negative feedback on buyers?
(10:04:20 AM) Johnny Goodman: I do. I can't say I agree with it. Why have feedback at all?
(10:05:17 AM) becky.polk: They did it to be sure that buyers would be honest about sellers and not be intimidated by them. Buyers need to be protected more than sellers do, dont you think?
(10:06:12 AM) becky.polk: When a buyer frauds, a seller is inconvenienced. When a seller frauds, theft occurs.
(10:07:15 AM) becky.polk: look at what eBay has also done to their feedback removal policy as a result: http://pages.ebay.com/services/forum/new.html
(10:07:53 AM) Johnny Goodman: so sellers can better filter out buyers
(10:08:00 AM) Johnny Goodman: and report bad ones
(10:08:34 AM) becky.polk: yes, and we can remove more instances of unfair negative feedback
(10:08:54 AM) Johnny Goodman: more admin work, and more of a heavy hand from us instead of from the free market...
(10:09:24 AM) becky.polk: If a buyer doesn't pay for an item, they shouldn't be allowed to leave feedback
(10:09:30 AM) Johnny Goodman: on the flip side, it stinks when good sellers get dinged, or when fraud sellers take a buyer. Those are the two cases you can't have on a reputable auction website.
(10:10:02 AM) becky.polk: yep
(10:10:19 AM) Johnny Goodman: I'm going to paste this to CPAPtalk. I want to know what people think.

Are you a CPAPAuction.com user with experiences that'll help us make a good decision here? Lets hear it!

Johnny

[carbonman]

Should CPAPAuction follow an Ebay style model or stick with what we have now?

Are you a CPAPAuction.com user with experiences that'll help us make a good decision here? Lets hear it!

Johnny

I vote for keeping it the way that it is.
I think it keeps both parties informed.

I have made 5 purchases from the auction.
I was very satisfied w/all the transactions.
Product was delivered as advertised and I made prompt payment.

[Snoredog]

My opinion:

I don't do a lot of ebay and haven't done any cpapauction yet, but I have PayPal and in my opinion EBAY is moving more towards a "bad model" and this new CEO is even worse than Meg was, so I wouldn't follow their lead as any kind of model they have lost a lot of customers.

but I do agree with this statement, seems fair and reasonable to me:

(10:09:24 AM) becky.polk: If a buyer doesn't pay for an item, they shouldn't be allowed to leave feedback

But as a buyer, IF I seen a seller had a >90% positive feedback that is better than one only having 50%, the latter means half their transactions were negative. If a seller identifies an item as New and/or nearly new and it has 9,000 hours on it when Buyer receives it, obviously I wouldn't expect that seller to get positive feedback even though the transaction was completed. If the seller continues along with that practice their positive feedback is going to suffer, and you can be assured it is NOT the same Buyer rating them. If a Seller does 100 transactions and negative feedback is 50% then why do you need to reward that behavior by removing negative feedback?

Feedback is only going to apply to power sellers anyway, if I was going to put my single machine up for sale, that feedback is meaningless to me as the Seller as I would NOT have any prior sales to be rated from. I also suspect for MOST Buyers it will be a one-time transaction, so all Sellers will be getting evaluated by individual Buyer experiences so you cannot at the same time discount any negative feedback simply because this Seller makes you more money over the long run. If a Seller bitches about the negative feedback they receive then they should clean up their act and/or stop bitching.

And that is the "bad" model EBAY decided to move towards, side with the Seller because that is where most of their reoccurring revenue comes from and why Craigslist has become so popular. Good model for Ebay and the seller, bad for the buyer. Without Buyers you are are not any better off than this Real Estate market even if cheap money is available.

I think it is more an ethics issue, get the word out that you are siding with Sellers only for profit and your business will go down the toilet. If people know you are fair and on the level you will gain approval from both sides. I can guarantee you will have Sellers with 100% feedback, maybe you highlight that achievement by having a button with "Top Sellers". Then Buyers know they got there by merit and by NOT having negative feed back filtered. Put up a notice on feedback, we do NOT filter feedback, what you see is what you get. Sellers are rated on individual transactions from Buyers.

[Niteair]

I have made purchases from both E Bay and Cpap auction, and have never had a bad transaction, however I do not like what E Bay has instituted, since I had previously closely looked at feedback to make my decisions as whether to bid on an item or let it go. DON'T FIX what isn't broke.

[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.

[ractar28]

If you can't post negative things, then it's just a "love-in" and not useful at all. The ONLY issue I see with the current configuration, is that there should be a "dispute" process. An example would be http://www.cpapauction.com/viewFeedback ... erid=18699 where a user posts "It appears to have arrived in good condition. I have not tried it out yet." as a neutral. Unless the shipping was slow or something like that (which isn't mentioned), I don't see how that's not a "positive" experience.

[Zoot]

If everyone was fair and sane it would work great, ractar. But, people on EBay have decided to manipulate and abuse the system.

Hopefully the good netizens of cpapauction will not follow suit.

[JeffH]

Was a long time ebayer and I quit. It just got too crazy with too many bad buyers and sellers. I would like you to leave it as is...FWIW


JeffH

[Arizona-Willie]

Please don't < fix > it!!

An auction site where you can't get previous buyer reports on the seller is useless.

Looks like they want to shield crooks that just want to rip people off.

[dsm]

Johnny,

My inclination is to leave it as is until such buyer/seller issues show up and then review what might work to resolve them.

eBay is a high volume fast moving environment but cpapauction is far slower & more targeted as regards product. The
cpaptalk forum is a great place for people to air their concerns & get lots of experienced cpapauction feedback.

I really like using cpapauction - very well run in my opinion. Becky is an excellent person to interact with, very responsive.

DSM

[deerslayer]

being involved in over 200 ebay auctions my humble opinion would be to leave as is. that being said, i recently purchased a swift !! mask W/ headgear and only received the barrel & plastic hose assembly. when i told seller what i received, they said well it was in there, maybe someone opened it(didnot happen)anyway i sent it back and was out only postage and aggrevation. i should have probably given them at least a nuetral but i took them at face value & gave a positive. that was the first unpleasant experiance with cpapauction.com to date. tim

[Snoredog]

The
cpaptalk forum is a great place for people to air their concerns & get lots of experienced cpapauction feedback.

NO is is NOT a great place for people to air their gripes with cpapauction, you are always going to have buyers/sellers bitching and moaning about each other, just like on EBAY, so why should THIS forum have to bear that burden? We already get enough patients bitching and moaning about their therapy as it is when they first visit the site.

this is like wanting to go on a Cruise with Rock and Roll, why in the hell would anyone in their right mind want to spend money on an expensive vacation going on a cruise with a crowd of bitching and moaning people?

Not me, I'd rather take a ship with a load of singles or a hookers convention cruise or something. Years ago I set up IVR systems and automated telephone attendants, some companies wanted me to set up an extension for accounts payable, when their bill collectors would press the number for AP, the mailbox would play dial-tone and hang up on them, never once taking a message. Maybe you set up a Complaint Department on cpapauction where they air their complaints.

[skittles]

Leave it as is -- I use the feedback alot when considering purchasing an item. I definitely want to know if anyone has any problems

Skittles

[OldLincoln]

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.

[john_dozer]

My 2 cents.

Allow the seller to hide 1 buyer's feedback for every 50 feedback comments, under the following restriction.

The seller must try to contact the buyer to either re-affirm or withdraw the negative feedback. If the buyer does not respond, the seller can hide that comment.

Summary.
You get 1 hide per 50 feedback.
You can only hide comments where the buyer failed to affirm or withdraw the comment.
If affirmed (or withdrawn), the buyer can no longer contact the buyer to affirm or withdraw.