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| | | Author: | enig  | | Posted: | Jun 2, 2021 06:42 | | Subject: | Feedback rmvl policy MUST CHANGE. Here's why. | | Viewed: | 242 times | | Topic: | Help | |
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| For the same reason that both sellers and buyers have been voicing for years
- retaliatory feedback and feedback extortion.
TL;DR
* Received an order where 57.5% of 'new' lots were used
* Seller refuses to correct their remaining listings of used parts that are listed
as new
* Seller already wrote to me two times that she will post a retaliatory feedback
if I post non-positive - this is feedback extortion
A month ago Admin_Russell has posted a message, a part of which was:
In Administrative, Admin_Russell writes:
| | We are planning on releasing a statement next week to share some history of our
site’s feedback system and the rationale behind our current Feedback Removal
Policy.
|
https://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=1263510
I can not find the named statement but please let me know in case it appeared
somewhere. Either way - the wording in the quote does not give me any hope that
it would address the issue that I am going to describe.
Meanwhile - naysayers will keep saying NO to the fact that quality of
BL sellers is going downhill, while others will say - just leave honest feedback
and bear the retaliatory one as a badge of honour. To the latter I can only respond
- my opinion differs. Some people obviously do not care about their feedback
score as much as others. I understand that. I belong to the other side which
cares about what the meaning of the word and the concept of the feedback stands
for. I refuse to bear a negative or a neutral if it is undeserved.
MY CURRENT SITUATION with a seller who has 100.00% positive feedback
* I ordered 49 lots, 47 were sent to me as two were missing in seller's inventory.
Out of the 47 lots received - 25 were 100% used parts and two more lots that
were at least partly used parts. To be clear - I am strictly talking about parts
that I can definitively prove as used. I am not including any 'contested'
parts - some do not look like new to me but I will put my naive hat on and say
that it might me just very poor storage. Wink wink nudge nudge.
Once again just to be sure what we are talking about here - I am not talking
about 'scratches right out of the box' etc. Everything written is with
that in mind.
In the end we have 27 lots out of 47 that were either all used sold as new, or
at least partially. That is 57.5% of all lots.
* Initially I was very understanding of the seller. Everyone makes mistakes,
deserves a second chance etc. We have eventually reached an agreement where I
will receive a partial refund for the bad parts, but adjusted for the NEW vs
USED avg prices. In other words - will still end up paying for the bad parts.
However I did let the seller know that there is no way I can leave a positive
feedback for this kind of mess-up and that I am very sorry for having to be the
first such a feedback to them. I was talking about leaving a neutral for them
(situation has since changed, keep reading).
* Seller has admitted that a lot of the bad parts in my order were from another
store buy-out that she did and that she did not do a proper inspection of them.
* She also wrote "After I received your feedback (remember you were willing to
give a neutral not negative) I will give one in return."
* I asked two questions:
Question #1 - have you / will you change the condition of the remaining parts
from that particular store from NEW to USED?
Question #2 - am I right in assuming that you will leave me a positive feedback,
or you will give me a neutral 'in return'? I find it strange that you
removed your previously positive feedback for me as well.
The seller went silent and ignored the questions - for a full week.
Eventually I got her to reply and the reply read:
#1: I will check and change if neccessary. No need to play Big Brother.
#2: Who would give a positive feedback in return for a neutral/negative? No
one I bet.
Playing Big Brother? I will only say this - check the pictures to judge seller's
ability (or there-lack of) to check part condition. Some other parts were also
dusty - you could visibly see where other parts have been put on top etc. All
things considered - it is fair to say that I have reasons to doubt that she will
do the right thing. Not inly it is my duty to warn other buyers. I must also
protect my own interests as a seller - she is competing for the same buyers looking
to buy NEW parts. The average price of parts in the whole order were at a ratio
of 0.64 compared to avg 6month SOLD. I would have certainly not placed the order
should I have known the outcome - my own order is a perfect example of how she
is stealing buyers from honest sellers. She is competing unfairly against me
and others.
All of this - before we even start talking about the direct monetary losses that
I incurred because of this order in terms of opportunity cost, the hours my employee
spent in checking the condition of the parts, the many hours I had to spend in
going back-and-forth with the seller. Yes, it is the cost of doing business.
All the more reasons why this seller deserves a negative.
@Admin_Russell and others... please tell me:
* What do you think the purpose of feedback is
* What is the purpose of Neutral / Negative feedback
* Should I not leave a negative to the seller who is knowingly selling used parts
as new, refusing to correct their listings and who is also attempting a feedback
extortion on me
* Should I give-in both my feelings and my morals in order to protect my own
feedback record, for which I have worked for for 8 years?
* @Admin_Russell - can I get a promise that the retaliatory feedback will be
removed once it is posted? Or do you want the seller in question to keep having
100% positive feedback record? It is one of the two.
Big surprise - this is just one issue I had during last couple weeks. I have
one even worse where another seller issued an NPB against me and completely ignored
all my messages to correct and re-send the invoice - until the time ran out and
now I have an NPB strike. Of all the places... both sellers happen to be from
Germany  . No offense to others, but it is the last place I would be expecting
this from.
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| | | | | Author: | cosmicray | | Posted: | Jun 2, 2021 07:02 | | Subject: | Re: Feedback rmvl policy MUST CHANGE. Here's why. | | Viewed: | 70 times | | Topic: | Help | |
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| In Help, enig writes:
| |
Big surprise - this is just one issue I had during last couple weeks. I have
one even worse where another seller issued an NPB against me and completely ignored
all my messages to correct and re-send the invoice - until the time ran out and
now I have an NPB strike. Of all the places... both sellers happen to be from
Germany . No offense to others, but it is the last place I would be expecting
this from.
|
It's not just Germany, there are individuals in any country that are like
this, but thankfully not that many.
Part of the issue with how BL does FB is that it is not easy to see the counter-FB
for a transaction. it can be done, but it takes a lot of digging. If the counter
FB were much more easily accessible, then retaliatory FB would stand out like
a sore-thumb.
To that end, I made a suggestion late in 2020 ...
https://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=1233827
My own view is that you should word your FB carefully, leave it, and if they
do leave retaliatory, then answer that FB with the same exact FB you left on
the original. Just my viewpoint.
If they are misrepresenting parts, and using coercive control to cover up their
behavior, then leaving accurate FB would be best possible way to get them to
stop doing that. Yes, you might take a hit, but if enough people stand up, then
their FB will eventually disclose the behavior. But be very careful that the
FB you leave is honest and accurate.
Nita Rae
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| | | | | | | Author: | enig | | Posted: | Jun 2, 2021 07:56 | | Subject: | Re: Feedback rmvl policy MUST CHANGE. Here's why. | | Viewed: | 51 times | | Topic: | Help | |
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| In Help, cosmicray writes:
| | In Help, enig writes:
| |
Big surprise - this is just one issue I had during last couple weeks. I have
one even worse where another seller issued an NPB against me and completely ignored
all my messages to correct and re-send the invoice - until the time ran out and
now I have an NPB strike. Of all the places... both sellers happen to be from
Germany . No offense to others, but it is the last place I would be expecting
this from.
|
It's not just Germany, there are individuals in any country that are like
this, but thankfully not that many.
Part of the issue with how BL does FB is that it is not easy to see the counter-FB
for a transaction. it can be done, but it takes a lot of digging. If the counter
FB were much more easily accessible, then retaliatory FB would stand out like
a sore-thumb.
To that end, I made a suggestion late in 2020 ...
https://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=1233827
My own view is that you should word your FB carefully, leave it, and if they
do leave retaliatory, then answer that FB with the same exact FB you left on
the original. Just my viewpoint.
If they are misrepresenting parts, and using coercive control to cover up their
behavior, then leaving accurate FB would be best possible way to get them to
stop doing that. Yes, you might take a hit, but if enough people stand up, then
their FB will eventually disclose the behavior. But be very careful that the
FB you leave is honest and accurate.
Nita Rae
|
Thank you for the input. I see what you mean with making the (retaliatory) feedback
esier to see, but it would do little to address the issue. Even if your suggested
feature was to be implemented - I would still be facing the exact same issue.
The situation that I am in right now - the seller already had posted a positive
feedback for me. She removed it for the sole reason to post a retaliatory and
ruin my 100% positive feedback record. She openly admitted to it. This is not
an 'if' situation.
I simply refuse to bear an undeserved feedback in this case and I will NOT be
leaving a non-positive if it will destroy what I have built over the years. I
value my feedback too highly. Yes, it is likely that I will eventually have to
face a neutral or a negative at some point and it will be a sad day. But it's
not happening today.
Point is - if BL wants the buyers to be warned against such sellers, they must
start policing the instances when the system is misused. I am sorry, but I do
not care to hear excuses. Feedback is the single tool that we have to let others
know about good and bad members. This tool is now open to abuse, making the whole
system untrustworthy. It also does not exactly improve the trust in BL administration
if issues like this are swept under the rug.
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | peregrinator | | Posted: | Jun 2, 2021 08:20 | | Subject: | Re: Feedback rmvl policy MUST CHANGE. Here's why. | | Viewed: | 67 times | | Topic: | Help | |
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| In Help, enig writes:
| | The situation that I am in right now - the seller already had posted a positive
feedback for me. She removed it for the sole reason to post a retaliatory and
ruin my 100% positive feedback record. She openly admitted to it. This is not
an 'if' situation.
|
If it's any consolation, the feedback the seller leaves for you will not
affect your store's record.
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| | | | | | | | | | | Author: | enig | | Posted: | Jun 2, 2021 12:34 | | Subject: | Re: Feedback rmvl policy MUST CHANGE. Here's why. | | Viewed: | 39 times | | Topic: | Help | |
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| In Help, peregrinator writes:
| | In Help, enig writes:
| | The situation that I am in right now - the seller already had posted a positive
feedback for me. She removed it for the sole reason to post a retaliatory and
ruin my 100% positive feedback record. She openly admitted to it. This is not
an 'if' situation.
|
If it's any consolation, the feedback the seller leaves for you will not
affect your store's record.
|
While it is a fair point, it still has a negative impact on me and it does not
really make me feel much better. But thank you.
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | cosmicray | | Posted: | Jun 2, 2021 10:19 | | Subject: | Re: Feedback rmvl policy MUST CHANGE. Here's why. | | Viewed: | 55 times | | Topic: | Help | |
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| In Help, enig writes:
| | I simply refuse to bear an undeserved feedback in this case and I will NOT be
leaving a non-positive if it will destroy what I have built over the years. I
value my feedback too highly. Yes, it is likely that I will eventually have to
face a neutral or a negative at some point and it will be a sad day. But it's
not happening today.
|
Which means your giving in to manipulation and coercive control. Don't do
that. Stand tall. Call out people who deserve to be called out, but make sure
your evaluation is honest and can withstand scrutiny by uninterested parties.
Nita Rae
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| | | | | | | | | | | Author: | tons_of_bricks | | Posted: | Jun 2, 2021 10:29 | | Subject: | Re: Feedback rmvl policy MUST CHANGE. Here's why. | | Viewed: | 49 times | | Topic: | Help | |
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| In Help, cosmicray writes:
| | In Help, enig writes:
| | I simply refuse to bear an undeserved feedback in this case and I will NOT be
leaving a non-positive if it will destroy what I have built over the years. I
value my feedback too highly. Yes, it is likely that I will eventually have to
face a neutral or a negative at some point and it will be a sad day. But it's
not happening today.
|
Which means your giving in to manipulation and coercive control. Don't do
that. Stand tall. Call out people who deserve to be called out, but make sure
your evaluation is honest and can withstand scrutiny by uninterested parties.
Nita Rae
|
+1 By making that decision, you are encouraging that seller to continue that
behavior.
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| | | | | | | | | | | Author: | maxx3001 | | Posted: | Jun 2, 2021 10:52 | | Subject: | Re: Feedback rmvl policy MUST CHANGE. Here's why. | | Viewed: | 58 times | | Topic: | Help | |
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| In Help, cosmicray writes:
| | In Help, enig writes:
| | I simply refuse to bear an undeserved feedback in this case and I will NOT be
leaving a non-positive if it will destroy what I have built over the years. I
value my feedback too highly. Yes, it is likely that I will eventually have to
face a neutral or a negative at some point and it will be a sad day. But it's
not happening today.
|
Which means your giving in to manipulation and coercive control. Don't do
that. Stand tall. Call out people who deserve to be called out, but make sure
your evaluation is honest and can withstand scrutiny by uninterested parties.
Nita Rae
|
+1 giving in to extortion is asking for more trouble, where does it end...
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| | | | | | | | | | | Author: | enig | | Posted: | Jun 2, 2021 12:53 | | Subject: | Re: Feedback rmvl policy MUST CHANGE. Here's why. | | Viewed: | 55 times | | Topic: | Help | |
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| In Help, cosmicray writes:
| | In Help, enig writes:
| | I simply refuse to bear an undeserved feedback in this case and I will NOT be
leaving a non-positive if it will destroy what I have built over the years. I
value my feedback too highly. Yes, it is likely that I will eventually have to
face a neutral or a negative at some point and it will be a sad day. But it's
not happening today.
|
Which means your giving in to manipulation and coercive control. Don't do
that. Stand tall. Call out people who deserve to be called out, but make sure
your evaluation is honest and can withstand scrutiny by uninterested parties.
Nita Rae
|
I have been biting my tongue and dealing with very, very bad orders for years
now. I am buying a lot of rare / discontinued parts and it naturally exposes
me to a lot of... THIS.
And this is before we even start talking about getting stop-listed for either
complaining to the seller, or simply writing things like this at the forum
and getting stop-listed by people I have never had any contact with whatsoever.
While it hurts a little, I can deal with it and just forget. But when I am putting
together projects for my customers - it not only reduces the number of sellers
that I can buy the parts from that are meant to go to my customers. It also increases
the bottom line and possibly even makes me to lose-out when I am not the only
one giving estimates for a project. THAT is very big and serious reason why I
would sometimes not even mention anything to some particular sellers.
Am I not betraying my own values by continuing supporting dishonest/cheating
sellers? I am. But it will be either me or someone else placing the orders for
the same parts with the same sellers. I do not have the luxury of jeopardizing
my whole business as selling LEGO parts for a living.. is all that I have.
This order that I am talking about - it is the one that broke the camel's
back. And just when I decided that enough is enough - look what is happening.
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| | | | | Author: | Brickwilbo | | Posted: | Jun 2, 2021 08:09 | | Subject: | Re: Feedback rmvl policy MUST CHANGE. Here's why. | | Viewed: | 51 times | | Topic: | Help | |
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| In Help, enig writes:
| | For the same reason that both sellers and buyers have been voicing for years
- retaliatory feedback and feedback extortion.
TL;DR
* Received an order where 57.5% of 'new' lots were used
* Seller refuses to correct their remaining listings of used parts that are listed
as new
* Seller already wrote to me two times that she will post a retaliatory feedback
if I post non-positive - this is feedback extortion
A month ago Admin_Russell has posted a message, a part of which was:
In Administrative, Admin_Russell writes:
| | We are planning on releasing a statement next week to share some history of our
site’s feedback system and the rationale behind our current Feedback Removal
Policy.
|
https://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=1263510
I can not find the named statement but please let me know in case it appeared
somewhere. Either way - the wording in the quote does not give me any hope that
it would address the issue that I am going to describe.
Meanwhile - naysayers will keep saying NO to the fact that quality of
BL sellers is going downhill, while others will say - just leave honest feedback
and bear the retaliatory one as a badge of honour. To the latter I can only respond
- my opinion differs. Some people obviously do not care about their feedback
score as much as others. I understand that. I belong to the other side which
cares about what the meaning of the word and the concept of the feedback stands
for. I refuse to bear a negative or a neutral if it is undeserved.
MY CURRENT SITUATION with a seller who has 100.00% positive feedback
* I ordered 49 lots, 47 were sent to me as two were missing in seller's inventory.
Out of the 47 lots received - 25 were 100% used parts and two more lots that
were at least partly used parts. To be clear - I am strictly talking about parts
that I can definitively prove as used. I am not including any 'contested'
parts - some do not look like new to me but I will put my naive hat on and say
that it might me just very poor storage. Wink wink nudge nudge.
Once again just to be sure what we are talking about here - I am not talking
about 'scratches right out of the box' etc. Everything written is with
that in mind.
In the end we have 27 lots out of 47 that were either all used sold as new, or
at least partially. That is 57.5% of all lots.
* Initially I was very understanding of the seller. Everyone makes mistakes,
deserves a second chance etc. We have eventually reached an agreement where I
will receive a partial refund for the bad parts, but adjusted for the NEW vs
USED avg prices. In other words - will still end up paying for the bad parts.
However I did let the seller know that there is no way I can leave a positive
feedback for this kind of mess-up and that I am very sorry for having to be the
first such a feedback to them. I was talking about leaving a neutral for them
(situation has since changed, keep reading).
* Seller has admitted that a lot of the bad parts in my order were from another
store buy-out that she did and that she did not do a proper inspection of them.
* She also wrote "After I received your feedback (remember you were willing to
give a neutral not negative) I will give one in return."
* I asked two questions:
Question #1 - have you / will you change the condition of the remaining parts
from that particular store from NEW to USED?
Question #2 - am I right in assuming that you will leave me a positive feedback,
or you will give me a neutral 'in return'? I find it strange that you
removed your previously positive feedback for me as well.
The seller went silent and ignored the questions - for a full week.
Eventually I got her to reply and the reply read:
#1: I will check and change if neccessary. No need to play Big Brother.
#2: Who would give a positive feedback in return for a neutral/negative? No
one I bet.
Playing Big Brother? I will only say this - check the pictures to judge seller's
ability (or there-lack of) to check part condition. Some other parts were also
dusty - you could visibly see where other parts have been put on top etc. All
things considered - it is fair to say that I have reasons to doubt that she will
do the right thing. Not inly it is my duty to warn other buyers. I must also
protect my own interests as a seller - she is competing for the same buyers looking
to buy NEW parts. The average price of parts in the whole order were at a ratio
of 0.64 compared to avg 6month SOLD. I would have certainly not placed the order
should I have known the outcome - my own order is a perfect example of how she
is stealing buyers from honest sellers. She is competing unfairly against me
and others.
All of this - before we even start talking about the direct monetary losses that
I incurred because of this order in terms of opportunity cost, the hours my employee
spent in checking the condition of the parts, the many hours I had to spend in
going back-and-forth with the seller. Yes, it is the cost of doing business.
All the more reasons why this seller deserves a negative.
@Admin_Russell and others... please tell me:
* What do you think the purpose of feedback is
* What is the purpose of Neutral / Negative feedback
* Should I not leave a negative to the seller who is knowingly selling used parts
as new, refusing to correct their listings and who is also attempting a feedback
extortion on me
* Should I give-in both my feelings and my morals in order to protect my own
feedback record, for which I have worked for for 8 years?
* @Admin_Russell - can I get a promise that the retaliatory feedback will be
removed once it is posted? Or do you want the seller in question to keep having
100% positive feedback record? It is one of the two.
Big surprise - this is just one issue I had during last couple weeks. I have
one even worse where another seller issued an NPB against me and completely ignored
all my messages to correct and re-send the invoice - until the time ran out and
now I have an NPB strike. Of all the places... both sellers happen to be from
Germany . No offense to others, but it is the last place I would be expecting
this from.
|
Report the member for distortion here: https://www.bricklink.com/problemMember.asp
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| | | | | Author: | tons_of_bricks | | Posted: | Jun 2, 2021 08:17 | | Subject: | Re: Feedback rmvl policy MUST CHANGE. Here's why. | | Viewed: | 65 times | | Topic: | Help | |
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| Retaliatory feedback isn't that big of a deal, in my opinion. It hurts the
offender more than the victim as it is very easy to spot as retaliatory instead
of a genuine negative/neutral.
Sure, it can be annoying for those people who love their 100% feedback rate,
but it's honestly not going to hurt their reputation at all.
Everything can be abused; feedback system, fees, conditions, etc. and that's
just part of a free market that we have to accept; not everyone is going to do
everything perfect and right; but like I said, it simply hurts the offender more
than anyone else.
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| | | | | | | Author: | enig | | Posted: | Jun 2, 2021 12:38 | | Subject: | Re: Feedback rmvl policy MUST CHANGE. Here's why. | | Viewed: | 55 times | | Topic: | Help | |
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| In Help, firestar246 writes:
| | Retaliatory feedback isn't that big of a deal, in my opinion. It hurts the
offender more than the victim as it is very easy to spot as retaliatory instead
of a genuine negative/neutral.
Sure, it can be annoying for those people who love their 100% feedback rate,
but it's honestly not going to hurt their reputation at all.
|
Thank you and all the others. At least one person as much as mentioned how important
the 100% feedback rate is to some. Either way - if you check my today's feedback
this might be out the window anyway. What a day 
| | Everything can be abused; feedback system, fees, conditions, etc. and that's
just part of a free market that we have to accept; not everyone is going to do
everything perfect and right; but like I said, it simply hurts the offender more
than anyone else.
|
Yes, everything can be abused. But steps to prevent abuse should be taken once
the abuse gets out of hand. If you ask me - it is long overdue.
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | tons_of_bricks | | Posted: | Jun 2, 2021 13:06 | | Subject: | Re: Feedback rmvl policy MUST CHANGE. Here's why. | | Viewed: | 55 times | | Topic: | Help | |
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| In Help, enig writes:
| | In Help, firestar246 writes:
| | Retaliatory feedback isn't that big of a deal, in my opinion. It hurts the
offender more than the victim as it is very easy to spot as retaliatory instead
of a genuine negative/neutral.
Sure, it can be annoying for those people who love their 100% feedback rate,
but it's honestly not going to hurt their reputation at all.
|
Thank you and all the others. At least one person as much as mentioned how important
the 100% feedback rate is to some. Either way - if you check my today's feedback
this might be out the window anyway. What a day
|
Yeah, I saw those but didn't want to point them out in case you hadnt seen
them yet.
As the expression goes here in America, "when it rains, it pours".
Hope everything works out; I do see your points but feel it isn't the most
important thing for BL to focus on at the moment.
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | rab1234 | | Posted: | Jun 2, 2021 13:17 | | Subject: | Re: Feedback rmvl policy MUST CHANGE. Here's why. | | Viewed: | 65 times | | Topic: | Help | |
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| In Help, enig writes:
| | In Help, firestar246 writes:
| | Retaliatory feedback isn't that big of a deal, in my opinion. It hurts the
offender more than the victim as it is very easy to spot as retaliatory instead
of a genuine negative/neutral.
Sure, it can be annoying for those people who love their 100% feedback rate,
but it's honestly not going to hurt their reputation at all.
|
Thank you and all the others. At least one person as much as mentioned how important
the 100% feedback rate is to some. Either way - if you check my today's feedback
this might be out the window anyway. What a day
| | Everything can be abused; feedback system, fees, conditions, etc. and that's
just part of a free market that we have to accept; not everyone is going to do
everything perfect and right; but like I said, it simply hurts the offender more
than anyone else.
|
Yes, everything can be abused. But steps to prevent abuse should be taken once
the abuse gets out of hand. If you ask me - it is long overdue.
|
I would think they could implement (at least as a test) a 'retaliatory feedback
alert' button. I'm sure admins already get flooded with requests to
remove bad feedback etc... this would just formalize it.
It is a very grey area though. I must admit that as a seller, I've given
retaliatory neutral feedback once (although I think it was correctly done).
My only neutral as a seller came from a buyer who just decided to give 4 or
5 sellers in a row neutral feedback for no reason, which seems like a neutral
(or even negative) thing to do, and something that other sellers should be aware
of.
-Blockbusting Bricks
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| | | | | Author: | rab1234 | | Posted: | Jun 2, 2021 10:45 | | Subject: | Re: Feedback rmvl policy MUST CHANGE. Here's why. | | Viewed: | 52 times | | Topic: | Help | |
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| Agreed that it's your responsibility to leave honest feedback for the seller.
You have plenty of positive feedback to far outweigh any retaliatory feedback
and it does make the seller look even worse for leaving it.
Selling used parts as new is just ripping people off. I'm still annoyed
about the reseller who bought a $40 used velma fig from me and then the next
day magically had a "new" one for sale in their store for $100.
-Blockbusting Bricks
In Help, enig writes:
| | For the same reason that both sellers and buyers have been voicing for years
- retaliatory feedback and feedback extortion.
TL;DR
* Received an order where 57.5% of 'new' lots were used
* Seller refuses to correct their remaining listings of used parts that are listed
as new
* Seller already wrote to me two times that she will post a retaliatory feedback
if I post non-positive - this is feedback extortion
A month ago Admin_Russell has posted a message, a part of which was:
In Administrative, Admin_Russell writes:
| | We are planning on releasing a statement next week to share some history of our
site’s feedback system and the rationale behind our current Feedback Removal
Policy.
|
https://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=1263510
I can not find the named statement but please let me know in case it appeared
somewhere. Either way - the wording in the quote does not give me any hope that
it would address the issue that I am going to describe.
Meanwhile - naysayers will keep saying NO to the fact that quality of
BL sellers is going downhill, while others will say - just leave honest feedback
and bear the retaliatory one as a badge of honour. To the latter I can only respond
- my opinion differs. Some people obviously do not care about their feedback
score as much as others. I understand that. I belong to the other side which
cares about what the meaning of the word and the concept of the feedback stands
for. I refuse to bear a negative or a neutral if it is undeserved.
MY CURRENT SITUATION with a seller who has 100.00% positive feedback
* I ordered 49 lots, 47 were sent to me as two were missing in seller's inventory.
Out of the 47 lots received - 25 were 100% used parts and two more lots that
were at least partly used parts. To be clear - I am strictly talking about parts
that I can definitively prove as used. I am not including any 'contested'
parts - some do not look like new to me but I will put my naive hat on and say
that it might me just very poor storage. Wink wink nudge nudge.
Once again just to be sure what we are talking about here - I am not talking
about 'scratches right out of the box' etc. Everything written is with
that in mind.
In the end we have 27 lots out of 47 that were either all used sold as new, or
at least partially. That is 57.5% of all lots.
* Initially I was very understanding of the seller. Everyone makes mistakes,
deserves a second chance etc. We have eventually reached an agreement where I
will receive a partial refund for the bad parts, but adjusted for the NEW vs
USED avg prices. In other words - will still end up paying for the bad parts.
However I did let the seller know that there is no way I can leave a positive
feedback for this kind of mess-up and that I am very sorry for having to be the
first such a feedback to them. I was talking about leaving a neutral for them
(situation has since changed, keep reading).
* Seller has admitted that a lot of the bad parts in my order were from another
store buy-out that she did and that she did not do a proper inspection of them.
* She also wrote "After I received your feedback (remember you were willing to
give a neutral not negative) I will give one in return."
* I asked two questions:
Question #1 - have you / will you change the condition of the remaining parts
from that particular store from NEW to USED?
Question #2 - am I right in assuming that you will leave me a positive feedback,
or you will give me a neutral 'in return'? I find it strange that you
removed your previously positive feedback for me as well.
The seller went silent and ignored the questions - for a full week.
Eventually I got her to reply and the reply read:
#1: I will check and change if neccessary. No need to play Big Brother.
#2: Who would give a positive feedback in return for a neutral/negative? No
one I bet.
Playing Big Brother? I will only say this - check the pictures to judge seller's
ability (or there-lack of) to check part condition. Some other parts were also
dusty - you could visibly see where other parts have been put on top etc. All
things considered - it is fair to say that I have reasons to doubt that she will
do the right thing. Not inly it is my duty to warn other buyers. I must also
protect my own interests as a seller - she is competing for the same buyers looking
to buy NEW parts. The average price of parts in the whole order were at a ratio
of 0.64 compared to avg 6month SOLD. I would have certainly not placed the order
should I have known the outcome - my own order is a perfect example of how she
is stealing buyers from honest sellers. She is competing unfairly against me
and others.
All of this - before we even start talking about the direct monetary losses that
I incurred because of this order in terms of opportunity cost, the hours my employee
spent in checking the condition of the parts, the many hours I had to spend in
going back-and-forth with the seller. Yes, it is the cost of doing business.
All the more reasons why this seller deserves a negative.
@Admin_Russell and others... please tell me:
* What do you think the purpose of feedback is
* What is the purpose of Neutral / Negative feedback
* Should I not leave a negative to the seller who is knowingly selling used parts
as new, refusing to correct their listings and who is also attempting a feedback
extortion on me
* Should I give-in both my feelings and my morals in order to protect my own
feedback record, for which I have worked for for 8 years?
* @Admin_Russell - can I get a promise that the retaliatory feedback will be
removed once it is posted? Or do you want the seller in question to keep having
100% positive feedback record? It is one of the two.
Big surprise - this is just one issue I had during last couple weeks. I have
one even worse where another seller issued an NPB against me and completely ignored
all my messages to correct and re-send the invoice - until the time ran out and
now I have an NPB strike. Of all the places... both sellers happen to be from
Germany . No offense to others, but it is the last place I would be expecting
this from.
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Lithuania, Panevėžys
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USA, Florida
Netherlands, Utrecht
