What Kind of Negative Feedback...?

I just had an item come up on Ebay that I want. The seller has a 98.4% feedback rating on 400+ items. All of the negatives he received are from disgruntled buyers who didn't read his auctions closely enough to note that he was only selling to US bidders. I mean, heck, I've done that myself for some items, and can understand where he's coming from. (And if I don't read the fine print and buy something w/o reading, it sure IS my own stupid fault!) THe only thing that really bothers me is, beside not accepting Paypal, he does go a little overboard on leaving negatives if a foreign bidder wins an auction. If anyone's curious:

http://cgi2.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=luckycat49

Also, I will see some high-volume sellers have a feedback that's between 96 and 98%. Same thing though--the buyers get ticked off because they didn't read the auction closely, and then they complain about inflated shipping fees (which was right there in black and white) or other issues about the product that they overlooked.

Now, THESE kinds of negatives don't bother me too much. But I think my question is more general in nature. What kind of Ebay negative feedback is acceptable to you, and what isn't?

 

Hi Rudy,

There is nothing like a good ole' 100% rating to make me feel really good about bidding ESPECIALLY if we're talkin' big bucks! My rating is 100% (did i just jinx myself? ) and i wanna buy from people who have close to the same rating.

-Jeffrey

 

Why don't these people want to ship overseas. It really is not that big of a deal, for col...............

 

We had a guy give us a 3 out of 5. I'm paraphrasing but it basically went GREAT TRANSACTION, BUT I DIDN'T LIKE THE MOVIE. I guess he thought it was a movie review site.

 

LMAO!

 

Since you guys are talking about feedback - let me ask a question:

I just came across a few auctions I would be very interested in bidding on, yet the seller states in no uncertain terms "DO NOT bid if you have 0 feedback"!!

Since I have just started using ebay, having won only 1 auction, I don't have any feedback yet. Why would that specific seller not want someone like me to bid, and what would happen if I did bid? Since I have zero feedback can he have my bids retracted? Would he leave me negative feedback for bidding when he specifically stated that I shouldn't since I have 0 feedback?

 

Usually best to follow a seller's rules. Or sometimes an honest e-mail to the seller that you're new to Ebay may help clear the way to place a bid. I think some sellers are concerned with some bad Ebayers who will sign up a new ID if they get a lot of negative feedback on an old one.

As a rule I personally like to buy from sellers who have a feedback of 99% or higher, but depending on the type of feedback (as above), I'll take a chance. If you think of a rating of 99.7%, that means three buyers in a thousand had a complaint. And if you take the time to find those negatives and read them, they're sometimes not even the fault of the seller. (It takes all kinds, I guess.)

As for foreign shipping, I don't like to do it for some items because I'd have to go to the post office. If it's domestic, I can do all of my packing and postage here at home using stamps.com, and my mail carrier takes the packages with her. Foreign shipments need customs paperwork and value declarations. If it's something I can fill out and affix to a package from home, I'll do it.

 

Mike,

You have no track record yet. Yes, he can retract your bid. Maybe yes, maybe no. Why not email him through the "ask seller a question" link in the auction itself, he might be ok with it.

 

I did that already... but thought I would come to the "experts" here on the forum to find out the REAL story.

 

Ah, you already had it all figured out anyways.