No matter whether you're buying or selling, it can be painful to receive negative feedback—especially if you feel that it isn't deserved, or you've gone out of your way to try to make your trading partner happy.
When you're confronted with what you believe to be an unwarranted negative, however, don't be tempted to leave retaliatory feedback as a way to express your unhappiness at the situation or with the other party involved. Any momentary gratification earned by leaving a retaliatory negative about someone else is outweighed by the damage done both to the eBay marketplace and to the person leaving retaliatory feedback:
- Retaliatory feedback corrupts the feedback system. Every eBay trader, whether buying or selling, relies on the feedback system to tell them about their potential trading partner. Each piece of unwarranted feedback in the system lessens the reliability of eBay feedback as a whole—and that's bad for everybody who does business on eBay.
- Retaliatory feedback is public information. Every eBay member's feedback profile includes a tab near the top labeled "Left for others." By clicking on this tab, everyone can see the feedback the member in question has left for his or her trading partners. In the long run, buyers and sellers alike are likely to avoid trading with anyone that seems to leave an unusually high number of negatives about others, or that they suspect of having left retaliatory negative feedback on one or more occasions.
- The other party can respond. Any eBay member who receives a negative feedback report can post a one-line response in their feedback profile. When that response reads "This was retaliatory feedback and was not deserved!" it casts a cloud not only over the negative rating itself, but also over the person who left it.
In short, don't leave negative feedback. It helps nobody and may hurt both the person who leaves it and the eBay community as a whole.
What To Do Instead
If someone has left negative feedback about you, consider taking any or all of the following steps instead of leaving a retaliatory negative:- Post a response in your own feedback profile. If you think someone has left an unwarranted negative in your profile, you have a one-line opportunity to respond, using the "Reply to feedback received" link near the bottom of your feedback profile. Use it.
- Resolve the situation. Contact the other party and ask them what you can do to satisfy them. Then, if possible and reasonable, do it. If nothing else, you'll have the peace of mind that comes with knowing that your trading partner is happy.
- Ask for a follow-up. If you're able to resolve the situation to your partner's satisfaction, ask them to post a follow-up on your feedback profile indicating that the situation has been resolved to their satisfaction. This indication of good customer service will be a strong incentive to future bidders and buyers.
When the going gets tough, good eBay members work it out, rather than leaving retaliatory feedback that hurts everyone.
