Posting feedback for Gunbroker

[SHOOT1SAM]

I'm curious to other's positions on posting feedback on Gunbroker.

As a Seller, I post IMMEDIATELY after receiving the payment from the Buyer, which, of course, means even before they've received whatever I've sold them. I believe that posting feedback first, is incumbent on the Seller-they've received payment & their "honest" feedback should, in no way, be affected by the feedback they receive from the Buyer.

As a Buyer, I have encountered other Sellers who also do the same.

However, as a Buyer, I absolutely refuse to post feedback for the Seller if they haven't already done so for me. Surely I'm not the only one with this perspective. I have an A+ rating with 22 transactions over the years, but there's probably another 8 or 10 transactions that aren't reflected because of what I've described.

As it currently stands, I have 2 items I recently bought, but have received no feedback; transversely, I just sold an item and soon as I receive payment, you'd better believe I'll be posting...immediatley.

Sam

 

[Devonai]

That sounds like a Chicken and Egg argument to me. Whomever posts feedback first may influence the feedback they subsequently receive. I don't see any special obligation for either party to post first.

 

[Jim Watson]

What is the point of a seller posting feedback on a buyer?
He sends the money so you will send him the goods.

Maybe if he welches on the deal or is slow to pay, huh?

Now if I am buying, I will rate the seller on every claim made in advertising and the general merchantability.

 

[eldon519]

I think there are legitimate reasons for a seller not to post feedback immediately after receiving payment. You still never know what kind of shenanigans the guy might pull on the other end. He might flip out about flaws or wear you explicitly identified and provided pictures of. He might have misread the caliber and is upset he got a .45 Colt instead of a .45ACP. He might have a different opinion of what excellent, very good, or good means. By no means is it the automatic obligation of a seller to provide feedback as soon as payment is received, and it is kinda silly to have a principled standoff over it if you care that much about the feedback. It is how I imagine Sheldon Cooper handling a Gunbroker or ebay deal.

 

[SHOOT1SAM]

That sounds like a Chicken and Egg argument to me. Whomever posts feedback first may influence the feedback they subsequently receive. I don't see any special obligation for either party to post first.

Devonai,

A lot of buyers pay right away, some drag their feet; as a Seller, I've experienced both. If I pay you right away, I'd expect to receive credit for that. If you disagree with my feedback on you as a Seller, you can submit rebuttal to it. A Seller always has their end of the transaction completed first; it remains my opinion that the Seller has an unspoken obligation to post first.

It is how I imagine Sheldon Cooper handling a Gunbroker or ebay deal.

eldon519,

Would probably make sense to me, if I knew who Sheldon Cooper is/was.

Sam

 

[SHOOT1SAM]

What is the point of a seller posting feedback on a buyer?

Jim Watson,

Because some Buyers will flat out state that if you do not have any feedback posted, you may not bid.

Sam

 

[TimSr]

I haven't used GB, so my feedback input is from years of ebay experience.

It is foolish for anyone to post feedback before a transaction is complete. "Complete" is when the buyer has received the item, and has no lingering issues.

As far as who should post first - I've never seen a seller post bad feedback for a buyer who left him good feedback. I have been the recipient of bad feedback, as a seller, after leaving good feedback for a buyer, for any number of issues that they either never gave me the chance to correct, or for issues with used items that were clearly revealed in the sales ad, or for pre-quoted shipping prices.

Lets face it. Feedback is a lot more important to a seller than a buyer. Negative feedback can damage a seller's ability to sell far more than it damages a buyer's ability to buy. When I became more educated (the hard way) I always withheld feedback as a seller, until the buyer left his to indicate the transaction was complete. As a buyer, I always left it as soon as I received the item and was satisfied.

 

[Coyote3855]

Jim Watson,

Because some Buyers will flat out state that if you do not have any feedback posted, you may not bid.

Sam

I think you mean "sellers," not buyers. I have not sold on GB, but appreciate that I have a positive rating as a buyer.

 

[yugorpk]

As a seller the buyer gets instant positive feedback when he pays. Works for ebay and gunbroker for me. He's done his duty. If the deal goes to hell down the road thats a different subject. If he wants to leave bad feedback for me if Ive done my duty then I won't cry about it.


You can change GB feedback BTW

 

[Zaydok Allen]

I post promptly when I receive the item as a buyer. I typically contact the seller and say thank you for the transaction as a way to nudge them into providing feedback as well.

I want a good rating as a buyer.

 

[SHOOT1SAM]

Coyote3855 is correct-a-mundo...I did mean "Sellers".

I guess the thing for me is, when I win an item, I contact the Seller asap, ask them where they want the payment & who to make it out to, and I get it in the mail asap, usually the next day, & I let them know that.

As a Buyer, I have fulfilled my part of the transaction and I believe the feedback should reflect that fact; it should not be dependent upon the feedback I leave for the Seller.

For instance, if I should post positive feedback for the last 2 items I bought, then receive positive feedback, I'd be hard-pressed not to point out the fact that the Buyer didn't post any until he received his. I guess it just makes me dubious of the authenticity of a Seller's feedback.

Anyways, thanks for letting me vent a li'l bit.

Sam

 

[GBExpat]

As a Seller I post Feedback immediately upon receiving what is needed for me to ship the item.

 

[deadin]

I just had a sale on a site (other than GB) and posted + feedback immediately upon receipt of payment from the buyer. He paid immediately. I couldn't ask for more. Then he complained that the item wasn't as advertised (I missed a "spot" on the lens). I immediately refunded his money, including his shipping costs and paid to have the item returned to me. I have not received any feedback positive or negative from the buyer. I guess he feels that I should be satisfied that he didn't give a negative. I feel that I fulfilled any expectations and it didn't cost him a penny. Shouldn't I rate a positive????

 

[SHOOT1SAM]

deadin:

...Shouldn't I rate a positive????

If I were that buyer, a positive is precisely what I would have given you.

Sam

 

[joem1945]

As a buyer, sometimes I post, sometime not. If I get my stuff and it's good, I'm happy.

 

[GBExpat]

... I feel that I fulfilled any expectations and it didn't cost him a penny. Shouldn't I rate a positive????

Ab-so-lute-ly!

 

[Captcurt]

Need to check to screen No Pays.

Feedback is one of the first things that I look at when I sell a gun. I would say that 60% of my transactions receive feedback. To date I have 336 A+ feedback and have probably sold over 500 guns on GB. Out of those I have had 4 or 5 ratings under A+. A couple of those were related to shipping which I have no control over and a couple from people who just like to gripe. When I told them to send them back for a full refund I never heard another word.

What GB needs is a way to check a buyer's history to see if they ever fail to finish the transaction.. I average about 6 No Pays a year. Then I have a gun offline for about a month as I attempt to get a refund on my listing fees.

 

[newfalguy101]

I post feedback when the deal is "done" meaning either the inspection period has passed, the buyer has left feedback, or right away after the tracking shows "delivered" if no inspection period applies. As a buyer, I leave feedback as soon as the goodies arrive and are what I expect them to be.

 

[Twiki357]

I’m not a seller, only a buyer. I’ve only made a few purchases, but leave feedback as soon as I receive the item and it checks out.

When I made my first Gunbroker purchase, I couldn’t figure out how to leave feedback on the seller. The seller emailed me to see if I was satisfied since I hadn’t posted a positive feedback and he was concerned that I might post something negative. The funny thing is, he had over 5,000 sales and all but 4 or 5 were positive.

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

As a buyer, I post feedback as soon as the deal is completed...meaning I have the product in hand and have evaluated it.

I expect a reasonable response time from the seller as well, and if I don't see anything from him after a short while, I'll ping him to remind him. We all lose track of time once in a while, for one reason or another.

I've never had any problems. But if I did, I'd attempt to resolve it with the seller first, then move it up as required.

 

[rule303]

As a seller, I always leave feedback as soon as I have received payment and FFL info from the buyer. I find only about 25% of buyers bother to leave feedback, even less from NR bidders.

 

[larryh1108]

I sell on Gunbroker and Ebay. On GB I have 696 A+, 0 - 0. On Ebay I have 479 A+ - 0 - 0.
That's almost 1200 A+ with 0 Neutral and 0 Negative. It is as a buyer and a seller so I see both ends.

As a buyer, I leave feedback when I receive my item and deem it 'as advertised'. A gun, I usually wait until I fire it to make sure it functions 'as advertised'. I leave feedback whether or not the seller left theirs yet.

As a seller, I leave feedback after the buyer leaves his. If he doesn't, and I don't hear from him in 30 days, I leave mine anyways. That may spur them to leave theirs. Usually, if there is an issue, the buyer will contact me right away and I've always satisfied the buyer as my perfect feedback shows. Most buyers are decent people and if they misread something, I refund their money anyways. Why not? Don't sweat the small stuff. I take pride in having 1200 transactions without a single neutral or bad feedback. It's not really that hard. I have figured that only about 70% of sales end up with any feedback at all, from the buyer, for whatever reason. To me, no news is good news.

 

[dickydalton]

I always post feedback and have refrained from bidding on some guns that I really wanted because of the seller having bad feedback. I read through before bidding because some bad feedback is BS and you can usually see that in rebuttals. Poor pictures and feigned ignorance in answer to questions is another no no to me.

 

[FROGO207]

BUYER BEWARE of Gun Broker

I have about 130 A+ transactions on GB. I once had trouble with a seller (they had over 2K feedback and a rating of A+ as well) demanding payment ASAP and then dragging their heals about product delivery ( a cheap holster). After three weeks+ and numerous emails to seller over that time that were not answered, I sent poor feedback about that transaction. The very next day the seller contacted me all teed off about my poor feedback reply and also left poor feedback on me as well as had the site admin immediately modify my feedback to them to be neutral. Seems that I should have known somehow that the holster was out of stock and I needed to wait weeks for it to be ordered by them and then shipped to me. After 5 weeks the holster arrived though. This was the only bad mark on my feedback ever--and no way to defend my bad feedback was ever offered by the site.:banghead:

If only the sender had responded to ANY ONE of my five emails and explained that there was a problem I would have been happy to wait for the stock to be replaced at the price I purchased the holster for. YMMV

 

[larryh1108]

Frogo, out of curiosity, what did the seller say to justify his negative feedback? If you paid on time and communicated well there should be no issue.

A few year back Ebay stopped allowing retaliatory feedback from the Seller for instances like this. It won't allow a seller to leave negative feedback without going thru a process. I guess it is a good thing for buyers but I feel it screws the sellers for liars and scam buyers. They are out there.