It seems Amazon is cracking down on what it calls feedback manipulation.
This time, a customer complained about a UK seller who offered a partial refund after the customer left bad feedback. Didn’t like the packaging? Who cares about the packaging of a computer part, as long as you got it in good condition?
I’m a believer in “the customer is always right,” but give me a break. How is it unethical to offer a little rebate for a customer who complains? I do it several times a month, when customers complain about slow Media Mail, or some other problem. I think it’s worth a few bucks to keep the red marks off your feedback record. And lots of times, my customers even decline the refund but delete the feedback, they’re just happy that somebody paid attention.
Sure, this can be handled the wrong way by a seller. If that UK buyer was expecting something in an original retail box and didn’t get it, that’s another kettle of fish. But I don’t think any seller deserves an automatic wrist-slapping (or worse) just because they’re trying to take care of customers.
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11 Comments
I’m still a fairly small seller on Amazon (23 feedbacks, 1 negative). From what I’ve seen some sellers risk a negative with very poor packaging. As a buyer, I would actually like to see feedback to this effect. As a seller, I feel a negative to this effect would give me “constructive criticism” to improve packaging. Who knows how many negative feedbacks about packaging this seller received or if it has been improved in the past. Slow Media Mail is another issue entirely.
I think this is pretty bogus…we’ve all seen some of the unscrupulous sellers on Amazon who are really pulling a fast one by adding spoof feebacks to recover their horrible ratings. I’ve seen a few recently that were so blantant that I wondered why no one at Amazon had noticed.
Then again, maybe not.
What was the idea of introducing the option of removing feedback, if then, when the option is actually used, Amazon calls it “manipulation”? Can somebody explain that to me, please?
I am forced to give refunds every single week because people threatten me with bad feedback. They use this as leverage to blackmail me into giving them undeserved cash back. Example: Client wants money back because book is not “like new”. I very kindly explained to him that a book rated “acceptable” and described as a “not a pretty book, but still an acceptable reading copy for a student budget” ist NOT a new book. He leaves 1 star feedback, calling me a cheat for selling him an old book.
So what is wrong with asking him to take his feedback back? He did, and he obviously got his full refund out of me. We sellers always lose…
Who is manipulating whom here? And why am I the one who gets punished?!
This is from a buyer’s only perspective, but I certainly realize that 5% or more of buyers are psychos and always wonder why sellers go to so much effort and expense to keep the postive feedback at 100%. I appreciate it more if sellers leave the poor feedback and give a good reason why the buyer is wrong as a countercomment. Also, giving in repeatedly just encourages bad buyer behavior. I don’t have one iota of hesitation in buying a book from a 95% seller over a 100% one will things being equal. On the other hand, perhaps legions of buyers aren’t as reasonable as I am! I’ve purchased hundreds of books from amazon marketplace and have found no discernable difference in 100%ers vs. 95%ers in terms of service and packaging.
I think it’s ridiculous since Amazon, in their Feedback FAQ basically TELLS sellers to manipulate their feedback in this exact way. Two quotes:
“We would encourage you to contact your buyer, and work with them to resolve any issues regarding the transaction. Your buyer could then remove the feedback if they feel it would be appropriate. “
“If you want to respond to negative feedback, the best option is to work with the buyer to improve the situation that led to the negative feedback. Then, ask the buyer to remove the feedback. To do this, e-mail the buyer with concern over the problem, and remedy it if possible. If you develop a positive relationship, ask the buyer to remove the feedback.”
RESOLVE, IMPROVE and REMEDY the situation to appease the buyer into removing feedbac? That sounds like what they’re now calling “feedback manipulation” to me.
Drew,
I appreciated hearing your perspective as a buyer, but keep in mind that most of us book sellers are also some of the biggest buyers. Whenever I see a seller who leaves a personal message in response to some negative buyer feedback, I usually slap my forehead and utter something in a Homer Simpson voice. In nearly every instance I’ve seen, the seller is leaving angry or heated words and basically leaves no doubt in my mind that they were at fault. It also makes them look incredibly desperate…and I personally would never order a book from such a person.
If the buyer deserves the feedback then of course, it should stay. But when it’s unwarranted, all sellers should do their best to resolve the issue and have it removed. Anyone with 100% feedback obviously is running a serious business…but most of the bigger sellers seem to have put making money over customer service and therefore have horrible feedback ratings. Having a 95% rating doesn’t sound too bad…but if you have 50,000 feedbacks that means there are 2,500 angry customers who were unhappy with your service. Also factor in that only about 10-15% of all buyers actually leave feedback, it makes one wonder just how many unhappy buyers are out there for some of the big sellers in the “Below 90 Club.”
However, I did see a “big dog” seller the other day with 100,000+ feedbacks and a 99% rating…which I must say is incredibly impressive.
That’s really part of my point. The feedback/counterfeedback is actually a tangible little snippet of a customer/seller exchange for that particular seller. Like you say, I certainly avoid seller’s whose response to bad feedback is always hostile. On the other hand, I always respect seller response that is always calm and addresses objective subject matter. Another opportunity for the seller’s professionalism to shine through. I do appreciate your comments,though, about keeping 100% feedback rating as another important signal of the professionalism as a bookseller. It’s well taken.
As a seller AND a buyer I think it is wrong to leave feedback about stuff that should be resolved outside of posted feedback. If I purchase something and something is wrong with the item, I contact the seller to resolve the problem. When the problem is handled well, I then leave feedback that reflects there was a problem but the seller resolved it. I think that kind of feedback is way more constructive to me as a buyer AND seller.
I do not buy from sellers who leave impolite feedback responses because that tells me a lot more about them than their 100% feedback rating.
Amazon’s feedback rating calculation is bogus anyway. Statistically it doesn’t give a proper picture of feedback. One negative feedback can leave you with a 95% rating for months and months like it has done to me and the negative feedback I got was that the CD I sold someone wasn’t as good as the LP – never said it was when I listed it. So for that negative feedback for something completely out of my control (I didn’t press or engineer the CD or LP) I’ve had a less than 100% rating following me for months since not many people leave any feedback at all.
I’ve contacted Amazon about their skewed statistics but like most things one brings to their attention, they don’t seem to care.
When I receive negative feedback, I answer it calmly and objectively without finger-pointing – I just answer with the objective facts and also include what I did to make the buyer whole.
I have given people partial refunds when they have asked for a good reason (and sometimes for bad reasons even) but I have never done it in exchange for feedback removal. I have however sent emails to folks to try to reason with them to remove feedback that is irrelevant (the CD doesn’t sound like the LP) but do not offer them an enticement to do so.
I’ve been told by a PRO SELLER at Amazon that Amazon has interceded to remove negative feedback on his behalf. Has anyone else heard an anecdote like this? A large sum of money was involved. Amazon encouraged the seller to charge a restocking fee as well.
I think the entire Feedback should be removed from Amazon, period. First of all, like somone else said, only 10-15% even bother with posting feedback. I know this because I am a seller. So basically, 80-85% are happy with the transaction. Then a lot of people are never happy, and chances are those are the people that are into playing around with the feedback to try and get free stuff. By having the feedback, Amazon is leaving this opportunity for scams. But based on 10-15% only leave feedback is enough to snuff the idea all together.
For the past 2 years I have seen a significant number of customers leave (-) feedback for invalid reasons, for the sole purpose of getting a discount or refund.
The economy is in bad shape….people can’t afford things they want and resort to exhortation to get products for free. The Internet provides the perfect marketplace for this behavior.
Amazon will not do anything that side with the merchant over the customer regarding feedback. Customers can lie/make stuff up/libel and there is nothing a merchant can do except give in to the customer or accept the feedback.
Until the economy improves….is will only get worse…..Wait until Christmas….How to get everything for free…..