I think there needs to be an option when leaving feedback on an inquiry for “I inquired but declined to buy.” that way the buyer and seller can give at least a rating on the interaction whether or not the deal went through. See below for better examples.
No, I inquired and declined to purchase.
No, I inquired and still may purchase.
No, I inquired but did not hear back.
Yes, I purchased this item but have not received it yet (or a refund).
Yes, I purchased this exact item and have already received it (or a refund).
I believe the purpose of the feedback system is to provide a way to document a buyer’s experience with a seller (or vice versa) on a specific transaction that took place. That information is then made available to prospective buyers to help them determine whether or not they want to do business with a seller.
Seems pretty straight forward to me.
If this feature is implemented, are we opening the door for users to start rating sellers that they have not done business with? Does it then become possible for the reputation of seller to be hurt by people who have never bought anything from them?
There are certain “big” breeders that some people in the community have decided that they don’t like. This feature would allow those folks to make inquiries (with no intention to buy anything) just so that they can get the opportunity to leave a low rating to hurt the businesses of those breeders.
What would be the benefit of leaving a rating for a transaction that never occurred?
Imagine going back and forth with someone for three weeks over a purchase; extra pictures, breeding records that produced it, pictures of sire and dam, who you got both from, pictures from the clutch, including all siblings (even those you have chosen not to post for sale), coordinate a potential shipping window, send a PayPal invoice, and then… <POOF> Ghost
I would certainly appreciate being able to leave a rating of that individual, despite no transaction having ever occurred
As @projectpython pointed out, this is the purpose of our feedback system. But feedback is kept private.
When the user is invited to leave a rating, if they say they didn’t send any money, they can still leave feedback.
I don’t foresee us allowing users to leave ratings when money did not change hands. While I know it’s frustrating if you have a bad interaction with someone, it’s just too much for us to moderate, and opens the door for people’s reputation getting hurt by bad raters.
My base assumption that is if someone provides poor service, they will do so fairly uniformly, such that it will show up in the ratings eventually.
In the future we may incorporate more elements of feedback into the public data but would do so in aggregate and not in specific details and statements.
I’ve gone through the same line if thinking where I wished I could leave some sort of rating for some really cruddy interactions with sellers even though I didn’t end up buying anything. At the same time MMs feedback system is one of the best right now for a reason and opening up ratings from non-transactions would definitely be abused.
Maybe something that ties into the responsiveness rating? Where you can’t leave specific feedback, just something you could select through your conversation indicating there was an issue like ghosting, professionalism, etc?
Reviews for sellers without purchasing first needs to be an option:
Utterly horrible service and communication. I messaged the seller about a week before my son’s Birthday, and inquired about a snake, that he had advertised for $150.
I arranged to pick it up on a Friday evening, the day before my son’s 7th Bday, and he cancelled saying he was working late, but he was available anytime on the weekend.
I contacted him Saturday morning, and asked to come and purchase the snake for my son for his Birthday, and he told me the snake we wanted was already sold, but he had another the same for a HIGHER PRICE!!! Then he told me he was no longer available for pick-up that Saturday Bday morning as he was apparently at work again.
Changing availability times, repricing snakes on day of pick-up, what an extreme disappointment as my son and I did not even get to come and purchase a snake, on his Birthday…
But I see you had time to put up more ads for your business while you were jerking us around?
people like you disgust me
