The purpose of this box is to dissuade the "hasty newbie neg". It has been observed that newbie buyers are far more likely to leave negs for issues which will sort themselves out with a little patience. In fact, many such negs involve normal ebay flow of events. The dialog box seeks to slow down such a buyer.
In practice, it has been fairly effective in achieving that goal, but with some minor side-effects counter to the intent.
One such side effects is that some buyers interpret the dialog box as a radio button, push the most appropriate choice. They find themselves blocked from leaving neg, and misinterpret that as being for some nefarious reason involving protecting bad sellers.
The other side effect is that some buyers feel guilty for leaving OTP without contacting seller. There are a variety of cases where contacting seller is just not indicated before leaving neg. One might be a shipping gouge. Another might be a statement by seller that seller is not intending to honor the transaction described by the listing.
When buyer is dissatisfied with seller's performance, buyer runs a mental equation.
If it comes up "contact", fine. If not, that's fine too.
The equation has several factors.
One biggie summary: is this likely to be a pleasant human interaction?
1. did seller invite contact?
2. does this look like a possible mistake?
The second biggie, money.
1. How much money would I legitimately collect from seller to fix ths?
The third biggie, hassle.
1. Is seller likely to demand a return?
Add all those up, as buyer sees fit.
If they say "contact", then contact.
If they say "no contact", then leave appropriate fb and move on.
There's no such thing as "shipping gouges"! Buyers agree to the TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP before bidding. No need to whine about their choices later.
ReplyDeleteMost buyers know a shipping gouge when they see one.
ReplyDeleteBuyer opinions can sting.
Seller opinions on such things have little effect.