Feedback is responded to as quickly as possible (but it can take a couple of or even three weeks) when we sell, and is posted immediately upon receipt and checkout of the merchandise when we buy. The reason is that when a seller lists an auction, that seller writes a description concerning the item and the conditions of sale. The buyer is asked again and again by sellers and by Ebay to read the auctions before bidding. Yet, if you go through feedbacks, you'll soon realize that a very large percentage of negatives posted in the accounts of sellers are negatives based on the buyer not having read the auction, and bidding on their needs and desires rather than on what the seller described in the auction text. We're very often asked by buyers to post positive feedback based on the fact that they paid for the auction, but the auction is hardly over at that point. The item still must be received, and at that point if the buyer has any problem with the item, they are asked (read Ebay's guidelines) to contact the seller.. yet, in too high a percentage of cases, the buyer immediately posts bad feedback.. often when the "fault" is something that anyone who had read the auction text would have anticipated! On such an occasion, and in fact in *any* occasion where either a buyer or seller posts negative feedback without having contacted the other party, we believe positive feedback for that buyer or seller is unwarranted.
So, be assured that AA4DF and ralph.d.miller respond to all feedback posts as soon as possible, and if you haven't been contacted by us advising you that there's some sort of unresolved problem, you can be sure it will be positive. Please do be patient, though, it's often two or three weeks before we can get to them, and we do them in batches. Thanks for reading through that long-winded essay!
As of June, 2008 our feedback policy has changed. Jill went on vacation and that same day I suffered a heart attack. I was in the hospital for a week, and I'm VA, and those of you who are ex-soldiers know how much red tape is involved with the VA medical system.. so, to put it in a nutshell, we're way, way, way behind in our operations. We're not in the business of selling eBay feedbacks here, we sell products, the best we can manage, and service, again, the best we can manage. We always have, and "getting good feedback" has never been an issue with us. Getting the products into the hands of buyers is our concern, providing feedback is far down the list of priorities. eBay's latest feedback changes have us considering abandoning this marketplace entirely, since it gives free reign to "cyber vandals" and other such fruitcakes to blacken the record of sellers who do their best to provide excellent products and service.
Witness this email, received today (6JUN08):
"It's been a month and a half not a week You spent MORE time typing an excuse than it takes to leave feedback. Please respond
BTW I was also in the hospital with life threatening injuries I wasn't supposed to make it!!! A teamof four doctors andall the ER staff, and $131,389 later I'm still here
Thank god I did BUT I did take care of my business just the same no excuses it alsohelpedmeheal knowing that I was still handling what was important."
To the above person I replied:
"Just for my information, how would you have managed to take care of an internet business (four of them, actually) that depend on direct interaction with a multimachine network from a hospital bed? It sounds to me as though you might be being a bit self-righteous and overly judgemental, Sir, but to each his own. If it makes you happy to feel morally superior because you are in a business that can be handled from a hospital bed and I'm not, then God bless you and more power to you.
As I said, we'll get to the feedback responses, which we do in batches (and because of eBay's system it can take a couple of hours per batch). Our feedback policy is explained in the FAQ linked to from every item description. Since you apparently don't agree with our methods of operation I can't understand why you dealt with us in the first place, but at least that we can control.
Please do have an excellent afternoon, Sir. I'm sorry you don't like us.
-Dave Miller
AA4DF"
Added 06JUN08: And did you see the negative the fool left us? "DO NOT BUY counterfiter!! Error with CDAlways an excuse never to do whats right"... the guy's only complaint to us was that we didn't leave him feedback. Eight years on eBay, and now at last a negative, and obviously a negative that's purely spiteful and not factual at all. The guy just made up and wrote the worst thing he could think of. I truly believe eBay should be ashamed of themselves for enabling characters like that to get away with such nonsense.
My question to buyers is, do you really want to make your purchasing decisions based on the attitudes of the person I was dealing with in that interchange? Due to eBay's new system, you will be. No longer will you be able to discern the sellers who will treat you fairly and honestly, since eBay has essentially handed a pile of rocks to vandals. Vandals see a good feedback record as a stained glass window, and since there are no consequences they destroy it. We truly do recommend that ALL vendors block the guy that left us that so obviously unwarranted feedback so he can't do the same thing to you.
So our new feedback policy is: we'll get to it when we get to it, feedback has zero importance here. We'll continue to provide the same quality and service as always, but unreasonable folks like the one in the message above will be controlling eBay "feedback ratings", as wise buyers will realize. If you're buying feedback, please go elsewhere. If you're looking for quality products and top notch service, please do consider us.