Thursday, January 08, 2009

The Dangers of Leaving Seller Feedback on Amazon

I did a large chunk of my Christmas 2008 shopping on Amazon.com. For the most part, it was convenient, speedy, and affordable. When I was buying things directly from the company. But one item, the i-Dance Walle, was sold out through Amazon, and I had to purchase it from one of their partner retailers for double what it would have cost if I had bought it directly from the online retailer.

And I was fine with it, because I knew the gift would be loved by the recipient. So, when I got an e-mail from Amazon asking me to rate the transaction, even though I had felt robbed a little, I went ahead and gave this retailer, "Buy 4 Less Shop" a 3 out 5 stars. A neutral review. Which, in retrospect, I'm feeling I was extremely generous with.

Fast forward to today. I open my e-mail, and I get this in my inbox:
Greetings!

Recently I've noticed that you left us neutral feedback for this
order, stating that "The item arrived on time. Not sure why the seller goes by "Buy 4 less" as I had to pay just about double for what this item cost. But whatever, no one else had it." Please understand, that in order for us to be able to provide our customers with great service and convenience of online shopping some items we sell are sold at over retail price. It might look like we making out as bandits on this sale, but please trust me, we do not. Let me explain - Amazon.com charges us 15% of each sale amount, including shipping charges, so all
we received from Amazon.com after fees was $33.90. Actual shipping expense was $5.29, that leaves us with $28.61. Our purchase price was $21, so that leaves $7.61 BEFORE any of our internal expenses and taxes that we have to pay, so that leaves us with nowhere near a double profit.

If we would set our price any less than it was we would be selling at a loss and no business can operate like that. We did everything we promised, delivering your purchase promptly (your purchase was made on 11/29 and delivered on 12/04) and in the condition described.

We really would like to ask you to reconsider your decision and remove the feedback you left for us as it is damaging to our business. We would greatly appreciate if you did. You can do it in one easy step by following this link :

https://www.amazon.com/gp/css/summary/edit

You will find a feedback section two-thirds of the way down the page. To remove feedback, please click on the "Remove" link

Looking forward to hear from you,

XXXXX
Buy 4 Less Shop
You can see my original review in the body of their e-mail. I italicized it for better viewing. This store is pretty much telling me to go back and delete the feedback, because they explained to me why they overcharged me and because the item arrived on time. Everything in the transaction went through fine. That's why I gave them the 3 out of 5 stars. I just wasn't happy with the price that I had to pay, but I'm still entitled to letting people know that even though everything went according to plan, I was a little dissatisfied with the actual price I had to pay. Here's my e-mail response to them:
Thank you for explaining your business practices to me. The review/seller feedback will still stand. It is, after all, my opinion, and I am entitled to it. Furthermore, a neutral review is not a negative review, so please don't make me re-evaluate my opinion again. But it is by your store's own admission that you overcharged me for this product. I understand that "Buy 4 Less" does not like what I said, which is why I'm getting this e-mail, but they have to understand that we live in a free country where anyone can say anything they want so long as it's the truth. And the truth is, you overcharged me to cover your business expenses.

Looking forward to not hearing anything else about this,

Jaime
Neutral Consumer
From now on, I'm only buying shit online from Amazon directly. At least when you give them a review, they don't send you a pussified e-mail asking you to go back and silence yourself because they don't like your opinion of their services. I have no ill-will or bad feelings towards "Buy 4 Less Shop", but because of this e-mail, it's going to further cement my resolution to not buy anything from them ever again.

One last thing before I go. Amazon.com (which has a partnership with Target) had it for $19.99, so you can see, from their excuse: "we would be selling at a loss and no business can operate like that" doesn't really hold any water. Apparently, Amazon.com and Target can operate like this and they're still in business.

207 comments:

1 – 200 of 207   Newer›   Newest»
Anonymous said...

omg lmao

=w

Anonymous said...

it is true what the seller is saying being a amazon seller is a tough sell. With competition all around you and amazon gouging the hell out of the seller it is hard to be profitable at amazon's maketplace with out having to sell an item a little more expensive then amazon or more established retailers like Target. It was some what sad that the seller had to go to such lengths and basically beg you to reconsider your feedback but positive feed back is truly the life line of a seller's well being.

Jaime said...

I get that times are tough. I get that all businesses need to generate a profit to stay afloat. I get all of that. but, the fact of the matter is . . . my feedback was neutral. It wasn't like I left them 1 star and said their store sucks ass. I gave them 3 out of 5 stars, told them that they delivered on time and were the only ones that had the product in stock, but I was disappointed in the fact that I had to pay double. It's not like I ordered and then made a fuss about paying. I willingly gave them the money, fully knowing that I was paying more than I should because it was my only choice.

Anonymous said...

Nice job!

All rip off merchants should be identified as such by customers leaving honest feedback. Thanks to customers like you I will know which merchants to avoid!

Anonymous said...

Jaime,

Ignorance is bliss and you have demonstrated it by behaving like an ass!

If you were unhappy about the purchase, why did you complete the transaction? You purchased the item willingly, with full knowledge of the price. Nobody took you hostage, put a gun to your head and demanded that you purchase the item.

The seller met his obligation to provide you with the item you purchased within a reasonable time. Providing NETRAL feedback seems senseless and more a reflection of your stupidity than the seller’s request for a withdrawal of feedback.

Yes, I agree with you completely that this is a free country with Freedom Of Speech but it is also a country that puts up with clowns like you who fuck it up for others - much like the executives at AIG.

You really need to grow up and better understand how business is conducted and stop behaving like an immature imbecile.

Jaime said...

You're seriously comparing me to one of the AIG executives Mr/Mrs Annonymous? That's a far reaching stretch of logic. But, hey, you're entitled to your opinion. I'm not going to send you an e-mail asking you to take down your comment because it hurts my feelings or I think it might be bad for my image here.

And that's the point you're failing to grasp.

Ex Amazon Seller said...

Jaime,

Until recently I was a 3rd party seller on Amazon.com, so I have an idea of what the company you left neutral feedback for is experiencing.

Selling on Amazon sucks. Amazon treats you like crap when you sell on their site and pay them quite high commissions, unfortunately so many people buy on amazon that it is hard to compete without putting up with their crapheadedness.

Any dispute between a buyer and seller is settled in favor of the buyer because Amazon knows that they will not be the one who loses any money. For example if I bought something from a 3rd party seller, all I'd have to say is that I didn't receive my order and Amazon would force the company to refund my money no questions asked. That seller then has no product and no money either. I know many sellers to whom this has happened. If the seller disputes the customer's claim, all the seller receives is a form letter from Amazon, and eventually they block your account and take your money.

Any feedback other than positive that a seller receives from customers gives Amazon what it feels like is a good reason to block the seller's account and "reserve" their funds for 90 days.

I agree with Anonymous... If you were unhappy about the price, why did you complete the transaction? It may seem innocuous to you to leave neutral feedback, but that buyer is probably living in fear of having Amazon block their account and take their money, it is not a matter of saving face.

Amazon is evil, I recommend not buying from them altogether so that they can stop cheating small local businesses out of the money they earn honestly. You should at least do that company a favor from whom you made the purchase and remove your neutral feedback. No feedback at all is better than a 3 out of 5.

Jaime said...

OMG. Thanks for the dissertations on how Amazon fucks small sellers in the ass. But that's not the point is. If I was dissatisfied with the price, why did I buy it? It was Christmas. I needed the gift. I had to buy it. But I didn't screw the seller out of their money. I didn't turn around and say that I never got the item. In fact, my feedback said that the item arrived on time.

But you know what, if it sucks that much to work with such an evil company as Amazon, they why do they stay with them. It's really none of my concern if it's hard working with this online retailer.

The issue really is them asking me to remove/edit my opinion of their operation. Which I will never do. Just like I'll never remove any of the comments directly related to this post . . . even if someone calls me a retard. Because that's their opinion of me. And they're entitled to it. Free country with free speech right? Unfortunately, we don't live by the rules established by Disney's "Bambi": "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all" is nice and all, but is that really how the world works?

Anonymous said...

Actually, leaving a neutral Feedback on Amazon does hurt a seller.

Not only does it reduce their Star rating but it also counts against their "Positive" feedback score.

Amazon is a tough place to sell where satisfied customers are highly unlikely to leave feedback, even after multiple requests.

The price is listed ahead of time -- feedback should be negative or neutral if a seller doesn't meet his end of the deal. This seller apparently did and tried to explain it to you -- but you were too hard headed to listen to what he had to say.

Leaving a neutral feedback for a price point is a pretty shitty thing to do overall.

There is MY opinion -- you get 1/5 stars.

Tibetan Jewelry said...

You are such a a$$hole. I am a seller on amazon too. If you do not like it, you can return it. Giving small people like you a little bit power you think you are the Christ. Shame on you! What you did even did not benefit you. I hope one day someone will teach you a lesson.

Jaime said...

And do you see me sending you a message to delete your comments/opinions about me? So, keep pouring on the comments and hate filled rants. You're proving my point.

Some people do just need to grow the fuck up. And no, I'm not editing/deleting my point of view of anything.

To the anonymous cocksucker that wants me to end up on the street, alone and pennyless. Sure you can spit on my computerized visage. But you might want to get some windex to clean up after. Cause that might stain your computer monitor.

Tibetan Jewelry - I'm not Christ, but it's OK. I get that all the time. I must have a diety-quality about me. I'm willing to bet your jewelry is kinda ugly though. Maybe I'll buy some and leave neutral feedback. Who am I kidding though, I'm not buying anything from you. You probably overpriced it to feed your family or something.

Anyway, keep 'em coming.

Anonymous said...

It is pathetic thrash like you that cause problems for all of us who sell on Amazon. Your type is the reason many small business get suspended or closed on Amazon every day and people have to look for new jobs in this horrible economic climate. You are human garbage, pure and simple.

Jaime said...

Thanks Mr/Mrs Anonymous. Maybe you should have thought about that before you started working with Amazon. Perhaps a real job is what you need. I know it's tough right now, so hang in there. Like that cat on that poster. Or that NKOTB song. This recession will turn around soon enough and you can finally leave your mom's basement and get a real job with a steady paycheck and benefits.

Feel free to leave more/new comments on my follow up to this post here. Fanning the flames? Sure.

Anonymous said...

You have a huge misconception about what "need" means. You say that "I needed the gift."

You wanted to purchase the gift. A gift that obviously was in demand, as this one is supposedly the only one you could find. You didn't "need" to purchase it. You need food. You need shelter. If a present on your list costs too much, you don't "need" to buy it anyhow, you mark it off and go on to Plan B.

It doesn't matter what Target *had* been selling them for. If you'd have planned ahead, you could have made your purchase at Target.

But you didn't. And because you "needed" this gift, you, as an alleged adult consumer, hit the Add to Cart button and submitted the order.

Then you dropped all pretense at being an adult and whined like a two year old because you didn't like the price. Like a child, someone else was responsible for your problem. Rather than be accountable and simply acknowledge to yourself that if YOU had gotten your shit together in a timely manner and purchased it at Target, that you wouldn't have paid higher than retail.

But because you "needed" something and you didn't like the price you willingly agreed to pay, you gave some seller a neutral feedback, which Amazon *does* consider poor feedback.

You weren't "paying more than you should because it was your only choice". You had a choice of realizing that the listed price was more than you were comfortable paying and to buy another present. But because you couldn't make that decision, you slammed a seller who had 100% fulfilled their end of the transaction.

How many other areas of your life do you refuse to take responsibility for?

Jaime said...

Dear Mr/Mrs Latest Anonymous:

Thanks for the concise, and well written rebuttal. I uphold your decision to have an opinion about me and you will not be getting an e-mail from me asking, nay, telling you, how to erase the negative review, I mean, opinions, that you wrote about me.

Now, get off your high horse and take a rest from pontificating. You can always get back on later so you can go write other things about other people specifically designed to deliver the utmost punch in the most florid way.

**psst - It didn't work on me. . . .

Anonymous said...

So, referring to the title of the OP, what was exactly the "danger" of posting such review? That you received a polite email?

Anonymous said...

So the seller didn't have the right, the freedom of speech, to send a very polite e-mail asking nicely to remove the feedback. Not insisting, not ordering you to do so, but excersising this freedom you keep going on about and simply asking nicely...

Dr Love said...

Jamie sez: "The Dangers of Leaving Seller Feedback on Amazon"

Glad to hear you escaped such peril.

Jamie sez: >> “If I was dissatisfied with the price, why did I buy it? It was Christmas. I needed the gift. I had to buy it.”

No. Not really. I’m sure there were alternate gifts/toys available.

The bottom line: if the seller provided the item that you ordered, in the condition described, in a timely manner, with proper communication… then you gave the seller a shitty review.

You attempt to justify your 3-star rating by claiming that it’s not “bad” just “average”. Unless your mommy and daddy brought you to Chuck E Cheese when you got straight C’s on your report card, I’m calling you out now as a liar. You knew what you were doing and you did it out of spite.

The best part, IMO, that cheap plastic piece-of-shit Walle toy is probably sitting in the bottom of the toy box right now… unless it’s already at the dump.

Anonymous said...

Wow, you are an absolute dickwad. If you weren't happy with the price, why purchase it. The seller enable you to get an item, you would have otherwise been unable to obtain.

Jaime said...

so i am to believe that not a single one of you has ever complained about a business transaction in the past. It's all five stars for you disgruntled amazon re-sellers.

You're all a bunch of whiny babies. Keep trying to make me feel remorse about the average rating. While i am perfectly capable of feeling remorse, this is not one of those instances.

And thanks for the entertainment aspect of this. While you might picture ,e cowering in a pit of self loathing over your comments, they just make me laugh

Anonymous said...

What you don't understand is the seller is forced to beg you to remove your comment. You believe your comment was neutral, however amazon does not. Just one 3 star rating from a buyer can cause the sellers account to be limited. Thats hardly neutral. Amazon sellers are at the mercy of the buyer to leave 5 stars. Plus you agreed upon a set price because you needed it asap then got angry. Other places were sold out. Since your so quick to applaud our free speech, consider this a lesson in another American staple: Capitalism.

Anonymous said...

OMFG!!! You know...I was going to say something inciteful, but you all must realize that douchebags like this thread starter, exists on negativity. They are so unhappy in their day to day lives, they've nothing better to do.

So to the OP, sure..you left a 3, sure...it will probably scar the vendors profile...sure, you feel you paid to much and were "victimized" by the seller, bla bla bla....

BUT..just know this...that seller makes a shedload more than you do..has a happier life...drives a better car and has a BIGGER dick! ahahahahahahahaha...laughs all the way to bank!

Anonymous said...

On amazon, you have to understand that a neutral rating counts as a negative and drags the overall positive feedback percentage down.

I understand you are ticked about paying more for the item, but you had free choice to buy or not buy it.

Leaving that neutral feedback does hurt the seller, in amazon's eyes when they use seller metrics such as positive feedback percentage to decide whether to terminate a seller or not.

A better solution would have been to leave a 4 out of 5 and complain about the price there.

The seller isn't ticked that you left your comment about price, they are ticked that you left a neutral feedback, which will hurt them overall.

We understand you have the right to free speech, but you don't have the right to hurt a seller because you are ticked about price point.

Jaime said...

This whole experience has taught me something. Never, ever, ever buy something from an Amazon re-seller. I'm going straight for stuff sold directly by Amazon LLC.

Oh, and the rating I (along with other Amazon customers that rated the seller either neutral, and . . even negatively) got them a 4.8 out of 5. Which, I would hardly say is disastrous damage.

Clumpy said...

I usually buy the cheapest "new" item from Amazon resellers with a good rating, and I've never been disappointed. Paying $8 including shipping for an album is much better than the $17.99 Amazon sometimes charges. No thanks.

Sure the store was being a pussy, but it's no skin off of your back.

Anonymous said...

This blog went downhill. Unless you wanted everyone to disagree with you.

Anonymous said...

Docking the sellers rating that much for perfectly fulfilling his side of the sale contract is low. It would have been better if you hadn't purchased from him rather than giving him that $6 profit, not counting his time involvement.

He can't choose his buyers but you went into the transaction ready to take it out on the seller for why you had to pay double. On Amazon or eBay, a 4.9 or 99% rating is normal. 60% is not neutral rating by far, especially when the complaint wasn't his fault.

Anonymous said...

Jaime.

What this should tell you is how overweening amazon is to their third-party sellers. All you did was leave a neutral feedback, and look, the sellers posting here are horrified. Why would they be so touchy?

It's because amazon will crush their business because of simple things like that. They just close it down, no questions asked.

Imagine somebody who has dedicated themselves to working for an employer for 8 years in good faith, and then all of a sudden that employer decides to exert his position over you by making sure he can fire you at any time for any reason so you better watch EVERY damn step you take. You better think about the job when you wake up, go to sleep, go to the potty, make love, eat lunch, etc., or you are in jeopardy of losing your business. If for any reason, you do something imperfectly, computers are watching you and sending that information to your invisible boss.

Any misstep, and you lose your job. Unemployed. No Benefits. Considering that you've invested in growing yourself around the company and helping grow the business of your employer in the process; you are still subjected to that draconian treatment.

I know you think it's easy just not to sell on amazon and avoid them completely, but because they have become the ONLY place online to buy media items, I would lose 80% of my business overnight (and BTW, that's not enough to live on)and would have to close shop.

OK, so they have the power because they draw the traffic, but to treat sellers with such harsh measures creates a very disturbed psychology for sellers on amazon. That's why these disturbed quasi-mental patients (and I'm ever-sympathetic, truly) are leaving these rants on your board.

Moreover, amazon leaves FLASH tracking cookies on your computer, so that's why everybody is anonymous!

HAHA!

Jaime said...

Thanks for the saner comments towards the end, except for that whole "You Fail at Life" one. I'm clearly still breathing, so I'm pretty sure I've got this whole living thing down.

Yes, I now know that Amazon re-sellers get in a tiff about their ratings. And they consider overpricing for a hard to find item par for the course. I get this now, and I will choose to only deal with Amazon directly from now on. I don't need the hassle to deal with someone that can't take a neutral (I know neutral = bad in your minds now) review of their service.

And as far as everyone disagreeing with me, it's a free country. I don't want to tell you people how to think, even if I disagree with you. And thanks for letting me know why everyone is being anonymous. I just thought it was a lack of cojones . . . which, it actually is.

Anonymous said...

This guy is as stupid as they come. The business did everything they were suppoosed to do. Have the item available, Ship it on time, & arrives in good condition, And the buyer thinks he is doing some one a a favor by giving them 3 out of 5 or 60%. You should have just waited to buy it from a corporation who gives better prices because they carry so many.

Story should be called Sellers Beware. Do everything right & still fail.

SBC killaz said...

Jaime,

You are completely in the wrong in this matter.

Your rebuttle to

"You did not have to buy the item if you didnt want to"

is "yes you did, it was xmas"

So far you are 0-1

but good job for being a typical Western Consumer.

Your rebuttal to;
"If you thought it was so high priced, then why did you buy it?"
(remember, it has already been established that you didn't need the item) is practically the same as your 1st response:

"because it was xmas"

Really? Cmon now... I wish I could see the face you made when you said that.lol

so far your are 0-2

Now lets get to your basic understanding of how Amazon feedback works.

a 3 is not an average rating for a transaction in any way, and is actually considered to be negative rating by Amazon, as it affects the sellers star rating as well as their feedback %.

So.. although 3 is the average of a range of numbers consisting of 1-5, in terms of Amazon feedback, it is nothing in the sense.

Are you gonna complain when the stock you wanted
to buy yesterday is now double in price because people rushed to buy it before you did?

(btw ^ that is a great analogy of your situation)

I can just picture you on the phone with Wall Street, or trying to get a newspaper to run your story, but they wouldn't.

The only reason you got any coverage at all is because of the internet (where anybody can write anything), and mainly because we are all laughing at your and/or shocked by your behavior which you are somehow managing to ATTEMPT to justify (its a losing case).

So, take a lesson from ALL these comments form ALL these people;


Bottom line is, if you think an item is priced too high, you do not have to buy it.

This is something that your parents should have taught you a very long time ago.

So, if you were disappointed that YOU made the decision to buy an item that was priced too high by your standards, then I suggest you contact yourself and leave yourself a NEUTRAL feedback.

You are wrong in every way, so I hope when and if you reply, your consider everything that has been said and reply in a logical manner, because so far you are acting very childish, harassing people about their grammar and skirting the points and issues they are bringing up instead of addressing them.

Anonymous said...

It's called supply and demand. If that was the only one left on Amazon, then you deserve to pay more for it. When demand is high, price goes up. Simple as that. I love how you like to argue that it's your right to say what you want on the feedback. But you'll never be able to justify being upset about the price. Educate yourself kid.

Anonymous said...

Wow Jaime, get over yourself.

If you were an amazon seller, then you would understand that neutral feedback is actually negative. The true way to express neutrality is to not leave feedback at all. Your argument doesn't hold.

Also, with seller feedback you are affecting their *business* not just their petty feelings, so its not the same thing as me calling you a douche or thick-headed. By leaving neutral feedback, you are letting other buyers know that this seller doesn't ship on time or doesn't handle customer service, when in fact, they do.

Stop shoving the blame to them when it's your fault that you overpaid for something.

-SXD

Anonymous said...

I'm so pleased to see that pretty much everyone can see that the writer of this nonsense is in the wrong.
I can't decide whether his unpleasantness or ignorance are greater.
He is still insisting he was overpriced for something he 'had' to buy.
As an Amazon seller, I can say that fortunately most buyers are not as unpleasant as this poster, but there is still a minority of spiteful people who seem to want to facilitate the destruction of a family's livelihood.
Before the facts of the matter were explained, I would have accepted that the writer was merely ignorant.
Having had the situation explained, the fact that they stand by their actions shows what an unpleasant piece of work they clearly are.
I hope you never have to rely on the kindness (or just the lack of unkindness) of strangers.
And to say that it is a lack of cajones to not want to lose your entire livelihood just to speak the truth speaks volumes of your character.

Jaime said...

To the wave of new commenters . . . just because you agree with those that disagree with me doesn't make you right and me wrong.

Let's not forget that.

But seriously, you're all wrong.

Anonymous said...

So, the company puts in an hour's work to provide you with a toy that you were too lazy to get off your dead ass and go find yourself - and you bother to screw it up further for them by leaving non-positive feedback???
Comparing a small business to Target is idiotic. Obviously, Target buys the items wholesale. Third party sellers probably buy their inventory at estate sales, online and retail stores, so how would they make the same profit on a item like the Wall-E toy?
Pathetic.

Anonymous said...

I am a new (only 2 months in bussiness) rare book seller on Amazon all of my 10 feed backs up to Thanksgiving were "Perfect". I made sure that every book was shipped overnight (at my expense) beautifully wrapped and always included hand written notes and other little "nicety's" with every purchase. Then someone asked me to sell a particular book (that actually came with 2 volumes)it had been listed with 1 volume incorrectly. I informed the buyer(with in hours)of the actual 2 volume publication, and that I only had 1 of the 2 volumes. He could purchase my book at 1/2 the price or I would cancel the order (so he would not get charged). Armed with the accurate information he could shop for the correct compilation. The "Non-Buyer" thanked me for being honest! and that was that...I never shipped or charged this buyer! A week later on "cyber-Monday" my 100% positive rating was at 86% and my business plummeted to "0" right before x-mas...His Feed back posted said "seller informed him immediacy that book was unavailable" then he gave me a 3 star rating? I don't understand...No good deed goes unpunished. Now I am possibly out of business before I even begun? Should I have just sold/shipped him the 1 volume knowing there were 2 in the set and hope he didn't notice...Oh well, I sent him 2 free books and I am hoping he deletes the 3 star comment, but I would never expect him to that it is entirely his call...so I guess I understand this from both perspectives...buyers should be aware though that even neutral ratings are harmful to sellers, and amazon really skews the metrics so it is difficult for sellers to have or maintain a 100% (look how few there are) almost all sellers are in the 90's. That's because the neutrals and are actually averaged against you (even though they don't say that)the system is flawed. It's a numbers game!

Anonymous said...

You are obviously young and self centered.The company did nothing wrong. You chose to buy it, more fool you...as proved by your neutral comment.

Anonymous said...

Points
1. Neutral feedback is basically negative to Amazon Sellers based on their ratings system. It hurts their business to receive neutral feedback.
2. Why would you buy something and then bitch about how it's too pricey. If you bought it, it clearly wasn't too pricey.

Conclusion
You are riding on a delusion of self entitlement.

Qualifications
I have been an Amazon Seller and have dealt with retards of all kinds.

Anonymous said...

not taking the time to register but my name is Joel. Jaimie I have seen you mention your rights several times which is a point no one is arguing. Just because you have the right to be a D-bag doesnt make you any less of a Dbag. Be a man. Admit you were wrong and change your feedback.

Benson said...

Hello,

This is a very interesting thread of comments. I have one question but first a little background. I am a seller that is proud of my feedback at 99% positive. I work very hard to maintain it and I do receive comments such as what you left.

I don't agree to how he attempted the request for removal but I do agree that he should have tried.

Question: If the goal of the seller was for you to remove the feedback what could he have offered to warrant the removal of the feedback?

Anonymous said...

I work for an online business selling through Amazon.com and once the retailer agrees to their Terms & Conditions, which clearly states the 15% fee Amazon charges per sale, it's up to the retailer to figure out pricing of their products in order to cover the expenses of doing business via Amazon.com.

I totally agree with your approach and believe you left a fair and considerate feedback to the seller.

Now if the retailer feels like Amazon is not the most profitable channel of distribution for their products, they should be the ones reconsidering their choice of using Amazon.com Merchant Services.

Anonymous said...

You are missing the entire point...You KNEW the price ahead of time when you purchased the item. You DID NOT have to buy it if you thought it was unfair. With that knowledge, once you click on buy and you checkout...the price of the item is a moot point.

You really hurt the seller because of that fact and you are penalizing them on something that should not even be considered criteria for feedback, since you agreed to proceed with the sale.

I read their email and they simply explained their pricing guideline which was not necessary to show that they couldn't sell the item to you for free because you are entitled. They simply asked to take that into consideration given that they delivered a product and your loved one was happy and to remove the feedback.

Next time if you don't like a price...just DON'T BUY. If you do, you accept to incur the expense by agreeing to proceed with the sale. Amazon should ban buyers like you!

tony d'amato said...

Jaime,

After reading all these comments, I hope you have a different perspective.

Times are tough and I got laid off. Rather than sit on my ass and leech the govt for income, I sell used stuff online to make ends meet.

You just don't know what it like on the other side. Now you do.

Most buyers think neutral is harmless and it should be. On Amazon it isn't however.

I sell on there and had a buyer leave the same exact type of feedback after 2 weeks launching my store. My hear sank because it was a negative.

Lucky the buyer made a mistake in writing the feedback like a review, so Amazon removed it. I wrote the buyers explaining to him how things work so in the future he wouldn't ding sellers in the future unless it was absolutely necessary.

I feel bad that you are being attacked since you believe you left a neutral. By now you realize that it is harmful. With that knowledge, in the future, don't leave unless it is absolutely necessary. That's all.

A lot of these rely of Amazon for their livehoods. Sellers shouldn't expect pity. All they want is fairness. Now that you know neutral is just as bad as a negative...use your judgement wisely,

Anonymous said...

I am a Amazon seller and buyer, if I am unhappy with a shopping experience, then I am going to express my dissatisfaction with feedback. Everyone is entitled to a opinion.

If a seller is not meeting their cost or profit goals, then they need to re-evaluate their operating structure.

Tere

Anonymous said...

man you are just plain mean. you got your product what's the problem. It is because of people like you that America is now ruled by big corporations like your beloved Target and Walmart. Your kids will have no jobs and your mother and father, with their firendly mom and pop shops will suffer

Bruce said...

Sorry Jaime, i agree with anonymous, it's so tough to sell anything anywhere nowadays, you must understand that a neutral feedback is negative. The seller wasted his time writing you an email explaining himself trying to fix the situation, and you still don't remove the feedback? Pretty callous. Don't buy if you don't agree with the price/terms in the first place. Big companies are always the best way to go and the cheapest, that's why the government is owned by them = there are no tarriffs from China = we beg for a $10 an hour job = we can't pay down our debt.

Anonymous said...

you didn't have to buy it at that price so why leave feedback about the price? poor form and I can understand why the seller is disappointed.

Anonymous said...

I think this was an issue of you not understanding the Amazon rating system very well. Like someone else said, a seller's rating is basically their lifeline. If the rating is lower than 90% it makes selling and therefor keeping their business afloat extremely hard.

You say its a free country and that you have a right to your opinion. You totally do. But you also have the right to NOT buy a product you think is overpriced. Its not fair to the seller to buy the product then complain about the price when they were the only ones offering it. Think of their point of view next time.

Karel Rei said...

If "NEUTRAL" is NOT NEUTRAL,
then clearly Amazon's rating system
is to blame.
No one who speaks English has a right, including Amazon, to treat Neutral
as Negative.
There needs to be a Sellers union to
correct this practice.
On the other hand the sellers who complain could try selling on their own.
Amazon is clearly providing amazing access to custormers.
SO THERE IS A MESS ON BOTH SIDES.
A buyer like Jaime who leaves a Neutral rating HAS A RIGHT to expect that his rating WILL NOT BE USED AGAINST THE SELLER.

Anonymous said...

If you didn't like the price, don't buy it and then leave them neutral feedback which is essentially negative for a seller on Amazon. It's not like they overcharged you after paying. They did their end of the transaction by shipping it out to you with no problems.

Seriously, I hope karma bites you in the a$$. Some people are just unreasonable.

Anonymous said...

I think that seller feedback should be ommitted and that the marketplace should find another way to judge seller performance because of people like this. You may have sold a used item or two on eBay perhaps, but you have no idea what it takes to sell professionally and how damaging one less than perfect feedback can be. Now them writing you back about how much it cost them etc, is dumb. That isn't going to win you over. But hopefully it made you realize that to them they'd rather not make the 7 bucks and have people that leave the correct feedback. All the trouble for 7 bucks.

Anonymous said...

I can completely agree with both sides. Im sure it if hard to be a seller on Amazon when it is a bad economy. But on the flip side, it's hard to be a buyer in this economy too. You want to spend your hard earned money on something you know you'll be satisfied with. And I don't believe that businesses should gauge their customers just so they can make more of a profit. And we as a consumer shouldn't be silenced when we are unhappy with the buying experience. I recently had the same issue with an Amazon seller. I personally didn't receive an item until a month after I ordered it. In fact, I had completely forgot I ordered the item. When I left that in the feedback they sent me an email saying I violated Amazon policies and threatened to report me to Amazon. Their reasoning, which I understand, was I receive the order on time and they sent me a UPS tracking number for the product with a signature. However the signature wasn't mine and I didn't receive the package from my UPS deliverer until a month later. I believe the problem with my order was because of UPS and not with the seller. But I still was unhappy that they sent me an email threatening to take action through Amazon. That's not a good way to treat a buyer. I did remove the feedback because I was afraid of any issues with my own account. I had a bad experience with eBay before and didn't want this repeated with Amazon. In retrospect, I probably should have left the comment (which was also neutral). But I guess all of this is the price we pay for doing business online. I'll be sure never to buy from them again though. I would much rather give someone else my money for te same exact product.

Anonymous said...

I was actually a little shocked to read your posting. For starters, Amazon doesn't care if you leave them negative feedback directly, because Amazon doesn't show their negative feedback to the public. They do not have any "star" service ratings, therefor they can screw over as many customers as they want without any reprocutions.
However, the fact that you left negative feedback for a seller because of the cost of the product is outragous.
I don't think you realize the negative effect you have put on that sellers future sales when the bottom line is you CHOSE to buy the item. How can you make a choice to buy something and then condemn the seller for the price? You could have boughten from another location such as retail or eBay or a thousand other sites. This type of behavior I just don't understand and I don't think you understand that you have affected someone's life in a negative way.

Anonymous said...

Continued from the last posting -- The fact that you haven't removed any of your negative comments from your blog really doesn't matter and doesnt make you prove your point. This is a blog so there arent any reproctions to you. However, the nuetral feedback you left for your own "choice" has affected that seller greatly. Not only did they lose out on future sales, there account was probably put on hold by Amazon, they probably had their funds taken etc.
Take responsibility! How ignorant you truly are. I will pray for you.

Anonymous said...

One more thing... You recieved an email from the seller asking you to kindly remove the feedback. The email from them was very unobtrusive and to the point. Your stubbornness with them is the issue, not them.
You may not be aware of this but when a buyer leaves unneccesary negative or neutral feedback, Amazon contacts the seller AFTER THEY SUSPEND THEIR ACCOUNT and tells them to contact the buyer to ask to have it removed. That is why you recieved the email so get over it. You weren't being pushed to do anything. Im thinking this isn't a one time thing. You probably see the world is against you and I'm guessing you play the "victim" role quite often. But like I said before. Take responsibility for your choices and then be happy with them. Don't blame others for decisions you have made. I hope you will learn this at some point in your life. Otherwise I feel sorry for you because I think you have lost your way:(

Hair extensions said...

Neutral feedback on amazon is classed as NEGATIVE. It results in a - percentage from the sellers rating. While you think your doing no harm your actually just giving them a neg. It would be more fair to leave a positive while still leaving the same comments. Unlike ebay where a neutral doesnt affect the seller amazon does! Give the seller a break becuse its dam hard selling on amazon where the only time people bother to leave feedback is to complain, now imagine dealing with that everyday and getting your amazon account frozen and business ruied.

Anonymous said...

Wow. If you didn't like the price; why the hell did you buy it? Don't make an independent seller suffer with permanent negative advertising stuck on their record because you are a spoiled brat with Wal-mart syndrome. You should go change it, like now. Try selling at retail for a living for one month, and you will understand completely. It's really sad that they had to go to such lengths to try and get you to change the rating. The part that makes me even more sad is that this lovely country is filled with the likes of you, and retailers have to practically auction off their organs to get fair treatment from you. Redeem yourself and change the rating. Thank them for delivering the item quickly also.

Realbrisk said...

Your main concern is about the price point most big box retailer have items that they sell at a loss (less then cost)never mind the special pricing and payment terms they get
As long as the seller sold it to you
below the MSRP then they should get a five star rating


For example Staples sell laptops at loos or close to cost but gets you with the Geek squad

HolidayTrees said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

I know this post you made is old which means you will probably never read my response. But I feel the need to let you know what a complete ass you made yourself out to be.

You do realize that the star rating isn't some arbitrary rating system on yelp right? This rating represents whether or not the seller is honest and sends out his items in a timely matter. It's a way for Amazon to weed out the sellers that scam or are dishonest in any kind of way.

By giving an honest seller a poor rating (yes, 3 stars is poor) because you didn't like the price that YOU agreed to you have essentially made the system worthless. You obviously couldn't find the item for cheaper anywhere else and so bought it from this poor seller (poor because he got you as a customer). Instead of accepting this fact, you decided to go against the philosophy of "a deal is a deal" and bitch about the price after the fact.

I really hope no one reads this worthless post of yours and thinks "Oh boy, I didn't know you were supposed to consider the price of the item when rating the seller" and start doing just that.

Also, rating people poorly because you have expensive taste or aren't thrifty enough to find the item for cheaper elsewhere, is NOT going to make Amazon a cheaper place to shop. If anything, the exact opposite will happen. If the majority of people were like you (when I say "like you" I mean the embodiment of buyer's remorse) then all that would happen is good honest sellers will be restricted from selling on Amazon. With less competition from other sellers, the sellers that didn't get unlucky with douchebag buyers will be free to charge more for their items due to less competition.

But hey, I'm sure it was worth leaving that 3 star rating. Don't you feel so empowered to know that if you purchased an item and later decide that it cost a bit too much you can try and screw the guy out of a decent rating?

I'm very surprised that after the seller's very polite and coherent email to you that you didn't see the light. That tells me you never will. Please, stay off of Amazon. Oh and Ebay as well. Stay off of any internet marketplace. The way they work is obviously beyond what you can comprehend.

Alexandre said...

Yup, posting on a very old thing. But google got me here so hey.

I don't like leaving negative feedback or neutral. For the first time in years I left a negative and neutral to two sellers on Amazon.

The first one sold me a worn out item as "like new". He contacted me and rectified the situation though so I removed my negative feedback. I hate how some sellers get away with selling and advertising something as "like new" (read the like new description from Amazon's guideline) when it clearly is not. They get 99% positive feedback because 99% of the population don't care about the item's condition.

The second seller shipped an item from overseas, when according to the description should've been shipping from the province next to mine. So it took longer to arrive. I wasn't that frustrated with the time as it wasn't an urgent thing. However it's the question of principle. I left neutral, and was contacted a few weeks later, offering me a full refund and taking down my feedback (of the 1 cent item or the 6$ shipping I'm not sure as I refused it out of principle).

Now I saw that was desperate, offering a full refund for leaving a neutral. Even the neutrals I left on ebay never got the sellers attention. So I did some research and saw this blog with someone being asked to change their feedbacks.

Now with all the other people posting about the biaised Amazon feedback system, I can't help but feel really bad for those sellers. It was probably too harsh on me to leave neutral for a trivial matter so I removed it.

I'm still not sure about the price thing though. I've had bad experience trying to get something in a retail store, to find that dozens of 3rd party sellers (ebay or amazon) were selling the things for twice or triple the price. Except rich kids or people with a load of money, nobody likes buying overpriced stuff, and who do we complain to exactly? Because obviously, buying something from a retail store and reselling it for your own profit is cool for you, but it sucks for buyers.

The OP specifically said why he was leaving neutral feedback to the admitedly price-gouging seller. I hate overpriced resellers myself and if I was desperate enough to buy overpriced stuff, I'd probably resort to that kind of thing at some point. Hard to say really.

redfandango said...

You're a cock. You show a total lack of understanding on the principles of retail commerce. Amazon, due to their buying power, are able to purchase a whole lot cheaper than smaller retailers and for this reason it's hugely pretty difficult for the little guy to compete on price alone. Leaving a seller a neutral feedback because you were unhappy with the price just makes zero sense - if you didn't like the price then you did not have to buy it irrespective of Christmas. Your post suggests you feel you've been held to ransom but this is far from the truth. I'm afraid if the seller provided the item on time and in good condition the morally acceptable thing to do was to either leave a positive or leave nothing at all. As I said at the outset of this post. You're a cock.

Anonymous said...

Don't agree to pay a price then destroy a sellers feedback because your not happy with the price paid. Because of you that seller could have had their account terminated by Amazon. That seller might be a single mother who may end up homeless with two kids as I would if my account were terminated...because you bought something at an agreed price then were not happy with the price. If your not happy with the price a seller is charging then don't buy the item. If you could have done better at Walmart or Target you should have gone there. Small sellers also don't get the same wholesale prices that big company's such as Walmart and Target and even Amazon get so right off the top a small seller is paying more for the same item that these big company's are paying much less for. Not to mention Amazon is not charging itself outrageous fees when they sell you and item and you can be sure the shipping charge will be correct. you are charged a flat fee for shipping when you buy from a seller on amazon so chances are besides paying outrageous fees to see on amazon they are also paying most of your shipping charge out of pocket ...give me a break...why would anyone sell anything at a loss. It's simple if you don't like the price don't buy the item.

Anonymous said...

Why don't you post your Amazon ID here do everyone knows not to sell to you. Believe me I would rather cancel an order from you then to make the sale and have you in control of my feedback.

Anonymous said...

Just came across this old post in a Google search. What the sellers above said is true: as far as Amazon is concerned, getting a neutral review is much the same as getting a negative one. Your "considerate" neutral review is no different from if you'd left a string of mindless profanity and a negative. Asshats like you, who are not ashamed but are in fact proud of how unreasonable they are as a consumer, and Amazon's policy of catering to asshats, make selling on Amazon a truly miserable experience.

Also, Amazon is straight up evil. They are the Empire from Star Wars. Stop giving them your money, dummies.

Anonymous said...

Why don't you post your Amazon ID here do everyone knows not to sell to you. Believe me I would rather cancel an order from you then to make the sale and have you in control of my feedback. -Anon

Yeah, that doesn't work. Buyers can totally still leave you feedback, even if (in my experience, especially if) you cancel the order.

peacockharris said...

Jaime, I know this is an old forum post but I felt compelled to point out how incredibly flawed your logic is. People are actually making informed arguments about how Amazon works and how you accepted the price (happy about it or not), therefore the seller fulfilled all requirements and provided excellent service. But no, your only response is a total Strawman argument - "I'M not going to take my comment down because you don't like it, wah wah wah."

What a moronic comparison. How is a feedback retraction request for a neutral (may as well be negative) rating on a website that has zero tolerance for such, comparable to someone finding your comment objectionable on a blog comment section where no money or business credibility is at stake? The answer: It's not. Noone's going to want you to take your comment down here as aside from it being your blog, it's not a reflection on them and doesn't impact them in any tangible way other than them perhaps being annoyed by the fact stupid people exist. Also it's their choice whether or not they read it, much like it was your choice whether to buy the product at that price.

You seem to think you're a cut above in your uninformed responses but people like me who actually see through your pseudo-intellect can cut you down with ease because you don't know what you're talking about. Strawman arguments are the tools of people without a good case to begin with and are not a clever way to justify your stance.

Bean said...

Woah, all you people are overreacting a bit!
Jamie, I completely agree with your feedback decision. I much prefer eBay to amazon, as it is far simpler to use and leave feedback.
Stay strong!
Bean xx

Anonymous said...

You don't know economics.
You clearly don't know the meaning of math concepts (arithmetic), even if your school(s) passed you.
You mistake freedom for license.
Yes, you are "free" to say what you please, but along with that freedom comes the responsibility to know, and seek to know.
Would you want someone like you to do internet reviews of automobiles, of surgeons?

With ALL the people who have tried to explain to you the event with the third-party vendor, how about you open your mind a bit?
BTW, the same explanation given applies to EBAY and PAYPAL transactions: so sorry, the evidence is against you. It's you who are batting 0-1. Just learn, admit, and live a wiser life.

a reasonable person said...

I'm sorry, but rating them a 3 doesn't make sense in this case. If you were this unhappy about the price, it would be far better for you to pass on this "thing" in the first place. You didn't NEED to purchase it. You WANTED to purchase it.

Would you go into a convenience store and purchase an item you know costs less at the grocery store, then make a complain to the store clerk or the company? I certainly hope not. If you want convenience, you have to pay for it. This situation is no different. No one else had the item that you WANTED to purchase, so you made the choice to overpay for the item. You made the choice to pay for convenience. Once you made that choice (the choice to overpay), you had to live with it (the consequences of overpaying). If the merchant changed the price, or did a bait and switch on you, then you'd have something to give them non-positive feedback on (and of course escalate with Amazon). In this case you do not. YOU made the choice to purchase the item from them. You chose the convenience (of having the item vs. not having the item) and overpaying.

The company did exactly what they said they would do, in the timeframe they said they'd do it, and for the price YOU agreed to. That's 5 stars (or maybe 4 stars).

If you had given them 4 or 5 stars and noted in your feedback that their price is much higher than other sellers, the seller might not have liked that, but no one else could argue with that. Giving them a neutral rating when they did everything they said they'd do (as agreed by you when you purchased the item) just doesn't make sense.

Like someone else said about using eBay, feedback definitely more fair. In that scenario, the seller could rate you poorly as a buyer as well - which is in order here.

I do not sell anything, so I do not have a bias towards sellers.

I am sorry that receiving the email from the vendor scared you. It's comfortable to snipe, or give unfavorable comments anonymously through the internet. When people know who you are, you are then associated with your behavior. This anonymity is why the internet is full of such mean and nasty rhetoric.

a reasonable person said...

As far as none of us leaving negative or neutral feedback is concerned, I can only speak for myself. I have left neutral feedback once. I purchased a used 3 ring binder version of a college textbook that the seller said was like new and noted the condition as perfect in their comments. After getting the binder out of the packaging and opening the binder, my next stop was to the office supply store to get 3-hole punch reinforcers to fix all the ripped pages. Based on the random location of ripped page holes, this was clearly not something that happened in shipping so the shipper did in fact misrepresent the condition of the book (Amazon has clear guidelines for book condition ratings).

That is an example of warranted non-positive feedback (I gave a 3, where others might have rated even lower).

I don't think anyone is saying you never leave neutral or negative feedback. I think they are saying it has to be deserved.

Anonymous said...

Neutral has to be deserved? Someone emptying shelves in a store to hoard/resell at higher price deserves neutral for being greedy :P

Not saying that's what happened with the original poster. But it does happen with stuff I usually want to buy. Item is out for a few weeks/months, and when I want to buy it it's nowhere to be found and goes for triple the price on amazon/ebay. If I really decided to fork out that kind of money I'd definitely be wanting to leave neutral feedback for being greedy. I despise "sellers" that buy stuff at retail just to sell it at a higher cost for their own benefit.

Anonymous said...

I believe Jaime is entitled to his opinion. However if you take a step back and look at the entire picture. The seller actually done Jaime a favor and sold him something that he "needed" for a Christmas present. The recipient of that present must be someone really special to Jaime for him to pull the trigger and paid a higher price to obtain that item at any cost. The recipient must be really happy receiving that Christmas present. Base on principle he should be more understanding and remove the feedback. Why don't you "Jaime" ask the recipient if you did the right thing?

Anonymous said...

HELLO unbelievable- price is advertised and you are not forced to purchase- he listed his price you agreed. If THEY ITEM QUESTION WAS PURCHASED FOR $10.00 AND NOW SELLING ON AMAZON FOR $100.00- WOULD YOU PAY SELLER DIFFERENCE ????
NOT COOL??? YOU CAN'T PUT A PRICE ON MY MERCHANDISE-

ANONYMOUS T said...

Hello,

These arguments are profitless. It does not help your argument to ad homus (to the man), which means to insult each other to try to win an argument.

Whether or not it was "morally" beneficial or reprehensible for Jaime to leave neutral feedback is irrelevant. Whether or not it was crushing little sellers' dreams of putting food on the table (which I doubt), is irrelevant.

The point is that both sides had a choice. The buyer, as many of you have pointed out, could have chosen to not buy the item at that price. It was not as if the seller sold her an item for five dollars and then charged her fifty when she went to pay.

HOWEVER, the seller also had a choice to sell on Amazon as well. They didn't have to pay the extreme prices Amazon charges; they could have went on Ebay or if they were making such a little profit on internet selling, they could leave the business.

Regardless, it makes no difference whether or not I have one opinion or the other on the matter. It will not convince either the seller to sell their products cheaper nor Jaime to rescind his feedback from the seller.

You are all inflaming yourselves and Jaime profitlessly, and it makes all of us look foolish.

Sincerely,

ANONYMOUS T.

Anonymous said...

You're one sad guy, wtf still you cant see you are wrong after so much comments.

Anonymous said...

Wow, I can't believe the abuse you got for this comment. Amazon bug and bug you to leave feedback, as a buyer. I rarely do, purely because life is too short to spend time on such things, especially when they're presents for others and I don't even use them myself. You bothered to leave feedback, which in all honesty was not terrible feedback, and you get shot down.

Instead all those moaning should be complaining about what Amazon do with the feedback, it truly does sound like they treat their sellers badly. But how is that your problem, as a buyer? You haven't broken any contract, you are not obliged to be happy with the transaction, and pleading with you to (pretend to) be happy is not going to help.

Sorry you are getting so much abuse from the internet citizens. And yes, I'm anonymous too, I don't want all these people who can see only their own perspective to spam me with abuse too.

Anonymous said...

Jaime,
I am an Amazon seller, a guiy trying to make a few extra bucks in these tough times) and I have to tell you that unless a seller has a high positive rating it greatly impacts their business.

Neutral is quite unfair for a seller that delivered the right product on time. You knew the price up front and if you didn't like it you should not have purchased it from that seller.

Basically you are being a jerk by posting a Neutral review because you did not like the price for something you knew in advance.

Reserve Neutral and Negative reviews when there is a material misrepresentation in what is offered and what you got.

It is by no means "generous" as the standard for most marketplace sellers is near 100% positive.

Anonymous said...

What's really funny is everyone giving their opinion of this guys opinion lol. I understand the concept of profits, business, and everything else, but this guy is just stating the truth. He bought something that he had to get, but the price was too high. That's his complaint, and is his opinion and i agree with it. Its amazing how he got emailed about his comment. I've had many times width needed something and had to pay more, and i knew the seller was benefiting from it. The point of the complaint is to make them more aware of probably what many others feel, but probably don't express. I work for amazon and i see so many sellers do this. Example i wanted a roku for my father amazon was sold out. Amazons price 58 with shipping, other sellers price 85 with shipping. Its called price gouging because they have it, and someone else doesn't. Itis amazing how many people do this knowing they can get people that are older or not as knowledgeable about the product with the price. If you can't sell at a decent price and be competitive, then you'll get feedback like this all day. What he left is a lot nicer than what i would have said. Its always amazing at how quick some people are to pass their judgement.

Anonymous said...

I agree with many of the above posters. Under normal circumstances, price should not be a factor in feedback.

First, saying you "had to" buy it is false. If the seller wanted $10,000,000 for it, of course you wouldn't have forked out $10,000,000 for it. You would've shopped elsewhere, or picked a different gift.

Second, businesses price differently to meet their needs. For example, go to a gas station and buy a 20oz Coke. It'll cost you $2.00. Now go to Walmart and buy a 6-pack of 24oz Cokes. On sale, it could cost as little as $2.50.

Why would you ever buy the gas station Coke at $0.10/oz rather than the Walmart Coke at under $0.02/oz? Lots of reasons. Convenience. Craving. Walmart's sold out. Laziness... Whatever the reason, you're entitled to make that choice. No one forces you to buy one or the other.

And once you choose to buy the $2.00 gas station Coke, it doesn't somehow become the gas station's fault or responsibility. It was your choice. You were fully aware that you could go down the street and find the same Coke for a fifth of the price, but you decided, for your reasons, that you were willing to pay 5 times more at the gas station. And even if you weren't sure how much other stores were selling Coke for, it's as simple as giving them a call or looking them up online to find out. But it's your choice whether or not you want to shop around. So, for these reasons, it'd be wrong for you to go around town posting flyers on every corner about how the gas station ripped you off. In essence, you ripped yourself off.

And the same is true online.

And what makes your situation worse is that you never gave the seller any opportunity to work with you. You had the opportunity BEFORE making the purchase to contact the seller and attempt to negotiate a better price. This would've been the ideal solution to your problem, but you didn't do it. You instead made the choice to purchase the product, a choice that the seller had no control over, while fully intending to leave less-than-positive feedback, even when the correct product was sent to you in the condition and time frame agreed. And then, when the seller politely explained their pricing and requested that you consider removing your feedback, you again chose not to work with the seller. You didn't even ask for a partial refund to bring the price down to mutually agreeable amount.

So, in the end, the seller gets feedback that pulls his rating lower, puts his business at risk of losing future customers and even getting shut down by Amazon. And you get what? Not the better price that say you wanted. You didn't even ask for it. So, what then? The satisfaction of berating someone who went to the trouble, risk, and expense of locating, purchasing, listing, storing, managing, packaging, and shipping a hard-to-find product that you ordered in seconds from the comfort of your chair and had delivered to your doorstep in time for Christmas?

Just think about it.

When you're rating a business (which is what a seller represents), just give the online community an indicator of the seller's performance in delivering the product that you purchased in the promised condition and time frame, and if applicable, whether they were polite, responsive, and helpful in their communications and customer service. Don't factor in your choice to spend a certain price on a product as a comment on the seller, no more than you would blame the seller for your choice to buy product X instead of product Y. Your choices are out of the seller's control. Consequently, your choices shouldn't impact what I or anyone else judges the seller on when deciding whether or not to purchase from him.

Anonymous said...

I usually leave 5-star feedback if the item is as described and shipping is fast, or at least within the estimated delivery date. One time, however, the item that arrived was supposed to be new, but the cover of the DVD had damage. I left neutral feedback stating the item was not as described. To my surprise, the seller contacted me, offering a refund ONLY IF I WOULD REMOVE THE FEEDBACK. I had no idea how to remove the feedback and the seller was no help. Eventually, I found out how to do it and removed the feedback. Only then was the seller willing to give me a refund. I said to forget it since the item itself was not damaged, just the cover.

Which brings me to yesterday, when I recceived an order placed with Amazon's super saver shipping. The book I ordered was supposed to be new, but it had sticky black gunk all over the front cover. A wet rag would not remove it. I had to actually use a soapy cleaner (carefully) to get it off. I did eventually get it off, but not before I spent 10-15 minutes worried that the book was ruined. The item was a gift and I could certainly not give it to anyone looking like that.

I have never been able to get Amazon to right any wrong done with super saver shipping. So I'm glad I was able to fix the problem myself.

Word to the wise: On at least two occasions, I have had orders from Amazon through super-saver shipping that never arrived. I notified Amazon and Amazon ignored me. And there is no way to leave negative feedback on such transactions, so you are without recourse. Just be aware that buying from Amazon itself does not guarantee a good experience.

Anonymous said...

*anonymous commenter appears*

I realize this was written over 3 years ago, but I wanted to say that leaving a neutral feedback for someone based on the price of an item is unjustifed. Neutral feedback should only really be left if you're unsatisfied with the item itself in some way, like if the seller was using false advertising, etc. You don't leave neutral/negative feedback because of the price of an item. It's not like you HAVE to buy their item, nobody forced you to buy something for more than what you'd normally pay for it. All in all, you were wrong to leave neutral feedback.

*anonymous commenter dissipates*

Anonymous said...

Lol you need to include that the sellers will attack outside on amazon. I left negative seller feedback on several accounts for post sale price changes. I had five cheap gaming systems canceled after I ordered them! Why list cheaply then cancel because the item sold for that price? Everyone of them changed ids then messaged about how mean I was to expect the listed price! One the first four I let them email go and the feedback vanished. I have been giving the 5th lessons in reasons people get fired for that in the real world for days now son the feedback can stand. Amazon is tough because it is part of it's business model that the buyers get what they want. That is capitalism, that is real. It may not be fair to the sellers but it keeps the business going. I saw reference to big banks, they used a model that would be better for the sellers, not the buyers called supply side economics. The feedback you gave is the exact opposite.

Robert said...

Jamie after reading this if feel free to express my 1st Amendment.

You chose to buy a product at a certain price and received it in a timely manor. You entered a contract and the seller satisfied his end.

Your an ass to give them neutral feedback based on your decision. you should be giving yourself 3 stars for choosing to pay the asking price.

Steve said...

It's almost comical that this buyer should leave neutral feedback based upon the price of an item he freely purchased. The difficulty for sellers on Amazon is that just one negative or even neutral feedback can really affect their business and most sellers work hard to maintain good feedback ratings. Unfortunately, whilst may people are sensible enough to make appropriate judgements about a purchase and a service, you only need the odd idiot like this to cause significant damage to the seller's business. Unfortunately that's what happens. We sell on Amazon and we work hard to maintain our 99% feedback. It's so frustrating when somebody comes along that hasn't quite got the intelligence to make valid judgements anything other than positive feedback. The ratio of people buying an item and leaving positive feedback is approximately 1 in 10 in our experience. We know this because for every hundred items we sell, we generally get about ten pieces of feedback. I don't have any data on the ratio of dissatisfied buyers leaving adverse feedback but I would suspect it would be more like 1 in 2. Particularly frustrating are the buyers who aren't at home when a valuable item arrives, and then often ignore the card put through the door telling them how to get hold of their item. The item gets sent back to the supplier and they respond by complaining about late delivery. This happens all the time and of course we end up sending the item out again incurring a further postage charge which is virtually equivalent to the initial profit in our case.

The problem really is with Amazon's policy on feedback. It weighs far too heavily in favour of the buyer, and the seller is powerless in this regard. Amazon has four criteria upon which it will consider removing feedback. This really needs to be expanded to stop people like Jaime doing this sort of thing. A fifth criteria along the lines of "Amazon will remove negative or neutral feedback when, after due consideration, it is felt that the the feedback is unreasonable.

Anonymous said...

Also, Amazon's policies explicitly INSTRUCT the seller to contact buyers directly if they feel that feedback was unwarranted.

Anonymous said...

Are you freaken kidding me? ???? A neutral review to an Amazon's seller is considered negative when it comes to performance score. You didn't have to buy the item if you didn't feel the price was right. Your review should only pertain to how your overall transaction went, and not about a price that you agreed to pay then cry about it. Very unfair to the seller.

Unknown said...

TO Amazon.com a 3 or less is a Negative.. And we all know that a 3 Neutral should not affect anything. But Amazon Allows a 3 to be negative and that is why people need to realize they are not at all being fare to the merchant. and they are likely to be slandering the business by doing this.. If the item arrived on time as described it deserves a 5. If the packaging was damaged you should contact the shipper. And if they sent you a box of rocks you should leave a Neg 1 and contact Amazon.. But other than that the Seller deserves a 5 and you should Read the Feedback Rules to Better understand that a "Neutral 3" is really a Negative.

Anonymous said...

You are retarded. If you don't like the price, then don't buy it. No one is forcing a gun to your head to make the purchase.

Product reviews are meant for the quality and use of the item. Everyone already knows the price and its subjective to each individual whether its considered expensive or not.

So you basically left a useless review that helped nobody because you lacked the logical skills to decide not to buy something if you didnt like the price.

Anonymous said...

You know the price you pay beforehand. You agree to paying the price for the item...it shouldn't really form part of the feedback.

The seller dispatched fast, item was as described...I'd be pissed off if someone gave me 3/5 based on them having to pay the price I set the item at. If they don't like the price, don't buy it...nobody is forcing them. 5/5 every time unless the item is damaged or the seller takes a week or more to dispatch.

Amazon, as the seller points out, take a very nice commission on all sales and many sellers barely make a dime!

Anonymous said...

Jamie,

Clearly you have never run a business or worked for yourself. You are a douche.

Anonymous said...

Jaime only 5% of buyers leave sellers feedback on Amazon. If you purchase directly from Amazon you only can leave feedback about the packaging for their internal use. You know that people have issues with Amazon direct orders but there isn't a place even on the internet to find that because Amazon pays a lot of money to bury it. Sellers depend on 5% to know if they are going to keep their business alive. Amazon is huge so sales are for volume on Amazon not big margins. I sell on Amazon and I understand your point about neutral feedback should be neutral but Amazon doesn't see it that way. Jaime in your job you have to rely on your boss's opinion or a few others maybe about your work. Sellers have to hope that 5% of buyers that leave feedback are happy. As a seller I can say leaving comments about the price of the item in a free market is sad. I purchased a car and the dealer stated that I would get a call from Ford and if we can't give them 5 stars on all to please come back to them so they can make it right. As a seller on the internet selling on other markets I completely understand the fear. Try feeding your family with that hanging over your head. The feedbacks come from people you least expect. Do you want your job or raises to depend on people that responded to this blog? Feedback if much more than you know.

Anonymous said...

You remind me of the buyers I have who buy from me and then complain about the shipping price, even though all the rates were posted before you bought.

Reviews aren't for the price you paid. When you buy, you are agreeing to pay the price. The review is for service -- was the item promptly shipped, and in the described condition? Was the staff polite and helpful?

If you don't like the price, don't buy. I'm betting the owner would have rather not even sold to you than to get a 3/5 rating.

Whether or not someone disagrees with your blog doesn't cost someone money. The sellers on Amazon are usually small businesses that make much less money as a whole than you might think.

The seller didn't do anything wrong, and provided the service you agreed to. They deserve the appropriate rating for their service, the feedback is NOT for the price.

Maybe you will start leaving people low feedback for not liking their company logo next?

I don't really mean to argue with you, I really wish you would have some compassion towards small business, they are people on the other side of the computer!

Anonymous said...

I am horrified that Jaime thinks it right to leave neutral feedback after he entered a contract to buy at an agreed price. Shows Jaime is ignorant, maybe even libellous.

Does he not consider the cost of holding stock which can get flooded, stolen, or be obsoleted by newer versions...you havw to pay fpr stock holding and quick delivery!

Anonymous said...

Obviously Jaime is NOT an entrepreneur.... many buyers are not or they would know that the cost of overhead (as in fees etc.) has to be added. I had a B&M store a few years ago & a customer bitched about paying $1 to send a fax. He said "it doesn't cost you anything"... I replied "as soon as you pay my rent - phone & electric... I will be happy to give you free faxes"... SO, Jaime, as soon as you start paying the sellers fees, gas & time - you, too, can have the product at cost.

Anonymous said...

Jaime if you can't afford it don't buy it.

Corrine said...

The same thing happened to me when I left a neutral review of something. I forget the circumstance, but they basically begged me to change the review without even trying to solve the original issue I had with the item. Having been to China and experiencing the shopping there, my guess is this company is ran from another country, because like you said they'd didn't seem to understand how a "free country" or consumerism in capitalist America works.

However I reported the seller because Amazon says on their website that a seller is not allowed to contact you about changing a review!!!

They can only contact you to solve the problem, not ask you to change the review-which in reality is the only way to get people to change a review anyway.

Corrine said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Racoonfrenzy said...

You must understand that anything less than a 4 brings down the positive feedback % of the seller...

Amazon also encourages sellers to solicit feedback changes to increase their ratings. If they are too low they may in fact be kicked of amazon and lose their income.

also only 9% of people leave feedback on amazon. Considering you are more likely to leave negative feedback if you have an issue, most feedback left are issues rather than praise....

I just recently had a customer flip out that I offered her a full refund for an item because I asked her to use the "amazons return" page to file a return request as not to have it affect my seller ratings... she flipped and contact amazon..

That being said, amazon buyers are a bit on up tight side...

Anonymous said...

I completely agree with you Jaime is acting like a complete little b**ch. I hate people like that. Buy and b**ch. That's all they do little overweight Internet trolls

Anonymous said...

Just had to comment and reitterate that you are a complete dick jamie! You had no choice but to buy? Really? Was amazon the only website on the whole internet with this toy? You CHOSE to pay double you knobhead so live with it!

And you even took time to write a blog about it thinking you were gonna get praised or something? mmm that went slightly wrong didnt it!

All u keep going on about is freedom of choice/speech! Next time you 'choose' to pay over the odds remember that you chose to u knob!

And the web is a big place so maybe take ur dick out of amazons arse and try another store selling what you want at retail prices. That way we dont have to listen to your retarded little rant and the poor amazon seller doesn't have to put up with your infantile behaviour and petulant attitude!

Now go grow up and leave online shopping to adults u sad little DICK!!

PS:Nice photo! You look as big a dickhead as you sound!

Anonymous said...

A neutral is calculated by the Amazon system as a negative. Your petulant action probably caused real grief and economic loss to someone a lot more honest and hard working than yourself. Nobody twisted your arm to buy this item.

Anonymous said...

Part 1
Jamie - "Neutral Consumer",

I'm not sure if you could be a more condescending, more ignorant or bigger prick.

First of all, lets remember that “Mr. Neurtral” is talking about the purchase of TOY.

So let’s get this strait, you could have purchased any toy from anywhere and from anyone but you voluntarily sought out this seller who was only OFFERING the item - no obligation to anyone to buy. You then determine that the item was worth it to you to pay the asking price and shipping fee. The seller provided it to you as described and on time. You then turn around and burned the seller and damage his business despite him providing services and product as agreed and never knowingly doing anything wrong to you. WHAT A TOTAL A-HOLE!!
And no you ignoramus, a "3" is not "neutral". Check again, Amazon and eBay deal with 3's as negative feedback and mark down seller feedback percentages for it. And guess what, no matter how big an A-hole you are to a seller, eBay and Amazon no longer allowed sellers to leave you negative feedback to warn others about you. So good sellers are vulnerable to getting screwed over and over by people like you and people that blatantly scam them. Such as returning an empty box and getting Amazon to force the seller to provide a 100% refund or a buyer winning an auction, never paying but actually having the nerve to leave the SELLER negative feedback.

And what's with making villains of small sellers in these marketplaces. Sure there are some dirt bags on both sides of the fence but mostly the marketplaces are made up of sellers and buyers that are people like you and me; college student, house wives, retired people, regular people just trying to make a living, people that have kids and work hard just like people who have 9-5 jobs (usually putting in much more than 40 hours a week in their small business). Small business is the backbone of our economy. It's blatantly clear that you've never run your own small business because you have NO IDEA the work and costs involved - its more clear that you simply want something for nothing and want the seller to work hard to provide it to you with little to no profit. Don't you get that you’re cutting off your nose despite your face. Your way of interacting in the marketplace makes good sellers not want to do the business or provide the items you have a hard time finding. Boneheads like you come in and trash businesses when they did nothing malicious to you and it’s simply ruining it for all of us. I want to be able to get that hard to find item and if the seller is rewarded for his efforts or making a good investment, I don’t think that’s called a crime, I think it’s called capitalism or supply and demand. They did the work to find it, store it put their money out until I buy it. If I agree to the price, how it works and everyone wins. If you were dissatisfied with the price, YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE PURCHASED IT! NO ONE FORCED YOU. Yes you’re free to share your opinion but you were not just sharing your opinion. You were damaging someone’s business. A huge point you fail to acknowledge to yourself or the reader. Again you should not have placed your purchase but what’s worse is that you didn’t even give the seller an opportunity to address the problem. You just did a cowardly hit and run on his account. I can’t say enough what a total A-hole move that is. You’ve managed to top it with this blog!

Anonymous said...

Also, you should really rethink your brilliant deduction about big box retailers. Amazon & Target are massive and can negotiate steep discounts and gain profit through low-price volume sales. Small sellers cannot, as the seller you bashed tried to provide you with a polite and fair explanation of that. Why do you think that all the small retailers freak when WalMart comes into a town? They know that despite being honest business owners, they could never compete with the low prices WalMart will offer. I like the big retails but you probably have no idea how critical small businesses are to our economy and communities. By the way, do you go around your neighborhood bashing all the small business that don't offer lower prices like Amazon, WalMart & Target? That's what your doing online. I bet your one of those people who looks for any "good" reason not to tip or tip like crap when you go to restaurants.

And all you blind followers that agree with this self-absorbed, short-sighted looser who has never accomplished anything that contributed to society or employed anyone, I challenge any of you and "Mr. Neutral" to try to make an eBay or Amazon business work. Provide the products and services you note at the prices you currently declare are "right and fair." I promise you, after 1 year of genuine effort, you will be embarrassed by your current accusations and criticisms. Just talk to a friend or relative who does this kind of business. Some of you will mock me or try to throw out more ignorant arguments but in the end it will simply be you avoiding the reality that you have never walked a mile in the noted seller's moccasins. It's easier for you to cowardly try to save face or blatantly not care who you harm to "get yours" when you shop.

Remember, these are marketplaces where people exchange service or goods for a fee. There are people on both ends of the transaction. The noted seller clearly tried to respectfully interact with Mr. Neutral and he in turn treated the seller (and his employees and families that would be impacted) like they were worthless pieces of crap. If you don't feel a product is priced fairly, you have the right and "vote" or "feedback" to simply not buy it. But don't be a selfish prick and think that you have the "right" to initiate a transaction, knowing full well what the costs are, then jack the seller's hard earned business because you think you have the prerogative of share your "opinion". Remember the golden rule Mr. Neutral, as I don’t believe you are neutral at all. I think your just spitefully one-way.

Anonymous said...

I understand the buyers side, but you have to understand that companys like amazon, walmart and others are the reasons why America is the way it is. Big box retailers that take value out of products and force foreign products into the market that are cheaper but less quality. I am a seller and a buyer on Amazon. Amazon charges 12% to the seller not 15% everytime something is sold, profits are very small on Amazon that is true. The unfair thing is you'll notice that Amazon themselves do not have a feedback score and are not graded with seller standards as we are as sellers. Sellers on Amazon are drilled by shipping time, inventory amounts, 15 days net payments (so you buy it and we ship it and do not get payed for 15 days, Amazon even penalizes sellers that do not reply to messages within 24 hours.

Anonymous said...

Well Jaime looks like you are the real looser in this arguement,time to pull up your pants cuz your slip is showing

Anonymous said...

If only they had the buying power of the largest e-tailer in the world, could also get away without paying taxes or for employing locals, you could have maybe got a couple of dollars off your late Christmas present.

It's pretty simple, you bought at an agreed price, received a good service and left what is effectively a negative review - reading the majority of responses, I hope you now understand how rating systems like this work in the real world....

Anonymous said...

Who held a gun to you head and forced you to pay too much? When I sold on ebay I'd get idiots like you who'd win an auction and later leave negative feedback that they'd overpaid. Your kind are the reason its an uphill battle keeping a positive outlook as well a good reputation when owning and running a small business.

Anonymous said...

No one forced you to pay that price you spoilt dick, if you don't like the price, don't buy it and then leave bad feedback, you got exactly what they advertised. Horrible person you are

Anonymous said...

I just found this blog, after dealing with my own similarly frustrating experiences with Amazon sellers.

I was going to add my own story but, after reading many of the comments here, I have decided to ask just one question (and please forgive me if it has already been posed):

With comments from Amazon sellers (both former and active) questioning why you bothered to make the purchase if you were unhappy with the price/seller and, then, complaining about Amazon's treatment of sellers, the same question can be put to the sellers: why do you continue to sell on Amazon if they are so evil?

Anonymous said...

Jaime - You are a f*cktard

I'm surprised even after people explaining to you that a neutral feedback will impact on a sellers overall rating that you still think you are correct and within your rights to leave the neg. Yeah you are within you rights to leave this rating but what type of twat tries to argue the point when they are clearly wrong. You are a complete bellend. Any decent person would have realised and seen that they were being a little bitch about the situation. Selling on amazon sucks, they are massive crooks who need to be investigated, their practices are bent and so inconsistent. If you where a seller you would understand how the feedback system works and then you would be agreeing with us but your not your a little pussywhip.

Anonymous said...

jaime, you're an idiot. amazon is tough to sell on. some of us don't have an option but to sell with them if we want to make extra money. every 5-star rating keeps us in good standing with them; every 3-star or less puts our accounts under review and keeps our money for 90 days.

Anonymous said...

Next time do your christmas shopping earlier.

Anonymous said...

Wow, I know this is an old post, but you've got to be kidding me. Who would blame a seller for the price of an item when all of the prices on Amazon are clearly displayed? You knew the price before you bought it and decided it was worth it. An item is either worth the price the seller is charging for it or it's not. If you received the item, decided that it was a much cheaper toy than you had expected (maybe worth $20, but not $40 now that you've seen it), then you have the right to request the seller accept a return on the item due to the quality of it (you would be responsible for the shipping charges because it was your mistake). If the seller refused a return, then you could say that you felt you got ripped off. When you buy something, and you receive exactly what you were expecting, in the fashion you were expecting it in, and for the price you knew it was going to be and then leave someone neutral feedback, you deserve to be banned from the site. Yes, you live in a free country where you can say whatever you want. This isn't about what you can legally say. This is about the fact that some people simply look at overall ratings and not necessarily the remarks that lead to the ratings. Future buyers may not invest the time needed to see that their decision to not buy something from a particular seller is based off reviews that are ignorant. If right after your purchase, you found the item from several different places for the $20 original price, then I'd partially agree with you feeling ripped off. Even in that case, you have no right to blame the seller. Basically, you think I should be punished for selling my 68 corvette for $45,000. Obviously, the guy who bought it could have purchased a brand new BMW for that price, or any other car that to most people would have been a better purchase. I sold it for $45k, because that was what it was worth at the time to the people who wanted it. High school economics! Supply and demand. I really can't explain it any better than that. I hope that seller got some good publicity out of this. I'm actually tempted to buy something from them just to leave them positive feedback, even though it would take much more than that to offset a neutral review.

Anonymous said...

Wow, you really showed them! I bet that power feels great! Amazon & Target probably got that product at "Wholesale" and thats why they can sale it so cheap. You didn't have to buy that item from that company. You could've waited for Amazon to get it in stock. No reason for you to give them a 3 star. The did everything right on their part. You even admit to it! You're just upset because of the cost! What a spoled bitch!

Unknown said...

I'm not gonna call you names or wish death on you. What you write for a Review is your opinion. You probably should of thought what might happen to the seller. But whats done is done. After looking at the sellers page on Amazon, I'm pretty sure he would "Thank You" for writing this blog. They have a 5 star raiting now with close to 2000 ratings. I went through their ratings and it seems a lot are made because people read this blog. You should blog about that!

Anonymous said...

Okay, this is directed to the few people who keep asking, "if selling on Amazon is so terrible and you have to deal with so much bullshit, then why do you still do it?" Note: this is completely irrelevant to the matter at hand and has nothing to do with why Jaime here is retarded for doing what he did. If someone actually needs someone to explain that to them, then they seriously just need to walk into oncoming traffic and save themselves a lifetime of mental anguish of trying to figure out things that everyone else finds to be common sense. That's like asking a waitress why she works her filthy cafe job with her pervert of a boss, why a nurse works night shifts at the hospital while raising 3 kids during the day, or why a dishwasher goes to work at 5am for $7.25 an hour. If there's some secret way of getting free money that all these retards have found and are refusing to tell the rest of us, then I'm going to be very upset. For almost all sellers who have online stores, this is their way of life. Sure, it blows nuts a lot of the time, because you're constantly at the mercy of some of the dumbest people on the planet, but they have a choice to either deal with all the bullshit and stupid customers, or find another job. Believe me. Many sellers choose to stop selling online for this very reason.

Honestly, almost every problem could be solved by simply requiring everyone to take an IQ test. That score would act like a credit score of sorts. Based on your score, which would be tied to your SSN, you're only allowed to do certain things. So, based off a predetermined system, if you score's below a certain point, you may not be allowed to rate businesses online, drive a car, vote in an election, etc, etc. Seriously, wouldn't that be great? Car accidents would be down, Obama wouldn't be president, and Jaime here would still have his hard earned $40, Buy 4 Less wouldn't have a bad feedback, and the kid the toy was for (assuming he's also hispanic) would just go back to making soccer balls in a basement somewhere that I may someday enjoy. See? Everyone wins :)

Unknown said...

There is a way to combat idiots like this. Find a dollar item that moves really fast and can be shipped First Class Mail or something. Sell this at a near breakeven price. Send out frequent emails to your customers asking for feedback (which Amazon likes) and inform them how important this decision is.

With the flood of good comments and feedbacks, the people like Jaime are so insignificant in the scheme of things it leaves them powerless!

Over all customers are understanding and appreciative of the hard work and good product they receive, do not let a bad apple like this affect anything!

Sell, sell, sell, and do not waist your energy fighting or arguing such nonsense!

Anonymous said...

The writer of this article is a pussy. Try selling on Amazon and you'll know what the third party sellers have to go through. Amazon is very strict and you negative feedback can help contribute to the seller getting removed by Amazon. Just like that. Believe it.

Anonymous said...

The OP is an ...
How pathetic he is when he's trying to defend his right of "freedom" to leave comments! It's not just about your right, but also about how considerate you are to think in other's point. I do agree you have the right to leave netural, but that do not give you a good excuse to abuse the seller and hurt them.

Ass...!

Anonymous said...

This is stroke guy. I also wanted to add that I needed a small item I could only find overseas. The item came with a small dimple in it but hey it just traveled 10 thousand miles. I gave 4 out of 5 stars and the seller sent me a new item at no cost so I would leave 5 stars.THIS WAS ALL FOR A 4.88$ STICKER that I could only find in the U.K. So yes. FEEDBACK is how these guys survive. Don't be a douch.

Anonymous said...

Old blog, but I still wanted to comment. When you rate the seller, the ratings are not asking for an evaluation of prices, but of service/experience. By paying the asking price, you have agreed to it. I'd imagine there is nothing in my comment that you havent heard, so add mine to the pile.

Unknown said...

Yeah and as someone who works at one of those little businesses that have to charge a little extra TO COVER THE COSTS of amazon selling someone like you stinks. You take time out of your life to complain about very little - which could impact on someone else losing a job as business drops due to your intervention. Well done!

Anonymous said...

Amazon are guilty of removing negative feed back. I have experienced this recently.
They have a merchant advertising a "Chromecast" wifi dongle,(Not yet available in UK)for £99.00 which is a complete rip off, as it is available in US for £20.00!
I posted a comment under customer reviews only to find it had been removed 24 hours later. How can this be fair to consumers?

Anonymous said...

Bet the person you bought it for was happy and I bet you were happy for them, And yes you ignorance is seen through this post. If you were not happy with the price why push the checkout button? The seller did complete his end of the bargain just like you agreed to when pushing the purchase button. Oh and a 3 on Amazon is considered a negative comment in there feedback metrics. Educate yourself before acting like you know all.

Anonymous said...

Jamie, it would be nice if you removed or upgraded the feedback to a 4 at least. A feedback of 3 on amazon is as good as giving them a 1. Which can be detrimental to their selling account. Their selling account could be suspended for it! Don't you care at all? I don't want to believe you are that dead inside. Just do it for the sake of being our brothers keeper. ( a before you quote me and say they weren't their brothers keeper either for charging you heavily ) I want you to remember they never forced you to buy from them, you chose to and as a buyer, you are responsible for carrying out our investigations before making a purchase.

Anonymous said...

Jamie, I would suggest you to request Amazon to waive the 15% commission on this seller or all sellers. All sellers would be very happy to transfer that 15% to you . I really do not understand why there are so many asshole buyers in Amazon.

Anonymous said...

It was buyer decision to buy from marketplace seller. Seller never sent Invitation to buy their product.
If you see higher price , push that magic button of BACK.
God bless buyers!

Anonymous said...

Since you knowingly paid a price you were not comfortable paying and intended to leave less than positive feedback for the seller, this is completely your own fault. Supply and demand. Biz 101. The seller had the item when no one else did - they saved your ass, and you repaid that favor by screwing over their business. Yes, same stuff everyone else has said, but let me remind you of one thing; the seller has your address. See Punch Drunk Love. Amazon needs to allow sellers to block buyers like eBay.

Anonymous said...

Poor little Jaime, go and pick one item offers by Amazon, as time goes by, you will see how your most "reliable" company Amazon operates and you won't believe in the fluctuate pricing.

Anonymous said...

Jamie do you know how happy you have made every seller on Amazon that has every received neutral or
negative feedback? I am a seller on Amazon and have received negative feedback which I was very
angry about, but your sight has caused me to laugh so hard. Thanks for the outlet. You really are a
normal human being and the rest of us are too I think.

Anonymous said...

Jaime, I have to say you are a bad person overall. If you are not happy with the seller, why did you buy it? If something is sold out everywhere and there is limited supply, the price should go up no matter double or triple. As long as people buy, it makes sense. Do you know Apple 1 computer is now worth half a million while MSRP was actually $600? If the seller fulfilled it as promised, you should be happy with it and shut up.

Anonymous said...

You are such a SB and NC!!!!

Anonymous said...

Why you are so fussy about the price? The product was sold out everywhere, so if you want it, pay higher price. That's normal. Just like antiques, the more rare, the higher price. That's called market rules. Stop being so self centered, and stop accusing this seller for "robbing" you. This seller did perfect fine and the price charged out very reasonable, considering the market situation and Amazon fees.

Anonymous said...

Leaving a 3 rating is actually bad for small Amazon sellers. One 3 rating could mean twenty or thirty less orders. So, you are actually "robbing" this seller, not the opposite as you claimed! Don't be so selfish! You may have had cut this seller's only source of making money by choosing not listening to this seller and being mean.

Anonymous said...

I pray that you will not buy anything from Amazon 3rd party sellers forever! This will be a huge bless for ALL Amazon 3rd party sellers. Please do them a huge favor!

Anonymous said...

He is trolling us, bringing attention to his own blog. I could see Jamie is the biggest loser in life, period.

Anonymous said...

Lol its people like you who are damaging sellers on Amazon . Think about it . Did the seller ask you to purchase the item ? I dont think they did . So you knew what price you had to pay to get this item before you even clicked the buy box .Why buy something if you know you're overpaying ? Its like the guy who sells books on Amazon , When first published the book sold for $12 RRP . 5 Years on the book is in high demand and out of print . The book is now worth $85 . What does the guy do ? Sell the book for under $12 as its seconhand or does he cash in and list the book for $85 ? Its business mate
, Don't go shouting on a blog about how terrible
this experience was for you . After all you were the one who bought it !!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

You should rename this to "The Dangers of Getting ASSholes like ME as Customers on Amazon".

Anonymous said...

Everyone seems to have a point here, however, when people give a review they are expressing an opinion. They don't know the ins and outs of what goes on behind-the-scenes Jaime wasn't trying to be malicious, he just said how he saw things. This whole thing has gotten out of hand.

Jamie said...

ok... I could only stand to read about 20 of these comments & I feel like I'm listen to kids argue... But from the point of a BUYER on Amazon... I would like to hear the TRUTH about transactions with sellers! I do not want to go into a sale with only feedback from people with good experiences with the seller, I want to see what EVERY buyer says about their transaction. I realize that might suck for small business Amazon sellers, but it is what is needed for a buyer to make an informed decision on how to spend their hard earned money. It would be unfair to give me a sugar-coated list of happy transactions. For the people who are complaining that Jaime should delete the neutral feedback & not even buy from Amazon because Amazon is not considerate to small businesses... MAYBE the small businesses should be the ones choosing not to use Amazon?! If I felt a company were not treating me well, I would choose not to use that company anymore. I commend Jaime for speaking out honestly about the transaction. As a buyer I would look at that feedback this way: "I see that the company delivered on time & provided the product as described... but it was over priced, I know that sellers can't change the price after the transaction had gone through, which means this buyer CHOSE to pay that price, so before I decide to complete a transaction with the seller, I will be sure that I am willing to pay the amount asked for it. I will compare with other sellers, even other retailers ...but other than PRICE, this buyer was happy with the transaction. Which means I will only consider the cost when deciding to purchase from this seller" It is more than reasonable to leave the feedback that was left for this seller. People that have a problem with this blog all seem to be current or former *sellers* on Amazon, an so it looks to me that you should be complaining to Amazon about how their feedback system works... not to consumers who are leaving HONEST feedback. Letting Amazon know that it is an unfair system would be the best way to handle this complaint, & as a buyer, after reading the way the feedback system works... I agree as a buyer even, that it sounds like a broken system & would be willing to contact Amazon regarding such. But to say a buyer should not leave "neutral" feedback is absurd.

Anonymous said...

I second your comment.I buy from Amazon quite often.I,as well buy from third parties at Amazon quite often.I know all this is an old argument,but from reading a lot of feedback from others,before all my purchases,this is a problem.Simple:Don't like the price= Don't buy the product.And if you DO.It's YOUR fault,NOT the sellers. ;)

Anonymous said...

Lee in FL,
I did not read all the comments and there is a good chance this point was brought up but... The only reason the seller had the item you wanted was likely because the price was listed higher. If they listed it at a competitive price to Amazon it would have sold out. Then you would not have had the option to buy it at all. They did you a solid imo.

Maybe it's a little tacky to request you change the review but dangerous? Honestly seems like a normal and well thought out response to me in light of what we have learned here.

Anyway, I'm glad I found your post. If nothing else I am more informed about the headaches sellers face on big A. I'm going to make it a point to leave positive feedback more often. Thanks for that.
Cheers

Anonymous said...

The seller stated the price for the item; you didn't have to buy it, but you did, so your act of purchasing meant that it was acceptably priced for you. The Amazon feedback system is about experience not fair market value, so your begrudging the seller about that is unfair. You might consider studying economics, particularly supply and demand, as knowing about shortage and its predictable price consequence might help you to avoid publicly displaying your ignorance on your blog.

Unknown said...

Jaime - are you familiar with Tortious Interference? Look it up. What you did was purposely interfere with a business and try to hide behind freedom of speech. The price was not a valid criteria to penalize this vendor.

Anonymous said...

Jamie, Thanks for writing your comments. Prior to reading your comments, I was considering selling on Amazon ... however, that is not the situation now. I realize that Amazon, trying to compete with eBay has become the same as eBay:
1. Amazon and eBay favor illogical people as you. They both side with Buyers, when, in fact, most trouble comes from Buyers who are either ignorant of the rules, social politeness, decency, or just plain common sense.
2. For the services rendered, Amazon is too expensive.
3. Amazon has already failed at being an Auction once, but seems to be headed there again.
4. Before dealing with Amazon, I re-read Benjamin Hapgood Burt's 'The Pig Got Up and Slowly Walked Away' ... then didn't!

Anonymous said...

Jaime,

You did the right thing here. Stick to your guns!
Next time I overpay for something I will go for 2 stars.

PS: All of you incompetent and bad practicing business owners will eventually fall into a slow and painful bankruptcy, having 3 stars reviews or not.

Sincerely,

Heavy Amazon.com buyer.

Anonymous said...

I am way late to the party, but I am compelled to post my opinion on the OP, who would be better known as scum of the earth. I'm not even sure he is still looking at this blog. Hopefully, he's in a ditch somewhere, where he belongs. This is a perfect example of someone who has an arrogant sense of entitlement. We need to eliminate people like this, so they don't pass on their massively flawed genes. People like this are not human. Jaime, you were fully 100% wrong in this situation as the majority (who are human) agree. I sincerely hope you've grown up since this post. Hopefully, karma has caught up to you.

Anonymous said...

I'm gonna go with the seller on this one.

Bather said...

I total back you up on free speech. However you were fully aware of the price before you put the item in your cart and agreed to pay the asking price. In that respect it is not fair to hold pricing against the seller. As I see it if the seller performed as agreed it should reflected in positive feedback not neutral. It is probably a matter of perspective. It would be big to consider all sides.

Zeninsight said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Zeninsight said...

So...you reviewed a product at 3 stars, even through you were really reviewing the seller prices, which you could have simply not bought the product.

??

Huh...

If you don't like a seller practices, then leave seller feedback. Star reviews are for products.

Anonymous said...

Why complete the transaction if you felt the price you are been charged was a rip off? Even big brand retailers do this...when an item becomes rare to find online suppliers often jack up the price (microeconomics). It is buyers like you who ruin people's business by abusing the feedback system.

Phaydra said...

I know this is an old post but I just want to add that I was recently threatened by a seller because I was very unhappy with their customer service. What right does a seller have to threaten a customer after I gave you money and you gave me a terrible product? I didn't even ask them for a refund but I did sent them pictures of the issue I had with the skin.

I don't care if you as a seller are having a tough time making money. Sell a better product and shut the fuck up before you call a customer a liar even when they provide you proof of your mistake. If you sell me a good product I will even start using your website to buy and skip going through 3rd party's websites to give the seller all the money. You are seller and it is not my problem if you make less money because of how you choose to sell.

To all the sellers that tried to make Jamie feel bad about his review are terrible sellers. Your business is to make a the customer happy. If the customer is not happy you are not doing your job.I know how bad people can be when you are the one they are complaining too but you have to suck it up and do your job. That's how it works.

risingfrce said...

Jaime,
Happened to stumble across this, no blog post apparently since 2012 so I don't know if you will see this comment, but I hope so. My Amazon id is risngfrce (buyer, not seller). If you look at seller marvelio's feedback dated 10/29/14, you will see an example of the fact that I am fully willing to leave negative when necessary.

I've read little of the replies to your post, most of which seem asinine to me. However, I do take major exception to the fact that you state that you are only going to purchase from Amazon directly because of receiving this e-mail from this third party seller... WHY? Who cares what they think, YOU are FULLY entitled to YOUR opinion! IGNORE THEM!

What annoys ME the most with third party sellers on Amazon is this... I am very good about leaving feedback promptly, almost always 5 start positive because that is what the transactions deserve. BUT... after having done so, a couple weeks later I will receive an e-mail from that seller asking me to leave positive feedback for the transaction. I consider this to be SPAM and I reply to the sellers and inform them of this, as well as recommend that they implement some system that will prevent them from sending these annoying e-mails to happy customers who have already left feedback. Of the many times I have done this, I have had only one seller who responded by thanking me for informing them of the issue and telling me they would look into preventing it from happening in the future. On the other end of the spectrum, with one other seller, I received a SECOND e-mail two weeks later, AGAIN asking me leave positive feedback. This resulted in me going about as medieval on him as I could through the Amazon system.

Also, I should state, in my experience, Amazon SETS THE STANDARD in customer support! They have constantly gone beyond my wildest expectations (and I don't say that lightly!), even when it involves third party sellers.

So, in summation, rather than titling this "The Dangers of Leaving Seller Feedback on Amazon", I would suggest "Don't Let Sellers on Amazon Try To Push You Around, They WON'T Get Away With It!".

Steve said...

You just compared a small business to a large business such as Amazon & Target.. Not too smart as they can sell for a loss and even get items for cheaper than a smaller business can since they purchase in bulk. It's simple business.

Most people don't seem to understand the fact that small businesses have employee's to pay, fee's to pay, taxes to pay. That 7 dollars? Probably just turned into a dollar profit getting you what you purchased.

Unknown said...

It is really not fair for the seller to get a neutral from you...It was your decision to buy the item. If you was not happy with the price then you should not have bought it...put yourself in their shoes..

Anonymous said...

Jaime,

I am a seller on Amazon, and let me tell you, Amazon treats a neutral the same way that they treat a negative when they calculate your feedback percentage. You may as well have left them a negative, and you don't seem to be able to grasp that, despite accusing others of not grasping your own point.

If you knew you were going to be unhappy with a purchase, you shouldn't have completed it. And your point about Amazon and Target selling for 19.99 at a profit? Do you seriously think a small merchant can buy in the same bulk as Amazon and Target? You should never, ever shop anywhere but Wal-Mart. I sure hope you don't ever buy something from me when you could get it cheaper from a mega-corporation.

Get off your high horse and stop making an ass of yourself.

mrking401 said...

Visit Axtron.com and purchase buyer feedback in bulk.Works for all amazon platforms.Never beg a buyer again for feedback

Anonymous said...

You are a complete tool!

Jack Swag said...

You are a douche bag. If I knew where you worked I would call your work and harass them about you until you got fired, because that is essentially what you contributed to in doing that to them. The feedback system is in place to insure that fraudulent and sellers engaging in unsavory business practices get weeded out over a period of time, not so that the worlds pusillanimous weasel dicks can push honest hard working people out of a honest living. You really didn't deserve that product and neither did the person you gave it to, because I can only imagine the recipient is as big a piece of crap as you, due to the fact that they are willing to associate with you. people like you really need to be eliminated from the gene pool, so that the remaining people can go about the business of making the peoples lives we come in contact with better in stead of worse. Just because we have the freedom to be a total piece of crap, doesn't mean we should. for intelligent people, freedom gives us the opportunity to do great things, like defend the common man, not petty moronic things like keep the poor people down. everyone's actions in this world, create the world we choose to live in. My advice; become a good person, exalt other good people. Call the bad people (yourself at this point in time) out for their horrible actions towards others who did them no wrong. make the world a better place for all humanity. I can only imagine you work for a bank...or isis. Leave people alone!

youadee said...

Wow, really? I think we live in a kiss-ass world. That is what all these replies show me. You paid for the merchandise and you are free to leave whatever rating you want. This is why crappy businesses and employers stay alive and are not forced to change, because people bend over and kiss ass instead of even speaking their minds... except anonymously lol. I'm trying to leave feedback for Amazon themself and cannot find a way to do so! I ran across this blog while Googling a way to leave feedback for Amazon, not about a seller.

Anonymous said...

As an Amazon seller that supports his family by selling on Amazon, I can say that you had the option of purchasing from this person. YOU chose it. Your decision was paying the price. Nobody else had it right? Well, then I suppose you did BUY 4 LESS.
What an ass.

Anonymous said...

Buyers like you suck, period! No one is forcing you to buy something if you don't want to. Some sellers specialize in hard-to-find goods and that is their business model. I am not going to charge you a Wallmart price for an item that I worked hard to find.

If no one else has it that means it is valuable - supply and demand. I, as a seller can ask whatever I want, and you, as a buyer have a _choice_ to buy it or pass it on. You should be giving the seller 5 stars for providing something to you that you did not bother to purchase until last minute. You should also thank them for spending time to give you some explanation of this.

Here is why, they did not even have to do that. Amazon will, at the sellers request, remove reviews like yours as they are solely a product review (e.g. product too expensive, etc.). Most sellers will cringe at your vengefulness to hurt an innocent seller and just deal with you through Amazon by removing the review. It usually takes an hour or so - a little effort.

Next time you decide to screw someone like this, think that you did not have to buy the item and rate them based on the level of service, speed, and _condition_ of the item if it is item related as the price was known to you in advance, not the other things. Also, to say that 3 star review is "neutral" it is not, it severely drops a good 5 star rating due to averages and takes long time to recover from it. Given a choice would you buy from an Amazon seller with only 3 star ratings? I don't think you would - that is what you are doing to the seller - screwing them. Think about others for a change.

Anonymous said...

Talk about Wusses.. You left a Product Review and that Merchant can and shoudl have your comment removed.. They did as they were expected and yet you trash them for delivering on time the item you willing ordered and paid more than you wanted to.?? What a Spoiled Brat.. You did not have to buy it.. And your Review just shows you are trying to hurt a small business that simply met there obligation to you the customer.

Anonymous said...

P.S. You are also telling lies.. You never left Feedback for Amazon.com. Amazon is not reviewable.. Amazon Only allows you to leave feedback for its Merchants and for Its Packaging..

So How Good Is Amazon.com if you cannot express your opinion of Amazon.com Services.. !

Wake up you simply hurt a small businesses for selling to you !

Anonymous said...

"they explained to me why they overcharged me and because the item arrived on time. Everything in the transaction went through fine. That's why I gave them the 3 out of 5 stars. I just wasn't happy with the price that I had to pay, but I'm still entitled to letting people know that even though everything went according to plan, I was a little dissatisfied with the actual price I had to pay."

You have lied and that can be proven in a court of law because you published the lie in your blog. You have never left Feedback for Amazon.com That is not possible they do not allow it. And You cannot be overcharged for an item that you choose to buy at your own free will..

Did the seller come to your house and force you at gun point to buy the item from them? You said you found it at the MFG site for less and yet you then willingly chose to buy it from the Amazon Merchant.. (WTF?)

You have Slandered this Company and they can and should sue you for it. Nice Job posting the proof on your blog.. And good luck deleting it now.. The way back machine will have this forever.

https://web.archive.org/web/20130716144219/http://bloggedjaime.blogspot.com/2009/01/dangers-of-leaving-seller-feedback-on.html


" I just wasn't happy with the price" - "even though everything went according to plan"

This is no reason to leave a Negative Feedback for a merchant. And yes a Neutral is Negative to All Amazon merchants.. But you dont care about destroying small businesses you would rather support the Walton's , Target and Amazon.com the Mega Corps..

Anonymous said...

as an amazon seller ,i get very few people i might add leaving neutrel for DVDs they buy ,one buyer just lately left neuetrel and said to me he didnt like the girls in the DVD anothe stuipid prat left a neutrel and commeted he only likes blondes girls but brought a black girl dvd and left a neutrel ,the person who this is about leaving neutrels and saying it is a free counrty he can do as he pleases ,his completly missing the point ,feedback is to show how the seller peromes ,FAST DISPATCH ,WRAPED SECURELY , ARRIVED ON TIME ,so this prat buys pays over the top price leaves neutrel STUPID LOW intelligent prat comes to mind.

Anonymous said...

Hello to the sellers. If you call amazon and bring this to their attention they will most likely remove the neutral feedback. Hope you see this.

Robert Dobbs said...

The following comment by Jamie, the blog owner, says a lot about how the average American consumer age 50 or younger views commerce...

"You probably overpriced it to feed your family or something."

Yes, Jamie, there are people who are in business to do just that, live, pay the bills, and feed their families. So why is that an evil thing to you?????? What would you prefer a merchant do with his/her profits?

The average American consumer thinks that selling products for profit is evil, even if the profit is used to live and feed your family.

Consumers like Jamie think that food magically appears on tables in every house and if you are in business for yourself, you should not make any profits because food is free and the government pays your bills for you.

People like Jamie never ran a business themselves and they tend to think that just because a person is in business, they are rich and therefore evil.

People like Jamie think they are entitled to the lowest price for everything. They feel this way because they buy things they cannot afford so when they a penny more than walmart charges, they feel they are not only entitled to a refund for that penny, but even a refund for the item with no requirement to return it...in other words, free.

People like Jamie think that all retailers, big and small, pay the same for the items they sell and therefore, since small seller charge more than big sellers, they must be gouging the consumer. People like Jamie think that businesses should sell at a loss or give things away and somehow still stay in business.

People like Jamie refuse to take responsibility for themselves. They justify buying something at a high price then bashing the merchant by stating they "had" to purchase the item because it was a Christmas gift, like as if Christmas is a reason to go into debt and then blame someone else for it. No one forces anyone to partake in the commercialism of Christmas. Each individual is free to decide whether or not they partake in it.

People like Jamie are a product of the baby-boomer generation and have been instrumental, along with the multi-national corporations, in destroying small business in the USA.

Anonymous said...

You agreed to the price when buying the item. When punish the seller with neutral feedback? I hate when buyers punish sellers when they buy "overpriced" stuff.

Anonymous said...

What ignorant trash you are.

They did nothing wrong. Don't like the price? Don't buy it. That is your fault. You are supposed to be and adult who can make their own decisions. No one forced you to buy it at that price and from them. OF COURSE THEY CAN'T SELL IT AT THE LOWER PRICE OF LARGE CORPORATIONS! They don't move as much product so they dont have as much clout to obtain the reduced prices they do. Incompetent, childish losers like you have no idea how things in the world work. Enjoy living life at the intellectual and emotional level as a child.

Chris

Anonymous said...

This wanker doesn't seem to realise that the more grief amazon sellers get from idiotic sellers like himself who are pissed off at themselves for being ripped off, the higher the price will become ultimately.

kramel said...

I ordered a product from the "OUTLET" through amazon. Be alert with this seller, they will tell you whatever to sell you and then refuse to pick-up charges associated with return of product. All based on the bogus information they provided. BUYER BEWARE

Noneya said...

Lmao looks like you removed something free speech attention seeking bitch boy. Maybe these others aren't slick enough to realize what you're doing... It's clear to see you are an attention grabber. In a way it's quite genius for a very sad and pathetic person who needs this kind of attention to receive it. This is obviously a sore subject for many people and you are playing on that. It's kind of like the abortion argument or race. You just getting a lot of people talking and even if it's negative attention you don't care because you are truly a sad individual.

Noneya said...

jamie is a genius can you people not see this.? He has 200 people trying to talk sense into him.. Obviously this is a sore subject for many. Roping you in and eating it up because he is an attention grabber probably a very sad person who doesn't have friends and needs to find some sort of interaction because of his anti social traits. Guarantee you this guy is awkwardly social may even be a genius. But he is one strange person. I just cannot believe how many people emotionally get tied up in this and have no idea that they are being led right to where he is taking them. Sure you may think I am not the most grammatically correct speaker but guess what I don't care I use talk to text. So go ahead say something about my typing skills biatch. You guys are the ones that are falling for this

Anonymous said...

It is so wonderful to see freedom of speech so eloquently used here. As far as the original post - you keep on doing what you want to do. You rated based upon how your experience went. As for the company asking you to modify your rating; well in my opinion they could have gone about it a bit differently. Long and short of it, I am so glad to see that you are able to brush off the immature rebukes that some have left with the foul language and small minds and rise above it. It is what it is!

Anonymous said...

You're a bad person. If you are unaware why, I will explain. Amazon is a marketplace, the market fluctuate by supply and demand. Amazon is not a store with a set price. The feedback is supposed to be related to the level of service that was provided to you. But instead you decided to buy an item that could really make your gift recipient happy, and that seller was the cheapest option you had. If they didn't offer the product, you would not even have access to it. They are providing you a service. The price is dictated by demand, which means if you don't like the price, the next person might.

You complain to a person that is offering their item to the entire world, just because you personally think it's overpriced. Why don't you drive around locally and find one.... see how much you spend in gas.

Oh and Amazon does count neutral reviews as negative. You hurt that persons business, and realistically cost them thousands for the next year, because they will lose sales due to feedback ratio. That feedback stays on their account for an entire year.

So to summarize, the seller made a hard to find item available to the world (a generous service,) you were cheap and bought the cheapest one available on Amazon (which happened to be from the people you bashed,) They shipped it to you promptly (seems like good service,) then you complain because you don't understand how the world works (ruining what looks to be like a decent sellers future business and sales,) they send you a respectful message, informing you how the world works, and you're still not aware enough to realize that you are the problem.

If you don't like the price, don't buy it. Then you actually post on your blog that the seller will send you annoying mail.

You're pretty much a complete idiot. If you are unaware of this, you should thank me for informing you. But you will probably make some uneducated post and try to be right in the end.



Anonymous said...

I want to fight you (for real)

And if I hurt my hand on your face, I am going to leave you bad feedback.

Elizabeth said...

Jamie, Like you say it is indeed a FREE COUNTRY and no one forced you to buy that item for the price that you did. The price was there for you to accept or reject. You freely accepted it, hence post-Christmas belly-aching is really bad, bad form. And how can you compare Amazon & Target to an individual seller ... of course the bigger the company the lower the price they can offer due to their gigantic buying prowess. Different businesses have different economies of scale; why is a gin & tonic in a Compton dive $2.99 and the exact same gin & tonic $15.00 at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills? Come on now, give that hard working Amazon seller who rescued you on Christmas some of that Christ love. Peace and love through Him, xo Elizabeth

Anonymous said...

The point of it all is that you are not leaving feedback on the price. You are leaving feedback on whether the seller completed the sale with you at "the price agreed upon". If the seller shipped you the item on time, in the condition advertised and at the price that you bought it for then then they earned a 5 star feedback score.

There is another section on Amazon for product reviews and if items are worth the price.

You are in the wrong here and there is no factual way you can spin it to make yourself right.

Anonymous said...

What kind of an idi0t this fellow Jaime. Did it ever occur to you that you do not HAVE to buy a seller's offering. A large number of factors go into pricing an item and if you are not comfortable with the price, don't buy. You won't die if you won't.

It is precisely because of mor0ns like you that prices at amazon are going through the roof. Nonsensical feedback, combined with rampant customer fraud has resulted in sellers jacking up their prices to hedge their bets.

Anonymous said...

What kind of an idiot this fellow Jaime is. Did it ever occur to you that you do not HAVE to buy a seller's offering. A large number of factors go into pricing an item and if you are not comfortable with the price, don't buy. You won't die if you won't.

It is precisely because of morons like you that prices at amazon are going through the roof. Nonsensical feedback, combined with rampant customer fraud has resulted in sellers jacking up their prices to hedge their bets.

Anonymous said...

So these muslims, they take residentship of a foreign country and they try to blow it up. Well who asked you to come here in the first place. This moron Jaime seems to be harboring similar extremist ideas though not on that scale.

Unknown said...

I honestly feel that many of the anonymous' are the same person. Let's look at the main fact logically:

People claim Jamie is a jerk because he bought an item he knew the price of but felt forced to pay it because there was no other option.

Sellers all feel Amazon screws them because they take lots of money and deal with them anyway because there's no other option.

Sounds to me like the same issue. And everyone here who bashes Jamie are nothing more than hypocrites and trolls.

I for some can make my own decisions and Jamies review would not be a deal breaker for me but I want to hear it since I want to hear all points of view.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps you can't grasp the concept of supply and demand, and how it determines price?
It's simple; you purchased this item at the lowest cost that was available to you on the site.
E-commerce has accelerated the fluctuations of supply and demand immensely, especially during holiday season. The choice to purchase was yours entirely, so if your only complaint is that you paid a higher price for a scarce and in demand product, then your complaint shouldn't be directed toward the merchant you chose to buy it from. You can either blame capitalism for this...or the fact that you waited too long to buy.

Anonymous said...

I'm sure this is an old thread, but it came up in my search for leaving reviews on Amazon sellers and I just felt the need to put in my two cents worth.

I can see both sides points of view on the ratings, but I am with Jaime in regards to not purchasing from 3rd party sellers anymore.

Recently, I purchased a DJI Phantom 3 drone from FlightTechs on Amazon. The purchase was nearly $1000. The drone arrived on time, but when it was tested out, the item ended up being defective. I contacted FlightTechs about needing to return the item and was informed that they would charge a 20% restocking fee for an unopened box and a 50% restocking fee for an opened box.

$200 to put the box back on the shelf? And $500 because they sent me a defective product?

So, I filed a claim with Amazon. And FlightTechs sent me an email complaining about me filing a claim rather than allowing them to "deal with me in a professional manner."

Sorry, your professionalism went out the window when you informed me that you are gouging your customers.

The last time I had to return an item that was purchased directly through Amazon, they sent me a return label and they refunded me the full amount of my purchase right away.

Needless to say, FlightTechs is going to get a 1 star rating and I'm not going to feel the least bit regretful about it. If this is how they treat their customers, they deserve to be banned from selling on Amazon or anywhere else.

Idiot human bug spray technician said...
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Idiot human bug spray technician said...
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Anonymous said...

I had a buyer leave me negative feedback once because he didn't like the price; I contacted Amazon & they removed it. No one MADE you pay that price. No one held a gun to your head. I hope to God you never buy anything from me. F'ing entitled twat.

Idiot human bug spray technician said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jerry said...

Jamie,

You willing paid knowing the price was inflated and you said yourself the gift was greatly appreciated. So why complain after the fact? You need to keep in mind that if this seller didn't have this item for sell you wouldn't have been able to give this item as a gift.Your not a victim here. You may need to research the simple theory of supply and demand. Also, 3 stars is considered negative on amazon.

Jerry

Anonymous said...

Jaime, You suck! You admitted yourself that the retailer was SOLD OUT! Instead of being grateful that someone had this item available for you to purchase and give to someone who would be very happy with it, you turn around and give them a negative review...Yes, a NEGATIVE, review, because that's how it is applied to the seller. A seller loses feedback percentages on neutral feedback just the same as if it were negative.

Seller feedback makes or breaks their business. It would have been better for this seller to have been sold out too when you came around.

I love how you said you "didn't mind" paying the higher price and were glad to be able to get the item and turn around and stab that seller in the back. Nice way to show you were happy. SMH

Anonymous said...

This post is for every rational, kind & understanding person who has commented on this blog & who understands the truths of being a decent person.

There is no use in fighting against Jamie or offering her you opinion. a person like her lives for this kind of thing. She will NEVER understand the Plight of the seller & how her 3 star rating is a negative & damages the reputation of the seller. She will ALWAYS think she is right even when it is blatantly obvious that she is wrong. she will NEVER be able to see the situation without her being the center of attention. She will continue to insult those who don't believe they way she does & constantly throw "freedom of speech" into everyone's face because that is the only leg she has to stand on. She will NEVER understand how the fact that she is 100% wrong on her feedback as the seller did everything right & she chose (not had to) pay the price. Her self inflating ego of entitlement is part of what's wrong with much of society these days. She will NEVER understand how hard some people work to get where they are & will ALWAYS take any opportunity to trash someone else to make herself feel better. I feel sorry for people like this.

Four dimensions of narcissism as a personality variable have been delineated: leadership/authority, superiority/arrogance, self-absorption/self-admiration, and exploitativeness/entitlement.[6]

A 2012 book on power-hungry narcissists suggests that narcissists typically display most, and sometimes all, of the following traits:[7]

An obvious self-focus in interpersonal exchanges
Problems in sustaining satisfying relationships
A lack of psychological awareness (see insight in psychology and psychiatry, egosyntonic)
Difficulty with empathy
Problems distinguishing the self from others (see narcissism and boundaries)
Hypersensitivity to any insults or imagined insults (see criticism and narcissists, narcissistic rage and narcissistic injury)
Vulnerability to shame rather than guilt
Haughty body language
Flattery towards people who admire and affirm them (narcissistic supply)
Detesting those who do not admire them (narcissistic abuse)
Using other people without considering the cost of doing so
Pretending to be more important than they actually are
Bragging (subtly but persistently) and exaggerating their achievements
Claiming to be an "expert" at many things
Inability to view the world from the perspective of other people
Denial of remorse and gratitude
These criteria have been criticized because they presume a knowledge of intention (for example, the phrase "pretending to be").[8] Behavior is observable, but intention is not. Thus classification requires assumptions which need to be tested before they can be asserted as fact, especially considering multiple explanations could be made as to why a person exhibits these behaviors.

Unknown said...

Very good written article. It will be supportive to anyone who utilizes it, including me. Keep doing what you are doing – can’r wait to read more posts.
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Anonymous said...

Hello,

After reading this it sounds like you are the one that is being a whiny baby. They had explained that Amazon charges them fees. Bigger companies like Amazon and Target tend to get better prices when buying products because they buy a larger quantity than the smaller guy. That is why they are able to sell at a much cheaper price plus they don't have to pay the 15% fee that other sellers do. Also you had said Amazon was out of stock so it may have been a hard to get item at Christmas. It's called supply and demand. It absolutely infuriates me that people don't understand this. Not to mention on sites like Amazon a neutral feedback is just as damaging as a negative feed back. Your attitude is what tends to give small business owners a struggle. I personally would pay the few extra bucks to support a small business than support the big companies like Amazon and target. If the product arrived on time and was as described then you should of left a positive feedback. Please educate yourself before you end up damaging a small business that is just trying to pay their bills and put food on the table.

Anonymous said...

You're really the worst customer ever:))) You have to think that you silly feedback is effecting badly the owners life. Because of you they stressed out and they are already dealing tons of stuff daily and trying to survive and be successful than you kind of people show up and mess their all life.
He was very very polite asking you to do this and if you would be a real person with a real heart than you would fix this situation.
You kind of people deserve to lose in this world and you will. You are sooo unbelievable to write down this situation and think the people are gonna support you. If you think it's over charge than go f purchase from someone else and leave your stupid negative and neutral review. Because of you kind of people all the time the small business will lose and the Giant companies will win. Think little use your brain and think how you effecting people. I really would love to write 3 paragraph complain about you here but even now I am so mad at you. Be a human you silly mongol!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Crazy. You agree to a contract, the other party fulfils their terms of the contract perfectly. You then effectively state publicly that they did not fulfil the terms of the contract.
What you need to understand is that your three star review makes you a liar.

Anonymous said...

Two Bible Verses come to mind for all who are reading this post by Jaime:

First, "In everything, then, do to others as you would have them do to you. For this is the essence of the Law and the prophets." Matthew 7:12

Second, "Don't waste what is holy on people who are unholy. Don't throw your pearls to pigs! They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you." Matthew 7:6

For those who are still commenting, Jaime does not get the first Bible verse, so the second Bible verse applies to this situation.

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