I recently dealt with a buyer on site who negotiated for a lower price, which is completely normal and expected in most cases.
Despite me agreeing to the reduced price the buyer asked me, the transaction didn’t go as expected. The buyer tried to go for an even lower price.
As a buyer, it’s unreasonable to ask, “Can we agree on X?” (a price already lower than what’s listed in the service thread), have the seller agree, and then try to negotiate an even lower price. From a seller’s perspective, this buyers behavior is incredibly frustrating, unprofessional and a waste of time and worth mentioning in a review on the buyers profile to make other sellers aware of it.
SWAPD’s current approach, which prevents sellers from leaving any negative feedback on a buyer’s profile (see the post retaliatory feedback on site), feels highly one-sided and unfair towards sellers in some cases. Keep in mind, in this case, no guarantees of the service were given to the buyer. If a 100% guarantee was given, and a service could not be completed, the buyer is free to leave a negative review. That would be fair and justified. Everyone can understand that.
Sellers should have the opportunity to leave honest and fair reviews about their experiences with buyers. Feedback and reviews should reflect both sides of the story, the service, and the communication, for buyers and sellers alike. Both parties get invited on the ticket to share their reviews, even when the transaction is unsuccessful. So why can’t a seller make other sellers aware of what the buyer asked in the beginning?
It’s unreasonable for a buyer to leave a negative review when they were fully aware of the terms they agreed to. Like no 100% guarantee that the service would be successful (sometimes its just not possible to offer something like that), and having to pay for transaction fees. In such cases, sellers should also have the opportunity to leave honest feedback, whether positive or negative about the buyer. This ensures the community and future buyers or sellers have a clear and balanced understanding of who they’re dealing with. Negative reviews for only sellers can be misleading and very incomplete about a service if the seller is not allowed to post any feedback about the buyer.
Happy to hear the community’s take on this.