RISI is a great idea/great site.

One comment/criticism. There does not appear to be any facility to
comment on negative feedback (in the manner permitted by Ebay). I have
recently completed a swap only to receive wholly unwarranted, highly
critical feedback – and now face a blemish on an otherwise 100%
record.

The comment was: “Book in poor condition. The description of 'Excellent'
was laughable. Yellow stains throughout page edges yellow leaking into
margins. Looks like a long term smokers book. Chucked straight in the
bin.”

Now, following the Condition Guide,  "Excellent" means “a book that has clearly been
read, but is still in great condition. Pages are intact and not marked
by any sort of damage, handwriting or major creases and the spine is in
good condition.”

The book was clearly better than ‘Good’: ie, none of the pages of the book
offered were creased; it did not have handwriting notes; the spine
showed no signs of wear. The book did not smell! (The suggestion this
was a “long-term smokers” book is laughable). The edges were yellowed
with age, but the book was clean and fresh.

I trade books on Ebay, and I have a 100% rating. I always accurately describe the condition of books.

If the book is truly in the bin, then that’s a shame. It’s a good read
– but I suppose that if the recipient isn’t up to reading the
Conditions section on the site, he surely wasn’t going to understand
the Edinburgh vernacular.

So, it would be a good thing to make this facility available
to protect subscriber’s deserved reputations.

T

I doubt the facility you mention will ever be available because this site is all about mutual good will and not about tit-for-tat. 

I received bad feedback recently where the swapper said that the book smelled of smoke - however I had purchased the book brand new and it has always been kept in a smoke free house.  I emailed the swapper and suggested that he was mistaken and perhaps it was the second-hand packaging.  He apologised and upped my rating to 5*.

Have you contacted the swapper to make your case - in a friendly way.  You might get a good result!

windysisters:

I doubt the facility you mention will ever be available because this site is all about mutual good will and not about tit-for-tat.  . . .

Have you contacted the swapper to make your case - in a friendly way.  You might get a good result!

I didn't see any signs in Malthus's post that he wanted any sort of tit-for-tat (though perhaps the mention of eBay made you think of it) - just the chance to defend himself against what he saw as a very unfair comment. I can also believe that he didn't think that anyone giving that kind of feedback would be responsive to a friendly email. It is always worth a try though - he might be agreeably surprised.

The possibility of responding to feedback has been discussed before. There were several people who would like the facility - if only to apologise when they make a mistake. But there didn't seem to be any likelihood of it happening.

Don't worry too much though, Malthus. The rest of your feedback is very good and as you make more swaps this rating will be forgotten and you will be back at five stars before you know it. It's not like a negative on eBay which haunts you until you get something like a thousand more feedback.

I've just had a look at the info on calculating ratings:

A member's feedback score is calculated using a "moving average". This is calculated as follows:

• Take the average of all ratings except the last three
• Then average this score with the last three

This means that a member's three most recent ratings contribute more to his or her feedback score more than his or her other ratings. This allows problem swappers to be identified more quickly, and also allows members who have had one or two low ratings to "recover" more quickly when they get some higher ratings.

So you see that the next three swaps you make will have quite an effect! 

 

 

The problem of accurate (or inaccurate) book descriptions is a perennial one because the judgement is so subjective (despite the detail in the guidelines).  One person's Excellent is another person's Good and so on.  And some people are much less inclined to be generous of descriptions of books they have received than others - perhaps forgetting sometimes that they are all second hand books obtained for only the cost of postage in effect.  However, we are all entitled to our opinions and have to accept that they are not all always the same - and there are some people who genuinely find it impossible to read a book that is yellowing, old or slightly musty, no matter how good its condition otherwise.

Having said all of that, and having looked at your feedback, I do think the rating you were given was slightly harsh.  I tend to knock one star off for each problem - eg one for late posting, one for a book that I judge to be one category lower than was described - and in my experience many people on the site are similar.  In the end though, as the others have said, this one bad rating will not burden you for long and anyone looking at your other ratings would not be put off by it.  You just need to do a couple more quick swaps and it will rapidly sink out of sight. 

Spot on, Frances51. Given the severity of the abuse, I didn't feel there was any point in pursuing it.

Thanks for the info. re moving averages! Informative and encouraging.

Thanks, Penny, and I take the point about some people being (over-sensitive). At the end of the day, all the books on the sight are second-hand and most have been read. If they don't like that, they shouldn't come out to play. I think the criteria are actually fairly objective.

If the book is truly in the bin, then that’s a shame....... Edinburgh vernacular.

Just curious, which book was it?  

I`ve got a similar problem! I had 100% good feedbacks until I swapped with a real nightmare of a woman... And according to Mike, Customer Service, many others have had trouble with her too.  I sent my book to her right away and got initially good feedback from her. But it took her a month of excuses and delays to send the book, and that was even a different book than first agreed.

When I finally received her book, I gave her a kind, but truthful feedback. When she saw that, she added this to her original feedback: 

"THREE parcels to this users address(p.o.p.obtained) were sent within 4 weeks and only final 1 delivered.user very negative with feedback. SWAP WITH CAUTION".

I don't want to call people liars, but 3 books lost in the post in 4 weeks...? Hard to believe! And my feedback really wasn't negative, but as I said kind, but truthful. I contacted Customer Service, but they said they couldn't remove it! Frustrating and so unfair!

windysisters:

I received bad feedback recently where the swapper said that the book smelled of smoke - however I had purchased the book brand new and it has always been kept in a smoke free house.  I emailed the swapper and suggested that he was mistaken and perhaps it was the second-hand packaging.  He apologised and upped my rating to 5*.

I would think that it's the swapper's responsibility to check they don't use packaging which smells of smoke or is dirty inside.  Smells transfer to books easily; so if you used second hand packaging to send a book and that packaging smelled of smoke, it could easily make the book smell of smoke too.  That is the problem with using packaging that has been used already; it has to be checked or it could ruin your book. 

dinsi:

I`ve got a similar problem! I had 100% good feedbacks until I swapped with a real nightmare of a woman... And according to Mike, Customer Service, many others have had trouble with her too.  I sent my book to her right away and got initially good feedback from her. But it took her a month of excuses and delays to send the book, and that was even a different book than first agreed.

When I finally received her book, I gave her a kind, but truthful feedback. When she saw that, she added this to her original feedback: 

"THREE parcels to this users address(p.o.p.obtained) were sent within 4 weeks and only final 1 delivered.user very negative with feedback. SWAP WITH CAUTION".

I don't want to call people liars, but 3 books lost in the post in 4 weeks...? Hard to believe! And my feedback really wasn't negative, but as I said kind, but truthful. I contacted Customer Service, but they said they couldn't remove it! Frustrating and so unfair!

 

Thanks Allen :) Now I only wish the lovely Read It Swap It Customer Service people would remove the unfair feedback she left me! (Hint hint, if any of you read this...)

It is awful to receive unfair feedback dinsi, but admin can't remove feedback I'm afraid.  I really wouldn't worry about it in your case as the rest of your feedback is terrific and one bad comment won't put people off swapping with you.  Most experienced swappers cross-check if we see a bad comment such as the one you got - and one glance at the feedback of the person who left it (not to mention the fact that in this case they're suspended anyway) shows that this was not your fault.  Besides, the other swapper left you 5* so most people won't even get as far as looking at the feedback comments, because your star rating is unblemished. 

Any criticism can hurt and unjustified criticism is very hard to swallow, but I'm afraid the only thing to do is try and put it behind you and do some good swaps so the positive experiences outweigh the negative.

When I read this I realsie I cant back to swapping until I rerate my books . I dont want someone complaing about them. I can never mind what condition I am supposed to be recieving a book in, so cant ever make bad feedback.

Dont worry about it.

I agree with you about checking the book condition.  I've had good feedback but had one comment that I could have mentioned the creased spine.  I was mortified!  If I could have worked out there and then how to get in touch with the person to apologise I would have.  I have since tried to make sure every little mark/crease/scuff is mentioned - but I know I will have missed something!  As someone has pointed out book conditions are a personal point of view and very difficult.  I kind of expect that unless someone has put that the book is in a poor condition that the book will be readable, unsmelly without any tears or dogears.  I do expect it to have the odd worn corner, creased spine and perhaps a small mark or two - in other words I expect the book to look like it has been read!  Maybe I just see things in black and white - it's either in a good condition but clearly has been read(5 stars) or it smells, is torn and aged (1 or 2 stars).  I think you should only give negative feedback if you have been promised an excellent book and it is battered when it arrives.  Negative feedback is like any criticism and you take it personally! - Phew glad I got that off my chest!!!

appreciate you posted this a while ago but someone did this to me too.  It seems a shame that there is not comeback