eBay

peachesandbear88 · ‎11-12-2019

I sold an old gateway laptop for part and repair. The buyer received it almost a month ago and today messaged me demanding a refund saying it arrived damaged (a chip in the corner) & I’m floored. They had it a month and I packaged it very carefully in a computer box with padding. The buyer has good feedback but then I went thru the feedback they left for sellers and all of them are negatives saying they received damaged or didn’t receive the items- Especially with laptops. There is not way to edit the feedback you left to warn other sellers and I’m scared they will rule in her favor even though its clear something is clearly going on. Does eBay ever back the seller? I have done this without issues for years. I know it would be easy to just give them the $ and keep my positive reputation but it’s the principle of it. It’s very discouraging at this point and I’m thinking of just pulling my auctions. Does eBay ever side with the seller?

gracieallen01 · ‎11-12-2019

@peachesandbear88 wrote:
I sold an old gateway laptop for part and repair. The buyer received it almost a month ago and today messaged me demanding a refund saying it arrived damaged (a chip in the corner) & I’m floored. They had it a month and I packaged it very carefully in a computer box with padding. The buyer has good feedback but then I went thru the feedback they left for sellers and all of them are negatives saying they received damaged or didn’t receive the items- Especially with laptops. There is not way to edit the feedback you left to warn other sellers and I’m scared they will rule in her favor even though its clear something is clearly going on. Does eBay ever back the seller? I have done this without issues for years. I know it would be easy to just give them the $ and keep my positive reputation but it’s the principle of it. It’s very discouraging at this point and I’m thinking of just pulling my auctions. Does eBay ever side with the seller?

That is what the buyer is counting on and what they have learned they can expect from most sellers. The only 'principle' that ebay works on is to keep the buyer happy and returning. There is a 99.9% chance ebay will back the buyer. If it is the principle of the thing, it is best to follow policies for the return and THEN report them.

'Dear buyer,

I'm sorry you are not happy with your purchase.

Please return, in condition received, for full refund.

Best regards,

Seller'

Then report them to ebay CS. And, file a complaint with the USPS Postal Inspectors. And file a complaint with IC3.

Nothing will be done to such buyers UNLESS sellers file complaints. Nothing may be accomplished right away, but, if you don't file, nothing will EVER be done. However, you have very little choice about the return/refund. Get a police report, too, and you may be able to file an appeal after the return is done.

Not saying 'NO' doesn't mean 'YES'.

The foolishness of one's actions or words is determined by the number of witnesses.

Perhaps if Brains were described as an APP, many people would use them more often.

Respect, like money, is only of 'worth' when it is earned - with all due respect, it can not be ordained, legislated or coerced. Anonymous

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parkersparrow · ‎11-12-2019

I would call customer service and ask the to look at their feedback left for others and report them. More than likely you will have to accept the return, but at least the buyer will be on their radar.

gracieallen01 · ‎11-12-2019

@peachesandbear88 wrote:
I sold an old gateway laptop for part and repair. The buyer received it almost a month ago and today messaged me demanding a refund saying it arrived damaged (a chip in the corner) & I’m floored. They had it a month and I packaged it very carefully in a computer box with padding. The buyer has good feedback but then I went thru the feedback they left for sellers and all of them are negatives saying they received damaged or didn’t receive the items- Especially with laptops. There is not way to edit the feedback you left to warn other sellers and I’m scared they will rule in her favor even though its clear something is clearly going on. Does eBay ever back the seller? I have done this without issues for years. I know it would be easy to just give them the $ and keep my positive reputation but it’s the principle of it. It’s very discouraging at this point and I’m thinking of just pulling my auctions. Does eBay ever side with the seller?

That is what the buyer is counting on and what they have learned they can expect from most sellers. The only 'principle' that ebay works on is to keep the buyer happy and returning. There is a 99.9% chance ebay will back the buyer. If it is the principle of the thing, it is best to follow policies for the return and THEN report them.

'Dear buyer,

I'm sorry you are not happy with your purchase.

Please return, in condition received, for full refund.

Best regards,

Seller'

Then report them to ebay CS. And, file a complaint with the USPS Postal Inspectors. And file a complaint with IC3.

Nothing will be done to such buyers UNLESS sellers file complaints. Nothing may be accomplished right away, but, if you don't file, nothing will EVER be done. However, you have very little choice about the return/refund. Get a police report, too, and you may be able to file an appeal after the return is done.

Not saying 'NO' doesn't mean 'YES'.

The foolishness of one's actions or words is determined by the number of witnesses.

Perhaps if Brains were described as an APP, many people would use them more often.

Respect, like money, is only of 'worth' when it is earned - with all due respect, it can not be ordained, legislated or coerced. Anonymous

emerald1830 · ‎11-12-2019

And if it's more than 30 days they would have to pay the shipping cause they have to go through Paypal...

Sorry you got stuck with such a buyer...report him too....

moonlight2000 · ‎11-12-2019

Hi,

The honest answer is not really. I just spent 25 minutes on the phone with the ebay "concierge" team and there are certain types of returns that a buyer can falsely chose with unreasonably demands and even if you provide photos of the item showing the absurdity of the buyer's comments - ebay will overrule your policy and you will have to pay for the return and shipping.

The only item I've heard of that might be of help is if you invest in and earn the higher volume seller levels - ebay will erase the buyer's negative feedback. I know this because I've encountered some high volume obnoxious sellers who will dare you to leave negative feedback and brag about how quickly they will have it removed.

peachesandbear88 · ‎11-12-2019

Wow, I’m really sadden that eBay doesn’t respect it sellers. There are so many places to list items now that you would think they would realize that we help keep them in business.
I thank you all for the wonderful advice. I have filed a complaint with eBay for what little good it will do. I will probably close my listing after this. If the won’t protect me over the small auctions I won’t risk it for the larger ones.

Thanks again

mam98031 · ‎11-12-2019

That is a lot of cause for concern!!!!

Has your buyer opened up a request for return? If they haven't, send them a simple message.

I am sorry you are having issues with the product. Please return the item for a refund.

Just simple and see how they respond. If they haven't opened a request for return, it may be because they can't. Ebay may have already determined they are an abusive buyer and taken away their MBG privileges.

If they have opened a request for return, I agree with the others that you should call Ebay and have them take a peek at this buyer. They may be able to help you.

Don't worry about your FB right now. First get past this return or no return situation. Then the FB.

If they leave negative FB for you, with the track record you have shown us here, it is highly likely you will be able to get it removed for FB abuse as clearly this buyer is abusing the FB system in an effort to extort sellers.

Please keep us updated as I'm sure we all would like to know how this all works out for you.

mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999

autopiacarcare · ‎11-13-2019

@mam98031 wrote:
If they leave negative FB for you, with the track record you have shown us here, it is highly likely you will be able to get it removed for FB abuse as clearly this buyer is abusing the FB system in an effort to extort sellers.

Please keep us updated as I'm sure we all would like to know how this all works out for you.

It would be nice if eBay customer service would look at situations like this and help all sellers that have been negatively affected by an obviously bad buyer.

We had a buyer who left a false positive feedback that accused us of advertising items at reduced prices and then sending incorrect items as a scam. When I looked at his feedback left for others, he had left the exact same false positive, word for word, for almost 2 dozen other sellers.

I used the "report buyer" function online and then also called CS and had them look at his feedback left for others. CS agreed with me that it was abusive and violated policy, so they removed the one that had been left for us.

It's been about a month since then and not only has CS not removed that same feedback for the other 2 dozen sellers, that buyer ID is still active, still buying, and still leaving that exact same false positive feedback for even more sellers.

pink.fish.rule · ‎11-13-2019

So much for those "added protections" huh?

dubiousgain · ‎11-13-2019

What a great example of a total lack of compunction... Just, wow-

mam98031 · ‎11-13-2019

@autopiacarcare wrote:
@mam98031 wrote:
If they leave negative FB for you, with the track record you have shown us here, it is highly likely you will be able to get it removed for FB abuse as clearly this buyer is abusing the FB system in an effort to extort sellers.

Please keep us updated as I'm sure we all would like to know how this all works out for you.
It would be nice if eBay customer service would look at situations like this and help all sellers that have been negatively affected by an obviously bad buyer.

We had a buyer who left a false positive feedback that accused us of advertising items at reduced prices and then sending incorrect items as a scam. When I looked at his feedback left for others, he had left the exact same false positive, word for word, for almost 2 dozen other sellers.

I used the "report buyer" function online and then also called CS and had them look at his feedback left for others. CS agreed with me that it was abusive and violated policy, so they removed the one that had been left for us.

It's been about a month since then and not only has CS not removed that same feedback for the other 2 dozen sellers, that buyer ID is still active, still buying, and still leaving that exact same false positive feedback for even more sellers.

I have known Ebay to do that and hopefully the OP will call Ebay and bring this buyer to their attention. If this buyer isn't on their radar, they certainly need to be.

In Ebayland to determine that a buyer has abused the system and to determine the buyer is abusive are two completely different things. Abused is a single action by the buyer, abusive is multiple actions by the buyer.

The CSR you contacted clearly just marked the one transaction as the buyer abusing the system. If you were inclined to do so, you could call again and maybe a different CSR would take different action. You could at least ask.

mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999

mam98031 · ‎11-13-2019

@pink.fish.rule wrote:
So much for those "added protections" huh?

They aren't retroactive.

mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999

peachesandbear88 · ‎11-16-2019

Well eBay did rule in favor of the buyer. She now has to return it to me and I have to pay for that also. When I called eBay they said it was not in fact a ruling for they buyer that I can contest if the buyer damages the item. Uh huh, I’m sure that will rule in my favor also.

This buyer feedback left for others shows she does this all the time.

I’m done. There unfortunately is no real seller protection with them. I also was not able to get the feedback removed. “The buyer is entitled to their opinion but you can respond.” Big deal, it doesn’t protect other sellers from this person. No on thinks to look at buyer feedback left for other to see it something is going on with them. I actually stumbled on it when I was curious to see if she what she had said about other laptops she purchased.

They upside is I found this out before listing a couple of expensive items. Since I can’t trust eBay to protect me I will list them elsewhere and save myself the fees and possible loosing the money all together.

I thank everyone for the advise and wish you all the best of luck with eBay.

kaijukingdom · ‎05-07-2020

I'm so sorry for your experience. My son just got burned by a buyer who bought an expensive Godzilla figure, broke it, and now wants to return it. Ebay? Didn't even read the messages we sent. Just decided in the buyers favor. No more selling on ebay, thank you very much. Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist- Etsy- but Ebay? Nope. No more.

kh-ornesh · ‎05-08-2020

Hi everyone,

Due to the length of time that has passed since this thread began, we have locked it from future replies. If this is still an issue that warrants discussion, don't hesitate to begin a new thread HERE.

Thanks.