How did seller get feedback removed?

[gsf_tech]

So this question is to understand how a seller got feedback removed when I made a purchase as a buyer, since I'm not aware of what "method" they used to justify getting the feedback removed.

A seller offered a given fabric per foot, in various colors with returns accepted. I ordered one color and found out that their poorly lighted (on a dim table with no quality lighting) and differently white balanced listing images did not properly reflect the item's color. Various pictures of the same item in the listing didn't even look the same color. And I use a professionaly color calibrated graphic monitor (for photography) so the problem wasn't on my end.

Granted, I understand this can happen so I contacted the seller asking if a small sample could be received of 2 or 3 colors to avoid having to order the whole quantity I needed of each color. If they sent the samples, I'd simply keep the item I couldn't make use of, and buy the one I need in the quantity I needed. They never responded. I wrote again. They didn't respond.

So I ordered a second color. It was also substantially different. I ordered the third color and that one turned out good for my use. Since I was being ignored, I opened a legitimate return request for the colors I wasn't able to use. I opened it as "Not needed" even though a "Not as described" case would have been accepted (in Ebay's eyes) because I know it sucks to received them. The shipping fees were also inflated on this item, so I know I was sacrificing getting them refunded by being polite to the seller, despite having an arguable case.

And then the seller immediately contacted me. I asked them why they were writing now, and not to my previous messages, and they openly admitted they were ignoring them. I told them it was fine and perfectly reasonable to not send samples, but just let the buyer know, don't ignore them as that is horrible customer attention. That bothered me, and when I let them know they told me it wasn't their responsibility to post better pictures, it was mine to better investigate the  product codes on the internet (for a generic product in which codes mean little). That bothered me even more.

So I left one negative feedback stating it was for openly admitting to ignoring my messages, one neutral feedback stating that better listing images should be used, and one positive feedback just to balance out a bit since the third order went okay. I just checked and the Negative and Neutral feedbacks were removed, despite being legitimate, for different causes and different orders. What arguments could the seller use to justify that and report them? Just to know if as a seller I can apply them too if it ever happens to me.

[castlemagicmemories]

@gsf_tech

Not that Missjen is not capable of explaining, but what she posted is clear.  You know what she knows as you left the feedback that she is referencing.

57% of problematic transactions as noted in the feedback you left.  That's high.  Most buyers save negs and neutrals for truly egregious (horrible) behavior/transactions.  Soft positives where you reference a problem are not truly necessary.  The problem was resolved.  

Her last sentence sums up her post.

Oh boy - OP has a high ratio of negatives when it comes to leaving feedback for his sellers.  Many of the positives even indicate there was a problem.

33 FB left for sellers in the past year

9 negs

2 neutrals

8 soft positives (understanding, makes it right, etc)

14 real positives

That's 19 problematic purchases vs.  14 non-problematic?   57%

Either you have unrealistic expectations, are caustic in your approach and/or you aren't vetting your sellers well. 

[gsf_tech]

---

@lintbrush* wrote:

---

---

I'm just trying to offer up suggestions why the seller may have been able to get them approved.  There are a few circumstances where neg/neutrals will be removed.  The message thing was just a thought and not an accustation.

Even though you seem fairly rational, inflection is always lost in type and it's easy to manipulate or misinterpret intent. 

Buying 2 more items after experiencing dissatisfaction with 1 because of poor photography skills isn't going to likely result in better experiences (although 1 worked for you).  The seller could've convinced customer service that your intent was indeed malicious and there is a policy for that.  I'm just trying to figure it out.

If this is a competitor (even if not the exact items but similar), that could also be the reason for removal.

Excessive negatives show a history/pattern and that can also lead to feedback washing.   And your history is quite bumpy - even though you seem to be a great seller.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/buying-practices.html

---

Thanks for the response.

Your completely right about inflection. Non-verbal communication is half of it, and here it's way to easy to take things wrong. From both sides. Plus, I imagine it takes a certain type of person to be on an Ebay forum and responses from everyone here, me included, are either rants, sellers who have been burned before, or answers which simply don't reflect the average ebay buyer-seller experience.

No they aren't a competetitor in any way.

Basically I'm getting from this that leaving the one positive, one neutral and one negative did me more disservice than anything else since the neutral/negative were removed and the positive stayed. Talk about ironic. In the future only one negative should be left if the seller deserves it is the message I get. And yes, sometimes we all deserve negative feedback, that I know plenty of sellers will get overly defensive here. 

[gsf_tech]

---

@castlemagicmemories wrote:

@gsf_tech

Not that Missjen is not capable of explaining, but what she posted is clear.  You know what she knows as you left the feedback that she is referencing.

57% of problematic transactions as noted in the feedback you left.  That's high.  Most buyers save negs and neutrals for truly egregious (horrible) behavior/transactions.  Soft positives where you reference a problem are not truly necessary.  The problem was resolved.  

Her last sentence sums up her post.

Oh boy - OP has a high ratio of negatives when it comes to leaving feedback for his sellers.  Many of the positives even indicate there was a problem.

33 FB left for sellers in the past year

9 negs

2 neutrals

8 soft positives (understanding, makes it right, etc)

14 real positives

That's 19 problematic purchases vs.  14 non-problematic?   57%

Either you have unrealistic expectations, are caustic in your approach and/or you aren't vetting your sellers well. 

---

I hope no one really went through the trouble of counting. That seems quite creepy.

It's simpler than that, I simply don't tend to  give sellers feedback if they don't do anything out of the ordinary. Nor do I expect it. I only tend to give positive feedback one the time to open a case has expired, and normally by then the time to leave feedback has expired. Nothing odd there. I make hundreds of purchases on  ebay,  so I don't think it's anything odd four an account that is used mostly for purchases. And yes, I only leave negative feedback if the seller really screws up and is negligent. 

Just checked. Where can I find that info about feedback? I just looked and the vast majority of my feedback is positive.

[mr_lincoln]

@gsf_tech  Your request for sample materials, while I understand so you can get the right match for your porject how can a Seller send samples without a purchase?  Perhaps a good suggestion is for the seller to have a listing for samples whereby it is generic, simple material swatch sample kit or something like that.  Then Buyers who want a sample indicate which item, Seller confirms they have a swatch and then Buyer purchases the swatch kit.  Seller can of course credit costs for the based on a nice order for material.

As to the true color of what the Seller photographed and you viewed, keep in mind it went through eBay's platform adding a 3rd computer system to the color equation.  Regardless of how good the original pics are or how good the enduser's graphics card is there are still variables that can change the color presented on any online sales venue and nothing can replace the real thing ...

[castlemagicmemories]

---

@gsf_tech wrote:

---

@castlemagicmemories wrote:

---

This suggests that you saw the dim table with no quality lighting and that  various pictures of the same item in the listing didn't even look the same color, that would indicate that you did know that the color was wrong. or at least that there was a chance it could be wrong, again backed up by the fact that you asked for samples.

---

That's because I'm writing in hindsight. I didn't know that at the time of purchase.

---

@castlemagicmemories wrote:

---

items, even on listings that accept returns, are not sold subject to approval upon receipt.

---

Of course they are, and that's a good thing. It creates billions of dollars in sales which wouldn't have been made otherwise. It's the whole reason why "Returns accepted" is the industry standard, and why Ebay pushes it so hard on vendors. Of course we hope it isn't abused, but we're all open to it happily. I'm perfectly okay with buyers ordering and returning as long as they don't damage the packaging and try to keep the item pristine if they aren't totally sure that they will keep it. It's the nature of online sales where the buyer doesn't see the item in advance. Imagine if sales on clothing weren't subject to approval upon receipt! No one would take the gamble of buying online. I think this is something all sellers here know and accept.

---

@gsf_tech

We will have to agree to disagree.  While a lot of sellers do offer returns, even if the buyer pays return shipping, it is an inconvenience to the seller and damaging as well, tieing up merchandise and their money while it is being resolved.  And there is also the fact that improper packing by the buyer can lead to a monetary loss due to loss of product.

I think your philosophy of returns is vastly different from the majority of ebay sellers.

It is there for legitimate returns, but buying when you are not sure of what you are buying, due to bad pictures, etc, is asking for a problemative transaction, which neither buyer nor seller should want.

[castlemagicmemories]

They have been outlined in my posts.

[gsf_tech]

---

@mr_lincoln wrote:

@gsf_tech  Your request for sample materials, while I understand so you can get the right match for your porject how can a Seller send samples without a purchase?  Perhaps a good suggestion is for the seller to have a listing for samples whereby it is generic, simple material swatch sample kit or something like that.  Then Buyers who want a sample indicate which item, Seller confirms they have a swatch and then Buyer purchases the swatch kit.  Seller can of course credit costs for the based on a nice order for material.

As to the true color of what the Seller photographed and you viewed, keep in mind it went through eBay's platform adding a 3rd computer system to the color equation.  Regardless of how good the original pics are or how good the enduser's graphics card is there are still variables that can change the color presented on any online sales venue and nothing can replace the real thing ...

---

I agree, many sellers for fabric offer buying samples. I wish that would have been the case here. It vastly simplifies things.

I asked if samples were a posibility after the first purchase had already been made.

As for the true color, the pictures were not labeled with the "name" of the color, and later I noticed how multiple images of the same real item slightly contradicted themselves, so it was a photography issue.

[castlemagicmemories]

Would you send samples?

[castlemagicmemories]

---

@gsf_tech wrote:

---

@lintbrush* wrote:

---

---

I'm just trying to offer up suggestions why the seller may have been able to get them approved.  There are a few circumstances where neg/neutrals will be removed.  The message thing was just a thought and not an accustation.

Even though you seem fairly rational, inflection is always lost in type and it's easy to manipulate or misinterpret intent. 

Buying 2 more items after experiencing dissatisfaction with 1 because of poor photography skills isn't going to likely result in better experiences (although 1 worked for you).  The seller could've convinced customer service that your intent was indeed malicious and there is a policy for that.  I'm just trying to figure it out.

If this is a competitor (even if not the exact items but similar), that could also be the reason for removal.

Excessive negatives show a history/pattern and that can also lead to feedback washing.   And your history is quite bumpy - even though you seem to be a great seller.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/buying-practices.html

---

Thanks for the response.

Your completely right about inflection. Non-verbal communication is half of it, and here it's way to easy to take things wrong. From both sides. Plus, I imagine it takes a certain type of person to be on an Ebay forum and responses from everyone here, me included, are either rants, sellers who have been burned before, or answers which simply don't reflect the average ebay buyer-seller experience.

No they aren't a competetitor in any way.

Basically I'm getting from this that leaving the one positive, one neutral and one negative did me more disservice than anything else since the neutral/negative were removed and the positive stayed. Talk about ironic. In the future only one negative should be left if the seller deserves it is the message I get.

This is not the right message to take away from this.  It had nothing to do with your leaving a neutral and a negative.

And yes, sometimes we all deserve negative feedback, that I know plenty of sellers will get overly defensive here. 

---

[ersatz_sobriquet]

I didn't read all the replies, but you wanted something a seller had and they ignored your messages. At that point it was your responsibility to walk away from that seller. You didn't, so no sympathy.  Not condoning ignored messages, but, it was your choice to purchase anyway. 

[golfingaddict]

I think asking for samples, not getting them and then buying more compounded the issue.

What the seller did to get the feedback removed is just a matter of finding the right representative.

I'd feel a bit "abused" if you purchased something, hated my photos, asked for samples (and suggested you would buy more if you got them with caveats) and then buy more, open a return and then leave a negative and neutral.

1.  Because you didn't get your way?
2. Because the seller didn't offer to send you something "free"

3.  Because you didn't like the seller and the photos and her communication but you purchased anyway, repeatedly?

I might be able to make a case for feedback removal after all that. Just takes the right Customer Support Rep that is willing to look at the whole picture.  Your intentions may have been honorable and kind, but you should have moved on when you got an item that wasn't well photographed  or when the seller didn't communicate or when you didn't like the answers.

[gsf_tech]

---

@starroute-us wrote:

": How did seller get feedback removed?"

By calling ebay, stating actual facts and having the CSR read all the messages between you and the seller.

Probably had some policy in hand as well.

Good grief:(:(:( 

---

I need to remember more often how canabilistic other sellers are on this forum. It's as if everyone feels entitled to fill in the blanks with whatever makes the other party look justified. Because of course, starroute-us knows exactly what was in those messages, and exactly why I was in fault. All hail starroute-us!

[castlemagicmemories]

@gsf_tech

Seems this was missed in my previous post so I will repeat it here.

Seller could probably make the case that this was problematic from the start, you have a high rate of unsatisfactory feedback left, and you went ahead and purchased when you admitted the pictures, to you, were not good.  Then the feedback you left could be considered feedback abuse, for asking for free samples, and complaining about bad pictures but buying anyway.

[gsf_tech]

---

@castlemagicmemories wrote:

Would you send samples?

---

If I sold fabric by the yard, I would have 0 issues sending 1 square inch samples in stamped envelopes. Even more so if it's someone who had already purchased an item and asked politely about that posibility without demanding anything. Don't get me wrong, that's what were talking about here, not about sending samples of usable items. A 1 inch sample of fabric cost pennies, is unusable so it can't be abused, and promotes future sales. It's the equivalent of stores sending out free catalogs or a supermarket giving out samples of food.

[ersatz_sobriquet]

---

@gsf_tech wrote:

---

@starroute-us wrote:

": How did seller get feedback removed?"

By calling ebay, stating actual facts and having the CSR read all the messages between you and the seller.

Probably had some policy in hand as well.

Good grief:(:(:( 

---

I need to remember more often how canabilistic other sellers are on this forum. It's as if everyone feels entitled to fill in the blanks with whatever makes the other party look justified. Because of course, starroute-us knows exactly what was in those messages, and exactly why I was in fault. All hail starroute-us!

---

Starroute-us happens to be a very helpful poster who helps sellers for no cost when they are being abused, used, manipulated and taken advantage of.  All hail starroute-us is correct, you got that right.