Negative Feedback After Case Resolution

[freehueco]

Background: I had ~12,000 transactions on Ebay, and 99.9% postive this year.

Situation:

1. I sold a pair of boots to a "lady".

2. She hemmed and hawed BEFORE I shipped. She clearly wasn't sure that the boots were going to work for her needs.

3. When she received the boots she immediately started complaining about the fit. Then she made up a story about how one lace was 6 inches shorter than the other.

4. She got incredibly vitriolic, and sent 11 messages to my 3 (often sending two or three within the span of 20 minutes.

5. I told her how to open a return request (I offer hassle free returns).

6. She opened a return for "ordered by mistake".

7. She then started lambasting me because she shouldn't have to pay for return shipping. She also threatened to get a refund from her credit union, and had all sorts of "creative" insults for me as a person.

8. I called Ebay for advice. The CSR I spoke with said not to contact her and let the return ride.

9. I got an email about two hours later that the return had been escalated to a case because "seller requested", which of course I did not.

10. I called Ebay again, who recognized that this was some automated system acting on its own. I have no idea if this is true, but that's the claim. He put a note on the request that I was to be reimbursed for restocking fee and shipping cost.

Fast forward to Saturday...

11. I get the package at my home address, despite my PO Box being my return shipping address for both Ebay and PayPal. I don't know where she got it, but it frightens me to think this "person" has my home address.

12. The tags (both mine and the manufacturer's tags) had been removed.

13. The EBay CSR I spoke with upped the refund to me to 50% of the original cost, and assured me that the buyer would not be able to leave feedback.

14. I re-photographed and relisted the boots as new without tags.

15. Buyer left negative feedback...

Her FB comment: "ebay secured my refund."

Her FB Followup comment: "we both asked ebay for help and ebay sided with me..."

I haven't responded to the feedback yet, but am planning to call Ebay first thing in the morning.

Does anyone see this as anything other than a slamdunk for me to get removed?

[thebluefoxmx]

11. I get the package at my home address, despite my PO Box being my return shipping address for both Ebay and PayPal. I don't know where she got it, but it frightens me to think this "person" has my home address.

WOW! that is kind of Creepy

hard to tell if you'll get it removed, its been my Experience that it Depends on the Customer Service rep you get, sorry wished I could be more helpful.

[rolenboy01]

Believe it or not if they have your name your address can be very easy to find online.

[freehueco]

No kidding...

But per EBay policy, buyers returning something are required to use the provided return address. 

[freehueco · Accepted solution]

So, long story short, the answer was that the feedback was removable.

But only because the CSR I spoke with last night said so. The CSR I spoke with this morning said the comment was removable but not the feedback.

Anyways, I'm back to 99.9% positive from 1735 feedback received in the past year.

[vintagecraze50]

That is an issue that I believe you should discuss with a higher up on Ebay. It is actually more dangerous for the buyer to be able to send a package to an address that is not an approved address according to your Pay Pal transaction and record of where the packages should be shipped back too. Not good at all.

[myboardid]

The address part is irrelevant to the case.   Don't respond to the feedback, as that would make it harder to remove, but I doubt it will be removed anyway.  You really didn't win the case, you just got sympathetic CSR's who gave you both a refund.  Winning is usually the only way to get it removed. 

[myboardid]

Well, I guess I have to take that back.  It seems the OP did get the feedback removed. 

[starroute-us]

Glad FB is gone. 🙂

As for the return address check your ebay site preferences setting and see what address you have under "returns" to insure it did not glitch to your home address.

Block the buyers ID.

[freehueco]

Getting feedback removed on EBay is basically a game.

Any Ebay rep could remove any negative they wanted to. Most are 'play by the rules' sorts who won't bend those rules in a reasonable situation. Being a Top Rated Seller with an anchor store subscription does have its perks.

Part of the game is knowing which aspect of the situation to press them on in order to get the feedback removed.

The entire escalated case was a mistake. The buyer should have never gotten a full refund. Ebay is afraid of buyers because they hold the money in the transaction. I wonder, who do you suppose has brought more business to Ebay between a seller with 12,000 transactions and a buyer with less than 700?

Until Ebay restores the ability of sellers to leave feedback, the platform will never be a level playing field, and I will continue to do everything I can to rectify false negatives.

By the way, the CSR this morning claimed that only the feedback comment was removable. This is laughable at best, since without the comment, there is no benefit to a potential buyer who looks at a seller's feedback.

[freehueco]

A dishonest seller could easily claim that the buyer never sent the item back since the tracking was invalid.

The address on the package was handwritten, so the buyer must have gone to the Post Office to send it back. She made a typo while entering the tracking number in the Ebay case.

Using an incorrect shipping address is never a good idea for any aspect of an Ebay transaction. I figure that she somehow got it through PayPal, since my home address was listed there as my home address. I've now changed it so my PO Box is listed as my home address. I cannot fully remove my home address from PayPal because my credit cards are from that address.

[johnpenelope1967]

i had a similar thing happen to me just recently. glen_belf was the buyer. he said the item i sold him was not authentic - i thought it was. so - first of all - he refused to return the item - he said he was not going to return it until i gave him a full refund. i noted the ebay policy and reluctantly he returned it. he also said he would revise the negative fb he gave me once he received the full refund. i got the item back - gave him a 100% full refund and then he has refused to revise the fb. i have emailed him many many times and he refuses to change the fb. i also reported him to eBay. he has ruined my 100% rating on fb. is there anything i can do?

[takikawa4]

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Negative-Feedback-After-Case-Resolution/m-p/28050718

[southern*sweet*tea]

The feedback is removable because it mentions an Ebay case.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/rfe-spam-ov.html

Removable

These types of Feedback comments may be removed:

• Feedback containing personally identifying information about another member, such as a member's address, phone number, email address, or real name. We may also remove Feedback that can be used to obtain personally identifying information about another member, such as a shipment tracking number.

• Feedback not related to a sale, including a comment, reply, or follow-up related to a different sale.

• Feedback containing political, religious, social, or other commentary, rather than genuine comments about a sale.

• Feedback containing language that is profane, vulgar, obscene, or racist, as well as comments containing adult material or physical threats.

• Negative Feedback comments that directly contradict a positive rating. (When the comment is posted by the seller. This type of contradictory comment is not removable when left by the buyer.)

• Feedback containing links or promotional language which encourages buyers to purchase outside of eBay.

• Feedback that includes references to law enforcement investigations or eBay or PayPal investigations.