Unfair Negative Feedback Issue on eBay

[bloomsales]

Hello Community Members,

I recently encountered a situation where a buyer left negative feedback on my profile, alleging that I ignored their messages and provided a subpar item. What's frustrating is that I promptly responded to his one message. Never heard from them again till I saw that feedback. Basically, they asked for money back while providing false evidence. I said No. They retaliated by leaving negative feedback with false accusations. 

I've taken the appropriate steps by requesting feedback removal and urging them to initiate a return for a refund. However, the buyer has ignored my messages and kept the item, indicating a potential ulterior motive to extort a refund without returning the purchased item.

I've escalated the matter to eBay, but the challenges I've encountered make me question the fairness of the feedback system for sellers. It's disheartening to see my previously 100% positive feedback affected by what seems to be an unjust situation.

I'm curious if any of you have faced similar challenges and, if so, how you successfully resolved them?

Let's share our experiences and support each other in this type of environment.

[mam98031]

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@shotsy1988 wrote:

Negative feedback stays on for 12 months unforturnately.

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It actually stays forever.  But it is only represented in your FB percentage for 12 months.

@shotsy1988 

[shotsy1988]

Yes I know you are correct but I only have to look at it for 12 months and people don’t look that far into your feedback. So out of sight…..😊

[mam98031]

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@shotsy1988 wrote:

Yes I know you are correct but I only have to look at it for 12 months and people don’t look that far into your feedback. So out of sight…..😊

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Some do and some don't.  But I'd agree, most will only look at the past 12 months.

[bloomsales]

In a private message, the buyer sent photos of different shoes, even though no attachment was required at that point. This appears to be an attempt to discredit me with false claims. Despite my polite response, the buyer neither replied nor returned the item as I repeatedly requested. Additionally, the buyer falsely accused me of not responding to a non-existent follow-up message from them. If these actions do not violate eBay policies, it is unclear what would.

[bloomsales]

That's quite unfortunate, isn't it? With a bit of effort, someone could unfairly target a seller's store, even when the dissatisfaction is related to the item itself. I suggest eBay consider removing the option to discredit stores, particularly for sellers like me who offered free returns (although not anymore given the current circumstances). It would be beneficial to come up with a different strategy to identify and address problematic stores. If you haven't heard of this yet, there have been sellers who shut down their stores when targeted by organized online groups with mass returns and negative feedback."

[try]

A seller gave me a vile feedback because I didn’t ship their doll the next 🤬 day? I’ve sold on eBay since their conception. I’ve always CLEARLY stated when I ship which is “within 3 business days upon receipt of payment from eBay”
(Usually sooner than three if feasible)
This 🤡 bought a doll from me on Thursday the 21st. I got paid by eBay over the weekend and today is only Sunday so the doll was going to ship tomorrow (Monday)
Today I got a message from said 🤡 who proceeded to berate me and belittle me because I “should have shipped it within the next day” the buyer had already left a vile feedback which actually attacked my character. **bleep** is wrong with people?

eBay says they can’t do anything because It doesn’t fall within their very “narrow” guidelines

I’ve only had one other negative
I was selling a brand new RC car for my boyfriend (no good deed goes unpunished) Anyway, the cars come in kits. He put it together, added better parts to it, test ran it to check for operability and gave the buyer extra items for the car as a nice gesture and even listed it at a discount (making it cheaper than others on eBay) well, this a$$ contacts me and says “this is clearly not new as stated, I saw a carpet fiber on it” after explaining it to him and naively thinking that would clear up any misunderstanding, this idiot proceeded to demand more discounts or he’d leave a negative feedback! 😮

eBay couldn’t do anything about that one either. You can’t leave them a negative feedback but eBay calls themselves doing you a favor by letting you post a “rebuttal” but the damage is already done!

**Oh and to make it even more sick, this 🤡 today says “no wonder your rating is so low…you’re horrible!”***.   They used this negative feedback against me and taunted me with it…THANKS EBAY!

Since 1995 until last year my rating was 100% Today it is down to 90% because of two 🤡🤡🤬
😡

[mam98031]

@try 

This is an old thread and will likely get closed soon.

I don't think the word "vile" accurately describes the FB they left for you.  Clearly they were upset.  They appeared not to understand that Saturday and Sunday are not considered business days.  That seems clear to me because of how they started their negative FB.

It is possible that you could have headed this off if the buyer had emailed you before they posted the FB and told you their concerns.  A simple polite explanation of what Business days are, might have just avoided this issue all together.

FYI, if the buyer paid on March 21st, so did you.  You are paid moments after a buyer submits it.  When Ebay sends that money off to your make is NOT how you should be considering when payment arrives.  If that is what you are doing, there is only going to be more trouble in your future.

Once a buyer makes a payment for a purchase on Ebay, that buyer can NOT under any circumstance pull that payment back.  Ebay gets approval for the payment [known as pinging] BEFORE they notify the seller that payment has been received.

Ebay is correct.  The buyer did not break any of the Ebay rules for leaving FB in what they said.  I know that stings, but they won't remove it.

The negative will drop off after 12 months, so it will be there awhile.

[robbie31415]

Many people don't understand that payment isn't when eBay issued you the money but when eBay confirmed the money. That's when eBay changes status to Paid.

With a 3 day handling with a Thursday purchase, Monday should be suitable to ship.

However, the feedback left isn't a policy violation simply because they are inpatient.

I ship fast to avoid situations like this.

[kabilab]

Bloom,  I recently received a neg where the buyer stated to have sent a notice, but that I did not respond. I checked, in the event one had slipped by me, but none existed. The buyer's claim was that some of the DVD was missing, but that a INAD was not filed.

It is my opinion that to continue to sell on e-Bay, one must accept that the company is buyer oriented. If and/or when one is no longer able to roll with the punches, exiting the platform is the only viable action.

[kensgiftshop]

Even with a 3 day handling time, if they paid Thursday, there's no reason you couldn't have shipped it Friday.

[brightlightbookseller]

No reason they needed to either, though.  I understand their frustration, though of course we know eBay won't do anything about the feedback as it doesn't violate policy.

[mam98031]

@kabilab 

It is likely too late, but on that older negative, you likely could have got that removed due to the buyer's abuse of the feedback system.  It is worth a shot at contacting Ebay, the worse they could tell you is no.  Also PLEASE make sure you report that buyer.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/resolving-buyer-issues/reporting-issue-buyer?id=4084

While you are on the phone, ask about the most current negative.  Ask them to review messages between you and the buyer.  They should be able to tell that none exist.  Not sure that is enough to get it removed, but again, the worse that can happen is they tell you no.

I would suggest that you contact Ebay for Business on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter for the better trained CSRs.

Here are your options for contacting Ebay Customer Service. Please be aware that for social media CS, you send them a Private Message and briefly explain what your problem or issue is. Feel free to leave your Name, address, phone number and/or your email address in this message. It is private and secure and it may help to speed up the response for you.

https://twitter.com/askebay

https://www.facebook.com/eBay/

https://www.instagram.com/ebayforsellers/

Your options will be on the left. If you use the link below you can only get to the Automated Assistant or Chat box type AGENT in the box and hit enter. You will then get more options. Not all options are available 24/7. It will depend on staffing available. So sometimes you can request a call back and sometimes you can't. Sometimes you have the Chat option available and other times it won't me. If it is important to you to use one of those options, just try back later.

If you use a cell phone or other mobile device, you may need to turn off your Spam filter so that Ebay can call you.

If you are a seller outside of the US or Canada, you will need to use the Chat Option.

https://www.ebay.com/help/eua?id=5275&mkevt=1&mkpid

https://www.ebay.com/help/home

[mam98031]

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@kensgiftshop wrote:

Even with a 3 day handling time, if they paid Thursday, there's no reason you couldn't have shipped it Friday.

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How do you know that?  There could be all kinds of legit reasons they couldn't.  From personal to business.

[try]

Thanks for your “help” but the auction ended in the evening on Thursday .  Due to personal reasons I give myself a window of “within 3 business days “. I didn’t receive eBay payment until the weekend.  And it’s my choice to wait until I actually get paid … it’s stated on my auctions .

I’m glad you understood that the weekend does not count as a business day tho yet still made excuses for them.

however, people have policies in place tailored to their schedules within reasonable parameters, mine is “within 3 business days” it’s always been that way since 1995.  If the buyer doesn’t read that then that is THEIR problem!  If I say within 3 business days and they buy the item then they agree to the terms.  PLAIN AND SIMPLE!  eBay gives you a date to ship the item by and I respond with that guideline in mind.  We don’t get to second guess the companies policies just because we don’t like it.

But besides this they sent multiple personal messages threatening to “post all of our interactions to social media” called me lazy, horrible, a liar, they lied about how many times they contacted me ( I missed one contact that was buried in spam and offers) when  I did see their message I was blindsided by it but responded immediately, told me to get off my butt,  compared me to other sellers, taunted me about 1 negative feedback I got from someone who tried to extort more discounts after receiving item or he’d leave negative feedback and told me I was “horrible.”  ALL BECAUSE I DIDNT SHIP WITHIN A DAY…THIS WAS NOT THE AGREEMENT!!! It’s just that simple so why am I being made to feel like I was wrong?

its 2024 and it’s feeling more and more like we’re in some alternate reality 

I was able to contact a representative and they agreed it was extreme and unacceptable and are escalating the situation for abusive conduct

I’m a trauma survivor so this hit  different from any other “disgruntled “ buyer who communicates in a reasonable fashion 

There was nothing reasonable about this.

thanks for playing devils advocate here but there’s only one devil  in this situation and it’s not me. Since 1995 and over 800 transactions  this is a first.  So I’m doing something right

no need to respond I’ve gotten enough “help” 

[try]

Thank you for understanding this very simple concept 🤗

I escalated it because of their behavior behind the scenes

it was creepy