WTH? Former seller, now former buyer

[stonevintage]

I was.. a long time seller - then shipping got to be to much so just a buyer for the last 2 years. I had a recent experience you guys need to know about. Here 'tis.

Purchased an item (8511 masks on 6/5/20) Description said 2 box, 10 items (masks) in that box. I purchased and 1 day later thought to go back and purchase a 2nd box. Seller had ended the listing and relisted. Now, only 1 single mask for 30.00.  I had purchased my box of 10 (in factory box) 6 photos showed a stack of 10 masks with original 3M box. I received one mask in a cardboard box unwrapped.

So, got on the phone with Ebay, filed a claim (as a previous long term seller here) insisted that this go past customer service to Trust & Safety (seller only had 3 feedback rating) - so that obvious fraud could be document and seller booted.  They walked thru the listing with me, sent me a transcript of conversation and documentation.

I received stock results - send back for refund.  I am corona'd in my house and can't get to PO to mail back. Have no printer. So, decided to eat the 30 bucks knowing that the neg feedback I left, plus the 1/2 hour on phone would likely see justice come to this scammer.

Not, they have removed my neg and seller is still out there.  Sorry to say, I will NEVER purchase from this site again. This solely due to the neg getting removed and to my walking baby steps with trust and safety thru the fraud listing.  I feel I did what I could to get the neg to stick.   Just a heads up, apparently - no matter how far you go to get bad sellers off this site... there is a force working against honest buyers and sellers.  Sad...

[jnjtra]

It might have been the way you worded the feedback. If you were angry and  antagonistic and said stuff like "rip off", "fraud," "scammer" etc. instead of just saying I did not recieve the described item, the seller would have a case to get the feedback removed.

[froggyjump]

You still have time to send it back eh? I would. You do not need a printer to send it back but you do need a post office to obtain a tracking #  Sorry that happened to you

[mam98031]

This is one of the few protections offered to sellers.  Since you decided you were not going to send the item back, the claim would have closed in the favor of the seller.  When it does that, Ebay will protect the seller's FB from the buyer leaving negative or neutral FB.  So the system did work the way it is designed to work.

Now your seller is definitely wrong in what they did.  But since this hit you at a time when you were unable to print the label or have someone print it for you and mail it to you, there wasn't a lot you could do.  Your safety and health is far more important.

Karma will get that seller.  Trust in that.  One day when they least expect it, Karma will nail them.

[aldente28]

You can leave outgoing mail in your mailbox.

[stonevintage]

I didn't say anything angry. Just walked her step by step thru the listing. When you purchase an item, the listing "freezes" it to capture exactly what you purchased. Together, over the phone we "walked thru" the purchase, description, seller ending the listing right after my purchase and immediate relisting (to change quantity from 10 items to 1 item.  They saw it all.

I explained the reason I was calling was because I felt the change was intentional and should be reported to trust and safety to prevent this seller from doing this to someone else.  I had worked with that dept 3 or 4 times in past 10  years and until now, always had a fair outcome. It was my problem that I didn't want to go to the post office to return (covid) but its their problem they dropped the neg I left. 

[luckythewinner]

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@stonevintage wrote:

It was my problem that I didn't want to go to the post office to return (covid) but its their problem they dropped the neg I left. 

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Was there a case opened for the transaction? 

If so, when you did not follow through with the return that means the seller ultimately won the case. And when a seller wins a case, I think any negative feedback is removed. 

In any case, it is unfortunate that you did not have a friend or relative with a printer who could have printed the label for you. 

[ed8108]

When you do not have resources for you to address a bad transaction, it is risky to buy on ebay.

EBay doesn't  mail prepaid return labels upon request to a buyer, & in my area library computers still remain unavailable 

to the public.

Since every purchase has the potential of not as described, along with greater inconvenience, money is also risked when purchasing & you are unable to generate & make a prepaid return label materialize.

[funkyfreshmike.2013]

Stonevintage is correct. without the ability to process a return you shouldn't be buying online.  

[stonevintage]

Thanks Mam - karma will do its thing.  I just felt, as in the past working with trust & safety that the whole reason for contacting them specifically and explaining the situation was to "interrupt" the system from automatically doing its thing.  They sent me transcripts of our conversation and it was very clear they understood what the seller had done. 

 In other words, regardless if I returned the item or not - refund or not... they still should have dealt with a bad seller when the evidence was right there in front of them.  This was not an item condition issue.

Just posting here to alert sellers.  I know how hard good sellers work to maintain their rep and as always, they need to know what the playing field looks like. I am pro seller. IMO, its good to hear from a buyers prospective from time to time. Its important to know what experiences they may be having that are detrimental to business.

[bonjourami]

You expect Ebay to suspend this seller with one complaint, that just doesnt happen.

[bonjourami]

Especially since you refused to return the item, and the seller won the case..why would Ebay then suspend him?

[adigr96]

Wait....you were a seller and can't print a label? You had no valid reason for not returning, sounds to me like you just wanted to make trouble

[pjcdn2005]

When a buyer doesn't send an item back after opening a return, does ebay really consider that the seller has won and then removes feedback?  I've never gotten the impression that was how it worked and if it does work like that, I don't think that it should.  Just because a buyer doesn't follow through and send the item doesn't mean that it was a positive transaction and it shouldn't be assumed that the buyer was wrong which is basically what removing the feedback does. 

[golfingaddict]

When there are buyers that "hope" to get a freebie or a discount or a partial refund simply by opening a case, I think it was a good move for ebay to not allow a buyer to leave negative feedback if they open an case and then do not return the item.

The problem is that many buyers can and did learn to open a case to simply get a freebie or a partial refund due to scared sellers, worried that they would leave bad feedback.  

It has always been my opinion that if the item is bad enough to open a claim/case, then it should be returned.  End of story.  If you are buying online, then you should expect to have to return the item to get a refund.

If left unchecked, the buyer could open many cases just hoping to get discounts and freebies

In the case of this buyer, she could have gone to the post office and paid to return the item to get a refund.  I also think she could have found a way to print a label, as there are still many resources open to her to find a way to print.   Even in small towns...

and for what it is worth, the 13 feedback seller that she bought from probably made an error in the listing, as the listing was ended and relisted.  It would be interesting to see the original listing to see if there were some warning signs that they were not going to get a "steal of a deal" on a bunch of masks  Last I check, sellers are still human and mistakes happen.