Buyer left negative feedback immediately after purchasing and then canceled order without cause

[tiltedtimecompany]

I had a buyer yesterday that purchased an item (a pocket watch) from me for $80. The description was spot on and it had photos of the item from every angle. The item was exactly as described.

Immediately after the buyer made the purchase (no more than 5 minutes later) they left negative feedback stating "Way to go. Your a dishonest scammer. It's getting sent right back." They then requested to cancel the order; all within 10 minutes of the original purchase.

I requested a feedback revision from eBay and it was declined saying it didn't violate any of eBay's policies. I contacted eBay for Business on Facebook and they suggested I contact the buyer, and request a revision from the buyer. I messaged the buyer politely asking what we could do to improve, and why they left the feedback they did. The buyer never responded. 

I had eBay call me back so I could speak to a live person about this, and was informed that they would submit an appeal for the eBay feedback revision request that did not end in my favor. 

I am extremely disheartened and frustrated by this experience. Why would eBay allow buyers to abuse sellers like this for no reason? What can I do beyond this to remove the false, defamatory feedback? What's stopping other sellers from doing this to their competition to tank their feedback ratings, and as a result; their sales? Why is it okay for a buyer to buy an item just to leave negative feedback to hurt a business? 

[tiltedtimecompany]

Yes. I have had encounters with less than amicable buyers in the past. I'm not sure how that helps my current predicament though. This feels retaliatory, and the "Way to go" lends some credibility to that theory.  

I immediately refunded their order when I got the cancelation request and politely messaged the buyer asking what we could improve upon. 

I have heard nothing about my appeal and the feedback is still currently standing. 

I have also had another feedback removed recently where the buyer swapped a genuine swiss movement and then returned the item. With that feedback eBay decided the buyer violated policy and so they removed the comment, but not the negative. This can be seen in my feedback as "--".

[tiltedtimecompany]

The item was plated. I tested it myself.

[tiltedtimecompany]

Not to sound like a broken record, but that's because it is plated. It was tested in-house. 

[tiltedtimecompany]

No open disputes - buyer was refunded immediately. Request to remove feedback was only submitted through the various channels after the buyer's requests had been fulfilled. 

[tiltedtimecompany]

Buyer violated eBays feedback policies and had their comment removed. No ability to reply to it afterwards. eBay stated they won't remove the actual negative because it was part of the buyer experience... Even though they violated eBay policy. 

[soh.maryl]

Does that part really matter in this situation? Transaction was cancelled, buyer left negative FB without having received the item.  

eBay needs to explain how that happened.  

[dhbookds]

Title says............18K gold chain

IS says........case material gold plated

lst paragraph of description says..........18K gold chain, gold plated case

3rd paragraph of description says.........The watch metal has been tested and is 18k. The chain has been acid tested and came up positive for 18k gold plating. It has some weight to it. 

I see some reason for confusion here........

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

@tiltedtimecompany 

I believe that what poster @slyders_finds is correct. You listed this pocket watch with 18k in the title. Now when this buyer bought it he reviewed the original listing believing he got this heck of a deal on this gold chain of 18k. He scanned down in your description and found 18k plated, now he was ticked off. This is exactly why he wrote that negative. 

     Yes, he could have read that you also put Monet chain which is a costume jewelry company,  but plain and simple, he didn't read anything other than 18k until after he bought it.

[gurlcat]

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@soh.maryl wrote:

Does that part really matter in this situation? Transaction was cancelled, buyer left negative FB without having received the item.  

eBay needs to explain how that happened.  

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I believe the way it happened was that the buyer is keenly aware of eBay policy (probably also a seller) and strategically did the negative feedback before the cancellation, because cancelling first would have disabled their feedback ability.  In fact it appears their first intent was to receive the item and immediately return it "It's getting sent right back" but after posting that, they realized they could just cancel instead.  

  I really think this whole purchase was to get revenge for a previous "less than amicable encounter" (see message # 46).   I think the question of the gold content is moot because the buyer just made a random purchase for the sole purpose of getting to post a negative, maybe their second since the comment on their first got deleted.  Note how they didn't say anything about the "plated" part being buried in the descrption or anything.  Meanwhile "Way to go" sounds (to me) like "Here's what you get in return" (for what you did before).   

[gurlcat]

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@vintagecraze50 wrote:

Anything is possible with these kinds of buyers.

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Indeed, and anything is possible with the ability to create infinite accounts.  

[vintagecraze50]

Yes, I do see that as well. We are gold dealers as well and when we write these titles and descriptions you have to be EXTREMELY and I mean extremely careful how you word this stuff. If you are dealing with a gold plated or gold filled item YOU must be very careful to mention this in every part of the listing with NO room for any doubt. It’s bad enough  that buyers can slam you with fake, which has happened to us. Gurlcat will remember our problem with this one, when the item is described properly with photographs showing the karat gold mark clearly on that photo. If you have a word salad which contradicts itself that is a big problem.

[vintagecraze50]

The title of the listing does not say plated. That was where you could get into trouble on here if the buyer does not go to your description and impulsively buys the item based on the photo first photo and the title, which CAN frequently happen with an impulse buy. The body of the description also MUST REITERATE without a doubt gold plated. In other words, do not say 18k,14k, etc in any part of the description without putting GOLD PLATED RIGHT NEXT TO THAT WORDING.

[gurlcat]

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@dhbookds wrote:

Title says............18K gold chain

IS says........case material gold plated

lst paragraph of description says..........18K gold chain, gold plated case

3rd paragraph of description says.........The watch metal has been tested and is 18k. The chain has been acid tested and came up positive for 18k gold plating. It has some weight to it. 

I see some reason for confusion here........

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I noticed that too.  I think it just so happens to have nothing to do with this buyer's behavior, but it could have caused a problem with any buyer, and @tiltedtimecompany if you repost this listing, you MUST edit it to make those distinctions match.  When it comes to gold, you cannot be ambiguous even accidentally.  Unless the item is SOLID gold, never ever leave the letter 'k' standing alone without its' thickness qualifier (plated, GF, RGP, HGE, whatever) IMMEDIATELY after it.  If it IS solid gold you should show a closeup of that fineness mark, and you must provide the mass, to at least a one-tenth gram precision -showing the piece on the scale is better than writing the number, but do both. 

 I sell Monet jewelry continuously; the amount of gold (if any) is not even worth mentioning, just call it 'gold tone.'  I can't imagine how you tested it without scratching off the micro-thin layer, which only invites verdigris oxidation.  

To be clear, I don't think you deserved what happened here whatsoever and I hope you get the neg AND the score demerit removed.  But moving forward, to avoid all manner of trouble you have to be extremely careful with gold, especially right now.  It is having a spike unlike any before, not only higher-than-ever spot price but really fast.  I don't know what's going on.  Suffice it to say, a thing like that makes stackers like dogs in heat, sniffing for any underpriced piece they can find.  The reward for every little scrap is huge ..... but then so is the risk.   

And how do I put this?  -Stackers aren't a monolith, but a lot of them fit a certain stereotype, and I don't mean anything like designer handbag collectors (which can be vicious enough).  I mean the type to think the government and everyone else is out to get them (or rip them off), eat raw liver, take steroids, and stack lots of other things.  In bunkers.  Like powdered food.  And weapons.  I honestly am shocked there hasn't yet been a nationwide news story involving an enraged eBay buyer and gold.  Just a matter of time probably. 

[gurlcat]

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@silverstatetreasureboxes wrote:

@tiltedtimecompany 

I believe that what poster @slyders_finds is correct. You listed this pocket watch with 18k in the title. Now when this buyer bought it he reviewed the original listing believing he got this heck of a deal on this gold chain of 18k. He scanned down in your description and found 18k plated, now he was ticked off. This is exactly why he wrote that negative. 

     Yes, he could have read that you also put Monet chain which is a costume jewelry company,  but plain and simple, he didn't read anything other than 18k until after he bought it.

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I don't think what you're saying is impossible, but the buyer would have to be caveman stupid (granted, writing "your a ...." might support that theory, lol).  Thing is, 18k is the most common fineness for plating and there are so many eBay jewelry sellers who are either being sneaky or stupid and not including the word 'plated' in the title, that all but the stupidest solid gold seekers would not trust a title that doesn't even include the weight; they would at least go through all the photos to see a fineness mark cloesup, a scale weight photo, a test scratch, SOMETHING .... and if they saw nothing in the photos they would see what the description says.  

No matter how good of a deal a title sounds, no buyers want to have to do a return, nobody wants to have their money tied up for a minimum of several days or even request a cancellation.  -Unless the opportunity to hurt the seller is the whole point, and I believe that's what this purchase was really for.  

[toomuchstuffagain35]

@tiltedtimecompany 

You refunded but did you actually CANCEL the transaction? I would think 'buyer requested' is feasible given the FB left.

If you cancelled at buyer request, the FB should be removable (under ebay policy)