Ebay removed negative feedback for a top rated seller with history of deception. Why is this allowed
I purchased a bottle of Le Labo Tonka 25 from a top rated seller. When the bottle arrived the first red flag was the fragrance was crystal clear. All Tonka 25 has an amber tint to it & NEVER crystal clear. Second red flag was the fragrance wasn't fragrance at all, it was 100% rubbing alcohol. I immediately asked for a return. I waited for the item to arrive back to the seller & in the meantime I researched their feedback & noticed several other buyers has complained about the same exact issue i just had. RUBBING ALCOHOL! Looking even further until their feedback I noticed an ongoing pattern where buyers were complaining of receiving fakes. I didn't want to jump to conclusions & just accuse the seller of rightfully knowing they were selling fakes so I thought I'd send them an email to warn them that their fragrance was a knockoff. I went to push send & noticed the seller blocked me. Minutes later I received a "partial refund notification" where the seller had attempted to only issue half of my money? I immediately contacted eBay and eBay did issue the balance right away. I asked the CS rep if I could still leave feedback considering the seller blocked me. They assured me I would still be able to leave feedback. The next day after receiving the balance of my refund, I wrote out exactly what happened... verbatim & left a negative feedback. I took my time & made sure not to say anything derogatory or outside the parameters of what actually happened. Low & behold almost immediately my feedback was removed! I called eBay immediately & asked why my feedback was removed. The CS rep put me on hold for a few minutes & came back & said the seller called to dispute my feedback and their request was successful! I asked the rep if they could see what I wrote & he said, "yes, I read your feedback while on hold & to be honest I don't know why your feedback was removed. I can see here nothing outside of what happened was written & I'm very surprised this was even removed." He said, "I've escalated this to the next level for review to see about getting your feedback reinstated because in my opinion there is no reason your feedback should've been removed. You didn't say anything derogatory or outside the parameters of what clearly happened here. You filed for a return, the seller received their item, immediately blocked you, issued you a partial refund, you contacted us for help, we stepped in & issued you the remaining balance of your refund & that's exactly what you're feedback states & why it was immediately removed is beyond me." I asked the rep, "please be honest, maybe I'm missing something here but what in that feedback is outside of these parameters that justified having it removed?" He said, "nothing I can see. Don't worry I'm going to work hard to get this feedback reinstated." Now we all know this feedback isn't going to be reinstated but what message does this send us? EBay is protecting these top rated sellers while stripping us small time buyers & sellers of our right to voice legitimate feedback. No matter how you cut it, this is feedback manipulation at its worst & eBay should be ashamed of themselves. Yes I got all my money back but what about the next guy who buys this bottle of fragrance? Cause guess what the seller did? HE REPOSTED THE FRAGRANCE I JUST RETURNED TO HIM & EBAY LET IT HAPPEN! Just like they let this seller get away with violating a loyal customer of 16+ years. At the end of the day, what stings more than the feeling of being less than &/or having my voice stripped? Is that eBay let this happen. According to the CS rep, he could see everything I put in my feedback was justified based upon the facts at hand... i.e, I put in a return request for suspected fake, return accepted, i shipped item back to the seller, item arrived back to the seller, seller then blocked me, issued me a partial refund, I contacted customer support for the balance, balance was issued, i leave negative feedback and feedback was immediately removed." WHY EBAY?
