How does a buyer respond to a seller’s dishonest reply to my negative review?
Asking for your assistance please. I, for the first time ever, purchased a counterfeit item on eBay. I knew this item was clearly a cheap reproduction once I received it and was able to prove my case through photos. Seller responded nastily when I messaged him. So I’ve returned it and left him a negative review. He replied to my review saying he suspects I’m a competing seller and am trying to bring buyers to my own items. (Not true. I’ve never sold anything on any platform.) He also said “ eBay has been made aware of this buyer.” (I’ve made 15 purchases in the past 5 years and have given 5 star ratings to every seller.). I notice he has gotten nasty on every negative review and always blames the buyer. This guy makes it difficult for the honest sellers on eBay IMO. And it sure makes it more difficult for buyers to trust the platform.
My question: How do I respond to his dishonest reply to my review. I’ve searched online and none of the instructions are working for me. Thank you!
stainlessenginecovers
·5 months ago@jabus-3034 buyers can RESPOND to the seller response, meaning you get the LAST PUBLIC Word; so just state 'I am NOT a seller and have NEVER sold anything here- just another tactic this seller uses'.
The seller will NOT be able to respond.
ps. there is NOTHING wrong with that seller using your ebay id name in his response. It is NOT against policy as that info is shown on the feedback by both you and him anyway when I click your feedback and click 'feedback left for others'.
It is ONLY against policy if they use your REAL name, address etc.
jabus-3034
OP5 months agoOkay thank you for replying, and thank you for that ps. And good advice! I did eventually figure out how to reply to his response.
mudshark61369
·5 months ago@jabus-3034 ,th
What @albertabrightalberta wrote about ebay removing your username is what will probably happen if you report the reply. While sellers can only leave positive feedback w/ positive comments for buyers, Follow up comments can contain negative commentary, but not personal info.
Open the link below and click on the Report a Seller button to file a report. Select as the reason The seller violated a policy. Once you have filled in the required info, you should get to a text box, to give details about the policy violation. In this case mention that the seller identified you by your full username (personal Information) in their follow up comment.
Once you have filed the report you will not hear back from ebay, but might notice that either the whole comment or your username is removed soon. That means the seller received a defect on their account for the policy violation.
jabus-3034
OP5 months agoThis is great. Thank you for expanding on the answer. I am going to report it. The responses here have renewed my faith in people.
le-5262
·5 months agoUgh.
I had a customer think an item was counterfeit
because they didn't like the feeling of the paper.
I took the return no problem
I...can't really fight someone's feelings.
I'm sorry the seller was rude to you
I wouldn't respond at all
especially if you got your money back.
jabus-3034
OP5 months agoYou are kind. Now that I have unfortunately been exposed to a bad seller on eBay, I have learned there are also bad buyers out there which sellers have to contend with. I am sorry you have to deal with that.
le-5262
·5 months agoI offer returns...
and they were actually not that bad to work with.
I'm hoping you guys worked out your situation by now...
this was days ago.
...and I think it's drifting further away from the whole selling experience.
I questioned if it was real or counterfeit...
I could see her "label" being on the more recent pieces, to be honest.
I don't think she sustained her popularity into current times.
Curious if there was a marking on the brooch itself?
I saw that early/ "vintage" pieces might have her initials...
ed8108
·5 months agoAlways read negative feedback left by previous buyers before deciding to purchase
albertabrightalberta
·5 months agoIf you feel you must respond, keep it short and simple. "I know Betsey Johnson items are made in China but I returned this item as I found it to be counterfeit. I am not a reseller and would have kept my purchase if it had been authentic."
You can report the feedback because the seller identified you by your ebay ID which is not allowed. They might just remove your name from his/her reply or they might remove the whole text but leave the positive symbol.
If necessary, refer CS to the policy -- cannot post member IDs. That's why buyers' IDs are anonymized:
https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/feedback-policies/feedback-policy?id=4208&ra=true
We remove all feedback that contains any:
jabus-3034
OP5 months agoThank you so so much! I did not catch that he identified me in his response to my review and that doing so is against policy. It does show what a dirty dog this guy is. (I do also hear you in that I should have just stuck to the facts in my review - his reply to me when I messaged him was so ridiculous that I mostly wanted to warn people away from him.) I will escalate, and thank you for taking time out of your day to help me. The good people do make up for the bad.
jdbelt1960
·5 months agoI just did a quick research on Betsey Johnson and it appears offhand that she does not own production methods. It looks like she sells her designs and labels. I think it would be hard to discern a counterfeit as each production facility has their own methods. Example I had a Maggioni created figurine but it was actually created in Italian famed Capodimonte as well as Fabris studios. Although they have the Maggioni signature as creator they also have the production studio trademarks. A counterfeit is when someone steals a label and slaps it on their lookalike product.
jabus-3034
OP5 months agoYes and that is part of the problem. This is no Maggioni 😉. I could tell when I received this item it was not an “old brooch” as the seller originally said. His post also said “last one” in red and as soon as I purchased it, another one popped up which also said “last one”. I honestly don’t have a problem with sellers buying cheap junk and marking it up. I do have a problem with sellers buying cheap junk, marking it up and deceptively labeling it as a well-liked brand when it is not. All I can add is that this brooch is for sale all over the internet for less than $3 and none of those sellers are marketing it as Betsey Johnson. This guy is a bad actor.
soh.maryl
·5 months agoAre you aware that it was not necessary for you to contact the seller at all? You received an item that was not as described. In order to be refunded, all you needed to do was open an item not as described case with eBay.
You are free to report that reply to eBay. Since sellers are not allowed to leave negative FB for buyers, hopefully it will be removed.
Please take the time to read the MBG for buyers. It offers good protection if/when a transaction goes wrong and is the only way to be refunded through eBay.
jabus-3034
OP5 months agoThank you for responding. Initially, I thought I was following protocol which was to first message the seller before asking for a return. I know better now. And I have learned more than I ever wanted to know about counterfeits for sale on reseller platforms. But I have also learned that there are many more honest sellers than there are dishonest sellers.
tinsoldierunderground
·5 months agoIn the past, ebay did strongly encourage this, and I understand some CS reps still do. However, it's rarely encouraged by any of us on the forum pages because we've seen and heard first hand how badly things can blow up when an unhappy buyer contacts a disingenuous seller. Believe me, the level of hostility some bad sellers can exhibit is far worse than what you've experienced.