Abuse of feedback and no resolution from eBay staff.
We have had a couple abusive feedbacks left from users, usually all new. They make false claims and state inconsistencies that don't follow general procedures. However, when we ask for help from eBay we get entry level techs with no understanding and the cases are denied by people who review them without the details.
What to do???
This has to stop and be fixed!!! Sellers are suffering......
11 comments
another_day_in_pcb
·2 years agoI agree. I have been selling on ebay since 1999 and it is totally out of control. There is no help from eBay in correcting false feedback claims. I have not seen a revision request in my favor yet. Buyers fire off negative feedback without going through common sense remedies such as reaching out to the buyer first to resolve problems. We are a business and yes we make mistakes. We ALWAYS work to resolve issue but it is getting way our of control. Feedback should NEVER be the first thing done by a buyer. Ebay needs to put controls in place where that is not the first option.
luckythewinner
·2 years agoThey make false claims and state inconsistencies that don't follow general procedures. However, when we ask for help from eBay we get entry level techs with no understanding and the cases are denied
When deciding to remove feedback, eBay applies a very specific feedback removal policy, which does not mention the presence of "inconsistencies" or whether the seller thinks it followed "general procedures".
At some level, every transaction is a "he said, she said" situation because eBay cannot be sure that the seller sent what was pictures and described in the listing, nor can they be sure what the buyer received. So in all of their policies, eBay seems to have taken the position that they do not care WHY a buyer had an unhappy experience, only THAT a buyer had an unhappy experience.
eBay seems to have decided that is not cost effective for eBay to investigate, and instead they expect the seller to figure out why it happened and make adjustments to their business model. They want happy buyers, and they seem to think that it is more cost-effective to have the sellers involved (who has skin in the game) to figure out how to prevent them in the future, rather than paying a minimum wage employee (with no skin in the game) to figure why it happened in the past.
tobaccocardyahoo
·2 years agoSellers who believe the FB system has an effect on sales or their performance evaluation, or sellers who cannot accept seeing negative comments are upset in these situations.
Many of us know the FB system is a vestige of the old Ebay days and became obsolete when buyers had protection from bad sellers.
It has not been discontinued for fear of negative PR.
There is no way to tinker with it to make it useful. Just another price we pay for selling on Ebay.
rugerskick
·2 years agoIt does affect sales. For buyers who review feedback or base purchase decisions on seller ratings, it can certainly take sales away from sellers.
mam98031
·2 years agoUsually if a seller just has one or maybe two and if the seller response to them they do it in a professional and factual manner. It will likely not affect the seller's sales. But if the seller replies in a way that goes off on the buyer, that does far more damage to the seller than the FB the buyer leaves.
mam98031
·2 years agoThis can be very hard for a seller. You don't like the FB and feel it is misrepresenting the actual transaction. I get it. It is hard to look at every time you go to your FB page. However as @shipscript stated, neither of them break any of the FB policies / rules, so highly unlikely you can get them removed.
Now if you have emails from the buyer that they tried to extort you for money or product or they would leave negative FB, that could assist you in getting them removed.
Or if you go to the buyers FB page and look at Left for Others. If you see they do this kind of thing on a regular bases, that might be consider feedback abuse, so that would be something you'd want to discuss with Ebay.
But Ebay isn't going to remove the FB because it annoys you and/or you don't agree with it. Sorry, I know it is frustrating.
You can try working directly with your buyer to try and get them to revise the FB. Just keep in mind, never send them a FB revision form unless they have agreed to change the FB. And if they do, make sure you tell them they will get an email from Ebay with a link inside to enable them to easily change the FB.
You have a limited number of these forms and once you send one it has a shelf life. So if the buyer doesn't know it is coming, they could overlook it and it will time out. Plus you can not send another one to them as you can only do one per transaction.
theemporiumllc
OP2 years agoThank you for your reply and advice. We try to limit our replies and only use them to state facts, not as an attack forum......never helpful to do this.
Overall, many sellers I know are frustrated by this system that overly favors the buyers. Unfortunately, no one seems to care enough to address it yet
Thanks,
J
shipscript
·2 years agoeBay only removes feedback that violates eBay policy. The two feedback that you received were neither abusive nor violating policy. They simply stated the buyers' opinions, so eBay won't remove them.
You may want to counter that feedback with responses of your own that can mitigate the negatives. Before responding, consider whether you want to promote your business or attack the buyer. Usually, the most positively-received responses are those that apologize for the buyer's situation, or acknowledge the concerns of the buyer, or that simply state the seller's core values. Responses that don't fly well are those that attack the buyer.
theemporiumllc
OP2 years agoThank you for the reply. What is not stated and only seen in the messages from the buyer are the odd statements. They falsely claim that shipping is more than the item cost, not true in this case.....yet it can obviously happen for a few reasons sometimes. They start out by questioning about the item after purchasing and claim we weren't helpful and rude......neither were true.
Ebay is definitely geared toward customer service for the buyer and the sellers get hurt by abusive buyers on a regular basis. Sometimes it is harmless, yet often it is an intent to deceive.
We appreciate your advice and do our best to represent everything as well as possible. We like clients to receive items that meet or exceed expectations.
Thanks,
J
broto_64
·2 years agoThat is frustrating, if I could attest to troubled transactions it usually boils down to certain particulars and specifically when the questions start post-purchase... I will say this, depending on the nature of the question and if the item hasn't shipped I will attempt to see if the buyer would like to cancel, mostly because if I can determine there may be buyer remorse that is a good indication there will be further trouble after the item arrives at the buyer's location.
So what I'm getting at, is we try to mitigate these issues before they become trouble.
Of course not all conflagrations can be doused before the fire really gets going but we can try.
At the same rate if the buyer left negative feedback but kept the item I accept the trade off, at least I didn't have to pay shipping both ways just for a short show-and-tell session where a buyer can ascertain that they don't like my wares.
So we accept our negatives to some degree with pride, just keep an eye on the % and don't let it go too far... If it starts to become a worry that excess negative feedback may affect our ability to sell (or even an increase in FVF out of losing TRS or any such thing) that is when I usually raise prices. As well if a particular item is causing all the trouble I will also raise the price of just that item. This helps slow down traffic and that mitigates damage as well.
It is tough too, buyers are leaving less feedback than ever so positives don't filter out our negatives as much as they used to. But also a negative is still an opportunity to review my methods, my products, see if perhaps I can do something to improve the experience overall so that hopefully I can provide better service, realizing some buyers simply can't be pleased but again we can try.
soh.maryl
·2 years ago"So we accept our negatives to some degree with pride . . ."
What in the world are you talking about? How is a negative FB ever a prideful thing?