Blackmailed By Buyer!!
Summary: leachcd69 shared an experience of feeling blackmailed by a buyer who left negative feedback for a delayed delivery, requesting a free item for feedback revision. Participants provided advice on handling such situations, including reporting the buyer to the platform and not to worry excessively about one negative review. Some contributors noted that extortion over feedback is an old issue and suggested blocking problematic buyers. Others discussed the potential issues with sending free items to buyers, advising against it to avoid attracting opportunistic buyers.
I was wondering if I was the only one to be in a way blackmailed by a buyer? I had 100% positive feedback back for the longest.. I would say I probably do to much and go out of my way to make all of my sales go smoothly and that the buyer is happy with their purchase. I sometimes even add free items to the sell if I make a good profit on the items. Sometimes the free items are worth more than what they are buying..
I had a sell a few weeks ago that the buyer left a negative feedback because he said he hadn't received the item which was delivered to him the next day. So yes the item was one day late but when I contacted the shipper they said it was delivered but delayed 1 day because of them and nothing I had done. So when I asked the buyer to please update or fix the feed back he said the only way he would if the negative and make it a positive was if I would send him another item for free. If not he would just let it be.. Here is just part of our messages. They go on for 3 or 4 more days.. lHow would you handle this?
pickapaper
·1 month ago@leachcd69
Read carefully what @christworks said about buyers not wanting free stuff, because it is true.
In the past, I remember reading some "complaints" on these boards from sellers who received negatives or even "not as described" claims because the buyers who received free items didn't want them. This has been a long time ago so I can't bring up any proof of this from the archives, but I do remember reading several threads about it.
christworks
·1 month ago · EditedThis is why I do not send free stuff to my buyer.
Listen, when you send free stuff the buyer did not order you also send the signal you are easy. You become a mark for some buyers.
Buyers - the kind you want - do not want your free stuff. They don't. In fact, when you send them free stuff, you create work for them because they then have to do something with it. If they are like me and do not like to throw things away, it either becomes more clutter, which is annoying, or I have to make a special trip to the thrift store to donate it.
Buyers want you to send them what they ordered. Pack it well. Ship it promptly. Communicate with them. Don't make excuses. That's it. Real simple.
You have brought all of this on yourself because you go out of the way to make all of your sales go smoothly. Buyers don't need you to go out of your way. They need you to meet the basic service a reseller should provide, which I've outlined to you. Tossing free stuff the buyer did not order into the box comes across like you are saying, "Hey, look at this shiney object over here - don't look at what you paid me for because I screwed that up!"
My pal, @chapeau-noir , whom I have much respect for, will come along here before too much longer to tell you how wrong I am and they send free stuff to their buyers.
There are exceptions to everything. If you have a repeat buyer you've got a good relationship with, maybe toss them a freebie once in a while along with a note to thanking them for their loyalty. There are also certain reselling platforms where buyers do except a freebie. If you are one of those platforms, you can probably get away with it. eBay isn't one of those platforms. 99% of your buyers don't want your free stuff. The 1% who do end up being a problem like the one you have now.
The only thing I see wrong with the feedback is the negative comments you left with a positive rating. That is a clear policy violation. The feedback your buyer left you does not violate eBay policy. It is based on the transaction.
gurlcat
·1 month agoWell considering you have not replied to anyone who's replied to your post in the 7 hours since you posted it, I don't know why I'm doing this but here goes.
Did you attach screenshots of messages to this post? At the end you said "Here is just part of our messages". If you posted screenshots with the buyer's username visible, then they were removed before the post went up, because "naming and shaming" is against forum policy.
So, we don't know what your buyer said, and whether it counts as feedback extortion.
However, eBay does have a policy to remove feedback about late deliveries as long as the seller shipped within their handling time. Did you?
leachcd69
OP1 month agoI didn't know that part of it.. I will cut their name out of it and repost the screenshot. And I read all of the comments I get.. But yesterday being a holiday my wife had a mile long honey do list for me to knock down a few blocks or so...
inhawaii
·1 month ago · EditedExtortion:
If you don't pay me $1,000,000 I will leave you negative feedback.
Not extortion:
If you don't pay me $1,000,000 I will not remove the negative feedback I already left you.
inhawaii
·1 month ago"I had a sell a few weeks ago..."
It's sale.
Sorry, just a pet peeve.
leachcd69
OP1 month agoSorry.. I will try to do better in the future so U'ens want been mad at mee..
janet9988
·1 month ago · EditedI do not view this as feedback extortion. More like a tit-for-tat.
You were the one that contacted the buyer asking them to change the feedback.
The buyer did not threaten anything.
On the other hand, you violated Ebay's feedback policy by leaving that buyer negative feedback.
luckythewinner
·1 month agoThe buyer can only update the feedback if you send a formal feedback revision request through the eBay system. The buyer is not obligated to accept the request or revise the feedback, however.
Without seeing the actual wording of your request or the actual wording of his response, there is no way we can determine if there was extortion involved. Even ifd there was extortion, eBay is not obligated to actually do anything about it.
bdmh-enterprises
·1 month agoGo to the message, click the three dots to report the feedback extortion. Then go to your feedback page and click 'report buyer', make separate reports for both the feedback extortion and demanding something not in the listing.
Only after that, go to the feedback removal tool, choose 'policy violation'. In the text field write: "Item is as described in listing. Buyer never opened a return nor sent any message stating a problem with the item. Buyer sent messages on [date] attempting to extort free items in return for the removal of the feedback."
If they did in fact complain about the item in messages, remove that part. This should give you a decent chance at removal. Good luck!
leachcd69
OP1 month agoThank You.. I will do this..
femmefan1946
·1 month agoYou are allowed to leave a Response to feedback.
I would suggest "I regret you are not happy with your purchase. Please return it for refund." for the claim that it is counterfeit.
With a Late Delivery your Response could be "Shipped Aug 1/26. Arrived Aug 21/26."
You could add the "I regret... refund" to that.
The point being you are leaving the Response not for the buyer, but for your future customers.
asset_liquidators
·1 month agoThe buyers feedback doesn't mention anything about the item being late. They only mention that the item is a "clever forgery".
leachcd69
OP1 month agoIt started with I never received the item. And at no time has he ever contacted me about it being a forgery until I reported it to ebay ( which was yesterday ) trying to get it fixed. Funny how all of a sudden the thing had been altered. I've been doing this a few more years than the one who said it was altered. And I have a bunch of references material showing the errors that I had listed in the post.
asset_liquidators
·1 month agoHas he opened up a return request?
eoma689485
·1 month agoI would send them something for free - and it wouldn't be anything of value or use to them - and I would send it snail mail, as it would only be words of advice as to what he can do with his feedback comments - LOL!
leachcd69
OP1 month agoBest answer so far.. I could send him a pint of milk or some other diary product and put a do not deliver until October 1st description on it. I also send it certified with signatures...
bolensparts-360
·1 month agoThe way ebay is set up there is always going to be people that know how to game the system, to have a 100% feedback on todays ebay you literally need to give the place away and buy your customers dinner to go along with the sale. I stopped caring about bad reviews years ago from people like that I dont put up with that crap . You can certainly block the buyer so he cant get you next time you can also "report" a buyer that does this kind of stuff but I'm sure the "report" button is just there to make sellers feel better and it actually just gets dumped in the junk folder in ebays system.
chapeau-noir
·1 month ago · Editedto have a 100% feedback on todays ebay you literally need to give the place away and buy your customers dinner to go along with the sale.
That hasn't been my experience, but OTOH, yes it's better not to let feedback lead people around by the nose. 100% is not sacred (I've been at 99.3% and it hasn't made any difference).
ETA: This poor person, though - one neg does make a difference!
shire123
·1 month agoAnd be sure to block that buyer from any further contact.
tobaccocardyahoo
·1 month agoExtortion using the feedback system has existed dating back to the time that Pierre created it.
Although there is now a review process for feedback removal, it is heavily limited by the legal advice offered to Ebay by its lawyers. Too much intervention endangers Ebays immunity from being responsible for what buyers say.
shire123
·1 month ago · EditedYou can try to get the feedback removed. But really, one negative is not going to have any effect on your account. I think too many people overreact to negatives. As long as they are few and far between and don't represent a pattern they don't affect anything.
There is just no pleasing people sometimes.
dhbookds
·1 month agoIf that's in ebay messages, I would certainly report him and ask that the neg be removed........