Ebay user "revenge" buying items from me after I left her negative feedback.
Hi all. I recently had dealings with a crazy seller on Ebay
I have not been satisfied with Ebay support's response on the matter and am looking for advice.
I had purchased a low cost book from this lady. It was listed as "Like New". It showed up as "Acceptable". This was due in part to bad packaging and in part to poor grading.
I observed that when she receives poor feedback from other buyers, that she likes to shift blame and not take accountability. As such, I left negative feedback as it didn't seem like an honest mistake and there's no accountability with this seller.
After doing so, we had the following exchange:
Perhaps if she hadn't sent this bizarre message, I would have changed my feedback, but the whole exchange irked me.
So later in the week I received a book purchase from my own shop. I shipped it without taking notice that is was from this seller's account. Obviously, I should have had her blocked by now. This was an over-site.
She proceeded to trash my book and leave negative feedback as revenge.
You can see from her "revenge feedback" pics below that she poured water into the box after opening it and tore out a page.
Here is her misusing positive feedback, as well, after my initial purchase:
I've also received a big uptick in customer returns from other accounts, some brand new. I have my suspicions that some accounts are related to her.
I've relayed the case to Ebay phone support but never heard back. Subsequently, I've requested feedback removal, detailing the above information, but received a canned response from Ebay:
What are my next steps? Do I have a shot at having this negative feedback removed and somehow alerting someone at Ebay (that is not a bot or a call center employee) of user's extortion here?
Or do I walk away and accept that the powers that be aren't accessible these days?
christworks
·1 year agoI may be the only one here who has no sympathy for you.
You started this war. Of all people, as a seller, you should have known it is far better to reach out in a private message if there is an issue. You could have shown this seller some courtesy. Instead, you made the decision to assume the worst about them and run as fast as possible to leave them negative feedback.
In the feedback you left (which I had to seek out since you didn't post it here), you stated the seller was not an "honest grader," but admit the damage to the book occurred after shipment. Which is it? If the damage was after shipment, then the seller may have made a mistake with how they shipped, but that is not equal to purposefully listing a book as like new when it clearly wasn't. (Side note: You do realize most sellers are not professional graders and that, to an extent, grading is subjective?)
In the negative feedback you left, you also stated, "Also, you overcharged for shipping by one pound. This item only weighs 5oz and could have shipped media mail."
I find comments like that from buyers petty and childish. You made the decision to buy the book at the price, shipping cost, and shipping method shown to you. Yet, you are penalizing the seller for a decision you made. What's more, the cost between GA and Media Mail for lightweight items such as this book is nominal. In fact, sometimes GA is the cheaper option. Maybe the seller wanted you to be able to get the book faster. You never thought about that, did you? You as a seller should understand there are a variety of ways to ship items and that costs vary because some sellers include nominal costs to cover supplies and fees beyond the actual carrier costs inside their shipping costs. You yourself do this.
As an example, this set of dishware you are selling would cost me over $70 in shipping charges. I highly doubt the carrier cost would be anywhere near that. Undoubtedly you either inflated the size and weight of the package and/or added a handling charge to cover the expenses it costs to handle and ship this. There isn't anything wrong with that. I'm sure there is enough built into this shipping price to net you a profit on the shipping as well. I don't care for hypocrites, and it seems to me that is what you are, and petty, as many hypocrites are.
You come across as a high maintenance buyer, dishonest, and not somebody I would want to deal with at all, as either a buyer or seller.
You also come across as paranoid, referencing new accounts and returns, and for some reason jumping to the conclusion your seller is the person behind them.
gloryglorygifts
·1 year agoAll of these responses and yet not one of them mentioned to you that you cannot leave a positive fb with negative comments for a buyer. At least, I think that is from that seller? That is against ebay policy so contact an agent at:
https://www.facebook.com/eBay
https://x.com/askebay/
https://www.instagram.com/ebayforsellers/
You should win that. I don't think you will win the others but give it a shot anyway. Good luck to you.
youn2240
·1 year agoIf this happened to me I would do a revenge buy on them and see if they have the werewithal to keep this going. The key to winning this is do your revenge buy and then raise up all your prices. Then when you feel they are starting to blink that's when you inbox them and insult them for not being able to keep up.
moretreasures4you
·1 year agoThat is horrible advice. The key to winning this is to talk to someone at eBay and have the situation taken care of.
buyselljack2016
·1 year ago@youn2240
youn is a master of sarcasm and entertainment
Posts must be read with that thought in mind
soh.maryl
·1 year agoOK -- but wouldn't it be a good idea for youn to include some hint that his message was meant as "sarcasm and entertainment". Not everyone is going to catch on to subtleties.
youn2240
·1 year agoI can't tell if you're being serious or trying to pull my leg.
gurlcat
·1 year agoAnyone stupid enough to follow the advice of raising all their prices just to stop one buyer from getting revenge would surely fail on eBay anyway, one way or another.
chapeau-noir
·1 year ago"...sting like a bee".
moretreasures4you
·1 year agoPlease contact the link above for Ebay's Facebook page. They were super helpful to me on three separate occasions and you are talking to real people who will understand that the feedback left for you was revenge and not about the book you sold.
jonathanbrightlight
·1 year ago@nonestop777 I don't need to comment on the rest of the situation since it's been well discussed and you seem to have a good grasp on what to do from here on, but as to this particular feedback being removed, it should have been, but I don't know how you even managed to request it through the feedback removal request (I think that's what the screenshot is from) because I haven't ever been able to do that for positive feedback (regardless of the contents). Comments that do not match the rating are definitely supposed to be removable, though, so I would contact customer service again via chat or social media and just note that the buyer left negative comments in positive feedback.
You can click this link to chat with an agent, or request a callback if that's offered:
https://www.ebay.com/help/eua?id=5275&mkevt=1&mkpid
Or you can contact eBay customer service via Facebook, X, or Instagram by sending a private message (don't post publicly on these pages):
https://www.facebook.com/eBay
https://x.com/askebay/
https://www.instagram.com/ebayforsellers/
albertabrightalberta
·1 year ago@nonestop777
As recommended by @jonathanbrightlight , contact ebay through one of their social media outlets.
In my message to them, I'd include the link to the policy as well as a screenshot of the specific part disallowing contradictory comments to the rating.
https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/feedback-policies/feedback-policy?id=4208&st=3&pos=2&query=Feedback%20policy&intent=feedback%20removal&lucenceai=lucenceai&docId=HELP1223
Additionally, the other seller wrong in their assertion that ebay requires buyers to contact the seller before leaving negative feedback. Ebay does recommend it but it's NOT a requirement.
adamcartwright
·1 year ago@nonestop777
I recently bought a book in "very good" condition that arrived riddled with worm holes.
I opened a return for not as described and received a fast refund.
I haven't even left FB and probably won't. I simply added that seller to my "do not buy" list and bought the book from someone else.
Acknowledging that this person does sound like a nutcase, there's still no need to get bogged down in this type of keyboard warfare, especially when these FB comments may reflect on your selling account.
chapeau-noir
·1 year ago"Let's not make Christ transactional" is the winner in all of this, though. I wish more people got that through their heads.
(no dog in this particular fight).
gurlcat
·1 year ago🤣Reminded me of this gem:
ryry-jj
·1 year agoAgian, this is just another pie fight...and you both got messy!
tobaccocardyahoo
·1 year agoThere is a blocked buyer list and it seems totally appropriate to put a seller you left negative FB for on the list.
As a seller, I never leave FB for any other seller. I just leave automatic FB for all my buyers. FB is a remnant of the days when there was no recourse for any bad transactions on Ebay. Ebay now has comparable protections to other retail purchases.
IMO FB is an outlet for buyers to express themselves and not a warning of what will happen if you buy from a seller. My bad transactions over decades on Ebay have all been with sellers who had 100% FB. And I have never changed their percentage, though some have shown FB drops before Ebay NARUed them.
slati_2013
·1 year agoFeedback you left:
"Definitely not "Like New". Book is in "Good" condition. There are a number of new creases due to poor packaging. Please pack vintage, "like new", books in a box, not in a bubble mailer with thin card board that doesn't even cover the book. You've done this old book a disservice and aren't an honest grader. Also, you overcharged for shipping by one pound. This item only weighs 5oz and could have shipped media mail. You also have a poor attitude in communication with other buyers."
You both handled this very badly. Most of my buyers when they have an issue with something I sold them contact me and I always resolve the issue. My last negative was by a buyer who never contacted me and was also a revenge negative because I failed to respond to another offer he made me.
If you were not happy with your purchase why did you not first contact the seller before leaving a negative? Sure you don't have to but if you had, you may have gotten a refund and an apology. Also you accused the seller of overcharging shipping by one pound and told her to have shipped by media mail. The negative you left are the nightmare kind that keep sellers up and distraught.
nonestop777
OP1 year agoI agree with much of this sentiment and other responses as well. Certainly, it's not worth getting in a buyer/seller squabble and risking negative feedback on my seller account.
At the very least, I've learned I should likely open a separate "buyer" account.
I admit that the shipping charges I alleged are a non-issue and my feedback should have been better written.
That said, as a seller, I hold myself to certain standards. This seller fails to meet reasonable customer service standards. Before leaving negative feedback, I reviewed their handling of previous negative feedback and found them to have a personality that isn't worth investing my time to work things out with. Still, if they had handled the situation professionally ("We made a mistake and we'll do better next time. Would you like to proceed with a return?"), I would have insta-revised my feedback and spared them the return as well.
Their, mostly positive, account feedback does not reflect their business practices. This is likely due to the fact that feedback isn't really a part of e-commerce these days, as many of you have mentioned, and that buyers will roll over for a refund.
I do feel some kind of duty to alert fellow buyers when a seller simply sucks. That's what the feedback system is there for. IMO, it's part of being a good community member. I'm cognizant of the fact that most Ebay sellers are not sellers in a professional sense and honest mistakes or minor grading discrepancies don't warrant negative feedback. But this cuckoo completely validated my intuition that they deserve a warning label on their account. At this point they are committing postal fraud.
I'm going to reevaluate how I handle communication as a buyer and a seller. But negative feedback is very much appropriate for this seller.
adamcartwright
·1 year ago@nonestop777
You're right that negative FB for a seller serves an important purpose.
I'm glad you've decided to open a buying account.
tobaccocardyahoo
·1 year agoCannot agree. Once it served a useful purpose. It no longer does because the number of buyers who read it and the number of buyers who leave feedback are a shrinking minority of buyers.
mtgraves7984
·1 year agoOr do I walk away and accept that the powers that be aren't accessible these days?
@nonestop777
Yup. Sorry you picked a scrub seller, though... we certainly empathize. Upward and onward and all...
nonestop777
OP1 year agoTy, the venting helps!
bonjourami
·1 year agoYou need a second buyers account.
nonestop777
OP1 year agoYup, this is a good recommendation.
kalyoth
·1 year agoFirst, block the buyer/seller. Second - since you can return items under money back guarantees, should it be opened for return, you should be able to ask again for its removal after since it can be considered abusive.
I also assume you ship USPS? Any item that arrives to a post office branch in the condition pictured, would have either not been delivered & handled as hazardous material or noted by the carrier/branch as damaged upon delivery & returned to you. So if you have insurance, on it, try to have the local USPS branch collect it for a claim as well. Not expecting much help from the buyer there.
Otherwise, you will have to just deal with it for a year til it drops off the list & prove you are above the poor feedback with better replacement feedback.
12345jamesstamps
·1 year agoI just think a seller who is also a buyer and visa-versa should never leave a negative feedback.
We can all read the negative as well as the reply to the negative feedback.
That there can hurt the account.
soh.maryl
·1 year agoI just think an eBayer who is both a buyer and a seller should have separate accounts for each function, preferably from the very beginning.