Fake buyer feedback 100% positive but NOT REALa
If I was a con artist aware of the loopholes on this flawed peer to broker to peer ecommerce marketplace I would have as many canned positive reviews as an exemplary 100% trustworthy buyer as I possibly could. However f I was a smart con artist I would want some positive seller reviews too in order to project a well rounded believable level of authenticiry. When a buyer trues to leverage said buyer centric platform loopholes in an attempt to extort sellers out of the money they were paid without even having the item they sold returned to them, shouldnt it raise some red flags when aforemention well inrentioned seller feeling exrorted looks at the reviews of their angonist and sees only canned positive reviews of the extortionist con artist buyer touting their trustworthiness as a buyer but suspiciiously has ZERO feedback about themselves as SELLER....am I just being paranoid? Is it just OVERKILL??
gurlcat
·1 year agoEDIT: Holy cow, I'm deleting the entire reply I just made, asking if the OP was talking about 'feedback left for others' when he said "seller feedback."
No apparently not - upon reading further replies, clearly he DOES believe the buyer is also a seller, yet refuses to explain why, and would rather make lame jokes about Bisquick and accuse helpful members of being AI, buyer-biased, bots, ignorant, and "vintage". Did you mean 'old' there @vtmercantile ? You think you sound young, with your 1990's retro urban lingo? "Heard?" 🤣
And then theres' the talk of "our current paradigm shift." You need some Reynold's Wrap for a hat? I got some in the drawer but you'll need to pay me gas money.
And this feedback, GOOD GOD!
If you did calculated shipping, it's showing the telescope would have charged me $90 for shipping if I bought it! Obviously your buyer lives closer to you, but if whatever they paid was not enough for you to ship the telescope, then YOU DID IT WRONG when you created the listing and set up the shipping details! It's not up to eBay to pay the difference if you underchange for shipping! But I strongly suspect that whatever the buyer paid WAS enough, if not more than enough, but you put the buyer through an absurd amount of trouble, showed up a half-hour late AND charged them gas money, OMG!!! So I sure hope you also refunded them for the shipping they paid (for nothing).
And apparently the telescope was NOT "mint" -from both the buyer's comments and their PRIVATE message that YOU quoted in your response! And you put their username in your PUBLIC response! But what's up with you following it with another user name in parentheses? Are you accusing them of also being some other eBay member? If so, maybe get a Costco membership because you need an industrial supply of tinfoil.
vtmercantile
OP1 year agoPardon the typos in my original forum post, I was using a cell phone that was in power saving mode while in the front seat of a truck on a poorly maintained dirt road...anyway in my mind the jury is still out on whether there is more to this than meets the eye but I do appreciate the tone of everyone's feedback here, whether I agree with it or not....for what its worth I have been both a buyer and seller, and just from a personal vantage point and again no disrespect intended to anyone reading this who does not relate, but my e-commerce scammer radar hackles tingle when a conflict arises with a buyer that has dozens of positive buyer feedback entries but no visible seller feedback. I buy and sell sell and buy on multiple platforms and lists...In all that time I have never had any adverse or unpleasant transactions. Yet on the 1 occasion where my transaction left a sour taste, I couldn't help but notice the aforementioned feedback imbalance. Is it very common for sellers to take the time and provide feedback on their buyer? By the same token is common for buyers to ask for feedback from their sellers? Something is amiss here and I just cant quite put a finger on it....yet
soh.maryl
·1 year agoCan't tell if you're "just being paranoid" because I don't understand your message.
There are probably hundreds of thousands of eBay buyers who've never sold here and never will.
Why is that suspicious in your estimation?
About the ONLY way a buyer can be refunded without returning the item to the seller is (a) the seller agrees that the buyer doesn't need to return the item and just refunds or (b) the seller fails to respond to an item not as described case within the appropriate time frame and eBay in that case refunds the buyer from the seller's funds and indicates that the buyer can keep the item.
If you want to return and clarify your issues, we might be able to help.
vtmercantile
OP1 year agoWell I appreciate you taking the time to try and help assuage my concerns. However why this was selected as the best answer, I will never know since I had nothing to do with that decision. I actually gleaned more valuable insights from other "answers" than I did from this one. This answer almost seems AI generated and intentionally biased. To attest that the only way to do something or that the only way a particular adverse user outcome (whether from a Seller or Buyer vantage point) could occur, is oversimplifying at best or at worst obfuscating truth inconvenient or otherwise....
mam98031
·1 year agoSince you are the OP, you can change the Best Answer. In the little down arrow on the upper right side of the box there is an option you can select "Not the best answer". Select that and then go and select the post you thing best suites what you were after.
mam98031
·1 year ago@vtmercantile
I take it that you are upset with the feedback you got from a buyer!?!? It does appear that you may have made a few mistakes as a seller and this buyer was quite upset by it.
Buyers can only get positive feedback on Ebay. The feedback you left for that buyer is against the rules. If the buyer reports you, you will get a warning and/or a sanction for doing that.
Not all members want to be both a buyer and a seller. Some just want to be a buyer and some just want to be a seller. Then there are others that keep their buying under one account and their selling under a different account. Just depends on the way a member wants to run their account or accounts.
vtmercantile
OP1 year agoI came into this life on what Ive been told was a clear sunny day, however that day was not yesterday. Hence I have no doubt that the individual in question is "not just a buyer", even if that is how said individual wants to appear. The transaction in question, which prompted my SOS on this forum, was not nearly so cut and dry as you proposed could be the case. Since you are not privy to what transpired and the correspondence/interactions between the buyer and seller, I can only respond to your cookie cutter response as follows: I dont bake with Bisquick, and don't have much of a sweet tooth regardless
albertabrightalberta
·1 year agoYour buyer may very well be both a buyer and a seller. Since you say the ID doesn't show any feedback as a seller, I assume it's a buying ID.
He may have experience as a seller, understand ebay policy and may enlighten you about what you may have done wrong.
If you were able to see my feedback, you'd see that I have no feedback as a seller because I use a separate selling ID. (It's completely ebay-legal!) But I can still tell you that as a seller, you've made several mistakes.
1. You cannot name the buyer's ID in your response to his feedback. (I hope he's able to get your reply removed.)
2. Based on the buyer's feedback, it sounds like you underestimated the cost of shipping and instead of accepting your error and paying the extra postage for your mistake, you made him drive to meet you and save yourself the shipping costs yet you demanded gas money!
3. You described your item inaccurately as "mint" when it wasn't
4. The feedback left for the buyer violates feedback policy.
vtmercantile
OP1 year agoWith all due respect to your MENTOR status, your assessment (if you are just an experienced member and not either an AI algobot or employed by Ebay) blatantly reveals strongly held buyers bias and/or ignorance of the fact that in ways never before conceivable, scammers be scamming! I don't mean to cancel Christmas on you but in our current paradigm shift all human beings are either 1 way or the other, honest or otherwise.....which 1 are you?
mam98031
·1 year agoOMG @vtmercantile , just stop it and learn some manners. You stated " (if you are just an experienced member and not either an AI algobot or employed by Ebay)"
mam98031
·1 year agoWhen we respond on threads, we can only go with the information you provided. If that information is incomplete, then chances are responses may be a bit lacking.
You came here for some assistance with what you felt was an issue. EVERYONE here volunteers their time on these threads in an effort to assist others. You came here for help, because you didn't like what I have to say you felt it necessary to insult me. Not sure why as my only desire was to help. I see now, you just wanted us to agree with you.
vtmercantile
OP1 year agoYou gotta be kidding me...if an EBAY vintage MENTOR circa 1999 agreed with me, I'd know I was barking up the wrong tree. HEARD?
mam98031
·1 year agoNope, not kidding you. There are rules in the community and one of them is to be civil and respectful to each other. What you are doing is so unnecessary and unwelcomed. Clearly you are not actually looking for help.
kensgiftshop
·1 year agoIf they are just a buyer, there's no need for feedback as a seller.
gurlcat
·1 year agoI'm not sure I understand. Are you saying the fact that a buyer doesn't have any feedback as a seller is some kind of evidence that they are a con artist??? The vast majority of eBay buyers do not also sell stuff here. What even made you think that it was the norm?
As for a buyer trying to extort you for a (full or partial) refund without returning the item, their feedback is completely irrelevant. Abusive buyer behavior is abusive buyer behavior, PERIOD, and here is how you raise a red flag about it:
https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/rules-policies-buyers/abusive-buyer-policy?id=4374&st=3&pos=1&query=Abusive%20buyer%20policy&intent=report%20abusive%20buyer&lucenceai=lucenceai&docId=HELP1318
Scroll down and click the blue 'Report a buyer' button. Follow the prompt 'Buyer requested something not offered in the listing' then 'Requested a partial refund or discount' . Then you get a text box to write whatever details you want. Keep it SHORT and stick to the facts only, don't rant about a "buyer centric platform" or any of that.
vtmercantile
OP1 year agoThanks, this I feel was the most authentic and least biased answer thus far, hence you win the "BEST ANSWER" award! In answer to your question, I am going to defer to my right to not answer under the 5th constitutional amendment. In other words Im all set, but again thanks for your time and advice!
vintagecraze50
·1 year agoIn all cases of buyer abuse, always report the buyer as Gurlcat instructed. We have all had some bad buyers on here attempting various manipulations and some actually violating eBay’s rules for buying. It’s part of the internet sell experience at times.