Once again, I must close my ebay account
I asked that two negative feedback ratings be removed and was immediately denied. The ebay email so advising me only included the item in question, and in its denial stated 'for this reason' my request was being denied. What reason? No reason. Its disdain for sellers has reached a new low. The buyer in question viciously leaves almost nothing but negative feedback against buyers, with no valid reason. This is seemingly acceptable to ebay. All a seller can do is respond to the negative, with the negative still remaining. I don't know how ebay gets away with this, but they do. I have a stellar reputation and, if I keep my account open, must bide my time and hope more positive ratings will offset these negatives. But most people don't even leave feedback anymore, so what is the point? To just have it happen again?
luckythewinner
·1 year agoeBay does not remove feedback simply because the seller disagrees with it. If they did, no sellers would have negatives.
jbbowers12012
·1 year agoHi, You have some wonderful items that are nicely presented & fairly priced. You also have some great feedback ratings to back you up. I would respectfully suggest that you let this one go & not throw away your years of hard work by leaving eBay over this one customer. Dont' sweat the small stuff - life is too short! IMHO Of Course. (J.B. From N.J.)
az93
·1 year agoYour replies to the negative feedbacks only magnified them. Let the year go by and they will drop off.
fbusoni
·1 year ago@joanski4
Madam, something in the negative feedback caught my eye: the word "argumentative."
With the introduction of artificial intelligence to eBay's computer programs last year, eBay has the ability to scan all seller correspondence with buyers.
I do not know if eBay does this, but because the capability exists, I assume that it is indeed being done.
Perhaps one reason that eBay will not remove the negative in question is because of eBay's evaluation of the manner in which you comported yourself with the buyer. (This also applies of course to seller replies to negative feedback that has been left.)
I am most certainly not casting judgment... I am 65 and like you, have precious little patience for difficult people.
Rather, I am merely noting that sellers on eBay must really mind their manners lest eBay's "the-customer-is-always-right" algorithm go into overdrive and put your account on their radar.
regards
albertabrightalberta
·1 year agoI saw that too and based on the posts @joanski4 made throughout this 5-page discussion, I don't doubt for one second that the seller was argumentative! And the seller's responses to those feedbacks confirms my opinion.
joanski4
OP1 year agoThis buyer has used the word 'argumentative' in at least four of her recent 17 (out of 19) negative ratings. You figure it out.
joanski4
OP1 year agoThank you, I understand. This buyer has used that word and other tropes in her dozens of negative feedback ratings. She has used argumentative at least four times in recent ratings. I guess it is her description of one trying to have a reasonable dialogue with her, as I did. It is what it is. Again, I am a small seller who does not make a living from ebay sales, so I don't necessarily have a 'customer is always right' mentality, especially when they are not.
susanb1872
·1 year agoMay take up to 60 days to close. Here is the info from ebay: Generally, it takes 14 days to close an account from the date we receive a request, though it may take up to 60 days if you've had any transactions, payments, claims or disputes in the previous 30 days."
pickapaper
·1 year agoBuyeragrees to pay any and all shipping charges. I ship via USPS first class mail withtracking unless otherwise noted in the individual listing description, orrequested by the buyer. I DO NOT includeadditional insurance coverage unless requested by the buyer, and I do suggestit if the winning bid so warrants. Please contact me before submitting payment foradditional shipping options.
The post office did away with first class mail quite a while back; it has been replaced by Ground Advantage which includes tracking and $100 insurance. If additional insurance above the $100 is necessary, you need to pay it yourself. You cannot make a buyer pay for additional shipping / insurance after the sale. You are responsible for refunding the buyer for any lost or damaged shipments and for filing any insurance claims for reimbursement.
Appropriatesales tax will be added for buyers from New York State based upon final bid.
eBay collects sales tax from almost everyone now and remits it to the government.
Ireserve the right to reject any bid from anyone with negative, neutral or zerofeedback.
No, you don't.
Iwill allow for returns only if I have failed to accurately describe an item,not for buyer regrets. I must receive the item back within ten days; refundwill be issued after of receipt of returned merchandise in the same conditionas originally shipped. If returns are made, only the dollar amount of the itemwill be refunded, exclusive of initial shipping and return shipping charges.
If a buyer files a Not as Described claim, regardless of what your return policy is (eBay's Money Back Guarantee overrides your policy), you can either accept the return and issue a return label and then issue a refund upon return of the item, or you can just issue a refund and let the buyer keep the item. In most categories, eBay allows a buyer 30 days to return an item.
buyselljack2016
·1 year agoIreserve the right to reject any bid from anyone with negative, neutral or zerofeedback.
No, you don't.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Well, actually they do have the right to reject "a bid". Bids can be cancelled by the seller for any reason, or no reason at all on an active listing.
pickapaper
·1 year ago@buyselljack2016
You are correct. I was thinking of rejecting sales on Buy it Now; I forgot the OP does auctions.
joanski4
OP1 year agoThank you. If I keep my account will make changes.
albertabrightalberta
·1 year ago@joanski4
We don't know who your buyer is so we can't check that buyer's history. However if your allegation of the buyer's pattern of leaving a lot of negs is accurate, you (and other sellers) do have recourse.
You can report the buyer (following link) and you can point out the history and pattern of negging sellers.
https://spd.ebay.com/RBASellerHub
Ebay won't tell you if or how they sanction the buyer but if there are enough reports, they will eventually act.
joanski4
OP1 year agoThank you for your suggestions.
roccotacodad54
·1 year agoI read other responses to your post then went to look at the items you have listed. In almost all of them any marks denoting sterling or 925 etc. are almost or sometimes impossible to discern due to the poor picture quality. I'm surprised anyone bought anything in the first place unless the items sold had much better images.
I'm not surprised you have problems.......................
mordecai8614
·1 year agoOnce again, I must close my ebay account
Was that just for dramatic effect? I still see active listings.
joanski4
OP1 year agoNo, no drama. I would have to wait thirty days anyway to close the account so I didn't end these listings. I will not relist when they do end, and take the wait period to rethink and get a tougher skin lol.
tarotfindsandmore
·1 year agoSellers do have recourse but the reality is that this isn't the eBay you remember. Unfortunately, abusive sellers created the current situation we're all in right now. My first incarnation as a seller was from 1997 until 2004 when sellers got away with bloody murder. My departure was driven by a return to academia but, to be completely honest, I had gotten pretty disgusted with the shenanigans of sellers (not buyers) at that time.
Your current listings reflect a lot of what went on during that period. They're antagonistic and overly verbose. The red "rules" you have posted in a space that should be used for a clean, clear, succinct description of your items is an invitation for trouble. A normal, reasonable buyer is going to take one look at that page, not read any of it, and move along.
All that said, it does suck that we can't "hit" back, but at this stage in your life you're probably already well aware that the customer is always right...even when they absolutely are not. If you haven't yet learned that lesson and you want to make a living in what, in reality, is probably the easiest possible way, you might want to take to heart what's been said here. The powers that be absolutely do not care whether you stick around.
joanski4
OP1 year agoThank you for your input. Again, I am a very low volume seller and did not see a lot of what went on in the period you mention, which may have precipitated ebay's policy of excluding negative feedback for buyers. I also understand that my situation on ebay is vastly different than many who are making a living on ebay sales. They have to be diplomatic, I imagine, no matter what the character of the buyer. I don't put myself in that category. If I keep this account, I will make changes as you and others have suggested.
powell-collectibles
·1 year agoI can’t imagine going through life with an overriding need that everyone likes me, no one can say anything bad about me, and then no one can call me out on mistakes.
Best of luck in finding your perfect situation.
joanski4
OP1 year agoI don't really know where you infer that I need to be liked? This is Facebook for God's sake. I don't know these people. I'm not Sally Field. I don't like being called a thief, would you? A scam artist? Having a buyer post negative rating based upon her baseless claims? I wouldn't have minded if the negative was based on my personality but not fabrications about the quality of anything I have for auction.
femmefan1946
·1 year agoYour response is much much worse than the neg the buyer left.
Who do you think reads feedback?
Not the buyer.
They know what happened and don't care.
Not eBay.
They do not use FB to measure member accounts.Not only is FB voluntary. Not only do less than 40% of transactions get any FB. But also FB is an opinion on how the transaction went.
Not your fellow sellers.
They never see buyer feedback because less than 15% of transactions are Auctions. Most are FixedPrice or Buy It Now/auction and the seller meets the buyer after the purchase has been made.
The only reader will be your future customer.
Who will hit the backbutton when they see how you badmouth other customers.
Remember only you can see the identity of the buyer.
joanski4
OP1 year agoMy reaction to this buyer had a basis in numerous emails wherein she practically called me a thief. I was not going to react until I did see many responses from ebay sellers more experienced than I, who called her out for her tactics. Searching her feedback left for others, of the 19 or so she left in the past six months, 17 were nasty negatives. Maybe others would turn the other cheek, I would not.
timzbiz
·1 year agoLong time seller here. Over 20, 000 sales. I have stopped selling on ebay until ebay removes its unfair feedback system and fixes all anti-seller issues. NO MORE!
joanski4
OP1 year agoWell, if a seller such as you cannot affect change, I guess nothing can change. I just don't understand its rationale.
fashunu4eeuh
·1 year ago@joanski4 Negative feedback can sting, no doubt about it. Sorry this happened to you. If it is any consolation, you are not alone. Sell long enough, one will happen.
Note: buyers know this.
You wrote:
†I have a stellar reputation and, if I keep my account open, must bide my time and hope more positive ratings will offset these negatives.â€
Your concern over needing to dilute the negs is actually unnecessary angst. Any buyer can read between these lines to clearly note the person leaving the offensive comment has an issue and it is not you. Plus, the only neg remaining (the other must have been removed?) will not dissuade a future buyer from purchasing from you. Ans lastly, all that good “stellar†feedback you reference supports that you are a very fine seller.
I’ve sold here over the last two decades, creating some perspective regarding this issue. Feedback no longer serves the purpose it once did before all the checks and balances came to bear on the platform. It was once the sole support for a buyer/seller’s reputation. But no more. Most Importantly, feedback is not used in evaluating seller performance because it is, quite frankly, not always a reliable measure.
Feedback can be wholly subjective, arbitrary and voluntary to boot. So poor feedback carries little power to harm one’s account. EXCEPT for one thing—a seller can easily shoot himself in the foot by leaving an ill-advised follow-up response. It is critical for sellers not to take it all personally and then leave a statement full of buyer blaming, defensiveness, angry, name-calling, and/or a failure to express concern or accountability.
Future buyers do not care about what a negative comment says. They care about what the seller says in response and how he/she manages a troubled transaction.
joanski4
OP1 year agoThanks for your advice and input. I should have probably not focused on it so much.
joanski4
OP1 year agoThank you for your comments and suggestions. Perhaps I did place too much emphasis on feedback ratings; I guess I personalize it since I would never think of just lightly calling someone deceptive etc.
tobaccocardyahoo
·1 year agoYour feedback shows 2 negatives in the count, but I only see one negative listed.
Perhaps one of those FB is in the process of going away.
buyselljack2016
·1 year agoclick the 2
then click most recent
joanski4
OP1 year agoNo, they are both there. Same buyer. She posted a negative for the second item she bought, even though she had not issue with it.
albertabrightalberta
·1 year agoThey're both there. You have to sort by "most recent."
inhawaii
·1 year agoWhy do you have to close your account, because you received negative feedback?
Do you think the rest of us close our accounts when we receive negative feedback?
P.S. You still have 20 items listed.
joanski4
OP1 year agoI hear you. I know from my first account closure that I have to wait 30 days. I do have other things I wanted to post. Maybe venting and hearing all of your experiences will toughen me up. Thank you.
krazzykats
·1 year agoIt was a rough December 2024.
I received one neutral here for item materials, and a negative on another site for not changing the shipping address after payment.
I just keep plugging along and don't give up. I'm not perfect, even though I try to be...🤣
á“šá˜á—¢
joanski4
OP1 year agoMaybe I should develop a thicker skin but at 75, that will be difficult lol.
@joanski4
What gets me is the title of this thread..."Once again, I must close my account".
What do you mean Once again? Have you closed an account before because you didn't like the feedback buyers left for you?
joanski4
OP1 year agoThe account I have now was opened ca 2017. My first account was opened around 2000 and I closed it with about 1,000 positive ratings, a few neutrals and one negative. One negative. etc. etc. etc. ebay would not remove it so I closed my account. Should I have hastily closed it? Maybe not. I only sell vintage jewelry etc. so at the time I had the option of increasing my sales in NYC markets and in upstate New York giant markets, so it worked out. Too old for that now so I returned to ebay.
bgt_masters_of_tiki_d
·1 year agoYou do realize other buyers cannot look at the feedback your buyer has left other sellers because there user ID is hidden? This (copy and pasted below) is what it looks like from my end. I wish it was more like back in the day when you could see who left what feedback. Just yesterday my competition got a negative and replied and I figured out from their reply who the buyer was and saw a 100+ negatives they left for other sellers and promptly blocked them even though they've purchased from me 8 or so times in two years I don't want to deal with them.
joanski4
OP1 year agoThey can see it on my page which is my main concern. I understand they can't see my negative reviews on the posters page. It is my page I care about, but in my response, as I noted, I urge sellers to take note of this buyers' history of scores of negative ratings. And after this incident, I see on the buyers' page that many others in the same situation have done the same.
joanski4
OP1 year agoI believe there is a mechanism in place for a seller to not accept bids from buyers with little feedback; by the same token, there should be a mechanism in place to not accept abusive buyers who have a record of posting an inordinate amount of baseless negative feedback ratings.
lacemaker3
·1 year agoNo, there is not. You can block them from making multiple purchases, but you can't block the first purchase.
Sigh. You claim to be a very experienced seller, but you don't even know this? SMH
FYI, many of the responders here are as old as you are, or nearly as old, or older. You're not going to get any slack by playing the age game.
joanski4
OP1 year agoOMG I am not playing any age game. I raised a son on my own, sued and won a lawsuit in federal court, ran for elected office. I don't sit home knitting shawls. I mention my age only because I don't have the patience for rude, crude and thoughtless people anymore at this point in my life. I am not asking for any 'slack'. My post dealt mainly with the fact that sellers have no recourse when dealing with buyers who get away with murder in posting capricious, vicious and unfair negative ratings. I don't want to hear about blocking, etc. Why is the onus on me, when ebay bends over backwards to let these kinds of buyers get away with murder?
fern*wood
·1 year agoIt kind of makes me sad that sellers worry so much about feedback and quit selling over something like that. Since ebay removed it from our evaluations, I don't give it all that much thought, but if I can avoid bad feedback, I will. I try to never engage in a back & forth with a buyer--that's like taking a water balloon to a gun fight. Bad feedback is quite survivable, though, and a good follow-up can do wonders.
joanski4
OP1 year agoThank you. I am only a low volume seller so I would have to just wait it out. I find many today don't leave feedback at all.
fashunu4eeuh
·1 year ago@joanski4 wrote:
â€Why is the onus on me, when ebay bends over backwards to let these kinds of buyers get away with murder?â€
While there are some seller protections in place, overall, the eBay platform is designed to ensure the seller bears all the risk of ecommerce. Not eBay, not the buyer.
As a for-profit entity, eBay will not jeopardize its bottom line to suit a seller’s needs (and forgo its own) if eBay’s interests are in conflict with theirs.
Sellers must protect their own interests, but only while operating within the site’s policies. So yes, the onus is squarely on sellers. The sad thing is seeing the failure of those who enter the fray expecting eBay to protect them, only to discover later they were mistaken in that assumption.
joanski4
OP1 year agoI am not looking for protection. Just equal treatment to that afforded buyer. Aren't we co-dependent on each other?
monroe67
·1 year agoNo, there is not. There are provisions to block bids or buyers who meet certain other criteria.
Here's a screenshot from my selling ID:
Again, this is from my selling ID. The feedback limit (can't be more than 5, btw) is a secondary criterion for blocking people who are current winning an auction or have already bought from you up to 100 times in the last 10 days.
About the other Block Settings options: The first item in the list is people who have caused two (2) cancellations of unpaid orders in the last month. The maximum number any seller can limit in that field is 5 cancellations during a period of time up to one year.
That second item in the Block Settings is very important. I suggest you read it very, very carefully. I mean, we've established that we are both 75 years old. I assume you learned, as I did, in your primary and secondary education, the meaning of certain words, and know that most words mean precisely what they say and cannot reasonably be skewed or spun to mean something else.
Again, this is from my own selling ID's eBay choices. I choose not to sell to buyers whose shipping address is in a location to which I do not ship.
You'll notice that none of these options offered by eBay allows you to block buyers whose eBay registered address is in a location where you do not ship.
An eBay shipping address is not an eBay registered address.
Sure, the addresses could be the same for any individual eBay user, and they usually are. But they are not required to be the same. Yet that is precisely the first "policy" you claim in your Item Description: that you won't "accept bids from those whose eBay registered address is not in the United States."
That's not an enforceable position. In other words, it contradicts eBay's procedures and policies. Have you ever actually rejected a bid from or canceled a sale to a person whose eBay registration was in Canada or the United Kingdom or Russia or Australia? If you cancel enough sales because of that "policy" of yours, eBay could actually close your account before you do.
Again: I'm 75. It's close to 5:00 p.m. in California now, so I need to go eat some dinner. Might have soup.
I might even go to sleep early.
marnotom!
·1 year agoeBay isn’t for everyone.
stainlessenginecovers
·1 year ago1st; you cannot ask 'others' to 'look' at a buyers feedback because
a.) you cannot see it or click it to see it
b.) your response is not professional and goes against the entire concept of being able to leave false negatives for buyers
2nd- there is nothing in that feedback that would warrant removal
3rd- most nobody cares (buyers) as most (buyers) don't look at feedback and if they do, it's buried below other positives, so it really doesn't matter.
4th- you don't need to announce you are leaving
5th- to leave, you should first remove all your existing listings for sale and
6th- you won't be able to 'close' your account for 6 months because you have current sales and paypal/most credit cards allow 'chargebacks' for that long
joanski4
OP1 year agoI have no idea what you are talking about. All they have to do is click on the negatives which leads to the buyer's account, wherein they can see the feedback left for others history. I don't care if anyone pays attention to negative feedback. I don't like being called a thief, confused, delusional etc. YOU might not mind such remarks, but I do. And you are saying I am not professional? So, in your world, any buyer can claim an item is not genuine, leave a nasty negative, and that is the end of it. No wonder ebay is the way it is.
buyselljack2016
·1 year agoCorrect, you were not professional.
You took the feedback personally.
joanski4
OP1 year agoI am not professional? Because I am not a doormat and don't want to be insulted and called a thief and deceptive for auctioning an item which was exactly as stated? do you even know what the word professional means?
buyselljack2016
·1 year agoSelling on eBay is business.
A business should act professionally even if the buyer acts like a child.
bennotbill
·1 year agoOnly you as the seller can see that.
Others only see what bgt_masters_of_tiki_d has shown.
stainlessenginecovers
·1 year ago@joanski4 Well, let me tell you so you know what I'm talking about.
ONLY YOU can see that- nobody else can.
joanski4
OP1 year agoMy leaving is not the point, don't you get it? It is the fact that ebay does not in any way support sellers when they have to deal with unscrupulous buyers. I am 75 years old. I know how to close my account and I know there is a waiting period. My first account was opened in 2000 and I closed it with 1200 plus positive feedback ratings. It was not an announcement that I was leaving. Who gives a **bleep**? But you also don't give a **bleep** that ebay continue its practice of disallowing negative feedback against buyers, which to be was the beginning of the end. I thought actual humans and not bots were evaluating ebay's seller challenges to unwarranted negative feedback. Apparently not. My two requests for reviews were turned down within a half hour. Embedded in ebay's denial was the item description and the ebay item id number, and the buyer name. This is the text of their denial below. Do YOU see a reason lol?
Our decision
For this reason, the feedback was not removed. Just so you know, this feedback will not impact your seller performance level.
stainlessenginecovers
·1 year agoI get it.
I don't think you do.
YOU titled your thread so YOU made it THE POINT!
lacemaker3
·1 year agoWhat reason did you give for requesting that the negatives be removed?
Did the buyer open return requests for these items? and if so, what is the status?
For the brooch you described as "copper over sterling silver ... marked Sterling" where is the hallmark? I looked through all the pictures on the listing, and couldn't find a picture of it.
Nobody can see the buyer's other feedback left, because it is anonymous. We can't see who the buyer is.
joanski4
OP1 year agoThe STERLING mark was included on one of the photos. It needed to be enlarged with the item in hand, to see it, via a magnifier etc., which doesn't take away the fact that it is noted as sterling. Again, it is in one of the photos in my listing. I think it is shown in image number 11, with the brooch on its side. The bidder won two items; I saw as soon as she bid that she had a history of leaving dozens of negatives for sellers and I knew there would be trouble. I immediately offered to refund her money, and made the same offer on three subsequent occasions. All ignored. She received the item, questioned it silver content, and asked to take it to a jeweler. I agreed, waited 9 days and contacted her, and she asked for a photo of the image with the sterling mark, which I sent, even though it was included in my listing. She sent nasty email complaining it had to be enlarged to see the imprint, which did not in any way indicate there was no mark. She also bid on and won a second item, with which she had no issue, and still posted a negative for that auction. A vicious individual. I am done with ebay. I had another decades- long account which I closed for similar reasons. Sellers are inconsequential; buyers can leave any and all manner of insulting feedback with no recourse for sellers other than to comment; but the unfair negative remains. I'm 75 years old and don't need this headache.
youn2240
·1 year agoare you saying that when the buyer bought the item you made 3 attempts to refund them instead of sending the item? that's kind of a strange thing to do. anyway don't contact buyers nothing good will come out of it. some buyers are insane and nothing they buy and nothing you do to make the situation right will make them content. just block them and move on........ but for real don't start trying to get buyers to accept refunds after they buy things that's strange. and makes sense why they were saying you were confused if that's what you did. that's not a good experience that's a bad experience.
I've lucked out to very few unhappy customers in my time here but sometimes it's better to remove your feelings about the situation and take your lumps. just move on they aren't worth your time and they aren't helping your business so just add them to the blocked list and live to fight another day. I do not think anyone looking through your entire feedback history will care that you have a negative you have many positives. The feedback is a silly metric that in the vast majority of cases will have no effect on anyone buying your items or not. You have nice stuff i'm sure you do a good job some customers are always wrong lol.
joanski4
OP1 year agoNo. I sent the item the day I was paid. I try and send out the day ebay sends payment, even though it hadn't cleared my account. I ask in my listings that buyers not pay until I send an invoice if they have bid on and won more than one item, so I can combine shipping. But she bid on the two items and autopaid. I shipped out the items day one and issued her a shipping refund. I always send followup emails advising of tracking etc. When she received the two items she questioned the silver content of one, stating she thought it was an alloy, asking if I had it taken to a jeweler, which I do not do unless I sell something by gram count. This was an antique brooch with the STERLING imprint, which I noted to her. By that time I had seen her scores of negatives against almost every buyer and I offered to take the pin back. She instead asked if she could take it to a jeweler after Christmas and I said find. Yesterday, nine days later with no contact, I asked her intent. She asked me to send an image of the word Sterling on the pin, which was already in a photo from my listing and I sent it agan. She wrote back that I was a fraud or something to that effect, and that she needed a loop to see the sterling logo, as if that negated the fact that it was sterling. She then immediately posted the two negatives, for the brooch in question and the second one she bid on and for which she had no problem.
albertabrightalberta
·1 year agoWhy would you contact the buyer to "ask her intent."
Most of us consider that no news is good news. Pestering and constant followup don't usually end well.
youn2240
·1 year agoI gotcha. Sounds like a clear cut case of a buyer that needs a swift kick in the behind. Both items you sent out were very nice.
joanski4
OP1 year agoThank you. I guess there are many of them out there.
monroe67
·1 year ago"I'm 75 years old and don't need this headache."
Me, too! Anybody can do the math: there's a big hint in the eBay User ID I use for posting (and buying).
On eBay, unless you are legally a minor and thus legally restricted from entering into contracts, AGE does not matter.
What matters for eBay sellers is that they know, understand, accept, and agree to be bound by eBay's policies, not their own ideas of the way eBay "should" be run. Among those policies are a number of things that you list in your "Item Descriptions" that are in contradiction to, or violation of, eBay's policies.
Just one suggestion that might help you: did you know you can block specific potential buyers? I myself have added another ID to my own Blocked Buyers List (BBL) just today.
joanski4
OP1 year agoI didn't realize one can block someone like that ahead of time. Can you explain what is wrong with my description area?
lacemaker3
·1 year agoOK, yes, it is visible in photo 11, but only if you enlarge it, and only if you know that it is there, so you should be looking for something.
If you are stating that an item is marked Sterling, you should provide a picture that clearly shows the mark. It should not be so difficult to see the item in the pictures that a reasonable person can't find it unless they are told exactly where to search for it.
Did you test the item to determine what the metal content was?
From what you said, it sounds as though the buyer took the item to a jeweler for testing. What did the test results say?
At any rate, if the buyer felt that the item was not as described, then your response should have been, please return the item, and I will be happy to refund once I get it back. If you had made that response, the chances are that the feedback would have been removed. Definitely if that was your response to a return case, the feedback would have been removed if it was not returned for a refund.
You had that listed with no returns, but you did not answer my question about whether the buyer opened a return request, for what reason, and what the status of the return request was.
There has to be a return request opened, in order for you to be covered by seller protection for negatives. It is better to accept returns, for that reason: you get better seller protection when are a buyer-friendly seller.
And yes, some buyers know how to play the system and take advantage of it. Good sellers know how to maximize their protection to avoid this kind of problem.
joanski4
OP1 year agoI did tell her from the beginning she could return it. She never opened a return request, just kept complaining and every step of the way; at that point I had seen her negative feedback history, and I again told her she could return it, no problem. What do I have to baby these people? My photo, even enlarged, showed the Sterling imprint. Does it take away the fact that it is, in fact, sterling? She then asked if she could take it to a jeweler after Christmas, I said fine, and waited until yesterday to contact her. She never indicated if she went to the jeweler, asked for another photo showing the imprint, and I sent it and for the third time offered to issue a refund. Her response was to tell me the imprint was too small lol and that she would demand her money back (funny since I offered to do so three times) said I was a terrible seller etc. etc. and left two neg ratings.
lacemaker3
·1 year agoSounds like a textbook example of how not to be a good buyer...
... and how not to be a good seller.
She can hurt you a lot more than you can hurt you. Does it make sense to get into a bleep match, in this situation? < No >
FYI you never want to get sucked into participating in a bleep match, because even the one who wins gets bleeped on.
femmefan1946
·1 year ago@lacemaker3
If you are stating that an item is marked Sterling, you should provide a picture that clearly shows the mark.
I don't think that @joanski4 understands how sterling marks work.
A 'real' sterling piece may or may not say 'sterling' on it, but it WILL have a'hallmark' which is specific to the manufacturer, and even to the date of manufacture.
A hallmark looks like this:
Putting a common metal like copper over sterling silver seems like a dumb move. It increases the cost of the piece while lowering the value.
I suspect the name of the manufacturer is Sterling, just as there is a card and gift company named Hallmark.
This for example is the actor Sterling K Brown.
joanski4
OP1 year agoTo tell you the truth, I didn't look past the STERLING imprint to see if there were hallmarks. If the buyer returns it to me, I can have it check out, which is what she wanted to do 10 days ago. I don't take these pieces to jewelers for evaluation because I have had so many through the years. Lessons learned. Thank you.
pennpicker
·1 year ago