Feedback Extortion Question

[niedermonger]

I had a buyer purchase an item, they sent me messages stating they had received the correct items and were happy with them but wanted me to leave them positive feedback. I generally only leave feedback for buyers after I have received positive feedback because let's face it sellers are the ones doing the work and should receive feedback for that work. The buyer then proceeded to leave me multiple messages containing profanity, threatened negative feedback and made other comments. They then left negative feedback stating that the "idiot seller" sent the "wrong item". Uh no I have the message where they admit they received the correct items, were happy with them and all the other messages containing profanity and threats of negative feedback for what is essentially a service not including in the listing which is me leaving positive feedback for the buyer doing zero work.

Does anyone else think this is a example of feedback extortion? I have already gave the buyer a chance to save themselves by sending a feedback revision request before I personally call eBay.

Thoughts?

[sabrinmurraon_0]

Yes, ebay will probably remove it, but this is a lesson in not being stubborn, had you just left the positive feedback, you could have saved yourself the headache.

[duchess-at-speakeasy]

Feedback extortion usually involves a buyer stating he/she will leave negative feedback if the seller does not make a partial refund or otherwise reimburse the buyer for some perceived "overcharge."

Remember, feedback is voluntary. Personally, as a seller I leave feedback when I know an order has been successfully delivered. If the buyer cares to reciprocate, fine; if not, so what? Some sellers give feedback upon payment; others only in batches once a week or month; still others whenever they happen to get around to it. As a buyer, I generally leave feedback within a couple of weeks of receiving an order. "Delivered" does not mean "received." Right now, I still haven't picked up mail delivered to my PMB more than 2 weeks ago.

In your case, you could have avoided the whole issue by calmly thanking the buyer for the reminder and perhaps saying that you generally leave feedback on the first day of the month following a completed transaction. Imposing your demands or "policy" on a buyer who has already expressed satisfaction is a poor decision . . . and you are now seeing the result.

Feedback extortion? Maybe. But I certainly would not have wasted a feedback revision request, nor would I bother calling eBay about something so easily prevented.

~~C~~

[jrinam]

only had that issue once. i rarely sell and wasnt concerned about making money, just clearing out stuff i no longer wanted. sold an off brand slot car set for track/parts only for 10 bucks, easily double or triple that in value. the buyer wasnt happy, said he ran an ebay store and would never send out an item in that condition. box was dirty and smelled, track was dusty and wires on controller had cracked insulation. he wanted 'free' controllers to call it even. looking back, i should of covered the return shipping and refunded his money but i sent him controllers and covered the shipping anyway. i am now at $0.00!  he was still complaining so i went on his store and bought the cheapest thing he had. all of a sudden, he posted posative feedback for his purchase and same for mine! i guess he figured out why i bought his item. it went in the trash just like anything else i 'could of' sold here ever since that day.

[sabrinmurraon_0]

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@jrinam wrote:

only had that issue once. i rarely sell and wasnt concerned about making money, just clearing out stuff i no longer wanted. sold an off brand slot car set for track/parts only for 10 bucks, easily double or triple that in value. the buyer wasnt happy, said he ran an ebay store and would never send out an item in that condition. box was dirty and smelled, track was dusty and wires on controller had cracked insulation. he wanted 'free' controllers to call it even. looking back, i should of covered the return shipping and refunded his money but i sent him controllers and covered the shipping anyway. i am now at $0.00!  he was still complaining so i went on his store and bought the cheapest thing he had. all of a sudden, he posted posative feedback for his purchase and same for mine! i guess he figured out why i bought his item. it went in the trash just like anything else i 'could of' sold here ever since that day.

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@jrinam wrote:

only had that issue once. i rarely sell and wasnt concerned about making money, just clearing out stuff i no longer wanted. sold an off brand slot car set for track/parts only for 10 bucks, easily double or triple that in value. the buyer wasnt happy, said he ran an ebay store and would never send out an item in that condition. box was dirty and smelled, track was dusty and wires on controller had cracked insulation. he wanted 'free' controllers to call it even. looking back, i should of covered the return shipping and refunded his money but i sent him controllers and covered the shipping anyway. i am now at $0.00!  he was still complaining so i went on his store and bought the cheapest thing he had. all of a sudden, he posted posative feedback for his purchase and same for mine! i guess he figured out why i bought his item. it went in the trash just like anything else i 'could of' sold here ever since that day.

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That could have been considered a violation and the seller could have gotten any feedback you left

https://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/unwelcome-buying.html

[jrinam]

i had no intention of leaving negative feedback, it was leverage to stop him from pushing for more. it was when i was new to ebay and thought fb actually meant something. he was a seasoned seller and was using that to extract as much as he could from me. item was $10.00, shipping was $8.00 so the cheapest option was to refund his money and let him keep it (which he suggested)  it was only after i declined and asked him to return it that he asked for free items as compensation for?  i explained, for the second time, that the set was sold as track to add to another set of same brand, that it wasnt practical to keep for anything else and he would be better off taking the refund and buying a complete set, i even suggested brands and aprox. costs. he said he would be happy to just get the controllers. i sent them to prevent farther issues and he still wasnt happy. he got 30 bucks in track for $18.00, i got $10.00, then $15.00 in controllers free, i paid $7.00 to ship so i am at 3 bucks profit and he has double the merchandise and he wanted more! now it is $33.00 to get everything back and still get snad! easier to take stuff to goodwill or just throw it away.

[leagueminimum]

feedback extortion clearly

[leagueminimum]

clearly feedback extortion

[jrinam]

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@leagueminimum wrote:

clearly feedback extortion

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on my part or his? i only jumped threw hoops to prevent getting bad fb. i fealt i was being extorted. when i bought his item, yes, clearly feedback extortion although i never played that card, never even threatened it and only someone playing that game would reckognise it as such. after buying his item, i was not only out my money for item, i was out items i wanted to keep and had his item that i didnt want. dont know if he was projecting every bad costomer on to me, trying to wipe out the competition or actually expected something different than he got, dont care, i just wanted items to go to a collector, not the trash.

[sabrinmurraon_0]

Im sure I speak for many sellers when I say thank you for posting

[jrinam]

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@sabrinmurraon_0 wrote:
Im sure I speak for many sellers when I say thank you for posting

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why? so they can block me? i dont hide behind several accounts, and was straight forward with what happened! has anyone said what i 'should of' or 'could of' done? speculated on his reasons for doing what he did? not here to play games, just buy a few items, and sold a dozen years ago. I OFFERRED REFUND AND RETURN SHIPPING!!  i am not a seller/store, and would of gave items away for free if buyer was here in person. 

[castlemagicmemories]

First, you only get so many feedback revisions so it is a good idea to ask before you send one.

Second, you can call Ebay CS, have them read your messages, especially the one that says they got the correct item and are happy.  That proves the feedback is wrong.  Have them read the other messages; that proves feedback extortion.

Ask CS to remove that feedback on those grounds.

Sorry you went through this and best of luck to you.

[chrysylys]

IF (and that's a huge if) you can get the right CS rep to look at those messages, they may (and that's an equally huge may) take other acttion agains the buyer for those messages.

[virtualwhimsy]

Buyers like this make me crazy and should be banned.

However - never gonna happen.

As much as it grates - next time leave the positive feedback then block.

Crazy can't be negotiated - just dealt with.

[shellmailitems]

Yes that sounds like extortion. As a seller if I don't hear from my buyer within a couple weeks I send a very friendly reminder that if they are happy with their purchase that fb is greatly appreciated. Three out of 5 will respond back with a positive comment but lately it's getting harder to get fb reciprocated. I understand that we all forget about e-Bay especially if we are new to buying and not looking for fb ratings. That is my only reason for the reminder. If I still don't hear from them I figure they are the kind of buyer that wants fb but doesn't care to send it to others. It's unfortunate because it's those kind of people that ruin it for others.  I like thanking my buyers. I appreciate them and their business but I also like to know if they are happy or not so that I may address their concerns. FB is a two way street but for me I think Im starting to head down a one way street, you buy, I ship, it's over.