eBay automatically removing negative feedback?

[bro.us.5iedd7mtn]

Need some help, I had a poor experience with a seller so I left a negative but polite feedback. I did not say anything out of line, I just described what happened and explained what went wrong.

Within a minute it was gone. The seller is one with thousands of sales, so I am guessing there is some kind of automatic filtering going on with top sellers. 

I am a little annoyed because what is the point of even having negative feedback if it just gets removed for the most privileged of sellers? The seller in question has 100% feedback and now I know why...

[bro.us.5iedd7mtn]

So if anyone's curious - I contacted eBay support and was told that if a seller provides a refund of any sort (even if it is a partial refund, not a full refund as requested) - they are allowed to have the feedback removed even if it is a legitimate complaint.

This seems like a poor policy to me - just because a seller can be eventually cajoled into giving some kind of return doesn't excuse poor communication, inaccurate listings, and etc. 

So, let this be a lesson to any other buyer - just because a seller has 100% rating, that does not mean they're worry-free. It just means you'll get some of your money back if there's an issue. 

[donsdetour]

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@bro.us.5iedd7mtn wrote:

So if anyone's curious - I contacted eBay support and was told that if a seller provides a refund of any sort (even if it is a partial refund, not a full refund as requested) - they are allowed to have the feedback removed even if it is a legitimate complaint.

This seems like a poor policy to me - just because a seller can be eventually cajoled into giving some kind of return doesn't excuse poor communication, inaccurate listings, and etc. 

So, let this be a lesson to any other buyer - just because a seller has 100% rating, that does not mean they're worry-free. It just means you'll get some of your money back if there's an issue. 

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Sorry to read this. Such still is eBay does monitor such things as seller metrics, it gets bad and they pay more to bed they are gone.

Was this a pen?  If so what kind?

[house*of*paws]

Hi @bro.us.5iedd7mtn 

I think the only negs that are removed 'automatically' are those given to sellers who offer free 30-day returns for any reason.  [Those wouldn't need to be 'cajoled', since free returns are automatically accepted.]  Other sellers have to convince a CS rep that the feedback has been left unfairly.

I believe the rep you spoke to is mistaken about simply providing a partial refund being sufficient to have the neg removed automatically. 

[bro.us.5iedd7mtn]

It was a pen but I do not want to share too many details in case it makes it obvious who the seller was. The pen had a pretty significant crack in it that was not visible in the pics so I sent it back. I totally get that sometimes it's really hard to see small problems like that so I don't blame the seller for that issue. It happens and I would never leave a negative feedback for this.

What I was upset about and wanted to mention in my feedback is that the seller's communication was consistently poor. It took several days for them to provide a refund after they received the item and it was a partial one at that. I tried to find out why, it took several messages over the period of five days to get a response. And what a response it was, they blamed me for packing the return improperly when I literally repacked it in the same materials (no more, no less) they sent, in the same box. 

I was told by support that the feedback is hidden, not removed. So it supposedly counts against their "star" ratings (communication, shipping, etc.) but I am a little skeptical. Also, I am not sure how many buyers pay attention to those, I focus on the actual comments myself.

[bro.us.5iedd7mtn]

Fair enough, the representative wasn't completely clear on that part. But this still seems like a really poor policy. If a seller has high enough sales volume, if a certain percentage of those items are broken or flawed, they'll get away with it, and then just relist the items without losing any significant amount of money or getting any negative feedback.

Obviously I don't make eBay policy, but I believe that as long as a feedback is accurate and not derogatory, it should be on the seller's profile. Otherwise what's the point?

[house*of*paws]

@bro.us.5iedd7mtn 

I'm not a seller myself ... so everything I know about selling on eBay is from reading thousands of Community posts for about 16 years.

For almost all of that time ... eBay refused to remove the negative rating from a seller's account ... regardless of the reason the buyer had for leaving it.  [They'd sometimes remove the 'comment' if it violated policy, but allow the neg to remain.]

I've seen negative feedback left because:

• Shipping was delayed by the carrier.  [The item was shipped the same day as purchased.]
• The buyer didn't like the movie they purchased ... because of the 'plot', and not something the seller did wrong.
• The seller didn't leave the buyer feedback as soon as they paid.
• The buyer received a 'feedback reminder' ... from eBay.
• The item 'ran small' ... although the correct size and dimensions were in the listing.

These are just a few that come to mind.  My point is that is became obvious to me that many honest sellers were getting screwed by irrational buyers ... and I was glad to see that eBay finally became willing to remove some negative ratings.  The removals are inconsistent ... and they sometimes don't make sense ... but, on the whole, I think it's a good thing.

While buyers and sellers are both eBay 'customers' ... buyers prevail in disputes about 98% of the time.  Sellers mostly are unable to provide evidence when a buyer 'switches' a $100 item they return ... or sends an empty package back.  [Buyers can prevail in disputes through their credit card company even after losing an eBay dispute.]

As an experienced buyer ... I feel I can do a good job evaluating sellers even with the occasional feedback removal.  I'm just not concerned about it ... and haven't had any problem with eBay purchases for many years.  

Anyway, I felt compelled to spell this out.  It's my opinion alone.  I'm not speaking for eBay ... or for other members who volunteer answering questions.  I'm NOT disputing that the feedback you left was removed unfairly, as you come across as a fair person.  🙂

[bro.us.5iedd7mtn]

I guess my issue is that it's automatic. The problem with irrelevant negative feedback not being removed still exists, this doesn't address that problem.

I only sell a little bit (mostly so I can buy more pens for my hobby and not have a gaping hole in my wallet) but I have some family that are slightly bigger sellers. A while back they got a feedback from an angry buyer that was legitimately racist, making fun of their language skills. They are indeed immigrants but have lived in the US for many many years and are fluent. They contacted eBay support and I saw first-hand when the eBay representative told them that it was "helpful and useful" feedback for the community to see.

So the problem is not that eBay is removing irrelevant and malicious feedback - I totally support more of that  and wholeheartedly agree with everything you said. The problem is that the removal is automatic, and there's no human intervention to see if the feedback is warranted or not. And inappropriate feedback still gets through, just not if the seller is protected under this policy.

[Anonymous]

Same thing happened here. Seller gave an incorrect Tracking Number that showed delivery to another state, and was evasive and not responsive when inquired about this. Yet he refunded quickly after I started an Ebay claim, without any explanation, which clearly shows that the item was never sent in the first place, and might never have been under the seller's possession. So I left a Negative Feedback to explain what happened and warn buyers, but it was removed when I checked the seller's account one day later!

Now I know why thanks to this thread. It is really stupid... It is not because you get a refund that the experience must have been positive... In my case I still lost some money due to currency conversion. Not counting the time lost dealing with this. And future buyers will not know anything about that.

The seller had another Negative Feedback mentioning a Tracking Number showing delivery to another state so I was definitively not the only one affected by some shady practice. The seller has 95% positive or so too but who knows how low it would be if there were not that ridiculous censorship. Probably the account would have been terminated since long if Ebay were a sane place.

Ebay is often criticized for siding with Buyers, so maybe it is their way to fix that...
Meanwhile there are lots of stupid Negative Feedbacks that stay, complaining about things out of control of the seller, left due to buyer's remorse, or that clearly show that the buyer did not try to communicate at all.

[likchan]

This same thing just happened to me today. Item never received and was shipped to a different city so I asked for a refund and seller ignored my eBay messages multiple times across days and weeks. Long story short, I opened up a case and eBay sided with me and refunded me in full.

I left negative feedback after the refund was completed. But it disappeared a few hours later. I don't know if the seller appealed it or what, but I made a detailed comment explaining everything that happened. I don't understand why my comment was removed but someone else who reported the seller with literally just two sentences remained. 

I feel like if the tracking number is invalid, they're deleting negative feedback even though there is a record of them totally ignoring my messages. Really dreadful policy for buyers who have to deal with dishonest sellers.

[kh-gary]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread HERE if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.