Account Restricted for Leaving Honest Feedback for Buyer Who Missused Returns

[cheyennetradingco]

We have had our account restricted for leaving honest feedback on a buyer’s page.

Buyer requested return for item not as described claiming item not sealed.  We accepted return. Received it back, sealed exactly as stated in listing, uploaded picture of sealed item to return request. Issued refund of cost minus shipping through PayPal.  Ebay overrode our decision, taking money from our PayPal account to refund buyer in full. Buyer sent multiple abusive emails calling us a crook for not offering full refund. Buyer threatened negative feedback in messages and did actually leave negative feedback. We left honest feedback for buyer summarizing the bad experience we had with buyer misusing returns. Ebay restricted account because we were honest in our feedback about the buyer. 

Ebay gives option to leave feedback for buyer after transaction yet filters it so we can only leave positive.  Sellers get penalized with restrictions it we are honest.   Ebay is deciding more of these cases in favor of the buyer leaving sellers to pay the cost in return shipping fees and reputation. Buyers know they can abuse the policies and when confronted Ebay does nothing because they consider sellers as their “employees” instead of the entrepreneurial business people we truly are and consider our customers as their buyers not the consumers who desire our products at our prices. Thinking of moving $36,000 of listings to new platform totaling $80,000 in yearly sales.  Any suggestions?

[moo*cow*corner]

Thanks. I thought maybe it was some new feature that I'd missed or something.

I think I lost my junior type body at about age 10. Women in our family are big boned. LOL! My grandma used to say we were just good, old fashioned German peasant stock. When the horse got tired, the farmer could just hook his wife up to the plow and get more done by sunset.

[castlemagicmemories]

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@tunicaslot wrote:

I don't believe there is such a thing  - that's why the reference to post its. I have to say in 20 yrs - I've only had a couple of unfavorable transactions here. Maybe buyers aren't vetting, asking the right questions, or looking in the right categories.

Most returns I have are for fit - with buyer's occasionally taking advantage of the free shipping if they choose SNAD. Like the buyer who claimed not as described for a t-shirt she bought listed in children's t-shirts and thought it would fit a grown man - or the woman who bought a junior's coat and thought it would fit her. Most of us don't have the junior body type after we hit 40 - if we last that long. She said the measurements should have fit her - but the cut of the coat was for a junior body type.

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That's great!  I am so glad you haven't run into these problems!  There are many others that wish they had your good experiences, and it is not always the buyer's fault as many posts by sellers as buyers attest to this.  The more you buy, the more likelihood you are to run into these issues, and it doesn't mean you don't vet the seller or the listing properly~it just means there may be a lot of listings out there that simply aren't accurate.  Just as asking the seller a question may mean an incorrect answer because the seller doesn't bother to check the item, by their own admission.  Although of course you can have a bad experience even if you only buy one thing every few months.  I'm sure the problems you did have buying weren't due to any fault on your part, and that is the way it is for many others as well.

[emerald40]

Yes you can block sellers.  Mine is at capacity.

On the left side - more requirements

Exclude seller - then I save my searches in email.

[castlemagicmemories]

Em, I have heard of that but you are one step ahead of most of us who don't use that.  There have been many threads about wanting a Blocked Seller List on the Buying Board, and I always said you can just remember or write it down, as many others have said.  But having seen many threads, and experiences, and having read a well known poster's view that this is needed, I now think it is needed as well.  Times have changed.

[emerald40]

In my categories, searching by certain criteria, say vvs diamond, will bring up every fake cz by the same 2 or 3 people under many, many account names.

There are also the drop shippers that list tens of thousands of listings that they do not actually have.

So instead of having to deal with them every time I search, I block and save.

So yes we already have a blocked seller list.  It just works a little differently than the blocked buyer one.

[international_857]

That is why I don't allow returns since it will cause a lot of problems.

[mam98031]

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@international_857 wrote:

That is why I don't allow returns since it will cause a lot of problems.

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@international_857

ALL sellers on Ebay have to honor a SNAD claim.  If they don't do it voluntarily, Ebay will force it.  A No Return policy will only enable you to accept or denie a properly filed Buyer Remorse Claim.

The return policies options are as follows.

1. No Returns
2. 30 day returns w/ buyer pays shipping
3. 60 day returns w/ buyer pays shipping
4. 30 day returns w/ seller pays shipping
5. 60 day returns w/ seller pays shipping.

On the last two options above, they are also known as Free Returns.  I your seller has either of those policies, the seller will pay your return shipping even on a buyer's remorse return.  And the seller can withhold the original shipping value if it was separately stated on the listing [not free shipping] from your refund.  Also Seller’s offering options 4 or 5 have the ability to do partial refunds in certain cases if the item arrives back damaged, missing something or in a condition less than what it was sent to the buyer in.

On option number 1.  No Returns.  The seller can completely deny taking a return for a Buyer's Remorse Return Request.  Or if they want to they can accept your return and have you pay the return shipping.  If the seller so chooses they can withhold the original shipping if it was separately stated on the listing [not free shipping].

On options 2 & 3 the buyer is responsible for the return shipping on a Buyer's Remorse Rreturn.  Plus if the seller so chooses they can withhold the original shipping if it was separately stated on the listing [not free shipping].

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/managing-returns-refunds/handle-return-request-seller?id=4115

https://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/seller-updates/2018-spring/simplified-returns.html#m17-1-tb1

[international_857]

Thanks for the info

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

Tunica I was talking about the seller. They want the buyer to follow the rules of returns but don't want to follow feedback rules.

That has nothing to do with you. How does it make it sound like ANYONE else shouldn't be here? I was talking about ONE SELLER.

If I didn't think most sellers were great I wouldn't still be here after 20 years.

Those stickies BTW apply to bad sellers I've run across in over 20K transactions. I'm not an occasional buyer.

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

@tunicaslot

Maybe buyers aren't vetting, asking the right questions, or looking in the right categories.

Seriously 20 THOUSAND PURCHASES. I don't think I have a problem choosing my sellers or doing research. Frankly that's insulting.

[tunicaslot]

Sorry to insult you than dog - we always got along  - but there has to be some reason that some buyers happen upon a lot of bad sellers when the majority of us can count on one hand the number of bad purchases we've had in 20 yrs here.

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

Don't worry, we're good. I'm fighting with Home Depot and that has made me a little cranky.

For some of us it's just the volume. Plus I buy things old people sell and some old people have bad eyesight. They're not "bad" sellers, just careless.

[inhawaii]

I recently left kind of a nasty FOLLOW UP feedback for a buyer.  I initially gave him a positive until he tried to pull a fast one on me. 

He bought a candy from me then said he "expected" it to be bigger. Exact size was stated in the listing. Then he said "before i leave you feedback" he wanted  2 more free candies. I told him no. He left me neutral feedback. 

Hours on the phone with ebay.  They refused to remove my neutral feedback or punish the buyer in any way. Ebay said there was no violation because he didn't directly threaten to leave me negative feedback. Anyone with a IQ over 30 knows exactly what the buyer meant by "before i leave you feedback".

All i could do was leave him a honest follow up feedbck

[mam98031]

They want the buyer to follow the rules of returns but don't want to follow feedback rules.

While I think this is an important concern in general, how do we know that this OP did follow the rules that govern FB?  The OP has not shared what they said in the FB that was removed, so how do we know that the buyer is correct and the seller somehow got a FB removed without cause?

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

I'm talking about the fact that this seller has repeatedly left negative comments for buyers. You can tell how many have been removed because it says "this comment removed by Ebay" and there are several others that have not been removed.