eBay

nameless_user_101 · ‎10-09-2024

Negative feedback received 10/6:

Buyer did not reach out to me before leaving feedback.

I requested feedback removal but was denied on grounds of no policy violations (which I do not think is correct - buyer uses profanity “**bleep**”).

I reached out to buyer to initiate a dialogue on 10/7 asking him politely to remove the feedback because my listing was accurate and received no reply. I then followed up offering a full refund on 10/8 and received no reply. Clearly I am not at fault but the impact of the negative feedback is real and I just need to solve, so I offered the refund. In the 8 days before the feedback I made 10 sales. In the 3 days since, 0 sales. The impact is real.

I emailed customer service but so far am getting the standard template responses suggesting I reach out to the buyer to resolve. If buyer doesn’t respond / isn’t interested in resolving then what?

Anyone have any advice here? I really earned my perfect feedback score so this is a difficult pill to swallow. If negative feedback came along for something genuine I would accept it and move on, but there is nothing I can really learn from this other than that there are buyers out there you just can’t work with and no way to anticipate and block them ahead of time. Super frustrating.

devon@ebay · ‎10-24-2024

@itscalledapostingid wrote:

elizabeth@ebay

kyle@ebay

devon@ebay

Is the following section of the new feedback policy not enforced in real life?

"The buyer is raising an issue that was correctly disclosed in the listing"

The OP received a negative feedback where the entire complaint is that it's a region B disc.

Region B was stated in the title of the listing.

The feedback also contains a questionable slang term that ironically would be censored if I typed it here in the Community.

Hey @itscalledapostingid! I would recommend for OP to continue to work with our customer support team for a feedback appeal.

Devon,

nameless_user_101 · ‎10-24-2024

Hi Devon… thank you for this advice… any further guidance you can provide on how to do that? I have very clearly highlighted these points to customer support already and it has made no difference to the outcome. Appreciate any further guidance or connections you can provide. Thank you! Regards, OP

bgt_masters_of_tiki_d · ‎10-24-2024

I just went through something very similar, I got no where. I was denied for the same reason even though right in my item condition description section of the listing I mentioned the exact cosmetic issue the buyer complained about but never read. I was told by the customer service team I typed it in the wrong section, pictures of it do not count (even though my description also states to look at pictures of it) and it wasn't removable. It literally says "item condition description".

Good luck. I have a strong feeling all of these negative feedbacks are no longer getting removed because its a good way to try and push free returns since then they would be removable. It makes sense, guide the cattle herd where you want them to go.

carne.kay · ‎10-24-2024

In the past when a complaint was accurate I could generally just send the buyer a refund and not get any feedback either way. If a negative feedback was accurate I would apologize and accept it. Now, most buyers don't even contact sellers to try to resolve issues. They are not reading the descriptions. I had one who said I should have put all of the info in the title. She did not read the description. I explained that the title can only be a limited number of chracters so it is not detailed. The same buyer also complained because the item looked exactly as pictured and she was hoping it would look different. They would not remove that feedback. Another one always leaves neutral when she is happy with her purchase???? This is very discouraging.

house*of*paws · ‎10-24-2024

Hi @nameless_user_101

I believe that @gurlcat gave an excellent review of the buyer’s likely reasoning/ ‘emotioning’ for leaving the negative feedback.

Buyers who don’t buy DVDs regularly (including me) won’t know what Region B means … and likely won’t realize that they don’t know what it means when seeing it in a listing. [A US buyer purchasing a DVD from a US seller simply doesn’t anticipate that it will play only in Europe.]

Buyers aren’t likely to contact a seller with a ‘no return’ policy before leaving negative feedback. They believe you.

It is understandable that a buyer who feels kind of ‘tricked’ into buying something they can’t use will consider it important to warn other buyers that it could happen to them. [Negative feedback isn’t left only for punishment.]

** Have you tried contacting the buyer to see if they might be willing to revise the feedback … especially since you say you’ve refunded them? This might be easier than getting eBay to remove it.

IF the buyer agrees to revise it … THEN send them a Feedback Revision Request (FRR). [You have only 30 days from the time the feedback was left to send an FRR.]

Good luck! 😊

gurlcat · ‎10-24-2024

@house*of*paws wrote:
Hi @nameless_user_101

** Have you tried contacting the buyer to see if they might be willing to revise the feedback … especially since you say you’ve refunded them? This might be easier than getting eBay to remove it.

In their main post, the OP said they offered a refund, didn't actually issue one. "I reached out to buyer to initiate a dialogue on 10/7 asking him politely to remove the feedback because my listing was accurate and received no reply. I then followed up offering a full refund on 10/8 and received no reply."

But I wouldn't just send the refund without the buyer agreeing to revise the feedback either, in fact I might instruct them on how to return the item ..... maybe not in this case, because it's not much money and that disc would be problematic every time it lists in the U.S. market.

I think there's a couple of possible reasons why the buyer didn't reply to the offer:
1. Sometimes it's easier for some people to cling to anger and pretend they didn't go overboard; in this case it would also mean pretending they didn't see the OP's generous offer to fully refund them.
2. If the OP mentioned the buyer's cursing or how the title said 'region B' ..... it would basically be like saying "You suck but I'll appease you with a refund if that's what it takes for you to not suck." In that case I wouldn't blame them for clinging to anger.

nameless_user_101 · ‎10-24-2024

Since this has become a psychological case study… sharing for full transparency…

…

itscalledapostingid · ‎10-24-2024

devon@ebay wrote:
@itscalledapostingid wrote:
elizabeth@ebay
kyle@ebay
devon@ebay

Is the following section of the new feedback policy not enforced in real life?
"The buyer is raising an issue that was correctly disclosed in the listing"

The OP received a negative feedback where the entire complaint is that it's a region B disc.

Region B was stated in the title of the listing.

The feedback also contains a questionable slang term that ironically would be censored if I typed it here in the Community.

Hey @itscalledapostingid! I would recommend for OP to continue to work with our customer support team for a feedback appeal.

devon@ebay

What support channel do you recommend they use since they've already made like five attempts?

With all that and some people here trying to cast blame upon the seller... how much should this nice person have to suffer through to get ebay to enforce the new feedback policy?

dryophelia · ‎10-24-2024

@nameless_user_101

That messaging could come across as feedback extortion.
Sounds like you’ll only refund if and when the feedback is revised.

If you have already sent an official eBay request to revise, and it was declined, there is no option for a second chance.

gurlcat · ‎10-24-2024

@nameless_user_101 wrote:
Since this has become a psychological case study… sharing for full transparency…

…

IF ONLY everyone would be so transparent when posting here, THANK YOU! So, from reading those messages which are not really pointed at the buyer, I would say it was reason #1 that they didn't remove the feedback or even reply. They know they overreacted and they might even feel a little guilty after you explained that it hurts your business ... but not guilty enough to override their being a stick in the mud, who can't admit they overreacted.

Lord have mercy, I don't think anyone in this thread has said this yet but DO BLOCK THIS BUYER, if you haven't already. Also, next time you want unfair feedback removed, officially report them for the violation before requesting eBay to remove it. Reporting is an often misunderstood thing here. -Lots of people think it's worthless because they don't see buyer's accounts get shut down as a result or whatever. eBay should be more transparent about this, but the REAL reason to report them (BEFORE asking for eBay's help) is having that report on file is often the key requirement to getting that help. In other words, you do it for yourself, not to the buyer. Same order of procedure if you want seller protection from return scams (actual scams, like when they return a face mask instead of the iPhone you sold or whatever, not just returning the iPhone for a false reason).

Basically reporting buyer violations is like filing a police report of stolen or vandalized property, which you do for your insurance company, not because you think the police are going to track down the bad guys.

gurlcat · ‎10-24-2024

@dryophelia wrote:
@nameless_user_101

That messaging could come across as feedback extortion.
Sounds like you’ll only refund if and when the feedback is revised.

If you have already sent an official eBay request to revise, and it was declined, there is no option for a second chance.

Huh? Feedback extortion is something buyers attempt or succeed at doing to sellers, not the other way around.

yoonix1 · ‎10-24-2024

Wow, this feedback really dropped you down to 99.1%. Really not much to do about that. In 12 months it will not affect your feedback anymore. It looks like you do not have store on EBay. If you sign for store subscription you will have better protection from EBay in such cases. I mean, such feedback might not see a day light at all. It's harder to remove a feedback than not getting it at all.

itscalledapostingid · ‎10-24-2024

@yoonix1 wrote:
Wow, this feedback really dropped you down to 99.1%. Really not much to do about that. In 12 months it will not affect your feedback anymore. It looks like you do not have store on EBay. If you sign for store subscription you will have better protection from EBay in such cases. I mean, such feedback might not see a day light at all. It's harder to remove a feedback than not getting it at all.

How exactly does subscribing to a store give better protection in a case like this?

itscalledapostingid · ‎10-24-2024

@dryophelia wrote:
@nameless_user_101

That messaging could come across as feedback extortion.
Sounds like you’ll only refund if and when the feedback is revised.

If you have already sent an official eBay request to revise, and it was declined, there is no option for a second chance.

@dryophelia

The ebay employee who posted like eight messages before you literally said "continue to work with our customer support team for a feedback appeal."