Buyer left inaccurate negative comment as positive feedback

[5ring5ale]

Hi, I sold an item. Shipped it on time but, I guess, USPS had a delay and it ended up being delivered Monday not Saturday. The buyer left positive feedback but left a negative comment in typical troll fashion "Did not arrive in time. Delivered two days past due." I'm assuming he intentionally left the feedback as positive to circumvent it from being removed.

This seems to be against eBay policy "or by leaving negative comments with a positive rating. "

I contacted him, asked him to look at the tracking info and see that I delivered the item to USPS on time. That his issue is with USPS, which I'd gladly help him recoup the shipping costs if it weren't for the fact that he chose First-Class, which they do not guarantee. (btw, why is ebay guaranteeing first-class shipments in the first place?)

His response pretty much ignored everything I had written and it's clear he's just looking to mess with someone. 

Should I contact eBay or let it slide? My understanding is that eBay hates when any drama is created, justified or not, that requires human interaction instead of a bot. I don't want to harm my account any further as I also just became top rated. However, I work my butt off to get items out and this just irks me to no end. 

[5ring5ale]

Booo, angel you caved. You couldn't just stick it to them. I know my response makes sense. I know the others know my response makes sense. They're just trying to fight. I know it, first off because it makes sense. Second off, because the same thing is all over ebay. You state the facts, then you ask to message you and offer a resolution. I said I shipped it on time, and I offered the only resolution I was willing to give. To see if USPS would refund the costs. Its been made clear that I was not responsible. But I was willing to offer my time and have him avoid the hassle of contacting USPS or eBay or whatever. This is insane.

[5ring5ale]

is response pretty much ignored everything I had written and it's clear he's just looking to mess with someone. 

Actually that's not clear at all. What's clear is that 

You never saw the emails. So what are you talking about? How is it clear to you? It probably wouldn't be smart to post the emails but to summarize, after showing tracking information and making it clear on eBay's policy's and calculations. And after it was totally clear that his beef was with USPS/eBay and that his feedback didn't relate to me as a seller. He didn't care. And it was even more shocking by how rude his emails were, they were completely out of place with how nice I was and how minor the situation was. And they weren't abrupt like don't waste my time responses, he was lecturing me. With almost like 5 paragraphs of made up facts.

Like, I know what the situation was. It was straight up displacement. He was just trying to mess with someone. He had a bad day at work or the like and was taking it out on someone. 

a paying customer was was guilt-tripped  into trying to make a seller happy, the buyer is now further in trouble for making an effort to make the seller happy. Funny that....the buyer trying to pacify the seller.  That speaks for the buyer being kind of nice, not a troll.

Guilt tripping would be me telling him I lost my job and ebay is my only way to make money and his feedback is correct but it was going to cause me to lose my account.  That's guilt tripping. 

I showed him and asked if he was aware that his feedback was incorrect. And after he said he knew and didn't care, I told him that it could be removed but I was trying to avoid involving ebay. That's not guilt tripping. 

Again, I wish I could post the emails. Because I know you guys know that type. And he was that type. He wasn't being nice, and I know you guys know. And you are just trying to fight like him. 

You didn't know you were signed up for Guaranteed Delivery?   You may not be reading your ebay emails. A lot of sellers don't read the eBay messages they think don't need reading, but then come here all surprised and stuff.  Same ones who don't read the seasonal updates.

You like the others didn't mind reading what I had previously said, and didn't even make sure what you were saying was right. In a forum for help. 

Other than that, a buyer can make a negative comment in a positive rating.  Such as

Nice item but the seller was extremely rude to me

This is what you guys are missing. He didn't do that. He did this the seller was extremely rude to me

Sellers who complain about negative comments like this in positive feedback really need to ask themselves if they'd be happier if the feedback rating was a big red negative.   The buyer can leave feedback comments like that as either positive, neutral or negative - this does not violate any policy.

Yes, I already said this. I would have preferred a red because I could have just click a button instead of worrying about having to call eBay.

Try to move on and not stress so much - stressing made things unnecessarily worse, in my opinion and wasn't by the looks of it, much of a picnic for the buyer either who will likely never buy from you again.

Yes would never ever want to sell to him again. Are you kidding me.

You guys are just judging this wrong. Again, I'm not big sellers like you guys. This sits on my feedback. In fact, I guarantee this will sit as number 1-5 for the next 3 months at least. And I know those are read. They're right there. More so, it was just 100% wrong and I care about stuff like that. 

[5ring5ale]

I should consider that, but my listings rely a lot on shipping time and most of the time in a pretty competitive category. 

[myangelandmyprincess]

---

@5ring5ale wrote:
Booo, angel you caved. You couldn't just stick it to them. I know my response makes sense. I know the others know my response makes sense. They're just trying to fight. I know it, first off because it makes sense. Second off, because the same thing is all over ebay. You state the facts, then you ask to message you and offer a resolution. I said I shipped it on time, and I offered the only resolution I was willing to give. To see if USPS would refund the costs. Its been made clear that I was not responsible. But I was willing to offer my time and have him avoid the hassle of contacting USPS or eBay or whatever. This is insane.

---

It doesn't make sense because USPS isn't going to refund any shipping money.   USPS isn't going to do anything about it not arriving on time.  They don't guarantee anything except express mail.  So the response doesn't make sense and just draws more attenuation to it.  The buyers initial feedback complaining it was two days late looked worse on them then it did you really.  

[fern*wood]

I knew you wouldn't like my response, but I stand by everything I said.  

I value shipping on time too, but if life happens, I give my buyers the benefit of being reasonable.  .  Most would not want you to risk your health rather than just ship the next day.  Sure, a few can be pains, but I'm with your family on that one. 

I've overacted at times too, and appreciate others putting things in perspective for me---maybe not at first, but after stepping back a bit, I always do.

BTW--I'm not a dude.

[5ring5ale]

I said that in multiple posts, I was the first to say that, I told the buyer that and he got upset. USPS does not guarantee first class.

The reply is just saying that I would help, the only way I could, and try to get a refund. Most buyers don't know USPS rules or what shipping method he used.

It makes sense. 

[5ring5ale]

Yeah, I assume others thought I overreacted but I still feel the same way. Actually, I know the majority would agree, I think some just don't like my writing. And basically tried to turn it into a situation where this poor guy was being abused by me. 

If you don't agree, then you are giving bad advise.

I.E. eBay does not care if you are sick or anything. In fact, as a small seller, they'd love to give you a knock for any reason. For small sellers, I remember reading the algo is much harsher and does not scale until you hit a certain, really unobtainable mark. So actually the more you sell as a small seller, the closer you get to your death warrant. They're trying to move away from what they were traditionally, and instead, somehow think they deserve what amazon has with none of the tech or work. Apparently, they've gone through several seller purges over the years. It's either, makes only a few sales a year so that we maintain our old individual marketplace image. Or sell enough, with enough overhead that you can give no if or butts customer service, someone can send you a brick and that's how it is. 

Hence, my concerns and the reasons for opening this thread in the first place

Also, I agree, some buyers can be pain. The one thing eBay has done, has made me realize how much **bleep** people there are out there. And these buyers wield all the power with eBay, not average buyers. Again, at least for small sellers. So, yeah, I am very passionate when it comes to buyers with ill intent. I don't think you should just brush your shoulders off.