Buyer upset with me so she bought my cheapest item to leave bad feedback!

[needleandthreadlastchance]

I'm a reseller and I won a beautiful dress in an auction that I planned to resell. It was a bargain and I know how much they go for.

After I listed it I had a message from the bidder who lost out to me in the auction pressuring me to sell it to her cheaply. I politely declined and pointed out that her offer was less than my maximum bid had been on the original listing. She kept coming back with lowball offers so I politely asked her to please stop and gave her a tip about sniping websites for future auctions to help her.  I went out of my way to be kind, but am not going to be manipulated into a sale.

She didn't reply to that message, but it turns out that 90mins after I sent it, she bought the cheapest item I was selling.

I shipped it not putting 2 and 2 together as I hadn't paid too much attention to the username.

Then today I get a bad feedback on that item. My first bad feedback in maybe 5 years.

I spoke to ebay before I had realised it was the same girl, but they declined my removal request.

An hour later I just had a thought to check the username on that dress.....and realised it was her.

She literally bought an item to harm my account!!!

What would your next move be?

I'm thinking call ebay first thing tomorrow (fraud team?)

and then snail mail her a notification on intention to prosecute to put the wind up her.

(Both she and myself are in the UK)

I'm shocked. How low can people get? Buying an item just to leave bad feedback is evil. 

This is nuts!!!

[ittybitnot]

After I listed it.....

@pickapaper 

Thanks for that.  I seem to have a reading comprehension problem the last couple of days...LOL..You should all put me on your BBL as I am showing the signs of a BUYER WHO DOESN'T  read....

[gator08041971]

@needleandthreadlastchance 

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it looks like the neg was removed.  I see no evidence of it?

[sin-n-dex]

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@gator08041971 wrote:

@needleandthreadlastchance 

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it looks like the neg was removed.  I see no evidence of it?

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That's kind of what I thought when I went to look and see what it says (and other people in this thread referenced the neg and I don't see it).

If you manage to request a call back with eBay and speak to someone who will listen and isn't reading from a script, you have a good chance at explaining what happened to them and getting them to read messages from said buyer to confirm what happened. They can then recommend the feedback be removed. While they can't do anything, they can send a request to the right team with details from the call.

You won't always get a CSR that's very good at that, but I find about 50% of the time I talk to someone at ebay I get someone who understands what I'm saying as opposed to someone who is reading scripted answers and not really listening. I spent 2 years in a call centre dealing with complaints, so I've gotten used to hearing lines I often used (like "I can see how this is very upsetting for you"), but don't really mean anything with substance, then I know I'm being strung along by the rep.

C.

[greatstuff80]

I would have blocked her after the first message. Buyers like this are a problem 99% of the time. 

[stuff4divas]

@needleandthreadlastchance   so do u think Americans have a better way to deal with her than Brits?

[chapeau-noir]

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@stuff4divas wrote:

@needleandthreadlastchance   so do u think Americans have a better way to deal with her than Brits?

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For some odd reason on search this forum sometimes pops up first in the UK.

When I'm staying in the UK, the UK forum usually pops up first in search, but sometimes the .com one does.

[needleandthreadlastchance]

No, I hadn't realised I'd landed on ebay.com instead of ebay.co.uk

[needleandthreadlastchance]

She told me I'd beaten her in the auction.

[needleandthreadlastchance]

Unfortunately she's in London, so she'd remain hard to detect given half my UK buyers are also in London. Good advice though. Thanks

[needleandthreadlastchance]

Usually you can see the first and last letter of the username, so I guess she had some idea. It is a rare dress. I had listed it already. Thanks for replying.

[needleandthreadlastchance]

Thank you. I found it. I hadn't realised I was on the US site when I posted. Thanks all for tolerating me from the wrong side of the pond.

[gurlcat]

Assuming UK sellers also have the 'block buyer' feature, that is the most relevant fact here.  @needleandthreadlastchance  do you know how to use it?  If not, we can provide the steps; it's easy.  And it can save you from a whole lot of trouble in the future. 

[needleandthreadlastchance]

Yes, Luckily I never had anything like this before. I will certainly do that going forward. Fortunately I managed to get her to remove the feedback today. I calmly explained the legal standing outside of ebay. I studied law at university level before making a switch of subject, so understand tort law to some extent. I did enough to scare her, but kept it nice and gave her an opt out callus that wouldn't involve losing too much face. I refunded her without requesting the return. The feedback removal was worth more to me than the cheap item she'd bough. I learnt several lessons from this. I removed all my cheap listings and they won't be going back. 

[needleandthreadlastchance]

Yes, but on the other hand every lady on here knows that literally no-one buys half a bikini ever. I sell the matching tops. Maybe she was planning to do some topless sunbathing which is well looked upon in her her Islamic home country (Egypt) 😂

[needleandthreadlastchance]

Correct! Thanks