Can negative remarks left by a buyer as "positive" feedback be removed?

[jonnybox]

Hi there,

I wonder if anyone out there can give me some words of wisdom on my predicament. A buyer asked me to cancel his order, unfortunately however I had already dispatched the item. When I read his series of indignant messages I apologised but explained that I had only received his request after I had posted the item to him and I offered to give him a refund upon receipt of the item back to me. He didn't reply to my message but has since left "positive" feedback, "Very, very expensive. Made a mistake buying these". This sort of remark obviously affects my business and surely goes against eBay's policy, "we always want your seller performance ratings and feedback to properly reflect the service you provide to your buyers, and will adjust these in situations where we find that you were not at fault".  Upon calling eBay support about this I have been informed that all I can do is respond to the feedback left and that only negative feedback left as such can be removed. So if the buyer had left the feedback as "negative" then it could have been deleted. Is this true or was the operative just being unhelpful? I wouldn't care except that the item he bought was not expensive (and actually quite reasonable compared to other sellers) and if it was why did he make the purchase?! I am exasperated by eBay's lack of support and understanding, to me it is tantamount to condoning such practice.  Consequently I am left feeling (somewhat surprisingly) let down and somewhat disillusioned. Maybe I expected too much but I did nothing wrong at all by this buyer, quite the opposite! Maybe I just need to get over it and get a life! What do you think? Be as brutally honest as you think I deserve 😉 Jonny

[newview]

If it was me, I'd just forget about it, it's a postive. I'd wager most people who scan feedback pages only read the Red Doughnuts and the Greens go unread.

In any case, your buyer has owned up to "his" mistake, it wasn't YOUR mistake ... that's one way of looking at it.

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

It reflects more on the buyer than on you. I wouldn't respond to it at all. It will be buried in other positives soon and barely any buyers will ever look at it.

It is the buyer's opinion so I don't know what basis an agent would use to remove it, even if it was a negative. Maybe they were suggesting you could ask for a revision if it was negative?

These are the US boards so I'm not sure if the advice works the same for you in the UK.

[emerald40]

Buyer could have left negative and it would have stood.  It is his opinion and as long as it meets ebay standards, which this does, then he is allowed to do this. All you could have done was a follow up to it.

He left you a positive, and to be honest all buyers will see is that sea of green.  Following up to a backhanded positive, will just catch their attention.  IMO, just let it be.

[theonewhoismany]

Your feedback is excellent. This one comment may be worded negatively, but it is still a positive feedback - in one or twee weeks time it won't be on your first feedback page anymore and no one will see it. I daresay it will not hurt your business. If I were a prospective buyer reading that feedback, I'd take one look at all your other feedback and happily ignore that one numpty and proceed to buy your item.

[lex-talon]

"Very, very expensive. Made a mistake buying these". 

I wouldn't worry too much about it. It is not a reflection of anything you did wrong. The buyer didn't have to purchase from you, but chose to do so. 

Any potential buyer who reads the comment can make up their own mind whether or not to purchase an item from you.

Even  one unreasonable feedback comment will not damage you reputation.😉

[reallynicestamps]

For Ghu's sake, do NOT Respond.

Responses draw attention to the feedback.

If your rating is 100% (or 99% or -sigh- anything over 90%) most buyers will decide you are an A+ seller and buy.

The few that look at FB, will click on the neg and neutral numbers to see what was said.  Not on positives.

It's business, not personal.

[shoptalkid]

I'm with the others.  DO NOTHING.   If your buyer thought it was so expensive to begin with, why did he/she purchase it?   FB like that just makes me shake my head.   Some buyers....

[bargainbytes]

Yup. Ignore it. Within a month it'll be off the front page and no one will ever see it again. 

[castlemagicmemories · Accepted solution]

It's a positive and reflects poorly on the buyer.  So he couldn't see they were expensive BEFORE he bought and HE made a mistake?  That just shows HE is the one with issues, not you.  And you added that they really weren't expensive.  Buyer is clearly off base here.  Expensive is in the eyes of the beholder; if he thought it was expensive, no one forced him to buy.  That was his decision.

Don't worry about it.

[Anonymous]

I'm with the others who say to ignore it. It's positive and will fall off the first page soon and blend in with the other positives. The FB doesn't reflect on you doing anything wrong.

If it was negative the FB would still stand as the buyer's opinion and you could have added a reply, "I offer a 30 day return policy if you're not satisfied with your purchase."

Since it's a positive do nothing and it will be out of sight, out of mind soon enough.