Disappointing - no support for sellers - removing feedback

[coolstuffhappens]

It's very disappointing that sellers don't get support from eBay.  Of course there would be no sellers without buyers, and also eBay forgets there would be no buyers without sellers.

I have tried to remove feedback from a buyer who I fully refunded and messaged the next day after his purchase for an item I could not send because I accidentally ripped the paper after trying to put it in an envelope!  I messaged and refunded the buyer, but then 37 days later he left me bad feedback that the item hadn't arrived yet!  37 days earlier he knew the item wasn't coming and he knew he was refunded but decided to leave back feedback that the item still hadn't arrived.  The item would've arrived between 7 and 14 days if I had sent it, but he decided to wait 37 days and then in that time he NEVER asked where the item was, and NEVER asked for a refund, because he knew it wasn't coming and he knew he got refunded!  I don't know what kind of game he was playing!

I contacted eBay to remove his negative feedback because it was wrong, then my request showed that the feedback couldn't be removed because of a technical issue and it said to contact Customer Service.  When I clicked on Customer Service all it does is it just takes me in circles to the webpages with information and to the chat bot which does nothing.

I can't get in touch with eBay Aus and I can't find out what the technical issue is!  I only have a handful of feedback because I don't buy or sell much on ebay and people choose not to leave feedback anymore so I didn't have much feedback, my feedback is bad now because of only one feedback!  Either people will look at my feedback and decide not to buy from me anymore, or if no-one looks at the feedback and feedback doesn't mean anything it means eBay doesn't need the feedback feature anymore.

I can't remove the feedback and the feedback is wrong.  How can that buyer be allowed to be nasty like that and eBay won't remove it!

[fashunu4eeuh]

It is quite possible that your buyer is not messing with you. Instead, he didn’t read, or know how to retrieve his eBay Messages. He just did not know the item was damaged and he received a full refund. He has only just now gotten around to noticing the item hasn’t arrived. He may not even know how to contact you thru Messages (which would have been the logical and reasonable thing to do).

But there are plenty of illogical and/or unreasonable people in the world. Who knows why a buyer doesn’t bother to contact a seller before leaving bad feedback? But buyers are under no obligation to do so. It would be nice, but is not required.

Based on your post, i was expecting some truly egregious comment in your feedback. Instead, his wording is really not malicious or “nasty”. It is just a non-emotional statement. The item, in fact, has not arrived. And that is correct. It has not arrived, nor will it. Ebay will not remove his comment because it does not violate any rules. Your comment left, however, in response, is very good. Anyone reading your explanation would readily accept that this was just a disappointing accident and not a reflection on your service to the customer.

If this were my account, i would phone the buyer and explain the situation, with  abject apologies for damaging his item. Then, after you have felt the situation out, and once you are certain he is amenable, ask politely if he would revise the feedback. I bet he will.

Keep in mind that you made this situation, not the buyer. While the damage was an accident, it was a failure nonetheless. So characterizing the buyer as someone out to purposely mess with you is probably not an accurate assessment. In this case, i believe the buyer should be given the benefit of the doubt. 

Good luck, and hope you are able to get the revision. 

[katzrul15]

Ditto.

Had type out a reply, but yours is really excellent.  OP, take fashunu4eeuh's advice.

[coolstuffhappens]

Hi

Thank you for your reply, that's good information you mentioned.  I did consider that he left that because he may not have read the emails or seen that he had a refund, but in 37 days he never once asked for his item and he never once asked for a refund, not even that moment when he left that negative feedback.  Buyers ask for the item or their money back, and it was 37 days later, it was all very strange.  And the other feedback he gave to other sellers for an item not  arriving he chose Neutral and wrote 'not received', he chose to give me a Negative. I still believe that he wasn't fair because he chose not to ask for the item and his refund in the 37 days since his purchase and chose Negative instead of Neutral when he gave Neutral to the other sellers. 

I did politely message the buyer and explain and ask him to review or remove his feedback and he wrote back acknowledging my request and then ignored my request to remove or review his feedback.  He didn't want to change it, he didn't even want to change it to say item didn't arrive but he got a refund.

I only have a handful of feedback, I don't sell or buy much, I had 100% positive feedback and at that time that one negative feedback had brought my feedback down to 87.5%, people will look at my feedback and be put off because it is so low, it has gone up a bit now because I have made some purchases but it's still low (but my account says I'm Above Standard seller).

[chapeau-noir]

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@coolstuffhappens wrote:

Hi

Thank you for your reply, that's good information you mentioned.  I did consider that he left that because he may not have read the emails or seen that he had a refund, but in 37 days he never once asked for his item and he never once asked for a refund, not even that moment when he left that negative feedback.  Buyers ask for the item or their money back, and it was 37 days later, it was all very strange.  And the other feedback he gave to other sellers for an item not  arriving he chose Neutral and wrote 'not received', he chose to give me a Negative. I still believe that he wasn't fair because he chose not to ask for the item and his refund in the 37 days since his purchase and chose Negative instead of Neutral when he gave Neutral to the other sellers. 

I did politely message the buyer and explain and ask him to review or remove his feedback and he wrote back acknowledging my request and then ignored my request to remove or review his feedback.  He didn't want to change it, he didn't even want to change it to say item didn't arrive but he got a refund.

I only have a handful of feedback, I don't sell or buy much, I had 100% positive feedback and at that time that one negative feedback had brought my feedback down to 87.5%, people will look at my feedback and be put off because it is so low, it has gone up a bit now because I have made some purchases but it's still low (but my account says I'm Above Standard seller).

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When I'm shopping and I see someone with that percentage of FB and they have only handful, I always check, and sure enough, someone has seagulled them ::splat:: and in fact it's just bad luck or a silly mistake or whatever. I think most shoppers, if they even look at FB, will realise it is not representative. 

I'm not sure if you were thinking of still selling the item with the damage noted, but what I've done in situations like this is refund the buyer and sent the item to them anyway on my dime for good faith - after all, I was the one who screwed up.  Twice when this happened, the buyer was fine with the item and wanted to reimburse me!  Most people are really great when they know you're doing due diligence.

[bedishw_0]

Thanks for sharing, It's really helpful.