EBay removing threatening comments

[avenuecoin]

I've been selling steadily on eBay for 21 years, over 11,000 feedbacks. I have no negatives, no neutrals. I always take care of my buyers, no exceptions. I listed a $1 1882-O/S Morgan for 99c 10-day auction. This clown messages me that the two close-up images of the mintmark are two different coins. It is a declarative statement, not an inquiry. I write him back explaining how he's wrong. I stick to the facts, maintain professionalism, and don't attack the guy personally. Then, in response to my explanation, the fellow says that he has a friend who is a forensic photographic expert, so rather than accepting that the lighting is playing tricks on his eyes, he's escalating the matter to prove that he's correct. So I write him back and I tell him that it is a GREAT IDEA that he involves a forensic photographic analyst. I tell this fellow that his analysis is invited and will PROVE beyond all doubt that the two images are the same coin. The fellow threatens that he's going to report me and tell all of his friends what a crook I am. EBay removed all of this clown's commentary. My only recourse is to block this buyer. My feeling is that eBay is acting very unprofessional by deleting this person's threats from my messages. EBay is protecting a low-IQ and abusive person. I'm not a happy camper.

[mam98031]

OK, I really owe a few people a SINCERE apology as I was absolutely wrong.

@chapeau-noir , @brightlightbookseller , @simply-the-best-for-you , @gator08041971 

If I missed anyone, I'm sorry.

I do get a message sent in My Messages to my private email account too, except for a few of the Ebay generated ones only go to My Messages.  Not a big deal.  Curious, but not a big deal.

So I am SORRY for wasting all the time you have all spent on this.  It is ALL MY FAULT.  I'm so sorry.

[brightlightbookseller]

Ah, no worries about my time.  It was worth it to me to look.  I'm actually not the one who receives emails at the address this account is registered to, so I don't know what they receive (long story), but I do believe I receive them on my personal account.  I've heard others say often enough that they stopped receiving emails that I was curious if I could find the setting, though!

[simply-the-best-for-you]

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@mam98031 wrote:

OK, I really owe a few people a SINCERE apology as I was absolutely wrong.

@chapeau-noir , @brightlightbookseller , @simply-the-best-for-you , @gator08041971 

If I missed anyone, I'm sorry.

I do get a message sent in My Messages to my private email account too, except for a few of the Ebay generated ones only go to My Messages.  Not a big deal.  Curious, but not a big deal.

So I am SORRY for wasting all the time you have all spent on this.  It is ALL MY FAULT.  I'm so sorry.

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No worries, it happens to all of us.   I also don't get all the eBay ones either, but I believe that's b/c of my eBay marketing preferences settings.  

[mam98031]

Thank you.

I don't think it is your Marketing preferences as I have those all turned on and I still don't get them all to my private address.

[chapeau-noir]

That's OK - I was beginning to think I was losing my mind and I'm glad I'm not...well, this time, anyway.

[gator08041971]

@simply-the-best-for-you @chapeau-noir @mam98031 

I think...

That if you were to update (even if its the same e-mail address) the e-mail registered on the account, it might reset the tag/link for sending e-mails to that account when getting a message on eBay?

Since the one section I posted above mentioned about eBay defaulting to sending notifications about your account activity to your registered e-mail, its possible that messages are just automatically sent.  Since I cannot find any specific settings to those in particular (though I can find message options for **bleep** near everything else), not much else I can suggest.  But its possible that for some it may need re-applied, if that makes sense.

Can't hurt to try I suppose.

[chapeau-noir]

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@gator08041971 wrote:

@simply-the-best-for-you @chapeau-noir @mam98031 

I think...

That if you were to update (even if its the same e-mail address) the e-mail registered on the account, it might reset the tag/link for sending e-mails to that account when getting a message on eBay?

Since the one section I posted above mentioned about eBay defaulting to sending notifications about your account activity to your registered e-mail, its possible that messages are just automatically sent.  Since I cannot find any specific settings to those in particular (though I can find message options for **bleep** near everything else), not much else I can suggest.  But its possible that for some it may need re-applied, if that makes sense.

Can't hurt to try I suppose.

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The ability to select what type of message format (.eml or html) would support that - one could select message format, but not message delivery (which is always on).

[simply-the-best-for-you]

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@gator08041971 wrote:

@simply-the-best-for-you @chapeau-noir @mam98031 

I think...

That if you were to update (even if its the same e-mail address) the e-mail registered on the account, it might reset the tag/link for sending e-mails to that account when getting a message on eBay?

Since the one section I posted above mentioned about eBay defaulting to sending notifications about your account activity to your registered e-mail, its possible that messages are just automatically sent.  Since I cannot find any specific settings to those in particular (though I can find message options for **bleep** near everything else), not much else I can suggest.  But its possible that for some it may need re-applied, if that makes sense.

Can't hurt to try I suppose.

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Thank you @gator08041971  but I don't intend to do anything, as I am fine with the way it is.  I am confident that it's my marketing choices, as I get certain eBay messages & not others.   This whole convo has gotten a bit in the weeds, so my apologies if it appeared that I was needing any help with this, but I don't.   I'm perfectly fine with the way it works, was just trying to explain to others.   Also, I understand that some don't think it's marketing preferences that regulate it, that's not a rabbit hole I'm willing to go down right now, as I just don't have the time right now.   I appreciate your time to research though 🙂 

[wastingtime101]

Funny how you see this as censorship because most people complaining about threats and harassment through messages get upset because they say eBay doesn't take action. I guess removing the offensive content is eBay's way of showing members they are doing something (since they can't show members any actions taken behind the scenes against the offender's account).

I'm in the camp that prefers to retain copies of messages in case the buyer escalates and I need those messages to fight a claim or file a report outside of eBay, but as others said, I get copies in my email so as long as I have an email record it doesn't matter to me if the messages are removed from eBay. YMMV.

I'm also in the camp that would not have entertained the buyer's accusations of photos being from 2 different coins. Perhaps one single reply depending on the tone/wording of their message, like if it came off as a genuine question, but nothing beyond that if the buyer's second message escalated. Instead they would be welcomed to my Best Buddy List for trying to cause problems before a sale.

[chapeau-noir]

Well, the OP did the "I'm outta here" flounce since we're apparently all bots on this bus. I actually agree with him that it's pretty lame that ebay removed the messages, like that's suppose to really do anything, but that's nothing new for customer service in a lot of companies.

Still, I'm not sure what any of us could actually do about it save to affirm that this is an odd way to handle a situation, we're pretty much on our own around here, and try not to get tricked again.

[mam98031]

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

That's OK - I was beginning to think I was losing my mind and I'm glad I'm not...well, this time, anyway.

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No it was my mind that was lost.  I'm confident lots of people would agree with that too!  Again, my apologies for all the effort you spent on this!

[robbie31415]

I do have a feeling that aa AI advances that all messages will be read by AI before you ever see it or it's sent to your email.

It's not censorship it's moderation.

If it's censorship then no one should ever request feedback to be removed. That would be requesting censorship. Seems hypocritical to me.

[mam98031]

@avenuecoin 

I did verify that Ebay does edit emails reported for content that breaks the rules if the member reports the email.  Ebay however retains a unedited copy of the offending email.

[fbusoni]

My only recourse is to block this buyer. My feeling is that eBay is acting very unprofessional by deleting this person's threats from my messages. EBay is protecting a low-IQ and abusive person.

Your "only recourse?" 

I block buyers who write to me to politely ask what is my "best price" on a given item. 

That's because I know from experience that these are people who will never, EVER be happy no matter what I do for them.  

My humble advice to you is to use the block feature very, very liberally.   

You have 5000 eBay buyer IDs you can add to the list.   (I'm up to only about 85 and I've been selling on eBay for 25 years.)

eBay has a lot of shortcomings, but they got this one issue right in my opinion.

[gurlcat]

I wonder what happens when you go to block your 5001st buyer.  Like would it prompt you to delete some, does it auto-delete some?  -If so hopefully it would start with the earliest-placed ones.