Eliminate the Competition using Negative Feedback

[454v]

I sold a pre-owned watch to a Invicta reseller, I too sell these watches, I have been a Ebay member for over 23 years and HAD perfect 100% Feedback.. The buyer pleaded with me to reduce the price of the watch by $200, way too much but I did it anyway, Watch was delivered, buyer receives it and then complains of a loose screw in the wristband, and demands that I credit him $25 to repair it, considering the huge discount I already gave him, I offered him a full refund instead, apparently he didn't like that and left Negative and False FB shortly after;

"WATCH ARRIVED IN POOR CONDITION!!! AVOID!!!

Now the buyer NOT once complained about the "condition", and even if he had, we posted over 10 photos and what he received is no different, he received exactly what he paid for.

Come to find out, this buyer buys from other Watch sellers also, and has left them Negative FB as well on almost ALL of the purchases he made, relative to what he left me, which leads me to believe, he not only wants additional money, his intention is to lower the FB scores of his competitors while he maintains a perfect 100%.

I reported all of this to Ebay and they completely ignored it, I don't believe they looked at any of the evidence in the messaging or his FB history, Ebay sent me what appears to be a auto generated denial.

Ebay has a policy against FB extortion and unfair practices like this, but they did NOTHING about it in my case, NOTHING, quite surprising when you consider that Ebay deducts a 15% from every sale, I would expect A LOT MORE THAN THIS! 

I'm going to have to cancel and block watch resellers from buying my watches, it's the only way I can protect myself from getting burned like this again.

Currently waiting for buyer to ship item back, it will likely be replaced with another watch or vandalized and then I'll have to file a police report in the buyers jurisdiction, and reporting it to Ebay will likely be a waste of time, they'll let him get away with that too.

[chapeau-noir]

"I stand behind everything I sell, and offered no hassle return for full refund."

[sumsum70]

I found the person who left the neg. I don't think they leave negs to specifically hurt you as a seller or competitor. I think they are just like any other bad buyer who leaves negs often. Should have BBl'ed and not communicated with this "member" right away.

[454v]

He asked for $25 additional after the sale, the neg feedback was left after.. So the message is; "Pay me my money, and if you don't I'm going to leave you neg feedback" 

Where does it stop? I could pay him and he could come back again and ask that I deduct $100 from the sale to pay a jeweler to remove fine scratches from the wristband, or add links to the watch to fit his wrist size, and if I don't pay, Negative FB posted, it's a messed up system.

[454v]

I agree on standing firm on my pricing, my Wife actually made the sale and I was upset she came down as far as she did, we eliminated the "make offer" option on all our auctions that same day.. Thank you for your advice 🙂

[sapphire_studio]

I'm really sorry that happened to you OP. If you have a case opened and you have free or buyer pays returns and you are Top rated seller you might try to get the feedback removed again after the case closes.

Ebay will look at our messages in order to determine if we qualify for feedback extortion. I don't think it would be that hard for tem to add to their rules that if a buyer asked for a partial refund and you reply that they can return it for a full refund that you should be protected from negative feedback.

Maybe call it the partial refund extortion rule.

[memphiskansasgirl123]

I thought if you offer returns and the buyer left negative feedback rather than return the item, this automatically would allow eBay to remove the negative feedback ; you may want to call back and check with the representative.

[1tuna]

that is not how it works

ebay seller protections basically state that when you take an item back or process a return then negatives will get removed or prevented

if there is no return then there are no seller protections for the sale

@memphiskansasgirl123 

[partfinds]

Ebay should do better at catching  dirty tactics coming from other sellers trying to get rid of competition by buying items from different accounts and then returning them under false not as described claims. 

[postcardcountry]

I have best offer on a select few items.

With those, I have also set auto-decline for anything less than  a given dollar amount.

ie for a $20 item I might set the auto-decliine at $16.50.  Any thing less gets rejected.   I never get to see the offer.

I also have auto-accept set for those same items.  So any offer or $16.51 is automatically accepted.

I know I get to miss the haggling but I really don't have time for it.   This gives the buyer some satisfaction when he doesn't want to pay full price and at the same time accepts his offer immediately - giving a little rush of success.

[soh.maryl]

How could the buyer have a history of negative feedback, unless he is referring to the FB the buyer received as a SELLER?  

[simply-the-best-for-you]

If you feel you have a case that it is a malicious competitor, you can request a review here: 

https://www.ebay.com/sellerhelp

Follow the links & leave a brief summary indicating what you think happened & that you believe it was a competitor with malicious intent.   I have had great luck with this link, but I have not tried to remove one on these grounds.  Keep it brief & factual.  If it's going to be gone, it usually disappears within an hour.  It says they will let you know, but I've never had them communicate with me.  Either the FB is removed shortly thereafter or it isn't.  In my case, it always has been.   This team knows what they're doing & will really review the situation.  Good luck. 

[rugerskick]

You need to listen to your gut.

If they ask for something really abnormal or way too much initially, that's often a clue they will be a problem buyer.  Best to not reply, and just block them.  Also checking out such a persons feedback left for others is another way to confirm your gut.

[partfinds]

@soh.maryl “How could the buyer have a history of negative feedback, unless he is referring to the FB the buyer received as a SELLER?  ”

i had a buyer who was leaving bad feedback to all sellers (Feedback left for others)- I think this is what Op is talking about.

[bashort]

Blocking resellers will not work, most people who source items on ebay for ebay resale do not buy on their selling account.

[sumsum70]

The buyer who left OP the neg is also a seller in the same categories, currently with 240 items for sale. They buy and sell on the same account. When you click their "left for others", you can see they left 33 negatives out of about 1400 left. A fairly even mix of FB left for buyers and sellers, so say 33 out of 700 for sellers and you can estimate this buyer who is also a seller leaves negatives approximately 4.7% of the time.