eBay

king_of_nerdtopia · ‎12-02-2023

I had a buyer that used a third party shipper in Oregon to send a laptop to the Philippines, bypassing my US only selling policy. They had the laptop for about a week, and apparently one of the battery's cells went out, causing the laptop to not run on the battery or charge to full. After spamming me with about 20 messages, I finally told him he could return the laptop. He started threatening to leave negative feedback if I didn't ship him a new battery or pay for return shipping from Philippines to US. I refused and blocked him after he continued spamming me with messages, and he then left the negative feedback. I read up on these policies about third party shippers and feedback extortion, etc, thinking I could get eBay to remove the feedback, but after two rounds with customer service, they are refusing to remove the feedback. I pointed this policy out as my case since this is exactly what the buyer was doing, but they refused to acknowledge any fault in the buyer's message harassment or demands. I'm not sure why they bother posting policies that they will not follow. I've been on eBay for almost 20 years, and the buyer maybe 2 years with 2 purchases in the last 6 months. I'm likely going to stop selling here after this incident.

What is the policy?

Buyers aren't allowed to:

Threaten to use feedback or detailed seller ratings (DSRs) in an attempt to force sellers into meeting their demands. For example, buyers can't threaten to leave negative feedback unless the seller pays for return shipping, when the seller's return policy in the listing didn't state free returns

bonjourami · ‎12-02-2023

Since he used a third party shipper, you were not responsible for a return and refund, his buyer protection was nill with that ff. And Ebay would have removed any negative fb.

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“Never pick a fight with an ugly person. They don’t have anything to lose.” ~Robin Williams

lacemaker3 · ‎12-02-2023

@king_of_nerdtopia,

Did the buyer open a return request, or just talk about this in messages?

king_of_nerdtopia · ‎12-02-2023

They have refused twice to remove it. I mentioned they used a third party shipper and that changed nothing.

king_of_nerdtopia · ‎12-02-2023

They threatened me with negative feedback if I didn't send a new battery to them in the Philippines. When I offered a return, they wanted me to pay freight from Ph to US, and I refused. They threatened again with negative feedback. My guess is they tried to start a return, but eBay wouldn't allow it.

a_c_green · ‎12-02-2023

@king_of_nerdtopia wrote:
They threatened me with negative feedback if I didn't send a new battery to them in the Philippines. When I offered a return, they wanted me to pay freight from Ph to US, and I refused. They threatened again with negative feedback. My guess is they tried to start a return, but eBay wouldn't allow it.

...or even if they did, the return label that would have been automatically generated would have its origin at the U.S. reshipper's address, not in the Philippines. You have no obligation to pay for the shipping back to the U.S. I think you're going to need to reach competent Customer Support that will understand international shipping issues. I would reach out to the eBay for Business team on Facebook.

duncanvr · ‎12-02-2023

Your getting scammed it is likely there's nothing wrong with the laptop and hes keeping it and you'll end up being forced to refund. This is why I don't sell big ticket items. Make sure at the very least they open a return policy then see if you get anything back.

soh.maryl · ‎12-02-2023

That third party shipper in Oregon is most likely a freight forwarder. Unless it's changed recently, once a package has arrived at the FF's address, the seller's responsibility for the item has ended.

stainlessenginecovers · ‎12-02-2023

@soh.maryl wrote:
That third party shipper in Oregon is most likely a freight forwarder. Unless it's changed recently, once a package has arrived at the FF's address, the seller's responsibility for the item has ended.

I think that is correct, but since the buyer is not forcing a 'return', this would not have anything to do with the feedback. Since the feedback is simply stating their dissatisfaction with the product they purchased, doubtful that it would ever get removed.

@king_of_nerdtopia

You needed to state (in your feedback response) that you 'offered' to take the product back in a return but could not ship a battery overseas due to regulations"... and that's it.

The way it's written just sounds unprofessional.

inhawaii · ‎12-02-2023

You should have accepted the return and paid for return shipping ... return shipping from the address you sent it to. It would be the buyers responsibility to get it there from the Philippines. Was that offer ever made?

About the feedback. I'd bet $5 that ebay will remove it ... provided you can get the right (competent) agent.

Highway Patrol - Junior Brown

king_of_nerdtopia · ‎12-03-2023

I offered a return with the eBay provided label and he responded saying I should pay for the shipping from Ph to US. He then rapid fired about 8 messages repeating the same themes about how I scammed him, refuse to help, etc... all within a few minutes. I finally blocked him since I could tell nothing was going to make this work and the messages were not going to stop.