Isn't Negative feedback supposed to be removed when buyer's abuse & break policies?

[profitweb]

Buyer was trying to extort me.  Left negative feedback admitting it. 

I made a request to eBay to remove feedback.  They removed the Buyer's extortion message but left the Negative (that was even worse).  Buyer did not use profanity in their feedback or anything like that.

eBay's Decision:

"We reviewed your request and the buyer’s feedback content will be removed, but not their rating. The feedback content goes against our Seller performance and feedback policy and our Seller protections policy, however there was no violation found in the rating. Please know that this won’t affect your seller performance. We know how important your reputation is as a seller and appreciate your understanding as we work to keep our marketplace fair."

So, if a buyer extort a seller, they get to leave negative feedback when we don't do something they want, even if it violates eBay's policies?  That doesn't seem right and I don't know if I can/should contact eBay to dispute this outcome.

I just had another buyer try to extort me, reporting an issue 45 days after receiving item, refused to send images, and wanted it shipped to different name and address (that was a drop ship warehouse).

Do we have any way to get Negative feedback removed (the rating, not content)?  So far, my initial requests to remove are denied (doesn't seem like they look into it very hard).  Can the decision be appealed?  If so, how?

Update:  FILED AN APPEAL Feb. 1st, 2024

Are they passive aggressive or just don't read the issue?

The negative rating is still there... it amazes me how CS seems so thrilled that the comment was removed (that made the buyer look crazy and removing the comment content didn't help us one bit).

[mam98031]

Look, you and I don't agree, there really should be no problem in that.  We don't all see things the same way.  It is the nature of being human.

Your buyer did not "demand" you do anything.  Buyers have the right to file for a REquest for Return, no matter what a seller's return policy is and for whatever reason they may choose.  They have this right.

You as the seller have certain rights too and as has been repeatedly explained if the Request for Return was a properly filed Buyer's Remorse Return Request, you could choose to process it or deny it.  

You have already said in previous posts that the byer did NOT make any "demands" in an email to you, which is what the last statement in the highlighted policy states.

Sellers can try to do "all sales final" on Ebay, but it is rarely something Ebay will actually allow and we are only talking about Ebay, not any other site.  

I did NOT say your customer service was "bad for not going against eBay's stated Terms of Service (TOS)".  I said nothing even similar to that.  You do tend to read what you want to read instead of what is actually written, or at least you have in our conversations.  What I said was that "Similar to the other negs you have.  There is a common complaint on how you deal with them."

You have a good thriving business.  That is something to be very proud of.  That takes hard work.

[mam98031]

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@profitweb wrote:

@mam98031 

Some of the

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@mam98031 wrote:

Some of the larger sellers got this perk.  A certain number removed each month or quarter, IDK which.  However that perk was taken away a few months ago.

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Mam, how did you learn that larger sellers had the perk and it was taken away a few months ago?  Where did you find that out?

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Oh dang, that is a good question.  It was another thread, but I don't remember which one.  Ebay did some changes late last year on feedback removal.  [don't get excited, your FB would not have qualified even before the changes]  I'm sorry I can't give you more info as I understand why you would want it.

[profitweb]

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@mam98031 wrote:

"What part am I misunderstanding?"  IMHO good customer service.  I realize you won't agree with me about that, but you asked, I answered.  

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Your post above about my bad "customer service"... written as:

ME: "What part am I misunderstanding?"

YOU: "IMHO good customer service"

Then you accuse me of making that up... you never said it?!

Also, all day long this is specifically called out by eBay, promising they will remove negative feedback from a Buyer if they leave it after demanding something "not included in original listing". 

That should definitely include what's in the listing's Terms of Service, like NO RETURNS unless they're covered under eBay's 30 Day Guarantee.  This wasn't.

Here it is again:

[iamalwaysright]

You sell expensive items.

[mam98031]

If you have an email from your buyer that DEMANDS you allow them to return the item, then just contact Ebay and get the FB removed under that policy you are quoting above, it is as simple as that.  

I would suggest that you contact Ebay for Business on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter for the better trained CSRs.

Here are your options for contacting Ebay Customer Service.  Please be aware that for social media CS, you send them a Private Message and briefly explain what your problem or issue is.  Feel free to leave your Name, address, phone number and/or your email address in this message.  It is private and secure and it may help to speed up the response for you.

https://twitter.com/askebay

https://www.facebook.com/eBay/

https://www.instagram.com/ebayforsellers/

Your options will be on the left.  If you use the link below you can only get to the Automated Assistant or Chat box type AGENT in the box and hit enter. You will then get more options.  Not all options are available 24/7.  It will depend on staffing available.  So sometimes you can request a call back and sometimes you can't.  Sometimes you have the Chat option available and other times it won't me.  If it is important to you to use one of those options, just try back later.

If you use a cell phone or other mobile device, you may need to turn off your Spam filter so that Ebay can call you.

If you are a seller outside of the US or Canada, you will need to use the Chat Option.

https://www.ebay.com/help/home

[rugerskick]

They are selectively enforcing policies.  They enforce all seller policies.  They do not enforce any buyer policies that can be perceived to negatively affect buyers.

So if a policy exists that protects a seller from a scammer or problem buyer, they won't apply it.  Consider also that ebay removing buyer feedback that violates ebay rules, doesn't hurt the buyer's account in any way.  They now won't do this. Even though its their rules.  They won't follow their own rules when it comes to buyers.

Technically this is breach of contract.  These are rules still in effect, they are clear, these were told to both buyer and seller as to explain what is and isn't a violation and what remedies buyers and sellers can expect.

This and many other stated cases proves this is the case.

[rugerskick]

This is a load of garbage and ebay knows it.

Especially now that ebay shows feedback not necessarily by date received, but goes out their way now to highlight a sellers worst feedback for buyers.  Many buyers still look over feedback as part of the decision process to buy or not buy from a particular seller.  All things equal, they will pick a seller with no negatives.

So this explanation from ebay is an outright deception and they know it.  They know it because they go out of their way to highlight a sellers non-negative feedbacks when someone goes to review them.

[rossat0]

This is a systemic issue with eBay, and I am experiencing a similar situation.  This particular buyer issued two negative feedback and one was deleted because he  clearly violated eBay policy by asking me for a discount Not included on my listing . He also threatened me with a negative feedback. The second one,  eBay failed to remove deals with a request from the BUYER  to CANCEL the purchase, because he thought he was paying his offered price.   eBay deleted his comments because of the language used however, they did not change the score. I contacted eBay several times for clarification to no avail. eBay customer service kept sending "good news" messages  regarding  feedback  removal. Initially, I thought that the feedback removal included updating the score. I did found  out from a customer service rep that they are no longer handling feedback removal, and there's another department  that handles this. Well, this department refuses to communicate with me and provide me with an explanation.  They are also are not doing their job. If there were doing their job they will see that this was a cancellation initiated by the buyer. This buyer insisted that I sent him an offer for $35.00 when in fact the proof he provided was an expiration notice from eBay.  I've provided eBay proof and excerpts from the  correspondence between the buyer and me,  and yet, I am getting nowhere. This buyer has been with eBay since 2006, and he definitive knew that the offer did not come from me. Common sense tells me that if he managed to pay an amount greater than his offered price that I DID NOT send him an offer for $35.    After carefully reading his messages I've came to the conclusion that he was clearly playing with me and testing my patience. This  buyer used comments for example "I enjoyed the banter...." He clearly knew what he was doing.  I've been with eBay for nine years and I stopped all my sales and I  am planning on closing my account as soon as I find  another e-commerce replacement. I never have a negative feedback and I am not taking this one too well. 

My recommendation is to continue exchanging our user experiencing and complaining to eBay. I suspect that this particular function, score removal and update, is handled automatically with the aid of AI or filters and that's the reason why they can't change it. Good luck

[doodswag]

Yes, any negative feedback or open cases/disputes (even if you're not at fault) negatively impact your store.  Your items are deprioritized in searches on eBay and potentially outside of eBay (when you're paid to promote them as such).  So, I would agree with the original poster that the negative feedback is more concerning than the performance ding (assuming it doesn't bring you below your Top Rated status).

[doodswag]

Find a topic in the Help menu that is at least somewhat related to the concern at hand, then scroll to the bottom and click Contact Us/Chat With Automated assistant.  Type "Call Me" as your first message and navigate through as few chat selections as you can until it offers for an agent to call you.  That's always how I deal with getting to a human.  The back office/offline "team" that reviews feedback removal and other requests is comprised/worked/decided 99% by AI.

[p0l30vatel]

"destroying small business's" -BINGO! This is exactly what's happening. Soon we will have only large corporations who are selling everything online.

[rugerskick]

It is supposed to be removed, yes.

However ebay ignores its own rules about this if it can be perceived negatively by a buyer.

They always enforce the policy rules on feedback  on sellers and of course, sellers can't leave honest fb because sellers cannot leave neutrals or negatives.  Ebay doesn't care about negative seller experiences and allowing sellers to show that in their feedback on a transaction.  See because buyers would complain about honest neutral and negative fb, and other sellers would take notice and some might even decide to block such a buyer to avoid a nightmare order from that person.  Can't let the word get out about nightmare buyers and scammers though to other sellers however.   If ebay actually got rid of these problem buyers like it gets rid of problem sellers, it would be less of a problem, but they don't.  If they did, leaving honest buyer fb would be permitted.  

[mam98031]

WE have laws against that.

[rockystradingpost]

I LOVE your reply to his neg!