NEGATIVE FEEDBACK WAS it DESERVED?

[kel-conn]

NEGATIVE FEEDBACK

Item description/advertisement posted by us the seller on eBay: PHOTOS TO SUPPORT (if needed)

GRUEN WEST GERMAN QUARTZ TORTOISE SHELL AND BRASS ALARM DESK CLOCK

Pre-owned * * possible trade-in, customer return, estate sale item, inventory liquidation. Not functioning at time of listing, with known & unknown issues and is Sold As Is For Repair or Parts We make no claim. What you see, is What you get, UNLESS NOTED

PHYSICAL CONDITION:  EXCELLENT

VERY RARE ITEM AND NOT FOUND ANYWHERE(NEW OR USED), AT THIS TIME.

THIS IS A VERY RARE & HARD TO FIND CLOCK, IN THIS CONFIGURATION. ONLY 2 FOUND, BUT IN WHITE, NOT TORTOISE SHELL

NOT TICKING (unknown reasons) AND A KNOB TO THE TIME SET FUNCTION IS BROKEN. 

THE BEST DEALS, SELECTION AND SATISFACTION PER OUR CUSTOMERS 

DIMENSIONS:   Case 78mm;   Length 95mm;   Depth including base 40mm.

SOLD AS IS  (NO WARRANTIES EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED).  NO RETURNS 

THIS ADVERTISEMENT/SALE RESULTED IN THIS REVIEW

We ordered a clock, when we received it, it didn't work at all - tried contacting the seller but their only comment was "no returns and no refunds" - extremely unprofessional and very misrepresented - selling products that don't work and then not accepting them back.

Communication that led up to it.

New message from: BUYER

The clock does not work! Tried several new batteries but it doesn't work. - how do I receive a refund!

RESPONSE

Hello,
NO REFUND/RETURNS.
PLEASE re-read our advertisement, and you will clearly have all your questions answered. This item is SOLD AS ADVERTISED.
Respectfully,
The team 

ANSWER

New message from: BUYER Great!

RESULTS – NEGATIVE FEEDBACK

HERE IS EBAY’S LAST RESPONSE TO US WANTING THIS FEEDBACK REMOVED, after 4 attempts with AI & 2 live conversations resulting in agent admitting “they see the problem, and most likely will get it removed”. Then escalating it to a higher agent, assuring us of positive results with-in 48 hours.

NOT . . Still there and this was the last response from eBay (we believe AI generated).

Hello Frank,

Thank you for contacting eBay customer service, this is ***** and I received a request that you need assistance regarding the item you sold to your buyer "******". I can see that you want the related feedback removed as you did your best to resolve this buyer's concern and I commend you for that.

First and foremost, I appreciate how you have been patient in sorting this out with the buyer. As a seller myself, I fully understand the impact of negative feedback on a seller's ability to attract buyers. Please be reminded though that your feedback rating is not included in the parameters of measuring your seller performance rating.   

As soon as the case was assigned to me, I immediately did a careful review of your transaction and saw that this feedback still portrays the buyer's experience.

For us to proceed with your feedback appeal, we recommend you send a message to your buyer today and ask more about their concern and how they would like this to be resolved. You may consider offering a partial refund or replacement as well.

Rest assured that offering these alternatives doesn’t mean you lost a sale but rather, you are merely acting in your capacity as a responsible seller to ensure that your customers are happy and to enable us to remove this feedbacks and attract new customers.

You may also consider sending them a feedback revision request. This way, instead of removing it completely, the buyer can change the feedback into a positive one and may also include their experience on how you made things right for them. While doing that, you may reply to your buyer's feedback.

On the side note, if your buyer's unable to change their feedback using the feedback revision form, you may simply let us see the agreement between you and the buyer on the eBay messages. As long as the buyer agrees to remove the feedback, we will definitely proceed with it.

Again, thank you for contacting eBay customer service.  I'm confident that I have explained what happened on the case to the best of my knowledge. Thank you for choosing eBay as your online selling platform and have a great day!

Kind Regards,

EBAY you’ve got to be kidding. Is this what our sales commissions paid to you get us? Is this what 24 years of loyal membership gets us?

If this negative feedback DOES NOT VIOLATE YOUR POLICY, then we (along with other members, other people,) can’t believe that lies, slander, degrading and misrepresented accusation are, and will continue to be supported by eBay customer service or its management. 

WE WELCOME EVERYONE’S COMMENTS AND OPINIONS. We also ask eBay to correct/direct/instruct us in what we did to get this feedback, but even more important what do we do to not receive something like this again.

We want to thank, in advance everyone who reads this and give their input, positive or negative, and resulting in an awareness that impacts them.

Respectfully,

24 year Member

[bennotbill]

I don't think there is a "For parts or not working" in the collectables category.

But in that situation I always make sure I add "for spares or repair" in the title.

Just having that in the description is not enough as many buyers just don't read the description. Especially long winded ones.

[lacemaker3]

I just tried starting a "Sell similar" listing from the OP's listing. It is in the same category, and I was able to select "For parts or not working" as the condition. So it was available.

[mam98031]

---

@dhbookds wrote:

if it doesn't work...........should have been in a parts/not working category........

---

As well as noting it in the TITLE.  Any experienced seller knows it is difficult to get buyers to read the description.  It is very important to have such critical info in the title and list with the appropriation Condition.

[mam98031]

---

@harborauction wrote:

You can disregard all the wrong category, wrong description comments. Doesn't really matter, you buyer could have returned the item even if was listed as for parts, not working. Buyer obviously didn't read or comprehend the description. Once again, doesn't really matter, buyers can return anything for any or no reason regardless of your "no returns" policy which is meaningless.

Your mistake was not accepting the return request, trying to force a buyer to keep and pay for an item they don't want regardless of the circumstances rarely works out well for the seller, as you have found out

---

Not exactly.

Sellers with a No Return Policy have the right to deny a properly filed Buyer's Remorse return request.  However with an INAD, they do not have that option.  They must process the claim as any other seller would be required to.  But if the seller does not want to take the return, they can simply refund.  Which would be exactly what would happen if the seller tries to fight it and the buyer asks Ebay to step in.

Not only would the buyer not likely be required to return the item, Ebay would force the seller to refund, the seller would not get their FVFs refunded and the seller would get a Defect for not processing the claim as they should.

All sellers have to have a return policy that meets or exceeds the MBG.  This has been the rule for years.  I does appear that the seller is not aware of this fact.

[asset_liquidators]

Unfortunately the ad is contradictory. To me it is obviously a non-working unit but it is listed in the "used" category instead of "parts/not working". Additionally the ad says it is in "excellent physical condition" which implies that it is in excellent functional condition and it is not since it doesn't work.

I think you meant to imply that it is in excellent COSMETIC condition but I wouldn't even mention that in an item that is listed as non-working even if it looked brand new.

[mam98031]

---

@house*of*paws wrote:

---

@tobaccocardyahoo wrote:

---

@house*of*paws wrote:

---

I believe the OP was referring to the item’s COSMETIC condition as  Excellent.

It’s very possible for a non-working item to LOOK great.

---

His intent is meaningless, it is his words which matter.

Some sellers might say this with benign intent, others to deliberately obfuscate the condition. There is no requirement for the buyer to attempt to determine the seller's motivation.

---

I had no difficulty understanding what ‘Physical condition - Excellent’ meant in this case.  I didn’t think it contradicted the fact that the item’s Functionality was NOT  excellent.  

I already had stated that the OP seller chose the wrong ‘Item Condition’ … which made the item ‘not as described’ automatically.  

But I did NOT see that the OP tried to obfuscate the condition.  [Perhaps you don’t agree that ‘Physical condition’ is synonymous with ‘Cosmetic condition’.]

---

I agree with you.  How would the buyer know that they seller was only talking about the exterior looks of the item.  I'm not sure where the exterior part of the item was the only thing that mattered when selecting the condition of an item.  IMHO it is misleading.  

Their ISBs [item specific boxes] also are silent on the actual condition of the item.  There is a box called Seller Notes and it says “PRE-OWNED * * * possible trade-in, customer return, estate sale, inventory liquidation.”  Which is also leaving out critical information.

You have to get all the way down to the description before there is any mention of the item not working.  The first sentence is in large lettering and describes what is being sold, but with NO mention that it doesn't work.  They do mention it boldly in the second sentence.  Then go on to describe how "excellent" the item condition is, then not mentioning it doesn't work again until the bottom of the description.

The seller has enough experience and they should have known they needed to do a better job on the listing IMHO.

[mam98031]

---

@bennotbill wrote:

I don't think there is a "For parts or not working" in the collectables category.

But in that situation I always make sure I add "for spares or repair" in the title.

Just having that in the description is not enough as many buyers just don't read the description. Especially long winded ones.

---

There is.  I thought the same thing.  I did a sell similar off the listing and yes that condition was available.

[robbie31415 · Accepted solution]

It's more important than ever now that you include as much information in title, and use the correct condition.

Buyers can get the limited view where they can add it to their cart without ever seeing your description.

What eBay does provide is the Title and Condition

EBay also advertises their MBG, So YES you do have to accept defective items regardless of what your description says.

[gone.c-33]

As is is meaningless online since there is no way to physically verify the condition of the item.

There was nothing slanderous or degrading about the feedback: the clock does not work and you did refuse to take it back.

[kel-conn]

Thanks for the encouragement/support, and we are moving toward doing everything that everyone has made points on, in hops it will prevent this again. Just goes to show that no matter how old you are it's never to late to learn, and it should be okay to make a mistake, but not okay to lose the lesson. 

Thanks !

[bonjourami]

What a nice response, unusual for an op on this board, good luck to you!

[fern*wood]

You'll be fine.  I've survived several bad feedbacks & mistakes.  The parts/repair condition is kind of hid behind the three little dots you have to click on and I've missed it too.

[frankenhobbit]

What a great response to the feedback others gave! So often people pose a question, don't like the sometimes difficult but honest answers and dig in. It's getting rarer and rarer these days for people to accept honest criticism. I'm a believer in the fact that we learn a lot more from our mistakes than from when things just go as planned. 

[smabrouk]

Please consider revising your statement, “We welcome and respect all and everyone's opinion, positive neutral or negative, but lies/slights we do not.”, made in reply to the negative feedback about which you are complaining.  The buyer who referred to you as “extremely unprofessional” and to your item as “very misrepresented” makes these comments as this is the experience of this buyer.  Stating that the item is “Sold As Is For Repair or Parts” and describing the same item as having “PHYSICAL CONDITION:  EXCELLENT” in the item description are contradictory since the functionality of the clock is part of the physical condition, not just the case in which the clock’s works reside.

Buyers who read your feedback may be put off by the statement “We welcome and respect all and everyone's opinion, positive neutral or negative, but lies/slights we do not.” in reply to this buyer’s feedback which states that the purchased item “didn't work at all” and that, when the buyer contacted you, your ‘only comment was "no returns and no refunds"’.   The contradictions in your description made the item not-as-described.  You should have suggested that the buyer return the item at your expense (eBay policy for INAD!), accepted the return for a full refund, and apologized for the problem/confusion.  Doing so would have changed the experience of this buyer from negative to positive and could have resulted in your receiving positive feedback.

[fab_finds4u]

In a few months others will not be able to see the listing to draw their own conclusions. You should have said the description said not working, for parts  or repair. 

However the item condition you chose is used and eBay goes by that rather than what is written in the description, and used means it can be worn and have defects but still must be fully functioning.