Negative feedback - is it libel?

[argoq104]

Hi there, Folks.

Hope all is well with you all.

I've been selling and buying on eBay for just about twenty years. I probably have seen it all.

A bit of a dilemma here (nothing new).

What irks me in this particular case (the negative review from the buyer - please see my profile) is two-fold:

1. The perpetual lack of a safety mechanism that mandates that a party unsatisfied with their eBay transaction must contact the other party before being allowed to leave a negative. No contact - no negative or neutral feedback. That simple.

In this particular case the buyer did not contact me in any shape or form.

2. eBay must mandate that the feedback provided is factual. If eBay's AI can't do it just yet then involve a human capable of making such determination.

>> "Wrong description on the unit resulted in a bad purchase." - the buyer doesn't stipulate what was wrong with the description. I, as a seller, can only take a buyer so far - multiple pictures, origin of the part, its serial number(s). The rest of the purchasing decision rests on the shoulders of the buyer (please see note below).

>> "... I will avoid this seller for bad descriptions in the future." - again, the reference is to the part's supposed bad description. Again, where is the proof? Descriptions? - as in inference that I, as a seller, have been cited for several of such?

I sell on eBay to give good parts a chance to be useful again. I wonder if it's worth my precious time. It's not.

At the end of the day who losses out the most?

Let me know what you think, my good Brothers and Sisters.

Side note: I've dealt with cases when a buyer realized that he or she purchased a wrong part (even for parts that were sold 'as is'), reached out to express their issue (brave enough to admit to their mistake) and would have their own mistake turn into a very positive outcome.

[ckimodog]

@argoq104 

I'm sorry for your experience.  I don't believe negative feedback is libelous or grounds for a lawsuit. It's this persons opinion that the item was not described correctly. They may be very familiar with GPU's and perhaps wanted one of the same that they had purchased prior.  Just a guess.   Again, sorry. 

[dhbookds]

Problem for this buyer was, as he expressed it, the No Returns on the item......he assumed no point in trying to deal with you.......

[myfrugalboutique]

@argoq104 

Everyone takes returns…I would say you could have turned this around in your favor and contacted the buyer, offered to provide a return label, etc.  That negative has done its damage and your response was more damaging to you. 

Quit thinking about legal action…that is silly. Fix the problem with the customer, and likely he would revise his feedback. A negative isn’t worth $39.99

[wastingtime101]

To this point:

>> The perpetual lack of a safety mechanism that mandates that a party unsatisfied with their eBay transaction must contact the other party before being allowed to leave a negative. No contact - no negative or neutral feedback. That simple. In this particular case the buyer did not contact me in any shape or form.

eBay improved things a couple of years ago, putting a roadblock in front of buyers when they select negative. This is what it looks like on the website. On the app it's much more difficult to get past it without contacting the seller first.

This change has cut down on the number of negs left by accident, and has encouraged more buyers to contact the seller first when there is a real problem. But it's not a requirement to contact the seller and I would be surprised if eBay forced it since their current goal is to increase buyer engagement and get them to leave feedback on a higher number of transactions.

As said above, the buyer probably did not reach out because of your no returns policy so they figured there was no point.

Have you considered contacting the buyer to discuss what the [perceived] problem is? See if you can work it out? If you can come to an amicable solution you have the option of asking the buyer to revise the feedback after the issue is settled by sending them a FB revision request.

[luckythewinner]

The perpetual lack of a safety mechanism that mandates that a party unsatisfied with their eBay transaction must contact the other party before being allowed to leave a negative. No contact - no negative or neutral feedback. That simple.
I fail to see why I should be required to further engage with a seller who is rude, abusive, or has defrauded me before expressing my disappointment through feedback. And I also fail to see why sending him a message telling him he was rude, abusive, or had defrauded me would change anything.

eBay must mandate that the feedback provided is factual. If eBay's AI can't do it just yet then involve a human capable of making such determination.

There is absolutely no way that eBay - through AI or a human - can verify whether feedback is "factual". And they certainly aren't going to pay an expert to to travel to a buyer to examine and item, or hire an investigator to interview the buyer and seller.

I've been selling and buying on eBay for just about twenty years. I probably have seen it all.

Let me know what you think, my good Brothers and Sisters.

I think that anyone who has sold on eBay for 20 years and "seen it all" knows that eBay is not going to change the feedback system.

[chevymontecarlo88]

Problem for this buyer was, as he expressed it, the No Returns on the item......he assumed no point in trying to deal with you.......

☝️Exactly what  dhbookds posted.

argoq104 That is the problem when you state no returns on the item. Some may feel like it is a waste of time to reach out if they think no returns. Yes, they should of reached out to find out if something could be done but your listing gives them a reason not to.

Maybe you should have a few form response Ebay messages saved to send to the buyers once they purchase the item (qualifying that they understand what part they need and to contact you with any questions) and another message save to send once they receive the item. (thanks them and follows up to make sure they understand they can reach out with any problems) Yes it does take a little longer to do this and some may not have the time to do it, but if you have these messages prepared (just add name to message) it can take seconds and save time/headaches that can surprise you days later.

At this point it is pointless to argue who is right. Just adapt your way of selling to minimize this from happening again.

-Good luck

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

@argoq104 

Please don't dwell on this, your response was good. This is just a buyers opinion nothing more nothing less.

[frankenhobbit]

When did they leave the feedback? Looks like it sold on July 2nd, so there may still be time to reach out, fix the issue and have the feedback revised?

[etsvcs]

I have free returns and still get negative feedback. 😞

[argoq104]

Thank you, ckimodog

Would it not be the buyer's responsibility to check if the part being purchased is in fact the part that is sought?

[argoq104]

Thank you for your reply dhbookds.

As I stated in my last paragraph, I have no problem rectifying buyer's mistakes.

This is exactly what irks me - one's assumption becomes someone else's headache and eBay allows it.

[chevymontecarlo88]

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@argoq104 wrote:

Would it not be the buyer's responsibility to check if the part being purchased is in fact the part that is sought?

---

Of course it is but the point is that selling on this platform allows the lack of common sense to prevail.

It is not about who's fault it is but what the outcome generally will be. (buyers win)

All you can do is try to minimize them but that does not guarantee negative feedback will be left.

[argoq104]

Thank you for your reply wastingtime101

As I've mentioned, I don't have a problem addressing buyer's issues (even if it's a buyer's mistake). I do have a problem with a baseless negative and for eBay's lack of oversight.

[argoq104]

Thank you for your feedback luckythewinner

Your first paragraph - not sure how to interpret it;

Second paragraph - a bit on extreme but yes, it follows;

Third paragraph - that's a solid affirmative, Sir.