Negative feedback

[rsbmwpower]

I listed an aircraft tug as local pickup only.  The buyer is in Washington state and  I am in Alabama.  He said local pickup means he can have shipping service pickup and I am responsible to facilitate by putting item on pallet and working with shipper.  When I would not do that he threatened me with a scathing review.   When I refunded his money he indeed left me with a scathing review.   I asked eBay to remove review.  They responded saying they studied this closely but could not remove review. 
They don’t allow me to leave feedback on him.  
It makes me want to forget dealing with eBay.  Is there anything I can do?

[fab_finds4u · Accepted solution]

The purpose of them picking it up is so you don't  have to package it or do anything other than making the item available to pickup.  I REPEAT that!  The BUYER cannot impose or demand you put it on a pallet or prepare it for shipping as YOU are not shipping it. He can't dictate pickup terms and require you to do that.  KEEP calling eBay until you get ahold of an intelligent rep instead of a dummy. Feedback extortion is not allowed last I heard. Keep trying to get the neg removed.  All you were required to do was make the item itself available to pickup unless in your description you said you would have it wrapped and on a pallet.

[donsdetour]

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@rsbmwpower wrote:

I listed an aircraft tug as local pickup only.  The buyer is in Washington state and  I am in Alabama.  He said local pickup means he can have shipping service pickup and I am responsible to facilitate by putting item on pallet and working with shipper.  When I would not do that he threatened me with a scathing review.   When I refunded his money he indeed left me with a scathing review.   I asked eBay to remove review.  They responded saying they studied this closely but could not remove review. 
They don’t allow me to leave feedback on him.  
It makes me want to forget dealing with eBay.  Is there anything I can do?

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Report the user for buyer abuse asking after sale for things not in sale and ask them to remove feedback at same time.

[rsbmwpower]

Thanks.  I purposely priced cheap trying to clear my hangar out.  I ever implied I would prepare for shipping or work with a shipping company.  I immediately told him I did not have time to put on a pallet    
it’s frustrating. Do you have a suggestion how or who I can contact, everything is so automated I am not sure where to turn. 

[mr_lincoln]

@rsbmwpower  Here is a link to eBay's Feedback Misuse Policy, the Buyer violated THAT policy, you can have that FB removed.  eBay used to call it the Feedback Extortion Policy but they have renamed it.

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/feedback-policies/feedback-misuse-policy?id=5030&st=12&pos=4&quer...

You offered Local Pickup, by definition the Buyer comes and gets it by "picking it up".  Your listing did NOT include a pallet,or crate or any type of handling of the item other than making it available to be picked in any way the Buyer wants to. 

[femmefan1946]

He said local pickup means he can have shipping service pickup

Well, technically.... I suppose having a company pickup is no different than having your friend with a truck help out.

and I am responsible to facilitate by putting item on pallet

Nope.

he threatened me with a scathing review.

I guess you mean feedback (reviews are of the product, fb of the transaction).

EBay does not use FB to assess members because it is rarely used (less than 40% of transactions) and 'Just an opinion"

Is there anything I can do?

You can Respond to the feedback indefinitely.

Wait until you have cooled down.

And look at all his "FB left for others"

Ah- you already did that.

That is a good Response. Perhaps a bit long, but covering the situation.

Generally while you can cancel -- in this case I hope you used Problem With Address, which is both accurate and will not lead to a Defect-- the buyer can leave FB. So it would be better to use Unpaid Item to end the transaction since the loser of a Dispute cannot leave FB.

Actually, try Chat or the FaceBook  reps.

Bring their attention to the Feedback Extortion - where he threatened negative FB unless you went along with him.

EBay takes that very seriously. Much more seriously than actual FB.

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

[lamber9347]

@rsbmwpower I'm sorry a bad buyer crossed paths with you, it happens. Normally I suggest not to reply to negative FB but in your case you did the right thing- a little long but you made a point. Here's my next suggestion. 

In order to up your ratings % you should start selling some very small items. Look around your house or garage, I'm certain you can find small things to sell online. The reason is small items will sell easily and this way you can build up more positive FB, which will counteract against that negative, push the negative to your second page, and bring your % up. 

You will be fine once the sting wears off. Just concentrate on selling more items to build up more FB. Best of luck to you....

[rsbmwpower]

Thanks for your help.  I went to the feedback misuse policy page as listed and contacted eBay by chat.  They say they cannot remove negative feedback but I can leave a response if I want to it.   
I think I have had enough of eBay if I can list local pickup only. The buyer threatens a scathing review if I won’t ship and leaves one when I return money.    
the system is messed up. I think I have had it with them.  

[gjs_16]

Well, actually...

I sold a car years ago and the buyer sent a tow truck company to pick it up.
Obviously I didn't palletize it but most certainly did I make sure that I was "available" when the tow truck arrived, and I handed them the keys so they could start it and load it and all of that...

I think personally you could've done as much, at least be there when the shipping company shows up?

Just seems to me that's where the buyer might've felt slighted, however I do agree that you wouldn't be responsible for palletizing or doing anything other than making sure the item is physically there.  Perhaps the buyer wasn't willing to be reasonable, I can def see that too, don't get me wrong I'm just trying to see both sides of the story here.
At least that's my view on things.

[popblox]

You should still be able to get the feedback removed, but the feedback removal tool/chat is worthless. Before you try again, it’s imperative that you first report the buyer. Use the reasons ‘Buyer demanded something that was not offered in my listing’ and ‘Requested I include additional items for free’.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/resolving-buyer-issues/reporting-issue-buyer?id=4084

Only after you report the buyer, send a message to eBay for Business on Facebook briefly and politely explaining the issue. It’s important to note in your message that the buyer “retaliated” against you and said they were leaving negative feedback because you didn’t give them additional items/services not offered in the listing.

https://www.facebook.com/eBayForBusiness/

[flyingmvp]

You did good by not bending to the demands of the entitled buyer, it has INAD red flag all over it.

one can only imagine how much you would have had to pay to ship the Tug from WA back to AL.

since in the eyes of Ebay Algo's and personnel, as an item, your old tug is no different from a brand new t-shirt or a year old used cell phone. maybe a community focused venues (for airplane owners) would work as in controller, aerotrader, tradeaplane and more.

[north40sales]

as a seller, you can only leave positive feedback...period.   You can't even leave a scathing "positive feedback".... this really made the whole feedback thing pretty worthless in my opinion as a scammer or a bad buyer can operate in the open on eBay and receive no negative feedback that could potentially alert other sellers that they represent a potential problem when they bid on your item. 

[north40sales]

or the buyer could contract with his transportation company to handle local palletizing / crating at THEIR expense if they want to ship a local pick up item across the country.

Local pick up means local pick up.   The buyer shows up and picks the item up.  End of story. 

[postingid7659]

For future reference all local pickup sales should be payment in person, if they want to bring cash or USPS money orders.   This prevents them from running the usual scams later on, as eBay has no control over the money. 

I've been through this before, probably a dozen times over the years people buy and you never hear from them again.  If it's a car I put right in the listing $10 a day storage fee (which is pretty cheap) after 7 days no response from buyer.   You could probably do that on this piece too.  I have never had to refund anyone on these purchases.  

I had one buyer who wanted me to ship a mini-bike and we never could find a way to do it, Fastenal wanted me to take the thing all apart even though it fit right on a pallet as-is, Greyhound it needed at least the handlebars removed, etc.  I just got rid of the thing locally, I haven't heard from him in over two years.  

[downunder-61]

Your buyer was a tool, they have been on eBay long eough to know full well how Local Pick Up works and he still tried to play you.