Negative feedback

[fairmargo]

i have just received my first negative feedback.  The buyer has never contacted me since he made the purchase.   I don’t even understand what he is saying.  That the bracelet is not sterling?  I have put in a request for both revision and removal.  This seems to be a new buyer. 
would also advise a response to the negative feedback? 

[femmefan1946]

You can respond but keep it short, factual, and polite.

"Return for refund offer was ignored" would be one possibility.

Many buyers will ignore No Return policies, knowing that it does not mean No Refunds.

Many will not buy from sellers with No Return policies, believing that they will not be helpful if there is a problem.

Sellers with No Return policies can demand returns before refunding.

It is likely that the seller will be paying for return shipping. But that is usually less expensive than either a negative feedback  (which is not used by eBay to assess member accounts) or losing a Not As Described case without the return of a saleable item.

[fairmargo]

The buyer has NEVER contacted me after the purchase.  
does anyone understand what he has said?  

[ckimodog]

It sounds like they may have had contact with another buyer selling a similar item and unfortunately left you the feedback.  Did you try to contact the buyer concerning?  You have a lovely shop and I can see why you would be frustrated, especially if you had no prior contact other than the sale.  You may want to get in touch them just to be sure.  Sorry this was your experience.  It has happened to me as well, many moons ago. 

[fairmargo]

Thanks. This was just posting this morning,  i was blindsided as i had received no further communication from either the buyer or ebay as to any problem.  
I guess i will try to contact him.  He does not seem very reasonable, though.  
 I thought it was an excellent bracelet for a very good price.  

[buyologist-3]

FAIRMARGO??!!!???  I've dealt with you before and you were a handful!  It took awhile but Karma works!  Puurrrrrrrrrrrr...

[ckimodog]

Very nice for the price!  One negative isn't the end of the world.  You have plenty of positives to go on.  Good luck. 😊

[a_c_green]

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@fairmargo wrote:

I don’t even understand what he is saying.  That the bracelet is not sterling?  I have put in a request for both revision and removal. 

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Don't post a reply just yet; you have plenty of time for that. The gist of what the buyer wrote is that she doesn't seem to think it's really Sterling.

Send a short note sticking to the basics: "I'm sorry that you are not happy with the bracelet. You can return it for a full refund." If she returns it, refund in full, then ask if she would be willing to do a feedback revision. If she says yes, then send that to her. Don't do so before first getting her agreement as you only get 5 per year.

On a side note, you might as well offer returns to help encourage buyers to not take the nuclear option right away. You can also lose all that boilerplate text about PayPal as it is no longer relevant. Buyers can pay via Managed Payments using any method.

[coolections]

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@fairmargo wrote:

That the bracelet is not sterling?  I have put in a request for both revision and removal.  

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Yes, the buyer says your item is not as you described it. I doubt Ebay will remove the feedback. I am surprised the buyer does not know how to do a refund request.

[donsdetour]

Not sterling.

Yep dats what they be saying.

Did you test it???

[fairmargo]

I have removed the PayPal stuff.  I didn’t know it was on their until recently.  I had stopped selling during the worst of Covid and had been using PayPal before and that was imbedded in my listings, but I did not see it when I was doing to listing.

well, I had already written to the buyer before I read what you wrote.

I have always been afraid of getting an expensive piece of jewelry back damaged and unsalable.  
I have relied on taking detailed pictures and also describing any flaws I can see, so that there are not any misunderstandings.  This is the first negative feedback I have gotten.

[fairmargo]

If he had asked for a refund, I would have, of course, done one.  

[a_c_green]

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@fairmargo wrote:

If he had asked for a refund, I would have, of course, done one.  

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You can still offer a refund either with or without a return, but you might as well ask for a return and send a label. That bracelet looks pretty beefy and I would not be concerned about it getting damaged in the mail. (You do not get billed for the label if the buyer does not use it.)

Simply sending a refund without getting it back first implies that it is indeed fake, and that you know it. Asking for its return first implies that it does have the value you were asking for it.

Do not mention a feedback revision as a condition of refunding, as that can be interpreted as feedback extortion. Raise that possibility after the buyer has been refunded.

[iart]

From the negative:

"Be aware of does not accept returns in descriptions of sellers."

LoL

[omgitlightsup]

Ah, sorry that happened.

On the one hand, you listed something identified as sterling silver, and clearly from the photo it is not. It looks nickel plated if I had to guess. Silver has a "frosty" appearance that comes from microscopic scratches, with the slightest greenish cast. This luster reproduces very well in photos and is not the warm and deeply glossy appearance of this metal. But it's stamped with something that looks very much like it says "sterling."

And you know that the buyer saw this in the photo too.

I had a buyer threaten to report one of my auctions once because it was a sterling silver flatware set with a steel bladed table knife that was marked "stainless." I had to explain to him that nearly all sterling flatware has steel blades, because silver is too soft to make a good knife blade. So sometimes the buyer just doesn't understand what they're buying.

But here, this is just honest mistakes IMO. Certainly not anything resembling fraud. The negative feedback is unwarranted and you should request that it be removed. It's trivial for eBay to verify that you were never contacted and this is 50% customer satisfaction anyway. Yes, it's more work for the buyer to pack and ship it back, but if they were doing any less work, you'd be going out and wearing the **bleep** thing for them.

Editorial. I can't believe that this site is so puritanical that **bleep** is considered a bad word.