Negative feedbacks are becoming so ridiculously hard to remove

[mermaidalcove]

Before I had my own account, I helped my mother out on her own account since the early 2000s. I was basically ten years old when my parents had me helping out with photographing, writing item descriptions, and rummaging around through thrift stores and estate sales. I remember for 10+ years or so after that, we had all sorts of things go wrong. Items would break in shipment, we would accidentally sent out the wrong item, make an oopsie in the description, and all sorts of hilarious things would go wrong over the course of a decade. 

Want to know how many negatives my parents had on their account? Over the course of ten years... I'd say maybe four in total, three of which they were very easily able to get removed by calling in. 

I've moved out and gotten my own account now, and, I've been struggling so hard because it feels like people leave negatives left and right. Calling would usually fix this 50% of the time, and, jumping through hoops and bending over backwards to get a buyer to agree to a feedback revision form was the other half of this ordeal. 

A few days ago, I had a buyer buy a brand new / sealed item from me that she had been using for 30+ days after it got delivered to her. It randomly stopped working. Do you think someone messaged me to ask for a refund or anything of that sort? Nah, I got a negative feedback saying "This item stopped working after 30 days, 1 star" and I called and couldn't get it removed. I tried appealing the negative and got a quick response essentially letting me know that "this is the buyer's opinion and they are entitled to it" -- how? Just... how? Do I look like I'm psychic? If I sell a brand new and factory sealed item, and someone leaves me a negative 30+ after the sale, how is them complaining about me not being able to predict the malfunction of a brand new factory sealed item something that belongs on my feedback section? It doesn't. I refunded this person, sent them a revision form, only for them to say "Sorry, I don't know how to revise feedback, but I would give you a positive if I could." and I had to call Ebay. Only then did they see me worthy of a negative feedback removal. 

Then, literally the next day, someone left me another negative. A bit of a backstory here: I had two vintage peacock shelves that I sold. I used the same photos on both because they were 100% identical. One had remnants of an old Ross store sticker on the back. Some guy bought it locally. He picked this item up in broad daylight, inspected it, commented on how amazing it was and how much he loved it, and then almost an entire month later, he leaves me a negative saying "This item was bought at ROSS. NOT VINTAGE!!!" 

... Ross has been open since the 1950s, come on now. Since the early 2000s, I've seen my mom and dad sell dozens of items from TJ Maxx and Ross from the 80s and 90s. I tried getting this removed as well. I called Ebay and they agreed with me that the feedback was weird, but, they had to have an appeals person look at it. I was told to fill out a feedback removal form. I wrote in the form, essentially, that: "Yes, this item is from a store. Yes, this store is still open. Remnants of an old Ross sticker are on the back (you can't really read this sticker at all except see that it says Ross on it -- the rest was torn off)" and I commented that this store has been open since the 50s and it's not uncommon to see things from there that are indeed vintage.

Blah, same old message. This item doesn't qualify for feedback removal because it's the buyer's opinion. How is it that someone can pick the item physically up, inspect it, comment on how much they like it, pay for it, keep it for an entire month, and then decide to leave me a negative just because it's from Ross... a store that is still in operation present day, but also a store that has been in operation for 70 years... 

I did my usual song and dance of sending a feedback revision form and even said that I'd refund them and they can give me a feedback revision if they so please, but, they paid in cash so that's a no go. I usually do this thing where I say "Hey, sorry you had a bad experience. How about I refund you and send you a feedback revision form?" except since this was paid in cash, I had to tell my buyer to open up an item not received case, and THEN it'll let me refund him. And even then, I have to hope that they give me the feedback revision. 

A few months back, a guy asked me to ship something on Easter weekend, when I was 2 hours away with family, and I told him that he had to wait until Monday because I was hours away and not even home, and he left me a negative feedback a mile long telling me why I am such a bad seller. I had to talk to THREE Ebay reps on the phone because the first two were like "Hmmm... well, it's his opinion!" and the third one finally said "Yeah... okay, this isn't right. I'll remove this for you." but the fact that it took me three tries to get a very basic thing done? Absolutely ridiculous. And since then, the negatives just keep coming. There have been times when I would ship things 1-2 days before their due date, with priority shipping and everything, but then there'd be some bizarre 1-2 week mail delay (or something would temporarily get lost) and I've had to jump through hoops, bend over backwards, and waste so much of my time and energy in removing negative feedbacks left by angry people who somehow feel as though I have some control over the mail being delayed. 

And sometimes, I'd have to talk to a total of four Ebay reps or so before someone would see reason and think: "Hmm... yeah, maybe you don't deserve to have people yelling at you simply because the mail was having a delay or the mail lost your item for a bit." 

I swear, I've gotten more negatives over the course of one year of being on Ebay from 2020-2021 than my parents ever did over the course of 15 years when they started in late 1999 - early 2000s. A lot of people might say "Well, one negative won't hurt." but that's not the issue. One might not, but, I've been here for one year and have had to fight tooth and nail to get negatives removed, and it wasn't always easy. If I actually royally messed up and deserved the negative, I'd gladly take it. But things such as: "Oh, hey, I bought some brand new item from you 30+ days ago and now it's malfunctioning." or "Oh, hey, I know you shipped the item in a timely manner and all, but, it seems to be going slowly in the mail." are all things beyond my control, but, when you try to talk to a rep about it now, 9/10 the response is: "Well, the buyer is entitled to their opinion..."

"Send a revision form."

Half the time, buyers don't even look at my revision forms, or ever respond to me ever again, and I had to get a lot of negatives removed by talking to Ebay reps. Which used to be easier to do than it is now.

And that's just the sad reality. 

[coolections]

I did not read your book on the subject, but being on the boards for years I can tell you they are not that hard to get removed. Many come here complaining about negatives and state they call CS sometimes up to five times until finally the CS agent gets tired of them calling and they remove the neg. Personally IMO no feedback should be allowed to be removed unless there is profanity. Any buyer can read the feedback given and read the seller reply and form their own opinion.

[katzrul15]

No idea what is causing all your negs - we have been on here over 17 years and have none showing on our selling accounts and have ever only had 1 removed that I can remember.  

On your clown listing - you cannot call a cheap taiwan clown "Llado Style" - that is keyword spamming and not allowed.  It is also imperfect as you state in your listing - perhaps this is what is creating Buyer issues for you?  

Just because something is at a thrift store, does not make it vintage, which is truly an over-used descriptor on this site.  

If you are truly working as hard as you outline to remove negatives as your state in your OP, perhaps you need to work on sourcing better items for your Buyers.  You're fortunate you do not have chargebacks in addition to the negatives.  

[fashunu4eeuh]

Feedback no longer counts towards a seller’s metrics. Sell long enough, and a neg will likely happen eventually. Because feedback can be subjective or unfair, eBay no longer lets a poor rating impact a seller’s standing.

Most buyers accept that there are folks out there who are unhappy and cant be pleased. As long as the seller’s followup response is well done—not blaming or defensive or angry—a seller’s well worded comment can utterly disarm a negative feedback score.

One thing—i would hesitate to send a feedback revision request to a buyer without substantial contact with them first, to make things “right”. And then later, ask if they’d be amenable to revising, once i had corrected the perceived problem. When affirmed, then i’d send the official request. Sellers only get so many revision requests per year. They are too valuable to waste on an unknown outcome.

[inhawaii]

The Ross item.  I agree with you. That is an unwarranted negative.  However, "buyer stupidity" is not a valid reason for ebay to remove negative feedback.  Sorry this happened to you. 

[cwsdenver]

Unfortunately these negative feedbacks are increasing with buyers stealing product.  I have been told there are many different instructions on how to "Get stuff free on eBay" (by stealing) on the Dark Web.  I recently got hit with one.  The trick was to buy a few cheap cards (less than $10.00), and then hit the seller by buying one of his most expensive cards. It worked, and all too easily for the theif (buyer).  He bought a few cheap cards, then bought a $250.00 card that he swithched for a damaged $10.00 card.  When I received the package back, all of the original packaging had been broken into including the sealed clear plastic pouch, and the hard plastic case the original card had been in.  I told eBay that if the item was truly INAD, he didn't need to break into all of clear holders to get to it.  Ebay said that they had already given the money back to the buyer (Too bad for me), and that they closed the case in favor of the buyer.  They would also not remove the negative feedback, nor the "Seller Defects" because it was my fault. What???  Why was it my fault that he tampered with the packaging and switched the card???  I learned on the interent that I may be on the Dark Web's "Ebay Seller Target" list (or whatever it is called now), and was hit by two buyers for two more cards.  I did prove to eBay that the cards were delivered, but in one case, eBay said that the buyer had received their money back, and that their case was closed.  So I got hit by the buyer with negative feedback, eBay hit me with Seller Defects, and I had my card stolen along with shipping costs.  The only thing that you can do when you are on the Dark Web's hit list is to close down your eBay store and close your eBay account.  A lot of inactive eBay accounts are getting hacked also, so watch out for those.

[downunder-61]

I would not worry about it, it would not stop me buying from you.

While your response was a little too wordy for me, I think you explained the situation well and anyone reading it would realise you had a rotten buyer.

In saying that the 4th photo does look like it has something blacked out, but that is neither here nor there as you said it was picked up in person and they had every opportunity to refuse to purchase it.

[Anonymous]

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@downunder-61 wrote:

In saying that the 4th photo does look like it has something blacked out, but that is neither here nor there as you said it was picked up in person and they had every opportunity to refuse to purchase it.

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That's what I was going to say. The remnants of a clone stamp tool are absolutely unmistakeable. They cloned from below the sticker then brushed it going up.

It's not really relevant to the complaint since it was local pickup and the buyer could/should have inspected it. The way it sounds in feedback, the buyer had someone else pick up the item for them. It explains why they called you he instead of she, and why they were surprised to see a price sticker when they got it.

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

@mermaidalcove 

While I do agree that the negative left by the buyer was un-called for as he could have contacted you to resolve this issue.

    Incidentally, Ross stores have only been in business since 1982. I think your placing to much value on things that come from this store as they are from China. But that's neither here nor there.

     Always remove stickers from your items unless those items are true collectables from occupied Japan or Napco or Josef originals. I'm talking stickers from Wal-Mart, Homegoods, Ross, or Hobby Lobby.

     I think you have enough satisfied customers and good FB that it's not going to affect your sales. Best to you.