eBay

movieman630 · ‎03-11-2024

So ebay thinks it's perfectly fine to allow a "buyer" to leave a seller negative feedback for a cancelled transaction (buyer asked to cancel immediately after buying).

This should have been a non-transaction situation. There WAS NO TRANSACTION. They asked to cancel, I cancelled. I immediately block every buyer who cancels a transaction immediately after purchasing if they don't first email me and explain why they want to. I don't do business with people like that. That's my choice as a seller.

This "buyer" leaves a negative for me out of spite on an item they never even laid hands on, was never even processed for shipping and I never communicated to them about it once. They asked to cancel an order seconds after purchasing for "ordered by mistake" which is ridiculous considering how many steps you have to go through to purchase something.

This cancellation should NULLIFY the transaction... Like it never happened in the first place.

I asked ebay to remove it and I got back the standard answer that "They could not remove it because it didn't violate their policy".

Now I'd like to know, why? Why doesn't it "violate policy" to intentionally try to hurt a seller to be vindictive?

They "protect" us from harsh language and direct insults but is not a vindictive person who circumvents the system to harm someone just as bad as a foul mouth if not worse? Is this not HARM? Am I not harmed when my feedback rating drops by .01%? How many of those kinds of people can we weather?

I don't ask for much. I've been a loyal seller, FULL TIME for 20 years. I've bent the knee over and over again. The only thing I've ever asked is for ebay to have my back when it counts.

It counted this time. They left me high and dry. They chose to side with a vindictive "buyer" with 96 feedback over me... A person who actually makes money for them. A person who's made over $1M on ebay over my lifetime.

Where is my protection ebay? If not now, when?

movieman630 · ‎03-11-2024

It doesn't change the fact that they shouldn't be able to leave ANY feedback for a transaction that never happened. When you CANCEL a transaction it should CANCEL out all aspects of said transaction. INCLUDING the ability to leave feedback of ANY kind.

Give me one GOOD reason why someone should be able to leave a negative feedback on a transaction that was cancelled due to their request immediately after? Just one good reason why that's a good policy.

siamjane8 · ‎03-11-2024

Another oversight in the policy is that a buyer should ONLY be able to leave positive feedback after the return policy expires.... we have had buyers use an item, then want to return it after 50 days!. Our return policy is 30 days. Ebay states in the message that we do not have to accept the return but if we do not- the buyer can leave negative!! So we follow ebay policy and the buyer does not have to abide by the agreed upon contractual terms of the sale.......then ebay lets them leave negative stating seller would not accept return! ridiculous.

Protections are one sided here at ebay. A few years ago they did offer some updates with protections but with each new "improvement" to the site- they are removing common sense protections again.

What is completely stupid is that the only way to protect yourself from bad feedback is to accept the return-deduct the 50% which automatically will remove feedback, and let ebay give the buyer the other 50% when they call and complain..... Great move ebay- so this costs the seller 1/2 and costs ebay 1/2 to satisfy an abusive buyer- what a goofy way to do business.......over feedback lol. Whatever you do - dont expect the buyer to honor their agreement. This is what is wrong with the world today- nobody is expected to be responsible for their own actions.

movieman630 · ‎03-11-2024

That doesn't change the fact that they shouldn't have had the ability to leave feedback for a transaction that was cancelled. What incentive is there for a seller to CANCEL a transaction if the other party can still use the feedback?

It's not about weather or not you think my personal policy to use my BBL is justified. It's weather or not the ABILITY to leave ANY feedback is FAIR on a transaction that was CANCELLED due to buyer request.

That's it.

movieman630 · ‎03-11-2024

Well in this case, if they said I used the wrong card and would like to repurchase using a different payment method. I would have accepted that excuse and they would not have been blocked. It's that simple.

golfingaddict · ‎03-11-2024

I agree with you Movieman, a buyer should not be able to leave negative feedback if they request to cancel the transaction AND the seller cancels.

It makes no sense to allow negative or neutral feedback because they have no basis of anything to rate.

dhbookds · ‎03-11-2024

Give me one GOOD reason why someone should be able to leave a negative feedback on a transaction that was cancelled due to their request immediately after? Just one good reason why that's a good policy.

Seller could have tried to add terms/charge more for shipping after the sale........

movieman630 · ‎03-11-2024

Thank you. It really is that simple. That was my only complaint. I have no problem having negative FB on my profile. I'm a realist. You will never be able to please everyone, it's just a part of this type of business. I've accepted the fact that the bigger the volume of sales the more you will get. They NEVER roll off. You will never have 100% if you reach a certain level of sales.

I just think that ebay should fortify the policies a little better. If there's no reason for a function to be available it shouldn't be.

In my opinion we, the sellers, are ebay's investment. (Especially veteran sellers who make them a lot of money) Without us, they are non-existent. They should do more to protect their investments.

movieman630 · ‎03-11-2024

@dhbookds wrote:
Give me one GOOD reason why someone should be able to leave a negative feedback on a transaction that was cancelled due to their request immediately after? Just one good reason why that's a good policy.

Seller could have tried to add terms/charge more for shipping after the sale........

Ok... So are you telling me that ebay's programmers have no way to differentiate between sales that have had communication and ones that don't?

I'm talking about transactions that were asked to be cancelled by the purchaser IMMEDIATELY after they purchase it without ANY communication between the parties. A TOTAL reversal of the entire action of purchase.

buzzapparel · ‎03-11-2024

Repeat buyers can be amongst the worse.

fern*wood · ‎03-11-2024

I actually thought the official policy was that feedback was removable if the buyer asked to cancel. I've seen reps respond that it is still possible to receive feedback, but it would qualify for removal, since they requested the cancellation.

movieman630 · ‎03-11-2024

I thought so too. I guess that was "back in the day" when you could call your ebay concierge and they would be able to hear you over the phone, human to human. They could use their own judgement, weigh the facts based on your given reputation on file with them and make the decision to remove right then and there. Those days are over. I have no doubt that not a single human being made the decision to refuse to remove this. It was AI.

luckythewinner · ‎03-11-2024

@movieman630 wrote:
That doesn't change the fact that they shouldn't have had the ability to leave feedback for a transaction that was cancelled.

Are you suggesting that any seller should be able to avoid negative feedback by cancelling with the reason "Buyer Requested"?

IMHO there are plenty of valid reasons why a seller might deserve a negative for a canceled transaction, and gifting then a A universal "get out of jail free" card is a terrible idea.

gurlcat · ‎03-11-2024

@movieman630 wrote:
Ok... So are you telling me that ebay's programmers have no way to differentiate between sales that have had communication and ones that don't?

I'm talking about transactions that were asked to be cancelled by the purchaser IMMEDIATELY after they purchase it without ANY communication between the parties. A TOTAL reversal of the entire action of purchase.

BUT YOU'RE THE ONE WHO BLOCKED COMMUNICATION. How do you not get that? You immediately blocked her from explaining the situation, all because you have this special rule that you think everyone should agree with, where a buyer should have to type an email to you in addition to using the pull-down menu that eBay provides. -For all you know, this buyer would have preferred to write but thought she better do it the "official" way with the prompt that eBay offers. She might have thought it would annoy you if she did both! And it sounds like that wouldn't be too far off the mark, considering you "despise" people who claim they made a mistake.

luckythewinner · ‎03-11-2024

@movieman630 wrote:
Well in this case, if they said I used the wrong card and would like to repurchase using a different payment method. I would have accepted that excuse and they would not have been blocked. It's that simple.

So the "simple" solution is for the buyer to read your mind and understand your unspoken "rules" about the only proper way to cancel and repurchase?

siamjane8 · ‎03-11-2024

@luckythewinner

I think the other person's "policy " perhaps is a bit strict and probably did not help this situation but also the feedback policies at ebay are ridiculously one sided. There is no reason at all that a buyer requested cancellation should allow any feedback - except positive. Ebay knows if the the buyer requested it! We are not talking about a seller initiated cancellation with the "buyer requested" reason selected.

Lucky- if you actually sold here, maybe you would understand the challenges that we sellers face.