eBay

pondwitch · ‎07-23-2017

I have been selling continuously since January, 1999. I now feel officially abandoned by eBay. I have reported an obscene negative feedback against me (causing me to lose my 100% rating) at least 5-6 times and have not received a single response from eBay.

Ironically the negative feedback was placed by a foreign buyer who DID NOT complete a sale with me. No money or merchandise was exchanged. Somehow the person managed to slip a negative obscene feedback onto my feedback. Implausible and highly unlikely you say?

The feedback is still there.

I am finally weary of being ignored. Over 5000 feedbacks later, I will probably move on to a more responsive playing field. And by the way, the 3 "Announcements" at the top of my All Selling eBay Page are dated October, 2016.

berserkerplanet · ‎07-26-2017

I tried to make it obvious enough that no one would get their panties in a bunch and report it (falsely) as obscene.

Which was really my main point - it's a slippery slope when one starts getting offended by everything. If the word in that feedback had been fully spelled out - that's one thing, but 2 letters out of 4 isn't it IMNSHO.

"Oh noes. That digusting, immoral, dirty, filthy, degenerate, uncouth, vulgar, rapscallion used the letter Q in a word. Oh my!" Everybody's trigger level is different.

I'm offended by those who are easily offended, and have zero tolerance for the intolerant 🙂

Maybe Gordon Ramsey's show "The F-Word" could incorporate the game as a side challenge? They do use a lot of Fxxks and Parsley Fxxkes.

ooak-tammy · ‎07-26-2017

@omgitlightsup wrote:
My apologies if you're from Arkansas. I've been there and it's a beautiful state. And technically, it was the US Dept of Education that called her state undereducated. I just said I was aware of it. She was the one that insinuated I was too dumb or lazy to google a postal code.

But this is sort of getting off track. My point wasn't that people from Arkansas are stupid. My point was that sometimes, the negative feedback belies the nature of the seller and the buyer. Toolhaus is a good way to see if bad feedback was left out of ignorance or spite.

If you let a buyer rattle you and play into their insult game, you can end up looking just as bad as they do. In my case, noone would have been the wiser if I just let her rant away and file an INR, but I chose to be a little snarky with it, since I knew I was out $40 plus shipping no matter what the outcome.

Our seller IMO would do just as well to leave the feedback in place, because nobody needs to investigate any further to see that the buyer was just being a jerk. If they were to reply at all, I'd recommend making it brief, professional, and polite.

I am not "from" Arkansas, I have lived there. You insulted the buyer and the buyer's entire state.

What's next, the country? As for the OP, that negative is over the top stupid and buyers will understand that sometimes you end up with a real loser. I doubt anyone will give that negative a

thought. I know I wouldn't.

touchdownarkansas · ‎07-26-2017

That is not true. I had a very important packet of business paperwork that had AZ on it instead of AR and I never received it. It even had the extra 4 digits on the zip code. Never saw it.

__________________________________________

CW4PWK--Taji,Iraq-42404
'They won't get it all, and they won't have it long.'

'You gotta see those creeps crawl...' Echo & the Bunnymen-"Crocodiles'

rainbowcolorz · ‎07-26-2017

@sidemouse wrote:
@18704d wrote:

"Ironically the negative feedback was placed by a foreign buyer who DID NOT complete a sale with me. No money or merchandise was exchanged."
---------

I thought an Unpaid Item Dispute (did you file one?) closed in your favor with no payment
prevents a buyer from leaving any feedback.

?
Lynn
Ahhhh yes I just had this very same situation.
A buyer won an auction of ours but never paid, the buyer asked at least twice for us to cancel the sale. It didn't matter that the buyer was rude to us, had the buyer asked nicely I doubt it would have made much of a difference however the buyer's attitude did not help.
We allowed the UID to run its course.

Here is why:
a) To get our final value fees back
b) To put an unpaid auction mark on the buyer's record.
c) To keep the buyer from leaving 'mystery' feedback.

Yup, it really is true, you wouldn't think a buyer who doesn't want to pay would leave negative feedback, especially after you go out of your way to cancel the auction for them!!!

But why take that chance, why not make extra sure?

@sidemouse .... The reason you provided for allowing the UID to run its course is interesting (although you did say your buyer was rude). In the event I ever have to open one, and the buyer requests that I cancel the sale (whether rude or not) ... not honoring their request and allowing the UID to go forward is the best course of action, so as to protect myself from any feedback the buyer might/may leave?

ooak-tammy · ‎07-26-2017

@rainbowcolorz wrote:
@sidemouse wrote:
@18704d wrote:

"Ironically the negative feedback was placed by a foreign buyer who DID NOT complete a sale with me. No money or merchandise was exchanged."
---------

I thought an Unpaid Item Dispute (did you file one?) closed in your favor with no payment
prevents a buyer from leaving any feedback.

?
Lynn
Ahhhh yes I just had this very same situation.
A buyer won an auction of ours but never paid, the buyer asked at least twice for us to cancel the sale. It didn't matter that the buyer was rude to us, had the buyer asked nicely I doubt it would have made much of a difference however the buyer's attitude did not help.
We allowed the UID to run its course.

Here is why:
a) To get our final value fees back
b) To put an unpaid auction mark on the buyer's record.
c) To keep the buyer from leaving 'mystery' feedback.

Yup, it really is true, you wouldn't think a buyer who doesn't want to pay would leave negative feedback, especially after you go out of your way to cancel the auction for them!!!

But why take that chance, why not make extra sure?

@sidemouse .... The reason you provided for allowing the UID to run its course is interesting (although you did say your buyer was rude). In the event I ever have to open one, and the buyer requests that I cancel the sale (whether rude or not) ... not honoring their request and allowing the UID to go forward is the best course of action, so as to protect myself from any feedback the buyer might/may leave?

What will happen is that the buyer will pay up and give you a neg for not cancelling, they may even be ticked off enough to SNAD your item so you have to pay the return shipping. It's best to just cancel as the buyer requested, any negative feedback will be removed by Ebay.

sidemouse · ‎07-26-2017

@rainbowcolorz wrote:
@sidemouse wrote:

@sidemouse .... The reason you provided for allowing the UID to run its course is interesting (although you did say your buyer was rude). In the event I ever have to open one, and the buyer requests that I cancel the sale (whether rude or not) ... not honoring their request and allowing the UID to go forward is the best course of action, so as to protect myself from any feedback the buyer might/may leave?

There is an item in the Preferences called the Unpaid Item Assistant.

I have mine set to automatically open and close cases, it takes 4 days before one opens and another 4 before it closes. So if after 8 days the buyer has not paid I get all my fees back and am free to relist if I so wish.

And, unlike cancellations that leave feedback open...

Once that UID closes (Unpaid) the buyer can NOT leave feedback.

@ooak-tammy wrote:
@rainbowcolorz wrote:
What will happen is that the buyer will pay up and give you a neg for not cancelling, they may even be ticked off enough to SNAD your item so you have to pay the return shipping. It's best to just cancel as the buyer requested, any negative feedback will be removed by Ebay.

Sure, but it's not much worse than what can happen if I cancel.

The 'other' benefit is it places an unpaid item strike on that bidder's account.

Sellers also have a setting in their preferences where they can refuse to sell to a bidder who has more than X UID strikes in Y months (I think the most aggressive setting is 2 UID's in a year).

Savvy sellers use these settings to protect themselves from unscrupulous bidders.

nowthatsjustducky · ‎07-27-2017

Oh yeah, I understand why you posted that. I just thought the game show idea around it was amusing. Also, a day later I am regretting not coming up with the even better response...

"Oh my! I better go get some counselling. I got every one of those wrong."

If it works, sell it. If it works well, sell it for more. If it doesn't work, quadruple the price and sell it as an antique.

-- Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #80

berserkerplanet · ‎07-27-2017

Sorry. I phased that badly - I knew YOU got it. 🙂

reallynicestamps · ‎07-27-2017

You can leave a Response to any feedback, your own or your buyer's, indefinitely.

Unlike Seller Feedback, Responses do not have to be positive.

The most effective Responses are calm and factual.

'Package delivered 10/1/17 by USPS. No dispute opened." for example.

A rude FB says more about the leaver than the recipient. Another reason why FB should not be masked.

ooak-tammy · ‎07-28-2017

@sidemouse wrote:
@rainbowcolorz wrote:
@sidemouse wrote:

@sidemouse .... The reason you provided for allowing the UID to run its course is interesting (although you did say your buyer was rude). In the event I ever have to open one, and the buyer requests that I cancel the sale (whether rude or not) ... not honoring their request and allowing the UID to go forward is the best course of action, so as to protect myself from any feedback the buyer might/may leave?
There is an item in the Preferences called the Unpaid Item Assistant.
I have mine set to automatically open and close cases, it takes 4 days before one opens and another 4 before it closes. So if after 8 days the buyer has not paid I get all my fees back and am free to relist if I so wish.
And, unlike cancellations that leave feedback open...
Once that UID closes (Unpaid) the buyer can NOT leave feedback.

@ooak-tammy wrote:
@rainbowcolorz wrote:
What will happen is that the buyer will pay up and give you a neg for not cancelling, they may even be ticked off enough to SNAD your item so you have to pay the return shipping. It's best to just cancel as the buyer requested, any negative feedback will be removed by Ebay.
Sure, but it's not much worse than what can happen if I cancel.

The 'other' benefit is it places an unpaid item strike on that bidder's account.

Sellers also have a setting in their preferences where they can refuse to sell to a bidder who has more than X UID strikes in Y months (I think the most aggressive setting is 2 UID's in a year).

Savvy sellers use these settings to protect themselves from unscrupulous bidders.

You do understand that filing the UID doesn't stop the buyer from paying, right? They can still pay and give you a neg and a SNAD if they are angry that you wouldn't cancel. Why not just cancel?

Why do you open yourself up to negs and SNADs?

pondwitch · ‎07-29-2017

I cancelled the sale immediately when eBay blocked every effort to send an invoice. With NO explanation. Simply would not allow the invoice . I have since made a foreign sale and received a disclaimer that eBay would invoice the buyer for me. In the first instance however, this did not occur and I had NO knowledge of the policy.

pondwitch · ‎07-29-2017

Thank you for the compassion. I tried every way I know to send the invoice to the woman. (And I know a lot after all these years.) eBay simply blocked me at every turn. I cancelled the sale within the hour. The woman became obscene and extremely vindictive in emails.

I am not easily offended and rarely feel insulted. In this case, she attacked me as an ugly and greedy American. (??) Still I became weary of the whole $20 sale. I cancelled with an extensive explanation to her, and she went ballistic.

I now believe there is a policy for foreign sales where eBay invoices the buyer. In my case, there was absolutely no explanation. Perhaps a glitch in the system at that time? It **bleep** me off that she ruined my 100% feedback with no "sale" involved. I don't care about the "Fxxk her" feedback she left--whatever. Juvenile.

Again, thank you!