Our first amendment rights and freedom of petition Feedback for Sellers

[nightowlgallery]

eBay uses the right to the first amendment freedom of speech for buyers however sellers have no rights. A buyer can post positive negative or neutral feedback regardless of content which can include Negative feedback when the seller follows every rule delivers in a timely manner and the buyer receives a perfect item. He is entitled to an opinion regardless of what the seller does or how he performs. Sellers who do nothing wrong can often get unprotected scathing Feedback, literally for no reason. On the other side of the coin sellers are not permitted to their freedom of speech they are edited to the extent of only being permitted to leave positive feedback. Our first amendment makes it clear that all of us are permitted to free speech. In all fairness eBay is prejudiced against Sellers.

     eBay does not allow free speech to sellers they encourage a position of defensiveness when scathing unfair feedback is left. No one needs to see comments back and forth. This becomes an ignorant and childish and waste of time and is in no way helping the seller or others. 
   Sellers need the right to freedom of speech and the right to say exactly how the buyers  act towards them. 
There  is a rash of  buyer Bullying, eBay defends their buyers It has little to do with our right as sellers to free speech,  it has to do with money. eBay protects its buyer and gives them these rights to keep them buying. 
   There is no question that this is a prejudiced policy. As Congress and the Supreme Court try to sort out the first amendment (and this has become a huge issue) eBay chooses to side with one party the buyers and permit those buyers to abuse the sellers. 
I am working on a petition to ask Congress to make laws that keep freedom of speech in play. Sellers need to express what buyers have done in the same way buyers get to express what sellers have done. It is against eBay policy for any buyer to request the seller to change his listing. Buyers that ask for discounts, when they do not receive them, use the Feedback system as a retaliation. This marks the reputation of a seller who has no way of telling others what this buyer has done. This needs to be what I am calling a fair fight. 
eBay encourages buyer bullying and rather than allow sellers to point out that eBay messaging was used before a transaction took place. He is not permitted to mention this in feedback to the buyer. 
as a longtime seller I feel the need to level the playing field. I want my right if freedom of speech as it is clearly unfair to allow buyers to rant without reason. I want that same ability my freedom of speech is violated. 
feedback is a one way system that encourages buyers to say whatever they wish. Why don’t sellers have the same rights? 
I am working with a group to draft a petition to Congress to explore user prejudice on the internet. Either all of us have the same rights or sites that clearly block those rights should be deeply fined. Our Country seems to going down a rabbit hole allowing prejudice and  defamation as a fair game on the internet. However this is a on e sided game developed to hurt one specific group Internet sellers. Anyone who wants to help me with the petition respond I’ll get back periodically.

[ebooksdiva]

Good luck with all that. 
I'm guessing this rant is brought on by the negative feedback your buyer left you.

It seems the buyer didn't like your tone in the response to their message. 

[theteamsetguy]

@nightowlgallery ,

In case you are not aware the first amendment only applies to the government limiting free speech.

 The First Amendment does not prohibit private individuals, companies and employers from restricting speech.

You must have forgotten this or didn't pay attention when you were in civics class.

[caldreamer]

You can respond to customer's negative feedback and make them look like a foolish by responding to them in an "overly polite manner" (this will show that "they" are the problem).   All your feedback from other customer's was very good so speaks to your positive customer interaction.

[janet9988]

The First Amendment does not apply to you on Ebay's site. Ebay is not the government.

Ebay has the right to design their site how they see fit.

[bonjourami]

"Our first amendment rights"

You certainly have Ebay confused with the U.S. government. Ebay owns this site, and they call the shots.

[movieman630]

While I admire your fire for the subject of "free speech" and comparison to the platform's FB rules to the Constitutional right, in practicality though there is no correlation because ebay is a company of which your participation is entirely voluntary.  Like a private club, they make their own rules as far as conduct.

That being said, I do agree there is an imbalance and in recent months it seems something has changed that makes it easier for buyers to leave negative FB.  As I have NEVER in all my 20 years of ebaying had as many negatives left for me as I have in the last few months.  And it's nothing I've changed about my way of doing business.  I'm the same, my products are the same, my policies are the same.  In fact, I've been recently giving refunds where I wouldn't in the past, also sending replacement orders when the USPS marked an item "delivered" but the buyer claimed they did not get it.  In short... I've been nicer to the buyer.

I don't know what they did but it's almost as if they've been encouraging Negative FB.  And our recourse is nill.  We can leave a reply or ask for a revision or removal which now is almost always denied when in the recent past it may have been granted.

Ebay IS it's sellers.  They're failing to protect our reputations from abusive buyers and that's a shame. 

Though the flip side to this whole lopsided FB policy is that it really doesn't matter.  It's kind of a childish outdated feature anymore.  Nobody really cares.  I never read a seller's FB before buying... In fact the only time I read FB is when I read the FB of a buyer who leaves me a negative.  The last guy is a serial Negative offender.  He's left so many negative FB's for sellers his "left for" section looks like a string of Christmas lights. 

Feedback has become extremely Jejune.  It's an antiquated feature that's lost all it's usefulness.  In my opinion FB should go the way of the news media "comment section". 

[adamcartwright]

@nightowlgallery  The FB makes the buyer sound silly. But you can still respond with a professional and measured reply, explaining that you declined to negotiate because the listing was not set up to accept best offers. Your reply to negative/neutral feedback can be a great marketing tool.

[adamcartwright]

Nicely written -- 100% agree.

[albertabrightalberta]

While I agree that it's upsetting to receive a neg (deserved or not) especially when an item is "as described," but ebay allows buyers to post their opinion of the entire transaction and from your buyer's POV, your attitude did not strike him as accommodating and he's allowed to express his opinion. (And based on the tone of your OP, I infer that you were probably somewhat argumentative.)

With that said, I doubt that ebay would remove the feedback because there's nothing in it that would be a violation of policy.

[chariot_badges]

---

@janet9988 wrote:

The First Amendment does not apply to you on Ebay's site. Ebay is not the government.

Ebay has the right to design their site how they see fit.

---

Right.  Like it or not, this is Ebay's house.

House rules - rule.

Same in OP's house too.  If I'm a guest in his home he has every right to say, "Whoa, whoa, we don't talk like that here.  You can't use that kind of language here."  At that point I have two choices ... comply or go home. 

Freedom is SO messy, isn't it?

[jerseyboymusic]

@nightowlgallery 

What good is it to leave negative feedback for a buyer? They order, they pay, you send it. If they don't like the item, they return.

What feedback would I leave for a buyer besides "Paid quickly, thanks for your order"? On my selling account, I have immediate payment required, so I don't even really leave buyer feedback anymore

The buyer seemed to have liked everything about the transaction except for "your tone" so not really sure what the real issue is

[monroe67]

"eBay uses the right to the first amendment freedom of speech for buyers however sellers have no rights."
Interesting.

"Our first amendment makes it clear that all of us are permitted to free speech."
True and correct.  And what that means in the real world is that you cannot be thrown into jail for saying what you think. 
The Government cannot stop you from saying what you think.  The Government cannot restrict your freedoms by imprisoning you for saying what you think.  

"eBay does not allow free speech to sellers they encourage a position of defensiveness when scathing unfair feedback is left. No one needs to see comments back and forth. This becomes an ignorant and childish and waste of time and is in no way helping the seller or others."      Bingo !!! 

[eburtonlab]

Feedback has become extremely Jejune. It's an antiquated feature that's lost all it's usefulness. In my opinion FB should go the way of the news media "comment section".

Seller feedback is still extremely useful for buyers deciding whether or not to make a purchase from a particular seller. When examined properly, seller feedback can tell a story about what kind of seller the buyer is dealing with.

While any seller can get an undeserved negative from a disgruntled buyer, buyers can readily note patterns of feedback problems, or else spot a lack of feedback for selling similar items and avoid a lot of potential pitfalls and scams.

Buyer feedback, on the other hand, serves no such purpose. With the exception of offers, sellers can not choose to initiate transactions with specific buyers.

[chapeau-noir]

That neg! I had no idea that begging for discounts was part of eBay's 'culture.'

It's so silly that it doesn't even deserve a rant, just a shake of the head or maybe a response along the lines of "Thank you for your business - cheers"