Received 11 negative feedbacks from one buyer... What should I do?

[philosophyjk]

I had one buyer order 11 lots of resistors from me. After they received the resistors they told me that they measured some out of spec (Were supposed to be 1% tolerance, they measured some as far as 1.1% out of spec) and demanded a full refund for the entire order.

I did check the boxes for all the resistors they bought and found the one had resistors just barely out of spec but only right there and the next 4000 resistors were all in spec.

I offered to replace the ones that were out of spec, or to give a full refund (+the $3.50 it would take to ship them back) after they ship the order back. They said it wasn't worth their time to ship them back (but didn't ask for anything, just stated that). To me they were fishing to get $50 of stuff for free.

A week later they left feedback for every item as negative...

Not sure how to respond. I think I'm just going to leave ebay alone for at least year. I ended all of my listings after no sales since the negative feedback (I was selling ~10/day before)

[myboardid]

Respond with the truth, that one batch was off and you offered replacements.  You might also consider starting a new user ID. 

[zterx13]

@philosophyjk

Hello,

Obnoxious buyers really are a pain but I do not think it was a good idea to pull your listings so quickly. Feedback can be revised. You can send your buyer a revision request maybe in exchange for the $50 refund with no return necessary. I know what the buyer did to you was wrong. Essentially it is attempted theft by extortion / defamation. But is 10 lost sales per day for a year or more worth just paying the $50 and being done with it?

I have found it is almost always better to cave to small, one time extortion request, and block the buyer from coming back for more, than to suffer permanent damage to my account. Lesson learned for you I guess.

I agree the buyer was likely a competitor. If not just a malicious person. It seems strange that someone would do this charade with resistors unless they were interested in shutting you down.

[missjen831]

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@zterx13 wrote:

@philosophyjk

Hello,

Obnoxious buyers really are a pain but I do not think it was a good idea to pull your listings so quickly. Feedback can be revised. You can send your buyer a revision request maybe in exchange for the $50 refund with no return necessary. I know what the buyer did to you was wrong. Essentially it is attempted theft by extortion / defamation. But is 10 lost sales per day for a year or more worth just paying the $50 and being done with it?

I have found it is almost always better to cave to small, one time extortion request, and block the buyer from coming back for more, than to suffer permanent damage to my account. Lesson learned for you I guess.

Another option is, if the buyer is also a seller, maybe sample some of his goods to see if they are good quality. Leave appropriate feedback. This may encourage him to accept your feedback revision request. I think only 3 negs can be revised per month but at least if he revised several then it is clear to other buyers that feedback was left malaciously and does not actually reflect your product or service. I don't know. If feedback was left at the same time and counts as one defect on your account maybe it can all be revised at the same time.

I agree the buyer was likely a competitor. If not just a malicious person. It seems strange that someone would do this charade with resistors unless they were interested in shutting you down.

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@zterx13 Wow....you can’t be serious here? Are you trying to get the OP in trouble?

Feedback extortion https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/feedback-policies/feedback-extortion-policy?id=4230

Unwelcome and malicious buying https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-policies/unwelcome-malicious-buying-policy?id=4375

[umie11752]

I’d reply to their feedback on each one. “Offered replacement/return. Buyer refused. Wants item and money too. I will not be bullied”

[zterx13]

@missjen831

It seems pretty clear the original transaction was malacious and extortionate. Is it extortion to extort the extortionist to reverse his extortion?

The buyer originally acted in bad faith.

Also if he is willing to act in bad faith leaving feedback is it not also plausible he may sell a defective product according to his own criteron?

Apparently eBay has no problem with sellers negotiating feedback revision in exchange for a refund.

In any case my main point was that he should have just refunded the extortionist at the start. He said he was selling 10 items per day. Is it better to maybe give the extorionist one day's revenue of lose his whole business on eBay?

[mam98031]

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@zterx13 wrote:

@missjen831

It seems pretty clear the original transaction was malacious and extortionate. Is it extortion to extort the extortionist to reverse his extortion?

The buyer originally acted in bad faith.

Also if he is willing to act in bad faith leaving feedback is it not also plausible he may sell a defective product according to his own criteron?

Apparently eBay has no problem with sellers negotiating feedback revision in exchange for a refund.

In any case my main point was that he should have just refunded the extortionist at the start. He said he was selling 10 items per day. Is it better to maybe give the extorionist one day's revenue of lose his whole business on eBay?

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Jen is absolutely correct.

Because the buyer does something wrong doesn't give the seller free license to do or say something in violation of the  Ebay rules.

Yes, Ebay has a problem with sellers negotiating an FB revision or FB in general with the promise of money or merchandise of any kind.

The seller can negotiate the return of an item and/or refund, just not in conjunction with the buyer promising FB or FB revision.

[pburn]

@zterx13

zirkni? Is that you?

[missjen831]

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@zterx13 wrote:

@missjen831

It seems pretty clear the original transaction was malacious and extortionate. Is it extortion to extort the extortionist to reverse his extortion?

The buyer originally acted in bad faith.

Also if he is willing to act in bad faith leaving feedback is it not also plausible he may sell a defective product according to his own criteron?

Apparently eBay has no problem with sellers negotiating feedback revision in exchange for a refund.

In any case my main point was that he should have just refunded the extortionist at the start. He said he was selling 10 items per day. Is it better to maybe give the extorionist one day's revenue of lose his whole business on eBay?

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You missed the point. Cool. 

Its NOT OK to advise posters here to violate eBay policy. In fact it’s against the board rules took  2 wrongs don’t make a right. 

[missjen831]

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@pburn wrote:

@zterx13

zirkni? Is that you?

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Lol I was just about to ask the same question 

[Anonymous]

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@mam98031 wrote:

OUCH!  This is horrible and a behavior that is way over the top.  

I would make a couple of suggestions.  Go to your buyer's FB page.  Look at the FB they leave for others.  See if you can see a consistency in how they treat sellers.  A regular abuse of the FB system is a breach of the Ebay rules and can lead Ebay to remove these for you.

If you can't see the buyer's FB because they are marked as "private", then you will have to call Ebay and have them look to see if there is some kind of common thread in how this buyer leaves FB.

It appears from what you posted here that you were trying to work with your buyer, but your buyer wasn't interested in working with you.  Unfortunately this does happen sometimes.  A small fraction of buyers, no matter what you do, it just isn't good enough.  Fortunately we don't have to deal with this kind of buyer very often.  But when we do, it is very hard to understand.  But a buyer that does this to a seller's account, well it just isn't right and you need Ebay to take a good look at this buyer to see if they are misbehaving.

The only good news is that it only dings your FB percentage once.  Not all dozen or so of them.  I know it isn't much of a postitive, but it is something.

I hope you get some help from Ebay on this.  Please keep us updated.

@Anonymous

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Hi @mam98031, I would recommend the same course of actions; if the OP has concerns of feedback abuse, contacting Customer Service to have this reviewed for options is the best next step. 

[percgrabbe-0]

yeah its sounds like buyer abused feedback to me but buyers abuse everyone and everything here

[mam98031]

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@percgrabbe-0 wrote:

yeah its sounds like buyer abused feedback to me but buyers abuse everyone and everything here

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I don't hold that opinion of buyers.  The vast majority of my buyers have awesome.  It is just a small percentage that present issues that need resolution.  Sometimes my fault, sometimes theirs, sometimes it is the carrier.  But a problem comes up that needs to be resolve.  Working together we can resolve any issue that comes up.  But unless the buyer is willing to work with the seller, it is beyond difficult to resolve any type of issue.

Don't take what is written on the threads as the only thing sellers feel about buyers.  People come here to seek advice, vent, learn and to give advice.  Threads with feel good stories get very little traction at all.  But know that most transations go off without a hitch, otherwise no one would sell on the site.

[godzilla_goose]

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@justafemster wrote:

Isn't there some sort of unwritten rule about feedback bombing?  

I'd probably call ebay to ask about this and to see if under the "rule" they quaify for removal.  Doesn't hurt to ask!

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@justafemster

justafemster,

Your long term memory is excellent.  A very long time ago, there was an ebay rule, and it was eBay's OWN terms, "feedback bombing" (or "Campaign to harass"), that restricted a buyer or a seller from leaving more than 2 negative feedback comments even if there were more than 10 transactions involved.

That written rule has no longer been in effect for a long time due to the numerous changes to eBay's Feedback Forum.

[whatmorefabric]

I don't think people look at feedback that much.

There is one seller in one of the catagories that I sell in that has over 135 negative FB for the year and people still buy.

Make a narrative of the 10 FB.

One bad batch out of 10.

Offered to replace or refund the 1 bad batch

Offered to take all 10 back and refund including postage.

Did not want to return wanted to keep all of the items.

Wanted a full refund for both the bad lot and all the good lots.

Tried to resolve multiple times

Buyers only acceptable solution was full refund of all items.

[sodelight]

Don't reply to the feedback until your sure you can't get it removed. Once responded to it will be difficult to have it removed.

Is this person a competitor? Do they sell similar items? If so, it should qualify as malicious. Have they left other problematic feedback?

I don't understand why someone would want to keep items if they're truly faulty when the seller has offered to take a return. Online buyers have to know if there's a problem, they will likely need to return the item, if they're unwilling to do so, they should reconsider shopping online. You said your buyer refused to return.

I'm sorry this happened to you.