eBay

cyberontix · ‎10-01-2023

So frustrated and disappointed with this place right now.

I sold a $5 catalog to a relatively new buyer (32 feedback or whatnot) , and the buyer immediately left a negative feedback without contacting us, because the cover had a fold in it when we put it in the envelope.
We offered to refund in full (which we always do when someone gets mad) and asked the buyer to remove the neg. He happily agreed.
Now he says the system won't allow the FB to be removed. I think the buyer (and we as well) learned a lesson about how eBay is (or at least was) a COMMUNITY, not a Walmart.
The feedback thread is pasted below, verbatim.
I am absolutely disgusted with eBay for making the system so tightly programmed, AI-driven, and not as community-friendly as it used to be. And the game is ALWAYS stacked against sellers. They expect us as sellers to "do the right thing" (which I'm sure everyone here always does).
It's so stupid to begin with. Buyers should NOT be able to leave negs until they've accumulated a year or so of actually using it. Buyers always immediately assume that all sellers are trying to rip them off - that's human nature - and when they find out that we sellers aren't a bunch of criminals they learn something and become better eBay users.

Meantime, I get to carry around a neg right into the holidays because the eBay system consistently fails to promote goodwill and trust among its users.
They need to do better and put a little more humanity or at least less AI and "looser programming" into the system, not blindly assume that they've "seen it all before" and that a human touch is no longer necessary for correctly administering this place. This kind of nonsense is so pathetic. Our sales, of course, have plummeted this week, owing to our 100% feedback rating being gone, which, like clockwork, always results in some sort of obvious automatic shadowbanning so the seller can "get their act together." Our act is together. We don't need any downtime, eBay, you need to stop being so strict with how community members deal with each other.
If anyone knows how we can contact an actual live person, that'd be great. My understanding is that they don't offer that anymore.
Anyway, here's the feedback thread. Cheers everyone, and best of luck.

(Original FB left by customer) Really could take the extra 3 seconds to make sure the magazine wasn’t just jammed into the minimal packaging you provided? Instead you shipped it with the cover bent over against itself.
(Reply from us) Folks, PLEASE contact us before leaving negative feedback. Like 99% of the sellers in the eBay community, we run a small business facing impossible economic times, so we will bend over backwards to make things right. We are your neighbors and friends, and we aren't happy unless our customers are. This stuff is a big deal to us and we take every transaction very seriously.
(Reply from the customer) After I left my review this seller immediately reached out to me to make things right, they quickly refunded and provided excellent customer care. If Ebay allowed me to delete my previous feedback I would instantly. But do not let the one negative mark fool you, this is an excellent seller, and one that I will be happily purchasing again from in the future.

inhawaii · ‎10-01-2023

Why wont "the system" let him remove/revise his feedback?

Have you asked the buyer to call ebay to get the feedback removed?

Smoke From A Distant Fire - Sanford Townsend Band

cyberontix · ‎10-01-2023

The buyer told me he can't, and I think he's telling the truth, going by what he wrote in the last comment.
We did ask eBay to remove the neg, and they refused without any further comment, just some platitudinal nonsense.
I won't be asking the buyer to call eBay to remove the neg, because they already learned a difficult lesson and as a professional I don't want him to lose an hour or so of his life navigating this ridiculous system. It's not his fault that he's new and made a mistake. I want eBay to fix it. That's not a lot to ask.

fern*wood · ‎10-01-2023

Were you able to send the revision request to your buyer? It is found at the bottom of your feedback page if too much time hasn't passed.

dhbookds · ‎10-01-2023

NEVER answer a feedback unless it's the last resort.....

After you "satisfied" the buyer, you should have sent a feedback revision(as Fern stated)......did you? Surely you've been here long enough to know to do that, you've done one.

soh.maryl · ‎10-01-2023

What makes the buyer believe that he cannot revise the FB he left?

All he needs to do is ask you, the seller, to send him a Feedback Revision Request form.

soh.maryl · ‎10-01-2023

The way to ask eBay for a FB revision is to assure yourself that the buyer wants to do that (seems you have done that) and then you can send the buyer a form called Feedback Revision Request form.

Have you done that?

cyberontix · ‎10-01-2023

We sent a revision request after replying to the feedback, which, yes, is probably the problem, but that's the point here. In programming, it's always best to have some "loose couplings" between modules. eBay shouldn't prevent its users from making changes to feedback just because the feedback has "children" dependencies (ie additions to the feedback "trail"). It's un-pro. eBay should just allow the whole thread to be deleted even if there were replies. It doesn't make any programmatic sense in cases like these. It's stupid.

cyberontix · ‎10-01-2023

Yes, we did that. Being that he's a new user, maybe it got lost in his email or whatever. I'm not going to harass the buyer to weed through his email. He probably trashed it. ITM you can't send a second feedback revision request, because the system is too tightly programmed. That's not cool, sorry.

cyberontix · ‎10-01-2023

We did that.

cyberontix · ‎10-01-2023

Yes, we sent a revision request and told him that. He probably deleted it by mistake or something, and I can't send a 2nd request because the system doesn't let me, the link is grayed out. And I don't really want to. eBay should just delete the neg. It's not rocket science, it shouldn't be any sort of hassle at all for the buyer.

soh.maryl · ‎10-01-2023

Because I feel like I'm nagging you, this will be my last post.

Have you reached out to the buyer? Maybe you could say that you are glad he wants to change his FB and have sent him a form that would enable him to do so, which would be greatly appreciated.

Unfortunately, that's about all you can do. And it is too bad that your future potential buyers cannot see that the buyer changed his mind about his experience with you.

cyberontix · ‎10-01-2023

Lol you're not being a nag, it's totally valid. We did talk back and forth a bit, no yelling, just a friendly exchange. We're both frustrated with eBay.
It's the "unfortunately" part that's the problem. What, users only get one shot at fixing something as simple as a feedback? It's ridiculous that eBay's system works like that, all "Big Tech" and obtuse. It's precisely why I and so many others would bail from this app in two seconds flat if there were any real alternative. It's not that I haven't had great experiences here or haven't had some really good interactions with live CS reps or anything else, it's the "trust the system" problems and the lack of a way to contact live people. I'm sick of having to fix 100 listings owing to the "busy work" they dump on their programmers for no reason, like all those stupid Seller Updates that just change again 6 months later. It's a freaking joke.

cyberontix · ‎10-01-2023

@soh.maryl wrote:
Because I feel like I'm nagging you, this will be my last post.
Have you reached out to the buyer? Maybe you could say that you are glad he wants to change his FB and have sent him a form that would enable him to do so, which would be greatly appreciated.
Unfortunately, that's about all you can do. And it is too bad that your future potential buyers cannot see that the buyer changed his mind about his experience with you.

Also, like I said, I sent a revision request and I can't send another, and he can't change the FB without the stupid form. That's a bug in the system, no two ways about it. It causes stress among users. ITM, anyone can see the exchange; it's right there in the public feedback.

12345jamesstamps · ‎10-01-2023

After 30 days a negative feedback cannot removed by the buyer. I have been there. And eBay will not remove it. Don't waste your time. There's nothing offensive in the feedback so eBay will not remove it.

My buyer couldn't remove it after this buyer received refund. Only the buyer can usually remove the feedback by revising it. Just because the buyer wants to revise it after 30 days means nothing.

Enough of items sold in the future it will get buried in your feedback.

I would not have responded to it for it just makes more of a drama feedback and everyone reads it.