Why does eBay allow unjustified negative feedback?

[pfoasafehaven]

I've been a seller for 13 years, sold over 4,000 products and never had a single negative feedback until one buyer who NEVER CONTACTED ME to alert me to a problem posted my first ever negative feedback. There was apparently a defect in a DVD he bought, something I would have resolved by sending a 100 percent refund (including shipping) and would have told him to keep, give away or throw away the item. But I never got that opportunity because him simply chose to go negative. I even contacted him thereafter to tell him I what I would have done to resolve the issue and offered to resolve it still but he has never responded directly to me at all. Seems he prefers to be the only damage to a 13 year, 100 percent positive feedback record.

Does anyone agree with me that negative feedback should not be allowed if the buyer hasn't reached out to the seller for a resolution first? I've already contacted eBay customer service but they seem to be oblivious to this as being an issue that sellers shouldn't have to deal with.

[arash_rk]

I totally agree with you. eBay should not allow buyers to leave negative feedback without contacting the seller first. Sometimes buyers don't even bother reading the descriptions and just look at the listing photos and place their order, and leave negative feedback claiming it wasn't as they expected. It's just not fair.  

[umoraski]

I had the same situation happen to me a couple of years ago.  The buyer never gave me a chance to rectify the problem and left me a Negative Feedback.   She said she "Loved the Jacket, but measurements were off", - almost like a double feedback between good and bad.  A couple of months went buy and Ebay sent me a message that I could offer her the money back and then ask her to consider removing the Negative Feedback.  Isn't that almost like Black Mail?  at that point I decided to just live with it for one year.  The only bad feedback I have gotten in 20 years.   PS - now looking back I should have asked her for pics of the measurements that were off.

[anch-4943]

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@pfoasafehaven wrote:

I've been a seller for 13 years, sold over 4,000 products and never had a single negative feedback until one buyer who NEVER CONTACTED ME to alert me to a problem posted my first ever negative feedback. There was apparently a defect in a DVD he bought, something I would have resolved by sending a 100 percent refund (including shipping) and would have told him to keep, give away or throw away the item. But I never got that opportunity because him simply chose to go negative. I even contacted him thereafter to tell him I what I would have done to resolve the issue and offered to resolve it still but he has never responded directly to me at all. Seems he prefers to be the only damage to a 13 year, 100 percent positive feedback record.

Does anyone agree with me that negative feedback should not be allowed if the buyer hasn't reached out to the seller for a resolution first? I've already contacted eBay customer service but they seem to be oblivious to this as being an issue that sellers shouldn't have to deal with.

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Amen, it happened to me too. Before you give me a negative at least let me have a chance to work it out. 

[tonka152]

Good luck! I had the same thing happen to me! My listing had the description that one of the items was chipped and the buyer never contacted me with any problems, left a negative feedback and ruined my feedback score. I have had one negative in 20 years and now my score is down to 92% because I don’t sell a ton of stuff. I contacted eBay about it and they said it didn’t violate policy and wouldn’t take it down. I feel like they never even looked at it because the description of the item said it was chipped and I always take close up pictures of any flaws. 

[shigbig]

My last 4 negatives were all by buyers who did not contact me first..............Absolutely ridiculous.

[jsfingers1]

What I believe eBay SHOULD do is filter the negative feedback BEFORE allowing it to hit. Customers can break or even spill things on products intentionally or unintentionally and then say item was nonfunctional etc. 

I’ve been with eBay for 21 years and I got my first negative feedback. I asked them to look at the issue closely and make a judgement. They did not and basically said we can’t censor customers. Why should my 100% rating dip to 89%. It isn’t something I did, it’s the buyer. Well, off to Reverb…

[soh.maryl]

How many additional people do you figure eBay would need to hire in order to filter every negative FB before it hits? Not going to happen.

All experienced eBay sellers are pretty well aware that eBay will side with the buyer most of the time.

[pfoasafehaven]

I agree with you and I feel your pain.  I got my first (and one and only) negative feedback after 13 years when a buyer received a CD that had a defect in it of which I was not aware, but he failed to notify me so that I could send a replacement or offer a refund---instead choosing to simply post a negative which dropped my feedback rating from 100 to 96 in one fell swoop. I also contacted ebay and expressed my concern that my account was being negatively impacted unfairly, but it seems they couldn't care less. I seriously considered closing my account but I held on for a year after which my rating was restored to 100 percent. It was a challenging year because I fully suspect I lost some sales due to that unfair feedback from one customer who didn't even give me an opportunity to make things right---something I have always done for every customer, and always will. Lesson learned: life isn't fair, and ebay isn't going to go to bat for a seller no matter how unfairly he has been treated by a potential customer.

[kh-phdan]

Hello Everyone,

Due to the age of the thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thanks for understanding!