eBay customer service refused to remove negative feedback, reduced my performance level

[your.garden]

I am an old gardener. I sell plant cuttings on ebay. 

When people buy my cuttings, some of them want my advice and follow-ups for free.  I have many buyers and I simply can't continue working with them for free after they paid $10-$20 for my cuttings. This is the reason why, in every listing, I included my best recommendations related to the rooting process. I also explained that I am not able to provide consulting, watch the progress, or do any other related research and services for them.

I simply sell cuttings, and I am 100% clear about this. 

I fully understand that some people buy my cuttings for rooting, others for grafting, and some people put them in their tea. Some people give my cuttings to their pets.  I am OK with that. I stay away from what they do with my cuttings. 

99.9% of my buyers understand the item description and that the listing is limited to the cuttings. Nothing else in addition. No research, no consulting. I also understand that some people have no clue how to root cuttings, and they may kill the cuttings.

However, one man, let's call him Vald!mir, after paying $12 or so, wanted me to give him additional instructions. I replied that my best instructions are described in the listing. 

The main problem with his demands was that the rooting process takes 6-8 weeks, if you do it right. This is the time frame to the point when you will see some roots. Vlad!mir filed a return case against me 3-4 weeks after he received the cuttings; he complained that there were no roots. 

I accepted the return and issued the return label. He sent me an envelope with trash - a stack of papers. I took photos of his "return" and send them to ebay. The return was closed in my favor because "a different item was returned".  

Then angry Vlad!mir gave me negative feedback: "I'm buying the second time this product with an unsuccessful result. The first time was one year ago and i got just leaves and no rooting, in the second time was no even leaves no roots nothing, the pieces of the branches became dead in a couple of weeks after arriving. I tried to request some instructions about rooting but the seller sent me his ads. The product is bad or wrong instructions about rooting."

I sent a request to ebay customer service saying that the return case was ruled in my favor, and that his feedback is a statement about additional instruction services I did not have to provide. In fact, as it stated in my listing - I would not provide any additional services.

The ebay customer service bounced me with the following copy and paste statements:

"We reviewed the feedback and can see that the buyer found an issue with the item that wasn't described in the listing".  (what issue?!! What was NOT described in the listing?!!)

And ... there was an "issue with the item that wasn't described in the listing" (what issue?!!)

And to make things worse, now I see that my account is Below Standard. 

Any comments?

Did you have a similar experience, when a buyer demanded additional services (or something like that), they returned trash, and gave you negative feedback, while ebay customer service allowed that? 

[fbusoni]

@your.garden 

Sorry that you have to endure such asininities.   We all do at one time or another.

eBay "customer service" is a collection of androids who read from a script.  They have no decision making powers and put a premium on terminating contact with sellers as soon as possible.

As far as I know, you can file a feedback review from eBay online, and that might deliver better results.  Please see more information here: https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/feedback-policies/feedback-policy?id=4208

Or go here:

https://www.ebay.com/help/home

And type in "feedback removal."

You will be taken to a new form.

Otherwise, the best thing you can do in this sort of situation is to respond to the negative feedback in a professional, constructive manner that makes it clear -- between the lines of course -- that the buyer is an imbecile.

And make sure you block the buyer so he can no longer purchase from you again. 

[luckythewinner]

99.9% of my buyers understand the item description and that the listing is limited to the cuttings

And to make things worse, now I see that my account is Below Standard. 

Any comments?

You do not go below standard over 1 transaction, and you do not go below standard over 0.01% of your transactions. 

You only go below standard for two things - canceling transactions, and not responding to cases. There must be more about your seller status that you are not telling us. 

[rosachs]

I'd block that buyer immediately, if not sooner.  When I do this, it's with the intention of not failing them again in the future (a positive spin on 'I don't like your attitude').  That's always first.

Did you sell both the 'attempts' that this buyer is complaining about?  If not, be sure to include that information, that you only sold them one time but yet they are commenting about two.  And it may help to include your no-instruction statement and the included instructions as well.  Sometimes you have to push the point - and expect a lot of 'can you hold for me for a minute' that turns into 5-10-15 minutes.

It actually is not the CSR's fault, if an actual human did the review of the feedback.  CSR's, the ones you talk to, the ones you digitally chat with, even sometimes the ones you write details request to - these humans are given explicit scripts to follow - they are not allowed to 'think for themselves' or 'use their best judgement'.  Having developed software for this kind of use, I can say that it can be as simple or as detailed as the business wants or needs.  Reps who stray from that script too often can find themselves on the outside looking in (unemployed)  for 'non-compliance with company policy' or some such gobbledy-**bleep**.

When all else fails, write out (use Notebook) a clear, concise, and 'educational' response to the buyer's feedback.  Just like buyers don't read descriptions, many of them don't review feedback (I know I've been guilty of this as well), so it's possible no one will read what you write.  "Address the issue, not the emotion".

I suggest using Notebook (or pencil and paper) so that you can write, review, reword/remove, review again, rinse and repeat until you are satisfied.  From what I've read on this thread, I don't believe that would be much of an issue for you - you seem rather calm, focused, and clear-headed.

Some buyers just bite.  Simple as that.  The BBL (blocked buyer list) helps - a 'customer' who circumvents, even 'accidentally', their place on your list will find their purchase summarily cancelled and you are fully protected.  This is one of the few true protections for sellers that eBay actually enforces.  Been there, done that.  Several time, actually, over the years.

My entire experience with cuttings and rooting is comprised to propagating dozens and dozens of Pothos(?) trimmings.  Those are very hard to kill and seem to root very quickly.  Perfect for my wife and I!

-Bob.

[your.garden]

Thank you for your reply. I tried the links. To my surprise, they show that I don't have any negative feedback in the last 30 days. This is strange, but this is how eBay plays the game. 

You get an explicit negative feedback, but you can't appeal it. This was the reason why I used other channels to text and explain the need for the removal. The customer service said no, and then they sent me an evaluation form "How did we do?" 

I think that when ebay reduces our rating to below standard - they will charge us more in the fees. 

[jonathanbrightlight]

I'm curious, was calling your buyer "Very dishonest Vlad!mir." in the response to their feedback providing their real name, or some type of racist remark?

And I echo what @luckythewinner : You cannot go Below Standard over one order.  It's specifically called out as impossible in the seller standards policy: 

You're allowed up to 2% of transactions with defects within an evaluation period.

You'll only be evaluated as Below Standard if your transaction defects are associated with more than 4 different buyers.

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-policies/seller-standards-policy?id=4347#section2 

[pickapaper]

I sometimes watch the gardening segments on the home shopping TV shows.  On those, the companies selling the plants offer "hand holding" hot lines so that customers can get additional info or ask questions and offer extended replacement terms.  This may or may not result in people buying plants on eBay thinking they will or should get the same type of customer service, if they have watched any of those shows, regardless of whether you have stated your stance in your listings.

I really don't have an answer for you.  I guess you should just continue as you have been and expect to get 

an unhappy buyer now and then, including ones who "get even" by leaving neutral or negative feedback for what they perceive as poor customer service.   (I see you recently got a positive feedback with negative comments; you are lucky on that one.)

[albertabrightalberta]

@your.garden 

I have several comments. 

1. Your reply to the feedback does more damage than the feedback itself. It's non-professional and emotional and you should have waited until you were less angry to respond. 

2. When the buyer contacted you with complaints, you should have responded with, "If you're unhappy with the item, please return it for a refund." 

3. Your description has way too much superfluous information and few buyers will read it and understand. If all that info and instructions are needed for buyers to know what to do with their cuttings, print it out and include it in the shipment, NOT in the listing. 

4. You claim, "He sent me an envelope with trash - a stack of papers." However at the bottom of your own description, one of YOUR suggestions you make for rooting is "In summary, different people use different rooting methods - from dump paper in a zip-lock bag placed on top of refrigerator." Maybe this was your buyer's way of following your suggestion.

5. Also buried at the bottom of your l-o-n-g overly wordy description is a statement that carries NO WEIGHT on ebay: 

"When you buy my plants, you agree with the following terms and conditions.

Within 24 hours from the time this perishable material was delivered to you: you have the choice to send me an email with photographs describing the plant condition and your concerns. If I don't hear from you within the 24 hours, you forfeit all claims related to the plants you purchased from me.

You understand that these plants became your property, and I have no responsibility for their development under your care. You will not ask me for any refunds or free replacement, or any other forms of compensation."

Note that the part highlighted in red is not in compliance with ebay policy since ebay allows buyers 30 days to decide if the item is "as described." You cannot make your own "rules" and expect them to fly. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE FOLLOWING IS separate and off-topic from your OP but important or you'll be back to complain about your buyers expecting what is shown in the listings of your 2-dollar bills.

Both listings show 4-$2 bills. You can't show $8 is the buyer is only buying $2.  

Those listings are NAD waiting to happen. You're lucky you didn't get claims on the ones that sold. 

[chevymontecarlo88]

@your.garden 

Moving forward.

Have you considered creating some short videos (tutorials) that you can direct your buyers to watch?

Might be worth the effort. 

[frugalmarketplace]

I would recommend the customers learn how to do a Google search …I see no reason the seller supply a lifetime of advice. Maybe put that in gentle terms in the listing. 

[tobaccocardyahoo]

If your cuttings require knowledge, judgement or intelligence to succeed with, and you cannot afford the time to hand hold the buyers, you might try creating a single page instruction sheet which you can insert in your shipments.

If the buyer loses it and asks for help, you can attach an file containing the document to his Ebay message.

Since you have wasted your time creating unenforceable terms and conditions in your listings, you have demonstrated you have the writing skills to create an instruction sheet.

[ittybitnot]

eBay customer service refused to remove negative feedback, reduced my performance level

@your.garden 

FWIW feedback does not affect a seller's performance level in the US.  It doesn't count for anything.  The only situation where feedback counts towards one's seller rating that I know about is for those international sellers that fall under the BBE (bad buyer experience) rules and mandates. 

Generally your seller standard ratings are determined by two different means.  Presently they are called "seller standards" (defect rate)  and "service metrics" (where you are evaluated against performance of your peers) .  You can find out where to view yours from viewing this page. 

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/selling/monitoring-improving-seller-performance?id=4785&st=3&pos=3...

[reallynicestamps]

It's been my experience that negative and neutral feedbacks are left by naive buyers who don't know how to file Claims and get refunds.

It has also been my understanding that once a Claim is settled that neither party can leave feedback.

And eBay tells us they do not use Feedback to assess member accounts but do use Claims.

A lot of negs and neutrals, to me, means there are a lot of Claims that were settled but that information is kept private by eBay.

I agree there is more going on here.

[chevymontecarlo88]

---

@tobaccocardyahoo wrote:

If your cuttings require knowledge, judgement or intelligence to succeed with, and you cannot afford the time to hand hold the buyers, you might try creating a single page instruction sheet which you can insert in your shipments.

If the buyer loses it and asks for help, you can attach an file containing the document to his Ebay message.

Since you have wasted your time creating unenforceable terms and conditions in your listings, you have demonstrated you have the writing skills to create an instruction sheet.

---

Exactly. ☝️ 

[chevymontecarlo88]

---

@frugalmarketplace wrote:

I would recommend the customers learn how to do a Google search …I see no reason the seller supply a lifetime of advice. Maybe put that in gentle terms in the listing. 

---

I think that is what the OP is currently doing now and it appears it is not working out for them. The time it took to post this thread would have been enough time to find a minute video showing how to root a cutting. Or take @tobaccocardyahoo suggestion and make a document explaining the process. Do it once so you don't have to do it again and again and again....