Falsely called an abusive buyer/Abusive byer policy

[evgbary_75]

Dear members of the eBay Community! I have little experience with eBay and I mostly buy things here, and I need your help today. Recently I won a wool sweater off an auction, as a matter of fact I was the only bidder. The description stated: "Excellent Vintage Condition with lightest to no signs of wear. No holes, stains or odors". The sweater I received is in overall poor condition with stains and at least two holes (I felt too disgusted to keep looking at it closer). The flaws are not easy to get on a camera due to nature of wool if you are not a professional photographer, but I tried to do a good job and took some photos outside on a deck under a daylight. I filed a return and submitted my photos with it. I haven't heard from a seller in two days since submitting a return, but this morning I received a no-reply e-mail from eBay stating that "activity on your account isn’t following policy: Abusive buyer policy", they specified that it was for "Filing excessive returns claiming the item is not as described when the seller described it accurately. " I assume the seller reported me to eBay as an abusive buyer instead of taking responsibility for their mistake. What am I supposed to do now? Thanks for all opinions and advice. Disclaimer: I have bought sweaters off eBay before, and I had to file returns a few times due to not as described items, and those sellers always admitted their mistakes upon receiving my proofs and returned my money. I never got to keep those items (and never intended to), in one case the seller asked me to destroy the sweater and prove it with photos, and with other case the seller didn't ask for anything as the sweater had been already severely destroyed by moth long before it arrived to me.

[coket_41]

Sounds to me like your filing too many returns and need to shop in person

[corvettestainless]

As coket_41 stated as well as 'condition' of an item is always different from person to person on 'used' items. "Item not as described" is really for someone sending you a Frisbee when you ordered a 4 Place China Setting- and not designed for the slightest variances that can come up with used clothing. 

Since you've had little luck and had to file so many returns on 'not as described' that it would be best to stop shopping used items on the internet. 

[itsjustasprain]

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@evgbary_75 wrote:

Disclaimer: I have bought sweaters off eBay before, and I had to file returns a few times due to not as described items, and those sellers always admitted their mistakes upon receiving my proofs and returned my money.

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You seem to have proved that buying used sweaters on Ebay is a bad idea - but you are burning up your buyer protection by multiple purchases and returns. You have only been here since August and have a feedback of 8 but in that short time your feedback shows you complaining multiple times and presumably returning those. It takes a lot to get Ebay to take action against buyers who keep returning things but it does sound like you have pushed the limit and actually gotten a warning. I dont know if you will be able to return this sweater like the others but you should try to make this your last return for a while if possible. Buy other things instead of used sweaters and preferably new vs. used whenever possible to minimize the chances of having to return yet another item.

[orangehound]

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@evgbary_75 wrote:

 I received a no-reply e-mail from eBay stating that "activity on your account isn’t following policy: Abusive buyer policy", they specified that it was for "Filing excessive returns claiming the item is not as described when the seller described it accurately. " I assume the seller reported me to eBay as an abusive buyer instead of taking responsibility for their mistake. What am I supposed to do now?

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To get this message, it means that you have had multiple sellers reporting you as a buyer who is abusing the Money Back Guarantee or practicing other abusive buyer behavior ... not just one seller.

The Money Back Guarantee forces sellers to refund your money and to take responsibility if an item is not described properly in your opinion ... the opinion of the seller doesn't matter.   However, if that seller believes you are being unreasonable (overly picky or dishonest in your opinion), then they can report you to eBay as being a bad trading partner ... one or two reports won't affect you, but there will be a point when you will have too many of these reports, and eBay will take away your privilege to use the Money Back Guarantee.

Buying used items on-line is not for everyone - one can always find something wrong with anything and it is impossible for a seller to (a) detail every minute flaw or (b) meet the expectations of a buyer with a fine-toothed comb.  Thus, a good buyer on eBay is one who has reasonable expectations and some measure of tolerance for minor, undisclosed flaws ... it isn't for everyone.

[evgbary_75]

Thanks for your opinion. The fact is that I am only interested in buying wool sweaters as I am a wool clothing enthusiast and I love vintage sweaters, and eBay is a good source to find them. Of course, I prefer to shop for clothing in person, but I have my limitation currently and online shopping is my only option now.  The reason why I keep buying sweaters on eBay is because I found several absolutely wonderful sweaters here that are in a great condition and they worth all negative experience I went through with other items sold buy dishonest sellers. The amount of the return requests I had to file is reflective of the amount of dishonest sellers rather than me being an abusive buyer, and I really bought many many items since August. For every item that was as described I left a very positive feedback and exchanged thankful e-mails with the sellers. I hope eBay crew is capable of tracking this activity too.

[evgbary_75]

Thanks for your opinion. I have to disagree because I'm only talking here about real flaws that prevent me from using an item, not about variations. When a wool sweater is described as not having holes, and upon arrival it has multiple holes it cannot be taken as a variation and the holes prevent it from being used as it will unravel. Wouldn't you agree, there is a huge difference between a sweater with no holes and a damaged sweater with holes?!

[coket_41]

You're on the fast track to losing your ability to buy here.

[stuff4divas]

This is the 1st time I've ever seen that reporting abusive buyers actually works!

[mr_lincoln]

@evgbary_75   Regardless of the reasons you have apparently filed too many returns, the Seller reported you for theirs and eBay looked at your Buying and return history and thus the eBay message to you.  I don't think it is any more involved then that. 

[evgbary_75]

So far it looks like everyone who commented here agrees that I am indeed an abusive buyer, only because I was called this name! Nobody can hear my side of the story. According to logic implied by all replies I have received here, it's totally OK for a seller to lie about item's condition in order to make a sale, and it's all my fault that I buy too many items, which are being offered for sale here on eBay, and that I get disappointed when I discover the seller lied, and as a result I am the one who is being punished. Can anyone just go and count how many positive feedbacks I left versus negative ones? By the way, some of the items I left negative feedbacks for I actually kept and didn't return, just wanted to warn other buyers about a dishonest seller. In those cases I was able to deal with the flaws on my own (making repairs, replacing missing buttons, treating stains, etc.), and no refunds of any kind were involved. I only ever filed returns for items that were totally unusable.

[evgbary_75]

Thank you so much. This answer makes sense and I tend to think this way too. My question is what do I do in this situation?

[evgbary_75]

Not actually a big deal - I can easily find where to spend my money. 'm just surprised being treated this way by eBay, since I have not done anything wrong and it's clearly not my fault I have been receiving too many damaged items.

[rohnersauto]

If you have a problem with an item, just send the seller a message explaining the issue with the item.

Whether you left good feedback or not is irrelevant. You've already essentially reported the seller to eBay as a 'bad seller' by opening the return. All seller-fault returns (even damaged in shipping) count against the sellers account. It's called 'service metrics'. I am at 2.3% and I keep getting messages saying they're going to 'take action' against my account if I have any more for being such a bad seller (0 negatives in all 7 years w/ this account and 4.9-5.0 ratings). Even if a buyer lies or just picks the wrong return reason, it goes against the seller, and then the seller has to argue with eBay (takes way too much time) to attempt to get the 'defect' removed from their account.

I've been on eBay for over 18 years, and I don't remember ever opening a single return.

[evgbary_75]

By the way, can someone clarify how many returns are considered to be too many per total items purchased?