01-20-2012 06:26 PM - last edited on 01-19-2017 11:13 AM by crimsonleopard
I have buyers that never pay and never communicate. When I go to leave feedback, all I know get are the choices of "positive" or "I'll leave feedback later". Why can't I leave negative feedback anymore?
08-23-2014 10:44 PM
I have just had my third non payer in about six months! The three of them had reasonbly high feedback with a 100% rating, I wonder what their rating would really be if sellers could have left feedback. This is misleading and should not be allowed. Bring back the old rating system that was fair to buyers and sellers. I will need to relist again!
08-25-2014 06:06 PM
Same thing has happened to me. But, here is the worst. An overseas buyer did not pay and would not reply. He had a 100% positive feedback. I checked his feedbacks and ever comment said exactly the same. Didn't pay and will not respond. The only alternative the seller had was to post positive and voice the complaint in the comment box.
09-02-2014 06:21 PM
09-07-2014 10:33 AM
I am a buyer and apparently I cannot leave negative feedback either. A purchase I made was shipped on the day it was estimated I would receive it. I contacted the seller after I still did not receive it, and found it had not been "accept" by the post office yet. When I attempted to leave negative feedback on the seller Ebay removed it. Just doesn't seem fair. Think I'll just stop leaving feedback as I see it's as reliable as the product "reviews"
09-08-2014 07:30 AM
@sfortier72 By filing NPB/UPI case, you are protected from negative feedback when the case closes in your favour (in other words buyer did not pay after 4 more days), bu there's no adequate protection if buyer then decides to pay and leave you negative feedback for whatever reason later.
@aldeabnd Feedback policy states any negative feedback mentioning a case is eligible for removal, there are also a number of other reasons why Ebay will remove it in seller's favour, but usually only happens when the seller reports the negative feedback as eligible for removal.
09-08-2014 01:31 PM - last edited on 09-08-2014 04:52 PM by hawk_s
I have experienced a similar issue recently with not being able to leave negative feedback for a buyer who erroneously claimed that the iPhone 3 I sent was "not as described". This eBay policy unfairly skews transactions in favor of the buyer and doesn't allow proper seller recourse.
So, I'm going to leave negative feedback here to warn potential buyers/sellers about this user. This buyer opened up an eBay case against me and complained that the iPhone 3 I sold her had a missing charging cable, crack on the case backing, and was stuck in a recovery loop (which supposedly prevented the phone from accepting her SIM card). After a little bit of back-and-forth, an inability to determine which SIM card she attempted used, an inability to successfully troubleshoot, and having the buyer admit that the charging cable was indeed included, I agree to give her a full refund plus return shipping, even though I specified in my original return policy that the buyer was expected to pay return shipping.
I received the phone back and gave the buyer a full refund plus $6 shipping. When I opened the package, I noticed that the case DID NOT have a crack on the back as claimed. I then put in a U.S. pre-paid T-Mobile SIM card, plugged it into my MacBook, and voila, an iTunes message came up stating, “Congratulations, your iPhone has been unlocked”, “Press continue to setup”. In other words, it works just fine, and always did.
To be honest, I’m not sure why the buyer sent it back. Maybe they changed their mind about the purchase and decided to make up a story so that I would take it back. Maybe they weren’t technically competent enough to get it to work, though it was simply a matter of putting in a compatible SIM card (which I listed in my original description) and plugging it in to a computer. If they had simply been upfront with me, I wouldn’t be as upset. As it was, I wasted $12 of my money in shipping ($6 there and $6 back), in addition to my time, sanity, and reputation.
Buyer/seller beware!
My recent seller experience aside, with all the eBay seller nickel-and-diming that's going on (with eBay fees, PayPal fees, and excess shipping cost fees that often come out of the seller's pocket) and competition with low-cost Amazon for price and free Prime shipping, it's just not worth it to sell on eBay anymore
09-08-2014 06:15 PM
What you did is just as bad, if not far worse - leaving false positive as a workaround to inability to give negative feedback.
If it ever gets reported, the message will be removed and Ebay will brand YOU (not the buyer, you) with a policy violation strike which pretty much will affect your selling record even more.
Then again, you're considering not to sell on Ebay anymore so it shouldn't affect you that much.
09-10-2014 03:33 PM
09-11-2014 10:52 AM - edited 09-11-2014 10:55 AM
@ all and OP
I agree that we should be able to leave negative feedback, but since we can't:
1) As @zyonite said, you must open an UPI case - which in your account settings (my account > site preferences > scroll to selling preferrences > unpaid item assistant) and make sure the assistant is enabled. By default it automagically opens a case for you and handles almost everything for you, including closing the case for you. It is set to 4 days by default but it can be changed if for instance you want them to be able to wait on your other auctions so they can make use of one transaction and combined shipping rules. I have mine set to 1 week but I'm manually opening a case for a non paying buyer since one of the same item sent to a paying customer's package got lost (I only had 2 and would rather send a replacement than refund so I'm not out the fees).
2) You can also "report the buyer" on the feedback page
3) Add them to your blocked buyers list (recommended by a HUMAN at ebay cust service). (site map > scroll to selling > scroll to
I blocked a buyer before one of my auctions ended since they had 0 feedback and I didn't want to risk it.
4) Additionally in your preferrences when listing an item, at the way bottom you can select requirements for buyers, if for example they don't have a paypal account or are registered in another country and you don't ship internationally. This will prevent {insert expletive here} buyers from even SEEING your auction in their search results. Not foolproof as someone else said but our options are limited. If you don't sell internationally, check all the boxes. You can also block buyers who have negative feedback scores (-1, -2) though I have no clue how they GET negative feedback scores. I'll find out next time I call cust service.
5) You can make buyer requirements the default by going to my account > site preferences > scroll to selling preferrences > Buyer Requirements
6) Opt in to the FREE selling manager which is very similar to my ebay but tracks communications with buyers in the event of problems resulting in cases being opened. I just started using this so I don't know details. To opt in go to my account > subscriptions > scroll to ebay selling manager > subscribe to the FREE selling manager. Probably especially useful for high volume sellers but I think anyone could benefit from it.
If I missed anything, follow this link for (slightly) more detailed info. Seller Protection Policies. lt's on my to-do list.
Most if not ALL of these CANNOT be done from the app or mobile site. But if you're a high voume seller it's worth going to the library or something to get at a desktop computer.
Incidentally I think we should be able to VOTE DOWN useless posts...*ahem* ... Especially if it's the user's FIRST post. The fact that the "report inappropriate content" page has been viewed 168 times at the time of writing says a lot...
You're welcome to message me with selling questions including fees and the free upgrades and selling limits. I haven't been selling that long but I spent a great deal of time figuring out the ridiculously confusing policies that change every 5 minutes. I figured it's better to build a great reputation and understand the fee structure than dig yourself out of a hole later.
~Diane
09-11-2014 11:07 AM
How long was the stated handling time? The default is 3 days, so the seller has 3 days from time of uploading a tracking number to take your item to the post office. However they are NOT REQUIRED to do so. So it's not really fair to leave negative feedback for that. The seller may have had an emergency or other unforeseen issue - car trouble, storms, flooding...which probably is why your feedback was removed.
Also the shipping times are an ESTIMATE. The seller can't help it if the USPS, UPS, FedEx etc screws up. I'm currently having issues with the USPS and I wish I could do more for my buyers.
Don't stop leaving feedback. It's very important for both buyers and sellers. As someone with 70 feedback I would hope you understand that. How do you feel when sellers don't leave feedback for you?
I hope someone benefits from this post since you seem to have already made up your mind.
~D
09-11-2014 11:25 AM
BTW - can we remove Kudos that we whiffed and gave to the wrong post? *blush*
09-14-2014 01:25 PM
[UPDATE] : Regarding Selling Manager, it appears that by subscribing to it you DON'T get some of the perks of using stright up My eBay like auto relist 3x for free - there ARE auto relist options but unless you're a really high volume seller and/or have your own store, it seems to me that it's much easier to incur fees. Store subscribers get 150 (or more - not sure about the new category listing rules since I don't have a store) free listings and have higher selling limits so probably wouldn't notice the difference. But if you still have low selling limits like me (175/$7500/50+50 free listings) you'd really have to watch things like a hawk to make sure you're not incurring fees, since one of your options is to keep relisting until the item is sold. Unsubscribing to Selling Manager appears to restore the 3 free auto relists.
Sorry if I'm writing a ton - just wanted to share my experience so fewer ppl have that "i hate ebay's rules" experience that I had.
I'm also writing a guide to cover all of this stuff that the ebay help system just doesn't go into enough detail about. Follow me and watch for the posting of the guide shortly.
Thx
~D
09-26-2014 09:30 AM
There are a WHOLE LOT of Neg Feedback buyers and we as sellers should be able to "Sock It To Them" BUT with eBay they cator to the buyers which makes sense but with out us sellers there would be no eBay too RIGHT?. Let us sellers give Neg Feedback to buyers who deserve it
JSC
10-09-2014 05:25 AM
10-22-2014 04:00 PM - last edited on 10-22-2014 06:08 PM by hawk_s
I was just a victim of a buyer who sells too, and they recently bought from mulitple sellers and systematically gave us all negative feedback to make their competition look bad.
I reported it to ebay, they don't care.