FEEDBACK REMOVAL

[i.am.vivian]

Hey y'all, 

On that other thread I clicked on the link and on one of the removal things I was wondering what other opinions are.  It is this one in the types that can be removed:

Negative Feedback comments that directly contradict a positive rating. (When the comment is posted by the seller. This type of contradictory comment is not removable when left by the buyer.)

Is this new?  I just can't remember.  I was so sure that NEITHER side could leave a false positive.  Does this mean that is is allowed for buyers to leave a positive that says "Terrible seller! Dreadful! Awful! Horrible! The Worst!"  and get away with it???

What do others think?  Has it always been like that and I either forgot or never read it right the first time? (Or both! LOL!)

[pjcdn2005]

As far as I know, that rule has never applied to a buyer.  I think that very few people actually read positive feedback so I wouldn't worry about it.

[indiansummernights]

I'm pretty sure that rule is only for sellers because buyers have no reason to give false positives since unlike sellers, they have the option of giving negative feedback. 

[i.am.vivian]

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@pjcdn2005 wrote:

As far as I know, that rule has never applied to a buyer.  I think that very few people actually read positive feedback so I wouldn't worry about it.

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LOL!  So true!  What does that say about us that we only read negative comments.  🙂  

You're saying that rule has ALWAYS been there?  I've seen both buyers AND sellers leave negative comments inside a positive feedback but I thought it was wrong in BOTH cases not just when the seller does it.  

[i.am.vivian]

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@indiansummernights wrote:

I'm pretty sure that rule is only for sellers because buyers have no reason to give false positives since unlike sellers, they have the option of giving negative feedback. 

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Here is the link I was reading 

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/policies/feedback-removal.html

If you scroll down to Feedback comments containing inappropriate content.

Its the fifth one down.  It actually says this

Negative Feedback comments that directly contradict a positive rating. (When the comment is posted by the seller. This type of contradictory comment is not removable when left by the buyer.)

[momcqueen]

As much as I appreciate that feedback and defects are the twin pillars of ebay's existence, I feel like trying to reason with Customer Service Reps in the 'Feedback Specialist' Department is like trying to pry My Precious from Gollum's clammy, gnarled grasp. 

[momcqueen]

What is NetNeutrals? Have they outsources this? https://www.netneutrals.com

[i.am.vivian]

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@mjwl2006 wrote:

What is NetNeutrals? Have they outsources this? https://www.netneutrals.com

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Interesting!  I've never heard of this before.  Is it new?  Under the FAQs there is this

How much does it cost to invite a Neutral?

The Neutral's services are available for $130.  This fee is paid for by the Claimant, the party who requests the feedback review (usually the Seller).  The fee covers the Independent Feedback Review. Payment is made through PayPal.  The Neutral will join the Forum once payment is received.

I think I'll stick with nagging eBay CS reps for free.   🙂  

[momcqueen]

EXACTLY! I started a new thread. How did something this big escape our attention until this very moment when we just bumped into it as part of something unrelated?

[momcqueen]

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@indiansummernights wrote:

I'm pretty sure that rule is only for sellers because buyers have no reason to give false positives since unlike sellers, they have the option of giving negative feedback. 

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I was given a 'false positive' once by a buyer. By mistake, completely. She was leaving feedback for me, positive, on her mobile device which had auto-filled the comment section with the last comment she left for a seller with which she had problems.

It was not eligible for revision because it was positive.

The buyer was mortified.

I suppose I could have called Customer Service to have it removed because the buyer had affirmed to me via Messages that it was a mistake to leave me a non-positive comment with a positive feedback. Her experience had been legitimately positive. Actually, now that I think of it, half of the feedback comment was positive but the tail end of it was not. That was the part that had stuck from the previous feedback she had left. 

Anyway, I left it as it stood and either she left a reply or I did to clarify what had happened. It soon disappeared among all the other feedbacks. Since it was still positive and most of the time people don't bother to read anything but the negatives and neutrals, I figured I was safe enough in deciding to do so. 

[sylviebee]

If a buyer leaves a negative comment but positive ratings the comment will be removed and the buyer will get a slap from eBay.

I can't recall if the ratings are also removed but since they're Positive it doesn't matter.

I don't know if it's always been that way but it has for at least 5 years. 

Of course since interpretation is subjective there will be a lot of variation in how this rule is applied, but if someone has left you a negative comment with positive ratings it's worth a call to eBay

[momcqueen]

I thought so too but, no, the Feedback section says ebay won't do that anymore.

I am of two minds about that rule. I think it's new. Or at least newly clarified.

First, it seems unfair to apply one rule to sellers and another to buyers about false positives. Like, you can either do it or you cannot. It shouldn't matter which side of the transaction you sit on. To make exceptions for one party but not the other seems to set up a un-level playing field.

But on the other hand, what good does it do to a seller to make a buyer's positive feedback plus negative comment removable? It forces the buyer to leave negative feedback for their negative comment. I have talked to buyers who left a positive rating with negative comments (family members who are casual buyers here) and they said they did it that way because they wanted to be honest about their bad experience but were scared of leaving a red negative dot, like it would get them into trouble as a buyer as well as getting the seller into trouble. Some people avoid trouble, period. 

So, if a bad seller who received positive feedback but a negative comment could simply call up ebay to have it removed because it was a false positive, isn't that rewarding an already-bad seller who got a break they didn't deserve?

It should somehow be made more straightforward than this.

I think the problem starts with 'positive feedback'. It's all the same. You get a green dot for doing a good job selling an item. You get a green dot for doing a good job paying for an item. What is that? It's dumb. Buyers don't need positive feedback for submitting payment BUT THEY DO DESERVE RECOGNITION for a successfully-completed transaction. Make their feedback dot blue.

That would also make it clearer which sellers go on a sudden buying-spree to plump up their numbers after a run of bad feedback.

Make the so-called positive feedback for a buyer different than the positive feedback for a seller. This should have been adopted as soon as leaving negatives for buyers was disallowed. Blue dots for buyers, green dots for sellers. Or purple instead of blue, it doesn't matter. Something nice, though. Sparkly. With unicorns. 

[sylviebee]

mj, you post suggests that a you still expect eBay rules to be fair and they're not.

We (Canadians) just have to look at the way US sellers are treated compared to the way we're treated here.  Look no further than the "free" eBay shipping supplies and my personal peeve, the eBay Bucks program.

What eBay does is to try to have consistent rules to apply to all similar cases and expecting more than that isn't realistic.