eBay

ichopshop · ‎05-03-2019

I've only had a couple of negative feedbacks left for me since I started selling on eBay (and as I recall those were mistakes that the buyers' later revised). So imagine my shock when I log on a few weeks ago and find I've had 2 negative feedbacks on the same day! I contacted eBay today in an attempt to have the feedbacks removed.

One was an item purchased quite recently. The feedback stated that they purchased the wrong item. They never contacted me or attempted to return the item. I emailed the buyer after the negative feedback was left offering a return, never heard back.

The second was an item purchased a few weeks earlier. A pair of used vintage headphones. The buyer started a return and claimed that they were fakes (and sent me pictures of the disassemble headphones along with some sort of graphs apparently backing up their claim). I accepted the return, the buyer returned the item at my expense and I issued a refund as soon as they were received (reassembled). About a week after that they left negative feedback saying I intentionally sold a fraudulent item. I emailed the buyer expressing my concerns with the feedback, no reply.

I contacted eBay regarding the negative feedback. For the first one I said the buyer never attempted to use any of the remedies eBay offers, CSR agreed and removed the feedback.

Regarding the second one, I said that the buyer obviously wasn't happy with the purchase and returned the item at no expense to themselves and that if they'd left negative feedback to that extent I wouldn't be seeking to have it removed. But leaving a libelist statement to the effect that I intentionally sold a fake item (in their estimation) was too much. The CSR agreed and removed the feedback.

So obviously I'm happy with the outcome. Moral of the Story? No idea.

Ian

sylviebee · ‎05-03-2019

I think the moral of the story is that eBay has become much more lenient with FB removal than it was a few years ago.

While it's still a part of the system the importance of FB has diminished so now it's a just a shadow of what it once was. Good Riddance!

reallynicestamps · ‎05-03-2019

To my mind, the biggest problem with Feedback is that buyers think it is a method of dealing with problems.

Feedback is easy to find, the Resolution Centre is comparitively difficult.

Read the Buyer Board, particularly the dotCOM one, and see how many of the very unhappy and ready to leave buyers have been bamboozled by sketchey sellers into long conversations that run out the clock or into just leaving negative or neutral feedback instead of using a system that will get their money back and keep them buying here.

I'm not sure how to correct this problem.

Perhaps when a buyer leaves a negative she should get a popup that leads her to the Resolution Centre?

I'm glad you met a Customer Service agent who was able to see why those negs were specious and had the authority to remove them.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎05-03-2019

@reallynicestamps

The available choices quite often do not meet the circumstances so buyers are doing eeny meeny to make a choice. Not always an appropriate choice. Undo is not an option. To follow that up, one of the biggest problems, if there is a problem during a transaction is how difficult it is to communicate properly between the two parties. Going forward I don't see that getting any easier!!