I have to ask if I'm wrong here... thoughts?
Summary: ericsells75 expresses frustration over a negative feedback received from a buyer for an item that was marked as used, which the feedback incorrectly claimed was not new. ericsells75 argues that the feedback should be removed because the tracking indicates the item is still 'In Transit' due to a postal strike, which supposedly means the buyer hasn't received it. ilikehockeyjerseys suggests leaving the feedback alone and not contacting the buyer, referencing eBay’s feedback policy for potential removal but acknowledges the low likelihood of success, as eBay has become more conservative with feedback removal. recped and byto253 discuss shipping timelines and suggest that there might be an error or misunderstanding on the buyer's part. ericsells75 maintains that the issue is the perceived double standard in eBay's treatment of sellers versus buyers regarding delivery confirmation.
First, this isn't about the negative feedback itself. Just want to make that clear but is my thinking all wrong here?
Sold an item earlier in Novemeber and shipped it off. Thursday evening before the strike it had a last scan of In Transit at 7:39PM, at 12:01 AM that Friday the Postal Strike occured. So the item was hung up and continues to sit IN Transit since that time. Now fast forward to a few days ago and I get a negative feedback from the buyer about the condition of the item. No other contact from the buyer, just this negative feedback. No claim request, nothing else and the feedback claims the item was not new, which is true the item was marked as used.
So at this point I believe that this feedback is a candidate for removal, since tracking clearly shows it has not been delivered how can they leave feedback? I belive that it was perhaps intended for a different sale which is a valid reason for feedback removal. The argument i have gotten back from ebay help and twitter is "well sometimes a buyer recieves an item before a delivery scan is uploaded' Okay, my counter to that is 1. it's been several days with no update. 2. The post office is on strike items aren't moving. 3. if they filed a not received claim and i put in that tracking that shows not delivered - I Lose the case. That same courtesy would never be applied to a seller.
The other argument they gave me was they look at the context of the message - ok, that's fine but if they haven't received the item that context is irrelevant, no?
So am i completley wrong here? To me it seems so blatantly obvious and factual and i am baffled that common sense is not prevailing that i have to ask, am i missing something here?
recped
·1 year agoI see a problem with your time line.....
The listing in question shows a sale date of Nov 8
Your listing shows 1 day handling, that would make the shipping date Monday Nov 11 which for many destinations would be enough time for a delivery on the 14th, the day before the strike.
Did you really not ship until Thursday the 14th? Why the delay and how did you not know that a strike was imminent given the 3 day notice had been issued on the 12th.
byto253
·1 year agoIf going to the US 95% likely it would clear the border before the strike under normal circumstances, but unlikely for a shipment in Canada anywhere, other than very close by, it is going to take longer than that.
I do think the OP is correct - for the seller if delivery is not confirmed you are out of luck, but a different standard is being applied to a buyer for the same circumstance. From what I have saw in the OP's listing the feedback saying it was a mess and missing pieces seems out of whack and wonder if it was meant for another item. That does happen.
ericsells75
OP1 year agoMy time line is fine. It was shipped on time and the Thursday before the strike it still had not been delivered. It was going to PEI so it was a little slow. It was due to be delivered the Friday of the strike. No delays. The seller made the purchase on a weekend right before the 72 hour notice was given. I was compelled to complete the sale then I put store on time away.
but delivery timeline isn't the issue here. The double standard is.
lotzofuniquegoodies
·1 year ago@ericsells75
eBay's timeline estimates have been wrong and complained about for years. Both on ca and com. What is left out of their equation their estimates are based on city to city delivery. Not taking into consideration all the factors in play for small town or rural. eBay still has estimates for non tracked service that Canadapost stopped showing delivery standards a few years ago. Buyers take these posted standards as gospel. They are at best, best case scenario. Lastly how many times has customs delays been factored into not in time?
eBay wants everything sent via tracked. For many items this just is not feasible. Also doesn't help when scans aren't being done. The whole concept needs a giant rethink so that everything that is in play is factored in. Not cherry picking what is or isn't. Building in crazy amounts of handling time is not working. (Personally, I have always been under the impression that marking shipped starts the eBay meter but getting any sort of confirmation one way or another has been next to impossible to get.)
ilikehockeyjerseys
·1 year agoIt's possible that the item was delivered and the tracking didn't scan.
I don't think the negative feedback is a problem. You responded professionally.
If the buyer never contacted you, I would just leave it alone because as you said the item wasn't advertised as new. You know that the complaint about it being used is invalid. So it isn't even like you should consider contacting them to rectify the situation. I believe that you should always try to make things right with buyers and not assume that you couldn't have possibly made an error, but in this situation it's pretty cut and dry.
Getting a neg in this situation is a win, even if it isn't right. The buyer messed up by not reading the listing, but didn't open a return which with an item like that would put you in a position where a courtesy refund is the cheapest option. Contacting them to let them know that the tracking doesn't show as delivered is not a good idea. Contacting them to let them know that they could open a return is not a good idea. Either could result in a return at your expense or INR.
They look to be a new eBayer or guest account, and based on the feedback English might be their second language, or they might not be good at communicating. I don't think there is anything to gain by messaging them.
As far as actual feedback removal goes, your only hope is to contact eBay and request a removal. Here is the actual feedback policy page that lists the criteria for a violation: https://www.ebay.ca/help/policies/feedback-policies/feedback-policy?id=4208
My guess is that you could try to go with "The buyer is raising an issue that was correctly disclosed in the listing". Their complaint was that "Bad that was open". It was advertised as being opened (used). Therefore, they complained about something that was correctly disclosed in the listing.
There is zero guarantee it gets removed. eBay used to be more liberal with feedback removal, but they seem to be more conservative these days. Here is the page to put in a request to have it removed (you have to sign in on .com): https://www.ebay.com/sellerhelp/feedback
It would be good to get it removed because at the volume you sell at, another bad feedback or two could make your percentage look questionable, but at 98.7 percent I guarantee you nobody wanting to buy something from you is going to not buy it. Not only that, if they investigate further they will see that you seemed reasonable with your reply.
ericsells75
OP1 year agoI appreciate the reply but it doesn't really answer what I am asking at all.
ilikehockeyjerseys
·1 year agoYou also only can make a feedback removal request once.
I'm assuming your goal is to get the feedback removed.
ericsells75
OP1 year agoThanks but unfortunately you are missing the point of my post. I'm not asking how to get the feedback removed, I am asking if I'm justified in my argument for why it should be removed. No worries, have a great day.