Buyer's Remorse Nightmare

[nostalgicaftertaste]

Hello!

Hoping to get some assistance from tyler@ebay on this one.

A few days ago, a buyer opened nine return requests for a series of items that were originally purchased on March 4, with "Found a better price" and "Changed my mind" as the stated reasons for the returns. Their comments were that they've decided to stop collecting and need to return everything because of coronavirus.

After giving it some thought over the weekend, I decided to decline these buyer's remorse returns (my standard policy is no returns), but not before leaving them a comment saying that while I am sympathetic to the impact the virus has had on them financially, I would be unable to accept their return. Largely because I didn't feel comfortable over what condition the items would be in now after more than a month of being in the buyer's possession.

Lo and behold, after the returns had been closed, I get a message from the buyer saying they already sent everything back and will leave negative feedback on everything if I don't process the refund, to which I responded with a question of why they returned everything if the requests weren't approved yet. They didn't answer the question in their next reply, and by this time they had left nine negatives on my account. Attempting to discern the situation, I asked again why they proceeded to do that without following proper procedure, but again they didn't address it and plainly responded that a partial refund would be appreciated, which leaves me doubting that they did in fact send the items back.

I peeked at the feedback they left for other sellers, and it paints them as a troublemaker since the majority of them are negatives with complaint-ridden comments.

I've already blocked the buyer, but is there any way to please get these nine negatives removed? My account is clean otherwise.

Thanks in advance for any assistance in this matter.

[retroman_studios]

I know it's a pain to have these nine negs, but they don't really affect your account. You have done everything right by the book. They themselves admitted to it being a buyer's remorse, so you acted within your rights.

Only one thing remains. When you receive the items back you should ethically return funds minus a restock fee (which I believe can be a reasonable amount) based on the condition of the items.

Unless the feedback is derogatory or offensive in nature, they are entitled to "opinion". You can of course respond factually to each feedback by saying: "We encourage our customers to contact us for any issues and ensure items can be returned." It's not emotional, just factual.

If you use this account for buying too you can buy a few things that can put those negs a little lower down the screen.

[silverpinups]

Did the buyer return your items using a tracked service? If they didn't then the buyer is out of luck and I wouldn't accommodate them on any level. If they did send the items back with a tracked service then only refund them if they manage to open another case on eBay or PayPal to protect yourself from defects. Since you have a no return policy, that means no returns for reasons of remorse.

Since you will have to stare at those nine negative feedback for the next year give the buyer NOTHING unless eBay removes the nine negative feedbacks. 

I have a zero tolerance policy for abusive buyers....

[mcrlmn]

Why would you decline any remorse return?

A non-return policy is mute and lacks merit in this regard, and has possibly prejudiced the case.

As silverpinups stated, the buyer is responsible for returning the items using a tracked service.

The odds are greatly in your favour that the buyer will never return the items because of the shipping + tracking expense and loss of the original transaction's S&H charge the buyer paid.

While the window is open, feedback should've been a consideration when the request was received.

If the items do show up, do the right thing and refund the purchase price. Not the shipping fee.

[brettjet38 · Accepted solution]

"I get a message from the buyer saying they already sent everything back and will leave negative feedback on everything if I don't process the refund"

The above is called feedback extortion and any feedback left by that Buyer would be removed, you would only need to get an eBay CS to read the message that was sent to you which has that in it and at the same time the Buyers feedback in general. Nothing like pointing out a few facts about the Buyer while you have a CS rep on the phone (at the moment a bit difficult).

As for the return ask the Buyer for the tracking number, if one does not arrive, do nothing & wait to see if a parcel comes back. Odds are it will not and this Buyer will fade away like a bad...

[triber]

I agree with Brett, I had neg. feedback removed for similar case. It was much easier when we could phone and explain!

[reallynicestamps]

tyler@ebay 

often tells us to contact Customer Service these days via Twitter, Facebook and email.

I don't have links for those.  Pretty sure you don't make your problem public on FB, though.

[teenytrinkets]

Also agree that this is a clear case of feedback extortion, and you should easily get the negs removed when you report it to eBay.  Hopefully Tyler can advise the most expedient way to do this during the pandemic.

And the likelihood that the buyer returned everything are very low - sounds like all talk!  Haha!  You won't have to refund anything!

[valuestore]

Personally I limit sales to the same buyer not more than 1 or 2 every 10 days(account settings - buyer requirements), discourages that type of behavior. 

[nostalgicaftertaste]

Thank you, everyone, for chiming in on this issue I was having. I've been so busy with orders that I haven't had a chance to reply properly. (I had to put some distance between me and the matter, anyway.)

@brettjet38 wrote:

The above is called feedback extortion and any feedback left by that Buyer would be removed, you would only need to get an eBay CS to read the message that was sent to you which has that in it and at the same time the Buyers feedback in general. Nothing like pointing out a few facts about the Buyer while you have a CS rep on the phone (at the moment a bit difficult).

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@teenytrinkets wrote:

Also agree that this is a clear case of feedback extortion, and you should easily get the negs removed when you report it to eBay.  Hopefully Tyler can advise the most expedient way to do this during the pandemic.

And the likelihood that the buyer returned everything are very low - sounds like all talk!  Haha!  You won't have to refund anything!

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Thanks to both of you for emphasizing this. The thought had crossed my mind when it first occurred, but I was a little unsure if that could still be considered extortion because of the context (i.e., the return had already been closed).

And yes, @teenytrinkets, as much as others have suggested that I should still refund them if they do in fact return the item, my gut is telling me they have not and will not do so. The fact that they still asked for a partial refund afterwards and completely sidestepped my repeated questions made that clear to me.

I had hoped to hear from Tyler since he's normally so helpful, but I'm betting he's really busy so I don't hold it against him (especially since I am, too!). I wrote up an email to customer service with wording similar to what I initially posted, with feedback extortion as the main point of contention. Really hoping I can get these scrubbed from my profile, as I can't take this sitting down — not when I've worked really hard to carefully manage my customer service and reputation. I'll provide an update when I hear back.

Thank you again for responding, everyone.

[tyler@ebay]

Hi @nostalgicaftertaste - I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to reply (it has been a wild two weeks)!

I agree that contacting CS for a thorough review on this is the best course of action. Writing up an email is good, and will get a response. I also really like our social media team (cue the exasperated sighs of 'broken record') too. 

You can reach them on Facebook or Twitter. Send them a private message with your registered email address, first and last name on file and postcode, along with a summary of what happened, and they'll review and work to get things resolved quickly. 

[nostalgicaftertaste]

I received a response to my email. All nine negative feedback met criteria for removal and have been purged. What a relief. Thank you, all!

[brettjet38]

You see it was that simple, as Lizzy would say

"...good riddance to bad rubbish!"

Now, you wait and see if the package actually ever comes back, you are under no obligation what so ever to accept it, I would refuse it. An abusive Buyer needs to be ignored, reported and never allowed to win...

[mcrlmn]

If he'd accepted the return in the first place, none of this **bleep** would've happened.

[nostalgicaftertaste]

Interesting response...

I already expressed that I had my reasons for refusing the return. They purchased multiple game manuals, and I was wary of the condition they'd be in if they were to send them back since they had been in the buyer's possession for a month. I was right to follow my gut on this one.

[nostalgicaftertaste]

A quick note: It has come to my attention that this buyer has been doing similar stunts with other sellers as well. What a pain.