eBay

katlover1952 · ‎01-24-2023

Hi Everyone. Have not been on the board for awhile but I would really appreciate some feedback on this situation. I sold a necklace to what I thought was a US buyer, address was in Florida. Turns out they were in the middle east which is fine although I do not ship there. I do post in my descriptions that any duties, fees, taxes charged by your country are your responsibility so even though I do not ship there should not be a problem.

I sent it away, saw it was delivered & heard nothing. Then last weekend I got this negative feeback from the buyer which is totally unwarranted. First off the necklace was not damaged it was in very good condition. Then she complained about the cost to ship it to her & duties paid (which have nothing to do with me). The price on the necklace was $17.99 CDN so I can understand someone being upset to pay $40 or more in fees & extra shipping but again not up to me. I did have 100% + FB so was perturbed to get this but not sure if it is worthwhile replying to or not & wanted some opinions from other sellers who have faced this issued. I cannot recall ever having - FB since we have the option of replying so not sure what is the best way to handle it. I know everyone says FB is not important any longer but I know I still look at FB when making a purchase & unfortunately this one is front & center at the moment.

recped · ‎01-24-2023

Hold off replying for the moment.

I had a neutral removed last year, it has SOME similarities to your neg.

Somehow in the Help pages I was given an option to appeal the feedback, all I get now is info about feedback revisions which require buyer co-operation.

In any event if you are able to appeal to eBay you must find a feedback policy issue, the complaint about the item isn't one but the comment about import taxes might be. At one time eBay has an actual list of things that were policy violations if left by a buyer, that list is gone but at one time it DID include negative comments related to import taxes. This was the policy I used in my appeal and it worked, about 6 hours later I received a message and the feedback was gone.

"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
- answering Trolls is voluntary, my policy is not to participate.

katlover1952 · ‎01-24-2023

Thanks. Would I likely need to call eBay then do you think?

pjcdn2005 · ‎01-25-2023

I would contact eBay cs on eBayforbusiness on Facebook or on askebay on Twitter. You can send a private message with your information. You can contact cs through chat right on eBay as well but I have dealt with the ones on FB in the past and they were great to deal with.

sunraycity_store · ‎01-25-2023

Since the feedback mentioned duty paid by the buyer, eBay client service will remove it if you call them. This is one of those rare instances where they can intervene.

byto253 · ‎01-25-2023

And it mentions shipping to Dubai, when the item was sold for shipment to the US. The cost of a forwarder is not the seller's business and leaving feedback on an unlrelated matter should be the basis for removal as well.

Be sure to NOT respond as from what I understand if you respond the chances of removal drop drastically.

When contacting eBay have your points lined up ahead of time:

Incorrect feedback as it cites shipping to a country other than where it was shipped to, and it cites duty fees which are the seller's responsibility and not applicable to the US where it was shipped to.

reallynicestamps · ‎01-25-2023

& duties paid (which have nothing to do with me).

The feedback can be removed because of the mention of the Dubai duties, which even eBay recognizes has nothing to do with the seller.

Use the social media Chats to talk to an actual employee.

The phone reps do not work for eBay so don't bother with them. They work for a subcontractor out of Utah.
  https://www.facebook.com/eBayForBusiness/ — Message button in upper right on landing page.
 https://twitter.com/askebay?lang=en

 https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/How-do-I-contact-Customer-Support/m-p/32016431#M1783851 -> Automated Assistant, type AGENT -> enter. You will then get more options.  
The social media Chat accounts are covered by trained eBay employees with some authority.
And you get a transcript so you can compare what you heard with what you were told.

katlover1952 · ‎01-25-2023

Thanks to everyone who commented. Something else which happened (same day as FB was left) was I got an email from eBay saying their location policy was not being followed on a listing. I have sold on eBay for 19 years & have changed nothing in that regard. So I called eBay, spoke to a guy first who first told me it was a different item then finally that it was the one I had gotten the FB on but he told me there was no connection to the FB. I pushed to find out why I had even gotten the email because the listing had my correct location. Finally ended up speaking to a lady who when I pushed to find out why I had been sent this email finally said she did not know as the listing was correct. She said she would investigate further & call me back. That was Sat still have not heard anything. Seemed like kind of a weird coincidence. And yes I will not phone as they really are not very helpful last few times I have called. Will try the chat as you have indicated is best. Thank you.

ilikehockeyjerseys · ‎01-26-2023

https://www.ebay.ca/help/selling/selling/seller-levels-performance-standards/appeal-defect?id=4871

Go to that link, scroll to the bottom, click e-mail us.

-Include the item number, which I assume is (#354064778605).
-Explain that a buyer left you a negative feedback and you would like it removed.
-Be clear that you are not asking for instructions on how to contact a buyer for revision. You believe the feedback violates eBay's policies. You are asking eBay to review it and remove it.
-The buyer left you feedback both complaining about things that were not advertised as part of your listing, and complaining about things that were reasonably out of your control.
-This is because the buyer had the item shipped to the USA when they reside in Dubai. They later complained about their own costs to ship it from the USA to Dubai. This was not part of your transaction, this was something they did on their own time after the item was successfully delivered to them in the USA. Therefore, this is not an objective review of the transaction.

You might have to try more than once because they might not understand you aren't asking about feedback removal policy, but you are asking them to review and remove the feedback.

If this was a case where you fell short as a seller, I would recommend working it out with the buyer so that they are happy and will revise the feedback. A buyer complaining about the cost of shipping an item to Dubai after they received it from you in the USA isn't your fault. That's not part of the transaction. It seems like eBay would almost certainly remove it.

femmefan1946 · ‎01-26-2023

So I called eBay, spoke to a guy first ...Finally ended up speaking to a lady who when I pushed ... finally said she did not know as the listing was correct. She said she would investigate further & call me back. That was Sat still have not heard anything.

The phone reps do not work for eBay so don't bother with them. They work for a subcontractor out of Utah.
  https://www.facebook.com/eBayForBusiness/ — Message button in upper right on landing page.
 https://twitter.com/askebay?lang=en

 https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/How-do-I-contact-Customer-Support/m-p/32016431#M1783851 -> Automated Assistant, type AGENT -> enter. You will then get more options.  
The social media Chat accounts are covered by trained eBay employees with some authority.
And you get a transcript so you can compare what you heard with what you were told.

katlover1952 · ‎02-01-2023

I have sent an email requesting feedback removal so will see what happens. She does mention the necklace being discolored which it definitely was not. Expect it was sour grapes because of all the costs incurred on a a $17.99 CAD item, none of which had anything remotely to do with me or the transaction. Hopefully eBay will see it for what it was & will remove. Thanks everyone for your help with this matter, really appreciate the responses.

byto253 · ‎02-01-2023

Regardless of the "discoloring" the feedback includes shipping to a country that you did not ship the item to.

If the buyer had just stuck to item condition, the case to remove the feedback would not be that strong as it is a subjective opinion.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎02-01-2023

@byto253 wrote:
Regardless of the "discoloring" the feedback includes shipping to a country that you did not ship the item to.

If the buyer had just stuck to item condition, the case to remove the feedback would not be that strong as it is a subjective opinion.

@byto253

I have an occasional reverse issue. eBay sending me multiple reminder messages to leave feedback NOW for customers that chose not to pay. Responding with Thanks for not paying seems dangerous!! 🙄 I guess the bots must have nothing to do?

-Lotz

katlover1952 · ‎02-01-2023

Got a very prompt reply from eBay this morning (just sent them an email late last night) & they have removed the negative feedback. Thank you everyone for taking the time to make comments & suggestions; most appreciated.