Ebay removed my negative feedback on a seller! (price, deal, buy)

[Jenolivia]

Originally Posted by jamaicabound60565

You are right, ebay heavily favors the buyer. There is also only a small number of reasons ebay will allow feedback to be removed they are very strict abuot this.

I recently sld a motorcycle. Guy never made deposit within 24 hours and then when I open a claim on him he says he met me and i brought a diff motorcycle than shown. Ebay ws able to see this guy never made deposit and never responded to my contacting him and it was till like pulling teeth to get feedback removed.

This poster also seems super hesitant to provide any details. What' sthe point of posting if your not going to tell s the siutaiton? Something seems fishy with the poster shes difficult on here so imagine she was unreasonable on ebay as well and that's why feedback was removed.

It seems unreasonable to me to criticise the poster for not stating the feedback she/he left but to be perfectly happy to accept eBay's refusal to state WHY they remove negative feedback. If eBay 'have their reasons', why do they not provide those reasons to buyers when asked? If eBay 'have their reasons' but don't have to provide further details then surely the original poster can have his/her reasons too without being obliged to provide further details.

I can't speak for eBay.com but certainly eBay.co.uk do NOT favour the buyer. Infact my complaint is now being dealt with by a Trading Standards Home Authority Officer for eBay and Paypal in the UK who is responsible for ensuring that companies comply with consumer protection laws. To quote from this officer's email to me:

''Further to 2 years of informal discussions on every aspect of the eBay, PayPal et al businesses, we are formally raising numerous outstanding concerns with the business. Legal action is likely regarding a number of matters, including claim handling, consumer protection and customer service. My primary aim is to improve the site for the benefit of all users but my contact with you may assist you to pursue your own claim further.''

So this obviously shows that there are SERIOUS concerns regarding eBay's non compliance with consumer protection laws here in the UK. I would urge anyone else who has had their feedback unfairly removed by eBay to contact the Office of Fair Trading in the first instance, so that their case can be added to the list of complaints and also be investigated by the Home Authority.

[mag32gie]

I wish there was somebody to contact over the fact that Ebay charges the seller a final value fee on the money the buyer sends to the seller in order to ship the buyers item!
So just started selling on Ebay again after a 2 year absence, Just got my june sales record. I made $88.00 (not counting what I paid for the items). Ebay and Paypal made $24.00 off of my transactions! Highway robbery.

[ben55]

Well I just found out today that they don't always favor the buyer.
I make 100+ purchases per yer. Lately a lot of sellers have been sending me large items stuffed inside a flat rate USPS box to save and profit on shipping.
Guess what happens when the damn thing arrives broken? I need to spend $15-$20 to ship it back to the seller. I've been warning sellers not to send me these large items in a flat rate box, but they continue to do it.
I'M TIRED OF THESE BROKEN ITEMS. My new rule: if the item arrives broken due to your negligence and I have to pay to send it back you will get a negative feedback.

I've been able to work out some partial refunds with a few but most do not want to hear it. They know USPS will not cover any damage due to their negligence. Now I'm forced to open a case and send it back to the seller. One or two times ebay actually paid for these returns, but then they sent me a warning to stop with the cases otherwise I will get suspended.

During the past 90 days I have decided to stop opening cases. I try my best to work out the problems with the seller directly. I have left 3 negative feedbacks and 1 neutral feedback to sellers that really deserved it. For example when I told one seller that the item is broken he told me that I can buy spare parts on ebay. The other guy told me the item is not even his....that I switched it.

Anyway, it seems that ebay monitors complete refunds, partial refunds, returns, feedbacks etc.

Keep in mind this is 100% due to seller's poor packaging . I have never had any problem with items that were packaged appropriately in a box that has 1-2" cushioning around the item.

Today I received an email from ebay that due to the high number of negative feedbacks (3 neg and 1 neutral) they decided to remove all feedback I left during the past year.

Ebay was never interested in my part of the story. They just made a decision and it is irreversible.
I was furious and I called them right away. The person just kept agreeing with me and told me that he will make a note but that I need to learn to be more lenient. Are you kidding?

I'm giving a 100% true feedback on my experience with that seller to warn other buyers.
Now sellers that would not even take any responsibility for their actions and had the nerve of telling me to buy parts on ebay to fix the item have once again 100% positive feedback.

What is the point of even leaving feedback?

This is a warning for people that go by feedback when buying on ebay.

[square_eyes]

Firstly I understand why the original poster may not want to disclose their feedback. If the seller is a lunatic then they might be able to identify the buyer and it could add fuel to any fire. Nobody wants a suspect seller (who knows where they live, edit: used to live) to have any reason to continue to get mad after they have just successfully removed bad feedback under Ebay's defamation clause.

http://tinyurl.com/d6p4db5

It's not formal policy documentation, but gives a nice description of when a seller could convince Ebay to remove feedback.

This pretty much all happened to me. Ebay left my negative feedback, but removed my comments, which were not speculative or unfounded personal insults. Merely a warning to buyers that my 'new' item had a sketchy past and why. Ebay refused to tell me why they had removed my feedback comment, except to say it was an undisclosed internal policy. After reading the link above I have come to believe it was removed based on defamation (i.e. me saying the source of my sellers items was proven to be questionable).

I don't want to go further into my story because I was being harassed by the seller for a while, except to say that ebay did a great diservice to the community by removing my comment. I know for a fact that the seller resold my returned items as brand new. I reported all this but they still wouldn't budge.

[azriverfan.]

The seller reputation function on eBay is a joke. Con artists constantly recycle user names and close accounts and start over. And the reality is any seller can provide a bad product on occasion with no ramifications as they will have multiple positive reviews, many of which are fabricated from other user ID's.

I still like eBay but you have to protect yourself. People who are under the impression that some agency will guard your interests are fooling themselves. No company including the BBB, Attorney General's office, eBay etc cares about you. The way I protect myself is purchase items with an American Express card. Amex has great service and are reliable but you defnitely pay for it in their annual fee but if you shop on-line frequently, I highly recommend getting an American Express card. They have a great fraud department in case people try to rip you off. They handle cases quickly and most of the time, they will refund your money instantly. They don't argue with you when you dispute purchases and always give you the benefit of the doubt. I use an American Express (amex) card to fulfill my paypal account. On a few occasions, paypal refused to refund my money during a bad transaction when the seller screwed me and I complained to amex and amex refunded the money back to me in each case. American Express will usually request that you work this out through paypal first and if paypal refuses, then they will step in. However, it tends to be case by case basis and how much you spend on your Amex card and how long youve been with them etc.

The one company that is good about taking the customer's side is Amazon. In fact, they probably go out of their way to do this. I know people who sold electronic products in perfect condition with great packaging, the client lied and said it didn't work and they got their money back despite never returning the item.

[NJBest]

Originally Posted by mag32gie

I wish there was somebody to contact over the fact that Ebay charges the seller a final value fee on the money the buyer sends to the seller in order to ship the buyers item!
So just started selling on Ebay again after a 2 year absence, Just got my june sales record. I made $88.00 (not counting what I paid for the items). Ebay and Paypal made $24.00 off of my transactions! Highway robbery.

That does seem a little high. Were you selling a lot of low-priced items? Fees should only be about 16% give or take a few % points.

[Nobay]

I have just had the same problem, first this is what i wrote as negative feedback
xxxxxxxxxEdit* Now this is 100% true feedback, it is the first negative feedback i have made out of over 100 transactions.
yet two days later his score had gone back to 100 and my comment removed.
So now i am £12 out of pocket with a useless item that does not work.
I had no warning or contact from ebay that this would happen, they just did it full stop.

Funny thing is when i try to email customer support it says i can only do it on items that have not ended????????? I am not going to ring them as i do not want to waste any more of my time and money on this. So let this be a leason to you all who buy off ebay DONT TRUST THE FEEDBACK SCORE IT IS A COMPLETE SHAM!!

EBAY REPUTATION = ZERO

*Reason i edited is because ebay could read this and track me from my account and mess up any transactions i have pending. (I dont trust them anymore)

[Momotaro]

Originally Posted by Nobay

I have just had the same problem, first this is what i wrote as negative feedback
xxxxxxxxxEdit* Now this is 100% true feedback, it is the first negative feedback i have made out of over 100 transactions.
yet two days later his score had gone back to 100 and my comment removed.
So now i am £12 out of pocket with a useless item that does not work.
I had no warning or contact from ebay that this would happen, they just did it full stop.

Funny thing is when i try to email customer support it says i can only do it on items that have not ended????????? I am not going to ring them as i do not want to waste any more of my time and money on this. So let this be a leason to you all who buy off ebay DONT TRUST THE FEEDBACK SCORE IT IS A COMPLETE SHAM!!

EBAY REPUTATION = ZERO

*Reason i edited is because ebay could read this and track me from my account and mess up any transactions i have pending. (I dont trust them anymore)

Take off the tinfoil hat please. Ebay is a reputable company and will not "mess up" any transactions you have pending.

[snapbux]

Just wanted to offer my own feedback to this conversation:

Just to clear things up first, I am a BUYER and a SELLER and have been since I was 16. My account is well over 10 years old and I have learned how to use eBay's and Paypal's terms appropriately and know what to do to avoid getting in trouble with either one.

Here are some tips based on me as a buyer:

1. As a buyer, there is no retaliation worry from the seller, therefore you can post whatever feedback you'd like without worry of retaliation from the seller since the removal of negative feedback in 2010 for sellers. Because of this, Seller's reports of feedback are personally handled and almost always in favor of the seller.

So what do you do?

2. Before you leave any feedback, you CONTACT that seller about your issue, do NOT leave feedback until you have fully tried to resolve your issue!
This means, contact them through EBAY MESSAGES, NOT E-MAILS. Ebay messages are not 'confidential' ebay staff can read them and they use them to verify what's going on between you and the seller. If you say you contacted the seller, and you did it through an e-mail, it's not going to look like you contacted them at all, which can mean strike 1 against the buyer.

3. Request a refund from the seller, and if they refuse, OPEN A CASE. You can do this in BOTH eBay and Paypal, and this will force the buyer to try and resolve your issue... doing this almost GUARANTEES that you'll be refunded your money at the very least. The only way you won't is if you claim you didn't receive your item and the tracking number says you DID, or if you say you received the wrong item and the seller has video and pictures of them packing the item that they sent to you (which most sellers do now to protect THEMSELVES)

4. DO NOT just post negative feedback to people! If you got a bad item, and the person refunded your money, give them a neutral. You might be mad, but you posting negative feedback after your issue was resolved is only going to look like you're out to get the seller, that you're being abusive.

5. IF you've done EVERYTHING you can to resolve the issue, and it's all said and done, maybe you had to force your money to come back through eBay cases but the seller is still trying to bad mouth you, THEN you can post negative feedback BUT you have to do it in a careful way... Meaning, don't start screaming "THIS GUY RIPPED ME OFF!" That kind of feedback is considered abusive! IF you draw attention in your feedback to other feedbacks, that's what eBay calls "referencing other items" which is not allowed.
You canNOT blatantly call the seller bad names... even things like SCAM can be removed because it's damaging and unless you have proof you were scammed, (regardless whether you got your money back) it can be removed.

6. If you go for FREE SHIPPING then if it gets broken, it's your own fault. That's right. If you ever purchase anything with free shipping offered on the item, you'll notice when you leave feedback, the seller automatically gets 100% on that, because YOU chose it. Free shipping means the buyer can ship it in whatever condition they want. Shipping is EXPENSIVE, to send something that's 1oz, it costs $1.64 at the lowest, and that's if it's small enough to fit in a thick envelope. If they're selling something to you for $2.00 and offer free shipping, they're only getting about $0.40 out of that deal, AND they have to pay eBay and Paypal fees, they're basically GIVING you the item for nothing, so be greatful either way because that seller got NOTHING and the fact that they might be willing to send you a replacement is a GODSEND because that's money out of their pocket. They're now PAYING YOU to take it! So accept it and give the person a positive feedback because they didn't have to do it at all by those standards and EBAY KNOWS IT!

REMEMBER BUYERS: You might be paying the sellers, BUT THE SELLERS ARE PAYING EBAY. If there aren't sellers, eBay makes NO money, so they will protect them from losing money if they can.







Here are tips based on me as a SELLER:

1. THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT! You might not like it but that's the way it goes! If you plan on selling you better have a PLAN B in case things go south. This means, don't drain your money out of your paypal until the item is DELIVERED and feedback has been received as POSITIVE. You have to be PREPARED TO REFUND no matter what. eBay will always fall back on what the BUYER says if they're the FIRST to say it. Bad feedback is not worth your money.

2. IF a buyer doesn't contact you, doesn't say a WORD and just goes and slaps on BAD feedback, that's grounds for removal, especially if you have documented evidence to the contrary. You may have to refund them, but the feedback can still be removed.
Ebay KNOWS that bad feedback REALLY hurts a seller. Whenever you do searches for an item you're looking for, the 'Best Matching" items, are those from sellers with HIGH feedback scores. If you start to receive negative feedback for no reason, feedback containing lies, or abusive content, REPORT IT.
Sellers DO NOT HAVE THE ABILITY TO GIVE NEGATIVE FEEDBACK TO A BUYER and they have a right to protect themselves from harmful feedback from people who scam sellers. There aren't just bad Sellers, there are BAD buyers too.
For example, I ran business outside of eBay, a legitament one. I was LOVED by my clients, and I decided to turn it into a worldwide business... however, I began receiving disputes within DAYS of purchases from clients in North Korea and China... even though Paypal knew that they were scammers because they had done the same to so many other businesses, Paypal punished ME, not them, for ALLOWING their countries to purchase my products. It made my business too 'risky' so I lost my business because of these scamming buyers. So I know what it's like on BOTH ends. I did nothing wrong, my clients loved me, but a handful of people, looking to get my products AND their money, took advantage of my business and Paypal's weaknesses and I lost it all.
eBay is at least able to counteract this with reviewing each feedback report personally to save sellers from further grief of these types of buyers.

3. Brings me to my next item, DOCUMENT YOUR ITEMS!!! If you're selling clothes, take pictures from all angles, front and backs, each sleeve, the tags inside them. If you're selling and item with DEFECTS, DO NOT HIDE THAT FACT! You have to be honest, even if it drives a few people away. eBay has NO tolerance for people who smudge the truth. I know many sellers who VIDEO TAPE themselves packaging the item to make sure they have properly secured their products and the fact that they shipped the correct one. You don't need an expensive video camera either, your phone will do the trick just as good, whether it's a smart phone or small compact phone, almost all phones can do video, so learn to use it to help you.

4. USE eBay's shipping labels!! These PROVE your item was delivered and what happened during delivery, and they will protect you fully in case the buyer tries to say they never received the package. And in the event a natural disaster happens, they WILL remove bad feedback from someone who received their package late because that's OUT OF YOUR HANDS!



For all sellers: ALL FEEDBACK REPORTS ARE CONFIDENTIAL! So if you need to file one, DO NOT HESITATE TO! Every bad feedback report puts you less in a position to sell your items! If you did everything right, and the buyer is making false allegations, being abusive or trying to con you into a refund by threatening bad feedback, these are ALL grounds to get it removed, and IF eBay chooses not to remove it, you ALWAYS have the ability to write a comment under the original bad feedback through the link provided at the bottom of your feedback page. This way, YOU GET YOUR SAY AS TO WHAT HAPPENED TO!


These are the rules I follow because I know what is to be scammed in both directions. You need to cover your basis on both sides!!

I hope this helps, thank you.

[NMNan]

Good info snapbux, thanks for posting it.

There are cheaters on either side (buyer and seller) of eBay, same as in real life. I am primarily a seller, and I have a strict code of standards as do many other sellers I know. But I'm not a patsy or a pushover.

I will add that eBay is now putting more rules and regs in place to protect a seller from being scammed by an unscrupulous buyer. Here is a good interview by Ina Steiner of eCommerceBytes to Rich Matsuura of eBay Seller Protection about the steps they are taking: What eBay Is Doing to Protect Sellers from Bad Buyers-Transcript

The most common is the overly-picky buyer angling for a partial refund. I personally get a lot of these, especially when I sell books, even though I describe and photograph all faults thoroughly. Matsuura addresses it here:

An interesting story that came up fairly recently was a buyer who was being really polite in all her member to member communications . . . around this musical instrument, they were writing the same text to three different sellers saying that there was something wrong and they were looking for a partial refund. And they're getting these partial refunds, and sellers were extremely apologetic, and this was a world where, the [sellers] couldn't see that this was happening to more than one seller.

eBay was able to identify that, and then we suspended that person. . . . the other things we identify, let's call them the picky buyers. The buyers who are leaving a lot more negative feedback than they should be leaving. We're looking at the folks and partial refunds are a big red flag for us, somebody who is getting a lot of partial refunds, which could also point to that pickiness. A lot of different types of behavior that we're looking at.

So please, sellers, report all feedback-extortion, mail fraud, customer return switch-up, seller rating (DSR) bombs, and partial-refund scammers. Even if it doesn't result in anything, it will be documented, and if a pattern emerges it can be dealt with.

And buyers - I love ya, but PLEASE read the descriptions. And ask questions if in doubt, or if there is something you are really concerned about. If a seller won't take the time to answer, move on.