Buyer cancelled claim

[paxku]

Hi,

I haven't been a seller in eBay for a very long time (since you could leave negative feedback for buyers). My God has this taken a turn for the worse...

I had a buyer complain about a damaged item. The photos were suspicious, but let's go. 

Buyer left negative feedback, and then I had to enquiry him to create a claim. 

Buyer creates claim, I accept full refund, I send eBay return label, buyer cancels claim. 

In my seller preferences, I see nothing to block other buyers who tend to cancel returns. 

Does eBay somehow punish buyers who try to get a partial refund for free, while leave bogus negative feedback?

[therenewalworkshopltd]

It basically boils down to the fact, that you shouldn't have refunded, prior to the item actually being returned.

You can manually add accounts to your blocked buyers list, so the same buyer won't affect you again.

[paxku]

I did not refund.

I offered a refund. I sent the eBay return label. And the buyer cancelled the claim without ever sending the item back (so I never gave the refund). 

Still, the buyer simply paid for the item he got but I'm left with negative feedback. 

1. Is there no repercussion on the buyer?

2. I have to wait for a buyer to be dishonest with me and receive negative feedback, even if he has already been dishonest with other sellers in the past?

[m25jet · Accepted solution]

First of all, if you have not already done so by the time you read this reply, add the buyer's User ID to your Blocked Bidders List.  That way he/she will not be able to purchase anything else from you in the future and cause you any further aggravation.  If not already activated, make sure that you also turn on the Don't Allow Blocked Buyers To Contact Me option so that the buyer cannot pester you with unwanted messages.

With regards to the negative feedback left for you by the buyer, contact eBay Customer Services and ask for the feedback to be removed, clearly stating your reasons as to why you feel that the feedback should not be allowed to remain.  It may not work, but if you don't try then you'll be stuck with that negative feedback forever.  If, on the other hand, you ask eBay Customer Services to remove the negative feedback and the eBay rep you are speaking to agrees with your request for removal, then the feedback should be removed.  If this is indeed the case then once the negative feedback is removed the associated defect will also be removed from your account.

Even if your attempts to persuade eBay Customer Feedback to remove the negative feedback are unsuccessful, by flagging the matter up to eBay it may well go some way towards flagging this buyer's account up to eBay if he/she has got a habit of doing to sellers what he/she has already done to you, and thus preventing the same thing from happening to other sellers.  If eBay do feel that there is cause for concern then the buyer will be penalised in some way, although eBay won't tell you what, if any action, they decide to take against the buyer.

[paxku]

Thanks for the advise. 

I already blocked the buyer (I'm learning so much about how eBay is now). 

To be honest, it feels like sellers are completely defenseless in eBay. 

I'm definitely not putting my most valuable items here. 

Thanks, though, for your answer. Make the picture quite clear.

[m25jet]

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@paxku wrote:

Thanks for the advise. 

I already blocked the buyer (I'm learning so much about how eBay is now). 

To be honest, it feels like sellers are completely defenseless in eBay. 

I'm definitely not putting my most valuable items here. 

Thanks, though, for your answer. Make the picture quite clear.

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Another valuable lesson to remember when listing anything for sale on eBay:  If the value of the item is such that you cannot afford to lose the money made from the sale, don't list it for sale on eBay!

One thing I would definitely advise people not to list on eBay is mobile phones.  Mobile phones are scammer magnets, so if you had any intentions with regards to listing mobile phones for sale I would advise you not to do so.  Having said that, things such as mobile phone covers probably would not attract scammers in the same way as an actual phone would, so you ought to be relatively safe there.

Finally, make sure that you use a tracked service to post out sold items wherever it is financially viable to do so, as that should offer you more protection against false Item Not Received cases.  The reason why is that if you can prove to eBay without a shadow of a doubt that the buyer definitely received the item then you would win the case.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

Fair enough, but you weren't exactly clear about that.

However, negative feedback is just a fact of selling online.

Try to get it removed as has been described already and if you don't, then answer it in a positive way.

Buyers are not necessarily put off by bad feedback, but on how it has been handled.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

That's a terribly negative way to view selling on Ebay.  Wherever you sell, there are bad buyers.

But in the main, it is generally a fairly safe place to sell.  Especially when you compare it to the likes of Amazon, where the buyer is very much king and you will never win a claim against you.

I've sold plenty of expensive items, whether it be here or on other sites.

Yes, you get issues occasionally, but as long as you work within the rules, your are reasonably protected against an outright loss.

[gothicrosegallery]

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@therenewalworkshopltd wrote:

That's a terribly negative way to view selling on Ebay.  Wherever you sell, there are bad buyers.

But in the main, it is generally a fairly safe place to sell.  Especially when you compare it to the likes of Amazon, where the buyer is very much king and you will never win a claim against you.

I've sold plenty of expensive items, whether it be here or on other sites.

Yes, you get issues occasionally, but as long as you work within the rules, your are reasonably protected against an outright loss.

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That is not true. I'm been ripped off by third-party sellers on Amazon several times - not for very much, thankfully - but the result is I will only ever now buy directly from Amazon themselves, even if the price is higher.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

You have read that wrong.  I was not talking about buying, but selling!

And as I said, there are bad buyers everywhere you can sell.

The same can be said of sellers.

In fact, your just as likely to get ripped off wherever you buy or sell.  It has nothing to do with the marketplace as such, but those who buy and sell there.  ie.  The actual individuals involved.

As to specifically Amazon sellers that you got ripped off by, did you not raise an A-Z with Amazon to get your money back?  99 times out of a 100, they side with the buyer.