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seller is saying that they will refund me if feedback changed to positive from negative.
Bought an item from a seller, which would not work. i sent out a negative feedback as the item was unusable. I was not going to bother posting it back to seller, as it was not worth the hassle, so it was going into the rubbish bin. I was sent a message to say that if i changed my feedback from negative to positive, then they would refund the cost of the item. this surely is blackmail?
5 comments
john1297576
Mentor5 months ago“Nobody mentioned the fact that 'blackmail' is illegal,”
Do you really need to be told that “blackmail” is not allowed.? I suggest you enter “Feedback extortion” in Help and Contact where most information can be found.
The methods of dealing with this sort of problem are simple and work, it is a shame that so many members never seem to bother reading the money back guarantee which has a link on the right side of every listing.
red_magpie
Mentor5 months agothis surely is blackmail?
eBay doesn't allow sellers to make refunds conditional on changing feedback. Sellers in China often try this, but buyers who agree often don't get their refund anyway.
Unfortunately you complicated matters by trying to resolve this with the seller yourself, instead of using the procedures that eBay provides. All you had to do was to open a case under eBay's money back guarantee. You would have received a full refund and if the seller wanted this item to be returned they would have had to send you a prepaid return label - to the address in London where the listing stated that the item was located.
We don't know what you said in your feedback or why it was removed, but as has been suggested it's possible that eBay felt that you should have first used their own procedure for dispute resolution.
The whole point of posting issues to this member to member support forum is to hear what other, experienced users have to say about your experience.
*vyolla*
Mentor5 months agoIt's unfair to go straight to negative feedback and not give the seller a chance to put things right - you could have opened an eBay return allowing the seller to refund you straight away or provide you with a pre-paid returns label if they wanted their item back.
Personally, I'd revise it, but the seller should be able to get it removed on the grounds that it's a trigger happy neg with no return case opened.
It does mention that it comes without batteries in the listing description.
grahawilli_0qun6ur
OP5 months agoI did know that it came without batteries, so i was not bothered about that, but what did concern me was the suggestion that if i dropped the negative feedback then i would be refunded my payment. I have been a customer since 2014 of E Bay, and never come across anything like this before, or a Seller like this.
As i previously said that i was not going to bother returning it, due to the hassle of wrapping it again, having to buy the paper etc, as it was only a cheap article, and it was going into the Rubbish bin.
Nobody mentioned the fact that 'blackmail' is illegal, even though it was only a small amount, i just got criticized for what i should have done, and didn't.
According to this forum i am in the wrong, so that being the case, i will not bother again.
*grahawilli*
*vyolla*
Mentor5 months agoI thought that you were referring to the recent negative feedback you left in which you mentioned that there were no batteries? If so, that's creating an issue that it didn't come with batteries when it states in the listing that it doesn't come with batteries.
This isn't blackmail on the part of your seller, that's a littler extreme. You jumped straight to leaving a negative without first using eBay's system to give the seller a chance to put things right, which would be the correct route. You could've got a full refund with no hassle whatsoever. If you chose to bin the item that's absolutely your call, but it's then unfair to neg the seller if you're not going to give them the opportunity to sort the issue out.
Personally, if you're not going to revise it then I'd just move on.