Negative feedback given but has disappeared

[theoldandthebald]

I gave negative feedback to a seller for what he/she  claimed i have not checked the parts comparrison chart !! I had done a comparrison check and the photo on the listing was what i wanted . I recieved a item that was poor quality and was not the item i ordered . They said i was in the wrong and would have to pay postage . lol.... My issue is how has my feedback dissapeared and if they have managed to get Ebay to remove it and have done this for other neg feedback how does that give a true representation of a company selling **bleep** !! how does that protect buyers or should i say how does it help a buyer to make up their mind whether to buy from them . If ebay has removed it then they should be giving the buyer the oppertunity to have it reinstated for good reason otherwise ebay are covering up bad sales practices. 

[wilke_6016]

Please report this to Trading Standards (contact details in my last post). Only with multiple reports will Trading Standards take action.

[plpmr]

trading standards have no jurisdiction regarding eBay feedback.

[wilke_6016]

It's not the feedback itself but eBay's practice of feedback removal that is the focus here. The feedback itself is not done by eBay but by buyers and sellers. By contrast, feedback removal is part of eBay's own set of practices geared towards encouraging sales, and automatic negative feedback removal is therefore a misleading sales practice.

[plpmr]

And trading standards still have no jurisdiction.

[wilke_6016]

Could you explain why you think this is the case?

[caremblemsuk]

They remove negative feedback as the buyer has not been justified in giving the feedback and the seller has complied to all the rules set out .Buyers use negative feedback to threaten sellers to comply with there demands as they know sellers treauser there feedback and work very hard to keep there seller level

There are many more bad buyers than sellers .

Many buyers leave no good feedback but are very quick to leave a negative .

Shame on you  BUYERS

[wilke_6016]

I'm afraid you're incorrect in your assumption. There are plenty of examples mentioned in this thread where buyers have left fair, truthful feedback in moderate language and the feedback has been removed. I left a seller neutral feedback after he failed to post the book I'd ordered for three weeks, didn't respond to my politely worded queries and only posted the book after eBay stepped in. My feedback is fair, truthful, moderately worded and because I left it as neutral rather than negative, his 100% rating hadn't been affected.

[wilke_6016]

A moderator deleted two screenshots from my post on the grounds that they 'named and shamed' the seller. I had very conspicuously edited out the seller's name, so this was either an oversight on the moderator's part or a deliberate attempt to cover up eBay's misleading practice. So, I will post my comment and the screenshots again. This time I will also edit out feedback providers' IDs and non-relevant stats so there's no chance that anyone can be identified from the screenshots. If eBay deletes it again, I will simply have more ammunition to take to the press. Original post:

I'm afraid you're incorrect in your assumption. There are plenty of examples mentioned in this thread where buyers have left fair, truthful feedback in moderate language and the feedback has been removed. Here's an example: two screenshots, one week apart, of some neutral feedback I left for a seller after he failed to post the book I'd ordered for three weeks, didn't respond to my politely worded queries and only posted the book after eBay stepped in. My feedback is fair, truthful, moderately worded and because I left it as neutral rather than negative, his 100% rating hadn't been affected.

[bittyboy101]

Negative/Poor feedback is also removed if there is evidence that the buyer has not contacted the seller first via eBay messages to make them aware that there is a problem with the delivery or the item.

Also if a INR OR IND case has been opened and the seller simply issues a refund to close the case, eBay then go easy on these sort of sellers and Negative feedback may be removed by eBay if the seller states that they were reasonable to the buyer.

Sometimes it is not always the buyer's fault, some sellers (especially the low feedback score ones) seem to sell expensive items, someone bids the last minute, wins the item  at the starting bid price, seller an't happy with this outcome but still wants the money, so they simply LIE and mark the item as "dispached" but do not upload any tracking details, they do this in order to get eBay to release the funds which are "on hold" due to this seller being an infrequent seller.... The time passes by and the buyer is then wondering "where is my item ? It's now been 2 weeks ?? and the delivery estimate was 3 working days ???"....buyer may contact the seller to raise their concrean only for the seller to ignore them... or the buyer may be so angry/frustrated they may simply JUMP IN AT THE DEEP END ! and leave NEGATIVE FEEDBACK for that seller as revenge !

There are so many reasons... some sellers may even have friends and family working inside eBay... you would never know !

I noticed that lots of Chinese based sellers on eBay have 1000's of Negative feedbacks but eBay still allow them to carry on trading due to their high volume of sales and the revenue they generate for eBay in shop subscriptions and selling fees !  

[watchfan700uk]

I had a neg where a buyer accused me of dishonesty and being a liar. It vanished within 30 minutes. Not sure if the buyer removed or ebay.

[wilke_6016]

In your case, the feedback sounds like it does breach guidelines. Nonetheless, it was likely removed by an automated process. This is a problem for sellers too, as the more buyers who notice the automatic removal of negative and neutral feedback, the less trust there is in the system and the less they will purchase. My purchases as a buyer are down 90% on what they were previously now that I know I can't trust the ratings. I'm now only buying stuff I really need and can't get at a decent price elsewhere.

[buyincornwall]

I recently purchased 6 items from one seller and each item I received was not what I ordered. For example I ordered iPhone wallets and received false eyelashes. I left negative feedbacks to warn other potential buyers since I could see previous negative feedbacks left for similar reasons and also commente that, like myself, the seller did not respond to messages. SOMEHOW THESE NEGATIVE FEEDBACKS HAVE GONE MISSING - both from my feedbacks left and the sellers feedback received. If eBay are going to remove genuine negative feedbacks there is no point in feedback whatsoever. Their recent feedback screens have already made it a nightmare to monitor feedback and many users have stopped giving feedback because of these unneccesary changes. EBAY IS GOING T O (GONE?) TO THE DOGS,

[bravergrace]

May I suggest that before you leave your next batch of negative feedback, you check the feedback rules carefully?

I know you feel that eBay have removed your feedback unfairly, but there are quite a few details of the eBay feedback policies which you may have overlooked.  Generally speaking, if feedback disappears, it is because the feedback breached some policy or other.

- For example, sellers can't leave negative comments for buyers.

- And feedback can be removed for mentioning "cases" - things like having to get your money back through the eBay process.  This may seem unfair, but if you think about it, buyers shouldn't complain when the seller asks them to go through the official procedure to get a refund.

- And sometimes feedback is removed if the seller can prove that the problem wasn't their fault (like if they posted something on time, but the Royal Mail went on strike, or if the buyer refused to pay Customs charges).

Another thing that sometimes happens, is that feedback is automatically removed.  This can happen if a buyer loses a case, or if eBay thinks the buyer is abusing the system - an example here (a real one that happened to me) is when a buyer bought several hats from different sellers and then left negative feedback for ALL of them, complaining that they didn't fit him.  Well, obviously they didn't all fit him, because they were all different sizes, ranging from XS to XXXXL.   In those circumstances, eBay will sometimes just wipe out ALL the feedback that the buyer has left, because it's quicker than trying to "investigate" them all individually.

[wilke_6016]

There are plenty of examples mentioned in this thread where buyers have left fair, truthful feedback in moderate language and the feedback has been removed.

[plpmr]

"fair, truthful feedback in moderate language and the feedback has been removed."

fair, truthful feedback in moderate language can still break the rules.

[awol1968]

And you should think further that just reading the rules!!! If the whole point of the rules is clearly to make it more difficult than it should be to leave a negative, then the whole premise of this thread is absolutely correct!!! I've said before, I have 70+ screenshots of one sellers removed negative's. The odd one could, at a stretch be considered against the rules but the overwhelming, vast majority are just factual & to the point. These are screenshots of 1 to 10 negatives per page & each new page was created after some were removed so the amount of feedbacks is actually quite remarkable & way, way beyond the scope of the rules you mentioned!!! Those rules are just an extension of the already in place rule that a seller can ask me to change a negative to a positive but as a buyer, I can never change my positive to a negative if my experience of the product or seller changes, even 1 minute after I left the positive!!! Also, the mentioning cases rule is just a silly red herring aimed to placate the people that can't think much as it would not just cover people that moan because they had to follow procedure. There are a myriad of reasons a buyer could still leave justifiable negative feedback that has nothing to do with them having to follow procedure. If I open a case, follow procedure, mention the case in my negative feedback & it is removed, how is any of that relevant if my negative is about a camera claiming to be HD but isn't, or my LED lamp claiming to be 15 watts but is only 3??? Whether I open a case, whether I mention a case, I should still be able to warn buyers this seller sells items that are not as described. All this is of course is only relevant to you if you don't believe that any company should be able to make up rules arbitrarily & we should all just shut up & follow along

[awol1968]

Read my comment above & that will point out how completely pointless your comment is in the context of this thread!!! What if I made a rule that you had to abide with? The rule is you're not allowed to post anything in eBay's defence. It's a rule, I made the rule I am in charge, do you like my rule? Is my rule fair? Would you fight to protect my rule as you're doing to protect eBay's ridiculous rules?

[wilke_6016]

In correspondence with Trading Standards, I have been directed to the Competition and Markets Authority. I will be putting a complaint to them. Could anyone with screenshots or other evidence please send me a private message?

Trading Standards advise that, if substantiated, this practice would amount to something akin to Amazon and Google not doing enough to combat fake reviews:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cma-to-investigate-amazon-and-google-over-fake-reviews

In my opinion, it's worse, because eBay are perpetrating the manipulation rather than just turning a blind eye to it.

[awol1968]

I don't even know how to private message so if you private message me with an email address, I can send you my screenshots. I didn't know how to screenshot propelry so I saved them as a weird apache open office file. I can send you one & if you can open it I'll send you the rest. The interesting ones are about a product called alfagrog. It is a clay filter material in stated sizes but negatives say they are receiving sand & dust as it has ground up in the bags. One seller says he left a neutral previously for that product & didn't realise he was ordering from the same seller & left a negative as it was just as bad. If there is any eBay "RULE" that does not allow a negative such as this, then there should be a rule that this rule shoudn't be a rule!!!!

[wilke_6016]

I've sent you a private message.