Negative feedback removed

[brixtonia]

Can anyone explain why my negative feedback about a seller might have been removed?

Seller sent me an item which comes in a storage bag - storage bag is part of the item. The storage bag had two large rips but the item itslef was OK. I emailed with photos suggesting a replacement bag or part refund (didn't specify an amount) rather than a full exchange. They didn't reply. I sent a reminder and they replied saying that they were looking into a replacement.  After a further reminder and six weeks waiting I decided it was not worth pursuing and just left a negatve feedback. Nothing rude. Nothing controversial. Pretty much a description as above. I have only ever left a handful of negative reviews in thousands of transactions. I can't see that it contravenes any policy.

Negative feedback has not been posted.

[tressygirl]

You explained the situation well,  but you left out the most important part,  the exact words you used in that feedback,  so we can only guess here now,  why it was removed.

There are feedback rules to follow,  if broken,  the seller can ask for the feedback to be removed.

You cannot mention anything about a case or about a refund.  Did you?  Then, the seller asked for its removal as it broke feedback rules.

[brixtonia]

Hello Tessy. I can't include the exact wording of the feedback because it's been deleted from my profile too. There is no record of it. But it said that the item was defective, that I suggested a replacement of the defective part or a part refund, that they'd replied that they were looking into sourcing a replacement bag and that they never contacted me again even after a further chase. The most critical word I used was "Disappointing".

[tressygirl]

Did you mention the words ' case' or refund ?

[brixtonia]

Only in the context that I had suggested a part refund as one of a couple of options to resolve the issue. I did not mention a case. I've looked at the feedback policy and I can't see any suggestion that you can't mention the R(efund) word. Where is that stated?

[tressygirl]

if you mentioned anything about a part refund in the feedback, that was the reason why the seller successfully asked for its removal. You cannot mention the word refund in a feedback.

[brixtonia]

Any idea where this is mentioned? It is not in any of the feedback policy advice I have found.

[brixtonia]

What you have said seems to contradict this post, about ebay refusing to remove a feedback using the word refund in a similar context (except that in my case the seller was uncommunicative). https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Seller-Central/Negative-Feedback-for-Refusing-Partial-Refund/td-p/68...

[tressygirl]

Cannot find it for the moment, perhaps another responder will come and give you that link, but it is a feedback ruling, and if you mentioned a partial refund promised for example in your feedback, that is the reason why the feedback was removed.

[thedemon2014]

This is in the eBay policy on Feedback extortion:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/feedback-policies/feedback-extortion-policy?id=4230

Similarly, they can't use Feedback to force a seller to accept a return or give a refund, if they're not required to by the terms of their listing, or the eBay Money Back Guarantee.

[tressygirl]

Excellent Mr Demon ! Couldn't for the life of me remember where it was actually written.

@thedemon2014 

[brixtonia]

How is sending photos of a damaged item and asking for either replacement or a partial refund extortion? Seller said they were looking into replacement and then never contacted me again.

[tressygirl]

If you had written something like.... Disappointed with outcome of this
unsatisfactory transaction, that would have remained.

Again, mention the word refund in any form, eBay cannot read every
feedback, they would need armies of staff to do this, to see how the
word is applied, so the word refund is not allowed in feedbacks.