Failure of Ebay to review favourably a decision to delete negative feedback from a buyer

[welsh*rarebit]

At the end of February, I put on Ebay a number of diecast models that I have collected over the years and have now decided to dispose of them. One item was bought and posted off by me by Royal mail (UK). The parcel was delivered to the buyer and upon receipt, it was found to be damaged, the majority of it in the post. Instead of contacting me, the buyer immediately left negative feedback, my first in 24 years. Despite no request to do so, I refunded the buyer his purchase price and postage and asked him to review his feedback. He declined to do so. On the basis that this is unfair, I have today asked Ebay to delete the negative feedback as the buyer has been fully refunded AND kept the item. How Ebay have come to this decision I cannot fathom out and in my humble opinion, either they couldn't be bothered to read the story or they are just incompetant. Either way, the decision stinks and I am seriously thinking about going onto one of the alternative sites to sell my items. What do you think?

[papso22]

I am afraid that ebay will say that a refund and keeping a danaged item doesn't not lessen the buyer's disappointment. 

It's increasingly hard to get feedback removed these days and I don't think there are grounds for removing that. 

[john1297576]

I am afraid that fairness does not come into it, there is nothing in the feedback that breaks any of the rules, so ebay will not remove.

How did you ask buyer to change feedback, buyer cannot edit feedback, you as seller have to send buyer a FEEDBACK REVISION REQUEST. Doing it properly buyer might have been more cooperative.

Buyer should have opened a not as described case to get a refund, it was a mistake to refund outside a case. There will always be ignorant buyers who do not know the correct way to get a refund, and if done properly feedback should be based on how efficiently seller dealt with the problem.

[welsh*rarebit]

I did send a revision request which was ignored

[red_magpie]

I did send a revision request which was ignored

You have to accept that the buyer is entitled to express their opinion.

Refunding the buyer promptly can sometimes defuse a complaint, with the buyer agreeing to revise their feedback. But they don't have to.

In this case, your buyer was evidently still aggrieved that their item allegedly arrived glued together and with a part missing. eBay only removes feedback when it breaks any of their rules, which this doesn’t.

eBay gives you the opportunity to reassure your future buyers by replying to explain your side of what happened. But  you didn't even answer your buyer's complaint. Instead, you devoted your whole reply to criticising the buyer for leaving negative feedback.

As we so often see, a reply left in anger can sometimes make matters worse than the original feedback.