Unfair? Neg. Feedback and no help from eBay

[livsey2004]

I made a sale and shipped an item using 'simple postage' .The Item arrived damaged and the customer said either replace the broken part or they would have a full refund. They also said, that the item was beautiful and it's a real shame it broke.  The next message on this feed was from ebay saying the customer had reached out to me but they (eBay) were dealing with the customer directly.  I wasn't quite sure how this all worked but assumed I should now leave things in eBay's hands. after 1 day of receiving their message the customer left me negative feedback saying I hadn't replied to their request. I contacted the buyer and explained my reasons for not replying immediately. I asked if they had informed eBay of the breakage and their reply was that they tried but couldn't download the pictures. I told them they had to do so to get a refund. This they did and they received a refund. I asked eBay about the negative feedback as I thought this unfair but eBay replied that the item was reported as 'not as described' by the buyer and so because of this they couldn't alter the feedback. I explained that the refund was because I hadn't replied (because eBay told me they were dealing with it) not the description! this was about 2 weeks ago and have heard nothing. Does this seem fair? am I at fault here? 

[jckl1957]

I would ask Ebay again.

Maybe try to get a callback first thing in the morning when you will be speaking to Dublin.

If the buyer claimed the item arrived damaged, Ebay does 'take over', refunds the buyer and passes the payment from the buyer to you.

If the buyer had opened a 'not as described' case, that is not covered by Simple Delivery and you would have needed to refund yourself.

Ebay's seller protection hers is open to interpretation as they say:

If the item is posted with the prepaid label provided and scanned by the carrier within your stated handling time, you can also benefit from the following protections:

• Your seller performance standards and service metrics won't be affected by late deliveries
• You can request the removal of negative or neutral feedback about delivery using Seller Help

[tressygirl]

That message ' customer has reached out'  can  be very misleading / disconcerting many things,  but not one which explains what is happening.

You probably thought with eBay taking this in hand there'd be messages to the buyer , I'm not sure how much info is sent or just one that a refund has been processed.

Send the buyer a polite message, maybe explaining the above and apologise for any lack of communication from yourself, thinking eBay were doing all the comms, would they kindly accept a feedback revision to complete.

You can then send a feedback revision.

@livsey2004 

[livsey2004]

Thanks. I will give that a go.

 'If the buyer had opened a 'not as described' case, that is not covered by Simple Delivery and you would have needed to refund yourself.'

This makes me more confused as eBay took care of the refund.

[livsey2004]

Thanks.  Yes, that is exactly what I thought. I will send them a request and cross my fingers 🙂