eBay

justanotherbritish · ‎11-09-2023

A customer purchased 7 items from me, which were delivered without any issues. However, he made additional requests that I couldn't accommodate because they were unreasonable. He threatened to leave negative feedback if I didn't fulfill these demands, and when I refused, he left 7 negative comments.

In his feedback, he falsely claimed:

I was a scammer.
The products were damaged.
The products were defective and didn't work.

I requested a feedback review, but only 2 were removed, leaving 5 still in place. Despite contacting customer service twice, I received no response.

Due to these false reviews, another customer canceled an order worth approximately £12,000. I'm frustrated with this platform's lack of support for sellers and have decided to leave. These baseless comments continue to damage my reputation and brand, so my lawyer has initiated legal action.

For clarity and to inform other sellers: Why isn't unsubstantiated and false feedback removed? Why is it so hard to contact customer support?

I advise other high-volume sellers to reconsider using this platform.

peggie3 · ‎13-03-2024

@vikkipollardanddafyddthomas wrote:
If you actually speak to someone at ebay (get them to call you) they may remove the feedbacks.

Use this link to have them call you and you will speak to a human. Call after 8 a.m. and you will hopefully get Ireland .

Ebay call back

Maybe sounds a bit trivial but I had eBay call me back this morning after my request for them to remove feedback was refused. My item of tea/coffee cups was EXACTLY described supported by photos showing sizes etc displaying a tape measure. The buyer could see EXACTLY what they were bidding for. On receiving the items, without contacting me first, they left negative feedback saying the cups were Espresso which going by the brand description, they are not! Buyer never asked for return so seems happy enough to keep them! EBay refused to remove feedback as it is not, according to their policy, violating any rules. It clearly is as the buyer is stating something that is not correct. But Hey Ho, eBay, again in my opinion, does not support sellers fairly. After almost 19 years I'm looking for alternative selling site now.

4_bathrooms · ‎13-03-2024

eBay are very unlikely to remove negative feedback (even if it's unjustified) any more unless an eBay MBG case was decided in the seller's favour and/or unless the feedback contains offensive language. In fact, in the latter case they might remove the comment but leave the rating. This is due to upcoming changes in the law regarding online reviews, ratings and endorsements. In most cases eBay will likely just spout the "It's the buyer's opinion" line.

Part of the changes mean that justified negative reviews cannot be removed in order to make a business appear to have a higher customer satisfaction rating than they really do. I realise you are a private seller but eBay is unlikely to engage in any moderation of feedback any more; the risk of a fine equal to 10% of their global turnover should they get it wrong has likely put them off. If a buyer makes false claims in the feedback they leave and there is no case open the best thing to do now is to reply to those claims (using the "Reply" link next to the comment) stating the facts in an honest and tactful manner.

Give me ambiguity or give me something else.

justanotherbritish · ‎22-03-2024

I tried to put this ebay store together despite everything, I made dozens of sales, sent gifts to my customers, I turned from a private seller to a business seller, but it seems that being a business did not work. A few stores that I follow and whose quality I admire are also subject to unfair negative comments, most of which are outright lies. I don't think there is anyone left with 100% positive trades.

Since negative feedback is used as a threat by fraudulent buyers, I have changed my personal policy (lol) unless someone is unhappy with the product: I am never interested in making the buyer happy, I do what is required by law. If someone says they're going to leave negative feedback, I tell them to do that and continue with my work. I don't care about positive or negative feedback anymore. I reduced the quality because thanks to ebay's unilateral policies!

In the meantime, I consulted my lawyer and he said that this was an action that directly affected competition and that the incident that happened to me was far from the policy of commenting. We made the necessary notifications to the competition authorities.

Unfortunately, I think that ebay approaches small sellers and big players differently in this regard! I had a negative experience with currys and my negative feedback was never published. I couldn't get any results about the reason.

beechvale76_5 · ‎23-03-2024

It sounds like a buyer I had last year. I had two saucers for sale, the buyer asked for measurements which I gave them.

They left me a negative as one saucer was for a coffee cup and not a tea cup, no where on the listing did I specify tea or coffee and the buyer never contacted me before leaving the feedback. Luckily ebay removed the feedback.