Unjust Negative Feedback but eBay won’t remove

[twigletti]

I have been a buyer/seller on eBay for 18 years and had 100% positive feedback over 1,200.  As you can see from these numbers, I'm not a business seller; I just sell bits and pieces of clothing from time to time.  Because of this I always list items as Returns Not Accepted as I can't afford the time or other costs involved in returns.

Last week I sold a coat via auction which was BNWOT.  Free postage. As always, Returns Not Accepted.  The buyer received the item and wanted a refund because it didn't fit.  There was no dispute over the item itself; it was exactly as described but just didn't fit the buyer.  She hadn't asked for measurements or asked whether I would consider returns before bidding.  I explained that, as per the listing, I couldn't offer a refund and suggested the buyer sell the coat on. The buyer became quite abusive in messages and accused me of 'scamming' her because I wouldn't offer a refund (despite acknowledging that the listing did say no returns).

She then left negative feedback because I wouldn't refund the item.

I have appealed the feedback because despite having over 1,200 positive feedbacks only the most recent are considered, so my feedback has gone from 100% to 90% which makes me look to be a terrible seller!  eBay refuse to remove the negative feedback.

I feel this is very unjust because I haven't done anything wrong!  I sold an item exactly as described, dispatched it promptly and yet I still get negative feedback.  Had I accepted this return, I might as well have put Returns Accepted on the original listing in which case I could have sold for a higher price to potential buyers who legitimately decided not to buy because they didn't want to risk it not fitting.

After this terrible experience, I'm going to give up on eBay.  It seems everything is weighted against the seller.  We can't leave negative feedback for buyers yet they can ruin our reputation and ability to sell.  I currently have two other coats listed for sale but it's unlikely anyone will buy them as my feedback has gone down to 90% with a negative review in the last month 😢

[darron14]

It’s exactly like receipt of a negative for non receipt of item when they haven’t opened an INR case. Shouldn’t be allowed. Seller must have a right to resend or refund and a Neutral should be automatic. 

[nicmacs47]

I have had the same experience, I have been an eBay seller for nearly 15 years and have over 5600 positive feedbacks, suddenly a buyer contacts me out of the blue with a really abusive two page email (Big capital letters - Exclamation marks etc.) saying I am callous, nasty, stupid, etc and even told me to eat &##t, which is totally unacceptable. The reason - because I wrote the contents of the sale on her envelope (it was not me that wrote this information on the envelope it, was an eBay customs form - required by law and included by eBay with the international postage label). They then complained about the packaging saying it was over packaged which is false - it was packaged correctly to protect it in transit and besides this, every other buyer always compliment the packaging.  They said it ruined Xmas, but it was a $10 photo - how I am supposed to know it was a Xmas present which they could have requested us to disguise the contents - but they didn’t.

Basically this person complained about everything because they got out of bed the wrong side that morning and wanted to take it out on someone (lucky me). When I tried to engage with the buyer they were abusive and extremely unpleasant and frankly they behaved like an internet troll, and to be entirely honest it did upset me (which of course is what they wanted).

They left me negative feedback which she gleefully told me she would do in her 2 page email rant and this feedback was totally unfair.  So I contacted eBay who promised they would look into it and remove the feedback and of course they did nothing - they refused to remove the feedback saying it was a  reflection of the buyer’s experience (I do not agree.)  I replied to the feedback and of course so did she telling all buyers not to use me as I am a callous seller (defamation and vindictive and not at all true). If I have ever made mistakes, which we all do occasionally or have an unhappy customer, I bend over backwards to help resolve their problem, but I never got a chance in this instance. (They didn’t want a resolution they wanted to be nasty to someone).

What eBay seem to forget is that its us sellers that drive their business and pay their staff, I pay nearly £5,000 a year in subscription and sale fees, but they also forget that I am a buyer as well and spend a considerable amount on eBay. I have never left negative feedback or been abusive and have always managed to resolve any issues with other sellers amicably because that’s what decent people do.

Because they allowed this buyer to be vile and abusive to me I will be closing my account very soon and I will never sell on eBay again, so that’s their yearly fees gone, £4,000- £5,000 a year and I will never purchase from them again so they lose a decent buyer.

It may be a drop in the ocean but more and more sellers are leaving eBay and this will take its toll eventually.

As for me - I will never use any platform that enables abuse in any form to another member.  

Shame on you eBay..

[ry29]

Wow yes your situation is the same as my situation but you are a bigger eBayer than me. I agree ditch eBay as I think all their responses are just bots anyway. A few years ago I was also hit by a scammer psycho who purchased a small internet router from me and I advertised the item would be sent 1st class but not signed for or anything. I posted it immediately that day like I always do and the item would have arrived the next day or day after. In the middle of night the next day the buyer (who I think will have received the item and clocked he didn’t need to sign anything) started abusing me in CAPITALS saying I was a con man who sends purchases out with the cheapest post and some nasty words and insinuations which really made me feel sick so I just refunded the idiot to get him off my back. Which is what he wanted, the item for free.
Nasty feedback. All of this and still only 36 hours since I posted it at post office.
eBay would not do anything.
Give up. I reduced my ebay sales to almost nothing now. They don’t do anything or care about sellers.

[nicmacs47]

Yes its all about money with eBay, I have to wait until my subscription period is up unfortunately but then I am closing my account. Sorry to hear about your problem I also had a similar situation with buyer saying the item hadn't arrived, despite proving it had - eBay still sided with them. Fortunately the post office refunded me as I had proof of postage..   I wont miss eBay after this.  

[mad_cameras]

Hi,  as frustrating as this is - unfortunately you are technically in the wrong here not the buyer. It is UK law that all items sold online are entitled to returns - it used to be called the "Distance Selling Act" - i think they changed the name recently though. eBay allow a "no returns" option i presume, due to allowing customers to collect the item directly from the seller - if you collect the item in person, then the argument is you can see and study the item in person before purchase, however you can't do this online so the distance seller act applies to any item which you post to the buyer. Where it is confusing is that eBay allow you to put "no returns" on all items, however any item that you are not able to view before purchase is entitled to returns.  As frustrating as this can be, the worst part for us as sellers - you have to refund the original cost of postage as well - regardless of the reason for return. Useful to remember when the shoe is on the other foot though when you buy stuff.

[twigletti]

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply. You’re absolutely right about the Distance Selling Act in terms of “Buy It Now” transactions but online auctions aren’t subject to the same rules - which is why eBay provide the option to not offer refunds. Here are the details: https://www.onlineshoppingrights.co.uk/internet-auction-websites-know-your-rights-before-you-buy.htm...

The item I sold was by auction, the buyer had the opportunity to ask questions about sizing, etc, before purchasing and the dispute was not about the item being fundamentally different to what was advertised - she’s simply didn’t want it when it arrived. If she had entered into a Buy It Now agreement, I would have been obliged to give a refund but, as it was an online auction, the law states that I don’t have to. Unfortunately eBay always favours the buyer and forces sellers to refund even when they have done nothing wrong and are complying with the law for online auctions.

[jonathanblair2]

Thanks so much for this callback link, it saved me a lot of time and bypasses the annoying AI-driven menus which don't always cater for situations (like unnotticed feedback over 90 days old etc). Ebay initially directed me to their (new?) feedback removal/appeal system which can be found at https://www.ebay.co.uk/sellerhelp/feedback for cases UNDER 90 days old but this was just over that limit; thanks to being called back, about a case which had (unfair) negative feedback (posted INSIDE a "positive" feedback!) around 4-5 months ago, ebay were able to refer this manually to appeals, to look at leaving the star ratings, but removing unfair comments affecting sales, which were mainly complaining about their global shippings speed and postage prices anyway. I found their customer services to be very professional and helpful taking into account my long history of using original photos and great packaging. Thanks to your direct link to chat that i was able to find a human being in the middle of the day (UK). Many thanks. 

[wysiwyg_steve]

When all else fails remember you have the right of reply to negative Feedback.  The best thing to do is to give it at least a  day or so to calm down, collect your thoughts and craft a reply. It is possible to write a response that shows yourself in a positive light while simultaneously indicating that you've had to deal with an idiot / troll / scammer / entitled twonk. I know because I've had to do it. One of the two Negatives I've ever got simply consisted of the word "no" - it wasn't even capitalised. And the item didn't arrive so it was actually a Royal Mail issue (and subsequent claim).

Me: "Would eBay please kindly remove this Negative feedback? Please?  Pretty please?"  

eBay: "no".

[sportex-uk]

Something must have changed, as I've had a few situations under private account back in 2023 when I refused return, was left with negative feedback that - to my surprise - was automatically removed by ebay and could just be seen in order history only.

But I generally accepted returns anyway when I was approached, only asked for the buyer to return at their own cost.

[vintagevilarosa]

In both those cases I would have asked him to enter both the addresses into his address book on ebay and then the addresses would have been legitimate and they would have had no comeback because they were sent to addresses that were on the invoice.

[littlejayney]

Hi there, I know this is from a couple of years ago but your experience is so similar to mine, I've been with Ebay over 20 years & just had a bad experience where I sent an item I had sold, buyer wanted to return so I accepted, which I didn't have to do as I wasn't in the wrong, but it was returned to me damaged. Ebay closed the case in my favour & they refunded the buyer yet he still left me negative feedback 😒 They have removed the comment as it violated Ebay policies but they won't remove the negative rating, where's the justice in that? Think I'm done with Ebay too. I'm sorry to hear about your experience & seems unfair to us honest sellers 😢

[vintagevilarosa]

Why dont you leave a reply putting your side of the story at least if you cant get rid of the red mark then you can feel better about explain what happened and that you are sorry they felt the need to leave negative feedback!

[nigel_paul_wright7557]

The ebay feedback system is a mess.

People with good negs getting them removed.

And people who get negged unfairly not allowed to have it removed.

[littlejayney]

Thanks for this, I have done this & put a polite explanation yet it's not showing? I checked the reply system works as I replied to a lovely positive comment & that is showing. Probably another example of Ebay siding with the buyer & not even allowing me a right to reply? The whole thing is just not right & I am done selling on Ebay now. Sad after 20 loyal years!

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[4_bathrooms]

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@littlejayney wrote:
Thanks for this, I have done this & put a polite explanation yet it's not showing?

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That's because eBay had removed the buyer's comment. When eBay do that they remove any subsequent replies to it from the seller.

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@littlejayney wrote:
Probably another example of Ebay siding with the buyer & not even allowing me a right to reply? 

Sent from Outlook for Android<>

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The "upcoming" change in the law I mentioned in post #6 is now law (the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act). I actually predicted eBay would remove negative comments but not the ratings in that post. However, eBay have since published guidelines on when feedback is removable. It's probably too late now as the comment has been removed but if the comment was in breach of that policy you should have been able to point out the exact reason it should have been removed to eBay and had the feedback removed in it's entirety. 
 

[littlejayney]

Thanks for that, I didn't know the comment was in breach of Ebay policies, eBay told me it was. I just contacted them to ask them to remove it as I said it was unjust negative feedback & they told me the comment was in breach of their policies so had removed it, but not the negative rating! Ebay customer services themselves suggested I reply to the negative rating, which is completely pointless if it can't be seen!

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