Vindictive seller deliberately purchases from my shop to return negative feedback to me.

[shopping-ferret]

I had this hapen last year.  I purchased some return address labels on Ebay.  As we know, they are not printed and dispatched until approved by the buyer.  But in this case, the seller did!  Result was labels with errors and not adhering to my instructions.  I left negative feedback as could not believe how unprofessional the service was for a custom product.  Some time later I received negative fb for a purchase for the lowest value  item I had for sale, claiming the item was faulty yet never messaged me about this and the pen was NOT FAULTY, anyway!)  I then recognised the user name, checked back in my history and found it was the abovementioned seller!  Of course Ebay just ignored my complaint and the negative remained.

Once again this seems to be happening, but this time I recognised a user name and was able to cancel the transaction.  It was another seller I had purchased from and left her negative due to her passive-aggressive attitude, selling me what may have been an expired product.  It was obvious, once again, she purchased a £2.75 pen, one of my lowest value items - and was planning on opening a case against me or leave reciprocal negative fb to get her ultimate revenge.  I phoned Ebay to forewarn them this might happen and seems after I cancelled the transaction she can STILL leave negative fb!

Has anyone had this happen?  Oh and needsless to say - Ebay will do nothing.  They also refused to refund me a return postage label for an article of brand new perfect clothing that was damaged by the buyer - AFTER advising me to accept an Ebay return lable, on the basis I could open a case against the buyer and get it refunded once the item was returned.  This buyer promised to leave me neg fb and appears she couldn't wait to do so as soon as I politely asked her a simple question to ascertain how an article supposedly reached her with a gaping hole when it was sent in perfect condiion and she then left me 1 star DSR ratings too, including late delivery which did not appear to be an issue until after she carried out her threat, telling me she was 'disgusted' I asked if she had tried the item on. 

Now, wouldn't anyone with half a brain realise this is yet another case of vindictiveness?  But no, Ebay just  ignore it.  Sadly, this is a reflection of this woke society and they want to wrap the buyers in cotton wool to keep them coming back to Ebay and making bigger profits for Ebay.  This is all so stressful!

[*guinevere*]

When you are a seller it is always best to have another buying account for just these sort of scenarios. 

It isn't right I know but you are leaving yourself wide open to abuse from disgruntled sellers when they look and see that you have low value items for sale.

Have another go at ebay. Try tomorrow morning when you may be lucky enough to get the Dublin call centre.

Explain to them clearly what has happened, and that you believe the feedback was retaliatory.

Meantime add these members to your blocked list here Blocked Bidders

[*guinevere*]

I've just had a look at the feedback and the one where you accuse the buyer of buying to leave negative feedback is too old to do anything about now.

If I may make a suggestion? It's never a good idea to leave angry replies to feedback as a seller. It makes you look bad and may put people off buying from you.

Much better to grit your teeth and say something along the lines of "Sorry the item wasn't right for you" and always wait until you've calmed down a litt;e before doing so.

[shopping-ferret]

Thank you for your reply and suggestions and you might have a good point there.  I actually do have another account, although had forgotten about it and it is a bit of a pain to log in and out plus it is much more convenient to use just use my main one simply for the purpose that they cannot buy from me and do the above.  I thought it was just a one-off, but seems it is a practice!

I do have a block bidder list and these two have already joined the walk of shame!  However, by the same token, they too could have additional accounts, so I would not recognise they are the same horrible sellers.  In fact, makes me wonder now whether this has happened before.

I might try Ebay tomorrow but it has got so hard to get through as it keeps directing you to some 'help' page or online form.   Once I managed to get through the AI system in the chat box to the agent I spoke with tonight - honestly I could barely understand a word.  Not only his accent, but the speed at which he spoke!

[douglaspuglas]

@nigel_paul_wright7557  can tell you about the block of wood with nails in it he got in retaliation.

[shopping-ferret]

Thank you but yes, I am aware.  I was merely reflecting on the fact that it had happened before and it was as a result of happening before I recognised what was happening again but cancelled the transaction and blocked her.  Believe me, at the time I did try to do something but Ebay would not help.  I do not expect that to be resolved after all this time and I have had to grit my teeth many times in my 18 years as a seller.

As for 'angry replies', well I don't like it when people lie and they need to be stood up to or they keep on doing it again to others.   More Ebay members should report bad experiences instead of just being so philosophical and thinking grinning and bearing it is always best.  Those are people who can't tolerate any conflict.  You never know, by standing up for yourself, they may just think twice next time, although hide under the protective wing of Ebay and anonymity.   They deliberately retaliate and twist the truth to undermine your character on your feedback profile (but it doesn;t have any bearing on my sales, trust me).  I am not remaining silent when I am being called another Ebay Scammer (hidden within their 'positive' feedback comment which incidentally I have reported).   By fighting back, I get a fair number of issues resolved, but the issue is Ebay is only objective these days, although that is subject to individual whims.

[shopping-ferret]

What is this about? 🤣

[eastern_standard_time]

"woke society" LOL.

[shopping-ferret]

Correct - you know - when nobody is wrong and everyon is right to avoid offending anyone -  with the result that buyers are encouraged to be dishonest and sellers are second in importance!   Like when you have a buyer who damages a return, yet Ebay reward them by giving the benefit of the doubt, a full refund and refusing to remove the negative feedback they leave or compensate you for the Ebay label THEY advised you to issue, when I reported I suspected the item had been damaged by the buyer, so once returned and inspected, I could then get my label cost refunded.  

Yes, woke and weak in my opinion.

[rjwilmsi]

Leaving negative feedback: in my experience it has only two outcomes:

• large-volume sellers don't care/ignore it, so there is no learning/behavioural value because the seller ignores it.
• smaller-volume sellers can get really annoyed/upset about it so may respond/send messages with accusations/excuses etc. or look to retaliate. No learning and may cause you the buyer more problems.

I suppose once in a while a seller will see legitimate negative feedback and learn from it. But I don't see much of that.

So my view as a seller is that leaving negative feedback when a buyer is a risk. However bad your buyer experience may have been you don't want it to affect your selling.

If the item isn't acceptable I return it. If the item is OK but service or item weren't correct then I keep the item and keep quiet (don't leave feedback at all). It's not ideal but it minimizes hassle.

[shopping-ferret]

I appreciate your viewpoint and it is certainly valid. 

As a buyer I only leave negative f/b when I feel it is deserved and applicable and moreover, I am helping to prevent other buyers potentially experiencing the same issues with a bad seller when things go wrong with a transaction. 

As a seller, I simply will not be bullied by people with certain 'issues' (and there are plenty around), into giving in to unreasonable demands, abuse, threats or liars.   I suppose I can afford to take that risk too because I do have a reasonable volume of sales, so can shoulder a .1% reduction in my feedback score and I remain true to myself, which matters to me!  I also make a point and take the time to reporting bad sellers and dishonest buyers to Ebay.  If everyone did this, they would soon be weeded out.