Warning regarding buyers using feedback as leverage

[nothingnewbournemouth]

Hello

Just had an interesting conversation with a eBay representative regarding a buyer using the mention of feedback in a message as leverage to get his way. The eBay representative said this accepted for a buyer to do this.

The buyer has been offered full refund upon return and made clear that I as a seller pay the return postage, the buyer refused to return even though they claim the item is faulty. 

I always thought that any mention of feedback in a message is considered as leverage and something eBay frown upon, it appears now this is not the case so if you are a seller and have business on eBay please be aware that another piece of seller protection has been taken away from us.

Losing confidence in eBay as buyers are again doing what they like to try to scam refunds and absolutely no physical action from to stop this is apparent. No wonder sellers are leaving eBay by the 100's 

[roger_roger_over_and_nowt]

You probably spoke to Boris the buffoon who has a bad habit of telling sheep all they want to hear.

I hear he thinks he has a certificate of distinction on the etiquette of customer service.

Unfortunately he bought it from this site,made in China for 1p freepost

[plpmr]

eBay CS giving 'good' advice as usual, perhaps they should read this -

Feedback extortion policy

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/feedback-policies/feedback-extortion-policy?id=4230&st=12&pos=3...

[nixbitz62]

Thanks for that but it needs amending according to the customer serivce guys I spoke to today 😞

[*vyolla*]

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@nothingnewbournemouth wrote:

I always thought that any mention of feedback in a message is considered as leverage and something eBay frown upon,

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It depends how it was phrased. If it was just something like "I'm thinking about leaving bad feedback" that's not extortion. If it's something like "If you don't let me keep this and refund me I'll leave you bad feedback".

[nothingnewbournemouth]

Then it's not a policy if it's open to interpretation which can be abused 😞

[*vyolla*]

It's not really open to interpretation, it's not difficult to work out what is extortion i.e. do this or you'll get bad feedback.

'Any mention' is not against eBay policy, it's how it's mentioned.

If you're unsure, post the bit featuring the extortion from your buyer and we'll be able to tell you if it falls foul of eBay policy or not.

[nothingnewbournemouth]

Actual words used by buyer "I can withdraw feedback if you sort it out", plus buyer has made unfounded accusations and judgements, and also refuses to go through eBays refund or returns process!

If this is not using feedback as extortion then I don't know what is. eBay find this acceptable and have taken no action.

Simply put absolutely no seller protection anymore

[pixiesen2012]

nope, not extortion, they are offering to remove the bad feedback if you sort out the problem

[nothingnewbournemouth]

Really ... then I will have to start using it to scam sellers then like this guy is 😉

[nothingnewbournemouth]

PS that's a joke as would never do that.

But seriously if the buyer refuses to go through eBays return or refund process for a partial refund and uses feedback in the way they have then to me it's pretty obvious its a scammer. But only accepts refunds direct from Paypal as it's harder for eBay to track or have on record.

I'm an experienced seller and in the past eBay have had zero tolerance on the even the mention of feedback in a message, admittedly I haven't had to contact them for a few years as it hasn't happened for a while, but something has now shifted for eBay to find this acceptable behaviour now.

It's opened my eyes how things have changed.

[john1297576]

You will always find more accurate advice on here. Ebay CS just show their lack of experience and knowledge of Ebay's own rules.

Feedback extortion can and should be reported, if it is allowed, sellers have even less protection and it is already close to zero.