No, don’t worry – that’s not your eBay account. And I hope yours will never look like this.
But let’s be honest – maintaining 100% positive feedback on eBay is hard, very hard, especially when you start dealing with hundreds and even thousands of transactions per month. We all make mistakes from time to time and on eBay OUR mistakes can cost us a lot – negative feedback and low DSRs which in the end can result in a lost Top Rated Seller status or even a suspended account in the worst case scenario.
So what to do to avoid bad feedback?
First of all – do whatever it takes to minimize the chances of buyers even starting to think about leaving negative or neutral feedback for you. This means:
1) Offer high quality products.
2) Create detailed and accurate product descriptions.
3) If dealing with used goods, always describe the item’s condition as it is. If there are scratches on an item highlight them with a photo, don’t hide them! (This actually increases your credibility in a buyer’s eyes).
4) Offer fast, preferably next day delivery whenever possible.
5) Pack items in suitable packaging materials (Jiffy envelopes, boxes, mail bags) so that you keep the chances of items being damaged during the shipping process to a minimum.
6) Communicate with buyers – answer all e-mails and messages within 24 hours, Monday to Friday.
7) Leave positive feedback once the buyer pays you (Selling Manager Pro does this for you automatically).
8) Always honour your returns policy; go the extra mile if people are a day or two late and still accept returns after 16 days, if your returns policy says, for example, 14 days.
9) Replace damaged, faulty items at no cost to the buyer (it’s your fault at the end of the day, not the buyer’s, so you have no right to ask him to pay even the shipping fees).
10) Whatever disaster strikes at your end, keep your buyer informed! Say you run out of stock and this creates a 3 day delay in order processing. Email buyers and let them know about this problem AND ask what they want to do – wait a few extra days OR receive an instant refund. Never assume that the buyer will be ok with delays in order processing – always, always ask first.
11) Lastly, and most importantly – your customer is always right, even if he’s not! This classic cliché is even truer on eBay than anywhere else as buyers can hurt your business instantly by leaving negative feedback. Don’t let that happen! Even if you feel the buyer is trying it on with you, if you CAN’T do anything about it just apologize for the trouble caused and issue a refund. In the long term, your loss will be minimal but your business will be protected.
If you follow all these guidelines, your chances of getting negative feedback are minimal. But it will still happen of course as it’s a numbers game – the more you sell, the more your chances of getting a dissatisfied customer.
So what to do when you do actually receive negative or neutral feedback?
We have to distinguish two situations:
1) Negative feedback left by mistake (yes, you won’t believe how often this happens – the buyer is totally happy with the purchase but accidently leaves negative or neutral feedback). You can easily spot this as the feedback comment itself will be positive – no signs of any problems with the transaction.
2) Negative feedback left on purpose.
In the first case scenario it’s usually quite easy to get negative feedback removed. What you have to do is simply contact the buyer and explain the situation. Once you get a reply, simply go to the Request Feedback Revision page and follow the instructions. The buyer will receive a message from eBay to accept feedback revision and in most cases will agree (as he or she left it by mistake in the first place).
If the buyer doesn’t reply to your initial message, you can report the feedback via the Report Feedback page, explain the situation in the comments box and let eBay handle the feedback removal process for you.
In the second case, where you obviously see that negative or neutral feedback is left on purpose, again, you contact the buyer first. What you do is politely apologise for any problems caused and ask whether you can do anything to fix the problem. A replacement item or a refund is usually all you need to fix such a problem. If the buyer agrees and you fix the problem, then explain that you’ll kindly ask him to revise the feedback and proceed with the Request Feedback Revision process.
IF the buyer doesn’t reply or you can’t agree on a solution to fix the problem, you still have the option of asking eBay directly to remove the unfair feedback via the Report Feedback option. If it really is unfair feedback, that is. In cases where people are not satisfied with a product’s quality or you delay dispatch by a week eBay won’t help you and won’t remove that feedback, as it’s fair!
eBay will help you and remove feedback in the following cases:
1) The feedback contains inappropriate comments or violates feedback policy. For example, a buyer leaves negative feedback and the message – bad seller, better buy here! And leaves a link to another seller or website. This violates Bay’s feedback policy and will be removed. Profane, vulgar, obscene or racist language or adult material is also prohibited.
2) The buyer provided eBay with the wrong email address at the time of transaction, so you technically couldn’t contact the buyer. This happens quite often, so if you have any suspicions that a buyer’s email address is invalid or not reachable (you can test this by sending a message from any e-mail software and see whether it bounces or their inbox is full).
3) The buyer is suspended by eBay. If this happens within 90 days of the transaction, eBay will automatically remove all negative feedback associated with that buyer. However, after 90 days you have to do it manually. So it’s actually a good idea to go over your negative feedback (it only takes 10 seconds) from time to time to see whether any buyer has been suspended. As there are serial negative feedback leavers on eBay, they get suspended quite often! If you spot this kind of buyer in your past negative feedback list, go to the Feedback Revision Process page and ask eBay to remove that negative feedback.
4) If a buyer leaves negative feedback but hasn’t even paid for the item (the transaction’s status is unpaid), you can easily get feedback removed by following the Report Feedback option.
If all else fails and you can’t get negative feedback removed, the least you can do is leave a feedback comment. If it was a genuine mistake on your part, explain that you offered a full refund but the buyer didn’t respond. Either way, do not leave negative feedback without comments as that means you actually agree with what’s said in the negative feedback.
If you’re dealing with hundreds or thousands of sales per month and get neutral and negative feedback on a regular basis, be careful to choose which feedback to fight for as you only have 5 feedback revision requests for any 1,000 feedback comments you get per year. By this I mean – always prioritize negative feedback and deal with that first – neutral feedback doesn’t affect your account in a direct way, so it’s less important. But in most cases, 5 requests per 1,000 is enough and if you’re going over that limit, chances are you’re not doing a very good on eBay in first place.
If we skip the serial negative feedback leavers and negative feedback left by mistake, in most cases negative feedback can be a great learning experience. Take this opportunity to LEARN and improve your business so that next time it won’t happen again! For example, a customer says in feedback that the item was poorly packaged and loose in the box. You can get angry of course and start arguing, BUT it would be better to look at the problem from the buyer’s perspective and think about ways to improve the way you pack items.
A classic example would be quality issues. If you’re starting to get negative, neutral and even positive feedback with comments about the low quality of the product you sell, chances are you REALLY have problems with the quality of the items you sell, don’t you think?
Arrogant sellers often leave feedback comments saying – Hundreds of other buyers are satisfied! So what? That doesn’t prove anything. Most people are polite and genuine and will leave positive feedback even if they’re not 100% satisfied with the purchase. For example, I have never left negative feedback myself on eBay even though on many occasions it would be only fair.
So, what I’m trying to say is – learn from good and also bad feedback. Learn and improve your business, fix the on-going problems, change suppliers if necessary.
Lastly – from time to time, you’ll get hit hard, real hard! There are idiots out there on eBay who will leave negative feedback which makes no sense, you won’t be able to contact and resolve issues with them and eBay won’t help you either. That’s life. That’s eBay. If you sell on eBay, you have to be prepared for this.
Sleepless nights because of negative feedback received? Try not to take it personally. I know it’s not easy in the beginning, but you should not take it to heart. It’s not the last negative feedback you’ll receive on eBay. There will be more, I can guarantee you that. The good news is that it’ll be gone in 12 months’ time!
Thanks,
Andrew
I have we just been told by Ebay that negative feedback gets removed on 1st January (not after 12 months) .. Is this right? I always thought it was 12 months?? I had called to ask whether it is 12 months from the transaction date, or 12 months from the feedback date. Does anyone know?
Hi Marilyn,
I don’t know, sorry. But it should def. be after 12 months, not on 1st January.
Andrew
Hi, I am an eBay seller. I do not agree with one point from this article, making it easier for an abusive customer who is clearly negotiating feedback. I have had encountered 4 of these during my 5 years selling on this platform and I was able to get them removed. For all of those new sellers, here is what you need to know about the extorsion policy from customer to seller. My listing are with NO RETURNS since they are medical sealed items and do not have the entire money to cover negligent customers who do not read the description properly. If it is a mistake made by me, absolutely I will cover the return for refund or replace the item. Here is an example of how an extortionary customer sends the message to exchange for feedback:
Customer:
“There is no reason you should be denying the return request. box is sealed and hasn’t been opened. if you don’t accept the return I will be leaving negative feedback and letting eBay know.”
Seller replied:
You have been already reported to eBay. With this last message you are just giving eBay another reason to close your account definitely for your abusive behavior and the demanding messages you have been sending me. I did also forward your messages to Paypal for further investigations into your account and see if you have been doing this to other sellers.
You can not negotiate feedback per eBay policy. Quoted from eBay website
“What are the main feedback extortion rules for buyers?
Buyers can’t use the threat of negative (or promise of positive) feedback to get a seller to provide goods or services that weren’t included in the original item’s description or purchase price. Similarly, they can’t use feedback to force a seller to accept a return, or give a refund, if they’re not required to by the terms of their listing, or the eBay Money Back Guarantee.”
Have a nice day!!
Hope this can help someone out there. When I see a customer like this one, I never let them get my item and the money. If I do that, it is feeding their behavior and do the same to another seller. And the most important, why would you willingly allow a scammer to go away with all the effort you place into the listing and shipping the item? I am a hardworking people and my time worths, but my ethics gives me the strength to fight for what is correct. Yes, you might need to make more than 1 call, but do it. Do not let them get your items easy, eBay really takes actions against them even closing their accounts definitely and closing the returns in your favor or removing the negative feedback.
What do you do if the buyer leaves a negative comment in positive feedback that was intended for another seller. Buyer complained about a pair of shoes. I didn’t sell her shoes. Contacted eBay and they wouldn’t remove the comment because she didn’t leave it under negative feedback even though the comment was negative.
Did you try contacting buyer and ask them to remove it?
Not much else you can do really…
I very proud to have 12,450 postive feedbacks and no negatives.Been selling for 16 years Then I get a negative from a buyer with no feedbacks saying my item was a fake. The item is new and listed in the Orvis catalog. Five very clear pictures ,plus showing the price tag. Filed a complaint and E-Bay changed it to natural . We as buyers are really being stepped on by E-Bay ,they don’t realize who makes the money for them. What can we do as sellers to come together and lay it on the line,that a buyer should have same rights for a feedback as a buyer, and before a negative comment be posted ,the seller would have a chance to correct the problem. I have a least one or two buyers that never pay me in a month, they get nothing on their record, we as sellers must wait more than a week to repost,this is wrong.Let’s come up with a way to communicate to E-Bay our problems, and calling them on the phone is a waste.Ideas !!
Hi Michael,
I think you’re over-worrying about this – one neutral or even negative feedback won’t affect your account.
I personally don’t sell on eBay anymore (Amazon now), so don’t have to deal with this nonsense anymore.
Thanks,
Andrew
Hi Andrew – would love to know your thoughts on this scenario. I recently listed an item that I came across and listed it as ‘Rare’ / the item bid up quite high and sold. The buyer received the item on time and as specified in the listed. A few weeks later I came across another one and listed it again – they buyer got made thinking they had the only one and left negative feedback saying that the item shouldn’t have been listed as ‘Rare’. Would eBay reverse that negative feedback? I reached out to the buyer but they are mad that they don’t have something as rare as they thought it to be.
Thoughts? Thanks – your blog is awesome.
Hi Jon,
Thanks for your comment.
It sounds bizarre to me – RARE doesn’t mean UNIQUE or made in just one piece. So obviously the customer is wrong.
Whatever eBay will remove that feedback, it’s another question. You should def. try of course, as it’s not fair for you to get such negative feedback for no reason.
Thanks,
Andrew
Your response to the seller who listed an item as rare, then got lots of bids, then found another one a couple of weeks later, may be misleading. The odds that one seller would find two of the same “Rare” item in that short of time diminishes the meaning of rare. Some sellers put “rare” on most of their items, regardless of the actual scarcity. We have sold 100s of thousands of postcards on Ebay, many one-of-a-kind (Personal photograph postcards, for example) and we never put rare. Too risky. Let the buyers determine how rare something is.
Thanks for the quick response. I certainly appreciate it!
You’re welcome! 🙂
looking if someone can help, we sell used computers and electronics on ebay , a buyer ask for discount for a multi quantity listing which was advertised with buy it now we replay that as this is a buy it now listing we cannot offer you any discount , he buy 8 laptops from that listing on listed price after delivery he come back with a story that all 8 of them are in bad condition or need repairs and he want a refund of $20 each laptop and he will leave a positive feedback after getting refund, even though we know that there was no problem with laptops and he is using feedback to blackmail us so he can get partial refund we negotiate with him and issue a partial refund of $120 for which he agreed to accept but after getting refund he left a negative feedback and when we ask him hay he does that he says that because you negotiate with me on refund i leave negative and now i want $200 if you want to revise that feedback, is there anything we can do about this blackmailing ?
Hi John,
Report this to eBay immediately. Send them the message where he blackmails you and they should sort it out.
Thanks,
Andrew
I’ve been selling on ebay for 20 years now with 100% positive feedback as I aim for complete customer satisfaction. I just sold two sealed print cartridges and the buyer opened up a return case claiming they were defective. I didn’t question it and immediately refunded the buyer and had them keep the items. A week later, I receive negative feedback. Also, after checking, I see that the buyer appears to have a history of this (after contacting some sellers who she left neg’s for). I’ve reported (and blocked) the bad buyer, but unfortunately ebay seems unwilling to remove negative feedback in this case.
Yeah, that’s just part of doing business on eBay.
Forget about it and move on.
Andrew
are you an ebay employee ?
No, I’m not! 🙂
I’m not even selling on eBay anymore…
Andrew
Great post.
I am an ebay seller for over a dozen years and recently got negative feedback for the first time.
The post office had a major screw up, I refunded the buyer but he still left negative feedback.
The buyer is a jerk, ignored all my messages and refused to reverse his feedback.
I contacted Ebay and said the only way the feedback could be removed is if the package via tracking is delivered to the buyer.
It is a $20 item and I’d rather eat the $20 rather than keeping the feedback.
It has been exactly a month since the buyer made the purchase. I did a ton of research and talked to many USPS employees who have constantly done the opposite of what I have asked.
I think I finally have a handle of all the major screwups USPS made and can now get it to the buyer. However, since it is a month since purchase can I still get the feedback removed if I contact eBay or is it too late?
I don’t know David, sorry, I don’t sell on eBay anymore and don’t know what the latest rules are.
Andrew
I have have been a faithful ebay participant for 17 years, with 713 positive ratings and 0 negative ratings as a buyer and seller. but a recent experience left me very disenchanted with Ebay motors, and their feedback system in general. I purchased a car from a Tampa dealer that was materially misrepresented. I paid a $500.00 deposit, then flew out to see the car that the dealer wanted to push off on me in the dark. I saw enough to decide on the spot that I didn’t want it, and refused it, (and specifically told him why the vehicle’s condition was materially different than it’s description verbally and in the auction itself). The dealer was indignant and refused to return my deposit, as expected. When I later (diplomatically and politely) attempted to to contact him via Ebay for at least a partial refund of my deposit, he refused to respond. After much deliberation, I left the following negative feedback: (quote) “Vehicle was misrepresented: Seller played games with description and photos”. This feedback posted to his account, yet was somehow removed days later. When I called Ebay to find out why this happened, I was initially told that the seller had manipulated the system to remove the feedback, and a case would be opened. In the subsequent weeks, numerous follow up calls revealed that no progress had been made on the case, and it was “still being reviewed”. At the end of nearly a month, and 5 different calls, I finally was routed to a “supervisor”, who told me that, per Ebay user policy, the circumstances of this case enabled the seller to have the negative feedback removed. He wouldn’t provide any details. LITERALLY stating that I “may or may not have violated user policy due to the comment itself”.
Again, the supervisor would provide no specific policy area, or even confirmation that I had actually violated any policy! Yet, he insisted that a final decision had been made, and that I could talk to another supervisor, “but the decision would not change”. Neither the seller nor Ebay tried to communicate with me before or after the feedback was removed. I contend that the seller (who had 5 negative feedback comments during the past year) “gamed” the system, and Ebay could care less.
Ironically, if the seller had just tried to communicate with me, I know that I would never have left the negative feedback in the first place! e been a faithful ebay participant for 17 years, with 713 positive ratings and 0 negative ratings as a buyer and seller. but a recent experience left me very disenchanted with Ebay motors, and their feedback system in general. I purchased a car from a Tampa dealer that was materially misrepresented. I paid a $500.00 deposit, then flew out to see the car that the dealer wanted to push off on me in the dark. I saw enough to decide on the spot that I didn’t want it, and refused it, (and specifically told him why the vehicle’s condition was materially different than it’s description verbally and in the auction itself). The dealer was indignant and refused to return my deposit, as expected. When I later (diplomatically and politely) attempted to to contact him via Ebay for at least a partial refund of my deposit, he refused to respond. After much deliberation, I left the following negative feedback: (quote) “Vehicle was misrepresented: Seller played games with description and photos”. This feedback posted to his account, yet was somehow removed days later. When I called Ebay to find out why this happened, I was initially told that the seller had manipulated the system to remove the feedback, and a case would be opened. In the subsequent weeks, numerous follow up calls revealed that no progress had been made on the case, and it was “still being reviewed”. At the end of nearly a month, and 5 different calls, I finally was routed to a “supervisor”, who told me that, per Ebay user policy, the circumstances of this case enabled the seller to have the negative feedback removed. He wouldn’t provide any details. LITERALLY stating that I “may or may not have violated user policy due to the comment itself”.
Again, the supervisor would provide no specific policy area, or even confirmation that I had actually violated any policy! Yet, he insisted that a final decision had been made, and that I could talk to another supervisor, “but the decision would not change”. Neither the seller nor Ebay tried to communicate with me before or after the feedback was removed. I contend that the seller (who had 5 negative feedback comments during the past year) “gamed” the system, and Ebay could care less.
Ironically, if the seller had just tried to communicate with me, I know that I would never have left the negative feedback in the first place!
Had a similar situation. I have been on Ebay for 12 years and recently bought a car from a dealer with 100% feedback. It was a horrible experience so I left negative feedback. Within 2 days my feedback was gone. Come to find out sellers can have a certain amount of negative feedbacks removed per year. RIDICULOUS! I have seen this seller have at least 4 removed since I purchased from them. The Ebay feedback system means NOTHING anymore! So please ALL BUYERS BEWARE, just because a seller has 100% feedback, it no longer means they have 100% satisfaction.
Was just looking up this thread for those very reasons. Genuine negative feedback being removed. Luckily the seller is still trading fake watches so I could at least report that. Ebay need to have a real hard think about long term business strategy….
Andrew: I have never left negative feedback in 20 years but my latest transaction was a nightmare. I wanted to leave truthful negative feedback – product dispute – difficult communication or difficult seller. Would this be flagged by Ebay for removal if the seller complained to Ebay? I don’t want to be petty, I just want to state the truth and let other buyers make their own decision whether to do business with this seller. She currently has 100%positive feedback and threatened to call Ebay and they would remove it if it was negative. Any advice would be helpful. I’ve been sitting on this for 2 days trying to figure out appropriate negative feedback. Thank you. Heidi
I’m sorry Heidi but I don’t give tips on how to leave a good negative feedback 🙂
Sold an item on Ebay after buyer gave 3rd offer. It clearly described a scratch on the dome. He asked about tge band condition,
but not once the scratch .Said he was buying it for himself, but after he left me negative feedback for a message I never seen till today, said I did not list as described and never responded to his message. Yet left it after I responded to him. I replied to it and reported him. He actually said he was going to “burn” me with negative feedback. His listings proved he was buying it from me to resell at much higher prices. Im certain he has domes lying around to fit it.
To Stephanie and indeed ANY seller who receives a nagative feedback. If you receive a message where the buyer gives reference that they Will leave a nagative feedback for a sale? This is against eBay policy!! Report the email to eBay and give due reference to the reason for reporting the email message. The feedback will be removed. This applies for ANY unwanted or unfair emails that are meant to cause distress.
But for ANYTHING check the customer help pages. Or get in touch via eBay? Pretty sure if I don’t know the answer after 16 years on eBay as a buyer or seller with 0 negative feedbacks! I may be of assistance??
I really like this blog.. as an amateur ebay seller, this is very helpful for me!
I’d just like to have my input here in regards to difficult buyers. I find that most buyers on ebay are courteous, friendly and polite. Yeah, I’ve had pests here and there but I can definitely say 95% of ebayers are good people and don’t be scared off by those few who will always find something to kvetch about.
Good luck everyone!
Thanks Meredith! 🙂
Hi all,
I’m an ebay seller and have just started shipping internationally. My first international order was from Denmark. Buyer demanded I remove the 27 dollar shipping fee claiming that “I’ve never seen such a crazy price before”. I couldn’t do that of course, because I do it through ebay’s global shipping program and they set the price. Then he demanded I remove the taxes and give it cheaper anyhow because I’d raised the price a couple a days before he ordered. Agreed to give him a discount. Saw this was going nowhere and this buyer is just a pest, I told him this won’t work and we can’t do order. Buyer told me to f**** off and other foul language. He did not pay, and left negative feedback. I had a clean record and he ruined it for me. I’m so upset about this. Does anyone know if something can be done? Andrew, any ideas? Again, buyer did not end up buying.
We been selling for about 4 years now. We also sell with ebay global shipping. We run into this problem all the time. Buyers hate the high cost of global shipping. Even that I have it in my listings at the beginning explaining the average cost and taxes and customs fees. Potential buyers contact us with the same questions the fees are to high. We gathered most the time they really just want us to ship it in like a Birthday card or so to get around customs and any kind of postage fee. Now one time we had a buyer who bid on an item less then 5 US Dollars she stated the whole time she was bidding it did not show her the shipping detail till after she won. Then she got hit with like 30.00 US dollar shipping + Customs fee. She requested we cancel the transaction and we did. Postal fees are just high when you send international.
Hi Meredith,
You should contact eBay and explain them situation, forward messages you received etc.
They should remove that negative feedback for you.
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
Thanks for your advice. I did just that. – and YAY – Ebay removed it for me!!!! Thank you!!!!!
You’re welcome! 🙂
I only sell on a small scale, maybe 15-20 items per month, and I’ve only been doing it for a few months, so my amount of feedback is not very high. A buyer ordered a pair of new Nike sandals size Women’s 8. I sent the Size 8 that was depicted in the photos and listing (I had 3 pairs of Size 8 and no other sizes, so there is no way I sent the wrong size – they got a new pair with tags, size 8). Apparently they didn’t fit the buyer’s feet, so they left me negative feedback stating, “not size 8, too small.” They got Nike Size 8 as depicted, and that size was apparently too small for their feet. They never contacted me asking for a return or refund, just left negative feedback. I don’t offer returns since I’m just a small scale individual selling a few things here and there, only turning a couple hundred bucks a month, but I would have just refunded their $20 to be done with them. As a side note, this buyer was unreasonable from the start, sending me 5 messages on the day of the purchase, hounding me for a tracking number although the shipping option was First Class Mail – nonetheless, I rushed right out and shipped same day to pacify the buyer. I sent the “Feedback Revision Request” through Ebay and I also reported the buyer’s unreasonable demands and unfair feedback to eBay. My assumption is that this buyer will refuse to modify their feedback and will probably go back and write something even worse out of retaliation. Their poor grammar and spelling and their history of demanding behavior doesn’t leave me with the impression that this is a reasonable, sensible, intelligent individual who will act reasonably and responsibly – they’re also new to eBay with only 5 feedback left for them. Presuming this buyer refuses to modify their feedback as they are all but guaranteed to do, is there a way I can ask eBay to remove it? How can I do that? This 1 negative feedback will really hurt me in terms of sales, and I haven’t sold a single thing since I received it.
Most happy people don’t leave feedback and say anything at all, only the angry people and crooks use it for their benefit, I find most sales to USA are people who think they are going to be scammed and don’t trust the world or process, I am constantly dealing with people saying that if there is supposed to be multiple pieces, pieces are
Missing, and use the feedback system as Leverage on you. eBay is For sure a buyers and scammers market, and I sell a lot and even have a hard
Time turning profit.
I’m a US citizen and kind of offended by your comment… I’m generally a nice person and don’t leave negative feedback even if I’m disappointed with order. Please don’t label all US people a certain way. There’s good people and bad people, and they’re all evenly distributed…
Hi Jimmy,
Can’t agree with you more!
Andrew
I can definitely understand that some good sellers sometimes get unfair negative feedback. BUT I buy on eBay constantly and always leave positive feedback..never have left negative fb even when I felt a buyer deserved it. UNTIL this week when I ordered a book described as “very good” condition. (I have bought hundreds of books here and never left negative or neutral fb. and I have 100% rating with 650 purchases ) So, I get this book and the pages are all stuck together by some sticky substance (I don’t even want to know what) and the books smells of mold. I immediately trashed it. (It cost under $10 and I didn’t ask for refund) I email seller and ask how they could list this as ‘very good’ and I got a rude, nasty email back basically calling me a liar and warning me that I’d “better not leave negative fb”. Well, I wrote that I hadn’t planned on leaving any feedback, but thanks to their rudeness, I would leave my first ever negative…which I did. I wrote “Seller misrepresented item and then accused me of lying”. EBay in all it’s wisdom, removed my negative feedback, which I know is a small thing but really irks me. How can we let others know not to trust a seller if we have no voice? (This seller had 2 previous negatives) I would have been satisfied with an apology.
Hi
May l ask why eBay removed the negative feedback you left. I feel the need to leave my first lot of neg feedback due to a seller threatening me when l returned a faulty item. He withheld my refund for days. Rubbed my face in it that he could have “kept my money longer lil” and accused me of delaying the return. Paid Monday. Received Tues. Posted back Wed. I’ve receive 18 messages in 48hrs. Why would eBay removed negative feedback if it’s fair?
Many thanks x
Andrew.Any thoughts?…
eBay have removed my feedbacks regarding items i went to collect, a negative and a neutral for the same seller.
I have phoned them and spoke to a chap in Ireland who said that an Ebay agent based in the far east had done so with no explanation and can not see why they have done so, or indeed should not have done so.
He will contact me with some sort of explanation but eBay will not reinstate them anyway.??
Looks like the business seller has somehow menipulated the agent with some lies etc but it simply beggars believe you can’t leave feedback for a genuine reason.
Somethings amiss hear and it seems i’m powerlesss to do anything about it.
Who’s accountable.??
Hi Michael,
Im sorry but I can’t help you with this…
As you can see – eBay themselves don’t know what they’re doing.
Andrew
Does feedback come off after you won a case? I won a couple of cases the other day and it said the FB left for those transactions would be taken off. They have not yet and its been 2 weeks. I was thinking maybe the 20th when they do their evaluations?
Hi Jay,
With issues like these, better is to just contact eBay customer support and get it sorted manually.
Andrew
This whole article is something unreadable. Not for its structure or the author’s inability to write. It’s his message which is completely misguiding.
First of all, you might be selling the number 1 item in the world, the best of the best with no quality issues, you will still find people willing to leave you a negative feedback for whatsoever reason.
Take for instance this case: the buyer left a negative feedback because the item’s packaging was damaged. The picture showed a 2 cm of the external box being torn off. First of all, our products are wrapped in a plastic cover and then in a shipping box. That damage was obviously caused by the customer itself.
Morale of the story: human nature is evil. He was willing to leave a negative feedback because he knew the value of such thing. eBay lets them know that by leaving a negative feedback they are damaging my business (which is not true, if my business depended on the feedbacks than I am not a good businessman).
Can you avoid it? No you cannot. These guides are for those who are new and think they can avoid negative feedbacks. You are just being mislead. The fact is that on eBay people have 100% of positive feedbacks only thanks to some real hacks… There is no other way…
So if you get a negative, buckle up and leave with it… It’s not your fault at all….
This article is just about ways of minimising chances of getting negative feedback AND outlines situations when you can have negative feedback removed by eBay.
I’m not saying that if you follow this guide, you will NEVER have a negative feedback again.
That’s not the point of this article.
Andrew
eBay’s feedback system should work like this:
If a buyer wishes to leave a negative or neutral feedback, eBay should contact the seller with the buyers concerns, and give the seller 48 hours to respond. If no response by the seller, the feedback should stand. This saves a ton of back and forth baloney. Every now and again I have a customer that is unhappy and I refund them and let them keep the item for their hassle and time. eBay’s system allows people to basically write whatever the hell they want. I have over 1,000 positive feedback and no bad reviews ever. 99% of all sellers want to resolve issues (especially when their stores are more personable). This would also save them a ton of money in unresolved cases that they have to foot the bill for. At the end of the day, its a business and its not the end of the world to write something off as a loss. But unreasonable people should not be able to damage a seller’s reputation if they feel like it. My perfect record was damaged by someone who never contacted me about a problem and took it upon themselves to damage my impeccable record. eBay needs to change this so their CS reps don’t have to listen to all kinds of soap operas. At the end of the day, all the crap we acquire stays behind, can’t take any of it with you, no matter what you believe.
I had a difficult transaction with a buyer 3 months ago, and although I offered and gave a full refund to the buyer I still received negative feedback which has dented my previously 100% good rating. I left a response comment that the buyer had received full refund etc. And left it at that. Yesterday I received a message saying that the buyer was willing to remove the neg feedback if I removed the comment I left in response! Can I do that? I don’t mind at all doing it if it means I live the neg feedback from the buyer!
I had a really bad experience as a seller on eBay recently. I sold a pair of shoes that had hardly been worn. They were in excellent condition, apart from a few scuffs which I declared. The buyer sent me quite a rude message after receiving them, stating that they “had fallen to pieces”, demanding a refund there and then. I couldn’t understand why this had happened but was very apologetic, sent her an prepaid postage label and asked her to return them. I would then refund her once I’d got them back. This should have been a relatively straightforward transaction. It took a few weeks of me trying to resolve it, but she decided that she “couldn’t be bothered” in the end, threatened me with negative feedback and left me quite scathing negative feedback, including “no refund” – the first in 13 years since I’ve been a member. Her behaviour was appalling. This was really disappointing to me as I’m such an honest, meticulous person, and worked so hard to try and resolve the situation. I called eBay and explained the situation. Because the buyer had broken the eBay rules by not returning the shoes, they removed the negative feedback, thankfully. It has made me very wary of the world of eBay though, as a result 🙁
Karen, I had a customer claim that a bottle of perfume was smashed during shipping (ground). It was a discontinued scent that’s almost impossible to get. I asked her to send me a photo because eBay requires me to document it before I do a refund. Miraculously, the bottle seems to have reassembled itself and she no longer wants to do a return. There are crooks all over.
I am going through that exact same scenario now! Buyer states that $500 retail rarely worn designer boots are “coming apart” and provides me with pictures that show no damage! When asked to return them he stated that they are not even worth donating so he will toss them in the trash. He then leaves negative feedback but mistakenly writes “Thanks, I really love my wig”. Obviously a mistake on his part. I am not sure whether I should respond or not. I emailed him asking him to remove the feedback but he ignored my request. Perhaps the best approach is to direct contact eBay and ask for assistance.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Karen!
Andrew
I always thought feed back was for rating the seller not product but I may be wrong. we have a product review tab why are people not using that for product issues also getting tired of ebays policies conflicting with my policies why does ebay say put your policies in description if they just use theres and not mine tired of ebay playing with my money
Feedback is for rating the seller, yes, but most buyers obviously don’t know that.
Very few people on eBay use reviews as it’s a relatively new feature and most are used to leaving just seller feedback.
Andrew
Hi mate,
What is the time limitation for an Australia Buyer to leave feedback ? 60 days ? or 90 days ?
Ebay IS removing negative comments to protect their sellers reputation. I was surprised to see Ebay removing my negative feedback of the seller that listed item as new in box but in fact sent me used phone with screen replaced so badly that it was falling out. Return case eventually went to PayPal resolution center and they were very helpful in the process of the refund and in the end I got my money back, but after a month of dealing with that BS I left the seller negative feedback (the first and only in my 10 years on Ebay). After few days I checked that seller’s feedbacks and the negative that I left was gone along with a few other negative feedbacks from other people that were in place at the time I was leaving mine. I guess Ebay is fighting for survival in the age of Amazon and they’re protecting their money makers, which could explain how can so many sellers be listing obviously used junk as new and get away with it, but that’s necessarily something their small shot (around $5-7k total in my case) are happy with.
2020
You are absolutely right. 20+ year ebay here. And I dismayed at seeing all the baloney anti-buyer articles, when the facts are plain.
A seller has a photo+text description box to simply show and disclose and describe an item. Not hard or time-consuming and naturally should be domw.
But in last 5 years our of my 22-23! It’s a nightmare. Either many sellers just lie by omission or pack poorly.
Good sellers pack well and show/note any damage or issues. Common sense.
I was forced to eventually leave 30+ negative in the last 2-3 years alone because the problem got so bad. Only 3 negatives still remain on one seller, who btw has spent months sending me threats of violence, stalking, noting they are watched my other feedback removed.
Ebay has removed all my feedback, even when I contested pointing out with their “acknowledgement” that I did not violate any policy, Buyer extortion policy, etc and that it shouldn’t have been removed. Even got superivisors verbalization and “approval” and re-left feedback 3 times on one ripoff seller selling counterfeit goods (with proof, attachments, video on hand posted on my site, willing to email etc).
All repeatedly removed. Got a response email also from the secretary of Wendy Jones “ebay removes feedback as courtesy to seller.”
So in other words eBay knowingly aids and abets online fraud. Sellers can easily protect themselves by providing accurate listing, take easy and simple measures to ship and have proof on hand for item and package quality and then of course have statement of deliverance via tracking.
Buyers can also obvious do the same. So people complaining about buyers are idiots. Maybe they should be honest.
When it comes down to hard proof and evidence, which I have gathered with bad sellers statements incriminating themselves, hard videographic and photo proof, extreme situations of outright fraud and mislisting, ebay has had the same response almost everytime:
They remove seller negative on request (almost all the time) no mstter if it does not infringe any policy and it’s simply a case of. Stop. Get bad item. No return. No demands. Leave negative feedback with plain brief facts about item itself.
PS. Look at ebay design against buyers (and with sellers always)- ebay wants to retain their commission. Note they hide “returns” on a obscured secondary purchase history page via non-explicit link on sidebar [not ‘returns’] filed all way at bottom “out-of-sight, out-of-mind” with a super-limited window of returned compared to sellers. Look at how the “prohibit” (illegally by US law) exchange or posting of email address (even to facilitate cock-ups on ebay that happen due to multiple item orders, etc) for “safety” that is nonsense, when sellers already have your address. mylittlehorsey@gmail hardly poses a risk. Lastly so-called spearate company paypal exclusively now also hides the email on transactions (only for ebay) and FORCES ebay shoppers to open dispute via ebay, no longer can you even open on paypal – it technically says and links to a form for ebay resolution center. I returned something successfully and ebay refuses to refund and paypal needs. went to paypal and they said opposite. Screwed.
Ebay is a scam and if we brought this to court, or posed who ebays aids and abets, it’s 100% with concrete fact Sellers. Ebay wants a commission, they don’t help buyers, it’s all there is design of site and procedure and action.
PS. Fact Ebay can physically remove db entry for feedback on sellers’ profiles. Ever get a revenge false positive as a buyer? I have an ebay cannot any longer as of last few years actually remove the entry, They can edit it, which if done replaces the text with two dashes aka negative symbol ” –”
Proofs in the pudding. Ebay aids and abets frauds. If brought to a US court of law, it’s a clear case with multiple evidence.
Ebay removes all negative feedback for sellers on request. I have screencapped many, many instances of my own left for scam sellers as well as inadvertantly other negative feedback left at time when I posted.
And what about the Negative Feedback that the seller can remove ” within 5 minutes” even though the item was not as described?.
This has happened to me when I tried to explain to the seller that the item was described wrongly and we didn’t receive an essential part with the Vaping gadget.. He said it wasn’t advertised with the gadget even his picture on Ebay showed them with the gadget. So, we had an Impasse.
I said if he didn’t send the missing part, I would leave Negative Feedback. He didn’t, so I left Negative feedback. (My first ever Negative Feedback since I joined Ebay in 2007).
The negative feedback was removed within 5 minutes.
see below
well, i’ve bought hundreds of items ranging from golf clubs, cameras, watches, tools and more i can’t remember from internet sellers, but was new to ebay. no problems with known sellers that i had used before (direct sale) and then bought through ebay, but when i received an item from an unknown ebay seller (100% rating) i responded (at ebay’s request) that the item was received with corroded batteries–to which i was excoriated and threatened with being banned. hey, no problem–won’t use ebay again anyway, and went thru quit protocol. this organization has its defenders-probably robots-who i have encountered in the ebay community whose air of superiority is indeed human-like, but just a teensy bit…
and by the way–any one who takes the tone my responder from the “ebay community” took is not doing you ebay sellers any favors–no wonder there are (evidently) so many bad buyers out there, anyone else would not tolerate the mutterings of a fool.
Hi Dear
I’m new seller I received negative feedback from buyer. she never contact me but after 5 weeks she left me negative feedback(not as described) . then I sent a message with apology and offer full refund. she never respond back. it is not fair the item was excellent condition as new with 12 photos. what should i do? please help me.
thanks
Hi Kim,
You can try contacting eBay and see if they can help you.
If they can’t, nothing you can do really about it.
Andrew
I’m nervous to even address this issue.. it’s obvious the author of this page leans severely to the sellers side.
First of all, let me say, I’m a buyer. In every sense of the word. I love shopping, buying, spending money on frivolous things. I’m the best customer because I’m an impulse buyer; it doesn’t take much to get me to give you money.
However, there have been times when, after receiving an item, it simply wasn’t right. This has been rare, once a silver flower vase with a broken arm, once a book stand that turned out to be the bottom half of calling card reciever instead… Maybe all in all 3 “bad” experiences on ebay.
I think it’s funny that some of these sellers say the things that they do, because if they operated in real-life, undoubtedly they’d run their own businesses into the ground. Stay tuned at the end of this post for my thoughts on THAT…
I want to be super-clear, as a credible money-spender…..
I find the “return/refund” model completely, and I do mean, COMPLETELY unnacceptable. For BOTH the seller AND the buyer.
I’m going to use my MOST unpleasant experience as an example. I purchased an antique epergne (think fancy candle-holder) . I spent, what I considered to be quite a bit, especially for what, at the end of the day, is a glorified candy dish with a tealight stuck in the top. I was excited, REALLY excited. I literally sat at the window for the postman to come…. seriously.
However, much to my horror, I opened the box to find that the arm had broken off. I’m a very fair person, and also think of myself as at least somewhat intelligent, to keep this from being a novel length post, I’ll just say that it was VERY clear the item was damaged BEFORE being shipped.
I contacted the seller woman immediately, and clearly expressed my dissapointment, along with accompanying pictures. The seller plunged into theatrics, her brother in law JUST died, and she will “get back with me but my concerns are not high on her priority list”… now I’m certainly not heartless, so I leave it alone for a few days. However, as we all know, claims are only “so” viable within a certain timeframe, so a few days later I contacted her again, not in ANY way making demands, but ASKING what SHE would recommend me to do, but I would HAVE to do SOMETHING…. it was simply too much money to just sweep under the rug. She then flew into an even WILDER frenzy, saying I’m a terrible person and heartless, blah blah blah… I was as nice as I could be to the point of PLEADING with her to JUST consider the options. Well, in typical “self-righteous-seller” form, she spits out some quick “omg just return it and I will give you a refund”…..
Now I’ve reached my point….. how do you guys justify that? I wanted to say “um, NO you stupid b*tch, I don’t want my money back, I WANT the thing I bid on and watched for 7 days, I want the thing PAID for, I want the thing I then waited on for a week and a half “…. and I think that rings true for, well, a lot of transactions. I went the extra ten-miles to even locate a repair shop in HER area, got a quote, and suggested (as I will SUGGEST now to ALL ebay sellers) a thing called a PARTIAL refund. She could refund me the $100 to repair it, and still make a several-hundred-dollar sale. In real life, I use this practice. Now, I’ll go ahead and end my story of the epergne and the crappy seller with …. she may have thought she screwed me….. but it was her in the end that lost out, I won, and I won on many levels. Whereas she COULD have complied and issued the amount for the repair and kept all the rest (again, still several hundred dollars), she chose to act like a greedy tart, demanding ALL the money, or the item sent back. therefore, it appears karma stepped in, and not only did she not receive the item back, but she also, somehow (to this day I have no idea how exactly it happened, but I’m certainly not going to question it) ended up with NO money for the item, because it had ALL been reversed to me! But before yall jump on me, and it CERTAINLY pains me to say it, but I couldn’t sleep well knowing that I had the thing, and the money, so I REFUNDED HER (funny how the tables can turn) the amount, minus of COURSE the amount of repair, plus ALL of my shipping charges. And in my refund back to the seller I included a little “go to hell” note.
It seems as if sellers will find ANY reason to try and say negative feedback isn’t necessary, to the point of nausea …. EBay rightfully so takes the side of the buyer (in most cases) because in a sellers mind, there is NEVER a reason to receive negative feedback.
Issuing a refund is just another way of saying “I am SO stingy and SO greedy that instead of considering possibly many more fair options, I’m going to get my thing back, tie up funds and time of my buyer, and then relist the item for someone else to fall for”….
To all you “serious ebay businesses”, wake up. You chose ebay because obviously you are too lazy, too broke, too controversial with your policies to operate a brick-and-mortar establishment. You pay NO overhead, ebays little fees kind of pale in comparison to “real store” fees… like insurance, electric, rent, etc.
Like, I think this is very true for so many cases….
Listing return/refund is a big sign flashing “if you’re going to be difficult and not just accept whatever it is I’ve sent, I’ll deprive you of the item you wanted, waste your time and effort having to repackage and ship back, and tie up funds for as long as I feel like”…..
Buyers can abuse the return refund system too, obviously, with scams and “address changes”…. but it’s definitely more abused by the sellers. I personally find it to be the equivalent of “I don’t want to have to ACTUALLY deal with customers so I’ll run my little business from behind my screen and if you don’t like it, I just won’t do business with you”…. which obviously wouldn’t fly in real life.
Just because you came across a nut bag doesn’t mean E-bay should favor buyers over sellers or that most sellers are scammers. E-bay should be fair to both, buyers and sellers each should be able to leave negative and neutral feedback. It should be an even playing field like it was when E-bay started. I’ve been on E-bay for over 10 years both buying and selling. And if you included a little “go to hell” note to the seller you deserve whatever hassles you got..
Hello There,
Thanks for sharing your story & thoughts with us.
Even though I “represent” seller part of eBay, I totally understand what you’re saying AND I actually agree – many sellers are as bad as buyers in terms of basically scamming people.Or just sellers with super poor customer service – not replying to messages, not fixing problems etc. (very common for very large sellers on eBay who sell tens of thousands of items per month – they have figured out that it’s not worth for them to handle customer support AT ALL and just accept that they will receive 1 or 2 % negative feedbacks).
So yes, there’s definitely other side of the coin and eBay being as big as it is, with entry level barrier so low – I don’t think this will change any time soon. There will always be bad sellers and buyers who take advantage of the system and get items for free.
Thanks,
Andrew
Really good advice, thank you for sharing your knowledge. You didn’t mention the ‘Defamation Form’ for malicious feed back – not sure if that is something recent introduced by eBay though. I had to go that route with malicious (false) feedback left by a buyer I can only describe in all good conscience as a ‘nutter’. Courteous and professional responses by myself made no difference to this buyer being vindictive. Fortunately eBay could see her feedback was a blatant lie, and they removed the feedback comment and the negative rating dent too.
Good to hear that Nicola! 🙂
Hello..I’m on the other side of unfairness when it comes to a seller on eBay. I’ve been on eBay for many years, i’ve never had a problem, and then recently I’ve dealt with a bad seller. They sent me a toy that was listed as new in box, for a hundred dollars, and when I received the item, the factory batteries were leaked all over inside the toy which made it an expensive broken toy. When I explained to them, & sent photos, etc. I was told by them after having to write 4 unanswered emails about it, and 3 days, that the toy was not theirs that they sent me, and they said that I’m lucky that they don’t charge me another hundred dollars for them having to open their other toy that was sealed in the box, to see if it had leaking batteries. They were very mean and rude. Called me a liar (even with proof of photos) and told me in essence, to shove it, and the case is closed in their eyes, and they aren’t helping me at all.
So of course I had to open a case in regards to getting my refund for the broken item. I also looked at their feedback, and they had changed their old ID recently, and made a new one, and had 6 reviews only. (they were good reviews) but only 6 after changing their ID.
Ebay quickly decided in my favor, and I had received the refund after their toy was delivered to their address. Then, I made the very first negative feedback I have ever given a seller. I felt sick to my stomach about it, but felt I needed to protect the other buyers to be warned that if something is broken that they send you, that they will just claim it wasn’t theirs. (It reminds me of the man that gets caught by his wife in bed with another man, and he says ‘it wasn’t me’) anyway… I left the review in a tactful manner, shortening what had happened, with no bad words, or name calling, etc.
Then I had to call eBay again because they had sent the box back to me after they received it, and I had to make sure that if I dumped the box out in my recycling, that I wouldn’t have any problems with that. They assured me that I wouldn’t, and that the case was closed, and that was it.
Then today, I got an email from eBay, stating that they removed my negative feedback from their seller profile, because of “a recent decision on the bay buyer protection case.” So, the seller was able to call up eBay, and just get their bad feedback removed. This leaves me sick that they can do that, after how horrible they were to me, that a seller can just tell eBay to remove it, and they will, even after they decided in favor of my case and the case had closed.
I have no more trust in the eBay system, and it will always be to me, that I’m buying at my own risk of getting screwed over, no matter if the seller has all good feedback or not, because they could have screwed someone over, got bad feedback, and called eBay to have it removed. So, in this case, Good for the Sellers… terrible for the buyers. Shame on the bad sellers, and eBay for supporting such behavior.
I want to say, that I have purchased from many many good sellers, on eBay, and always left great reviews. This situation has left a sour taste in my mouth in regards to my potential problems, dealing with the bad apples, in a basket with other good apples, that has been dyed and shined over to look good, but will make you ill if you eat it. :/
Hi Andrew, I’m having a nightmare week right now over a Negative Feedback which I might have been able to get removed if I had used eBay Messages to resolve the issue rather than direct email. I’m from the UK and a customer from Australia was unhappy with the long delivery time (I won’t send items that far anymore, lesson learned) and left Negative Feedback so I asked her if I could resolve the situation by giving her a refund and she agreed to Revise the Feedback.
So I issued the full refund and sent the Feedback Revision Request Form. No Response. 2 days later I sent another email, still nothing. It will expire in a few days, and I’ll beg her every day, it’s torture to a small business like mine, and it’s not even her fault, she just doesn’t use eBay very often and doesn’t know how to open a Case against me. I just wish eBay would make customers tell the seller they have a problem first, or helped her to open a case against me first. It’s not helpful to Buyers who don’t know how to resolve their issues and get refunds if they are unhappy. Most bad feedback is from people who are actually looking for the Resolution Centre
I recently got my first negative, which has puzzled me. I provide a high end quality product (sometimes include another free item) vouched by my buyers who come back for more of the same item and who spread the word, combined with next day signed for free delivery.
A week later after a customer purchased one of my items, he posted a vague neutral feedback stating ‘I had better one’. Does not mention anything about the product itself or the service. So, I contacted him and apologised politely if the product did not live upto his expectations and that I would offer a refund. He did not even have to send the item back. I mentioned nothing about reviewing the feedback. Four days later he contacts me Via Ebay and states ‘sent me Ebay link, will change review.’ A few hours later, he posts a negative in addition to the neutral stating ‘Wasting money after 2 weeks cant use it any more’.
This unwarranted negative was made after I had offered to refund. At no stage had the buyer contacted me about any issues of the product or the service.
Whole thing is suspicious. I had reported a couple of people who were blatantly copying my exact content from my listings. I had a growing 100% reputation, climbing to the top of my listings and donate a percentage of my listings to various charities. This buyer has left many, many negatives for sellers and usually uses the same comments. My descriptions clearly states in the event of any issues, I would be happy to resolve them amicably before any negative feedback. Despite acknowledging buyers are entitled to negatives, which I have no problem with if I had failed on the service, communication and product itself.
Is the negative in addition to the neutral even fair? Two reviews for one purchase? Would it be prudent to contact Ebay about the negative? Thankyou!
I’m sure I read on eBay’s own advice about removing negative feedback that a buyer cannot change from neutral to negative on a Feedback revision Request? Unless maybe he initiated the request to change it himself,
And apologies to any buyers who’s legitimate Negatiive complaints were explained away by the Sellers to get eBay to remove their Legitimate Comments. It is easier to convince eBay you are right when you sell 1000’s of items and the seller has not bought so many items. eBay may be Customer comes first, but big high volume sellers are also occassionaly allowed the benefit of the doubt
Hi Salman,
Yes, you should definitely call eBay and explain the situation.
Particularly mention that buyer has left same negative feedback for other sellers.
Hopefully they will see through it and remove that feedback, if not feedback – at least review.
Andrew
I’ve been an eBay member since 2001–as a buyer & seller.
What I’ve discovered is eBay Seller Support will step in if a buyer commits any of the following prior to or after leaving negative: Makes unreasonable demands–which most know about (i.e., ship to an alternate address), abuses the Buyer Protection Programs (i.e., claiming the item hasn’t arrived before the estimated delivery date has passed), and misusing returns–ie, returning an item that was damaged after it was delivered or simply not following the terms of the seller’s return policy.
With that said, it would be prudent to report the buyer immediately–as soon as any type of abuse occurs. It gives sellers more of a leg to stand on when contacting support to have feedback removed. If a buyer sends messages that state anything like, “Ship to another address” or “Item is broken, I want my money back” or “Send the refund then I’ll send the item back”, report them. If they retaliate when you don’t comply, it will be easier to have the feedback removed.
In the meantime, please be sure to take care of ALL customers and keep them as satisfied as possible. Even if customers are being abusive–be polite, make returns an easy process , pay return shipping if you’re at fault–but report them still. If it was an innocent mistake on the buyer’s part–eBay may remind them and perhaps the issue will not be repeated. However, if it was deliberate, the buyer will either stop the abuse or eventually be removed–especially if all seller’s took the time to report these offenses.
Don’t allow a few bad apples to create a culture…there are far more pleasant buyers…
Happy eBaying!
I have actually had fairly good success. I do not allow returns because of the merchandise I sell. It would be too difficult to resell. I always have a description that is down to the itty bitty detail and have plenty of pictures. The other day a person opened a case stating that the item I sent was not as described. At this point in my life it was a small amount, I refunded the money and told her to keep the item. During this time I called ebay and they opened a case, reviewed it and told the buyer the item WAS as described, closed the case in my favor (oh yes the buyer refused to answer any of my multiple emails trying to sort this out). However I had already refunded her money. I blocked her. Another time, I sold an angora shrug – brand new, never been worn. When I list I put all measurements, up down and side wards. Since I do not take returns the person opened a case that the item was never received and they wanted their money back. Ebay looked into it, the item was delivered to their address and I won. What I believe happened and this has happened before, buyers do not really read the descriptions and the item doesn’t fit. Once I sold a trio of really nice belts; measured down to the nth of an inch. The person left me neutral feedback stating they didn’t fit her. Well for crying out loud you should know if a 36″ belt will go around your waist.
Regardless very detailed descriptions and pictures are a must. In addition I have a paragraph that states colors may be skewed because of different monitors. I did that after one lady wanted to return an item because she saw it as blue on her monitor. She did state that she ten read the description and it said the background was tan and if she had read the description she wouldn’t have purchased the item. Hello.
I will say that 99% of my customers are really nice. The other 1% will never spend the amount of money that amounts to the waste of my time and I usually block them. Anyone on ebay for a length of time can smell a bad buyer rising to the top. (yes there are bad sellers, but I am speaking about buyers)
Thanks for sharing this with us! 🙂
Andrew
Thank you for the information. It should be noted that Sellers on ebay have no voice. Ebay removed the dual feedback system years ago. If a buyer leaves negative feedback or lies, its nearly impossible to get it corrected. Ebay doesn’t care, either. This has been proven time and again.
And no, the customer is not always right. However, we ‘pretend’ they are to protect our ratings. It is a form of extortion, plain and simple.
I try so hard not to be rude when I respond as politely as possible – “Oh My God people CONTACT ME if you have a problem and you’ll probably get a refund just for for threatening me, Instead you just punch me in the face and lose your money and mine. Most of my friends have had to leave positive feedback on items that they would actually like to warn others not to buy, or sellers to buy from, but they leave good feedback and negative comments because it’s too harsh to the seller,
I been with ebay since 2001, sold alot of stuff, surprisingly, I haven’t gotten 1 negative. Until the other day. Item was new in box and cost all of $5. Was an aquarium pump. Guy buys it, 7 days goes by and I got the negative. For no reason. I sent him an email asking why the negative when the item shipped the next day priority, and it was new. I got no response. So I called ebay twice and both times 2 different reps couldn’t help me due to the “customer is always right”.
I miss the days where the seller could leave a neutral/negative for the buyer and I firmly believe the the seller should at the very least be able to leave a neutral. I hate this new “buyer is always right” policy they have. I’m sorry but some people on there are sh*theads.
So after getting told no twice from ebay as the buyer was entitled to their opinion. They told me to contact him and to send him a revision, all of which he’s ignored. So I did the only thing I could do, in all CAPS left him his positive feedback, but basically calling him some bad censored words which is sitting pretty at the top of his feedback for all to see.
Childish I know, but it irritates me that somebody could leave a negative for no reason. I went back and looked at this guys feedback and he leaves like 25 good and then 1 bad, 25 good and 1 bad. It must have been my luck to get dinged with a negative.
I didn’t lose sleep over it, because there’s noting you can do and in 16yrs of selling on there, Im surprised it hasn’t happened more often. I’ve had my fair share of problems with people, but was always able to work something out. But there’s a first for everything.
Great write up btw!
Frank
Hi Frank,
Thanks for your comment and sharing your story with us.
Yes, sometimes you just can’t figure it out…
Negative feedback isn’t big deal these days though, they don’t affect your account performance standard directly.
Andrew
Apparently eBay has a new pilot program they are testing with certain sellers. This gives the seller the power to remove all negative feedbacks. This may seem crazy but it’s true.
Haven’t heard about this Ron so can’t really comment.
I sell 30+ items per month and my total is around 1,200 and I absolutely will not give a refund to a buyer who I know is scamming me! No matter what they threaten or do. If I have addressed the item correctly and Aust Post says it was delivered to them and it hasn’t been returned to me by anyone else I will NOT give those scheming people one cent of a refund. I cannot tolerate unfairness and no matter what I won’t bend over for ebay or for theiving buyers. So far I have successfully fought them all.
Good for you Mandy! 🙂
I completely disagree with the buyer is always right, even when they aren’t. I used to buy into that idea but not nowadays when there are so many vindictive people, stupid people, brainwashed intolerant social justice warrior types, etc.
I’ve been on ebay as a buyer and seller since the 90s. First time ever with someone who couldn’t even bother to communicate in english (bite me crappy google translate, thank you my spanish speaking friends). Person extorted me by demanding money back without returning item or lest I get negative feedback. Initially claimed to no longer possess item but when challenged that it showed item wasn’t even delivered yet, he proved he had it with a photo. Still refused to return for full refund.
People who act irrational and play dirty like this harm business in a big way – not only does it make an individual (me) think about walking away from ebay entirely, but it affects the overall ebay marketplace for everyone when people don’t play by the rules and practice common sense and common decency. Competition goes down, selection decreases and prices go up.
This all goes without saying that Ebay jumped the shark a long time ago and is ripe for someone to make it the next Kmart
In no way I have ever approved such buyer behaviour and pure scam activities.
But the reality is that on eBay all the power is in buyer hands – you can’t do nothing about it so what’s the point really arguing? eBay/PayPal will side with the buyer anyway.
From my experience though, unless you deal with high risk items, % of trouble buyers is relatively small and you simply need to take into account these occasional loses into your business model.
Or just don’t sell on eBay. Sell on your own website where you get even higher chance of getting charge-back cases than on eBay.
Andrew
I purchased an item via the ebay auction, after I won I instantly made the payment and two days later I was told by the seller that they have to charge me more for the shipping and if I don’t agree they will just refund my payment. I refused to pay the additional and was rather disappointed with the seller because the shipping charge was already rather high. They told me that they pay a service to do there packaging and shipping and I felt this was unreasonable to attempt to pass on there inability to do there own packing so I refused to pay the additional, afterwards I left negative feedback stating “Beware difficult seller, attempts to charge additional shipping afterwards”. Somehow this seller was able to have the feedback removed, I contacted Ebay and spoke to a manager and he had told me the employee that removed the feedback shouldn’t have and he will have a training conversation with the staff member but I will not be allowed to reinstate my feedback. I felt this seller very much deserved the negative feedback so I purchased a $4.00 item from the same seller and left another negative feedback and to my surprise this seller was able to remove it again. I am very rarely a buyer on Ebay though I make a living selling on Ebay and to me personally this is disappointing because it gives sellers like my self a bad reputation. I am amazed and don’t understand how one seller has the ability to do this twice.
If a seller miscalculates the shipping it is on them. I have had to bite the bullet a few times and it cost me more but it wasn’t the buyer’s fault, but my own. I am hardly an angel, but I know good business practices.
So a seller now has to sell item at loss to cover for the mistake?
A fair trade is when both the seller and the buyer agree on the price and value of the product.
If it is no longer a fair trade, the gentleman way is to just accept the refund and walk away. Being vindictive and all does not achieve a single thing.
Gary, I’m actually thankful eBay has a system to counter people like you. Stall your attempt to be sour, and still let you down nicely by telling you things you wanna hear.
eBay is a marketplace. If they condone unfair deals where the seller has to sell at a loss to cover for a mistake he/she has done (and on top of that bear the extra eBay fee), then I pity all the sellers on eBay. They have to operate like AI and bots to not get bitten by nincompoops.
Gary,
As Andrew said, when the seller offers you a full refund you really have no right to leave him/her a negative feedback or to make a second purchase to leave a second negative feedback for that matter.
You are getting a full refund so there is nothing to lose, get a life and move on.
Thank you Eric! 🙂
Due to buyers like you Gary, eBay is what it is nowadays…
Seller made a mistake in calculating shipping costs, they offered you full refund if you don’t want to cover shipping – WHAT’S THE PROBLEM???? Take refund and buy item from someone else.
And you go and buy something else to leave another negative feedback? You really have nothing else to do?
Wait when this happens to you, as a seller, and then let’s see how it feels!
I’m not defending the seller here in no way – they made a mistake ok, but is it really THAT big of a deal? They offered you refund, they did not force you to pay those extra shipping costs.
Andrew
Andrew,
No disrespect, I follow through with every sell even if it means losing money on the transaction and I learn from it. Never would I ask for additional money on an auction after it had ended. Seller has already charged double the shipping price and now expecting more.
You never know what kind of situation you may find yourself in in future Gary.
All I’m saying is that seller offered refund, you could just take it and move on. Thats’ it.
Andrew
I was left negative feedback by a buyer. He said my attitude wasn’t the best. He harassed me with two different ebay accounts pretending it was two different peple, when they were from the same town and the emails came one day after the other. He harassed me and wanted me to sell him CDs at half price and to send it that same day and by priority mail. My ad said media mail and I had two working days to send it and I told him. He anyways bought the CDs but in vengeance for me not selling him the CDs at half price and not sending it to him by Priority Mail that same day (I sent it the next day), he left negative feedback. I say if you don’t agree with the price and terms, DON’T BUY IT. It’s better for me that he doesn’t buy it, than that he buys it and then leaves negative feedback as vengeance.
Hi Jennifer,
You should report this buyer to eBay. If you had this conversation done via eBay (messages), eBay will look into it and most likely remove that negative feedback.
Andrew
One problem I have when things go wrong with an Ebay purchase is that, being housebound, I can’t get to a post office to return an item. I contact the seller to point out the problem with the item, explain that I’m not able to return it, and expect a simple ‘sorry’ or a promise to amend the listing in future if needs be.
What I get, as often as not, is an outright denial that there is a problem; accusations of being colour-blind, and then being told I can ‘always return it’ (a clear indication that sellers don’t really bother to read messages properly).
Wheras I would have simply cut my losses and moved on if I’d had a polite reply, I end up so infuriated by the seller’s response that negative feedback seems entirely warrented. Nowadays, the customer, it seems, is always wrong. Why then bother to ask unhappy customers to contact them if there is a problem. Clearly this is the last thing they really want.
Being housebound is no reason to not be able to return an item though.
There are plenty of carriers who will come and collect an item from you and send it on, usually cheaper than the post office.
It’s usually impossible to deal with a product that the buyer claims ‘isn’t as’ without seeing the item back, so the seller will end up having to refund and lose out on both the money and the item (not saying this is what you’ve done)
Hi Jerri,
Thanks for sharing this with us.
I get mostly seller comments here but it’s obviously good to hear from buyers too. Each and every situation is different of course but if you ask any eBay seller, they would tell that “the seller is always wrong” and takes loses. There are so many buyer scams going on on eBay that it’s no surprise that many sellers do not even try to fully understand each and every problem situation, as i majority of cases, buyer tries to scam the seller – keep product and money.
Thanks,
Andrew
You forgot to mention that there are those who are just unpleasant individuals who want diamonds for the price of plastic beads. Had my first ever negative feedback from a couple who bid on an item, won the item and the refused to buy it, then swore, shouted and finally threatened violence on my partner whilst she was holding one of our babies. Left negative comments about us being abusive and item not as described. Description said OK condition, £75 for a £400 solid wood cot, what did they expect, diamond encrusted! If I had cctv and sound recording I could of had the man arrested for threatening behaviour that’s how bad he was. Well because they are buyers ebay found in their favour with zero evidence that I did anything wrong. Someone should come up with a bad buyers list so as a seller you can block them from your listings.
Hi Jeremy,
Yes, I agree with you completely. There are people who simply exploit the eCommerce marketplaces like eBay/Amazon/Online shops to get goods for free by using such tactics, doing credit card charge-backs etc. etc. They make small percentage of overall custom base but unfortunately we’re not protected against cases like these…
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
Recently I received a negative feedback. The buyer said ‘product is poor’ thats it. I sent revision request and also apology letter offering him full refund but buyer does not respond. This is really unfair. If buyer does not like product that should go under product review. The product he bought is my best selling product and i have received many positive feedbacks for this product. I understand some may not like it but leaving a feedback without contacting seller is not fair.
Is the product different from picture or description? No. Did product arrived late? No. Did seller offer full refund? Yes. Now how is it fair descion for seller to leave negative feedback. Ebay should remove feedback like this and should prompt buyers to leave their view under product review if they dont like product. I really didnt like the feedback system of ebay. They should know the difference of review and feedback. Feedback should only be for seller performance not for product quality if product match picture and description
Same things just happened to me.I’m fuming. First ever negative feedback for an item I’ve sold tens of times.always checked before posting ,every customer really happy.Not this one didn’t even contact me but I refunded immediately on reading comment. Apologised profusely and asked her politely to review feedback.she agreed (also kept product).
Nothing !!! Even a request through eBay . She’s ignored it.
I’ve come to the conclusion she wanted a freebie and got it.
Once matter is resolved eBay should be forced to remove negative comments.
I completely agree with you Raj!
Unfortunately neither me or you can make eBay sort this out.
Andrew
This is a seller story about how some other sellers have used the feedback system to retaliate when you leave feedback they don’t like, but it didn’t start off that way.
I have had a nightmare experience which fortunately ebay has been quite helpful in resolving. First, I purchased from a seller and left positive feedback but did mention that the item was torn (which it was) and that this should have been mentioned in the description. I did say that the prices was A+++.
The seller contacted me via ebay email system with a rather nasty” Did you even look at he picture?” I had looked at the picture and hidden well behind another part of the item you could barely make out that it was torn.
The seller continued to bully me through email 9 more times. I finally just ignored them but contacted ebay explaining the abuse. That’s when things got really crazy.
The seller used another account of theirs to buy something from me. Fortunately I caught the address saw it was exactly the same as the seller I had just had been abused by and contacted ebay who told me to just cancel the sale and they would make sure this person was unable to leave negative feedback or purchase from me again. If necessary they would go so far as to catch the sellers IP address to stop the abuse.
They then sent positive feedback from the original sale saying. “I cannot say what I really want to. Get the hint.” Once again I contacted ebay and this comment was removed and the incident was passed on to higher management.
I have a 1140 100% positive feedback score which I work extremely hard to maintain. I love my customers. I have learned the lesson and pass this on to ALL sellers to use another account other than their seller account to buy from.
Most of you may already know this. I did not.
Hi,
How did you go about this? I had the same think happen to me and ebay says they don’t have a policy to remove the feedback.
Thanks for sharing this with us!
This is exactly why it’s best to use separate account for purchases, so that you don’t jeopardise your main selling account when things go wrong with a purchase.
Thanks,
Andrew
Hello Andrew,
Yesterday I received a neg feedback for the first time. The buyer said this: ” item looks different in picture” That,s it. But the buyer bought this item on June 04 and I received the feedback on July 26. I do not have an option cancel items. So what can I do in that case?
Hi Sabina,
Message buyer and see if you can work out some kind of deal – e.g. return or straight refund in exchange of feedback removal/editing.
Not much else you can do.
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
I tried to make a contact with the buyer, offered her full refund but still no answer.I also told her that she should have contacted me when receiving the item and I would accept return and refund. I wrote her 2 times but no answer. I apologized her for the inconvenience I caused. I was polite. So what would you advise me next-shall I report the buyer and try to explain the situation in the comments box or simply leave a feedback comment.
Thanks a lot!
Not much you can do really in a situation like this…
Just leave a comment in the feedback explaining situation (not much space there but still – better than nothing).
Andrew
Hi Andrew, I’ve just had a neg feedback today, the customer has stated that they recieved my package but there ws nothing inside it, just bubble wrap!
This item was 100% posted. She sent a message asking where it is and before I had the chance to reply shes left neg feedback! Very annoying as i am just starting out and genuinely posted it.
I would have gave her a refund as it was only worth £3. How should I resolve this issue?
Thanks
Hi Chris,
Communicate this withe the buyer – offer her full refund for exchange of feedback removal.
Hopefully she agrees to that.
Andrew
I recently bought a comic book from a seller and asked several questions about it BEFORE I purchased it seeing what appeared to be some dents in the cover. The seller told me no, no issues, must be the lighting in the pic. When the comic arrived, lo and behold, dents in the exact same spot I had asked about, with a few more issues to boot. I promptly asked to return the book and asked the seller to refund return fees and they told me no, claiming I knew about the issues. Now I’m dealing with a liar so I open up a case and the guys sends me a message saying he would give me a refund only if I gave him a five star rating. So now I’m getting blackmailed into getting my money back. Needless to say I told him no, people like you shouldn’t get a good rating for lying and treating their customers like this and proceeded to leave a bad review. What do you know, next day I see it had been removed and I’m still getting cheated out money returning this garbage book back. Thanks a lot eBay!!!
I stopped selling vintage magazines and other usable magazines. The person would buy it, and then a couple of weeks later wanted to return the magazines after they finished reading them. Hello I am not a library.
Hello, thank you for this article!!! I go out of my way to leave my customers happy!! I just in 15 years received negative feedback and I agree it is hard not to take personally. I know eBay has new policies to help protect sellers but as this is my first time with this situation I don’t know what to do except experience heightened anxiety (I have a diagnosed anxiet disorder that has led to agoraphobia and as it is so early–I learned of this at 4 AM east coast time, and now it is 6:45 and eBay doesn’t open for phone calls until 9 am west coast time so I did all I thought I could but I the meantime besides taking my antianxiety medication I’m still freaking out.
Let me explain my situation. I am selling on eBay as a means to simplify my life. I had a bunch of skincare items & wanted to finish listing them to get something out of the way so I decided to list the remaining items for $0.99 starting bids…,I WILL NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!! I don’t inflate shipping so I was making an average of 30-45 cents profit an order because most items only sold for $.99. Too much work considering how much time I take writing descriptions, taking photos, and then wrapping packages and sending personalized thank you cards.
Last weekend most of the auctions ended, I had one seller win an auction for a PETER THOMAS ROTH cucumber detox mask in 1oz (noted in title & description & photo) w/ $16.00 retail. I provide LOTS of information in my listings and I will give you the link to my auction before I finish this reply. Well, I communicated w/the buyer amiably at the end of the auction as I always send personalized messages with shipping details etc. I noted how the buyer was selling some items I was looking for so it was all nice (and I think it’s important to note we communicated w/out eBay reporting prior) my buyer gets the item on Wednesday and right away makes a report against me saying the photo was misleading and they thought they were receiving two of the items (NOWHERE DO I SAY THIS NOT EVEN in photo). Noted buyer would get 1oz worth $16.00 there are what might look like two separate tubes in my photo if you don’t read and notice one photo shows and is labeled the front and the other the back of the tube. Perhaps now I should share the link?
THOMAS-ROTH-CUCUMBER-GEL-MASK-Deluxe-Sample-1OZ-NEW-UNOPENED-MSR-16-00-/322028658658?ssPageName=ADME:X::US:1123
First, the title itself notes only one item. PLUS every time I offer more than one item I clearly note in title as well as description. The photo as I noted the same 1oz tube and shows the front and back of tube labeled as such. If this is not enough my description notes this as well (I noticed this seller merely says “see photo for description” so this may mean they don’t fully read a description as well as policies of seller. As this is not a business I cannot except refunds but I note unless I grossly misrepresent my item which I feel I did not (Maybe some of you have an opinion?). The seller said in this ebay report as item not received they want a partial refund. Well…. and this is what REALLY gets me. This auction ended at $1.04 plus actual First Class shipping. In the end and after ALL my work I only made a $.46 profit. Now this buyer wants a partial refund for a $16.00 retailed item?!? PLUS, they NEVER CONTACTED ME DIRECTLY PRIOR (if they had I would have refunded the partial part just to get this person “off my back.”). In the meantime I noticed the negative feedback which REALLY escalated my anxiety and feelings of upset!! I just noticed that because of this unfair negative feedback my 100% feedback went to 97.1% after 1,548 feedback occasions. Now I want to vomit!!
I asked ebay to remove this feedback. I also sent a report saying buyer violated rules for asking for “unseasonable demands” (asking for partial refund when it is clear I am only selling one item). I will be calling ebay as soon as they open as I now know the change to my feedback is SO IMPACTING I want them to resolve as soon as possible and advise me as to what else I need to do. Truly there are so many ways this all could have been avoided, and I am so UPSET with the ebay buyers who want “something for nothing.” It is so wrong!!
I feel what this buyer did was unethical/a violation of policy/unnecessary as well as wrong!! Also, why is it I cannot leave negative feedback for this individual? I think others should know what they are in for. I did reply to the negative feedback left but people who are lazy (as this buyer seems) only look at the number. I am totally going to cry after I send this.
I truly feel for all of you who have been through something like this and thank you again, Andrew!!
What if negative feedback is complete lies, it can be proven that it’s lies, but the buyer will not reply to requests for clarification.
I don’t think that ebay’s stance to not remove negative feedback is good enough.
Negative feedback left by a buyer for a seller ought to be fully visible for a year on a buyer’s home page, same as it is on a seller’s page. A seller could then decide whether to cancel a transaction if the buyer has a tendency to leave poor feedback.
Hi Roland,
You can only find this out by contacting eBay. Best is to simply call eBay support and explain your situation.
Sometimes they actually remove such feedbacks very easily, while sometimes they don’t. It all comes down to person you speak to so if you fail with first call, try calling them again and speak withs someone else.
Andrew
Thanks for your reply. Very prompt and caring.
Supplementary! I had a look at my dashboard today because ebay led me there, wanting to explain the new seller standards that are coming in. They show you the new reporting system side by side with the current one. It all highlighted that out of 784 assessed transactions 8 of them had been reported by the buyers as late. But I send everything out same day and can prove that! I don’t have tracked records because it’s too expensive to use relative to the price of goods I offer on ebay. It would be a cost I could not pass on, and the expense would lose me money so no point in trading. But I do have a stamped and signed “proof of posting” certificate for each day’s post. Trouble is, this is of no use when people can tell pointless lies about late posting and get away with it. The ebay “report this buyer” feature is only used statistically and does not result in any action taken.
Other than that, of course, life goes on and most customers are perfectly OK, mustn’t forget that!
8 out of 784 is a VERY low number, you don’t have to worry about anything.
You’ll still qualify for TRS with new rules kicking in on 20th February.
Andrew
Cheers again for the reply. It’s interesting that there is an intelligent mind out there who makes personalised responses to each message. Ebay should take note, and learn.
You’re welcome Rondar! 🙂