Home › Forums › Customer Issues › Buyer is “forced” to leave me negative feedback.
- This topic has 17 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 1 year, 5 months ago by
VintageTreasures.
-
AuthorPosts
-
-
03/17/2020 at 7:01 am #75201
I bought last year about 40 packs of Japanese Pokemon prismatic cards from 1990. They are regular sellers for $30 and have received positive feedback from buyers. These are sealed packages. I opened 1 pack for photos and say very clearly in my description that they will receive a SEALED pack.
I sold a pack last week and the buyers claimed they have some “white spots” on them and customer is claiming that they are used and i tricked them. I apologized and explained what I stated above. These are old and sealed and I didn’t know.
I am always suspicious when someone claims… “but I still want them and was wondering what you can do.” I would usually just refund the money but I’m getting tired of bullsh*t from buyers so I told them to return them and I will refund their money or send them a new pack. Now they told me they are “forced” to give me negative feedback to protect other buyers.
Seriously? Now they are angry that they have to return them. I told them I will open another pack and send photos before they are mailed. What else can I do? Can this feedback be taken off my account? Liz
-
This topic was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by
catmom.
-
This topic was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by
-
03/17/2020 at 7:51 am #75203
You will need to call eBay and explain the situation. It seems pretty straight forward to me, but I can’t tell you whether or not they will remove it. You did all the right things, and the customer is refusing to return the item.
If you get an unreasonable customer service rep, you can always wait a day and call back. Sometimes different reps will result in different results.
You also can contact the “eBay For Business” group on Facebook. They will take up to a day to get back to you, but they are usually pretty reasonable.
-
03/17/2020 at 8:15 am #75204
Sharyn,
Thank you (as always) for your thoughtful response. You have answered many questions for me on this forum.Stay well and have a peaceful day. Liz (Catmom)
-
03/17/2020 at 11:37 am #75215
That’s unfortunate. They may be bluffing about the negative feedback if they haven’t left it already. eBay reps may find this to be feedback extortion.
And not to bum you out, but I’ve never had eBay reps remove bad feedback. I think a lot of people here have higher store tiers and possibly have more pull with eBay. Not to say eBay doesn’t care about smaller sellers, but I can’t think of another reason. If you have an anchor store you’re probably fine. Otherwise, the reps will just give you a bunch of busywork and an arbitrary list of requirements for having it removed. I’ve called back multiple times and they’ve given me a different set of instructions for their “feedback removal process” each time. The last person told me that in order to remove feedback I had to message the buyer, then call back either 24 hours from the time I sent the message, or call immediately after getting a reply from them. When I did just that, the rep said there was no policy for feedback removal (?) and that my previous conversation wasn’t on record in the system.
It’s entirely possible I could have kept calling back until I got a “reasonable” rep to remove it, but I think my time is worth more than that. What made me feel a bit better was getting a message a few days later from a buyer saying they’d specifically bought from me because of my feedback history. At that point the bad feedback would have been right near the top, too.
It doesn’t feel good to get a negative, but ultimately you just have to roll with it. Very few sellers have 100% feedback.
-
03/17/2020 at 12:18 pm #75219
They are fishing for a partial refund.
-
03/17/2020 at 12:59 pm #75226
Thank you Indy for sharing your experience with me. I am a hobby seller with NO clout at all. Just have to see what happens.
Old Dad… i think you are correct about the partial refund. They haven’t bothered to open a refund request yet. I told them open it and I would send them the return postage slip immediately. They were clearly ON the computer all evening because they sent me 6 LENGTHY messages of how inconvenient it would be to send them back and how the cards and my trickery is ruining their life! lol
thanks all! please be safe and healthy. wishing you peace. liz
-
03/17/2020 at 4:44 pm #75240
If all of these messages are going through the eBay messaging system, you will have a record of feedback extortion. I strongly recommend you either call eBay or, so that you have it in writing, use the Facebook page to message eBay BEFORE they leave the feedback. The BUYER needs to learn this is unacceptable behavior. You have done nothing wrong and can stand proud behind your sale.
After experiencing crappy buyer behavior my stock response is send it back for a refund, and then I let them stew. No email tag, no arguments. Ok, perhaps I’ll reply once or twice more with a polite request to send the item back for a refund, but after that, as J&L say, they get the silent treatment. Sellers not standing up for themselves are fostering bad buyer behavior and I believe eBay is aware that it is happening more often. I’m fairly certain they’ll back you up, even if you are just a “hobby seller.”
And WE’RE all behind you! You got this, girl! You’ll be just fine!
-
03/17/2020 at 5:05 pm #75242
Amatino… awesome advice! Thank you!
I just messaged Ebay on facebook with a brief description of what is going on and all of the messages thus far. I do this as a hobby and I go out of my way to make sure buyers are happy. If I make a mistake, no problem… full refund, keep the item but for some reason THIS buyer is being particularly sh*tty. I think they just want me to send another pack for free and keep the first set and are refusing to start a return on the item.
At this point I am done communicating unless they begin a return transaction. Just return the item and get on with your life. Is that such a foreign concept? Thanks!
-
03/17/2020 at 10:32 pm #75251
ANOTHER message from this seller:
why would I waste all my time shipping them back right away when I don’t even know if you can provide me with a better set I totally wasted my time buying something brand-new that was totally not brand-new at all and now I have to go through all of this when I was supposed to receive the right thing the first time or I’ll take these cards the way they are but I would like to be reimbursed half the money back witch would be $17 . Due to all the confusion and not receiving what I was told I really don’t want to have to give you bad feedback but this is totally uncalled for . accident or not you got to make sure what you’re selling is what you are saying it is or you take the chance of dealing with a complaint due to bad business . So I respectfully ask for you to just reimburse me half the money back and I will give you good feedback due to understanding and making it right because right now I feel like it was a big waste of my time and money doing business with youOr I will respectfully return item as is but I will be issuing a complaint as to why I am returning them for a refund then I’ll shop for these cards somewhere else . This is my last attempt to make things right with this purchase .
Ignore this right?
-
03/17/2020 at 11:02 pm #75252
Ignore. Red flags everywhere. Take the current state of the world and realize this guy’s #1 concern is a partial refund scam over some expensive pieces of cardboard. That’s all you need to know. Each message they send just builds a better case for eBay removing the negative.
-
03/18/2020 at 12:38 am #75255
I just looked at the listing, and I have to say that the buyer has a point. The item is listed as “New”, and the ebay definition of “New” clearly includes the word “undamaged.” So, yes, this buyer is definitely not the calmest/politest one I’ve seen, but what would be so wrong with a partial refund if that’s what they want and then you don’t get stuck with paying the return shipping cost AND a flawed deck you have no use for? I don’t see anything “suspicious” about that.
As for feedback extortion – sure, that’s what they’re doing – big deal – don’t sweat it. You can try to get that removed or not if it happens. I have never ever heard of anyone complaining “omg, my feedback went down from 100% to 99% and my sales have tanked!”.
Sorry if this sounds snarky – it’s not meant to be – just offering my approach.
-
03/18/2020 at 12:49 am #75256
I just realized that we don’t know whether the buyer sent you a photo of these white spots or not. My SOP is to first ask for a photo of any damage. If you see the damage for yourself, then having the item sent back is just a waste of buyer’s time and your money, in which case the buyer’s annoyance is understandable at hearing that option. I would offer partial refund, and if that didn’t satisfy them, I would offer to ship them a brand new (checked by you) pack. Anything to avoid paying for shipping back a damaged item. If they don’t send photos after you ask, then yes, just offer your return policy and ignore.
-
03/18/2020 at 2:15 am #75257
Just to put this all together re: how to handle these from start to finish:
* Ask for a photo. See the damage for yourself. If the person is bluffing, they either stop responding or claim they can’t take pictures.
* If they can’t prove the damage, stick to “Happy to take a return.”
* If you believe the damage is legit, refund X amount.
* If they return the item, so be it. Cost of doing business.
Asking for the photo is a good move because it puts the ball in their court right away. Anyone can compose a message, but it takes just enough effort to take a photo that some people won’t even bother.
-
03/18/2020 at 7:11 am #75258
I am just going to give him the refund requested and move on with my life. He did not prove any damage to the cards and apparently still wants them. I can’t imagine being this rude over anything, let alone some dumb Pokemon cards.
More importantly, should i NOT list them as New if they are old stock and sealed?
My listing CLEARLY states that you will receive a sealed pack.
Should i change my description to pre-owned?
-
03/18/2020 at 3:19 pm #75285
For vintage new in package items, I always list it as pre-owned or used, and then in the condition section I say something like “never opened or used, but since it’s old I can’t guarantee the condition of what’s inside.” For example, I just sold an old still-shrink-wrapped paint by numbers kit like that, and i mentioned “the paints inside may be dried out”
That’s my CYA approach.
-
-
03/18/2020 at 10:24 am #75263
I would change the listing to Vintage New Old Stock and leave it at that. This buyer is a jerk and deserves to have his armpits infested with the hungry fleas of a thousand skinny camels.
-
03/18/2020 at 1:01 pm #75265
I would want a photo of the damage before I would give any amount of refund to the buyer.
That being said I had a buyer (years ago, before there were free returns for any reason) who claimed the item I sold her arrived damaged and then said her computer was down so she couldn’t send a photo of the damage.
After a lot of back and forth I sent her a return label at which point I was sure it was a scam – how could she print out the return label if her computer was down? Yup, you guessed it, the item was damaged in exactly the way she described when I got it back. So that means I paid for return shipping and got back an unsellable item. It would have been a lot cheaper for me to just refund her without paying for return shipping on the item.
It could be that your decision to partially refund is the best solution. Just a side note: I was told by an eBay customer rep recently that if you have free returns, negative feedback will ALWAYS be removed. And I don’t have an anchor store so it wasn’t some special dispensation for bigger sellers.
-
03/18/2020 at 3:39 pm #75286
At eBay Open in Vegas 2 years ago I was told that if I listed something vintage as new (even if it was still sealed in the original packaging and never opened) and there was a dispute with a buyer I would lose the case because the item was most likely previously owned – just because it was vintage.
The rep I was assigned to for my consult was not very knowledgeable (in my opinion) but her job at eBay included making dispute decisions. Her take was if the item was not purchased by me from a retail (non thrift) store, but was purchased at a thrift store, it meant that someone else before me had owned it and then donated it and so it did not qualify to be listed as new. In other words if someone else ever owned the item it is then considered a used item by eBay.
I sometimes follow that advice, but more often I don’t. To me if a sewing pattern or craft kit is listed as used I assume that means the pattern has been cut or the craft kit has been started already and I just move on to the ones listed as new. I do put my caveats in the listing description, but the eBay rep said that would not cover me if there was ever a dispute.
-
-
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.