Retaliatory Feedback on Ebay--What steps does one take when unwarranted

DeutscherGeist

I have read all the previous threads regarding negative feedback on ebay that is of a retaliatory nature. They still could not answer my question. So, I am posting to get your input and hopefully others can benefit too.


I am the buyer and dealt with a real arse of a seller. He refuses to honor his refund policy. I received items I felt were not as described and he kept saying they were as described. I am running out of recourse options with this guy. I want to neg him, but I am sure to get retaliation on my perfect feedback. I did my part by paying on time. I still have the cancelled check that was signed by him. My bank statements also show it clearing. I should not deserve a neg.

What can I do to prepare myself. Do I really have to pay square trade $20 to get a neg removed? Is there a way I can show ebay a scanned copy of my check and bank statement to show them that I paid and there could not possibly be any reason to receive a neg. What link do I use or what email address should I prepare myself to use in case I do get a retaliatory neg.

Its almost the 90th day approaching and I have heard that leaving feedback at the last second will no longer work because as soon as I leave it, the seller will have a 5 day extension. I never left a neg before in all my years as a buyer because the retaliation makes it not worth it at times, but this seller really hurt me, so I want other potential buyers to save their money and go with people that honor what they state in their auctions.

I know this is not the biggest problem one could face in this hobby, but I am sure people will be helped by your thoughtful input. My sympathy still goes out to people that have had bigger problems than I with collectibles on ebay.

lostdart58

Perfect feedback is nice.........but I think it is better to leave honest feedback all the time and let the "cards" fall where they may. If this guy makes a habit of overgrading cards, and doesn't honor his return policy; this needs to show up in his feedback..........

Southerncards

Feedback issues are tough. I once sold a new disk drive that was meant for a desktop computer. My auction was described in every detail. The buyer purchased the item and then complained that she thought it could be used on a laptop and it was for a desktop only. She then wanted a refund. This is her fault, not mine.

I could have said no and run the risk of a neg. She should have known what she was buying, right? I allowed her to ship it back, refunded her money, and resold it at a small loss to the next highest bidder.

Sometimes you just have to suck it up. I've had a group of auctions that ended a month ago and I'm still waiting for at least 5 feedbacks from buyers. Should I ask for them? Could I be running the risk that they were dissatisfied and are just being quiet about it and by asking, I'd be waking a sleeping giant?

Wish there was a better way.......

jimq112

<< <i>Perfect feedback is nice.........but I think it is better to leave honest feedback all the time and let the "cards" fall where they may. >>



I do that and I have 9 retaliatory negs. My % is only 98.2% and it probably costs me some sales.

If that's the guy that hid the damage in the pics from your posts about a month ago, I would leave the negative. Put something like that the item was damaged, he strung you along until you couldn't file a complaint and then refused the return. Get prepared for the negative that's coming for sure. When it comes you're allowed to post a follow up.

Start an "about me" page and tell the story of what happened, put in his pics that you kept a copy of, and also your pics of the hidden damage.

After a while your neg will be down a few pages on your feedback, anybody that bothers looking will see it was retaliatory and not worry about it.

If you need help with the "about me" or the pics let me know and I'll help.

fiveniner

great seller, thanks
smokey3399 ( 389) Feb-14-01 06:12 1107027441
Reply by fiveniner1: HOW DO I RECIEVE NEGATIVE FEEDBACK ON HIS COMMENTS?????????????????????


How would you like to get a negative feedback when the buyers says you are a great seller?I tried to contact this buyer several times after this however he would never respond back.That is the only neg I ever had in over 1000 unique feedbacks and 1800+ total.
It still irks me to this day.

bxb

The real problem here is that the eBay feedback system is horribly flawed.

In effect, it discourages you from being honest. I realize all the arguments above for leaving a neg, etc, are reasonable, but the truth is you will get a retaliatory neg, your score will go down, and if it goes low enough, you will lose business because many buyers who are quickly scanning the eBay pages will only look at your feedback score, and not investigate the details if it is say below 99% - they will simply skip over you and move on to the next guy who is selling the same thing with >99% feedback.

There should be a simple mechanism to prevent retaliatory feedback, or at least to have it removed. As in many other aspects of customer service, eBay turns a blind eye unless their stock price is affected. They would argue that it simply is too time consuming for them to personally investigate every single case of a dispute about neg feedback; the manpower required for such a task would surely erode their multi-billion dollar profit margin.

$0.02

poppie

<< <i>Perfect feedback is nice.........but I think it is better to leave honest feedback all the time and let the "cards" fall where they may. If this guy makes a habit of overgrading cards, and doesn't honor his return policy; this needs to show up in his feedback.......... >>

I agree 100% !!!! Was this the site that you bought a toy gun from that was posted several weeks ago? If it was, I followed the links and the buyer (you?) was deceived by the condition and a clear refund policy was not being honored. So far, I have left four negatives and at least 10 neutrals and I am still 100% with 400+ net left. Ebay is flawed on how the feedback system works, but it only gets worse if you do not leave appropriate negative feedbacks! Leave appropriate feedback!

MuckyMutt

First off, if you are going to sell on Ebay, have a different ID for selling. Then you can be honest on your buying ID and not worry about retalitory negs. Your FB on your buying ID doesn't mean a whole lot and you can keep your selling ID "clean" from your buying activities and any neg's from cr*ppy sellers. That being said, I wouldn't worry a whole lot about one neg - as long as you handle it well. By that I mean you should post a professional and factual response. A lot of times a potential buyer will be impressed if you handled a neg in a professional manner.

Good luck!

WinPitcher

Andre,

NEG HIM.

Buyers will see that it was a retally neg.

Steve

GOODLIEU

Leave the appropriate feedback (In this case the Neg) and if you do get a Retaliatory neg back save the $20.00 to have it removed and just reply on response" Buyers Beware- Retaliation Neg from Seller" or something similar that points out in a professional manner without name calling the kind of person your dealing with. Nobody that buys or sells frequently on EBAY would hold that against you.

MorrellMan

DG - just curious: Did you try calling this seller and discuss it man to man?
Negative feedback is not always the way to get even when you've been screwed.

DeutscherGeist

poopie and Jim,

Yes, this is exactly the vintage toy transformer I bought from the seller. He now ignores all my emails even though we exchanged many before. Its not a matter that he may not be receiving them, our emails work all right.

Mark,

I understand a neg is not a way to solve a problem. I emailed him and he really does not want to cooperate. The money means so much to him. I just hate it when sellers do not disclose vital information a collector needs about an item. If he had no return policy, I would have never ever bid. He is not honoring his return policy. You suggest I just contact the guy via phone? The emails were quite clear. I have nothing against using the phone. The guy lives in Iowa, and I live in California. I don't know how to begin a small claims law suit accross borders because that is the last option I could have and would not hesitate since this guy deserves his fate.

MorrellMan

DG - I learned my lesson on a similar deal where the seller and I exchanged some pretty darned emphatic emails. I finally got the guy's number from ebay (all buyers and sellers can easily access contact info) and called him up, suggesting that we had gone far astray in our emails and why don't we just discuss this. Of course, the guy could have just slammed the phone in my ear, but I've found that people in person never seem to be who they appear to be in emails. If you haven't lost the window of opportunity to get this guy's phone number, I would strongly recommend you try. Good luck.

Edited to add: BTW, the seller in the story above turned out to be a very decent chap who refunded my money.

Snowball

DG, In order for square trade to remove the neg. feedback given to you, square trade has to notify that person by email regarding your request. If the person didn't respond to SQ for a certain time it will be removed. If the person responded and stated that he/she doesn't want to remove your neg, SQ will not remove the negative feedback you got from that person. Yes, SQ charges $20 for removing neg. FB (moneymaking scheme of SQ and ebay -- I wonder how much ebay gets or ebay owns SQ?)

Neg. FB can be mutually withdrawn through ebay without charge.

DeutscherGeist

I appreciate the input from all of you. Really, I do.

The idea that Mark gave me to call him directly sounded nice, except that when I requested his contact information, the phone number is actually a FAX number. Others have had this problem with him too as I now realize.

I looked at his recent feedback and saw others have had a problem with contacting him via phone and with his refund policy (their auctions ended after mine). I started emailing the others who had problems with him in order that we all write to ebay at once stating that his refund policy is misleading and that his contact information is not legitimate (now I see how he avoids customers).

xbaggypants

Just suck it up. The first time I got a neg i was pissed two, now I could care less that I have one out of 2000+ transactions

Ryan

MorrellMan

DG - excellent idea. Ebay has strict policies against their sellers not providing accurate contact info. Let them know at once. They will contact the seller and advise him that there are serious repercussions in store if he doesn't pony up the proper contact info - the most immediate of which is suspension of ebay priviliges. You're not at the end of this yet.

jimq112

Bad contact information is one of the ways to get feedback removed.

Feedback left by a member who provided eBay with false contact information and could not be contacted. In general, the transaction period is considered to be 90 days from the end of the listing or 30 days from the date the feedback was left, whichever was longer.

ndleo

I agree with the two ebay ID approach. I recently started doing that since my main ID has 2000+ with no negs. I use the second one for buying, modern stuff, and raw. I don't seem to ever have problem with selling graded cards.

I do sell a lot of raw card lots and provide a very detailed description. At times I think it costs me money since I see other sellers simply calling their lots Mint, when everyone knows that true mint raw vintage hardly comes up on ebay anymore.

Also I believe that the grading standards for raw card lots should NOT be the same as PSA standards. That is why they sell for much less.

dude

<< First off, if you are going to sell on Ebay, have a different ID for selling. Then you can be honest on your buying ID and not worry about retalitory negs. Your FB on your buying ID doesn't mean a whole lot and you can keep your selling ID "clean" from your buying activities and any neg's from cr*ppy sellers. That being said, I wouldn't worry a whole lot about one neg - as long as you handle it well. By that I mean you should post a professional and factual response. A lot of times a potential buyer will be impressed if you handled a neg in a professional manner.

Good luck!>>


I agree with this too. I have a buying and selling ID. I recently got my first neg ever but it was on my buying ID and it was because of retaliatory feedback. A seller showed a scan of a dead centered card and shipped a different one (same player, year and grade but with a different cert # and the card should have been given an OC qualifier). The seller never replied to my 3 or 4 e-mails so I negged him and low and behold he retailated with a negative within 24 hours. It's ludicrous that someone should be able to get away with that, but at least it wasn't on my selling account.

DeutscherGeist

OK, I did send emails to Ebay regarding this seller giving false contact information. I even cited another buyer who had the same problem (gave the item number of that transaction). That should be a tight case. Ebay will not tell me the results of the investigation though. With a clear cut case like this, I think this seller is going to be surprised. I hate doing this, but he brought it upon himself and I know you guys back me.

Judging from how we reported listing violations in the past and then seeing the auctions go poof, Ebay does follow through at times.

MorrellMan

Yes they do - and I wouldn't expect a lot of time to pass before action is taken either. Good luck and please let us know how it turns out.

DeutscherGeist

I got this message back from ebay. I am only quoting the important part:

"While investigating the matter, we have not been able to reach the
account holder or verify the accuracy of the account holder's
registration information. As a precaution, we have temporarily
restricted the member's ability to trade on eBay until further
information can be obtained. Our difficulties in reaching this member
may be caused by something as simple as a typographical error in his or
her contact information. For this reason, our decision to restrict this
member should not be viewed as a negative reflection on that member."


I looked at the seller "wheeljackslab" and saw that hundreds of items were still for sale. I have no idea what ebay wanted to do or if they finally got accurate contact information. I don't understand what they meant by "restricted the member's ability to trade on ebay."


Ebay addressed my contention that this seller's refund policy is misleading. They simply said to always email a seller for specifics before bidding. I guess they can't do anything here. The sellers policy is clear, he is just going back on his word.