OT: I HATE E-BAY!!!, Got held "feedback hostage".... and lost Options

[ninefourteener]

I'm so pissed off.

Remember the guitar I was selling for my friend last week? It was an absolutely GORGEOUS, mint-condition Alembic. I mean, this thing was MINT.... I cannot possibly express how clean this instrument was.

Nevertheless, winning bidder buys it.... pays for it immediately..... so I leave very positive feedback for such a quick payment, and ship it out the next day.

3 days go by, and I get an e-mail... "It has dents and scratches all over it..... What will you do to rectify this situation??

I told him that if it is damaged, he can bring it to the post office and claim insurance on it. After all, I insured it for more than he paid for it........ But he didn't want to do that.

I offered him a full refund if he sent it back...... He didn't want to do that either.

What he DID want.......... was cash. He said that I should refund the difference between what he paid for shipping, and what I actually spent on shipping..... which was about $35.00. (Keep in mind, this was almost a $1500 transaction). Yet.... he demanded that I pay him first.... THEN he'd leave his feedback.

I refused to "buy him off" for $35....... now I have my first negative feedback in 67 transactions...... over 35 f*cking dollars. What an asshole.

This ever happened to anyone else?

[skline]

I have heard of this but it's never happened to me. I have gone to leaving feedback after the transaction is complete and the other party has left feedback for me. I would complain to Ebay about it, you did keep all the emails from it? Turn him in to Ebay as a fraudulent buyer and explain it to them. They may reverse it or remove it or at least make him a non registered user. It's worth a try. The only negative feedback I got was from a guy (I think he is a member here) that left me negative like I was the seller when in fact, I was the buyer. He didnt know what he was doing. He appologized and wrote he was sorry but at that time, feedback was not removable.

[Root_Werks]

Yep, sold a Disney video once for like $10. Buyer won, didn't pay, I sent invoice, e-mailed, another invoice, more e-mails. 2 weeks later I relisted and sold the item to someone else. Posted neg feedback on the ID. Later he posted neg on me, said he couldn't get a hold of me. WTF?! I later e-mailed him and said, no harm no foul, I will remove my neg on you if you remove on me. he said no, it was all my fault. So out of only 20, I have the 1 neg. What an asshole.

[SLITS]

You have the opportunity to state your end of it as a comment.

"Claimed damage..offered refund..refused..left neg feedback" end of story!!

:dhead: (s) exist everywhere

[VegasRacer]

I feel your pain.

After over 500 eBay transactions, I got my first negative feedback last week from a newbie. I saw an item I wanted to bid on. The seller did not state the shipping cost, so I sent him an e-mail to ask "How much?". He promptly replied. I won the auction. He then sends me an invoice asking for more than double the shipping he quoted a few days earlier. I sent him several emails asking WTF? (politely). He never replies. A week later he give me a neg. for nonpayment.

I mostly buy (snipe) stuff so it really didn't hurt me lowering my feedback to 395 (99.7%) OTOH, his score went from 3 down to 2 (75%) :finger2:

[ninefourteener]

Oh I responded.....

Something like "seller beware, plays feedback hostage, wants undeserved money, etc"

Whatever.. it sucks, but I'll deal with it

[Gustl]

there might be another possibility

my english's too bad to explain in detail what happend to me at the beginning of this year, but it was something like this:
- I was the winning bidder
- I did the PayPal transaction
- after 8 weeks no item and no replies to 3 mails
- left negative feedback
- the seller got rid of this feedback by using squaretrade

I don't know how it works, but they mailed me if I'd agree to delete this negative feedback - I didn't react - after one more week they told me, that the seller paid $20 and the deleted it anyway - no matter if I had agreed or not (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

don't know if this still work, but I'm sure you'll find it out at their homepage ...
good luck

Gustl

[TC/914]

You HAVE to contact the admistration at Ebay and stop him. They are really good at responding to this kind of stuff. A buddy had a similar run in and they went to bat for him.

Ebay stock is going through the roof and they're been advertising regularly on television for almost a year. They REALLY want to be legit and this kind of thing is just what they're getting rid of in order to become so.

Get in touch and explain everything clearly. If you have emails all the better, but get in touch with them. Minimum, you'll get your rating back/the negative removed. With luck they'll remove HIM as well.

Luck,

TC

[mack914]

I have a feedback rating close to 700, with over 1000 transactions made in 4 years. I have received and also have given out negative feedback. I received 3 negative hits from a guy who lost patients when he didn't receive his goods, and three days later did. I love negatives from those guys who want to make up a lose on an item by marking up the shipping. I refuse to pay $30 for an item that weights 5lbs, and will take a negative rather then to give in to some clown. And there is always those guys who win an auction no mater what the price, then refuse to pay, communicate, or even acknowledge that they live on this planet. It's all part of doing ebay and I enjoy it. Lots of positive experiences with those people who know how to buy and sell.

[anthony]

Here are my tips for sellers:

Don't give feedback until you have a happy customer on the other end.

Don't offer conditional feedback (that is against the rules even though lots do it)**

Be careful about giving negative feedback. Think if it will really benefit you. I only give negative feedback for crooks. I'm not going to risk my feedback though for a non-payer or non-responder.

For buying use a different user ID. This allows you to give negative feedback to sellers without endangering your selling record with retaliatory feedback.



**What I do is include a note with my auction saying something like "Thanks for the purchase. Let me know when you've received the item and are 100% satisfied and I will gladly give you positive feedback."

[ninefourteener]

I thought about fighting this thing tooth and nail, but in all honesty, it really isn't worth the effort. I went through this a little over a year ago when a guy sold me a broken car stereo. It went back and forth several times. The charged my credit card, they refunded, they charged, they refunded, etc. I wrote countless letters, made countless phone calls..... all for 75 bucks.

Yea... eventually I got my $$$ back... but it took over 6 months.

I'm not losing any money here. Hell, I've been paid... the only thing I'm really pissed about is the damage to my ebay reputation. Yea.... it may matter a little bit the next time I sell something, but I used my "About me" page to clearly explain what happened, and the results.

Anyone wanna check out my "about Me" page and give me advice? Does it look ok? If you were interested in buying something I'm selling, would you be ok with placing a bid? My ebay handle is the same as it is here.... ninefourteener

I figure next time I sell something.... the first words in my ad will be "Please excuse my recent negative feedback. I feel is is greatly unjust. For a full explanation, please read my about me page."

Thoughts?????

[GWN7]

I sold some bib overalls on Ebay. A woman bought them for her husband. In the ad I stated the chest size but I didn't state that it was the chest size and she thought it was the waist. So I get a email from her asking if she can exchange them for a larger size or get a refund. I tell her sorry that is the only size I have and as the ad wasn't clear I would refund her money. I go look and she left me a negative feedback an hour before she emailed me and asked for the exchange/refund. So I emailed her again and quoted ebay where they say try and work out problems before leaving feedback and ask her if she had ever read that. Never heard back from her again. You can't make everyone happy.....

[boxstr]

Sorry to say this but I have had it happen, and I considered the choices, pay and get positive feedback or not pay and get negative feedback.
I considered that paying was a way of keeping a clean feedback rating and keep the buyer happy.
Just consider it the cost of doing business, and the customer is always right.
I know this is a hard pill to swallow sometimes, but I would rather keep the customer happy and not have any negative remarks made about me, or my business practices.
CCLINCUSTOMERSATISFACTIONISKEY

[nickg]

boxstr....wtf is it wth you always having something like cclininsertphrasehere? wtf does that mean? i must be dumb (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[boxstr]

Nick, no you are not dumb. It is just my way of signing off.
CCLINTELLME?????

[Porsche Rescue]

The CCL are his initials. The rest is where he is, like CCLINOUTTOLUNCH (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) (Now he probably won't sell me the blue car)

[boxstr]

Jim Of course I will sell you the blue car.
CCLINPRICEJUSTWENTUP (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

[morph]

i agree with craig about keeping youre cutomers happy.out of a that large of a transaction 35.00 isnt nothing.it is a tough pill to swallow but keeping youre image is important to you, just do it and walk away.i allways dont leave feedback untill left for me.and i explain everything about the transaction clearly.so there is no mistake.if there not reading the the info about the transaction or what you say to them in person.then its there mistake.ive ran ito a few business problems and allways it was cause they didnt listen or read.

[ninefourteener]

Actually..... I agree with you both.

I agreed to pay him the $35. I did want to keep a positive feedback rating, and I wanted to keep the customer happy.

My only stipulation was that he leave positive feedback first... then I would send him $35.

He never responded back, and just left negative feedback.

[anthony]

I'd take a negative before sending a blackmailer $35. Fuck him.