Quick question about eBay feedback

[clovis]

I just got my first ever negative feedback from a buyer on eBay.

I bent over backward trying to please this guy who had purchased the wrong item for his needs.

I offered a full refund, and this dude just left me a neg Even though we both agreed happily that he should ship it back.

If I give a full refund, will eBay pull the neg FB he left?

The return and refund is being handled thru eBay's grievance system...I can't remember what they call this!
Thanks!!!!!!

[Ken Scharabok]

Resolution Center. You have the option to counter comment on your feedback to him. Last I used was, "This party would complain if hung with a new rope." I no longer deal with jewelry people, they want absolutely perfect at a cheap price. No wonder jewelry tools are so expensive.

A buyer and seller can agree to have negative feedback taken off.

[Bandit]

Hi Clovis
Sorry to hear that You got to experence " The New FEE-Bay " Where the Seller is NOT allowed to leave Negative Feedback or a hint of it for the buyer , or it will be removed and You will get spanked by receiving an uncalled for Neg. As for getting the Buyers Feedback removed , Good luck in the Resolution Center as they consider that the buyers opinion , and normally will not remove it .
I was going to make a post with examples from the discussion boards , like I often do , but they seem to have been recently whitewashed ? As there is nothing about negative feedback there , and only one showing positive ?
Bob

[clovis]

Thanks, Ken.
I thought I read that eBay had changed the ruling so that if they returned the item, the FB was null and could be removed by eBay.

I doubt this guy would ever agree to removing the feedback. You do know that I should be ruined for life because I didn't note the exact brightness of paper stock in his book, LOL. And the shiipping envelope was 28#, but he feels like 29 or 30# would have been more appropriate. (You would laugh if you knew paper like I do.)

[Bandit]

Clovis
I am pretty sure that You will be charged $ 20 by pay pal for allowing them to assist You in refunding $$$$ to your customer. ( read it in seller central )
Please keep us updated on what happens .
Bob

[DENALI]

Frankly if he already left me a negative i no longer will do anything to help him. If he does not open a dispute to where ebay/paypal automatically holds the money from the transaction then i would not offer to refund him a penny. Also dont offer him a refund to remove the negative in an email, you will get suspended for feedback extortion.
On a side note i had one ebay buyer that was a greedy thief, he bought 3 items and left 3 negatives because he wanted free shipping after the fact. He also had a track record of leaving about 40% negatives for all of his transactions. In a situation like this i admit i broke ebays "rules" but he was trying to commit fraud on me with feedback extortion so in my mind it was fair game. Here is what i done, I pulled his contact information so that i had his phone number and i called him and simply said "if you agree to revise the feedback then i would be willing to refund you in full including the purchase price and shipping and you can keep the items", (dont email him with this proposal because then he has an email as proof to ebay and they will suspend you) Knowing he was greedy and was trying to rip me off i knew he would take me up on this offer. So i sent him the 3 feedback revision requests and he revised them all to positives..... and thats all i did. He emailed me asking for his refunds and i was simply like "your crazy! Why would i agree to something like that?" and that was the last contact i had with him...... be sure to add him to your blocked bidder list.

[clovis]

Thank you for thr replies, Ken, bandit and Denali.

Someone cut the main phone cable in our town today, so I am forced to use my iPhone. I love it but it is being slow tonight. I'm a slow typer on the iPhone!

I am really strong with customer service, so I called the guy yesterday to smooth things out and offer a refund. It was after that when he gave the neg!!! I hung up thinking all was well, but my gut kept telling me "this is not the last out of this guy".

He surprised me with a friendly email tonight, as if we were long lost friends. Go figure. I wanted to tell him to jump in a lake, or something like that. LOL.

Bob, I am unaware of the $20 charge. I've had cases go to resolution, but I've never seen any fee like that, or had one removed from my PP acct.

Denali- that is hysterical!!!!! How long ago did that happen?

Thanks for all the great advise so far, and please keep it coming.

[clovis]

As an update, the buyer replied to my email that I sent last night.

His email says "don't worry about the negative. It will get removed. I've been though this process many times before."

I've had a feeling this guy has gamed the system in the past, and now there is proof.

Again, thank you for the input on this topic!

[ErinP]

You can try to get the buyer to withdraw it clovis, but at the same time, it's not the end of the world to get a negative. Especially when you already have so many positives. It'll fall off your record after a year and where you have so many feedbacks a month, it won't make a huge dent in your overall rating.

I've gotten three over the years. One of which was retaliatory from a seller. One from a newbie who couldn't understand why it took three days to receive her package!
It's extremely frustrating, and a dent to the self-confidence, but keep it in perspective clovis-- It's not a disaster.
It probably won't even affect your Top-Seller status. That's the blessing of being a volume seller, afterall. You can absorb this.

[Bandit]

Hi Clovis
Please hang in there and watch Your back , this in not Your Grandparents E-Bay any more .
I was looking through My saved folders , and All the negative post regarding feedback or DSR's are Blank , got to love E-Bay and there honesty .
Bob
I guess the posting fairies are on vacation this week
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/topic/Sel...ight/510296697
Have a customer cancel sale , not pay , and still neg You with all 1's
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/topic/Tru...e-Of/520252699
DSR He!!
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/topic/Sel...b-49/510277205

[Bandit]

It looks like the $ 20 fee is if You lose a charge back from a CC .
https://www.paypal-community.com/t5/...Fee/td-p/75593
Bob

[JohnP]

I had it done years ago and it does have to be by mutual agreement. The fee gets paid to "square trade" after the ebay resolution process. Ebay doesn't do it, "Square Trade" a 3rd Party does it. It's probably owned by ebay truth be known. Kind of like ebay and paypal being separate entities. Yeah right. Seems like it was $25 though.

[clovis]

Thank you for the continued replies!!

Erin, I want to especially Thank you for the words os encouragement. It really is a ding to the self confidence. I work hard to make sure every order is processed perfectly, and I want everyone to feel like they got excellent value for their money.

Part of the buyer's deal was that he wanted me to recognize that he was an expert in the area of the item at hand....and we know how self righteous a self proclaimed expert can be.

I looked at his FB again, and I see he's pulled a fast one on at least one other person.

Again, thanks all!!!!!!

[Nevada]

Originally Posted by clovis

If I give a full refund, will eBay pull the neg FB he left?

There isn't anything you can do about the neg except leave a reply. The customers will understand, but eBay won't. EBay is looking to shut-down existing sellers, so don't be too surprised if you get limited on listings, depending on your listing categories and your total feedback rating.

You don't say if this was accompanied with a formal complaint through eBay or PayPal. If so, you may also get hit with a 3 week hold on funds. The fact that a complaint was filed will now be held against you, even if it wasn't your fault and it was resolved.

EBay is getting hard-nosed. They want to push out all the individual sellers they can to make room for higher margin sellers, such as buy.com.

[Bandit]

Hi Clovis
Beside checking out Your buyers feedback on Fee-Bay ,
Do You also check them out on Toolhaus.org ? It tells a lot more
http://www.toolhaus.org/
Bandit

[ErinP]

There isn't anything you can do about the neg except leave a reply.

Yes there is!
You can get the buyer to retract it without getting Square Trade involved.

I had a dingbat last year who left me a negative because SHE bought the wrong thing. Remaining both polite and patient, I got her convinced to retract.

[ErinP]

And no problem, clovis. I completely understand how you're feeling. I haven't gotten a negative in about three years, but a neutral shows up two or three times a year (or a 1 or 2 in my DSRs) and it always lays me low when it does.
It's such a blow to the ego. And I get so angry. Stupid customers! Why do I deal with people like this?? You can't make people happy!! Why do I bother with eBay?? I have no control!
Maybe this is a trend. Maybe I shouldn't be in this business...

But then, after I smack myself upside the head, I remind myself that 'hey, wait a sec... I have a 4.8-9% DSR rating. I can take this. Most people think I'm a phenomenal seller.'

And if I remember correctly clovis, you're also a Top Rated seller. I'll agree, there's some luck involved, too, but you earn that badge.
So you must be doing something right the vast majority of the time.

[clovis]

Originally Posted by ErinP

And no problem, clovis. I completely understand how you're feeling. I haven't gotten a negative in about three years, but a neutral shows up two or three times a year (or a 1 or 2 in my DSRs) and it always lays me low when it does.
It's such a blow to the ego. And I get so angry. Stupid customers! Why do I deal with people like this?? You can't make people happy!! Why do I bother with eBay?? I have no control!
Maybe this is a trend. Maybe I shouldn't be in this business...

But then, after I smack myself upside the head, I remind myself that 'hey, wait a sec... I have a 4.8-9% DSR rating. I can take this. Most people think I'm a phenomenal seller.'

And if I remember correctly clovis, you're also a Top Rated seller. I'll agree, there's some luck involved, too, but you earn that badge.
So you must be doing something right the vast majority of the time.

Thank you again, Erin.

These are some of my exact thoughts!!!! FWIW, I am blessed to be a top rated seller. I know that no one in the world cares, but I'm pretty proud of this, at least to me. It is kind of a lonesome jubilee, if you will.

With all that said, it is hard to remember the 3,000+ positives, and countless additional emails saying "that really is the nicest example I've ever seen", when you have one guy making life difficult.

Again, thank you for your kind words!

[clovis]

UPDATE:

Finally, our phone service has been restored, so my super fast (not) dial up is back in service. Much easier to type on a forum when you have a keyboard.

The buyer returned the manual, and it arrived today. I still can't believe he sent it certified mail, return receipt. It cost him $6.71 in shipping to return it, which I am not refunding. The original shipping from me to him was $2.24.

All of this for a $16 item, which originally included free shipping from me.

I refunded the total back to the buyer. I took the route of apologizing again to him, which might sound crazy to some.

He has offered to change the neg to a positive, and I just sent the "request feedback revision."

Here's the funny part, at least to me: I spent an hour today searching and studying the process, and trying to figure out exactly how to refund the money that PP froze, which was $16. This guy already knew how, step by step, to complete the FB revision form!!!!

BTW, this guy has 27 total FB, and has left at least 4 negs in the past 1 1/2 years of his ebay history. Go figure.

[clovis]

New Update:

I sent the feedback revision request to the buyer last night.

I am really stunned that the buyer actually did revise the feedback to a positive!!!!

I'm blessed to be back to 100% positives, with no negs.

Thank you all for your help in this matter!!!!!!