posted on November 1, 2001 12:08:59 PM new
I sold a large jewelry box which was carefully packaged and shipped UPS. when it arrived 2 weeks later it was severly damaged.
I told the buyer to send me pictures which looked as though someone had literally pried the back off of it
UPS paid the insurance claim within 2 weeks, pretty fast, I thought.
buyer leaves me a neg;
"made refund after accusing me of damaging poorly packaged item RUDE!"
I am steamed, my first neg.
I calmly replied;
"UPS paid ins claim within 2 weeks, buyer was asked to provide pics of damage"
does this sound alright? will people understand? I have over 400 feedback with 1 neutral, mostly for great packaging.
I already left them good feedback that they deserved.
posted on November 1, 2001 12:14:44 PM new
that is the best way to deal with it. calmly state the facts and move on. Sorry about your first neg but nobody will hold it against you. Lots of luck
posted on November 1, 2001 12:16:41 PM new
My friend got her first negative the other day on eBay. Well over 1,500 before the first which was undeserved of course.
It's like getting that first scratch on a new car.
posted on November 1, 2001 12:50:02 PM new
You handled the situation exactlly as you should have. We buyers can look past the neg. and see that there is more to the story than the buyer indicated.
*******************************************
"Don't put off till tomorrow what
you can do today because if you do
it today and like it, you can do it
again tomorrow."
Edit to correct the UBB ?
[ edited by roddaddy on Nov 1, 2001 12:51 PM ]
posted on November 1, 2001 12:53:48 PM new
The feedback system is a puzzle to me.
My first negative was from a person who bid on an item, told me she had sent payment overnight via UPS, and gave tracking # - wanting me to mail on the strength of this on a $100 item. UPS said tracking # was not a valid #. When I emailed this, I got a horrible reply and a negative. She did same to another person who was nice enough to mail and PO returned the package stating not a valid address. She also gave them negative. She had 1 feedback, then either was put off or dropped her ID. There was something so fishy, but Ebay refused to remove the negative.
This was a hot Barbie item very close to Christmas. The other seller and myself had the same item. I just wondered if this person was selling the same item and was bidding on ours to outbid anyone so theirs would sell. I hope I worded that correctly. But Ebay was not interested. This person is probably out there under another id.
Two other negs were from people who did not receive answer to emails and got mad and left negatives, although I had answered all and even had other Ebayers attempting to help. One because he said I had not left him feedback and I had 5 days before. Ebay does nothing.
All these people were newbies (3 or less fb). I wonder if buyers shouldn't be required to have a certain number of transactions or fb before they can leave neg. or Ebay should give some instructions when someone attempts to leave negative. I have over 600 and it doesn't hurt, but it does hurt in a way.
Sounded like a 'poor me' didn't it - but I do think the feedback system is flawed.
posted on November 1, 2001 12:57:23 PM new
I think you should be unable to leave a neg until you have a 25 feedback. It would get rid of these "I don't know what I am doing, so you get a neg" situations.
posted on November 1, 2001 02:17:46 PM new
I agree. My only neg is from a guy with below 25 feedback. He hadn't received his book (payed for and sent book rate). He hadn't even e-mailed me to ask why it was taking so long...just neg'd me. I state right in my auction description that book rate can take up to 3 weeks.
I was really steamed about this very un-deserved neg but calming replied with the facts and moved on.
Spelling is not my strong suit
[ edited by ewora on Nov 1, 2001 02:18 PM ]
posted on November 1, 2001 04:00:51 PM new
One problem I see with not allowing new users to leave neg feedback, is some bad sellers may take advantage of them. Ship late if at all, pack poorly, send damaged items etc... We know there are sellers out there like that.
posted on November 1, 2001 05:11:40 PM new
Just go with it. i have over 1600 FB's left of these 3 are - and 3 neutral ,all except 1 neutral are retaliatory FB's. I find it hard to belief that people who have 100's of fb without - actually leave -'s for others[i know there will be exceptions]. I honestly don't think that a small % of poor fb will affect sales].
By teh way, my non retaliatory neutral was from a newbie, he wrote "satisfactory transaction" - go figure??
posted on November 1, 2001 05:18:44 PM new
The feedback system *is* severely flawed--- even the courts have an avenue of appeal if it appears justice was not done, yet with eBay once feedback is left, BANG, that's it, no recourse, other than a "follow up comment". Yay. But the neg remains.
It should be possible for the leaver of feedback to change, add to or remove his/her comment, up to say, 30 days after leaving it. That would cover those who leave "item never arrived" sorts of comments, only to have it arrive later that day, as well as comments left by confused newbies.
Because of rampant retaliatory negs, the only way I'll leave one is if I've been ripped off as a buyer, or if the item I'm selling was high end. I'm not about to risk a retaliatory neg over some piddly $5 transaction, building my feedback to where it is a seller took too much work to tarnish it with nickel dime stuff from poor losers.
(edit for spelling)
[ edited by relayerone on Nov 1, 2001 05:19 PM ]
posted on November 1, 2001 05:39:23 PM new
I got my first neg today too. 700 feedbacks and 1 neg. I wasn't that upset though. I guess because I knew it was coming for the last 2 months and had time to get used to it.
I had a Canadian bidder that wanted to send a Royal Canadian Bank money order. My 2 banks will not accept them. I had the terms clearly spelled out on the auction page, the congratulations email and even told her I would send it back after she asked about sending one. She sent it anyway, then sent many emails arguing and calling me names. Finally, I left her a neg. She sure asked for it. That same week, I had trouble with another Canadian bidder and 2 Germans arguing about how they were going to pay and the shipping. Everything was clearly spelled out on the auction page. Needless to say, I don't sell international anymore. I have enough problems with the bidders in this country(USA).
It sounds like you worded yours just fine. If I was buying from you, I wouldn't even bother to read that one neg.
posted on November 1, 2001 06:10:54 PM new
for some reason I have not listed international sales since 9/11. I will let them bid if they ask, I just do not advertise it.
any type of change they made to feedback, someone would figure out a loophole.
I do not believe in retaliatory feedback and ebay needs to loosen up on their attidute towards removing these.
so many sellers wait to leave feedback just for that purpose. I wait until I know they received the item and then leave feedback right away, but this buyer would have gotten positive feedback from me regardless of what she left.
I have given 2 negs, both to deadbeat buyers, "no email, no payment"
posted on November 2, 2001 11:02:36 AM new
Received my second and third negs a couple of days ago from the same bidder. One for an auction he never payed for, and one for ancient Roman silver coins that he couldn't tell were silver (they were), so he proclaimed them to be made of tin and fakes. This was obviously the first time he had handled such coins, I could tell this from the e-mail he sent me just before he decided not to wait for a reply and posted the negs. I had already posted a positive for the auction he had paid for but was able to post a neg for the auction in which he was a NPB, his reply to the neg was that I am a dishonest seller who shipped him fake coins. Well his rating of 4 feedback is now a 1 as my neg feedback has been joined by two more negs from other coin dealers. What I really love is that the feedback right before his two negs states (in bold) "GREAT LOOKING SILVER COINS - THEY ARE BETTER THAN EXPECTED!!!AAA+++", I think that replys to his negs better than anything I could have written. Not that I didn't reply to his negs.
[ edited by doubleo on Nov 2, 2001 11:04 AM ]
[ edited by doubleo on Nov 2, 2001 11:06 AM ]
posted on November 2, 2001 12:12:29 PM new
Perhaps ebay should create another catagory like "Bid Retractions", called "NPBs" (or something more creative) and have the reporting of non-payment be an administrative function.
Once NPB and FVF are filed - NO Transaction = NO Feedback either way. Just a tally of NPBs.
This may let other sellers know of potential problems while getting the "burned" sellers out of the direct line of fire (retaliatory negs).
