Need Advice Zero Feed Back Ebayer

[grackleflint]

The buyer can still leave a negative and eBay won't remove it in this case. All you can do is try. Everyone gets them occasionally, but it does sting more for a new seller and I understand the desire to avoid it if you can. Remember not to ask the buyer not to leave a neg as a condition of whatever you do for him, as that's not permitted either.

 

If you refund him in full, eBay may not let him leave a negative or remove one if he does. Maybe the rules have changed (again). Seems like you can only leave a negative if you let him keep the item. Make sure he returns it to you.

 

This happened to me a few months ago, bought a "new" set and got a crushed box (sent him pictures of the too large shipping box with no cushioning but obviously pre-existing damage the seller didn't disclose). Seller refused an adjustment/refund so I filed an eBay SNAD case. Of course, eBay ruled in my favor. I left a negative feedback to warn other buyers (just said "claimed new but got a crushed box, seller not helpful and had to file a claim") but it was deleted by eBay once I got my refund.

[justafrog]

Grackle, I don't know the particulars of why your neg was removed, but that's not the rule and I definitely wouldn't count on it as a seller. Full refunds can still make buyers unhappy and they can still leave a negative.

 

If a buyer doesn't pay, or if a buyer requests an order cancellation, THEN they can't leave a neg, but for a refund instead of the item they ordered in the condition it was described, they absolutely can.

 

Lobo, in an item not as described case, a seller is held responsible by eBay for the return shipping costs OR sometimes eBay will offer to cover the costs as a courtesy to the buyer, but a seller can't count on that.

[justafrog]

I I left a negative feedback to warn other buyers (just said "claimed new but got a crushed box, seller not helpful and had to file a claim") but it was deleted by eBay once I got my refund.

 

Here we go: http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/feedback-removal.html

 

Your feedback was likely removed because it violated this policy, which includes claims filed on eBay or PayPal: 

• Feedback that includes references to law enforcement investigations or eBay or PayPal investigations.

   

[justafrog]

I have just a couple things to emphasize in this discussion:

 

1) Don't run your business or set your policies on a transaction by transaction basis, or on emotion. Look at the situation and decide what is going to be the best solution for your business to a given problem long term, not at how you can come off unharmed in every single individual transaction - that's never going to happen, but you can remain successful and profitable by taking the long view and looking at the big picture instead of getting all ramped up over every real or imagined virtual shoplifter you suspect or dumbazz you are forced to cope with.

 

2) KNOW your eBay rules and follow them. I re-read large sections of the eBay selling pages regularly because they do sneak in stealth changes, there are things that I forget or didn't apply to me at the time so they didn't register, etc. What you WANT to do and what eBay will ALLOW you to do are often very different things. You can make a few mistakes as a seller and a few more as a buyer, but too much lawlessness whether you intend it or not is going to make eBay smack you, and that's not beneficial to your bottom line if you want to remain there as a buyer or seller.

[donliu]

sorry to hear about that man. that just sucks if the buyer just took the mini figures out and lied about it. Have you tried calling Lego and seeing if they can replace the missing pieces? 

[asharerin]

Ebay removes negs for sellers all of the time. I bought some clothing a few months ago that was not as described. Seller offered a return for refund but would not pay for return shipping. We donated the item instead and left the seller a neg. Within 24 hrs it was removed from their record. I believe tru, target, levi etc get a few thousand negs removed every month as well lol.

[donliu]

I am really thinking with these sets I am just going to open all of them and make sure and verify everything is there before hand. I trust my salesman skills and Ebay profile to be able to sell the opened set for the same amount of money.

Also, you can then show a picture of the contents in the listing and people will know that the set was complete so they wont try that crap.

 

On a related note, I bought this set from a guy I buy a lot of stuff from and it had the hulk pilfered and everything else sealed as well.

I like this idea but will this cover your ass even if you have pictures that show the item you are selling? what stopping the buyer from saying something is still missing and is not as described. When you open a box do you lose value on the set?

[justafrog]

I like this idea but will this cover your ass even if you have pictures that show the item you are selling? what stopping the buyer from saying something is still missing and is not as described. When you open a box do you lose value on the set?

 

With what DNIM is planning, the point is that he will know, for sure, whether the buyer is a scammy McScammerPants or not, because he will have verified the sets.

 

With that information - if I am certain a buyer is lying - it's easier to spike their guns. You require a return in the same condition the item shipped, you get the return, it's missing pieces you KNOW were there, and if you use managed returns through eBay (which I personally recommend), you refuse the return based on the item coming back incomplete.

 

eBay will review the case and your record and the buyer's record. They may still decide against you, BUT they may not. If the buyer has a record that looks a little bad, if you have a record that looks really good, they may either deny the buyer's return (and they get nothing) or they will at the very least have a "watch this guy" bot note/strike on that buyer for the next time he tries it.

 

The problem in this case is folks open Lego sets, remove minifigs, and then return the items to the stores who don't realize/care they've been opened and sell it to one of us honest and unsuspecting chumps. Yes, the buyer in this threads case may be a liar... but he may not be. It's a lot easier to stand your ground and take the case to the end if you know for sure, as a seller, what you sent to the buyer.

[dbost01]

Thanks for everyone's advice.

 

This is where I am at.

 

If the buyer is a liar or not I don't care. I care about what I will win in a dispute.

 

Like stated earliar, weighing the item probably doesn't mean jake to Ebay and thus I probably wont win the dispute. So, even though I sold more than 12 of these and they all weighed the exact amount and the buyer isn't saying there was extra stuff in there, to make up for the weight of the minifigures missing, I am sure she is probably scamming but I cant win that argument so what is the point.

 

I am going to have to learn from it and move on. It is part of business.

[dbost01]

After speaking with the buyer it is definatley a scam from my point of view but it is still a he said/she said thingy so she would win.

[justafrog]

dbost, report the buyer. It won't help your particular situation, but it may help down the line. eBay doesn't track IP and MAC addresses with the same efficiency that Amazon does, but they do use some of that technology, too, so even opening other accounts won't help Miss Scammy forever, or at least her life will be more complicated.

 

There's a report buyer link on your My eBay page under "options" next to each transaction.

 

Remember to block the buyer, and also make a note somewhere of her address - if she starts a new account and circumvents your block bidder list to use it to buy from you, that's another violation and you can report that i.d., too.

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

On this point, how should a buyer properly return an item? I thought it always opened a case.

 

I just opted into managed returns, but I had someone say they wanted one. I told him to open a case to return the item. Ebay said he has to contact me. Doesn't make much sense to me because I think Ebay would want to at least know they returned the item, right?

[justafrog]

With managed returns, the buyer selects "return" from the drop down "options" menu next to the item in his purchase history on his My eBay page. It opens a return, but not a case (i.e, doesn't impact the resolution center).

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

With managed returns, the buyer selects "return" from the drop down "options" menu next to the item in his purchase history on his My eBay page. It opens a return, but not a case (i.e, doesn't impact the resolution center).

 

Ah gotcha - chalk it up to another kind of dumb thing that Ebay does. I see the button there now though.

 

I loved how I had 5 returns so far and my selling manager counter still says 0. lol.

[Qaz]

Keep in mind that if the buyer gives you negative feedback despite your best efforts to resolve the problem (refund after return, refund w/o return, whatever), and eBay refuses to remove that feedback, you can leave a reply to that neg - something like "Tried to resolve problem by giving refund without requiring return", for future buyers that bother to look at your feedback.  Small consolation, which is better than none.

 

As has been mentioned in other threads, make sure you make your return policy very clear in your listings (and know that 'no returns' is not something eBay will actually let you enforce), and as has been mentioned in this one, make sure your policy is something you want to do long-term.

 

Last point - negative feedback currently only counts against your score for 12 months - take the long-term view on this, too.