eBay Seller - Automatic Refund if I Revise My -ve Feedback. Legit?

nicksinternet on 23/04/2018 - 23:24
Last edited 24/04/2018 - 08:52

Hi OZBs

eBay seller has offered refund if I revise my -ve feedback. I agreed. I would expect the refund first then revise the feedback.

But then I get this message. Thoughts? I'm not planning on revising it until I get the refund, but keen to hear what you think.

Cheers

*highly suspicious refund won't come through after I revise feedback.

Edit: I did not ask for a refund. Just left negative feedback. Seller then unprompted offered a refund via messages if I revised the feedback which sounded fair, I accepted, then seller sent through the below message to receive the refund.

Item now soiled (phone screen protector which did not fit) very low value and not worth it for anyone if returned.

Edit: feedback left for other buyers benefit. I was not expecting to have anything to do with this again. It's a high volume OS seller and product cost low.

The purpose of this post is to know if such an automatic feedback/refund thing is possible, not seek opinions on when is ok to leave what type of feedback (i.e. armchair hindsight opinionated judgemental keyboard warriors need will make better use of their 2c elsewhere as that's not what's intended).

Hi Nick,

Thanks for your fast reply.

I have just added your eBay user ID "*****" to our automated Resolution System. As soon as your feedback has been revised to positive your complete payment will be instantly refunded by our completely automated Resolution Center due to our 100% Satisfaction Guarantee Policy.

We aim to operate a business full of integrity and aim to resolve all issues immediately if our customers are unhappy with their item.

I have just sent through your ""feedback revision request"". This takes under 30 seconds to complete. As mentioned before your full refund will be immediately issued once your feedback has been changed to positive.

Please click into your eBay ""Messages"" and you will find the feedback revision there. Simply click into the message and on the right hand side you will see an ""Accept"" button. Click the ""Accept"" button and then you can change your feedback to positive.

Thanks for your understanding. We hope to deal with you again sometime soon.

General Discussion

Related Stores

eBay Australia
eBay Australia
Marketplace

Comments

  • scrimshaw on 23/04/2018 - 23:36
    +7

    This sounds almost like Feedback extortion. https://www.ebay.com.au/help/policies/feedback-policies/feed…

    in any case, the seller can process a refund at any time with or without you leaving any form of feedback, so this sounds like a pretty shady way of forcing ebay users to leave positive feedback even though the transaction did not fully complete.

    • nicksinternet on 23/04/2018 - 23:46

      Thanks scrimshaw, per the policy link you provided it definitely seems like seller extortion.

      • Innately Incognito on 23/04/2018 - 23:55

        Unsure if there's a way to get your refund and not revise. Depending on the issue, you could submit a chargeback. Just don't bargain with your positive feedback in explicit terms (e.g. If you give me a refund I will give you positive) as I think that may also constitute feedback extortion.

        As a seller, I used to love if customers said something like, "If you don't do X I will leave a -VE" because they basically forfeit their right to leave feedback as soon as that happens.

        • Ughhh on 24/04/2018 - 00:08
          +1

          Unsure if there's a way to get your refund and not revise

          There's certainly a way to get a refund without revising, but it also depends on what the dispute is about.
          If OP is entitled to a refund, ebay/paypal has the last say in the dispute, doesn't matter if the seller disagree, the seller can't refuse.

          Chargebacks should be the very very last resort if everything else fails. If you submit a chargeback against paypals rulings, or even worse half way through a dispute (that was probably going to be in your favour anyway), prepare to have your account and linked bank accounts flagged/banned.

        • Innately Incognito on 24/04/2018 - 08:51

          @Ughhh: it’s interesting that different methods have different procedures when it comes to the costs and stuff associated.

          I can recall a situation where as a seller we were trying to work with a customer who was unhappy, and I can’t remember if they lodged an eBay, PayPal, or consumer affairs complaint - but it actually absolved us of the return fee and put the onus on them to return it.

          Was kinda hilarious, because we were more than happy to work with them but they were trying to prove a point and ended up costing themselves like $60 in return fees.

  • Some Human on 23/04/2018 - 23:53
    +1

    I don’t think it works like that. Automatic refund upon feedback revision? Call their bluff.
    Are you entitled to a refund anyway, regardless of your feedback?

    • nicksinternet on 23/04/2018 - 23:57

      The product didn't fit but the value small so hardly worth worrying about a return (and also postage costs). Happy to revise the feedback if its refunded though.

      • Love a bargain on 24/04/2018 - 15:31

        Return cost should be borne by the seller if the item is not fit for purpose. Besides, there's also free return offered by eBay + PayPal.

  • shmoney on 24/04/2018 - 00:05
    +6

    Just curious, why didn't you just contact them if there was an issue with the item before leaving negative feedback? Probably would've saved you a headache.

    • nicksinternet on 24/04/2018 - 00:11
      +1

      Low value item, wasn't expecting to spend further time on it until the seller contacted me. So cbf with worrying about a refund especially if involved posting back however still value leaving feedback for others benefit.

    • nicksinternet on 24/04/2018 - 08:43

      Feedback was for others benefit (buyers) not mine or the sellers.

      • shmoney on 24/04/2018 - 12:25

        In my opinion, neutral feedback would've made more sense. My advice is to contact the seller if you have any issues in future, this is coming from a seller as well. Just put yourself into a position where you sold an item on eBay and someone left negative feedback without contacting you.

        While this is likely a high volume seller, they would receive a high amount of positive feedback each day so negative feedback wouldn't drop their % rating down much. The issue I'm bringing up is for lower volume sellers, who don't receive as much positive feedback and negative feedback has a harsher impact on their % rating. I mean would you really purchase from a seller that has a rating less than say 98%? Probably not.

        In principle, you should save your negative feedback for the most extreme cases such as:

        • Seller wasn't willing to sort out the issue
        • Fake items

        I'm not sure if you know this but sellers only get a certain amount of feedback revision requests a year. So you can imagine how annoying it is for them to contact you to sort out an issue and send a feedback revision request afterwards, when everything would've been sorted out if you had contacted them first.

        But for this particular case, I do agree that you should receive a full refund before you revise the feedback especially since it's a low value item.

  • whooah1979 on 24/04/2018 - 06:32

    completely automated Resolution Center due to our 100% Satisfaction Guarantee Policy.

    this sounds like a high volume power seller. it that right and are they australian?

    • foxmulder on 24/04/2018 - 09:05

      Sound like overseas seller.

  • berger on 24/04/2018 - 07:52
    +2

    Just leave negative feedback instead of contacting them? That’s pretty low, bit of a dick move really.

    It’s a low value item, you didn’t want to resolve the issue so your quite happy to damage their reputation.

    Surely, if you sent them a message first, they would have discussed options with you for a mutual or positive outcome

    If you need to leave positive feedback, why not along the lines of ‘seller sent product that was wrong, sorted out the problem satisfactorily’

    The low value item has now taken up a good percentage of your time. Surely it could be used in something more productive.

    • foxmulder on 24/04/2018 - 08:24

      Yes to this. And in addition: you didn't mention it was your mistake or seller mistake? Not very clear.

    • nicksinternet on 24/04/2018 - 08:28
      -1

      I waited weeks for a product not fit for purpose.

      I don't see how leaving feedback so others can potentially avoid this is a dick move. Helpful for others buyers more like it, maybe not the seller but onus is on them to supply. It would have helped me.

      • foxmulder on 24/04/2018 - 08:53
        +1

        ok, I understand the "weeks" is your waiting time from the item you ordered to the time you received right? Then did you contact seller at all trying to get resolution to your problem? Mistake can happen, some sellers send the wrong thing, but usually we can give them chance to respond.

        • berger on 24/04/2018 - 09:46
          +1

          When you give the seller a rating, give them 1 star for shipping

          Unless it was within their ETA??

        • foxmulder on 24/04/2018 - 09:51

          @berger: Hi yes, need to check the timing provided by seller originally, if it was indeed 2 months was given originally, can't really complain about it right?

  • sw0rdy on 24/04/2018 - 08:25
    +1

    oldest trick in the book

  • Ocker on 24/04/2018 - 08:45
    -1

    You seemingly left negative fb because you were not happy with aspects of the product.

    So does it mean that you can be bought off by the seller offering a refund?

    • nicksinternet on 24/04/2018 - 08:49

      Not 'bought off' no. If the seller made good, I would revise it to "Product sent didn't fit but seller offered refund".

      • R-Man on 24/04/2018 - 09:59
        +1

        I've been offered this before and did the same, 'product doesnt do what promised but seller offered timely refund'.

        Still offers a warning to buyers but probably gives the seller the protection they were after

        I now realise i should have reported for feedback manipulation, next time then.

  • foxmulder on 24/04/2018 - 08:56
    +1

    Refund need to be provided first then feedback can be revised, not the other way around. However, I know there is also risk to sellers when buyers just simply non responsive the soonest refund given or let the feedback request expired with no action on it.

    • nicksinternet on 24/04/2018 - 08:59

      Thanks for the simple constructive feedback . That's what I wanted to confirm.

  • Love a bargain on 24/04/2018 - 15:26
    +1

    It's against eBay's T&Cs the last time I checked (which was a while ago). Report the seller to eBay.

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join