Handling unreasonable negative feedback on eBay

[Deactivated] on 06/02/2014 - 20:19

OzBargainers,

I've been active on eBay since 2000 and maintained a 100 % feedback rating. Recently I decided to open an eBay store (stores.ebay.com.au/ZettaOnlineStore) and started selling items on a regular basis. It progressed well until recently when someone very unreasonably provided negative feedback demanding a refund. While I have offered to cancel the transaction on eBay, he declined this wanting postage money to return the item.

This situation has damaged my store reputation and I have noticed a drop in sales.

Would OzBargainers have any advice for me in handling this situation.

TIA

Internet

Comments

  • ezza on 06/02/2014 - 20:39
    +4

    hey mate.. i'm an active buyer/minor seller on ebay.. and have come across some unreasonable people as well.
    i looked at your store and can see what your referring to, the feedback on 04/02. This was posted 2 days ago and I'm wondering what makes you think that it has ruined your stores reputation? the days leading up to this you have a few feedback posts, and some after this.
    I'm sure ebay lets you add something on the bottom of feedback as a seller…
    Not only that but i think it will pass… your positive feedback outdoes your negative (only 1 from the looks of it). as you get more and more positive feedback it will end up lower and lower in your history.
    I'd say just forget about it and move on… people like this are out there and will strike here and there :(

    • Speckled Jim on 07/02/2014 - 16:41

      I'm sure ebay lets you add something on the bottom of feedback as a seller…

      You can. Go to the Feedback Forum and see links at bottom of page. Reply to Feedback received. It appears directly under the received feedback.

      Hate how you have limited chars for feedback? Well, you can have a second line for your ramblings. It's Follow up to Feedback left.

  • kingsville on 06/02/2014 - 20:44

    out of interest, did they complain because they got a warning message on their phone saying it wasn't a genuine cable?

    I thought it was quite bold of your auction listing to say:
    "100% work to charge on an iphone 5 5S 5C with iOS7 without a warning message coming up"

    In my experience, a lot a generic cables result in the message even though they work fine.

    Just sayin'

  • [Deactivated] on 06/02/2014 - 20:50

    kingsville, thanks for your feedback. The statement came from the manufacturer.

    The "complain" came because the buyer couldn't get his iPhone working with his PC.

    FYI, I had sold 48 cables at that point and had no complaints about it. I use one myself.

  • No on 06/02/2014 - 20:59

    I looked at your feedback and as a buyer I wouldn't be put off by that dude said at all. If he actually detailed what his complaint was people might consider what he said, looks more like someone throwing a tantrum more than anything.

    • iseenya on 07/02/2014 - 08:34

      Dead right - a carefully worded response to the comment should negate any potential for it to put people off, especially on such a minor item and with a condition of sale saying to contact the OP if there are any issues, BEFORE leaving feedback. "Completely cheated" on a $5 cable, LOL.

  • RandomNinja on 06/02/2014 - 21:00
    +9

    Where's the poll option so I can vote for Bikies? ;)

  • MATTS on 06/02/2014 - 21:06

    Buyer: a***a ( 8 )
    feedback from 8 stars you all good

  • modsec802 on 06/02/2014 - 21:07
    +6

    You can just put a response to the comment so others can read what actually happened

    • StewBalls on 06/02/2014 - 23:42
      +3

      Agreed. I tend to read these comments myself, looking for mitigating circumstances in negs.

      • ESEMCE on 07/02/2014 - 11:26
        +1

        +2, if I see a recent negative, I always have a read of that negative to see if it's just a fussy/unreasonable buyer.

  • hsk on 06/02/2014 - 22:44
    +2

    Feedback system on ebay is very one-sided, so I would not worry as he is only one out of many positives, anyone who has sold on ebay realizes this, so I do not think most buyers will bother with one negative.

  • rsimic71 on 07/02/2014 - 07:15

    For the cost of a couple of $$$ for the return postage, ask the buyer if he would be willing to remove the negative feedback if you were to refund the cost of the postage. You then send him a feedback request and he can change the feedback to positive.
    The negative feedback does impact your store with your listing being moved down the list when someone searches on best match, regardless of the issue.
    If a customer has ordered anything from me that they are not happy with (did not work as expected) i have always paid the return postage, the only time that i dont is if they change their mind or the size is wrong.
    Good luck.

  • roofrestorer on 07/02/2014 - 08:26

    You can send a message to eBay explaining the situation, and sometimes they'll remove the feedback in question.

  • [Deactivated] on 07/02/2014 - 09:46
    +1

    1. I wouldn't worry about it. ebay ruined the feedback system for buyers some time ago. (Don't ebay remove all neg. feedback after a certain time now? I read something like that anyway.)

    2. I haven't sold anything for quite a while, but this is why I never left feedback until after the other person did. That way if they have a sook, I write up a webpage showing all emails from both sides. Then I post a url to the page (being creative how you type it because you can't just list email addresses and urls straight out on ebay). That way you get a lot more say on what happened than they do because they've already left their feedback. Always finish with a comment like, "Oh well, they say you can't please everyone. I guess after xxx positives it was my time to meet the one that refused to be pleased."

  • hangdog on 07/02/2014 - 11:01
    +2

    If you post a response to the feedback, what realfamilyman says in point 2 about including a link to correspondence is a great idea. However, I would strongly recommend keeping the rest of the reply very humble and not at all defensive or angry – even if the buyer is being a twat, it's never good to see an unfairly-negged seller sounding bitter or vengeful, because buyers will wonder what you'll say about them if they have a legitimate problem.

  • modsec802 on 07/02/2014 - 23:33

    Remember that feedback isn't forever either. After a certain time your percentage rating ignores old negatives.

  • j4ice on 08/02/2014 - 10:53
    +1

    I understand OP's pain. We operate a highly successful ebay store (over 100,000 positives at over 99.6%) and receive a number of unreasonable negative feedback.

    The main problem with this is that to become a Premium Seller on ebay, you have to maintain a minimum of 99.6% positive (3 star or above) for all categories (postage, price, service…etc). So for every one negative feedback, you have to make it up with over 200 positives. Our sales dropped over 10% due to not being premium and listings showing up below premium sellers. It's down to luck really on who loses premium status but this variability is not good for small businesses.

    We go as far as sending out replacement products (video games, not cheap products) via express post if the product is lost during transit! Some of our customers still left negative feedback after receiving replacement AND the 'lost'/delayed parcel (never returned to us, but received according to our tracking).

    Yes, feedback revision may work, but we find that most people ignore that after their issue has been resolved.

    As far as we know, how to effectively deal with negative feedback is a million dollar question on ebay.

    Very best of luck to you and your store.

  • berger on 08/02/2014 - 11:07

    I'm dreading the day I get left negative feedback… It happened to me once quite a few years ago from an idiot buyer who knew nothing about what he was purchasing..

    I sell high end expensive items and get very worried 1 neg vote will tarnish my reputation..
    5/5 stars for all categories and I do maybe 10 transactions a month.

    At the end of the day, if you sell a large amount of items, there is bound to be 1 unhappy customer.. It's the same as normal retail.

  • berger on 08/02/2014 - 11:14

    Those travel adapters you sell…. Could get you in quite a bit of trouble.. Check out the laws on the insulating of the 2 prongs…

  • [Deactivated] on 10/02/2014 - 00:07
    +1

    OzBargainers and eBayers,

    Thank you all for your advice, comments and feedback.

    I will be updating my T&C over the next few days to ensure clarity of handling certain scenarios. I will also review all products I sell to ensure appropriate clarity where required.

    I'm confident that as a community we would not accept swearing and attempted extortion over $4.xx USB cable! Or any other item!!!

    THANKS!!!

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