Irrelevant negative feedback on my ebay.com.au account

Foma2 on 11/09/2014 - 23:03

Hi everyone.

I was selling an item on ebay.com.au a few weeks ago. In my ad I clearly said that it is a private sale and I have one item only. I sold it when I got a reasonable offer.

Unfortunately one of the buyers which made an offer to me (and I never accepted it as it was too low) left a negative feedback on my account. He accused me of selling an item via another Web site.

It was not true. I had my ad on another Web site, but I sold the item via Ebay and Ebay charged me a fee for that. I asked Ebay to remove the negative feedback/vote, but they refused. They said I need to follow up with a person who left a negative vote. I did it but got no response. Ebay said that I need strong grounds to get the negative feedback removed, e.g. court order. I am not going to waste my time, money and efforts to get a court order, cause it is just not worthwhile.

Does anyone know how I can fix this problem ? Thanks.

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Comments

  • adamren on 11/09/2014 - 23:07
    +3

    Chalk it up as a scummy lowballer. They exist and it's annoying when you learn that. That negger just has a sense of entitlement.

    Maybe name and shame them so we also know not to deal with them.

    Edit: I'm surprised someone can leave feedback when they haven't even purchased from you but made an offer. That's a stupid loophole that needs to be closed, until then, 'Make An Offer' option won't be used to much, I rarely see it.

    • [Deactivated] on 12/09/2014 - 00:04
      +7

      I'm surprised someone can leave feedback when they haven't even purchased from you but made an offer.

      Same. What's the deal with that? Doesn't even make sense that they could do that. How crap.

      • altomic on 12/09/2014 - 16:07
        +5

        i thought you could only leave feedback if you won

        • [Deactivated] on 12/09/2014 - 17:00

          I guess eBay likes to give bitter lowballers a voice..

        • modsec802 on 12/09/2014 - 21:29
          +9

          Can OP provide link to feedback. I don't believe you can leave feedback unless you buy or sell something.

          Perhaps OP accidentally accepted low offer and wouldn't go ahead with sale.

        • zxcvb on 13/09/2014 - 20:32
          +2

          @juicedpixels: If OP accidentally accepted the low offer and refused to sell which he is obligated to, then they deserve the negative feedback. Its a 2 way street and the seller is obligated to sell. As a buyer I have had this happen twice on auctions I won and they seller would just not reply. I wish I had left negative feedback on those sellers. There are bad buyers and bad sellers like any other market place.

  • melgibson on 11/09/2014 - 23:09
    +3

    keep pestering ebay. Same thing happened to me and after half dozen emails they relented.

  • plmko on 11/09/2014 - 23:12
    +4

    "He accused me of selling an item via another Web site. "

    Someone call the cops!

    Lol what's wrong with that.

  • [Deactivated] on 12/09/2014 - 00:05
    +2

    Ebay said that I need strong grounds to get the negative feedback removed, e.g. court order.

    Wut. Seriously? lol that sounds ridiculous. Can anyone else confirm that as being true?

  • adamren on 12/09/2014 - 00:47

    Which other site was it anyway? Gumtree? Sounds like this scumbag lowballer was a spoilt little brat.

  • GnarlyKnuckles on 12/09/2014 - 01:32

    Wow, yet another way in which Ebay is a "broken" system, for non-commercial/private sellers anyway. After multiple bad experiences selling stuff on Ebay (not to mention the fact that they take so much of your money), I won't ever sell anything on there again. The only people who seem to be well-enough insulated from idiot-buyers on Ebay seem to be the large commercial operations, with high turn-over.
    I suggest simply not selling anything on there anymore; stick to Gumtree and/or the Trading-post. On both of those you can put a price you'd definitely accept followed by "O.N.O.", if you're interested in having people make offers. Or, just lower the price slightly (~5% or 10%) each week until it sells, if you're not in a hurry to sell.

  • MelbBargainChaser77 on 12/09/2014 - 03:16
    +1

    Ive not used ebay for almost a year to sell. The hideous fees they charge now just isnt worth it

    • punter1 on 12/09/2014 - 14:11

      What would be a better way to sell apart from ebay?

  • Grillman on 12/09/2014 - 20:21

    Unfortunately ebay and paypal are scum. Scum is too kind a word though.

  • Foma2 on 13/09/2014 - 07:47

    Hi guys. Thanks for your feedback.
    Actually, when I was posting it I was a bit reluctant as I though people would say that it was all my fault.
    Now I see that it is definitely not.
    Just answering a question above, I can confirm that I have not accepted that offer as it was too low.

    As it was said above I may start asking Ebay to withdraw the irrelevant negative feedback, and it may take me a few weeks or even months to make it happen.
    I do not want to waste my time on something that is not as important for me as I have around 10 positive votes (most of them from sellers but Ebay does not distiguish it when showing your rating anyway).

    What pisses me off is that I called that guy next morning and said that I sold that item last night.
    I said that I would be more than happy to sell it to him but his offer was too low and I had only one item.
    He said that it is OK. And then - bang - in a few hours I could see a negative vote on my account.
    Anyway, I do not want to say anything about his personality but the way he sounded it was a yang fella who probably was not too popular among chicks so he takes any chance to be spitful and take revenge.
    Some kind of compensation.
    Anyway I feel sympaphatic towards him and I am really sorry that he has such personality.

    • exc3113nce on 13/09/2014 - 08:32
      +1

      Can you link us to the feedback? I don't see how he was able to leave feedback if he didn't win?

      I had feedback removed via Feedback policy violation - http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/feedback-ov.html

      • Foma2 on 13/09/2014 - 13:37
        -7

        I do not see any point in providing a link.
        People above said already that there is a loophole in Ebay system when anyone who made an affer can leave their feedback.
        All I can say is that :
        - I never accepted any offer from that guy.
        - I have not received any money from him.
        So, there was no legal obligation on me to provide him with the advertised item.
        I am really disappointed with Ebay.com.au as apparently there is no easy way to fix irrelevant negative feedback.
        I do not think I gonna spend more time on dealing with another idiot which unfortunately I came across.

        Thanks for asking anyway.

        • modsec802 on 13/09/2014 - 18:20
          +9

          I do not see any point in providing a link.

          I'm sorry but unless you do I just don't believe you and I don't think anyone else on here will either.

          I have been selling on eBay for 15 years and my rating is in the thousands (user name dub_selecta) and I have never seen an occurrence of feedback without an associated sale.

    • GnarlyKnuckles on 13/09/2014 - 22:51
      +2

      "What pisses me off is that I called that guy next morning and said that I sold that item last night."

      Now why would you do that, unless his offer had actually initially been accepted? It's starting to sound like you are not giving us the entire story here OP, or you are simply giving us a BS story. I reiterate the sentiment above; if his offer was accepted at some point (either directly by you, or "automatically" by Ebay based on a reserve you had specified when placing the ad), then you welshed on the deal, you absolutely deserve the negative feedback.

  • zxcvb on 13/09/2014 - 19:34
    +9

    Absolutely. The OP is selectively leaving out some details. There is no way you can leave feedback for a offer you did not accept.

    Think about this for a minute, if someone made a low ball offer and you don't accept, then another buyer makes an offer that you accept. Feedback pair is per transaction and buyer who made the higher offer gets the right to leave feedback. The low baller is not relevant anymore and there is absolutely no way he can leave feedback.

    Even more surprising is your supposed response from eBay. Even if this were possible, all you have to do is tell eBay that the feedback left by the low baller is not relevant as you never completed the transaction and eBay will happily remove it. I have had feedback removed twice by complaining to eBay about feedback extortion.

    There is no loophole. Yes eBay sucks as they charge very high fees, but they have the system down pat. If they did have this loophole, every seller would have tons of negative feedback and the system would come down crumbling.

    I think the only possibility of this happening is if the OP accidentally ticked the box to auto accept an offer meeting a threshold, in which case he is obligated to sell. I call complete BS on the OP.

    • [Deactivated] on 13/09/2014 - 20:25
      +1

      Thanks for clearing that up. I haven't used eBay for a very, very long time and naturally believed the OP. Did sound very odd for it to be possible. Glad it's actually not possible!

  • GnarlyKnuckles on 13/09/2014 - 23:03
    +1

    Hmmm… So it now emerges that the OP has wasted our time/ not been honest, and is now attracting "negative feedback" here on this site, because of this post.
    Oh, the irony!

  • juventino on 13/09/2014 - 23:09
    +1

    you are full of C.R.A.P . Buyer can't leave feedback if he/she doesnt win the auction. My bet would be that you accepted the offer or he triggered your 'reserve price'(if there is any) and you wanted to get a bit more on top of that.

  • Foma2 on 14/09/2014 - 10:02
    -3

    "I think the only possibility of this happening is if the OP accidentally ticked the box to auto accept an offer meeting a threshold, in which case he is obligated to sell. I call complete BS on the OP.

    "

    OK guys. Now I see your point.
    I am quite open to any feedback, and despite you called me a lier I do not take it personally.
    And there are a few reasons for that.
    - First of all, it was a geniun sale and I was not biased against any buyer. So, I accepted the first reasonable price offered to me.
    - Second, (I repeat myself) I have not received any money from that guy.
    - Third, I never accepted any offer from that guy.
    - Fourth, as I was quite sympaphatic and I understand how frustrating it can be I called him next morning after receiving his message with his offer and explained everything to him.

    I do want to say that I was absolutely right.
    The only reaon I posted my question is that I was puzzled and confused (and disappointed of course but it was not the main reason, belive me).
    I can admit that probably I ticked the box to auto accept an offer meeting a threshold.
    I am not a seller with years of experince. That's why I felt the system works a bit weird.
    I have not received any money from the buyer (which is essential part of constituting agreement between seller and buyer), so I thought I do not have any obligations. So, the first one who gave me monay ("cash only on pick up" as it was defined in my ad), got the item.

    Thanks everyone for your feedback. I am not trying to cheet on you, neither hiding anything.
    The only reason I do not want to provide a link to the negative feedback is privecy.

    Thanks again.

    • [Deactivated] on 14/09/2014 - 12:03
      +2

      You can double check whether you did somehow accept the offer (though whether or not you are still interested or curious, I'm not sure). Since you cancelled the listing early, just go to 'Unsold' in My eBay. The listing should be there.

      Click on the link to the listing page. You'll see the History just under the Ended date on the item's page. Click on History (which should in your case have at least 1 offer). That will take you to the details of the offers made - and the status. Ie. if you declined the negative-feedback guy's offer, it will say 'you declined'. OR if you simply ended the listing early without even acting on any offers, it too will say 'you declined'.

      Source: I listed one item this month after YEARS of not using eBay. I didn't even realise I'd enabled the Best Offer option in my listing, and invariably received an offer. I messaged the person straight away saying I'd accept the offer - and asked if they'd be happy to pay cash on pickup (so I could avoid paying eBay fees). She was fine with that, and I ended the listing early without accepting or declining her offer. Result: it automatically declined her offer.

      As for whether she can still post feedback on my account, I'm not sure (I could message her to ask but that could be slightly weird lol)… but based on the experiences of the eBay savvy OzB'ers here and their certainty of this not being possible… you should probably do the above in checking the status of offers made to you. At least this will help clear things up for you and avoid the same problem happening again if you choose to use eBay in the future.

      • Foma2 on 15/09/2014 - 20:35

        I've checked it. It is not listed under 'Unsold'. Most likely it was "autoaccepted".
        It is something new to me, as my assumption was if I say "cash on pick up", it will constitute a condition for the sale.

    • [Deactivated] on 14/09/2014 - 12:04
      +6

      I am quite open to any feedback, and despite you called me a lier I do not take it personally.

      Did you try and buy a BBQ from Tom on eBay during the 50% off sale???

      He has two people leaving negative feedback on his account using the word "lier"

      lolol

      "A grade Crook, A Lier, Stay away from this cowboy Buyer: s***p ( 6 )"

      You did say you only had around "10 positive votes" on ebay.. hmm

    • Ughhh on 14/09/2014 - 12:11
      +3

      My god your spelling is awful.

    • GnarlyKnuckles on 14/09/2014 - 23:15
      +3

      OK, so now your story has completely changed. Now you admit that you accepted his offer via the "auto-accept" feature; which also means he must have made an offer of an amount that at some point when posting your ad, you stated that you were willing to accept. When he makes an offer that is accepted, that's when the agreement is made (which I'm sure you actually realise); not when money actually changes hands. After 'winning' your item, the guy would have stopped bidding on others/ etc., only to have you renege on the deal later down the track. You absolutely deserve the negative feedback you got.

      • Foma2 on 15/09/2014 - 20:32
        -2

        Thanks for your help. I said that I never accepted the offer.
        I did not say a single word about autoaccepting.
        It is a bit different, isn't it ?

        Anyway guys, thanks for your feedback. I reckon I learnt my lesson.
        My mindset was a bit old fashioned. Once I got your money, then you can have goods.

        • GnarlyKnuckles on 16/09/2014 - 04:18
          +3

          "I did not say a single word about autoaccepting."

          Erm, yes you did OP, here is exactly what you said, very recently:

          "I can admit that probably I ticked the box to auto accept an offer meeting a threshold."

          So it it seems to me that actually, and I'm being 100% serious here, you may be having some pretty serious problems with your short-term memory, and this could possibly explain this entire saga. I didn't think of that possibility until now, but looking back on your recent posts and the first post etc., I genuinely think that might be at the root of this whole experience you've had.

          To put it bluntly, I'm suggesting that you should consider getting yourself checked out by a doctor, in case you are experiencing the early stages of some form of neurological condition. And please do forgive me, I'm genuinely very sorry about using the word "deserve" in previous posts in this thread, now that I realise that actually you may be suffering from a neurological medical condition of some sort.

          All the best for the future, and I hope things work out well for you.

        • Foma2 on 16/09/2014 - 20:24
          -3

          Actually I was referring to my first post where I provided my vision of the situation.
          Then, three days later, as other forum members were sharing their opinion with me, I suggested that most likely it happened because I put a tick in that checkbox.
          I value your feedback. I am really glad that you can recall what you did exactly two months ago. Even which check box you selected while going through the numerous Web forms.
          Take it easy. Life is too short to waste it on something which is so insignificant.
          PS I got three positive feedbacks for the last two days so my rating is going up.

        • resubaehtgnolhcs on 17/09/2014 - 01:00
          +4

          @Foma2: I still call BS!!! You cannot leave feedback on eBay without having won an item, it is as simple as that. You can not hold eBay to account because you don't know how to use their system - that's called user error!

          You probably called the so called 'low baller' to tell him that you've had a better offer from the other site you were advertising on, and were probably trying to give them the opportunity to increase their offer. The 'low baller' has declined your offer and left you the appropriate feedback which is no doubt accurate - and not wanting to share the link due to privacy concerns makes no sense. There is nothing on a feedback link from eBay that will invade any privacy of yours, which is not already public information on ebay (eg. Your username, pick location for item etc).

  • Michael15286 on 04/01/2015 - 14:07

    Summary:
    Foma2 set a low auto accept threshold, which someone managed to just get over. Afterward, he recieved a higher offer from another buyer and decided to go with it instead. First buyer is obviously anmoyed and leaves negative feedback.

    Did I miss anything?

    • resubaehtgnolhcs on 04/01/2015 - 20:49
      +1

      Did I miss anything?

      Umm …just the last 3 months that this thread has been dead and buried for… ; p

      Hope you're having a great New Year!

      • Michael15286 on 05/01/2015 - 04:12

        Hahaha, I have no idea how I stumbled into this thread then.
        Thanks, and welcome to 2015 :)

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