Help, is there anything I can do about this please?

chris1

I'm a new ebay user (private not business) and recently sold a large item for collection only, cash on collection (stated in listing). As soon as the auction finished (Sunday eve) I sent a polite email to the buyer reminding him of this, and asking when he would like to collect.

The next day he paid by Paypal. I asked him (nicely!) if he could pay by cash, and suggested times when he could collect.

Then he sent two rather garbled emails and a text saying Paypal must be refunded and what was my house number as he wanted to come right away. I explained the reason for cash (Paypal needing delivery which is trackable online) and of course refunded the Paypal payment. I asked if he still wanted to go ahead, and suggested collection times any evening, just to let me know which day.

Having not had a reply by today (Wednesday) I have just checked my ebay account to find he las left negative feedback! It says "Time wasted completely by this seller who did everything to back out of the deal". As I'm new, this has reduced my feedback from 100% to 75%!:eek:

Is my ebay life over before it's even started? Presumably no-one is going to want to buy anything from me now.

Is there anything I can do?

The fact that he won't be coming round is actually a bit of a relief as he was starting to sound a bit weird. Also his address is a PO Box number (unusual for the suburbs) and the name of the buyer is different from the name on the account. He has left 12 negatives for other sellers since he started in May of this year, all pretty much on the same lines as mine, though he says they have not refunded his money, and the sellers replies accuse him of "stealing and lying".

Any ideas?

Thanks!

soolin

It never hurts to try an appeal to ebay for 'malicious bidding', however be careful what you say if you call them as you ar enot allowed to refuse paypal so they may take a dim view of you refunding the payment.

Trying to push a buyer into cash on colelciton is always a risk, unfortunately it didn't pay off in this case and you've lost your fees as well. 75% feedback may well put people off, but more importantly it may push you into the suspension zone if your stars were hammered as well. It might well be worth closing the account now and then starting again with a new account.

chris1

soolin wrote: »

75% feedback may well put people off, but more importantly it may push you into the suspension zone if your stars were hammered as well.

Do private sellers have stars? I thought it was businesses only - how do I find out what they are?

(My 100% feedback was from only 3 sales, which is why the single negative has affected my score so badly!)

hermum

chris1 wrote: »

Do private sellers have stars? I thought it was businesses only - how do I find out what they are?

(My 100% feedback was from only 3 sales, which is why the single negative has affected my score so badly!)

You need 10 sellers to have left ratings before they come up. It may be worth talking to ebay as soolin suggests, or shutting that account & opening another.
I think that you will need to wait for a certain length of time after a transaction to close it.

pinkshoes

I'd phone ebay, tell them you have a malicious bidder who has left 12 negatives in less than 2 months for sellers, and who didn't even come and collect the item.

Hopefully they'll remove the neg.

If they don't, just respond to neg stating something like "buyer failed to collect"

chris1

"Time wasted completely by this seller who did everything to back out of the deal".
Do you think I could appeal to ebay on the grounds he said "time wasted" when it was only 2/3 days since the auction ended?

pinkshoes

chris1 wrote: »

"Time wasted completely by this seller who did everything to back out of the deal".
Do you think I could appeal to ebay on the grounds he said "time wasted" when it was only 2/3 days since the auction ended?

That sounds a little like a rant. Best just to stick to the facts when responding to a neg, as you don't want to appear to be vengeful or a nutter!

I'd appeal on the grounds of a malicious bidder who likes bidding for the sake of leaving negs. Ebay couldn't care less about those who time waste.

pitkin2020

Top advice, but phone ebay don't mail them as you may get a better response. If they refuse to change then you can either start again, not much hardship if you have low feedback anyway or you can leave a response to the negative. Keep the response factual, polite and to the point. As a buyer I read the negatives and the responses and 1 neg wouldn't put me off.

Personally though if ebay refuse to remove it I would just start again your not really losing anything other than a couple of feedbacks, which you could get again by buying a few cheap items anyway.

hermum

pinkshoes wrote: »

That sounds a little like a rant. Best just to stick to the facts when responding to a neg, as you don't want to appear to be vengeful or a nutter!

I'd appeal on the grounds of a malicious bidder who likes bidding for the sake of leaving negs. Ebay couldn't care less about those who time waste.

I think that the OP is quoting the FB the seller has left for him & asking whether he has grounds to ask ebay to remove it.

OP I'd contact ebay, the worse they can do is say that they won't remove it.

techspec

Ebay seem to have been in a good mood lately - removing quite a few negative feedbacks.

Just tell ebay the buyer was unresponsive about collecting the item and then asked for a refund - before leaving a negative. Point out all the other negatives.

Tell them you believe he paid and then demanded a refund so you could not file a non-paying bidder claim - as many buyers know this blocks the npb process.

They will probably say it does not qualify - but try again. Mine was removed on the 3rd attempt.