Buyer leaves negative feedback without giving me chance to resolve

hubb

A buyer has left me negative feedback about an item I sold at the end of September. The comment states that it doesn't work (old software) They failed to message me to give me the chance to put this right with a refund. Can I apply to get this retracted or is this yet another blow I will have to take in favour of Ebay's coddling of buyers ?  I have left a follow up comment but when I click on the feedback they left it doesn't show. I clicked on "report this buyer" next to the feedback and got this message 

You can't report this buyer for the transaction you entered. It could be for the following reasons:

And Ebay gave absolutely no following reasons.

soolin

It might be worth trying a phone call to eBay , use the wording that they have failed to open any case to give you a chance to resolve it. Stress how you would have refunded if buyer had Contacted you.

However, usually it is easier to get a neg removed if your account is in good standing AND you haven’t left a follow up, eBay seem quite concerned with follow up feedback for some reason. 

hubb

I had 100 % till now but I did follow up explaining if I was given the chance I would have resolved it. Again, Ebay favouring the buyer, even when in the wrong.

hubb

The buyer's response to my asking why they didn't give me the chance to put it right "time, energy and the fact they have been messed around recently"  What is wrong with people ?
If I click on the link in Ebay help to have feedback removed from this listing it says "Invalid item or transaction"

soolin

hubb said:

The buyer's response to my asking why they didn't give me the chance to put it right "time, energy and the fact they have been messed around recently"  What is wrong with people ?
If I click on the link in Ebay help to have feedback removed from this listing it says "Invalid item or transaction"

eBay don’t do anything via an easy click and request option. Your only chance is to phone them. 

hubb

Done via chat and the usual weak response of its the buyer's experience, they cannot get involved. Its all about the buyer being favoured, even when wrong.

ElefantEd

Whilst the buyer may have been hasty and perhaps a bit harsh, I don't think you can say they are in the wrong. After all, from their perspective they bought something that didn't work. They are perfectly entitled to say they are unhappy with this and give negative feedback. Even if they had contacted you and waited for a refund, they would still only be back where they were when they started, so would have no particular reason to be happy (though a neg would be unfair, a neutral wouldn't).

Undervalued

ElefantEd said:

Whilst the buyer may have been hasty and perhaps a bit harsh, I don't think you can say they are in the wrong. After all, from their perspective they bought something that didn't work. They are perfectly entitled to say they are unhappy with this and give negative feedback. Even if they had contacted you and waited for a refund, they would still only be back where they were when they started, so would have no particular reason to be happy (though a neg would be unfair, a neutral wouldn't).

Quite!

I think the OP really needs to sit down and carefully re-read their four posts in this thread, whilst imagining they were the buyer!

Having to send something back and eventually get a refund seldom leaves anybody happy. At best, it leaves them just a little less unhappy than they might have been! Then they have to buy one somewhere else!

tempus_fugit

Undervalued said:

ElefantEd said:

Whilst the buyer may have been hasty and perhaps a bit harsh, I don't think you can say they are in the wrong. After all, from their perspective they bought something that didn't work. They are perfectly entitled to say they are unhappy with this and give negative feedback. Even if they had contacted you and waited for a refund, they would still only be back where they were when they started, so would have no particular reason to be happy (though a neg would be unfair, a neutral wouldn't).

Quite!

I think the OP really needs to sit down and carefully re-read their four posts in this thread, whilst imagining they were the buyer!

Having to send something back and eventually get a refund seldom leaves anybody happy. At best, it leaves them just a little less unhappy than they might have been! Then they have to buy one somewhere else!

I’m not sure I agree entirely with that. People shouldn’t leave negative feedback without trying to get the matter resolved first. And if the buyer were me, I would want my money back if I had bought something and found it not to work. Ebay has a pretty straightforward mechanism to resolve things like this, but due to the buyer’s laziness they have marked down a seller’s good reputation. Sure, it probably won’t affect it too much but and I guess it is their right to do this but it’s not really fair on the seller.

DayDreamerandGeneralWaster

I don't know why some people are so hung up on 100% perfect feedback. You can't please everyone. 

Spoonie_Turtle

tempus_fugit said:

Undervalued said:

ElefantEd said:

Whilst the buyer may have been hasty and perhaps a bit harsh, I don't think you can say they are in the wrong. After all, from their perspective they bought something that didn't work. They are perfectly entitled to say they are unhappy with this and give negative feedback. Even if they had contacted you and waited for a refund, they would still only be back where they were when they started, so would have no particular reason to be happy (though a neg would be unfair, a neutral wouldn't).

Quite!

I think the OP really needs to sit down and carefully re-read their four posts in this thread, whilst imagining they were the buyer!

Having to send something back and eventually get a refund seldom leaves anybody happy. At best, it leaves them just a little less unhappy than they might have been! Then they have to buy one somewhere else!

I’m not sure I agree entirely with that. People shouldn’t leave negative feedback without trying to get the matter resolved first. And if the buyer were me, I would want my money back if I had bought something and found it not to work. Ebay has a pretty straightforward mechanism to resolve things like this, but due to the buyer’s laziness they have marked down a seller’s good reputation. Sure, it probably won’t affect it too much but and I guess it is their right to do this but it’s not really fair on the seller.

Agreed. That's kind of a huge part of eBay's buyer protection, so it's silly not to make use of it.

DayDreamerandGeneralWaster said:

I don't know why some people are so hung up on 100% perfect feedback. You can't please everyone. 

People aren't necessarily, but eBay themselves are. For a low volume seller, one negative can drop their percentage below the threshold where eBay start to penalise them.