My first eBay negative feedback :(

[iloveelectronics]

This might be off topic but I don't know where to put this, but as it's related to my eBay store I thought I would put it under the buy/sell forum.

A UK buyer of my UT61E has just left me a negative feedback saying he returned the product and that the seller (me?) claimed it wasn't received. He must have left the feedback for the wrong item as he only ordered it on Feb 7 and according to the registered mail tracking it was only delivered yesterday Feb 15. He can't possibly has returned it and expect me to receive it in one day, right?

I have sent him a message on eBay to try to rectify that but if you are the buyer and are reading this I would be very grateful if you could contact me. Thanks!

Cheers,
Franky

[mariush]

Ebay will almost always remove the negative feedback if you complain to them explaining the situation.

But give time (a few days) to the person that left negative feedback to reply and change the feedback to a neutral one first, as I'm not sure he can completely remove it.

[ddavidebor]

yes, when one change the feedback after vendor's request, nobody can see the old feedback, but "modified" appears

[retiredcaps]

He must have left the feedback for the wrong item as he only ordered it on Feb 7 and according to the registered mail tracking it was only delivered yesterday Feb 15. He can't possibly has returned it and expect me to receive it in one day, right?

That would be a logical explanation as you can see he has purchased a lot of stuff in the same time period and could have easily got the auction ids mixed up or something like that.

Hopefully, he will be a reasonable person and do the right thing.

Aren't you glad now I suggested the $2 tracking option now?

[iloveelectronics]

That would be a logical explanation as you can see he has purchased a lot of stuff in the same time period and could have easily got the auction ids mixed up or something like that.

Hopefully, he will be a reasonable person and do the right thing.

Aren't you glad now I suggested the $2 tracking option now?

Indeed! Thanks! I'm still waiting for his reply. If this doesn't get rectified I'm sure it will have negative impact on my selling limits again. It's really not easy being a seller on eBay even though I've tried my very best

[cwalex]

That would be a logical explanation as you can see he has purchased a lot of stuff in the same time period and could have easily got the auction ids mixed up or something like that.

Hopefully, he will be a reasonable person and do the right thing.

Aren't you glad now I suggested the $2 tracking option now?

Indeed! Thanks! I'm still waiting for his reply. If this doesn't get rectified I'm sure it will have negative impact on my selling limits again. It's really not easy being a seller on eBay even though I've tried my very best

I know how you feel I used to sell 2nd hand dvds on ebay many years ago when I was unemployed. I used to go to pawnbrokers and cherry pick titles and because I bought a lot they gave me 30% discount. I was really proud of my 100% positive feedback and I would pack and send the dvds asap, give the best service I could and then someone gave me negative feedback. I contacted the person and asked if they could let me address the problem since they didn't contact me before giving negative feedback and she said that it was a mistake and meant for another person. I asked her to change her feedback politely and then just had no response from her from that point. Ebay would do nothing about it!

I'm not selling on ebay anymore but not because of that experience. I still made plenty of sales after that, I think most people read what the negative feedback you have received is for and if you have a reasonable reply to the negative and you have only positive feedback otherwise it won't affect your sales. All you can do is give the best service you can. Some people are just assholes and will take advantage of you but most people in my experience are reasonable and will contact you if they have a query or an issue. Try not to let the bad experience get you down.

[iloveelectronics]

Just a quick update - the buyer has responded to my message and feedback revision request and has now revised the feedback to a very positive one! He admitted that he left the negative feedback on the wrong item. I'm glad I have a very responsive and helpful buyer this time!

[Spawn]

Nice to hear that Franky

In my feedback giving in history from 2003 till now there is only 2 negative feedbacks I give out in 2004 both on same seller, the guy never send the items and Paypal was not huge thing with German sellers back than so I had to do it with bank transfer from the Netherlands, payment was not protected.
Believe it or not guys, the seller is thrown out ebay but he still send the item after 2 months (was a Xbox and games) he send me a mail with apologies, he had a motorcycle accident and he was in hospital for long time. This event teach me something, be patience… since then I never give a negative feedback and always got my items, sometimes it goes wrong but at the end somehow it gets fixed.

Moral of the story is, think and do everything possible before you give negative feedback. 

[retiredcaps]

I'm glad I have a very responsive and helpful buyer this time!

You may also want to consider adding a provision that you have the right to refuse/reject any bid/offer/transaction based on the ebay buyer's feedback score.  A person that claims packages go missing 3 or 4 times in the feedback is probably a cheat.

"Smart" cheaters may want to target people with a 100% feedback and who want to keep that perfect record.

As for the $2 charge, it not only protected you in this case, but it lets your buyers know where the delay is.  For example, in the other thread Spawn said it took 15 days for Dutch custom and postal service to process and deliver the UT61E to him.