Gotta Love Feedback Extortion!

[yankee]

Buyer buys a store demo. It is not really a demo. It was never used, but sat on a shelf and does not have orignal box.
It was listed as used...

12 detailed pictures of the actual item were loaded to ebay. Buyer states it is damaged to the point of inoperable, missing paint, etc...and says the box in immaculate and he knows we lied to him and was not damaged in shipping. We wants $65.00 back. It was a $235.00 sale.

My reply was, "I am very sorry to hear this. Please return the item for a refund."

This is his reply:
So there is no chance of me returning this for a refund, this was a ChristMas gift therefore not giving me enough time to order another one. If you are not willing to meet me in the middle, I will have to report to ebay and leave a negative feedback, along with posting pictures with the damage to the bow, leaving me to fix it myself. I wanted you to be aware of the damage and my fu ture actions.

[yankee]

Feedback score is zero. Guest checkout. Instant payment.

[BigCJ]

Time to report!

[yankee]

I copied and pasted the feedback extortion policy and wish him and his family a merry Christmas.

[slokor]

Id go further and pre-empt his feedback just in case he does decide to leave one.
Report him to ebay right away and attach the email he sent to you. Don't take the chance with this situation. It happened to me and I had the guy kicked off ebay - very similar situation. The guy had already left the feedback and it was removed of course.

[yankee]

Originally Posted by slokor

Id go further and pre-empt his feedback just in case he does decide to leave one.
Report him to ebay right away and attach the email he sent to you. Don't take the chance with this situation. It happened to me and I had the guy kicked off ebay - very similar situation. The guy had already left the feedback and it was removed of course.

I reported the message.
He keeps sending more. I wont read them. No feedback has been left. If he does, I dont care. It will be removed.

Silliness.

I am looking forward to the "Buyer remorse" extrotion threats right after Christmas. Those along with Tax return buyer are my absolute favorite customers

[slokor]

Yeah I love the first couple of weeks in January - so much fun...

[elmo]

Feedback extortion is getting SO mainstream

[yankee]

Originally Posted by elmono

Feedback extortion is getting SO mainstream

It was a lot worse 4-5 years ago before ebay put in the feedback extortion policy.
I still would not budge, even at the cost of a slew of negative feedback. Seems if you let it happen once, it happens again and again.

[MM78]

Just so you guys are aware.....There are people selling "How to get free stuff on Ebay" guides on the underground. I'm going to guess that many of "us" sellers are getting hit by people who have read these guides.

[jeffweico]

Originally Posted by slokor

Yeah I love the first couple of weeks in January - so much fun...

I always stop selling the week before Christmas and I don't resume until the second week of January.

It eliminates a ton of orders coming in at the last minute from buyers who are completely unrealistic about delivery times.

For example, Christmas is on a Thursday this year. On Monday the 22nd, I would (in years past) have to answer a dozen emails from people who wanted their merchandise to arrive by Wednesday but did NOT want to pay anything extra for shipping. And these are the same people who will not hesitate to leave a negative feedback if their item does not show up on time - the time that THEY set to conform to their self-imposed procrastination issues.

I do, of course, have after Christmas returns, some justified and some not. A lot of buyers remorse in the form of "I got three of these" as gifts. I wouldn't mind taking a return, but some of these people want not only the ITEM refunded, but also the postage they originally paid, PLUS they expect me to pay the postage to return the item as well. NOT HAPPENING!

I am a VERY REASONABLE seller. If something went wrong and it is my fault, I will ALWAYS pay for the return shipping and offer a full refund. But if the buyer just changes their mind, that is THEIR problem, not mine. I will still offer a refund on the item ONLY in those situations.

I COULD start up again on the 26th, but the break gives me a little time and allows me to update my inventory and find the stuff that I want to sell at a discount for January or get rid of. You know, the stuff that no longer sells.

But for a long time, I always sold right up until the 24th. But the headaches are not worth it. And I still get MOST of my Christmas sales anyway.

[dealagreeproceed]

sadly all part of the game of online biz I suppose, atleast with eby n amzn...
to make it as seller u really gota be patient and know what your doing. this biz really is not cut out for every joe shmoe. we need awards or somethen

[GreenBean]

Originally Posted by dealagreeproceed

sadly all part of the game of online biz I suppose, atleast with eby n amzn...
to make it as seller u really gota be patient and know what your doing. this biz really is not cut out for every joe shmoe. we need awards or somethen

It's not a game.

It's business.

But if they want to play dirty, then they become fair game.

[dealagreeproceed]

Originally Posted by GreenBean

It's not a game.

It's business.

But if they want to play dirty, then they become fair game.

[yotano211]

I am doing the same thing for the 1st time this year. I am quitting on the Friday the 19th. Then a long cruise on the 30th for 5 weeks.

Last year I lost 2 good accounts on grounds of people expecting me to ship Express mail for dirt cheap. The shipping cost would have been costlier than the item I sold to them.

Originally Posted by jeffweico

I always stop selling the week before Christmas and I don't resume until the second week of January.

It eliminates a ton of orders coming in at the last minute from buyers who are completely unrealistic about delivery times.

For example, Christmas is on a Thursday this year. On Monday the 22nd, I would (in years past) have to answer a dozen emails from people who wanted their merchandise to arrive by Wednesday but did NOT want to pay anything extra for shipping. And these are the same people who will not hesitate to leave a negative feedback if their item does not show up on time - the time that THEY set to conform to their self-imposed procrastination issues.

I do, of course, have after Christmas returns, some justified and some not. A lot of buyers remorse in the form of "I got three of these" as gifts. I wouldn't mind taking a return, but some of these people want not only the ITEM refunded, but also the postage they originally paid, PLUS they expect me to pay the postage to return the item as well. NOT HAPPENING!

I am a VERY REASONABLE seller. If something went wrong and it is my fault, I will ALWAYS pay for the return shipping and offer a full refund. But if the buyer just changes their mind, that is THEIR problem, not mine. I will still offer a refund on the item ONLY in those situations.

I COULD start up again on the 26th, but the break gives me a little time and allows me to update my inventory and find the stuff that I want to sell at a discount for January or get rid of. You know, the stuff that no longer sells.

But for a long time, I always sold right up until the 24th. But the headaches are not worth it. And I still get MOST of my Christmas sales anyway.

[trosky]

I'm just starting this year so my first Christmas selling and with all this bad stories, I'm definitely thinking of closing shop too. Especially when most of my accounts are new and can't take any defects. The money and sales is tempting but patience will pay off in the long term I think

[GreenBean]

Originally Posted by trosky

I'm just starting this year so my first Christmas selling and with all this bad stories, I'm definitely thinking of closing shop too. Especially when most of my accounts are new and can't take any defects. The money and sales is tempting but patience will pay off in the long term I think

This applies to USA & UK & Europe ( or Northern Hemisphere).

It's a most wise move.

Our shops all close by the end of the 1st week in December.

Other accounts will be closed by the end of this week.

Why? I frankly do not trust ebay to be sympathetic to shipping issues should weather become so bad with those snow storms.
A couple of years ago, the UK closed down because of horrific weather conditions.

ebay offered sellers an amnesty. Nice? Oh yeah. Except in the late January they killed off heaps of sellers who had issues with delivery.

From that time, never traded over the Holidays ( in full cry).

It's effective for you to keep control of your account. Closing shop allows everything to stay 'clean'.

And you are spared whining buyers.

[yankee]

My big accounts sell everyday of the year and always will.
My stealth accounts seem to be a turn and burn so it really does not matter. With that being said, I have yet to have a negative feedback on a stealth(knock on wood) and if it does happen, I really don't care at all.

Is that a bad attitude to have?

[oompaloompa]

Is that a bad attitude to have?[/QUOTE]

nope, that is my exact attitude............

[rsot]

Originally Posted by yankee

My big accounts sell everyday of the year and always will.
My stealth accounts seem to be a turn and burn so it really does not matter. With that being said, I have yet to have a negative feedback on a stealth(knock on wood) and if it does happen, I really don't care at all.

Is that a bad attitude to have?

If it ain't broke, don't fix it...you always have backups which is

[dealagreeproceed]

Originally Posted by jeffweico

I always stop selling the week before Christmas and I don't resume until the second week of January.

It eliminates a ton of orders coming in at the last minute from buyers who are completely unrealistic about delivery times.

For example, Christmas is on a Thursday this year. On Monday the 22nd, I would (in years past) have to answer a dozen emails from people who wanted their merchandise to arrive by Wednesday but did NOT want to pay anything extra for shipping. And these are the same people who will not hesitate to leave a negative feedback if their item does not show up on time - the time that THEY set to conform to their self-imposed procrastination issues.

I do, of course, have after Christmas returns, some justified and some not. A lot of buyers remorse in the form of "I got three of these" as gifts. I wouldn't mind taking a return, but some of these people want not only the ITEM refunded, but also the postage they originally paid, PLUS they expect me to pay the postage to return the item as well. NOT HAPPENING!

I am a VERY REASONABLE seller. If something went wrong and it is my fault, I will ALWAYS pay for the return shipping and offer a full refund. But if the buyer just changes their mind, that is THEIR problem, not mine. I will still offer a refund on the item ONLY in those situations.

I COULD start up again on the 26th, but the break gives me a little time and allows me to update my inventory and find the stuff that I want to sell at a discount for January or get rid of. You know, the stuff that no longer sells.

But for a long time, I always sold right up until the 24th. But the headaches are not worth it. And I still get MOST of my Christmas sales anyway.

Yes the ones that want you to pay for return shipping are the most annoying unless the issue is actually my fault n even then its iffy... I liken it to buying something from walmrt n then wanting to return it n telling them to reimburse you for your gas money to come back up there

I have no issue doing full refunds including the og shipping fees long as item same condition but paying anything other than that back doesn't make sense to me

I have to wonder where some customers get this mentality from sometimes

[RosieTosie]

Originally Posted by yankee

My big accounts sell everyday of the year and always will.
My stealth accounts seem to be a turn and burn so it really does not matter. With that being said, I have yet to have a negative feedback on a stealth(knock on wood) and if it does happen, I really don't care at all.

Is that a bad attitude to have?

Not when you have the kind of turnover that you have Yankee! But those that don't have the cushion of that, eg most of us, then less is most definately more for longevity, hopefully