obvious feedback extortion. ebay doesnt want to help

[bobg]

so get this..someone buys off me. hes a powerseller so he knows his way around. he emails me saying the product he got isnt working. so i send him the troubleshooting techniques. He replies with a giant email saying hes fed up and doesnt want to hear anything else, he just wants a refund otherwise he will file a paypal claim AND leave a negative. He doesnt want to return the item, he just wants his money..and will keep the item.

so i tell him thats extortion, and il report it to ebay. Ebay then removes the feedback saying its extortion..but an hour later email me back to tell me,,oh sorry actually it isnt extortion..WHAT? How is paying for something, then threatening to keep the item+leave negative+file a paypal claim if you dont do what i tell you, NOT extortion? Did the definition of extortion change in the last couple of hours?

for what its worth, ive now bought several items off him. Waiting for the 7 days to come up, and then ill bombard him with negatives. im not done with this ..not by a longshot

[foster]

I hope you used a non-linked account to make the purchases. Otherwise I see you getting in trouble under the dreaded "abusing eBay" policy (or some other such nonsense).

Personally I'd just add him to my blocked list and move on. People like this aren't worth the hassle to get upset over. I few negatives isn't going to hurt your sales and they'll drop off after a year anyway.

[bobg]

ya man i definitely used a non linked account. luckily i didnt have to pay before buying the item either.

on a sidenote, ebay got back to me and told me that extortion alone is not reason enough to get feedback removed. can you beleive that?

[gibsonton]

For sure , they will say it is abusing feedback .. i did something similar last June and it still has my policy compliance at MEDIUM and a warning.

[bobrob]

Ok, how about this. You refund him his money, mark payment not received, and file a payment not received complaint against him? Will this fly? I had this idea for ages now, never got to test it.


If that don't work, this is what I would do. Ok, you are absolutely right, why don't you send me the item back, and I will pay for your return shipping, and I will also refund you full price, 100% of what you paid including shipping. However, I ask one thing in return, I would like you to not leave (or remove) negative feedback. That's one condition I desire, please give me a cutesy of not leaving a neg, and I will refund your money and pay for return shipping.


When I communicate with buyers. Let's say he e-mailed me, telling me the product does not work. I don't go into defensive mode automatically. I talk to him in this manner.

Hmmmm, interesting, never happened before. It wasn't my intention to send you a unit that doesn't work. Sorry about this one. Hey! There is this troubleshooting you could do, or how about this, I'll take the product back and give you a refund? Let me know what you want.

I don't send him troubleshooting steps yet, I want to know what's on his mind. This was just a message to disarm him.

Now, he says I want my money back. At this point ask him to send the product back. If he asks you if you will pay for return shipping or if you will refund the shipping he paid, tell him, well, the standard policy of all buyers is buyer is responsible for shipping. Of course I will pay for your shipping (or for return shipping or both), because I want you to be happy with your eBay experience. But, since we are a little far off from standard policy, I want you to give me a favor. I would like positive feedback in return for this. I know you don't have to, and that's not a problem at all, if you feel I'm a horrible seller it is your right to give me negative feedback, nothing changes, I'll refund your money anyway. Let's do this, send everything back, leave me positive feedback, I'll refund it all.


If you don't want enemies, refund it all just like you said, you'll make that money back in no time. But you could also be bad and just refund the money you should refund him, not shipping, return shipping, etc.



Life's just a bad trip, it's a ride, we can change it anytime we want to.

[foster]

Originally Posted by bobrob

Ok, how about this. You refund him his money, mark payment not received, and file a payment not received complaint against him? Will this fly? I had this idea for ages now, never got to test it.

If they paid via PayPal there'll be a record of it that eBay can access. You'll end up looking like the bad guy.

The only way I see that working is if sent cash or a check via snail mail (and didn't send it registered).

Seriously, just move on people. You get all wrapped up in revenge. It's not productive or healthy.

[yaw1800]

...

do what Foster said && move on

[Jonas]

eBay's feedback department is always so crooked now. They never abide by their rules and each of their staff will do something different.

Plus when they do something completely against policy, their other people will always refuse to reverse it.

However when feedback is removed in policy either by eBay or by an automated process like a buyer not answering an unpaid dispute, eBay's feedback staff like to do double, tripple, and quadruple jeopardy of putting that feedback right back on so you have to fight it all over again.


bobg the stuff you bought from him, well firstly if they're all geotargetted in the same area, it won't work. You need them coming from distant places. You also can't neg him right away, but you need to do some emails to ebay complaining he did something against the rules like tried to make you use a banned payment method, generally all accounts complaining about the same thing. Then in the unpaid dispute mention that crap and also do a dispute against them. When you neg, eBay sees buyers had trouble rather than a buyer just doing a quick neg.

Here's how eBay's feedback removal department is crap:
See this guy's feedback:
eBay Feedback Profile for cchansonichu

The owner of the account is Chris-chan, someone who gets trolled online all the time. Details:
Chris-chan - Encyclopedia Dramatica or just google search "Chris-chan"

The feedback is a ripoff of this webcomic:
xkcd - A Webcomic - A-Minus-Minus

The person who left it is obviously made the account just to leave negative feedback. But eBay didn't remove it. I also thought the account had false contact info as it did the purchase to leave a neg back on December 2008 but I see it has a 1 feedback score as in March 2009 it made a real purchase.