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 Replies: 17 / Views: 4,517 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1291 Posts |
I auctioned a nickel on ebay and received one bid for a whopping $0.99. Shortly after receiving it the buyer left me a negative feedback and the comment that it looked nothing like my photo. Never asked for a return or a refund. Just sent a big, fat, red negative and ruined my otherwise perfect selling record. I contacted ebay and tried to plead my case...most notably that the buyer has only been an eBayer since 4/29/2016 and has very limited transactions whereas I have close to 17,000. They weren't impressed and told me that if that's the buyer's opinion then he's welcome to express it. They told me that I shouldn't worry that it dropped my feedback to 99.4% (I haven't been selling much lately). They told me that potential buyers will look at my whole history and decide that this one blemish is not worrying about - to which I told them that that was THEIR opinion, and that I won't even look at someone's listing's who is less than 99.8%. If I had to guess, I'd bet the buyer was honked off at me because the shipping charge was $2.54, about two and a half times more than the coin. The funny thing is that I mentioned that in the listing...I said that shipping would be $2.54, exactly what it costs me to ship via first class with delivery confirmation through the eBay/PayPal system and please don't be mad at me if you win the coin for less than the shipping charges... No way that coin didn't look EXACTLY like the photo!! Feeling violated and looking to lash out!!  |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10982 Posts |
It sucks but you need to move on. The new buyer may have overlooked the shipping charge and thought they had made a 99 cent purchase. Anyway it is just one neg and your feedback score is still over 99% which is what many buyers, myself included, look for in a good seller.
You can't please everybody and need to let it go. Frustrating I know but don't let it eat at you.
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Rest in Peace
United States
10625 Posts |
Consider yourself fortunate you've only encountered 1 bidiot in 17,000 transactions. You've actually beaten the odds.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4870 Posts |
It's not right that seller's don't have the same protections as buyers. In ebay's eyes, the buyer is always right and the seller's side of the story is moot. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6370 Posts |
Just so you know, when I buy from a seller, I don't care if their feedback is less than 100%. I judge the negs for myself as most of the time they are just self-centered bidiots. If the seller replies that there was no communication, then that shows that the seller cares enough to want to fix any problems. If there is any consistency to the negs, then I avoid the seller.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2023 Posts |
As long as a seller's rating is over 99%, I'll look at the feedback to read the reasoning behind the neutrals/negatives and the seller's responses. There are enough bad apples among the buyers that I won't discount an imperfect seller off the bat, but they need to demonstrate they have at least some idea what they're doing.
In your case, "not like the picture" would make be analyze the picture more closely (and look specifically for a statement that it is the item being offered) and that picture needs to be clear and not masking any imperfections (spots, scratches). A professional response definitely works in your favor. It sucks to get negative feedback but it can still help you improve.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2403 Posts |
Quote:
most notably that the buyer has only been an eBayer since 4/29/2016 and has very limited transactions whereas I have close to 17,000 If most of your 17000 feed backs are as a seller, then no worries. Most companies would kill to have a 99.4% customer satisfactory rating. |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
2843 Posts |
I have no words. If I were in your position I would be enraged. I was very upset at a recent neutral that I felt was undeserved. Can only imagine if it were negative.....
Sorry to hear about your bad experience.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7633 Posts |
I feel your pain and understand your frustration but all you can do is move on. Everybody knows that Buyer's pretty much call the shots and have free reign. The risk of an unwarranted Neg is just another "cost of doing business" on ebay. The thing that gets me is a "neg" for a 99 cent item has the same impact on a Seller's reputation and status as a "neg" for 5000$ item does. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
666 Posts |
I just started selling a some extra coins on ebay and I've tried to learn how it works reading posts here, and on the ebay Community forums, where the consensus is quite clear: ebay has gradually shifted away from championing small business entrepreneurs toward an often irrational 'the customer is always right, no matter what' policy. Apparently, it is in ebay's economic interest to do so (for various reasons). Of course, the long-term answer to this problem is a smart competitor or two who recognize an opportunity to capitalize on ebay's increasingly poor reputation among sellers. I don't think that has happened yet, but hopefully it is on the horizon.
Quote:
Just so you know, when I buy from a seller, I don't care if their feedback is less than 100%. I judge the negs for myself as most of the time they are just self-centered bidiots. If the seller replies that there was no communication, then that shows that the seller cares enough to want to fix any problems. If there is any consistency to the negs, then I avoid the seller. Very well said TypeCoin971793. I do the same. I have purchased from sellers with neutral and negative ratings because it's clear the seller worked hard to resolve the concerns, based on their responses to buyers' complaints. On the other hand, I have not purchased coins from sellers who respond to negative feedback with rude, crass comments, as I believe this says more about the seller than almost anything else. [Btw, I do not mean to imply that weerdsteev has or would post such responses - just sharing my approach to evaluating sellers.] ~ Mark Edited by dd27
10/19/2016 12:01 am
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Valued Member
United States
408 Posts |
I got out of ebay about four years ago. I used to sell 1 gram silver bars. I was very successful at it, but I knew when it was time to leave. More competition was coming up to challenge ebay and I saw an attitude of wanting to milk the seller as much as possible by charging fees. By the way, one of the greatest ways to minimize paypal fees is to open a micro account. That is for sellers who engage in sales of less than $10.00. Just letting people know about it. Most people don't even know that it exists. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1699 Posts |
Contact the buyer - try to understand exactly why they left the negative and try to make the recovery (full refund, different coin, etc.)
Your best chance is getting the buyer to edit their feedback.
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New Member
United States
1 Posts |
Negative feedback would burn me up too. Had one once. Guy sold me IHC with poor quality picture. I asked if diamonds were visible on ribbon and he said yes all 4 of them. When I got it I could not distinguish one full diamond. I asked for a refund and that was okay. He turned around and bought a 1955 poor man's double die cent from me which was from an uncirculated roll of Lincolns and said it had spots on it and was cleaned or something like that. I promptly refunded him before he even sent coin back to me. He gave me a negative feedback. When I called ebay and told them that this was a retaliatory move they told me that it was "the buyers opinion" . I was ready to quit selling at this point and had that one negative feedback on my page for 12 months. Then it went away and I have a clean 100% today which I try with diligence to maintain. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7375 Posts |
It might be appropriate to reveal the buyers name so we could block them on our ebay accounts. |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1291 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7375 Posts |
and sorry that happened to you Steve. I dealt with some nut last year that told me I sold fake coins, and that he was going to report me to the fbi or something. Really shook me up for a while. |
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Replies: 17 / Views: 4,517 |
Posted 10/18/2016 9:10 pm
