Can anyone help me with the feedback forum and replying to negative feedback?

[yeoldecoinco]

Hello fellow sellers.

I rarely come to these boards with selling problems, preferring to try and work it out for myself, however this one has got me stumped.

Posted a nice medallion for $400 to the USA on 20th March by Registered mail.

Buyer left negative feedback, without any prior correspondence, saying item has not arrived.

He appears to be a scammer or a nasty piece of work, he has left 3 negs out of his last six transactions, so looks like I copped a bad one, booh hooh for me, such is life.

Later today I will ring Australia Post and get an investigation started.

I am trying to respond to his negative feedback, to give the tracking number and date posted, to at least show others who look at my feedback that I did post the item.

However, I cannot get into the feedback forum.

Every time I have tried to leave feedback through the feedback forum for at least the past month it comes up with this:

"Something went wrong. We're sorry.

If you want to start over, go to the homepage. If you're stuck, let us help you."

I have been getting around it, by using the seller hub, where one can at least leave feedback that way for items that have been posted.

However, there is no provision in the seller hub to reply to feedback received, I always used to do this through the feedback forum.

I contacted eBay about this problem of getting into the feedback forum, about a fortnight ago, but they have done nothing to fix it.

Is it just me, or do other sellers find it impossible to use the feedback forum? (I am using a windows 7 via Internet Explorer)

Also tried the feedback forum through Firefox with the same result.

Tried restarting computer and clearing cookies, made no difference.

Is there any other way, apart from the feedback forum, to reply to feedback left?

I don't want to leave a nasty reply, I just want to state the facts, but it seems impossible to do.

Any help would be appreciated.

[countessalmirena]

yeoldecoinco, I'm sorry you've had a bad experience with a negative buyer who hasn't given the item long enough to arrive. (Of course, its having been a month since it was posted would make the buyer nervous, but it would be nice to think that the buyer would contact you first before giving a neg.)

You can try the following - clear cache, clear cookies, do a hard refresh (Ctrl-F5). If you are still having trouble, perhaps try another computer or device.

It is also worth noting that today is a Friday, and apparently Fridays are notorious for glitches due to eBay's technicians tinkering with site code or performing backups.

At any rate, giving you a little extra time before you respond may be the best thing. It gives you a chance to check with AP, and perhaps to contact the buyer with an update.

[melbourneclearance · Accepted solution]

You can try logging into the ebay site where the buyer is located, in this case USA. So when you log in to ebay, make sure that there is no au at the back, the url has to read www.ebay.com, manually delete the .au if it comes up automatically. You can usually reply to a feedback from there.

[kopenhagen5]

Leave it until tomorrow as today is Freaky Friday, eBay maintenance.

But the reply to feedback has also been troublesome in the last year or so.

As suggested it will sometimes work from the USA site, ebay.com

Actually I wouldn't reply to it just yet. as it may be easier to have the neg removed without a reply once tracking shows delivered.

[yeoldecoinco]

Hello countessalamirena, melbourneclearance and kopes.

Thanks for taking the time to help, I really appreciate it.

Decided to log into the US site and reply to feedback and was able to do so, thanks for that, it saved me from another tedious call to eBay Australia customer service.

Wish they would fix the glitches on their Australian site.

I have the feeling this piece of work is not going to revise feedback even if the item does arrive, (possibly, it already has) so decided to post my reply, so others can see I sent the item and am trying to resolve the matter.

Yes, after a month, as a buyer, I would be worried too.

It makes one wonder, they leave you negative feedback and then expect that you will co-operate with them further.

What happened to some communication first, if it was me, I would have contacted the seller and asked a few questions first, rather than just reach for the negative with no prior communication.

Taught me a lesson. Don't deal overseas, just not worth the pain, so I have been editing my items (again) to ship to Australia only.

Used to sell overseas, stopped about 18 months ago, just too much pain.

Only reason I started again was that many of my items appeal to an overseas market, so thought I would give it another try, stupid, stupid, stupid decision. Nearly all the pain from eBay comes from overseas transactions.

Thanks again for your help.

[collect247]

I have always argued the point that negative feedback shouldn't be allowed when an item doesn't arrive as once the seller posts then it is out of their hands.

There should be a block in place for buyers that go ape **bleep** with negative feedback that doesn't fit the crime.

If you didn't reply to the negative feedback then you would have had a better chance of getting it removed,but it won't damage your reputation anyway.

But as you said you might get scammed though.

I was scammed over $6K but any amount isn't good.

Best of luck.

[lyndal1838]

Obviously I cannot see the other negatives left by your buyer but from reading what was left for you I get the impression that it is a new(ish) buyer who is just using feedback to communicate.

He has told you that the item has not arrived and asked what does he do?   There does not look to be anything nasty or malicious in that to me.  And you are doing the same thing.

If it were me I would have messaged him giving him the information you put in the feedback reply and asked him to wait while you initiated a search for the item through AP.

Even if you do find the item and everything ends happily you may well find it difficult to have the negative removed now that you have left followup feedback.

[yeoldecoinco]

Yes, I tend to agree.

If an item does not arrive, a buyer opens an INR case and gets their money back.

Well in most cases they do, as long as they paid with Paypal, with Paypal as soon as a buyer opens an INR case, Paypal rips the money straight out of the sellers account and puts a hold on it.

The seller is penalized for the non performance of the PO that was paid to deliver the item.

The seller gets it in the neck, even though the seller has a tracking number and a receipt from the PO that proves the item was sent.

If the buyer has got their refund, why should they be able to neg a seller for something the seller cannot control?

Still, that is eBay and Paypal for you, sellers are treated like dirt, they have been ever since Donohue came along in 2008.

Fortunately, I am much nearer the end of time with eBay and Paypal than the beginning, luckily for me..

Nice one from Paypal too. They abolished my volume discount and took my charge from 30c + 1.5% to 30c + 2.6% which is fairly close to a 100% increase. Greedy big companies, all the same.

[yeoldecoinco]

"If it were me I would have messaged him giving him the information you put in the feedback reply and asked him to wait while you initiated a search for the item through AP."

Of course I did message him with instructions, including to check at the PO, what the tracking number was and the case number of the PO case I opened.

But I could not do ANY of that until I KNEW THERE WAS A PROBLEM!

The FIRST idea that there was a problem was when he left NEGATIVE feedback!

I am not psychic, (although I am probably psychotic) how does one know there is a problem if the buyer does not make any contact?

No, I have had negs revised before that I replied to, I do not see that as an issue, however, nothing eBay does surprises me much any more....

On every tracked item sent, I add the tracking information on eBay when the item is posted, but very few buyers ever notice that.

They send you messages asking what the tracking number is, when I have already taken the time to add it to their item via the eBay system when it is posted..

[lyndal1838]

You have missed my point....I think the buyer has used feedback as a contact point.   They are fairly new and have simply told you the item has not arrived and asked what to do.

As a buyer who is very familiar with ebay I can tell you it is becoming a minefield for newbies.  It is almost impossible to contact a seller without opening a dispute.

At least give your buyer a chance to do the right thing.