How do I remove negative feedback (Seller)?
Hi All,
We have sold thousands of goods on eBay over 6+ years.
Recently, we came across a malicious Buyer who left us an unjustified negative feedback (our first ever), therefore making us lose our 100% feedback (which can often be the difference between winning or losing a sale).
Basically, Buyer left us negative feedback, claiming that our product cannot be wall mounted. Our packaging, datasheet and installation instructions clearly explains and illustrates how to wall mount the product. We have made contact with the Buyer to explain how to wall mount the product and have requested to revise their feedback. We even offered to provide a FULL refund if they are still unhappy. Buyer declined both of our requests, claiming that their feedback is accurate.
I have done some research on the Buyer and was shocked to learn that of the 14 feedback they have given to Buyers, 12 of them have been negative!!! Clearly a very sour and malicious Buyer!
We have sold thousands of this product with no issues whatsoever. We have contacted eBay Live Chat twice and had a phone conversation once to explain our position and request to remove the false negative feedback. However, despite backing ourselves with strong evidence, eBay is saying that they can no longer remove negative feedback as of 30August2023.
PLEASE eBay, if you are reading this, please provide some Seller Protection against malicious Buyers. We have worked so hard over the years to provide quality products and top service to our (and your) customers. We are clearly not at fault so PLEASE help us retract the negative feedback as it is a HUGE deal for small businesses like us. Thank you!
hbrih3
·2 years agoThey lied to you , eBay is making negative feedbacks disappear all the time from large sellers even when the negative feedback is warranted and dozens of buyers complain about the same issues time after time. Only have to follow sellers like justwine to see the negative feedbacks climbing above 10 one week then the following one dropping to 1 or 2 to bring them back to 100% Over the years I've had at least a dozen negative feedbacks deleted, some as recent as this month when eBay even ended up having to do a partial refund because the seller lied about resending a missing box of wine after originally only sent 1 of the 2 boxes ordered then when asked for proof they provide the old tracking number as "evidence" they reshipped it. I wouldn't worry too much about your feedback, most buyers would know that feedback is being manipulated and distorted by sellers and eBay. That's been the case ever since they stopped allowing negative feedbacks to be given to buyers years ago.
*sons_n_daughters*
·2 years agoMaybe buy your wine from local vineyards, or if you don't have local ones, buy direct from websites rather than ebay. Personally, I can get what I want from Dan Murphy's. I live in an area with lots of vineyards and the prices are exactly the same as if I went to the cellar door. Therefore, I buy from Dans, rather than drive the 15-20 minutes out of town.
If you're leaving so many negative feedbacks, and they are constantly removed, you are either leaving feedback which breaches ebay's feedback rules, or you're just being a d1ck. If you're having this many issues with ebay, then maybe for some of your purchases, it's not the place for you. I personally like to buy my wine locally, even if it is via Dr Dan's. Funnily enough, they have lots of lovely wines from out of the area too, even from overseas!
davewil1964
·2 years agod1ck would be my impression
davewil1964
·2 years agoAbout a year after you joined. Doesn't seem to have stopped you using eBay
p9games
·2 years agoWait 12 months and the neg will be gone. Problem solved
springyzone
·2 years agoI don't judge it all on the seller's reply. I also look at what a buyer says.
This one just said
Ordered wall / ceiling mount, was delivered ceiling mount............
There was no mention of the need for any instructions, no mention of contacting seller, nothing. It is not coming across as a thorough description of what went wrong. I've seen much better.
It comes across to me as a person who could barely bother to spend the time writing detailed feedback & only got on to complain.
In contrast, the seller's reply at least starts with please and is in legible sentences. The first sentence directly addresses the issue-was the wrong unit sent?
Okay, so neither person will be up for for a Nobel prize in literature, but that's not the aim of feedback. The aim, surely, is to address the issues.
If a seller is aggressively rude in a reply, it might turn me off, but if they are just a bit snippy and I suspect they may have every right to be, then I'm okay with it. It may turn others off, but maybe if they are that nervy the seller would prefer they move on anyway.
countessalmirena
·2 years agoSpringyzone, what I found gave the wrong tone included that “please read” sentence. It implies that the buyer didn’t read the installation manual. If the buyer had read it, and still found that the unit wasn’t wall-mountable, that would truly irritate and upset the buyer. If the buyer had read it but the instructions were not clear, still irritating. If the buyer didn’t read the instruction manual, it’s more tactful to mention the manual/instructions in a neutral way without making the buyer feel defensive (in my view).
The way in which it was phrased definitely assumed that the buyer hadn’t read the manual, and it included an exclamation mark to punctuate that point. The assumption might be correct… but chiding the customer is only going to get their back up (right or wrong).
In my view, the feedback comment is far too long - and it just draws attention to the negative.
That’s how it strikes me, at any rate.
As we can’t see who the buyer is (and the OP can’t tell us), and obviously we can’t see the feedback that they give others, it’s not possible for us to put the buyer’s neg in context with their overall buying behaviour. Mind you, assuming the seller is correct in describing that pattern, I can understand the seller being extremely fed up with and irritated by what could well be a completely unjustified negative.
sugar249
·2 years agoExactly. It is rude and condescending. And than the carry on about the poor sellers feedback rating just added to it.
I will buy from a seller who has being given a neg based on what I see the neg being for, if I saw this one I would have contacted the seller for a copy of the install instructions before buying. But based on the reply, I would move on to the next seller .
springyzone
·2 years agoI don't think the seller's reply is too bad, overall. In context. Yes, it does wander into what I would call off track territory, in that at the end it goes on a bit about how their feedback score has been affected and so on.
But it is polite enough. It doesn't go calling the buyer names, it isn't abusive.
It is most definitely a good thing the seller replied to the neg (in my opinion) because that first sentence is bang on & addresses what future buyers need to know. That there is a manual with illustrations & instructions and the item is definitely wall mountable.
I think the second sentence is fine too.
The third sentence addresses the fact that as a seller, they are willing to resolve issues if contacted. Not a bad thing.
Final sentence, unnecessary waste of words.
But emergency lighting, don't fret too much about your reply as I don't think it will turn most buyers off. It could have been better but it is not a disaster, put it that way. As someone else said, if you ever have to reply to another neg, take time to calm down and think out exactly what information future buyers need from it, to decide for themselves that that neg was unjustified.
sugar249
·2 years agoCome on, it starts by them telling them to read the instructions. Who knows how well those instructions are written.
Any feedback is implying they havent read the instructions, and than going on about the seller feedback anxiety is bad
springyzone
·2 years agoThe buyer implied in feedback that the unit was not wall mountable.
The reply by seller says this:
Please read the installation manual, which clearly explains and illustrates how to wall mount this unit!
Now if I went to read that because I was potentially going to buy one of those units to mount on a wall, I would have been anxious about the neg feedback and would not have bought it without asking the seller further questions.
But with the reply, I can see that the unit is wall mountable and that there is an installation manual. The seller says it "clearly explains".
As a buyer, I thought it was fine anyway. I have read similar replies plenty of times. To me, it is polite enough.
What would you expect the seller to say? Again (as a buyer), I am not impressed when I see a seller just say something like "So sorry about this dear, please let us know in future." (which is the typical Chinese response to negs). That sort of reply just implies the complaint was perfectly valid.
As for the bit about the seller going on a bit with feedback anxiety it is not great, it is a waste of words as I said before, but at least as a new buyer I would know that this seller cares about his ebay reputation. Many of the really big sellers never reply to negs. That's probably not a bad idea most of the time but if a neg tells a falsehood, I think a seller has a right to reply.
The feedback given would not stop me as a buyer from buying anyway. It may stop you but then we are all different. If he had said "This buyer is an idiot and can't read instructions"-different. But that's not how he did it.
countessalmirena
·2 years agoOP, the reply you actually gave in feedback makes you sound obsessed by your feedback score and rather petulant. You appear to be lecturing the buyer. It also highlights the negative which the buyer gave, making it far more prominent.
Based on your feedback response, some buyers may not buy from you.
You’d have done better to say nothing at all. Best action would have been a short measured reply as I suggested. The bleating “my precious feedback” reply you gave — well, too late now.
As for calling the buyer “malicious”, maybe they are. The feedback pattern you described makes the buyer sound neg-happy with a bit of a lead finger. It still doesn’t help if you reply in feedback as you have. Buyers don’t want to know your drama.
The best you can do now is learn from this, sell well, and the neg will slide down over time.
kopenhagen5
·2 years agoit would just effect the people who are there to are paranoid and probably going to leave feedback anyway.
I believe I am intelligent, have a good understanding of communication and admire the methods of Sherlock Holmes, yet the non parse sentence even for myself, gives little clue as to the grammatical error that has occurred making it possible for a reader to move forward.
And my crystal ball is broken.
eol-products
·2 years agoit would just effect the people who are there to are paranoid and probably going to leave feedback anyway.
it would just effect the people who are paranoid and probably going to leave negative feedback anyway.
domino-710
·2 years ago' People who are paranoid '. ??
eol-products
·2 years agoThe type of buyer put off by one negative feedback and possibly one you would want to avoid anyway.
domino-710
·2 years agoIndeed - but - the seemingly - ' over obsessive ' - may sit with the OP.
Listings = 19.
Sales for the month = 6
One Neg.
And a really bad Feedback reply.
Mind you twas the other twit - mentioned paranoid. lol
eol-products
·2 years agoThats how I read what they had said and I think the OP is a little that way in regard to how it will effect their sales going forward.
twyngwyn
·2 years agoIt would just affect/influence the paranoid people, who would leave negative feedback anyway 😜
*sons_n_daughters*
·2 years agoI got a neg a few years ago. Yes, they hurt, but it's not the end of the world. I sold a gemstone, that to the naked eye, looked fantastic and pristine. The buyer put it under magnification and there were very fine surface scratches. I never thought to look at it under a microscope, it was a two off item. When I looked at the second one under magnification, it showed fine scratches not visible to the naked eye. Instead of contacting me, the buyer left a neg.
I issued a full refund when I checked the second item. I also replied to their neg, apologising, and taking full responsibility (we had also been in touch via PM at that stage. The buyer was very happy with how I handled things). It didn't affect my sales one bit, because any buyer that checked, could see that I took responsibility for the mistake of me not checking carefully the item that I listed (I didn't know it was a thing to check stones under a microscope!).
I have bought many things from sellers with negs. The ones I avoid, are the sellers that abuse buyers in replies, called them scum, or scammers, or whatever. I want to know that if there is an issue with a purchase, the seller will handle it professionally, and I won't be called every name under the sun.
Your reply may or may not affect sales. Sadly, you can't change it. Always wait to reply, so you are replying professionally, and not full of emotion.
springyzone
·2 years agoI'm with countess on this.
I am a buyer. I am not overly worried if a seller has a negative here and there.
It does not stop me from buying. Just about every seller I have bought from in the last year or so has not had a perfect record.
But yes, that neg is a concern, not because it is a neg as such but because it goes into detail and says the item is not wall mountable.
Now that IS information that a buyer will take note of. It could easily influence a buyer. It would me.
The way around this is for you to reply.
As countess said, a polite reply, making it VERY clear that this item is wall mountable and that you included instructions with the item and offered to send further instructions to this buyer should cover it.
It isn't always the neg that matters, it is how the seller responds that can influence a future buyer. This neg doesn't have to affect you one iota.
sugar249
·2 years agoSadly they did reply in a not to courteous manner, and mainly complained about the impact a negative would have. They should have just given more details around the wall mounting, and not made unnecessary complaints about the neg or comments about the buyer.
In business never ever publicly complain about your buyer, or competition.
Note I say this from a perspective that I dont believe the buyer is always right, but it's how you handle the situation
springyzone
·2 years agoYes, I did not see the reply till after I had posted.
I agree, complaining about getting a neg is a waste of the available word limit. It's not giving the buyer any new information.
It's much better (from my perspective as a buyer) if the seller outlines what they did to remedy the situation or where the buyer has gone wrong (in a polite way).
The buyer definitely is not always right.
In this case, a reply needed to reinforce that it is indeed wall mountable, instructions were sent, seller was willing to send extra instructions or make a full refund if buyer was not happy. That's the sort of stuff a buyer is interested in.
danieh_6
·2 years agoWhat you can't work it out yourself?
sugar249
·2 years agoNope, I agree the bit in blue makes no sense
danieh_6
·2 years agoYou can contact eBay and ask them to remove it & see what happens, However having 1 negative wouldn't really effect any sales, it would just effect the people who are there to are paranoid and probably going to leave feedback anyway.
domino-710
·2 years agoSorry - need help with this.
danieh_6
·2 years agoWhat do you mean?
cam-2793
·2 years agoThe phrase in blue does not parse. Can you please translate it into English.
gutterpunkz05
·2 years agoThe easiest way, would have been to explain to the buyer how to wall mount the unit, and then send them a request for FB revision. Not sure you can do that since you have already replied.
twyngwyn
·2 years agoOP has already done that...
domino-710
·2 years agoBadly.
acermacca
·2 years agocontact ebay they should remove it.
countessalmirena
·2 years agoAs a buyer, I can tell you that a single negative is not at all a bar to purchasing. What’s more important is how you respond to that feedback.
A short carefully written response to the feedback, something like “We’re so sorry you are unhappy with this item. As explained in the accompanying instructions, this is indeed wall-mountable. As also communicated, you are welcome to return the item for full refund” — it would not only make the negative look ridiculous, but would also make the extra point that you are an extremely reasonable seller, that you will address issues, and that the item in question does have instructions.
If eBay doesn’t remove the feedback, it’s not likely to affect your sales negatively.
padi*0409
·2 years agoI would be more concerned with your use of "private listings" , which was only intended for high priced items or those of a sensitive nature, than a single neg.
eol-products
·2 years agoI would not worry too much about your feedback unless you are a low volume seller and it brings your feedback to below 98%. Many buyers come to the forums with purchase issues and when pointed out how bad the sellers feedback is most say they did not notice when buying.
twyngwyn
·2 years agotry here:
Request to remove Feedback (ebay.com.au)