Negative feedback disappeared

[rosebelle9798]

I was shocked when the first negative feedback I left for a Seller had disappeared. I'm also posting because in my search for understanding I found similar threads with similar experiences.

I have made enquiries and I can only see two possible senarios but I might need further enlightenment.

1. my negative feedback left for a seller was removed because their Follow-up was considered defamatory, and therefor the Whole feedback including my feedback although it did not breach policy was removed.

Or 2. the Seller sent a Notice of Claim of Defamation Statutory Declaration to have it removed.

Either of these actions (if one is indeed the reason) made me feel that this was unfair. It seemed that I initiated a complaint with Ebay against the Seller which resulted not in any sanctions against the Sellar but a reward.

Clearly the first senario (if true- and I don't know) is extraordinary.

Because I am unable to ascertain whether the Seller had used this process; I only have an Email ( sent outside Ebay) from the company saying that they are undergoing this (after Resolution Process). I note that atleast Ebay UK policy is that I should have been Notified and given a copy if requested; these rules don't seem to apply here.

Am I right to assume that because I have received no advice from Ebay that the Seller has not submitted this "Notice"  so senario 2. can't be?

This leaves 1. or what else?

I have not found on any forum that anybody has discussed the Notice of Claim of Defamation Statutory Declaration, I can see that the use may be abused by Sellers to have Negative Feedback removed.

Although I have noticed Sellers concern about not being able to leave Buyers negative feedback, I am writing this as a Buyer with possible concern about Buyer's right to leave negative feedback on less than satisfactory Seller's .

I have tried to analyse the Seller's scores (that I left negative feedback that disappeared as mentioned above) and found that they had received 1,098 but with only (971) against their ID. What were they Neutral or negative and what happened to the 127?. What does it also say about the Seller when his score is 971 but the Seller has only left 908 for others?

Could the 63 or the other 127 have left negative feedback that nolonger appears?

[davewil1964]

I only have an Email ( sent outside Ebay) from the company saying that they are undergoing this (after Resolution Process).

Did the seller open an unpaid item case against you? Did you not pay for the item? That's what it sounds like.

If this is the case, then as soon as the case is closed, no feedback can be left, and a buyer's feedback can (and should) be removed. As no transaction occurred.

I don't think you need to go digging into defamation for the explanation.

[rosebelle9798]

Thanks for first reply.

Careful don't jump to conclusions - there is a lot to my experience - and I have masses of documentation of correspondence etc.

The item was promptly paid for (no not the issue).

I initiated the dispute after 45 days of  civil negotation on my part. The dispute was that the item ($250) was faulty, the Seller did not deny it was faulty (acknowledged even) however stalled and would not refund.

There comes a time after being patient ,polite, diplomatic and friendly, that I should go to Dispute Resolution.

They seemed to argue that because the item was secondhand they don't require to give a refund, when faulty and requested.

I felt they were not abiding by the Consumer Law changes that came into force 1 january last year requiring Sellers to provide Consumer Guarantees on secondhand items.

In addition the Seller stated in their ad. "tested and working perfectly" and made further email references supporting their claim with other tests they claimed they had done. There seemed to be illogical arguments and when I put the claim that they could not have come to their conclusion by those tests - they did not refute.

There are hallmarks to the case I can iterate, least of which is that phone calls were never returned, nor were some emails responded to.

[xxstuckonstickersxx]

How was your FB worded?

That can often have a lot to do with the stance eBay takes

[freightcar2009]

childz_play_oz wrote:

THINK - It's not illegal yet

Not that made me laugh 🙂 Thanks

[freightcar2009]

 NOT = Now

[a_beautiful_room]

Just a few things to comment:

What applies to the UK / USA definitely does not apply here, with regards to ebay rules. Despite it being a worldwide company, they all have their differences when it comes to lots of things in regard to ebay.

The fact that the number of feedback is different to the number of purchases and sales means nothing. Lots of people don't leave feedback at all - buyers and sellers - so it definitely doesn't mean that they might have been less than favorable feedback which has been removed or deleted.

If you went the dispute route and paypal asked you to return the item for your refund and you didn't - maybe this could be a reason that the feedback may have been deleted at the sellers request .. as in, they offered a resolution, you chose not to accept it. This may not been your scenario but it might be one which applies.

Sellers can do the defamation thing and many do. It is the route of last resort for sellers who feel hard done by with unfair or untrue feedback and I am not saying that this applies to you but ebay cannot, do not and do not want to involve themselves in any and every petty dispute over the millions of transactions that happen every day,  so if a seller provides the correct paperwork, ebay will remove the feedback - and    that is no matter who is at fault. How does ebay apportion blame really? No-one is going to sit there like in a court of law, and listen to both sides and read all of the messages.

Sometimes there's no point hanging onto these things .. you'll just have to move on, unfortunately.

[rosebelle9798]

Thanks a-beautiful-room,

Thanks, probably agree with all your sentiment, Yes I imagine difficult for Ebay to manage but most people aggrieved would expect some "listening" to both sides.

PayPal not involved in my case (YES don't ever pay cash I hear).

I cannot see purchases and sales figures?

I read my Seller has rec'd 1098 Feedback but has only 971 Positive Feedback.

 Is not 1098 Total feedback minus 971 Positive feedback = 127 Not Positive feedback, therefore , = 127 Negative/Neutral feedback.?

I raised this because I thought I should be using these figures to guage what confidence I should have in this Seller (or any for that matter). 

[marian_100]

Hi Rosabelle, great thread btw. One more thing to add. The totals do not represent the whole picture because feedback is not left for all transactions as it is entirely voluntary. So my feeling is that 971 feedbacks left is actually good going.

[rosebelle9798]

Sorry I needed to add Seller did not ask me to revise my feedback, so he did not do the "defamation thing" as a last resort.

I am waiting if there are further helpful thoughts or questions before I post the FB with the follow-ups.