Removal of negative feedback

[rosebelle9798]

This subject must be of considerable interest to a number of people that have had their feedback removed.

I have left only 3 negative feedbacks over a number of years with many purchases. All have been removed.

One was removed after I initiated a dispute and complaint about being libeled. I complained. he was found wrong, but he was rewarded with the removal of not only his offending reply but also all of mine which did not contravene policy.

Recently I legitimately stated that that the postage was excessive. And also discoved that another member's feedback stating the same was removed. The seller's score however was such that the reasonableness of his postage outscored the rest.

The basis of malcontent with this seller was that he started the auction at 99cents and it was won at that price but then charged $127 to have that 39kg item shipped less than 5km literally down the road to my place.

An examinination of the seller's feedback scores it indicates that some 200 feedbacks are missing that must be neutral or negative.

Clearly many feedbacks have been removed and given that it can be argued that, that freight cost was excessive and that the seller sells many of the same item and other items  this way, that a substantial number of people would not have been completely happy with this charge.

Seeing that I found another member with the same view, before that person's feedback was also removed, I seemed to have some cause for concern about how the feedback is manipulated for large sellers to show an extraordinary postive feedback in the absence of almost non existent negative. In the real world this rarely is the case, some negative must be justified!

Another alarming point is that when I filled out the feedback it would not allow me to give less than the 5 stars; the item listing incorrectly said freight was free and that is why 5 stars are automatically given. So in affect I was only allowed to give feedback if I gave them 5 stars for freight, although that was the very point of my negative feedback - that freight was not reasonable!

Not fair trading on a number of points.

[repentatleisure1952]

I don't have much of an opinion on most of your post, however I do find some of it "alarming"-

1.If it was only 5kms away did you attempt to negotiate pick up?

2.Was the freight cost stated in the listing?

3.Did you attempt to negotiate a favourable freight rate BEFORE bidding on the item?

4.I do agree that the cost appears to be excessive,however I would have considered steps 1,2,&3 if it were me & I have done this on numerous occaisons-if the price & freight cost does not suit I don't bid!

Works for me!!!

[repentatleisure1952]

Sorry,just noticed that you stated that freigt was free in the listing-I would have stiill confirmed this with the seller prior to bidding!

[jerryman12a]

If the 3 Negs were removed then they must have contravened the feedback policies in some form . You have to be careful how you word them . I've seen Negs left with 'Very dissatisfied with the whole transaction" rather then something like " Had to get ebay involved for refund " etc which can most likely be removed.

Basically if you really want to leave a Neg that is truly deserved you have to be careful how you word the comment with it.

I'm not really interested in the rest of your post ( respectfully) as if you only ever have left 3 Negs then I'm not sure what the big deal is.

[repentatleisure1952]

Back again! It was not by any chance the  king matress? If so I was unable to see where it stated that freight was free! The listing did say to contact the seller for freight details...........hmmmm......

[lyndal1838]

The OP said that they were charged $127 for freight, not that it was free.  When an item is listed with Freight rather than a Postage rate it often comes up as Free Postage, which in turn means that the system automatically awards the seller 5 stars for postage.

I think the OP is complaining more about being forced to leave 5 stars for postage whn it was anything but a 5 star experience.

If you are unhappy about the feedback being removed and you believe it does not contravene feedback rules you can ring ebay and request that it be put back.  I've done it.

[rosebelle9798]

In response to previous replies.

The add said contact seller for freight, however the feedback form later said on it that it was free and therefore automatic 5 stars which I believe is wrong.

I did try to contact seller about freight however they did not respond to it after close of bidding.

Yes I should perhaps not have bidded, but I relied on Feedback which is the crux of this complaint. It overwhelmingly gave me the impression  that the seller was extremely reasonable on freight costs !

No I am not worried about the fact of three negatives removed, I am worried about the extreme difficulty in leaving any negative feedback, the space allowed means little can be explained that is open to various interpretation. Should we resort to seeking legal advice before leaving any negative feedback?

I was very concious of what I wrote when I wrote and I have concluded that negative feedback that contains non positive feedback will be removed at the whim of a large seller if they ask EBay. There policy is extremely hard to apply!

My concern is about the distortion within the resultant Feedback remaining against a Seller can falsely lead you to the wrong conclusion. 

[rosebelle9798]

I meant to acknowledge lyndal1838, you confirmed that does happen with automatic 5star freight score, therefore I am not an isolated case. This clearly is not satisfactory, so avoid the way these things are listed? why should Ebay not be lobbyed to correct this..

Yes, tuckcase1989 you are on the money, how can you tell it was a mattress, my record has been removed atleast from what I am able to access?

[lyndal1838]

Rose, it is not really ebay's fault.  It has something to do with the way the seller is listing the item.

I am not a seller so can not really explain it to you, but I had a similar thing happen with a large item from the UK.  It was quite expensive and it was definitely listed as Free postage so I bid on it and won.  I was very surprised to get a message from the seller that he would get a postage quote and get back to me.

Long story short, communications became very heated with me insisting that it showed as Free Postage to me in Australia and the seller insisting I was a scammer and a thief. He flatly refused to log in to ebay.au to see what I was telling him.  I ended up ringing ebay who confirmed that all the seller's listings were showing Free Postage to all overseas countries.  The ebay rep kindly contacted the seller on my behalf to assure him I was not a lying scammer and she showed him how to list so it would not show as Free Postage.  I received an apology and within an hour all his listings were changed so they did not show as Free.

[rosebelle9798]

Lyndal, mine said "contact the seller" but they would not reply. It was the feedback form that said "free"!

You say you won your GB item so you would have been locked into paying for freight as well, or were you able to negotiate after they changed their listing? My seller refused to negotiate (?) I assume this as they would not reply to my messages.

I even offered to pay for the item and told them to keep it - no response would not alter payment by PayPal (issue new invoice). Could only pay by PayPal (no alternatives) for the full amount. After a couple of days from end of auction it was listed as Unpaid Item. I of course tried paying only for the item and forfeit because I was infuriated and wanted nothing to do with them although including postage it was a good deal - but a principal. I believe they breached fair trading laws.

I guess this raises the topic "is it ethical to substantially raise the freight cost, then as a combined cost  is their profit". I also think this against EBay policy and consumer law.