Recently, a customer posted negative feedback, breaking our 100% feedback rate, I have fought hard to maintain this 100% feedback rate.
The customers issue was unjustified, stating in the feedback for the GoPro selfie stick that the remote control that appears in SOME of the photos wasn't included, issue is in the listing description we clearly state 'remote control NOT included', yet another case of customers not reading descriptions when browsing from a mobile device. The customer also didnt communcate with us prior to this AND initiated return with Ebay, without our knowledge of any issue until Ebay had AUTOMATICALLY granted the return and item was on its way back.
I called Ebay about this immediately, explained the situation, and they agreed the customer was at fault, even giving their account a strike for the way they handled this issue, the Ebay rep said the feedback would be removed, and customer wont be reimbursed for the return postage cost.
24 hours goes by, the customers feedback comment had been removed by Ebay, but the negative feedback its self was still present, meaning we still had below 100% and sales had noticably dropped in this time frame (consumer psychology, they will be more likely to purchase from a store that has 100% feedback, hence why I fight hard to maintain this). I call Ebay again and ask why this hasent been removed, informing them sales have dropped because of this, the rep is equally outraged and says she will get it fixed immediately and start an investigation as to why the guy the day before didnt totally remove it.
I wait another 24 hours, its still there, sales continue to drop. I call Ebay again, now quite angry as you'd expect... After being on the phone for atleast 20 minutes with this rep, she finally finds out the issue...
Ebay is unable to remove negative feedback while a dispute on that item is open...
So basically, I'm being held to ransom, over negative feedback that Ebay not only agreed was unjustified, but felt the customer had acted very poorly enough to earn a strike. Yet this new policy means my store will now loose many sales because of a customers error, and this incredibly bad policy of automatically granting a customer the right to return goods without even communicating with that seller first.
This new policy is essentially just a money saver for Ebay, that comes at the expense of sellers, so slowly 'seller protection' that Ebay always goes on about disappears. In this case, I have not been protected, I am loosing sales, and no one wants to be held accountable for this. If Ebay agrees negative feedback should be removed, why the hell can this not be removed? Who came up with this absolutely retarded policy??? Clearly someone who has never been a seller, and has no idea about the seller community they are serving!
I eventually spoke to a supervisor, who said it was essentially my fault, because I have allowed returns on this item, can you believe this arrogence??? Its part of Australian law that returns be allowed for one, and the sheer fact that not only does this guy want to justify a bad Ebay policy, but tries to pass blame onto me for complying with Australian law!
I am so damn furious right now...
