My first ever defect, and the buyer didn't do it.

[5kazam]

Sold an item recently.  Buyer was coming down from NSW to Vic, and we agreed item could be picked up when she was ready to do so.  Many emails back and forth, exhchange of phone numbers, etc. etc.

Item picked up, buyer very happy, left glowing feedback.

Then I find I have a defect for - Item not as described, Commucation, Postage costs.  ???  If item NAD on pick up - don't take with you. Communication - as said emails, phone no's etc,   Postage Costs - well excuse me, there aren't any on pick up.  And those are the the 3 defect issues.

Spoke to the buyer today, and she advised that she gives feedback, but does not EVER go near the stars.  Figures giving good FB is all she needs to do.  The buyer has asked me to give her a couple of days to sort this out with eBay, as she has just had a new grandson (congratulations!!).

But how can this happen?  My buyer is as astounded about this as I am.

[5kazam]

(Tried to respond early this morning, but apparently 'Community' was closed for maintenance.)

On my stars on my FB page, I've gone from a perfect 5 to 4.8 on Item as Described, Communication and Post time.  But when I went to the defect report page, it only showed as INAD and Postage Time - with a 1 each against those two. Also, my bad, I said Post COST in my OP.  But even Post Time is stupid, as the item wasn't posted.  

The ratings can't have come from any other sale, as this particular one is the only one showing as having defects.

Thanks to all who have responded.  As said in my OP the buyer is going to get it sorted with eBay.  Maybe it is something that happened using her mobile, but as she is a person with over 4000 FB, I kind of think she should know what she's doing.

I guess the thing for other sellers to be aware of is that it seems not all defects are for real, and it would pay to keep a very close eye on defects issued.

[*tippy*toes*]

You can check if it was that transaction and what stars were actually given. In your seller dashboard on the left is a link to detailed seller rating reports. From the drop down click on item numbers. Find 10 items that you know you got 5 stars for everything and run a report. Once you have them, on the right of the generated report is a drop down. Select the run similar option. Remove the last perfect score item number and put in the item number for that transaction and run a new report. That will tell you what exactly she gave you. The star rating needs to have been left at least 24 hours prior for the report to run successfully. If it comes back as no results, then no stars were left for that transaction or stars weren't left for all 4 categories.

[5kazam]

Thanks, I ran another type of report, but it came back with no results.  So I'm trying the item number one, and see if that does the trick.

[jensmanchester-australia]

Kazam - if you go into your seller dashboard, click on where it shows the percentage of your transactions with defects you can then download a transaction defect report which will tell you which transaction you received defects for.

[5kazam]

I did that yesterday.  That was how I found out about the particular transaction.  There is definitely only one with defects - which under the circumstances of pick up etc, cannot be substantiated.

I'll leave it at the moment for the buyer to contact eBay and get it sorted.  And see if we can find out why this happened in the first place.  I believe her when she states she only leaves FB and doesn't touch the stars, so there has to be another explanation.

I did have a thought - because I had the item in my possession for around 10 days, I wonder if there is something in the system that automatically gives a defect after a certain period of time ??!!

Anyway, I'll post back here when I know what went wrong.

[cathyjoyjoy]

The defect won't go away on its own.  Rather than leave it up to the buyer, as suggested previously, ask ebay to call you back and show them any messages from this buyer about this.  I had a similar situation - wonderful feedback and even a personal message about how happy the buyer was - yet she had inadvertently clicked on the low stars.  I directed ebay to the messages and the defect was removed.  And ebay told me this was very common.

This is one of the reasons buyers are staying away from even leaving feedback.  After a numer of purchases myself, I've had first hand experience of how easy it is to click on the wrong thing when so many questions are asked about arrival of the item, feedback itself and "ratings" .... it's just ridiculous.

[garmenttherapy]

Yes I got one today glowing feed back item not as described, won't answer my very polite message either

[*tippy*toes*]

I still believe some buyers think they can trash stars and you won't know who's done it. I had a buyer give me 1 star for postage time because I posted within an hour of them paying. Go figure!

[5kazam]

I did as was suggested - contacted eBay myself.  Explained the situation, and got an email to say the defect for post time will be removed, as the item was picked up.  (Doesn't take too much brain power to work that one out).  I was also advised that the 'Item not Described' defect could only be removed if the buyer contacted eBay, and told them she didn't mean to do it.

The buyer rang me this morning after talking to eBay to say all was sorted, defect to be removed within 24 hours.

She also told eBay (as she had told me at the weekend), that the same thing had happened to a friend of hers.  The friend had left glowing FB,  didn't touch the stars, but the seller still got defects.  In both cases the FB was left using an I Phone.  

I have to wonder if there is a glitch that only becomes apparent when using an I Phone.  And if memory serves me correctly, another buyer was unable to pay with her I Phone (we did sort out another payment method).  Plus I'm sure I've read on these boards sellers experiencing a few problems with buyers using I Phones (correct me if  I'm wrong on this).

[5kazam]

I'm re-posting to myself here, as I don't think others have picked up on using  an I Phone seems to be a problem with getting defects when FB is left without touching the stars.

Check out your defects people.  Find out where they are coming from.