Unfair negative

[warmtemperatetropicals]

Hi

Today I received an unfair negative from a buyer. It all started mid last week when they said their item hadn't arrived by the estimated delivery time that Ebay displayed. They purchased and paid for the item around 1am Friday morning 26/06/15 and I packed and posted it around lunch time on Friday. So the item was sent within 12 hours of the item being paid for. The tracking number 63213324700092 Aus Post. 

Anyway, the buyer sent me the first message about it not arriving by the estimated time. I responded and said the item was sent within hours of payment and told them I had no control over the item once it is in Australia Posts hands. It was travelling from Hawthorn to Sydney and told them it shouldn't be too far away.

By last Friday it still hadn't arrived and was obviously lost in transit somewhere. They sent another message about how **Bleep** off they are and how this is their worst Ebay experience ever, that I was a bad seller and thats why I will be getting bad feedback. I said "how can you blame me for what Australia Post have messed up"? I bent over backwards to send your item off on the same day you paid for it. I said I would be annoyed too if I was expecting an item, but they shouldn't look at me as a bad seller.

The next email they sent was much the same so I told them they should file a complaint with Ebay or Paypal about their item not arriving. A few days later they filed the complaint with Paypal and it was escalated to a claim.

I received a message from Paypal today and they said the case had been amicably resolved and case closed. The item had obviously been delivered today. 

I check my ebay feedback and there is a big fat negative sitting there from the buyer.

So what it comes down to is they finally received their item, which after all the messing around by Aus Post, still arrived in 10 business days.

I received a negative feedback over something that I had no control over.

I have been a member since 2007 with 971 feedback. I only started selling again in the last  6 months or so, I have sold about 22 items and now my feedback is 95%.

I messaged Ebay about my problem and told them the situation, I also told them to check the tracking number and message history. They responded with one of their generic messages and they said how frustrating it can be etc etc and told me to resolve it with the buyer.  This buyer never spelt one word correctly and used no gramma, so there is no solving anything with them.

I'm furious with the negative, as well as Ebay's response.

A 95% feedback looks shocking and totally effects how I look on Ebay before anybody even clicks on my listings.

If this case was in a court of law, they would force Ebay to remove the negative

Surely sellers have some sort of a leg to stand against Ebay here.

[comcol]

Like always it is Ebay to blame for your negative. They simply want all us sellers not protected by them to receive negatives and low ratings even when not deserved. They wont remove the negative even when it is not your fault. Unfortunately, sellers are now at the mercy of a few bad apples and the extremely poor setup of Ebay's rating system.

Unless you know someone and can get any and all negatives 'revised' or removed which certain sellers can, then you are stuck I am afraid

Another amusing twist with the Ebay rating system is when a buyer makes a mistake and wants to return the item. Even that counts as a negative on your account and ranking. Figure that one out.

[joethenuts]

here we go again ,what ever  carrier you use being aust post ,couriers ,horse&cart , its your responsibility, not the buyers or ebay.

you chose to send your item thru aus post , when the buyer asked weres my item ,did you go any find out from aus post , and did you complain to aus post , and dont you think that sending aqn article from hawthorn which is a few ks from the melbourne gpo to sydney that 2 weeks its too much . you have even mentioned once you put in a complaint to aus post .

now they gave you a negative ,which by the way has not mentioned the delivery time. except it .after 1 week which is plenty of time did you offer a refund or send them another parcel.mmmmmmm

also i would not complain to ebay when looking at your listings you are treading a fine line with your wording of your products you sell , ,

[springyzone]

When a customer says in feedback that they were really disappointed with a seller & never buying from them again, other potential buyers have no idea what went wrong-was it the quality of the item, did the person get the item, was it how the seller resonded to a problem etc

That's why you need to reply to that feedback, to clarify for buyers exactly what went wrong.

Maybe give a factual reply to it-along the lines of- Posted with tracking within 12 hrs of payment, Aust Post was slow to deliver

If I saw that in response to someone's 'really disappointing experience' I would feel better about trading with them because it reassures future buyers

-that you post quickly after payment

-that your item was in fact delivered

-that the problem seems to have been delivery time, not with your item as such

I doubt ebay will remove the feedback as it was a buyer perception, it is vague so there is no false statement as such you can pinpoint.

Joe did have a point. Possibly better not to ask a buyer to take it up with ebay. If someone doesn't receive a package, perhaps just give them the tracking number again and say you will follow it up with the PO to see where it is.

When you say to a buyer you have no control of it after it leaves your hands, that is true, but it also sounds a bit like you are washing your hands of the whole transaction. Comes across to a buyer a bit as-well, that's your problem now, not mine. Even if you don't mean it that way.

Your job is to come across as a concerned seller who will follow up.

[warmtemperatetropicals]

@springyzone  The feedback they left is the same as what they said they would leave in one of their earlier messages. They were unreasonable from the start because it hadn't been delivered by the estimated delivery time. I have tried contacting Australia Post in the past and you might as well bang your head against a wall. Maybe I should have just told them I would contact them.

If I had 100s or 1000s of feedback it wouldn't worry me so much, but a 95% feedback looks terrible and they would also have added low stars for postage time.

I was expecting neg feedback, so I told them to file a complaint with Ebay because I read somewhere that if it is ruled in my favour, they can't leave neg feedback. I was obviously wrong...

I like the feedback reply example you posted. I might use that if you don't mind

[warmtemperatetropicals]

This is one of their earlier messages.

"Hi thanks for ur reply, the problem because of the time if u get the money for postage to send items on time then u send via normal post and take more longer from the time then customers get **bleep** off and u keep getting negative feedback pluse loosing custumer any way i hope till monday my item arrives"

I basically cop the neg feedback because I sent it via standard post, which was clearly stated in my listing

[joethenuts]

some cheap advice .. let it go , if you involve ebay there is a huge chance they will take off all your listings , they are borderline listings.   ps  if it happens again or why not try a different company like officeworks or a courier or what ever .

[imastawka]

Looked at listings...........................my eyes!!.................

[joethenuts]

mmmmm i just saw on the listings ,there is an item that plugs into a usb point. I hope i would not get confused from the massager and the phone while i am on my laptop.mmmmm

p s . i would be better off turning my phone off vibrate  so i dont get confused  lol

[comcol]

You are NOT responsible for deliver times no matter who you use to send items.

It is against policy to leave a negative feedback for delivery times if the item is posted as stated of course. If it is lost or damaged etc then the seller is not responsible. That is Ebay policy as it is a 3rd party who was responsible.

HOWEVER, you will find Ebay rarely lives by its own policies and will still not remove a negative feedback even though a buyer has no right to leave one for a lost item etc. Ebay will only follow its own policies when it suites.

The bottom line is you are stuck with a negative even though it is not your fault.

That is the major problem with Ebay's dishoenst feedback/rating system.

[joethenuts]

to vega   whose the third party  only the seller knows that , and who pays the 3rd party to deliver it   ,,the seller..

and if buyers contact sellers on where my product is .its up to the seller to follow it up, he has the docket or paperwork. 

and 2 weeks to go from melbourne to sydney is way  out.