Removed: All Negs, Neuts & low DSRs you left
On the PowerSeller board* a buyer reports that all negative, neutral and low DSR ratings that they’ve left in the past year for fellow sellers have removed.
The seller estimates that they’ve spent around £10,000 in 300 transactions in the last 12 months and claiming some missing in transit, damaged on arrival or shortages which led to them opening 7 resolution cases on eBay. eBay emailed the buyer explaining this warning of possible account limitations if this behaviour continues.
The email received from eBay
“Dear xxxxxx
To keep eBay a fair and safe marketplace for all members, we routinely review buying and selling activity. In reviewing your account, we found:
– An unusually high rate of claims and a pattern of filing claims on higher value items with evidence of intent to keep the item.
Because of this behavior, we’ve removed from related seller profiles any neutral or negative Feedback, and any low detailed seller ratings left by you within the past year. Please be aware that if this activity continues, you may be subject to a range of other actions, including limitations on your buying and selling privileges, and suspension of your account.
If you have a problem with a transaction, we encourage you to contact the seller first to work out a solution.”
The seller claims that it’s a relatively low number of problems out of the total number and value of transactions, but as other PowerSellers point out if it was 7 cases out of 300 selling transactions it’s likely that the seller account would have been limited.
What the buyer in question didn’t reveal isn’t how many cases they opened, but the number of negative and neutral feedback they’ve left or how often they’ve dinged seller with low DSRs when leaving feedback. I imagine if they’ve opened 7 resolutions against sellers it’s possible that they have left even more less than glowing feedback in total.
Seller reaction
Sellers on the thread on the PowerSeller board are largely supportive of eBay’s actions, whilst expressing sympathy in this particular case. It’s welcome news that eBay are actively monitoring feedback, whether it be by manually reviewing upon receipt of a complaint from the feedback recipient or from automated monitoring.
When questioned the buyer also revealed that they have on 3 occasions requested a partial refund as an alternative to returning an entire order. They explained this is mainly for short shipments.
Tamebay take
We’re with the majority of sellers in approving of eBay’s actions. It’s good to see them protecting sellers against serial leavers of poor feedback.
We’re well aware that some types of product are more prone to problems than others. In the past I’ve purchased power cables on eBay, but due to the number of low quality cheap imports (definitely not CE standard) cables I received I simply stopped buying them on eBay. I like eBay, if I could I’d buy everything on eBay just because it’s easy and I have eBay and PayPal accounts. I’ve purchased everything from £1 items right up to motors costing thousands of pounds on eBay, however there are however a few rare types products that it may be best to source elsewhere.
It’s worth remembering that for every buyer there’s also a seller and some of us are both. I buy and I sell and embarrassingly, despite my best efforts to give what I think is superb service, I have to say some of the sellers I’ve purchased from give much better service than me. Just as some sellers are better than others, some buyers are better than others.
Your thoughts
We love to know what you think of eBay removing feedback left for sellers. Do you have a high incidence of disappointing buyer experiences on eBay, or are you like me and are in the main ecstatic (or at least satisfied) with your last few eBay purchases?
*eBay PowerSeller log in required
Chris says
3:28 pm on 23/09/2012
I am truly happy that ebay is monitoring buyers as well as sellers and is willing to take action against anybody who is, shall we say, bending if not actually breaking the rules.
Earlier this year I had a transaction go “pear shaped”. It was partly my fault(We were in the middle of a major overhaul of our storage facilities and because of that stock had been moved to other places and while it could be found there were items that we could not immediately find). So I asked the publisher to send them out. He did although it introduced a delay into the transaction.
The buyer took maximum advantage and even though both I and the publisher apologised for the delay and he has had the books the buyer has jumped up and down and made all sorts of allegations. He claimed non receipt(the day after he was told the delayed shipment had been made) and also left foul Feedback and DSR’s.
Of course ebay has totally backed the buyer and has used this one transaction out of all the other many transactions that have gone perfectly to hit me hard not once but on several occassions. Also ebay has refused to audit this transaction no matter how often I have asked. The only replies I have had from ebay are very silly standard emails telling me to try harder. But that was why we were overhauliong our storage facilities in the first place so we could improve our service to our customers.
I am now sick and tired of being kicked in the teeth and knifed in the back by ebay over this. So next week I am going to start to set up my ebid account.
Surely ebay knows that a serious problem such as the one that we have suffered deserves to be audited. After all if the buyer is out to cheat me it is likely that he will also cheat other sellers. But every time we have tried to bring this to the attention of ebay all we get is the silly standard emails. Doesn’t ebay have a Fit for Purpose Customer Services Department? rather than just somebody only interested in sending out silly standard emails?
I still hope that ebay does in regard to my transaction and the buyer what this posting says that they have done in regard to this other buyer(maybe its the same buyer?). In which case I would hope that ebay will take steps to compensate me for all the punishment that I have suffered at ebays hands this year.
TheShopkeeper says
5:25 pm on September 23rd, 2012
Ebid? Good luck!!
Gerry007 says
3:31 pm on 23/09/2012
7 problems in over 300 transactions [average £33 each], does not seem alot frankly.
Removing feedback, DSRs, etc’ is one thing, but for ebay to actual make allegations, must be something that ebay seem to be able to prove as serious & factual.
I think if I was this buyer, I would spend some time going through all these incidents & clearly & concisely showing the facts & fire it off to ebay.
We have said for a long time INR claims on ebay should be monitored by ebay, some sort of reporting platform purely for this should be available.
Many buyers are just plain dismissive to INR claims, with comments like;
‘Get over it, its only £2′
‘You cant prove I’ve received it, it’s not tracked’.
‘Poor customer service’ [even though I could not be bothered to reply for over 2 weeks<<add by us].
Finally, I see this as another reason to keep buying & selling accounts separate.
Chris Dawson says
4:35 pm on September 23rd, 2012
I dunno, 7 in 300 might not sound like a lot, but it’s over 2%.
Playing devil’s advocate, 97.66% positive feedback as a seller would get you kicked off eBay so why should a 97.66% buyer not get kicked off too?
Personally (when both buying and selling) I don’t have that incidence of problems and those I have had could and were generally sorted out without resorting to eBay resolution cases or poor feedback.
Gerry007 says
5:56 pm on September 23rd, 2012
.
I suppose 2% is alot, but we do not know the items or circumstances.
We sell in the £1+ items ^ there is no tracking on most, hence it’s the area that there is no proof of receipt & we have to rely on buyers honesty.
Our problem incidents are common & alot.
Mainly INR claims, so either RM are doing a sterling job of loosing packets or the buyers are trying it on.
We’ve recently changed packaging, labels & put a scan label on item [sent you a copy!], so will monitor if it helps.
We’ve also taken to requiring the buyer claiming INR make a statement/declaration regarding non-receipt.
It has surprised us, just how many do not like making such a statement & can only wonder but why?.
It seems buyers open cases in the resolution centre, just as a matter of course, even kif you try to resolve problems.
Non response to emails for weeks by the buyer is common, then they open cases & claim non receipt of messages…
rick says
6:19 am on 24/09/2012
rather than alienate buyers, reduce the impact that unbalanced DSRs can have
Luke says
8:22 am on September 24th, 2012
How do you differentiate between bad dsr’s left by a grumpy buyer or bad dsr’s left for a useless seller?
Chris Dawson says
8:28 am on September 24th, 2012
A useless seller gets low DSR scores from lots of buyers, not just the grumpy buyer.
A grumpy buyer leaves low DSR scores for lots of sellers, not just the useless seller.
Chris says
9:33 am on 24/09/2012
Is that always true? In my case I sold 3 books to the same customer. The transaction had some problems due mainly to the major re-organisation that we were in the middle of. However the books were sent to the customer by the publisher. So he received the 3 books. But he deliborately left 3 separate Feedbacks and DSR’s one for each book so that he had maximum impact(Feedback Abuse?). So I have 3 Negative Feedbacks and 3 sets of foul DSR’s. But every other Feedback I have is Positive although I have been told by ebay that the DSR’s are not all 5′s. Yet my negatives are not from several buyers and what if I had sold the customer a number of 99p books(and I have several listed) could I have 6 negative Feedbacks and DSR’s all because a £5-94(6 at £0-99peach)sale went pear shaped or even that having received the books the buyer decided to get his money back by clainming INR. After all that is what happened to me in regard to the above Book Order.
Chris Dawson says
9:40 am on September 24th, 2012
Was that the only customer you got poor feedback from?
Were you the only seller that customer left poor feedback for?
Answer those two questions and that’ll tell you if you’re a useless seller or if you met a grumpy buyer
Chris says
9:57 am on September 24th, 2012
I thought I said. In the last 12 months I have just 3 negative Feedbacks all from the same customer all in regard to the same purchase of 3 books that he had direct from the Publisher because of the major re-organisation we were carrying out in regard to our stores. Yet he claimed INR for the 3 and left individual feedbacks(rather than doing all 3 at the same time) so that he would get maximum impact. Not one single negative feedbacks from any other customer in the 12 months. Yet ebay keep hammering me over these 3 negative feedbacks and the 3 sets of 1′s DSR’s the customer left. So in theory a “grumpy”(or totally evil) customer could buy numerous low value items(and I have several 99p items) at the same time. Claim INR to get his money back and being vindictive leave a separate negative Feedback and 1′s and 2′s DSR and destroy even the very best of sellers. Now I am not claiming to be the very best of sellers but this is what this buyer has done to me.
Chris Dawson says
10:01 am on September 24th, 2012
You didn’t say if the buyer was a grumpy buyer leaving poor feedback for multiple sellers or if it was just you that they had a bad experience with?
I’ve had the odd bad experience with a buyer who appears to have been a delight with everyone else they’ve ever purchased from. I’ve also had buyers who routinely leave bad feedback but have left glowing feedback for me.
What we’re interested in here is habitual poor feedback leavers that seem to run into an unusually high incidence of problems. Not one buyer who had one bad experience and left poor feedback for one buyer.
Chris says
10:18 am on September 24th, 2012
The problem with that is that it is often difficult to know if buyer x has only left foul Feedback and DSR’s for you or if he is a serial foul feedback leaver. In my case I looked at his Feedback but on the whole it was reasonable. But it does not give the full picture. In fact the description in the original posting could almost be a description of my problem customer. But if you have 50, 100, 300, 500 or more Positive Feedbacks and good DSR’s it is possible for one bad transaction with multiple items generating 1 Negative Feedback and foul DSR’s per item to bring even a very good record down. From my experience ebay CS has proved totally and utterly useless. All I get from them is standard emails telling me to try harder. But it was because I was trying harder(totally re-organising our starage facilities) that the problems started in the first place(I still think that he took advantage of our reorganisation to justify his campaign). But he has had the Books, His Money back(thanks to an INR and ebay refunding even though he had had the books) and more than extracted his pound of flesh(through the negative feedbacks and DSR’s and yet ebay is still hammering us.
Chris Dawson says
10:29 am on September 24th, 2012
So your explanation is that your normally superb standards slipped whilst you were undergoing a reorganisation and you got hammered for it.
Doesn’t seem like the end of the world. Now your reorg is over the situation will never arise again and as ebuyerfb says one buyer won’t kill your account.
Unless you have other low DSRs or negs no one will care including eBay. Plus even if it took you out of Top Rated Seller (I presume you are Top Rated?), then eBay now have a grace period so that a one off blip from something like a reorg doesn’t kill your account.
ebuyerfb says
10:21 am on September 24th, 2012
Leaving feedbacks one at a time should have no bearing on how eBay perceives your account. It is still just one buyer. The only time it is supposed to matter is if that buyer made separate purchases in separate weeks.
There was also an article either here or AuctionBytes about how eBay wouldn’t let a single buyer ruin a seller as part of one of their seller releases. It requires more than one. I can’t find it though.
Chris says
10:40 am on September 24th, 2012
It should not influence ebay but it does. Every time there is a Free Listing Weekend I again get hammered and always for the same reason. The 3 x Negatives and the 3 x Foul DSR’s. As I have said until I am blue in the face. I am 62 years old with health problems and trying to sell my remaining stock. As soon as my stock is down to a reasonable level I am retiring so I can spend the rest of my life watching Cricket. So I am not intending to be selling for longer than I have to so ebay continuously hammering me over one transaction that went pear shaped is delaying my retirement(although as sales on ebay are very poor and I have a lot of accumulated stock its going to take years to get it down to a reasonable level)
Chris Dawson says
10:45 am on September 24th, 2012
The free listing promotions only apply to Private Seller Accounts. They wouldn’t apply to Business Sellers anyway.
Steve P says
4:13 pm on September 24th, 2012
To ebuyerfb
actually that is wrong, I had only had my TSR for a couple of months, when a buyer bought four seperate BINs, rather than wait for a combined invoice he paid for them all seperately.
A month later he bitched about the condition of all of them (vinyl records)I gave him an immediate total refund, and he left me 4 seperate low DSR.s and they ALL counted.
as it happened ebay themselves dissallowed them, because and I quote….. “Based on your good track record and as long as you keep your seller performance as Above Standard, your account is eligible for Top-rated seller PROTECTION in the following countries….”
The buyer that did this was a TSR !!
Chris says
11:00 am on 24/09/2012
The business closed down years ago. What is remaining is the large accumulation of stock that I have to get sold. So I am no longer a business but a Private Seller. It comes to us all sometime. Only a Bookseller has boxes and boxes of books to sell and they all take time. Obviously I could just advertise on ebay 5,000 assorted books(as some do when they retire) but in my case I decided to sell the remaining stock myself(as the receipts from the sales represent my pension
Jimbo says
11:16 am on 24/09/2012
Not sure if clearing old stock makes you a “private seller”. Sounds like a bussiness to me.
johnC says
3:23 pm on September 24th, 2012
Old stock acquired for a business is business stock. It will have been part of the stock balance calculation on your tax returns.
It’s not right to sell it as a private seller.
Rich says
6:11 pm on 24/09/2012
If I was profiling my most suspect buyers, then those also selling on ebay would be at the top of the list, even above newbies. As a top rated seller, even though I have feedback of 400 plus per month most of the year, I still live in fear of feedback abuse, and I also lose more than is comforatble on refunds. Welcome news ! and clearly I was not the only one with a story to tell.