Lying in feedback?

Miss Sooky

Member
Oct 22, 2006
3,190
4
Another weary ebay story I'm afraid but I'd welcome your thoughts.

I got back the spirit and energy to face ebay again and bought a phone for my daughter before Christmas. Seller told me it was sent 'special' i.e. next day delivery. Nothing arrived and I emailed the seller who said there had been a 'postal strike' (unreported in the UK, a bit strange I thought but happy to give benefit of the doubt) and it would be on its way the next day.

Alas nothing arrived. More worryingly all my emails to the seller asking for the postal details so I could track the item were ignored and went unanswered. Given the time of year I was hopeful he might just be away - alas it seemed not and after two weeks I requested his contact details from Ebay. I called to find the mobile phone number supplied did not exist. Still not a word from the seller.

Meanwhile, I logged on and found negative feedback from another ebayer who had bought something from this seller but had never received anything. I opened a claim with Paypal and a dispute with ebay.

Today I logged on to find the following negative feedback from this seller:
"item sent, confirmed receipt - DO NOT TRUST!"

This is obviously a lie and I have responded with:
"This is terrible, nothing arrived and no word from seller until this f/b - awful"

However, I am really upset and feel so cheated that an untrue and defamatory statement can be left about me on a public website by someone who has stolen over £200 from me.

I have gone through the hell that is the automated 'customer service' for ebay, but am unsure if there is anything else I can or should do to get this lie removed and restore my reputation?

I am selling a lot of items at the moment following a New Year clear out and the idea that prospective buyers will see this untrue feedback and not bid (I don't have a lot of feedback although it was 100% positive until today) makes me so cross. Am I really as powerless as it seems?

All advice and comment very gratefully received.
 
omg, that's awful! i'm not sure if ebay ever removes a feedback, but there's a way to do a mutual feedback withdrawal. still, that looks like a blemish even though you did nothing wrong.

did you pay with a credit card? you can at least try to get your money back. i'm so sorry this happened.
 
Yes, you can get FB removed. And you can get your money back if you used a credit card. Don't worry too much, though -- at least you responded to this person's untrue FB. Usually people will check on a person who has left a negative to see if in fact they have other negatives, thus making them unbelievable. Use the live help on eBay's home page (click on the link) and they will help you get the FB removed, especially since you've filed a claim.
 
Yes, you can get FB removed. And you can get your money back if you used a credit card. Don't worry too much, though -- at least you responded to this person's untrue FB. Usually people will check on a person who has left a negative to see if in fact they have other negatives, thus making them unbelievable. Use the live help on eBay's home page (click on the link) and they will help you get the FB removed, especially since you've filed a claim.

I am sure I am being obtuse, but I can't see a 'live help' option :shame: . . .is there help (live or otherwise) from a sympathetic TPF member who can assist me in finding it . . .?!
 
OK, I'm now seeing you're in the UK, and I don't know if the UK site has a live help option. On the US site (ebay.com), if you go to the home page look on the right side below the sign in area and a little further down there is a little icon that is a question mark and then a link that says Live Help. Maybe you can get help from the US site to point you in the right direction?
 
something similar to this happened to me. i sold a cd for $4 on half.com a number of years ago, sent it the next day, don't hear anything back from buyer, so i assume everything is ok. buyer never contacts me to say otherwise. then, three months later, buyer leaves a neg for me saying that i never sent it and that i'm "very bad." at the same time, she negs a number of other sellers claiming she never got their things (hmm... perhaps a problem with your mailman, sweetie?). i refunded her stinking $4 before i even contacted, then i e-mailed her and asked for a feedback removal. she never replied.

so, long story short, i was super-pissed. but, lots of people have negs, and as long as you have a significant amount of positive feedback, it's not the end of the world. now i just always use DH's account for selling, since he has 100% positive feedback! i'm not sure it's worth the worry about trouble to do anything about it. the irrational neg is a cost of using ebay.
 
That's horrible. So many bad things happening on ebay! People lie and scam. It's not as fun anymore. Not worth the stress! I think you left a good a response to his -ve feedback!!! That negative won't effect your selling potential! For me, 100% feedback and *powerseller* status don't mean much. I judge every item on it's own merits and how responsive/friendly the seller is. You sound like a lovely person, so you won't have any problems selling your stuff! Hope you get your money back!
 
Oh, I got this from chloehandbags in the "Husband bought FAKE Balenciaga on eBay - NEED info to get $$$ Back!!" thread. I completely agree with her! (chloehandbags - Hope you don't mind I copied your post):

Forgot to say (again! :rolleyes: ) that the fact that a seller (with a high feedback score from buyers) has a neg from a questionable seller, actually increases my respect for them, as a person. As I know that I've taken a couple of (smallish) falls, in the past, when dealing with dodgy sellers, just to protect my feedback score and I'm not proud of it and wouldn't do it again.

So, all you bad sellers out there, please feel free to block me! :yes: :lol:

I realise that a newbie eBay buyer might be put off, if you don't mention your high feedback score from buyers in your auctions, though. :yes:
 
I had a similar experience, with awful customer service from a company on there who refused to return my calls. After 3 weeks (when the item was meant to arrive by special delivery) I left them negative feedback and opened a ebay case against them, which I eventually won. They left me negative untrue feedback in return for my troubles, when I had paid immediately. So irritating!
 
Miss Sooky, check the post from twisc titled "I think I am in trouble" (I think that is what it says) a few posts down....I believe this is your seller. :shocked:

Gosh, thanks for bringing it to my attention.

It does sound incredibly similar except a) the dates don't quite match b) I have been in almost daily contact with the man involved to try and get the posting information rather than sending just the one email c) I tried to ring the seller once I realised emails were being ignored and discovered his registered number is false and d) my seller is a lot less articulate!

It is weird though and I have replied in that thread from my perhaps slightly jaded perspective of a buyer who has been ripped off well and truly!
 
That's horrible. So many bad things happening on ebay! People lie and scam. It's not as fun anymore. Not worth the stress! I think you left a good a response to his -ve feedback!!! That negative won't effect your selling potential! For me, 100% feedback and *powerseller* status don't mean much. I judge every item on it's own merits and how responsive/friendly the seller is. You sound like a lovely person, so you won't have any problems selling your stuff! Hope you get your money back!

Aww, thanks so much for that and for posting Chloebags wise words too - I feel so much better - I love this place, thank you all of you!:heart:
 
I don't think a negative feedback is so bad either, as long as the seller explains what happened in their reply to the feedback, and is polite and mature about it (no profanity or name-calling, that will turn me off no matter how legit the seller is) I actually think it can be a positive thing, because it shows that the seller isn't one of those who threatens people to remove the feedback (anyone who knows about the seller Monacobabe will know what I'm talking about) and also that the seller doesn't respond to threats by scam artists just to protect their precious feedback.
 
I think some sellers try it on, by not sending out items, in the hope that the buyer won't do anything about it, or will leave it too late to leave a neg.

I'm pretty sure the seller has done this, so that when you, inevitably, leave a neg. for them, they can try to get you to agree to a mutual withdrawal. :yes: That way it, obviously, doesn't affect their positive feedback percentage.

They also hope that potential buyers will believe their side of the story, when reading through their feedback. The fact that they left the remark first, may also make newbie buyers more inclined to believe them.

Most sellers, that you hope to deal with in future, will be wiser, though and less inclined to take things at face value. A neg. never affects a buyer as badly as it does a seller.
 
I also think you can kindly respond to his negative on feedback left for you.
Simply state the facts. Hard to be civil when they are outright liars, but as another poster said, it turns off potential buyers. No matter how nasty they are, RISE ABOVE IT! (now if I could just take my own advice):P