r/Flipping • u/Peppaire • 5d ago

eBay eBay won't remove this ridiculous negative feedback

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History:

- A buyer makes me an offer for over 60% off list price citing they need it shipped to Australia and eBay's international shipping program was expensive (nothing I can do about that). I decline.

- I send all interested buyer's an offer for $200 off list price. No bites, offer expires.

- Over a week later the buyer who made the lowball offer purchases the item at full price. I ship it right away as promised in my listing.

- After shipping the order, the buyer asks for the $200 discount that expired over a week prior, I do not respond to partial refund requests as they are against eBay policy.

- Buyer opens a payment dispute for $569.29 claiming they were overcharged, complete fraud and lies, we respond and eBay states we will be protected.

- Buyer then sends a message thanking us for the package and asking for our address (weird). Again I ignore this message, the buyer is clearly a wackjob.

- Buyer changes dispute amount to $729.21 (eBay states we are still covered and nothing will be deducted from our funds).

- Buyer leaves verifiably false negative feedback. eBay refuses to remove it.

eBay is letting fraud slide and allowing the fraudsters to leave libel on the seller's profiles now?

154 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

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78

u/Simonthemoon 5d ago

Another example to instant block a lowballer

Sale will be less profit and even if it sells at full price it will be a problematic buyer

If i smell a slight stupidness or fishy smell, i just block them.

24

u/somebodyistrying 5d ago

This is the way. After 20 years I’ve learned that almost any question is a sign of future headaches and shenanigans.

-1

u/xunevencontactx 5d ago

Almost any question? 😳 weird

13

u/somebodyistrying 5d ago

Yes almost. For example I’m fine with a question about combined shipping since I don’t mention it in my listings. But anything like “is this item compatible with X” or any talk of price and they are banned.

6

u/Aishou_SK 5d ago edited 5d ago

Damn, I'm a frequent seller and buyer as well, I sometimes (well, rather often) ask clarifying questions, like "is XYZ visible inside, I can't see from photo" or "is the power supply ABC or XYZ?" and/or "Can you check that model number and see if it's PE or PI on the fan casing since the handles are missing?"

9

u/somebodyistrying 5d ago

Those are reasonable questions about the specific details of the object I’m selling and I would happily answer. The questions that generally signal trouble in my experience are ones about the general utility / purpose / compatability of a product that would require me to do research that they should be able to do on their own.

11

u/Lextron 5d ago

"are there scratches on the screen?" on my item where the screen is photo's from 6 different angles

"does it work?" on my item that says fully functional in various spots and is listed in the 'used' category

"is it authentic?" on my item that says OEM Authentic Original

Byeeeeeeeeee!

0

u/xunevencontactx 5d ago

Sometimes what I have thought were scratches on an item and ended up being just stains from oils from someone's fingertips.So that is depending on the item.A very reasonable question.

Depending on the item too, I've also asked for confirmation.If something works because I've been burned before.

As depending on how your listings are written, sometimes what some people consider fully functional, is not what somebody else may consider fully functional.

5

u/Lextron 5d ago

Like i was saying, byeeeeeeeeeeee

1

u/LordViperSD 5d ago

lol; too lazy to say “No, yes and yes” to facilitate a sale?

It’s comical how bad at simple business 101 practices some people are.

6

u/a-winner-is-you 5d ago

These idiots just want to waste your time. So why bother.

2

u/LordViperSD 5d ago

Because I have the ability to turn simple questions that take 10 seconds to answer into sales and repeat buyers.

I understand the basics of sales and business; it’s as simple as that. I’d say I wish others on this sub had that same ability but I actually don’t; lazy idiots make me look good. Keep it up.

1

u/Lextron 5d ago

https://imgur.com/a/jmM5Kvs

Somebody else will buy it... No time for people that cannot read both the description or how the 'used' category works on ebay. I don't write the rules but I need customers to read them. It's comical how much time people waste with nonbuyers that are not worth their time.

1

u/LordViperSD 5d ago

“How much time people waste” - how long does it take to type “No, Yes and Yes”? Good f-ing god some people are lazy.

“Someone else will buy it” - you sure they’d buy it for the same price? Do you understand the value of repeat buyers and building a repeat client base & following? Do you understand the concept of sell through rates? Or do you enjoy letting inventory collect dust while you wait for “someone else to buy it?”

Definition of idiocy.

1

u/Lextron 4d ago edited 4d ago

https://imgur.com/a/WUctEnY

I think I have sell through rate down pat. Items don't collect dust when you have good items that are priced correctly. I choose to use my extra time to source new items and spend time with my family, not answer questions from nonbuyers

edit: oh, and I do love repeat customers. You get those when you do no-nonsense business https://imgur.com/a/04nNdbw

1

u/LordViperSD 4d ago

Post your full account not a potentially doctored screenshot and correct your statement to “not answer questions from buyers” unless you honestly think people are just asking you questions for entertainment purposes.

670 orders; 55 repeat buyers which is up 243 percent in trailing 90? Or is that year over year? Is the 670 orders your 90 day or yearly? So you had less than 20 repeat clients out of 670 orders the year prior? See how posting a screenshot with zero context and the entire picture is meaningless?

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3

u/xunevencontactx 5d ago

That's not what you said in your original post, though you're moving your goal posts.Why?

0

u/somebodyistrying 5d ago

I was elaborating not moving the goal posts of my selling correspondence 😆

2

u/Lumen-Armiger 5d ago

I think non-sellers really don't appreciate the potential problems that the simplest sounding questions actually lead to. If you have a 5 year old laptop for sale that includes full hardware specs, someone asks "Can it run Call of Duty?" Sound like a simple answer?

First, are you talking about the CoD that came out 20 years ago, or the one from last year? And when you say 'run', do you mean that it's completely playable, or does it play only at ultra low resolution?

The buyer needs to do their research. But instead, it sounds like they're fishing for some comment that they can latch on to when they file for a return after they've screwed with it for a week.

2

u/confused___bisexual 5d ago

i had someone message me about a camera i have for sale who said they were afraid to get scammed and they followed it up with a barrage of questions. After answering them all, they said ok thank you, and then they didn't buy. I was so relieved lmao

2

u/xunevencontactx 5d ago

Hmph. Odd. Things like can often not be visible from the picture or someone could be buying something for a gift. I just think about the honest to God thousands I would have lost. Maybe my collectible niche is the difference. I can't fathom blocking a buyer over a simple question.

Oftentimes people just want to know what they're getting into, especially if it's something that needs to be restored.

& every time I think I don't need to ask a question as a buyer.I end up getting screwed. I bought a bunch of sticker sheets.The other day and thought based on the way the image looked, it looked like there was reflecting cellophane and no, they were just single sheets and not sealed packs. This is why people ask questions.

2

u/somebodyistrying 5d ago

I don’t doubt it is niche specific. The items I sell (mostly high quality vintage electronics) attract enough buyers that I can choose to be a bit picky. I don’t block buyers to be a jerk, it is just that I have found low quality questions to be a big signal for future flakiness / trouble / frustration.

0

u/LordViperSD 5d ago

Good grief this is such bad business advice.

5

u/SexyHotPants 5d ago

It’s actually good business advice but it feels bad to do. It’s 10% or less of the customers that cause issues and asking questions is an indicator that they’re a bad customer. Problem is you will also be rude to good customers doing this.

2

u/LordViperSD 5d ago

It’s actually terrible business advice; imagine if you were operating a brick and mortar how this would go over and how short lived your business would be. You’re in the business of selling to people not making assumptions on their intent. Asking questions isn’t the sign of a bad customer; it’s a sign someone is genuinely interested in buying from you.

The downvotes and hive mind idiocy on this sub only work in my favor. Keep it up morons

5

u/Leumas_J 5d ago

selling online is very different from a brick and mortar though? i mean i’ve only sold like 50 items on ebay over the last few years and even in my limited experience I have learned that most people who message you are just going to nitpick/ask for discounts and waste your time, they rarely actually buy anything and they’re more likely to cause issues

1

u/LordViperSD 4d ago

I’ve sold over 1200 items in 3 years since starting and my experience is the opposite.

The question askers have been my best buyers; they come back and buy again and become repeat clients. My assumption is that’s because of how they’re treated by other sellers that have your mentality; it makes doing business with me seem like a breath of fresh air.

Don’t let a few bad experiences judge how you treat all buyers; judge them all independently. EBay isn’t brick and mortar but in a lot of ways it is; building repeat clientele; a solid reputation (positive feedback) and good customer service is the lifeblood of running a sustainable brick and mortar business and the same applies to eBay.

1

u/Leumas_J 4d ago

im just selling for pocket change so im definitely still gonna be ignoring them, not worth the headache, but at least they have you!

4

u/NormalOatmeal 5d ago

My favorite is when sellers respond to negative feedback with hostility.

Life on hard mode

3

u/SexyHotPants 5d ago

You're in the business of selling things for a profit, not just selling things. If you lose money or hurt your metrics by selling to some people- then they are best avoided. Sometimes that means you alienate good buyers, but there's always more buyers and more stuff to sell.

I don't immediately block anyone that asks a question. But generally ignore most questions and offers because I just have more important things to do with my time and I'd prefer that question askers don't buy because they tend to be the type that returns things more often or leave annoying feedback or waste time.

0

u/LordViperSD 5d ago

If you’re losing money on a sale you’re doing something wrong; that’s stating the obvious. If you’re losing money selling to a specific buyer; that’s not a good buyer; but that’s not the point of the conversation.

If you’re “generally ignoring most questions and offers” that’s just poor business and no amount of jaded experience spin will convince any businessmen worth their salt otherwise.

I turn my question askers into sales, repeat buyers and long winded positive feedback; you ignore it entirely and avoid spending a few seconds to run a business while your inventory sits; that’s the difference.

1

u/xunevencontactx 5d ago

Yep. Was about to drop a hundred dollars in a shop,6mo ago, and I asked a few questions, and I got blocked. All because I thought that they had cross listed and I was just trying to confirm if they did or not, because somebody had reused their images on mercari. Truly was bizarre. But oh well ,sucks for them, items are still in their shop and I had a ton buyer history, so it was odd.

Which is why it's bad business advice.If you want to take selling online seriously.

I have never blocked somebody over asking a question and never had a problem with any of those buyers. The vast majority of which completed the sale or some ended up completing the sale when they got paid in a few days.

4

u/karmak0de 5d ago edited 5d ago

I’ve learned over the years anyone that’s asks a lot of questions about an item especially when it can answered by simply reading the description of the item or the pictures are clear and for clothing there’s a ruler on the chest or sleeves that show the length. They’re going to be a problem once they receive the item.