Being harassed on eBay! Yet another update.....ugh!!!

[bluerose9978]

Playing the devil's advocate here, but if the $25 shipping charge was listed on the auction, then you have no grounds to complain. You agreed to these terms when bidding. I really don't think you have grounds to win a case, Ebay or paypal won't give you a partial refund for the shipping overcharge- you'll either have to eat it or return the ponies for a full refund.

With that out of the way, the seller is a nutbag and deserves to be kicked off of Ebay for her adittude alone. Did you in anyway threaten negative feedback in any if your messages? This could be why it was removed. Be sure to report her false positive feedback she left you. Ask to speak to a manager if you can, Ebay is all about getting you off the phone asap. Did you get a response as to why your neg feedback was removed?

I wish you the best of luck.

EDIT

is this the auction?

221219043904

The shipping price is clearly listed so Ebay wont refund anything, nor should they.

No, I never threatened negative feedback. I just contacted the seller asking her why it was so expensive and her answer was because she wanted to buy a swing set, which violates eBays policy and that is when I asked her for a partial refund. And eBay reviewed our messages and agreed that her overcharging violated policy basing it on the auction and our correspondence.

Post Merge: May 06, 2013, 02:12:48 PM

But my husband suggested the reason eBay may have taken the negative down is she did put the overpriced fixed shipping cost in her auction and she probably complained enough that they did it even though it was irrational and irresponsible of them to do so!

[ClosetAvalanche]

Hm... here is a thought. Did you request reimbursement for the shipping? If so Ebay could have seen that as you asking for something not included in the original contract and removed the feedback mention the overcharge.

[bluerose9978]

I'm not quite sure what you mean? I asked her to split the overcharge with me. She overcharged me by $20 and I asked if she'd meet me in the middle because that was a ridiculous sum when it only cost her $5. When I first bid on the auction I thought she was from Canada with that shipping price. And then I noticed when it got closer to the end that she was from the same state as me and I thought WTH!

[HawaiianRain]

Regardless of what the auction states, sellers can not overcharge for shipping like that. Ebay did agree with her on excessive shipping. This is against eBay's TOS as a seller.

[bluerose9978]

One good thing did come out of the auction, though! I got a gorgeous SS Satin N Lace with pink hair and very little flocking loss: the reason I had bid on the auction in the first place. It almost....almost....makes things better. She's an upgrade to one I already have so I'm selling my old one.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

I imagine Ebay removed the feedback because it was related to the shipping overcharge.  I mean, to an outsider's perspective, when you look at this auction, you see that it was $x and shipping was $25.  You obviously paid the shipping... so I can see why Ebay doesn't think well of your negative commentary regarding the listed shipping price.  Even if it was ridiculous!    Average Joe Bob can't see your shipping box with the $5 label on it...  they see that shipping was listed as $25 and that you agreed to pay it. 

I'm sure if you had left her a neutral with low stars, they wouldn't have removed it.  So frustrating though!  It's all politics and procedure on Ebay. 

[goddessofpeep]

This whole thing is pretty shocking.  You can bet I'm not going to be bidding on this seller's auctions!  Hopefully ebay will do *something* to the seller.

As for the feedback, ebay very, very rarely removes feedback.  There are a few loopholes, and if this seller knows some of them, that could explain it.  Did you mention anything at all about ebay investigating this seller in your feedback?  That'll do it every time.  So would anything mentioning shill bidding.  Basically ebay will remove anything that indicates any kind of investigation or crime.  They can't prove any accusations, and leaving them up could get them sued.  Ebay also will remove feedbacks that have links in them, and feedback with excessively abusive language.  There also used to be a really big loophole that I'm not sure exists anymore.  Any seller used to be able to report any buyer for not having all their account information up to date.  I knew of one seller who did this constantly.  He'd get a bad feedback, report the buyer for bad contact information, and cross his fingers.  More often than not there was *something* in the buyer's account that wasn't 100% up to date(an old phone number was the usual culprit), and ebay would remove the feedback.  I'm not sure if that is still in effect anymore, but it used to be an easy way to get out of bad feedback.

One of the best places to find out about ebay and its policies is also one of the least known.  Ebay runs a bunch of message boards on all sorts of topics including feedback.  If you're looking for answers about what might have happened, here's a good place to start:
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/forum/Feedback/113

You can post a question on there, but be warned - your ebay ID will be visible to everyone there.  Keep it 100% polite and factual.  People who have posted less than popular things on some of the boards have had problems with troll bidding on their auctions before.  It doesn't happen often, but it does happen.

[bluerose9978]

I know all the feedback rules. I simply said the seller overcharged me for shipping and had someone harass me. I said almost the exact same thing I said on her feedback as I said in my feedback reply to the feedback she gave me if you're curious to the wording.

Post Merge: May 06, 2013, 06:38:59 PM

By the way, she admitted to overcharging me in the emails and eBay customer support has seen them.

[ponylady]

  bluerose. The way you handled it was professional and polite, you have nothing to worry about that you did anything wrong.

[goddessofpeep]

I hope I didn't offend you!  I'm sorry if I did.  You just never know what another person knows, and the whole thing is just so crazy.  She earned that negative feedback, and it's just shocking that ebay removed it.  I've been on ebay since '97, and in all those years I've never seen anything like what happened to you.  Maybe there's some new policy now, maybe she just really knows how to work the system.  At least you know that nobody who reads this will ever deal with her again!

[tulagirl]

Bluerose you didn't do anything wrong.  Even if shipping that high is in an auction ebay needs to be aware people are over charging because that is not fair to buyers.  Sure you can decide to buy but there are rules about shipping charges sellers are to follow.  So I do agree with Bluerose on this one that she did have a right to ask about the shipping once she got her package and saw it didn't cost that much to ship it.  That is fair.  I think the biggest issue here is that a seller overcharged and admitted it and harassed an ebay member. That is not right at any level. Its not right to over charge to that degree and turn around and admit that the money taken from the shipping was for a swing set...then turn around and send harassment personal messages to a buyer.  That person is just nuts.

Bluerose are you saying that you left her a negative and ebay removed it?  I am so sorry you went through that. 

[bluerose9978]

I can't believe I actually believed the seller when she said she would make things right. She had no intention of doing so and probably set out to start causing trouble as soon as we stopped messaging.

I guess all I can do now is try to get the word out to not buy from her. She is selling more ponies and Barbies as well as jewelry and baby clothing.

[tulagirl]

Yea thats really a slap in the face. 

[bluerose9978]

And I really do hope eBay looks into the shill bidding. I am positive both accounts are hers. Too many coincidences.

[tulagirl]

You know Blue, its totally understandable that you would think that perhaps the shipping might have been fair at first.  There are a lot of ponies in that lot if that is the right auction.  I don't blame you for bidding and then saying something after you realized the shipping wasn't fair (after you got the box and saw it wasn't as expensive).  I totally get that. I would have done the same thing.