Getting an unfair negative feedback removed?

[Lancer]

Ebay advice please!  Just got a totally unfair negative feedback and not sure how to proceed.

Item description: "You are bidding on a G1 My Little Pony named Snuzzle, who was sold as part of the Collector Ponies range in 1983.  She is missing her tail, her glue neck seal has been broken meaning that her head now turns, and she has pink highlighter "lipstick" on her lips."

Negative feedback: "Failed to mention there was no tail, and the lips are stained with marker pen."

Surely there should be a way to get that feedback removed?  How the heck did I "fail to mention" something that is written in the second line of the description?!  There are also two photos which definitely show the tail is missing (although I admit the angle of the photos makes the marker hard to see which I didn't notice when I was listing).

Should I contact the buyer or phone eBay directly?  I don't want to be stuck with a negative for a year just because an ignorant buyer was too stupid to look at the auction description and photos before they bid.

[Taffeta]

I would probably talk to ebay about it directly, if I were you.

I think this is partly their fault, because there is a disturbing new format of the site which allows you to see big pretty pictures but not the description unless you click for more details. It annoys me a lot but it is very possible to see how a buyer who is in a hurry or doesn't check would just not see that and assume there was no description, as opposed to having to access it by doing something.

I think if you can prove to ebay that this is a buyer mistake, they will probably listen. But it might end up that you also have to contact your buyer. If they left a negative but didn't contact you first about the flaws they are probably not people you can discuss with, though - which is why I suggest going to ebay first.

[tailrustedtealeaf]

Wouldn't they have seen the lips being stained in the pictures? If you buy something that looks like a stained pony, you're going to get a stained pony.

[Lancer]

Wouldn't they have seen the lips being stained in the pictures? If you buy something that looks like a stained pony, you're going to get a stained pony.

When I looked at the pictures, the angle made it hard to see the highlighter.  But the missing tail was CLEARLY visible.  I'd photographed the pony from both sides.  I'm not sure where she thought her tail was hiding!

EBay UK make it near impossible to contact customer services by phone now - feedback is not a subject they will allow you to phone them about!  I've emailed them and also written to the buyer.  We'll see what comes of that.  Otherwise I'm going to have to select a different (non-feedback) topic and ring eBay that way.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

I would probably talk to ebay about it directly, if I were you.

I think this is partly their fault, because there is a disturbing new format of the site which allows you to see big pretty pictures but not the description unless you click for more details. It annoys me a lot but it is very possible to see how a buyer who is in a hurry or doesn't check would just not see that and assume there was no description, as opposed to having to access it by doing something.

I think if you can prove to ebay that this is a buyer mistake, they will probably listen. But it might end up that you also have to contact your buyer. If they left a negative but didn't contact you first about the flaws they are probably not people you can discuss with, though - which is why I suggest going to ebay first.

bolded text was mine.  this is happening more and more.   people just swipe through the photos on their phone, and bid without even going in-depth into the listing and reading the descriptions. 

Maybe we should all start putting text on images so that when they see a photo of a tail-less pony AND there is text, "NO TAIL" right embedded into the photo, they can't ignore it. 

I agree, reach out to Ebay first and get your viewpoint explained.  Then contact the buyer and ask if they were bidding using the mobile website or the app because it gives the buyer different info from each platform (STUPID EBAY SO STOOOOOOOOOOOPID!).  Maybe you can communicate with them so they understand WHY their problem occurred.  then put them on your blocked buyers list! 

I don't know if you need to report their ID to the community unless things continue to go downhill... I hope it works out for you!  *pony hugs*

[Taffeta]

I am getting those kinds of pages coming up on the PC - I don't use a device for ebay, ever - so it is an ever more pervasive problem of speed bidding without checking the details...

[LadyMoondancer]

I'll be watching this thread with interest.  My understanding is that it's really hard to get even unfair negatives removed, but my fingers are crossed for you.

[jamgloom]

I had something similiar happen though was not pony related. I dialled the helpline? Number and went through the robotic calling device mentioned it was feedback related and was put through to a helpful irish sounding chap who resolved it in a jiffy with a removal as you can't complain about stuff clearly listed in description. I can't recall what the number is off the top of my head but i do know it was pretty hidden away 

Edit: Will add I'm happy to find the number if you want/need it 😊 as i printed the webpage out 😅

[Lancer]

I finally managed to phone them last night about half an hour before they shut and a very helpful sounding woman SAID she would be able to remove the feedback.  "It should show up in a few minutes".  But the feedback is still there today!   I suppose I'll have to ring them again.

I also wrote to the buyer and very politely pointed out that the flaws were mentioned in the description and how sad I was that she would slap a negative on me without even contacting me beforehand...but she's just ignored me, of course.

I've seen the new format with big photos too.  But I just would have thought that before giving someone a negative feedback, you would take a minute to go back and check the auction to see if you missed something the first time.  If she never even saw a description, where did she expect me to have "mentioned" the flaws?  I can't have "failed to mention" something if she's never even seen anything I've written!

Post Merge: March 30, 2018, 02:47:30 AM

The feedback has been removed!   No thanks to the woman on the phone though!  I just got an email from someone else at customer services in response to the email I sent yesterday saying that they had removed it.  Oh well, it's gone and that's all that matters.

[Teddy]

Great news! So glad you were able to get that negative removed. It was definitely unfair of the buyer to do that in the first place.

[Taffeta]

I am glad this had a happy ending. Unfortunately a culture of not bothering to read things any more coupled with a site format that panders to people who don't want to read whole sentences is going to lead to this happening probably more often.

I feel that it's bad that people who actually bother to use words and inform others about the condition of items or whatever are ending up being the bad guys because someone lazy can't be bothered to click buttons on their phone or PC or read something for two minutes instead of having to do it right there and then.

Really glad that ultimately ebay came through for you. I find ebay customer service extremely problematic as I have issues using the phone and if you think it's hard to find the phone number, you wouldn't believe how much harder it is to find the live chat agent window.

[Lancer]

I find ebay customer service extremely problematic as I have issues using the phone and if you think it's hard to find the phone number, you wouldn't believe how much harder it is to find the live chat agent window.

Tell me about it!  I am extremely phone phobic so I have to be really desperate to make a call to a stranger.  (I won't even call the doctor and instead wait longer for appointments booked online!)  I had a panic attack about calling last night, and felt so proud of myself afterwards...only to find she didn't remove the feedback anyway!

[LadyMoondancer]

Whew!!  So happy for you that it got removed!

[tulagirl]

I can say this.  I read things in every auction. I comb over what the seller says, but recently I didn't realize that ebay collapsed their auction's description tab.  I didn't realize I would have to click on it in order to see it.  I actually did not notice this change and bought something from a nice seller. I figured there was no description so I just studied the photos.  I thought they looked fine.  When I got it there were some problems with it. I contacted the seller and she stated she mentioned the flaws.  I went back through the auction with my stronger glasses on and realized there was a tab I never saw before and that was where her Description was.  I apologized to her and explained that I didn't not know this was going on and it would take me some time to get use to the change, but I was not concerned at all about the flaws and not to worry.

This was not laziness on my part, I have problems seeing and ebay has so many ads and junk on pages not it is very overwhelming and distracting for me.   I am not saying that is what this buyer did at all...it was just something I thought about.

I think some of us as buyers make mistakes like this that normally we would not make.  I am an older person, not a senior citizen, but just older.  My eye sight is really bad now and I can see how I accidentally missed this. 

I wanted to mention is because its so easy to get upset with buyers when they do seemingly ridiculous things like leaving feedback before contacting sellers and missing descriptions tabs.  Sometimes it is just an accident and sometimes it isn't.  Not all buyers mean to cause so much upset, and I do think many on ebay don't know ebay feedback etiquette either which doesn't help.

Glad it worked out for you.  I am not taking any sides just talking about something recently I did that was kind of embarrassing for me actually.  I have also been the seller with the odd buyer too.

[jamgloom]

Glad to hear it got resolved. As a phone phobic myself I actually get where you are coming from haha, it feels like a massive achievement to dial up eBay to resolve stuff. I've never found the live chat thing to work for me must be a time of day thing maybe as all my issues I attempted to sort in the am when the lines have just opened.

@tulagirl woah really? Can't say I've noticed much difference on my end buying but would explain the positive I have received lately stating stuff like was shorter than I anticipated when I actually have the exact measurements in the wording. Maybe it's time for me to lay out a tape measure in photo...