stupid ebayer or valid concern?: Off-topic discussion forum: Grassroots Motorsports Magazine

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April 23, 2010 9:37 p.m. patgizz SuperDork

short story:

sold grille off my z28 - with z28 badge. with clear pic and description stating it needs painted as it was faded

buyer sends email after receiving item- claims all z28 grilles are molded in black, not painted and that if he wanted to paint something he would have painted his silver grille black. 11 hours later - i have not been online in this time - he sends another threatening that if i ignore him he will return item and leave negative feedback.

i replied that i had not been online to receive his message and was not ignoring him, told him it was clearly stated that the item needed painted, asked what he proposed i do since it was stated it needed painting and he didnt want to paint, and told him i do not appreciate being threatened nor do i accept returns.

wtf do you do in this situation. i have over a 380 rating with 100% positive feedbacks, left this guy a positive for quick payment already, on top of that sellers have no recourse because you can only leave positive or nothing for a buyer. i think he either is illiterate or has buyers remorse.

i would like to retain my 100% positive rating, but if i piss him off i want to go all out and make sure i do it right.
April 23, 2010 9:57 p.m. Marty! Dork

Tell him to get bent. It's nice to have a 100% rating but most people will see the other 99.9% positive transactions and see him as somebody that even Jesus couldn't make happy.

I stopped worrying about my perfect feedback when eBay made the feedback change.
April 24, 2010 12:25 a.m. BoxheadTim Dork

IIRC ebay (if they can pull their fingers out) take a dim view of people threatening to leave negative feedback so there might well be a way to get it removed anyway.

That said, most people tend to end up with the odd neg these days, sometimes from trigger-happy buyers. Most buyers understand that and take it into account.
April 24, 2010 7:22 a.m. pete240z Dork

I have sold a ton of Datsun parts to Datsun guys and never have problems. When I sell stuff outside the "Datsun" world; I end up with flakes and jerks.

How much did he spend? I have over 300 rating and too would wonder what too do with this situation.

offer to refund back 25% of the price?
April 24, 2010 8:42 a.m. P71 SuperDork

If he paid with PayPal you are screwed. He'll file a claim with them and get his money back plus keep the grill. This is why I left eBay 18 months ago.
April 24, 2010 8:57 a.m. jamscal Dork

Take the neg but leave a response under it.

You'll get the 100% back in due time, as they only consider the last 12 months, IIRC.

I don't like the feedback system system for a few reasons, but I don't know of a better solution.

Maybe list a sellers "number of completed transactions" and don't encourage personal feedback unless service was very good or very bad...you know, like any retail store.

-James
April 24, 2010 9:30 a.m. Lesley SuperDork

Nope, you can't get negative feedback removed, regardless of whether it's retaliatory or not. Ebay will just suggest you "work with the buyer" to have them apply for a retraction.
April 24, 2010 9:32 a.m. patgizz SuperDork

P71 wrote:

If he paid with PayPal you are screwed. He'll file a claim with them and get his money back plus keep the grill. This is why I left eBay 18 months ago.

i dont think it works that way. i shipped the item as described and pictured and included tracking info with paypal so they have proof of delivery.

he shot me back a blah if you knew what you were selling you wouldnt have a problem, needing paint means faded not that the paint is chipping off(it was faded, not chipping or peeling like he claims), you dont know how to pack stuff, i've been dealing in parts for 20 years and camaros for the last 10 you dont know what you are doing(i've been dealing in camaro parts longer than he has), and that he was going to do what he had to do to make it work since he was stuck with it.

apparently it is super hard to whip out a little sandpaper and a rattle can to paint something that you bought knowing full well need painted.

oh yeah he claimed to give me a full 24 hours to reply - apparently in new york there is a rip in the time space continuum where 5:45pm to 6:45am is 24 hours and not 13.
April 24, 2010 9:45 a.m. Jay Dork

Kindly offer to take it back and refund him his money, as long as he pays the shipping, Paypal fees, and your re-listing fees (since "no returns" was stated clearly in the auction, and you're doing him a favour.) Be absolutely firm on that. Probably once the question of additional money comes up, Numbskull will shut up and go away. If he does go for it, you're out nothing but time, and if he doesn't go for it then it's his problem. You made the offer.
April 24, 2010 10:19 a.m. P71 SuperDork

It does work that way. He files a claim with PayPal claiming "item not as described". You submit any documentation you have, which PayPal ignores, and they raid your account to give him a refund. He also doesn't have to ship the item back. PayPal's track record on this is near-as-makes-no-difference 100% in the buyer's favor.
April 24, 2010 10:21 a.m. patgizz SuperDork

he left me a neutral saying no reply - must be that space time continuum deal again. maybe crack works better in new york too.

i ended up shooting him a partial refund (the emblem was worth more than the grille so sent back the difference between what grille sold for vs what emblems go for) before i realized he left me a stupid feedback.
April 24, 2010 11:48 a.m. terp83

My friend, his son and I share an e-bay account primarily for selling. A little over a year ago, the son sold a pair of NIB Nike shoes to an individual. At the conclusion of the auction, this individual e-mailed the son and begged him to let him out of the transaction as he did not have the money. After the son complied with the request, the individual left a negative feedback indicating that the shoes were frauds and not as represented. (He couldn't have known, as the boy let him out of the transaction and the shoes were never shipped). The son subsequently relisted the shoes resulting in a "positive" transaction, but he never followed up to appeal the negative feedback, so we were stuck with the negative feedback for a year.

In every listing (until it recently expired) we explained what happened to cause the negative feedback.

We do everything we can to have seamless e-bay sales transactions. On the stuff I sell (mostly British car parts, SU carbs and parts, and magazines) I try to accurately and completely detail the attributes and shortcomings of each item, and try to portray its condition as just a little bit worse than it actually is.

With very few exceptions, everybody has been great to deal with.

Back to the transaction referred to above, my friend tells me that if you have had a problem with a purchaser, you can block that individual from bidding on future transactions.

It sounds as though you bend over backwards to satisfy buyers (even unreasonable ones) but there are people out there that you just cant please.
April 24, 2010 1:48 p.m. integraguy HalfDork

I don't have any experience with this, but if someone "says" they are being ignored when they have only tried to contact you for 11 hours....it's safe to say it won't end well.
April 24, 2010 4:51 p.m. Lesley SuperDork

If the item was never shipped, there was no transaction. That's one of the rare circumstances where ebay will actually intervene on the seller's behalf. Otherwise, it's pretty much skewed in favour of the buyer.
April 24, 2010 8:06 p.m. Toyman01 Dork

I will sell to you guys, I will sell to friends. Other than that I would rather throw it away than deal with the nightmare of trying to sell online. Good luck.
April 24, 2010 10:06 p.m. Jensenman SuperDork

People will buy something on eBay then pitch a bitch threatening bad feedback etc and you know what? It's all just to try to get a few bucks back. I don't sell a whole lot on eBay but when I do, there is always this caveat: 'thus and such. If this is unacceptable, then please do not bid'. That has worked for me in the two situations where I was threatened that way.
May 1, 2010 2:34 p.m. Datsun1500 Dork

If he threatened you with negative feedback, you can have him kicked off of Ebay. It is called feedback extortion, and if you report him for that they will take action. I have done it to 2 people in the past