Please can anyone advise - Ebay issues

[Florence1960]

I sold an old shed on Ebay during the week for next to nothing (it wasn't a great shed). Contacted the buyer a couple of times, heard nothing. Contacted them again explaining that if I didn't hear from them I would cancel the sale.
After I had done that, I had a pleasant message from them, explaining that they had been working away and struggled to get a signal. I just answered saying I was sorry it hadn't worked out.
Now - They have left negative feedback calling me a massive bellend! And I'm so proud of my feedback which is always lovely, because I try really hard to be a good seller.
I've messaged them asking if the feedback was meant for me, as I thought we were all good. I've contacted Ebay who told me to request revision and said that they will look at it in 10 days if this person doesn't retract.
I've left an answer explaining the situation.
In the meantime, anyone who checks my feedback is going to think I'm a bellend!
Any experience, please, and any advice?
Love from BE.

If your response is fair and measured then people will ignore the bellend stuff. Calling you names is against eBay user agreement so I would press the big report a member button

Ebay will look at the messages that show you were reasonable as well as the content of the feedback. So say you had been a massive bellend, it would still need to be written in a factual and respectful way with no swearing or name-calling. Ebay often side unfairly with the buyer but if all is as you say here, I don't see that they will in this case.

Always best to open a non-paying bidder case with eBay - that way if they don't pay, any feedback they leave is removable.

For this one, if they have called you a bellend then report the feedback. Do the feedback revision request, copy their message to you into the reasons box and state that you thought from that they were happy to cancel.

Report the feedback after 6pm UK time so it's picked up by eBay USA who are more strict on insults in feedback.

Everyone gets negative feedback from time to time and the longer you sell on these platforms, the more likely you are to encounter cranky buyers. 99% of what I sell online goes international. Ive had buyers complain about slow shipping/customs processing (at the height of the pandemic) even after being offered expedited shipping.

I would always reply with something professional such as:-

"Im so sorry to hear that your package took XX weeks to reach you. We ship promptly but international mail transit can take longer in these challenging times and is, of course, entirely beyond the control of the seller."

Its important to keep emotion out of your response.

If I was examining a sellers feedback and saw the term "bellend" I would totally discount the opinion of anyone who used such a crass expression.

Ebay tend to remove any bad feedback that contains swear words or offensive language. I'm not quite sure if "bellend" counts or not, but you might get lucky with Ebay's anti-swearing rules if they remove it on those grounds.

I got one piece of negative feedback a few years ago and it didn't affect my sales at all, as a personal seller. Most buyers can tell when bad feedback is unreasonable.

Thanks so much for the reassurance. I know that one piece of negative feedback won't affect much but I was very disappointed in Ebays response. I did explain that calling someone a bellend is Very Rude (actually it was bell ende so they can't spell either 😀), but I don't know if she really understood.
I am confident that my messages were measured and polite but she said I have to give them 10 days to retract the feedback before they will step in. Seems very unfair.
I have never given negative feedback. The most I have ever done is leave no feedback at all, in the hope that people who have no idea I have bought from the seller will somehow telepathically realise that I wasn't happy 🤷‍♀️.
Thanks again for taking the time to respond, I really appreciate it.

Quick update:
He has revised Feedback to Neutral but couldn't stop himself putting a big fat 0 in the comments. I'll probably leave it now.
Thanks again, I really appreciated the advice.

Do you get the option to comment on his comment?

It would be nice to be able to put the facts about what happened succinctly so readers can make up their own minds.

I think I might be able to. I don’t understand why though, when he ignored several messages he still thinks I’m in the wrong for canceling the sale! It wouldn’t have taken much to explain he was out in the wilds, may not get a signal but would contact me by X date.
It’s the level of unfairness which is so disappointing. I know it’s not the end of the world 🙈
I want to say This bloke is a massive knob, he ignored several polite messages and can’t spell bellend. I probably won’t though 😀

Make sure you block him as a buyer.

The stuff about being away and not getting a signal is probably bollocks anyway. It's a "dog ate my homework" kind of excuse for being flakey. He's just pissed off because you weren't prepared to tolerate his flakiness. Forget about it and move on, no-one will care about the feedback as long as you have a response to it.

There's more an more trolls on Ebay these days, just block them and don't worry about the feedback. They only make themselves look unhinged.
You can leave a reply to feedback. But think carefully before you do because you can't retract it. Just leave a factual 'buyer ignored messages and did not collect the item' and nothing about how upset or annoyed you are.

Thanks, I will block him. I think I might leave it at that. I don’t want to give him a chance to write or send anything else unpleasant (his messages were fine though, that’s what made it such a shock. I look forward to reading my feedback and to see that was horrible!