To think some ebayers sell crap items knowing people are scared to leave negative feedback?

[Imforeverwashingbottles]

I have been sourcing second hand clothes for DS 7 months as it seems wasteful to keep buying him brand new clothes he will be out of in a couple of months. I made a few purchases on ebay and I am shocked at what some people consider "very good condition"

Out of the 4 bundles I have brought, 2 are utter crap. The clothes in the first are permanently stained, the second the clothes are bobbly and faded and one t-shirt has hairs caught in the collar so has obviously been worn for a haircut and has not been cleaned properly.

I will most probably end up binning these clothes, I am a bit pissed off that people actually think that what they are selling is acceptable. These sellers have 100% feedback and I am starting to think feedback is a useless guide to how good a seller is because people are scared to leave negative feedback. I would like to give negative feed back but I know it is not the done thing, are there any possible repercussions if I leave negative feedback?

AIBU to think some people sell crap knowing it's crap?

Why isn't it the done thing?? It's the only way prospective buyers can be warned about crap sellers.

I'd open an 'item not as described' case first to get your money back, then leave negative.

Why are people scared to leave negative feedback? I can't really see any reason you should be - the seller can't neg you back.

The only reason not to would be if you regularly buy and sell on the same account as if you negged someone particularly vindictive they could wreck your auctions, but that's easily solved by having two accounts.

They cant neg you, but you can neg them. Why wouldnt you?

I would be returning the stuff and getting a refund, then leaving feedback as CocktailQueen says. I would leave a neutral along the lines of "Clothes in poor condition and not as decsribed but full refund given" if they dont muck about, but if they try to get out of the refund then I would neg them.

I'd give them a chance to put it right first by emailing them explaining that the clothes were in such terrible condition and that you expect to be able to return them for a full refund. If they refuse claim through eBay under item not as described.

If you get a positive response and they accept the refund with no argument I wouldn't leave negative feedback. I would do though if they argued about it and I don't think this is wrong or poor etiquette at all.

As an aside I used to do the same as you thinking it wasn't worth spending loads on clothes that would be outgrown. In the end it was cheaper to buy things from asda or tesco once you factor in postage. At least then you know they will be in good condition!

Why on earth would a buyer be frightened of giving bad feedback? There are no repercussions as far as I can see.

However, I do not give negative feedback lightly as I am aware that it does have consequences for the seller. Generally, if there is a problem with an item, I get in touch with the seller and we come to an agreement. If the seller is helpful, has good communication and I am satisfied with the outcome of the dispute, I will not give negative feedback.

Mrsdeanambrose it's also solved by blocking the seller from bidding on your items.

yellowdinosaur that assumes the seller only has one account.

I have been threatened (rather nastily) with legal action for suggesting that negative feedback might be a consequence of failing to satisfactorily resolve a complaint. I should add that I was only suggesting that I would leave 100% factual feedback with no embellishment. This could be the kind of thing that makes people not want to do it.

I have left bad feedback for people who have sent bad items. I have also had to get my money back by opening opening a dispute through ebay and paypal.

Always contact them first, include pictures of the items not in good condition and see what they say. If they refuse to refund or ignore you there a procedures to follow.

Not sure why anyone would be scared to do this?

Fair enough Mrsdeanambrose you're right!

I'd still leave negative feedback if I'd tried to resolve it with no satisfactory outcome though.

I have just got the impression from discussing ebay with people in RL, a few of my friends have said that they would just take it as a loss if the item was only a few quid. I have quite a few things to sell so I will be using my account soon as a seller so don't want to do anything that would have an impact on my account.

I think I will just by DS brand new in future, it is a shame as the other items I received were lovely and it seems very wasteful to buy brand new.

Yellowdinosaur I used to post on the ebay community forums a while ago and you would not believe the horror stories and vindictiveness of some sellers!

I guess, reading that back, I can see why if you buy and sell on the same account you wouldn't want to leave a neg!

It won't impact on your account, they can't leave neg feedback for you.

I had a look over the items again and they are awful, one of the items even has a hole in it! I have just left bad feedback, I don't really have the time to be opening a dispute and faffing about with sending it back etc. They should have given the items an accurate description in the first place. I think I will use DH's account for selling and I will probably only buy second hand stuff from the charity shop where I can see it first and don't have to pay delivery.

Imforever I'm sorry you have had crappy stuff from ebay - I never tried going down that route. Have you looked to see if you have any NCT secondhand sales nearby? I got a TON of good stuff from my local one, and of course could see what I was getting. (If you do go to one, though, get there early as they are really popular!)

...actually, if you do go the "only new" route with yours, you could always offload it all afterwards at an NCT sale, too.

Mine's WAAAAY too old for these sales, now, which I found a real pity!

Anyway, here's the link: www.nct.org.uk/branches/events/nearly-new-sales

I think that people genuinely mistake their own used items as being good condition. Presumably they like their baby clothes and have only stopped using them because they are outgrown, and they don't notice the stains and bobbles.

If you think you have received goods that don't match the description, raise the issue first with the seller. If you have paid just a small amount and the seller has paid to post them, maybe just forget it.

Neg feedback without warning the seller and giving them a chance to solve the problem for you is definitely bad ebay etiquette. They can appeal to ebay to get the feedback removed.
Also, you can't get your money back without opening a dispute. So you are no better off than you were before.

Thanks for that Titus I have had a look and there is one near me soon! I'll definitely pop along to that.

Sorry crossed posted. In order to get my money back though I presume that I would have to fork out up front to post the items back,which given the low purchase price of of the item isn't really worthwhile. I have not said anything dishonest in my feedback so I don't see it as bad etiquette, they had the opportunity to advertise the items accurately and didn't.

I see what you mean MrsCakes, but some of the stains were so prominent that I do not see how you could miss them, they were on the back of the item too so they probably would have shown up if they had taken pictures of the back.

Emailing the seller or opening a dispute would take about the same amount of time than posting on this thread. It's bad form to not give the seller a chance to put it right, as one persons idea of good condition isn't going to be anothers. It does sound as though the items were misrepresented but if you'd given the seller a chance they might well have refunded you. Now you'll never know.

As a seller, I have (only every happened twice) refunded a buyer and told them to keep the item because it was a low value item and not worth falling out over. If you didn't even tell me there was a problem, I would be hopping mad.

Simple solution is never buy and sell on the same account.

eBay shifted in the buyers favour some years ago and buyers now hold all the cards so selling items knowing they are poor really won't help you keep your account that long. The new 'defect' rules for sellers are pretty tight and any seller who values their account now will be bending over backwards to ensure their buyers are happy.
It's not even the feedback that cripples a seller anymore, a couple of low stars in any category can be the end of a seller, so in theory a buyer could leave positive feedback and still do major damage by leaving one star across the board.

The sellers who do knowingly sell crap wont be knowingly selling it for much longer.

I once ordered a Monsoon silk dress, "brand new with tags". In fact, it had been worn with the tag and never washed. It was stained, it reeked of sweat and cigarettes, the armpits were discoloured by deodorant, but it still had its crumpled tag on.

OP - you need 2 accounts - 1 to sell on and 1 to buy on.

And you don't always need to pay to return - note in the dispute you are not happy to pay and ebay may give a prepaid label or award a no fault refund. But you need to contact a seller and state you are unhappy first before you neg. And if you want stars to count as low you need to mark them as 1s or 2s, leaving them blank doesn't count as low.