eBay - being held to ransom over feedback

[Flampingu]

Ok so it’s only a few pounds but irritating none the less.

I ordered an item - say a phone cover in red, they sent me blue. I don’t want a blue one so contacted to resolve, I was ignored. I left bad feedback and they’re now telling me they won’t refund or replace unless I change my feedback. This hAs gone back and forth for a week, so I think my bad feedback is justified.

I’m happy to send the wrong one back but have not been taken up on this.

AIBU to think that should fix this, regardless of feedback?

Just request a refund via eBay - no further comms.

Report to Ebay, that kind of behaviour is definitely not allowed!

Can you open a dispute for a full refund, as the item was not as described?

It's against eBay seller policy for them to do this as it's considered blackmailing for feedback (I had a similar situation not so long ago). Report them to eBay x

I have but it’s making me go through the resolution centre which starts with me contacting them.

This is the third time this has happened so I’m getting frustrated.

Screenshot the messages off the seller and email/message them to eBay. I wouldnt contact the seller at all, and would only go through eBay. You can also ring eBay, and they are actually very helpful over the phone. Less so via their autobot online procedures.

I’m struggling to get in touch with them directly as you get sent round in circles - I have a hearing impairment so phoning will just wind me up!

If you've opened a request in the resolution centre it should give you a date when you can escalate to eBay for them to intervene.

I’ve done that now - I didn’t realise I couldn’t just contact them to sort it. Oh well, roll on 22 April and I’ll get my 2 quid back

I had a really good experience with the callback function. They read all the messages to and from my awkward buyer, agreed I was in the right, gave me my money and blocked him from leaving me negative feedback (I do see you have a hearing impairment though)

I might give it a go, I’ll see how I get on, I’m so sick of sellers trying to make me give good feedback for them being crap!

At least you'll get a refund now you've raised a case, but don't expect ebay to do anything about the seller's behaviour ... at least, not if they sell a lot of items

It's true that what they've done is supposed to be banned, but IME those who make them a lot of commission are untouchable

I didn't think you could change feedback once you'd given it anyway.

I didn’t think so either, but the way I’m being hounded by the seller it must be possible.

The last time this happened the seller completely cancelled the transaction so I couldn’t leave feedback.

You don't need to screenshot. Ebayhas access to all your messages.

They’ve now refunded and sent a snarky message to me about how I never intended to revise my feedback. Duh! I never said I would!

Not at all surprised, I'm afraid; for me, ebay's becoming an increasingly unpleasant place. I've not sold on there for ages and tend to use Amazon for buying now ... by the time you've fought off the many dubious types on ebay, it's often easier to just use someone else

Ebay encourage you to report them for a violation;

www.ebay.co.uk/help/buying/resolving-issues-sellers/reporting-item-issue-seller?id=4022&st=2&pos=1&query=Reporting%20an%20item%20or%20issue%20with%20a%20seller&intent=4022&query=1482&st=GENERAL_SEARCH

Puzzled, I know what you mean. I’m sick of waiting 6 weeks only to receive the wrong thing.

I didn’t know you could do that upstart, thanks.

6 weeks?!

Where are you ordering from, China?! Why?!

If it’s 6 weeks, yes it’s china - tends to be cheap for things like phone covers which aren’t urgent. This particular item was listed as in the U.K. but I didn’t notice the seller was in China - not sure how that works as from the packaging it does look like it was sent from abroad.

The way you revise feedback, is the seller sends you a request you have to click on. You can refuse the request, and a seller can only send so many a year, for some reason i think it is 3, but i might be wrong.
You can only revise upwards though, so if you originally left negative, you can leave neutral or positive, and if you left neutral, you can only then leave positive. You can't even keep the same level and just revise the comment, so you couldn't revise neutral to neutral with a different comment, or go from positive to neutral, or positive or neutral to negative.
You absolutely should report the seller to ebay though, feedback has nothing to do with the refund system. Its not a bargaining chip for sellers to insist on a revision to get your refund.

The item might not have been urgent but the colour was obviously important to you. So it would take months to sort it and send it back (plus the postage cost!) and receive another if anything went wrong. And it did!

Buy local (Europe!) pay a few pounds more and get one that doesn't use toxic chemicals, can be easily exchanged if needs be.

All that fuss though. When I wanted a phone case I just walked into a shop and bought one lol!

I don't do EBay any more. Too much arseholery.

Qwerty, this particular item was meant to be in the U.K. - it came within just over a week. I intentionally bought it from what I thought was a U.K. seller because I wanted it quickly. It then transpired only the item was allegedly in the U.K.