LONG RANT! To never put any feedback on EBAY again - not even positive - because they ALWAYS delete any negative feedback I put?! (And even the neutral feedback!)

[FadeAwayAndRadiate]

Regular user, NC for this.

I have been a member of ebay for about 8 years and have sold a few things, (maybe 40-50,) but 90% of the time I am the buyer. Over the past year and a quarter, I have purchased a number of things. (maybe 35 or so,) and have put positive feedback for 29 of them. However, in this same timeframe, I have put a negative feedback for a seller 3 times, and I have put neutral feedback for a seller 3 times. (6 different sellers.) My feedback reflected the experience, and was authentic and genuine.

I put all the negative/neutral feedback because I did not receive the item, and in addition the seller was rude and unhelpful and pretty useless and obnoxious, and didn't help or assist me in any way. Each time I raised a dispute with ebay, I got a refund from ebay! (NOT the seller.) And they were all justified negatives and neutrals IMO.

EVERY. Single. One. of my negative or neutral feedback has been deleted. I can only surmise that the seller has thrown their toys out of the pram and demanded it was removed. I got a refund with each case, but ONLY after I raised a dispute. And EBAY gave it, not the seller!

I didn't threaten the seller with a negative if they didn't give me a refund, I didn't libel them on the feedback, and I didn't say anything rude or personal. There's NO reason for ebay to delete my feedback.

Two sellers in the past 4 months have ignored my queries about when my item will be sent, and my pleas to please chase the delivery company when it's gone past the delivery deadline. And when I raised a dispute (after it passed the deadline for the delivery date,) they emailed me demanding that I close the dispute or they won't help me. I didn't, obviously. And THAT (IMO) is well out of order.. demanding I close the case!

I got a refund each time - which I deserved as the item never came, but every one of the 3 negative and 3 neutral feedback were deleted - within a couple of hours! They can't possibly be demanding removal of the feedback just because I got a refund. It wasn't even the seller who gave it, it was ebay!

AIBU to think this removal of the negative and neutral feedback makes an utter mockery of the whole feedback system? I can't trust any sellers fully anymore, and can't believe their feedback percentage. It may say 98.3% positive, but in reality it's probably more like 80-85%. If that.

Sellers can't give negative feedback to buyers anymore, but buyers can give it to sellers. HOWEVER, it seems if they whinge and spit their dummy out, ebay removes the negative or neutral feedback. No. Matter. What!

I preferred it when sellers COULD give buyers negatives or neutrals, and the buyers negative and neutral feedback didn't get wiped off within a few hours.

I am so pissed off right now, after a very well justified neutral feedback I put earlier today, with accurate and honest comments about the seller, got deleted within 3 hours. I am 100% not going to EVER put any feedback on ebay at all now. They can fuck right off. On the occasions that I have forgotten to do it, ebay email me and say 'feedback is a VERY important part of ebay, please give the seller your feedback.' And yet unless it's positive, they fucking delete it!

As I say 'AIBU to never EVER put any feedback again, ever, not even positive?' And AIBU to think ebay deleting negative and neutral feedback (because the seller is clearly stamping their feet and spitting their dummy out,) that the feedback percentages are a load of shit? If they're going to delete anything that isn't positive, then fuck 'em! I am not going to complain to ebay by the way, they won't do anything about it!

ALSO, look on any forum on the boards about ebay and their feedback, and there are 100s of posts by people complaining that their negative or neutral feedback has been removed. Makes me wonder why there is still a BIT of it actually. The sellers must get about three quarters removed, and leave a bit, so it looks 'authentic.'

YANBU - but it's true everywhere.

Amazon sellers get all their negative feedback deleted by taking advantage of the "Amazon fulfilment" bullshit. Basically, if you sell on Amazon and Amazon do your delivery, the seller can report all the negative reviews about their product as being to do with the delivery (even when they aren't) and Amazon automatically remove them.

TrustPilot is a joke. I made one review and informed the company I had. They then purchased their account and, a week later, hundreds and hundreds of 5* reviews cropped up taking their rating from 1.3 to 4.3. I then reviewed another company and they reported my review as ingenuine - I sent proof to TrustPilot and they said that the company name on my proof of purchase didn't line up with the company name on their website...but the address did, and the name on the invoice was clearly from them (the name on Trust Pilot was like ABC Kitchens and the invoice said Apple Banana Carrot Kitchens Ltd). Trust Pilot refused to accept there was sufficient proof it was the same company and, no surprise, flawless feedback.

You can't trust any reviews anymore. It's ridiculous.

But if the seller sent the item and it got lost during transit, why should the seller lose money too by giving you refund? It wasn't their fault either. I'm assuming ebay wouldn't give a refund without proof of postage so your feedback has been removed because it wasn't the sellers' fault. I thought getting in touch with ebay first would be the best option to check the seller has proof of postage before leaving negative feedback.

Please read my OP properly. I don't give neg or neutral because I didn't get the item. I ONLY give it if the seller is rude, unhelpful, CBA to chase the delivery firm, and ignores my messages until I raise a dispute and THEN demands I close the dispute. Also EBAY refund me, not the seller. I don't ask for the refunds ebay refund me!!

It really pisses me off that if I click to see negative reviews only the positive ones come up, this is really common and I'm noticing it more and more especially with big sellers. The negative reviews have been "disappeared"

Thanks for this @Whydidimarrythis That is DISGUSTING though, how these companies and sellers can manipulate the percentages of negatives and positives like this. As I say, it's a joke now, and you cannot trust ANY percentage figure now on ebay (or anywhere else by the look of it!) Ebay used to be MUCH better and much more authentic in their feedback.

As I say, I would happily welcome back them allowing sellers putting negs for buyers if the sellers were not allowed to get the vast majority of negative feedback deleted. And even the neutrals!

Yeah they do 'disappear.' I put a negative for a seller 2 months ago, and noticed 5 others had put negatives after me the same day - seller had a five figure feedback score - and within 3 hours ALL 6 negs had gone - those 5 and mine!

I know they disappeared because I print screened the page after a friend of mine said SHE had had her negative feedback deleted a few days before, and a few others seemed to have disappeared. I printscreened the page (so I had a record of what was there,) and a few hours later all the 6 negatives had gone!!! Fucking con it really is.

I’ve noticed this too. I recently left neutral feedback for a seller who marked at item as sent on a certain date, but the postage label showed it was actually posted 12 days after this. She had ignored my messages in the meantime, and I had to open a dispute for a item not received, which I then closed once it eventually arrived. I wonder do they automatically delete feedback in cases where a dispute has been closed?

Glad it's not just me!!!!

Well if they DO delete any negative or neutral feedback purely because a dispute is closed, then that is bloody ridiculous. If you don't open a dispute, you often won't/can't get the issue resolved, and will lose your money. So it would be very unfair to not let you put neg or neutral feedback if the dispute goes in your favour and is closed.

Like you, I have had sellers ignore me, and not respond to any messages. I have waited patiently for 2.5 to 3 weeks, (often a week after the day the item should have got here,) sending 3 or 4 polite messages to the seller, only to be ignored. So opening a dispute is the only thing I can do, to try to get ebay to resolve it. For them to delete any feedback that is not positive, purely because you got a refund and the dispute was closed is ludicrous.

A buyer should be entitled to put an honest, frank, and authentic feedback, even if it IS negative. Even if you get a refund, sometimes, the whole experience is shit, the seller is a rude, arrogant, and unhelpful, and you end up WITHOUT your item.

Also, the recent one where I got my feedback deleted today, was an item I sent for 30th November, and the seller said it would be here by 13th December. I waited til 18th, so I was very patient. Seller didn't make any contact with me til I raised a dispute on the 19th! The item never came, there was no evidence it was posted, and the person I wanted the item for never got that gift for Christmas.

Wish I had picked a different bloody seller now!

I fully understand your opinion but as a small business on eBay positive feedback is so vital for me, I would hate to lose out on getting that feedback because other sellers are shit.

You are very probably a good seller @Pointlessuser and you are not the type I am on about. I, like many others give lots of positive feedback to good sellers (and most are good.) But when I get the odd few who are poor, and put bad feedback because my whole experience was shit, I don't expect to have my perfectly valid and authentic feedback deleted because the seller demanded it, (and ebay agreed because the seller is someone who sells 1000s of items a month, and is probably worth more to ebay than me!)

As I (and others have said,) it makes the feedback percentage pointless and worthless, and you don't know which sellers you can trust. Because with some sellers, their 98.7% positive feedback score is probably in reality, more like 88.7%. Possibly even lower...

Without seeing the feedback left it's hard to comment on why it was removed but the one where you threatened the seller with feedback if they didn't refund is definitely against the rules and will have been easy to request removal. Never use feedback extortion and don't leave feedback that is remotely personal or emotional. Stick to the facts.
To be honest, if I have a buyer asking questions who has left strings of bad feedback I will block them from purchasing.

Ummm no, I didn't threaten the seller with bad feedback if they didn't refund me. I specifically said that in my opening post. I DIDN'T threaten them and was not rude or inaccurate in my feedback. You have misread my OP @DelilahBucket

This is exactly what I said in my 4th paragraph...

I didn't threaten the seller with a negative if they didn't give me a refund, I didn't libel them on the feedback, and I didn't say anything rude or personal. There's NO reason for ebay to delete my feedback.

I never bother with feedback or reviews. Haven't for years. It's all a big con and a waste of time.
YANBU

Thanks @MistyGreenAndBlue I am off to bed now anyway. Happy new year everyone. xxx

Apologies OP I misread.

I recently received damaged goods from Amazon and had problems returning them because of the size. I didn't expect Amazon to publish my one star rant, but they did. Then someone else complained of exactly the same thing, and their review got published too, including both of us saying we couldn't get a refund. BUT despite our reviews being the most recent , they don't show up under 'top reviews '. You'd have to go digging to find them.

Did you mention disputes in the feedback? Mentioning that can be grounds for its removal.

Is it not because once you've had a refund it nulls the transaction between yourselves therefore no feedback both ways?

When eBay gives you a refund it’s taken from them seller’s funds. When you open a dispute and eBay rules in your favour the money is deducted from the seller, it’s not eBay giving it to you out of the goodness of their hearts. Leaving negative feedback once you’ve already been refunded is a dick move and eBay will remove it since your issue was resolved by your money being refunded. HTH

eBay did say that during Royal mail strikes all negative feedback about late delivery will be removed we had something delivered yesterday that had been posted on 9th not sellers fault

I complain to ebay when this happens and they always say ah yes this shouldn't have been removed and put some sort of seller performance flag against their account. No idea what that means but at least its something.

Or you could try positive feedback that mentions how rude they were?

Ah yes that's true.

I never bother with Trustpilot after receiving pressure to remove a justified, negative review. Ironically, the system has become completely untrustworthy.

Coincidence I just came across this thread here as I was in day 3 of raging that my accurate and truthful negative feedback was removed from eBay.
I'd saved up and purchased a mulberry handbag described as brand new. On arrival bag gutted to see the bag had 2 very obvious flaws . Seller refused return and lied that the flaws were done after she sent it, yet I could proo xx EBay refunded me, and I simply wrote a feedback saying double check with seller for flaws before purchasing anything expensive.
Next day it was gone.
How can you trust eBay's seller review system when you know only positive ones are allowed to stick?

I could try this. Putting negative comments, but clicking positive. I did try clicking NEUTRAL though, with negative comments and hoped it would stay. NOPE. Didn't work. Still got deleted!

Maybe I will complain then if you did get a bit of a result. I'll think about it. Thank you.