Negative feedback anything I can do?

[Maybee]

Hi

I was enjoying decluttering my house and making some cash selling on ebay. So far I've had 30 positive 1 neutral and my 1st negative feedback today. This has brought my score to 96.4% Buyer said the clothes were dirty and over used and that he had binned them. I emailed him saying that all items had been washed and ironed which was true. They had not been overused as I wore them for one pregnancy although some of the stretchy stuff was a bit shapeless. I have offered a refund if he sends them back. I also charged £4 for p&P although it cost £7 in the end. I'm demoralised. This buyer has a good ebay rating. Will this affect my future sales do you think? Has anyone ever had feedback retracted?

Did you specify in your listing that the clothes were a bit shapeless?

The buyer should have contacted you if he was unhappy so you could have put things right before leaving negative feedback.

You can leave a (polite) response to the feedback i.e along the lines of "Unfair feedback as buyer made no attempt to contact me beforehand. Clothes despatched in clean condition and worn for one pregnancy only". You can also ask ebay to look into the matter but I doubt they will take action.

I would learn a lesson TBH and one that I learned very early on in my ebay selling career - list all faults meticulously. I have bought maternity clothes on ebay before and have received shapeless/tatty things but it hasn't really bothered me as in the end, if I wanted new I would have bought new. But some people are less reasonable and unfortunately for you, your buyer is one of them.

If it makes you feel better, it doesn't necessarily put me off buying from people with negative feedback as I always look at the item in question and the feedback exchange. I always discount the comment that is rude, SHOUTY or txtspk.

I agree with both comments above and I too list any faults however minor. In fact I think I often make out that they are far worse than they actually are ! I wouldnt discount you immediately from your drop in feedback, but I would probably look at the comments and make my own mind up.

Having received my first neutral recently for an item that was listed as broken / for spares (buyer left feedback saying 'item broken' !!!) I have become increasingly disillusioned with ebay and all the DSR crap that goes with it. I wouldnt think you would stand a chance getting your feedback revised, but its worth a go if you can be bothered.

You can try contacting the buyer, explaining your point of view and maybe even offering a partial refund, and ask him to consider editing his feedback. I had a seller ask me to do change my feedback recently - I did change the wording, but it was still a negative as he truly deserved one. But some buyers leave them willy-nilly now that sellers can't do anything in return. If he won't retract the feedback, just leave a followup comment as Tryharder suggests.

Thanks for advice. He got back to me saying now that items were overused and overwashed (big change from dirty) and he could not send them back as they had been binned. I was a tad hurt as some were shirts that I'd loved wearing and were in v good nick. I contacted him saying that if he lists the items that he found totally unuseable I will refund £1 per item. I will ask him to consider amending the feedback if he gets back in touch. I just hate the thought of being perceived as a shoddy seller!
A lesson learned nonetheless. I've bought loads of clothes on ebay and been vaguely disappointed at faded nature/general condition on occasion but would not be so damning as I'm not shopping for new gear as TH points out. I will leave polite response as suggested.
Thanks all hope to make a million by Christmas!!!

I doubt he has really binned them
Don't refund unless he returns them

He's saying he's binned them???? He's lying! You wear maternity clothes for a few months really - unless something was really only fit for rag, you'd get some wear out of it even if it was bobbly or shapeless and from what you have said, your clothes sound fine. Agree with EldonAve, he's trying it on, trying to blackmail you into giving him some money back. Twat. God, some buyers are really pathetic. Report him to ebay for feedback extortion - he may well have form for trying it on with other sellers. Has he left negative feedback for anyone else?

agree, do not refund anything unless he returns the lot and put up a factual response to your neg ie:buyer gave me no chance to recifity

everything is biased towards buyers and some do play the system now. it's ridiculous.

don't leave any feedback for him

I agree with everyone else -he sould of contacted you first- there are too many idiots on ebay atm. They all want something for nothing and unfortunately ebay will probably go in his favour.
I wouldnt refund unless he returns them even if he has to dig them out of the 'bin' and definately give a factual response to feedback either way.

Good luck x

Why is a "he" buying maternity clothes? for his partner?

I thought it was ebay etiquette to refund anyway if buyers had a complaint and not ask them to retun items as then they incur postage costs etc.

If the sale amounted only to a few ££s you would b better off refunding him and trying to get positive feedback restored.

Tryharder, don't refund at all if the goods aren't being returned. Leave your own comment against his feedback as above. One negative isn't going to harm you and other buyers aren't going to try contacting your buyer for more information. I know it's a real pain, but you should just ignore it and negative score will disappear after 12 months so you will be back to 100%.

PP, not sure why you would refund without getting the goods back even if you have to pay the return p&p. Otherwise anyone could simply complain every time you sold something and you end up with no goods and no money.

I've had almost exactly the same - sold a bundle of toddler clothes, 6 tshirts/shirts, one brand new with tags and the others in decent used condition. Buyer won the lot for 99p...99p FGS! plus £3 P&P, then left neutral feedback saying only one item was wearable and the others were too tatty/faded . Some were a little faded perhaps, but certainly not tatty, and as for unwearable...

I really wanted to tell her to send them back for refund as some of the items were lovely IMO - a couple of Gap shirts etc - but given the postage costs it just wasn't worth it.

Some people should just stick to brand new, or go to the bloody shops and pay full price .

Ebay is getting more and more disappointing these days.

I would find it very annoying in that he could have contacted you first and discussed it. I wouldn't give a refund unless he returns them-I bet he hasn't binned them! I think that all you can do is respond to the feedback putting your own side. If I buy something I make up my mind about negative feedback from the comment-you can generally tell if they are a 'nice' person.