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Last summer I sold some new navy blue pants from Next on Ebay.
The buyer requested a refund because he stated they were black, not blue.
I saved the purchase order that said the color was navy blue and also checked the barcode at a local Next store to confirm. I told the buyer this and urged him to open a dispute with Ebay if he was still not satisfied.
I had stipulated no returns, meaning I didn’t have to pay him back unless the item was not as described.
I then received a private message from the buyer insinuating that he would leave negative feedback unless I refunded the money. I perceived it as a threat.
The buyer did not open a dispute, but left negative comments on my profile saying that I had misrepresented the color and that my actions were false.
Offensive Item: Even though the seller had listed the pants as navy blue on Ebay, the buyer says he thought they were black, in a situation reminiscent of the 2015 internet phenomenon “the dress.”
This affected my 100 percent seller rating and was a defamation of my character. I sought legal advice and was told that since it was posted in a public forum it could be considered defamatory.
I contacted Ebay to remove the feedback because I felt it violated their policies. These state users cannot make personal attacks and that feedback must be objective and fair.
Ebay’s position is that the buyer has the right to his opinion. Respecting this, the issue for me is that I have not deceived him or deceived him.
I can back up my position with evidence, and yet the buyer can make completely unfounded accusations with no repercussions.
Although this is a relatively minor issue, I hope you can appreciate the wider implications for sellers if Ebay does not monitor their site properly. V.M.
Harvey Dorset from This Is Money responds: Blue and black or white and gold?
A decade ago, an image of a dress became a national debate when people perceived two different colored dresses in the same image, dividing friends and family over which colors they saw.
No doubt most remember this strange phase of internet virality, but you’re unlikely to expect your Ebay listing to face a similar fate.
When you listed a pair of pants on Ebay as “navy chinos” with an image contrasting the garment with a black t-shirt, you wouldn’t have expected the buyer to contact you shortly after receiving the item complaining that they were black.
Unfortunately, reasoning with the buyer did not prove fruitful, as his provision of a receipt showing the item was listed as navy blue was refuted as a lie.
Finally, the buyer decided to leave a review on her Ebay profile suggesting that she had misled him with her listing.
Many Ebay users covet a 100 percent rating, as it shows that you are a trustworthy seller.
It shows that you communicate well with buyers, ship items on time, and that they arrive as described in your listing.
A low rating can affect your ability to market your products and even mean that some sellers will not be willing to sell to you.
I asked Ebay why they were allowing this review as they could prove that the buyer’s comments were not truthful.
An Ebay spokesperson said: “We have zero tolerance for misleading reviews because we know that reviews are crucial for buyers to make informed decisions about their purchases.”
‘If sellers receive a review that they believe is misleading, they can contact Ebay and ask us to investigate it. “If our investigation concludes that it is misleading, we will remove it.”
I’m happy to inform you that the site has agreed to remove the offending comment from its page.
However, it did not remove the negative rating, meaning that its previous 100 percent feedback history was still damaged by this exchange.
Initially, Ebay said the rating would remain unchanged because it cannot be considered defamatory in the same way as reviews.
As you told me later, this meant that a seller’s item you wanted to buy was out of your reach, and the item description said: ‘FEEDBACK MUST BE 100, TIRED OF SCAMMERS!’
Ebay said it does not recommend sellers restrict their sales in this way because most Ebay users act in good faith.
After informing them of this subsequent experience, Ebay said they would remove the negative rating as a gesture of goodwill.
He said that feedback is based on the buyer’s opinion and therefore is not normally removed unless it violates Ebay’s feedback policy, and sellers should ask the buyer to review their feedback if they feel it is inaccurate or unfair. .
The site’s feedback policy does not specify in which cases it will remove ratings left by buyers.
However, it says written comments will be deleted when they include “personal attacks that may damage the seller’s reputation or their business and cannot reasonably be considered constructive criticism.”
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