A new low for Ebay

A question about : A new low for Ebay

I sold an item and the next day recieved a phone call from the buyer demanding Ј10 or i would get a neg,.

I reported this and was assured the buyer would be punished and my account protected.

Friday i got a neg and reported it.

Today i was told:-

Feedback is a member-to-member experience and, as eBay wasn't involved in the actual transaction, we can't take sides.

How is Ebay not involved when the sale was on Ebay.

A further response said the buyer had done nothing wrong and there was no rule against this.

The new defect appeal process is ridiculous.

Ive already decided this is my last year on Ebay - but the thought of 11 more months of this s**t is too much.

Feedback left for over shows over 50% are negs.

Best answers:

• Have you tried the "REPORT MEMBER" button for that buyer, selecting feedback abuse?
• I think the problem is that it is one persons word against another. Had they done this in messages then there would be trail. Anyone could claim that before they received a negative, the buyer had rang them and threatened. Ebay always seemed to normally go on the sellers side on live chat but I think this was taken advantage of so they appear to now have gone too far the other way. The fact they have left a lot of negatives should ring alarm bells though.
  I would do as above suggested and report the buyer. I was told by someone at Ebay that they don't read reports straight away, but if they get a few about one person they do review them. If they have done it to you then they have probably done it to others.
• Did he only contact you by phone? Not through eBay?
  I had a buyer leave me a neg which just said "not really happy". I phoned eBay and said I tink its very unfair I got a negative feedback and had they contacted me I would have sorted it out and by just leaving neg feedback they didn't even give me a chance to resolve. eBay removed the neg for me. (Later looking at the buyers feedback history half the feedback they have left is negs with same comment )
  Anyway give them a call, don't mention phone call and say they didn't even give you a chance to resolve any issue etc, hopefully they will remove it for you
• would we be allowed to start a thread listing buyers who frequently leave negs and neutrals so that sellers can block them?
• OP, can you elaborate on exactly what happened?
  Did the buyer ask for anything else? Were they requesting a partial refund because they weren't happy with something and threatened a neg as a result?
• Feedback extortion has been going on for years to be fair, eBay just don't know about it, and there's not much you can do to stop it. My old man once sold a perfectly good (very expensive) electric bass guitar on eBay. The buyer turned up, played it, very happy, paid in full and went on his merry way.
  A week later, or not even that, maybe a few days (?) my old man got a phone call from the buyer stating that one of the strings had snapped and that the bass needed a new set of strings. I'm not a bassist but I do play normal guitar and snapping a bass string takes some doing so I have no idea what he did, but anyway, my old pointed out to him that the bass played fine when he was at the house and that the issue of strings hadn't been brought up. The buyer stated that he didn't notice the strings were 'rusty' (despite being Rotosound stainless steel) and if he had, he would have asked for some money to be knocked off. Despite clearly having done nothing wrong, my dad offered to honour the strings and told him to send an invoice via PayPal. Most bass guitar strings, are about Ј20 a set for decent quality, he sent an invoice for Ј78 stating he only played a luxury brand that neither of us heard of (despite having well 50 years music experience between us) and he wasn't willing to compromise, and as such the invoice should be considered a threat of negative feedback.
  My dad contacted eBay and pointed out he had offered to resolve the issue by paying for a set of regular priced strings (ie, Ј25 ish) and this hadn't been enough. eBay were useless and the man left negative feedback listing his displeasure with the 'quality' of my dads integrity.
  Not good at all.
• The buyer rang and demanded Ј10 for feedback and a cancellation.
  In the Ebay messages he kept referring to the Ј10 for inconvenience.
  He left a neg and since then my account as been targetted from different accounts.
  Ive had to change my phone number and Ebay say the buyers broken no rules.
  This is my last year on Ebay but if this carries on i will be finishing before the year ends. I will lose my TRS status on Friday.