How bout that ebay!!!!! Sit down to read this one.

[danmckee]

Some of you may know me, I have been around for awhile. On ebay since 1998. I buy and sell like most of you.

I purchased 2 T3's from a guy after asking him what size they were. Most of the fakes are those small Topps card size ones. He responded with the proper size of about 5" by 8". The scans weren't great but looked real with writing on the back of one. Cards come and they are photo copies of the originals.

I contact the scumbag and of course, no response. I open 2 cases and leave negative feedback because this is not an honest mistake in my opinion.

The prior week I won a 1959 Baltimore Colts mirror fob for myself from another seller. A fairly rare item as I have never seen one before, I pay immediately. He then lists another identical so I ask him how many he has and I ? the authenticity since it was listed as 1959 Colts mirror. Seller states it is what it is and how he just sells for fun yadda yadda yadda. So I tell him I will return it if it is fake. He immediately refunds me so I left him a negative.

Here we go....

I have 2 cases pending and never received the fake Colts item thank goodness.

I get a warning message from ebay about me violating communication policy.

Then they remove every negative and neutral feedback I left anyone for an entire year!!!

WOW! I didn't even know they could do that!!

What possible reason would they have to remove a year's worth of feedback and to clear the fb of the 2 sellers portraying recently made junk as real?

I call and behold.. I am told that I have left too many low star ratings of 1s and 2s and that they feel I am ambushing my competition in the same hobby which I too sell.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????????????????????????

Man, someone had to get creative for that!! Or more like have a relative or friend working there who can pull strings. How can they assume I am trying to squash all of you sellers so that people only buy my stuff?

So now my account is under extreme scrutiny and the 2 sellers who passed on obvious fakes as real are free to try to steal from someone else.

I challenge any of you to top this ebay disaster!

[GrayGhost]

Ebay is ridiculous. I am a VERY rare/small time seller on there these days. Between the fees and RIDICULOUS stuff like this, I can see others being upset too.

Their feedback system of not being able to leave a negative to a buyer is RIDICULOUS. And , in your case, an OBVIOUS mess, especially w the T-3s, and they side w the seller to kiss their butts.

How about DOING THINGS RIGHT. Is it that hard to ask?

[danmckee]

I agree, buyer feedback is a complete joke. I have buyers write and tell me they have 100% feedback can I do this and that? Well all buyers only have 100% feedback. Buyers that do not pay should get negative feedback or neutral depending on each situation.

Ebay actually sided with me on the T3's and I am do to get my money back tomorrow after delivery back which ebay forced and I actually agree with that. I should have to return the item to receive a refund.

But obviously 1 of these 2 sellers knew what buttons to push or had an inside track. I am guessing the inside track as ebay doesn't have time to look so thoroughly into a customers account each time.

I really do not care about them removing all of my feedback as much as i care that was the only way I had of warning future bidders of the fake items.

[JustinD]

Just to play devils advocate, just how many negatives or neutrals did they remove?

These do sound like egregious issues with false product which may have definitely deserved negatives. I myself have over 1900 feedbacks on my current account, which only a few hundred are seller ratings and I have left about 2500 according to ebay. I really may have left only 2 or 3 negatives and perhaps a couple neutrals in that entire time. I have been burned mind you, but almost never on something I didn't feel I was taking a risk on anyways. I save the negs for people that A. never send the product or B. lie outright on the description and refuse a return or refund. If I get my refund, I usually just leave no feedback at all and call it a wash. If I get banged on a reprint or something I knew I was being risky with from the start, usually I work it out or rack it up to my own gamble for a bargain. It sounds like you may have pretty tight standards if you have a pile of negs and one or two stars. While it may be entirely circumstantial, you can see where they have some basis for argument if you are a seller yourself.

[danmckee]

devil's advocate is good to do but to be quite honest, I can't answer you since they are all gone now.

I can pull up all of my 2010 back and the neat thing is, most of the ones that received bad feedback from me either are no longer registered or have a bad rating so I wasn't their only issue.

I would love to know how many and actually the percentage to the good feedback and 5 stars which I leave most of the time.

I am going to wait a few days to call nback and see if they will provide me with those numbers but I doubt it. They never arm you with info that you can fight with.

I would like to see the numbers because maybe my percentages are too high? Maybe I have had a recent run of bad luck this year buying?

But to hack away all of the feedback I left w/o even a blink of an eye? REEKS of something fishy to me.


Here is what I can show you:
Mainly buying
7,338 Feedback left

I have left from 1998 to Oct 2010:
54 Negatives
25 Neutral

Not sure what those percentages work out to be or if they are considered high or not.

30 of these members are no longer registered!

[JustinD]

I understand the frustration, I was just offering a different view. I myself have been entirely turned off as a seller by having no recourse with buyers. It makes me sell only on rare occasions. While I may not have hammered people with negs, It keeps the average morons honest when you have recourse. There is just no way now to defend yourself from nonpaying bidders or those who claim they never received items or worse take them and swap junk in the return.

[danmckee]

Yea I agree Justin. They made it tough for us sellers. Though it looks like they may be trying to change that as I was hammered as a buyer this time and the dirty sellers have clean records and are able to continue to try and steal.

[Fred]

I mostly buy items on ebay, I haven't sold anything in a while. My feedback rating hasn't changed much for a while because as a buyer I refuse to leave feedback first because I feel as a buyer I met my obligation when I paid for the item (usually within 48 hours) If the seller leaves me a positive feedback then I reciprocate if the item is as described.

Dan, I'm blown away, but not surprised, by ebay's actions. I figure the feedback system is supposed expose the "bad" sellers but at the same time those greedy bastards want to collect as much in fees as possible. My guess is that they only "removed" the negs and neutral feedbacks you left but didn't prohibit you from buying and selling (so they can collect their fees).