Can you leave bad feedback for an ebay buyer, even if you click positive,,,

[RichardSimon]

I had a reneger on a recent item for $91.
He ignored two e mail invoices from me and one from ebay and kept accumulating positive feedback on other transactions while I waited to get paid.
Can you leave a negative comment on someone like this even though you do not have an option to click negative?
Has anyone here done that and not gotten an ebay slap?

[bobbyw8469]

I have had multiple people do that from me. They don't pay, yet continue to pay other people. All you can do is file an unpaid bidder strike. If a buyer collects too many of those, his ability to bid gets hampered by sellers who restrict buyers with too many strikes. Eventually, if he gets enough of them, Ebay gives them the boot.

[vthobby]

Richard,

As a seller, you CANNOT leave negative feedback in the literal sense but you can leave a Positive Feedback with a negative comment.

I have avoided this as it quite frankly looks weird.

The fact that sellers can't leave negatives is just another Ebay "Buyer" protection as you will.

You obviously can apply for your refund on the seller fees and block him/her from bidding on your items in the future (both of which I use every time there is a non payer). It will save you headaches down the road.

Peace, Mike

[vintagetoppsguy]

Originally Posted by RichardSimon

Can you leave a negative comment on someone like this even though you do not have an option to click negative?
Has anyone here done that and not gotten an ebay slap?

I think you can, but I've also heard of buyers having them removed.

Not much you can do other than file a NPB and move on.

[RichardSimon]

Originally Posted by vtgmsc

Richard,

As a seller, you CANNOT leave negative feedback in the literal sense but you can leave a Positive Feedback with a negative comment.

I have avoided this as it quite frankly looks weird.

The fact that sellers can't leave negatives is just another Ebay "Buyer" protection as you will.

You obviously can apply for your refund on the seller fees and block him/her from bidding on your items in the future (both of which I use every time there is a non payer). It will save you headaches down the road.

Peace, Mike

I agree with you in that it looks weird. I will get my refund and will give him a strike. It really is not fair, not allowing sellers to leave a negative. What was ebay's reasoning for that ?

[polakoff]

I do this frequently. The one thing I do is type something like "HORRIBLE" or "AWFUL" or "BEWARE" in all caps. I do frequently check buyers' feedback when they make me an offer, and sometimes have seen other sellers do the same thing. The caps catch my eye, since I can't look for an actual negative feedback.

Be sure to do this BEFORE closing your unpaid item case. After the case is closed you can no longer leave feedback. I usually open the case, wait the appropriate time, and when it's time to close the case, I leave feedback and then immediately close the case so they cannot leave any kind of retaliatory feedback, or pay just to spite me.

[Rollingstone206]

...

[vthobby]

Originally Posted by RichardSimon

I agree with you in that it looks weird. I will get my refund and will give him a strike. It really is not fair, not allowing sellers to leave a negative. What was ebay's reasoning for that ?

Richard,

I have bought and sold on Ebay for 14 years now and they have progressively gotten worse towards sellers. Of course there are some VERY bad ones out there that spoil it for the good ones but their reasoning as far as I can surmise is to always favor the buyer. In this way, they look favorably towards buyers and act in favor of them which in turn churns the beast.

I look at it from mostly a seller side where the buyers need sellers right?

Ebay just does not care and their reasoning as far as I'm concerned is flawed.

I am recently having better luck pushing items to some of the larger consignors. I pay them a very minimal fee above what it would cost me anyway and they deal with all of the hassles! Win win!

Someone above mentioned there is a way to actually leave a real negative feedback as a seller but it is simply not true. As discussed, you can leave a Positive with negative comments but like we both agree, it looks a bit strange.


Peace, Mike

[polakoff]

Originally Posted by Rollingstone206

Leaving negative comments in positive feedback is against Ebay policy and you can have it removed if reported. In addition the person violating policy can be suspended.

Could you please show me where in the rules it is a violation? I've looked at length over the years and never found anything. I have seen people saying that it is a policy breach, but have never actually found the policy it breaches.

[vthobby]

Originally Posted by polakoff

Could you please show me where in the rules it is a violation? I've looked at length over the years and never found anything. I have seen people saying that it is a policy breach, but have never actually found the policy it breaches.

Click on the "help & contact" link at the top of any page then in the search field type:
"leaving negative remarks in positive feedback policy violation"

Then click on "our rules" link. They (Ebay) are wishy washy on this (big surprise) but if a buyer even thinks they were wronged in a feedback then all they need to do is click on the complaint button to big brother. Guess which side they will take?

Mike

[polakoff]

Yes, but it's not concrete and so I think they'd have no ground to stand on for a suspension (though I've heard of it supposedly happening before)

[thetruthisoutthere]

I once left "Negative" Positive Feedback and not only did Ebay remove my "Negative" comment, they emailed a warning to me.

[Cozumeleno]

Originally Posted by RichardSimon

I agree with you in that it looks weird. I will get my refund and will give him a strike. It really is not fair, not allowing sellers to leave a negative. What was ebay's reasoning for that ?

eBay's reasoning, from what I have gathered over the years in talking with their people, is to discourage retaliatory feedback. Before, if a buyer left a negative feedback mark against a seller, the seller would often retaliate against the buyer and leave them a negative as well.

eBay pretty much has decided that if a buyer pays for an item, they are not in any way, in the wrong. Even if they refused to read an item's description and are completely unreasonable, as long as they paid for the item, they are golden.

The problem is that there is no way to tell if a buyer has a reputation of not paying for items since a seller cannot record feedback against them. You cannot see if a person has a history of not paying for items. The best eBay will do is, as others have pointed out, block them from bidding.

It's also worth pointing out that eBay's bidder restriction settings are an absolute joke. You CAN set bidder restrictions, but can only block someone with negative feedback - they literally need to have at least a -1 for you to block them. And, of course, since buyers cannot receive negative feedback, the only people that would have a negative is someone who was a seller and received one. You cannot even set a restriction to stop people with a zero rating from bidding. Your only alternative is to block specific bidders...which you would only know about after having a bad experience, of course.

But no, the system's not flawed at all. Not one bit.

[thenavarro]

Originally Posted by polakoff

Yes, but it's not concrete and so I think they'd have no ground to stand on for a suspension (though I've heard of it supposedly happening before)

Unfortunately, they don't need a ground to stand on. It's their show and they know it and they'll choose to interpret and enforce/not enforce things on their own whims. Sellers don't have leverage or enough chutzpah to effectively do anything about it.

Mike