Thread: Leave negative feedback?

Originally Posted by PR357

I recently bought a razor on eBay, a no name brand that looked decent enough for a resto candidate. Had a BIN of $17.99, bought it, paid for it, checked today and the seller has canceled the order and refunded my Paypal. Seller sent a message apologizing and also said they just can't sell it for that cheap.

Im not out anything, but am pretty disappointed.

I feel that I should leave a negative feedback for there BS. Sellers remorse.

If a leave a negative feedback, will it affect mine in anyway?

I've had 100% feedback since 2002 and do anything within reason to keep it. I have followed through on purchases that I wished on second thought I hadn't made. I have asked to back out of a few but will buy if the seller insists. When I like an item I leave positive feedback. If I'm disappointed I leave no feedback rather than negative feedback. Maybe a private message but no public criticism.

What I have learned about ebay is that many sellers know nothing about what they're selling. They have no use for it and they just want to move it. There are some rip-offs, but I believe most of them are unintentional. Perhaps a high price is based on what he paid for it.

A guess of what I think happened to you is that he put an item up for sale and a spouse or friend have given him a lot of grief over it and he relented to shut them up. You're within your rights to report it to ebay and try to hold him to the bargain but I'm not sure I'd want something grudgingly surrendered. He might give you a damaged item as a form of revenge. And his life may not be peaceful for a while because of the grief his family or friend will give him.

Some sellers are embittered and feel worn down. One was selling a nice razor for $35 or Make Offer. I asked him how low he'd go and he said $30. He added that he paid $40 for it, and was incurring fees to keep it listed. I gave him $35. We each lost $5 on the deal but $35 for a nice vintage shaver is a great deal as far as I'm concerned.

I give and take to get along and hope the other party does the same.

Ask him how much he wants for the razor and decide if it is worth a modest increase. There have been a couple of occasions I have made a counter offer or offered to pick up his PayPal fees which in this case might be a dollar or less.

The machinery works better at ebay when parties reach out to one another.

I will say that I too have had a very similar issue with some sellers, not razor related. I stayed up late to ensure I won a gift, paid for it right away and then sacked out. Woke up to a seller refunding my money saying that the vehicle the items were in was broken into and stolen, they even offered to send me a copy of a police report. So I agreed to the refund, bid and purchased a different item from a different seller. Like others above I waited and watched and about 3 days later the seller posted up the exact same item but doubled the price and set a high reserve. I contacted eBay directly and was told by them to leave them negative feedback also they were flagged by eBay for their actions. So I would absolutely contact eBay directly, if you have the item numbers it helps.

I know I'm going to sound like a jerk in this situation, but when sellers have told me stuff like that, I've demanded that they prove it. (I would've taken the police report - of course there wouldn't have been one, but if there was one, I'd have called the police station that issued it, too, to make sure it was genuine and tell them I suspected a fraudulent seller. They wouldn't mind).

Interesting Thread and really interesting the varied opinions and responses.

My Buyer experiences on eBay have all been positive and the ine and only time I thought I'd been had it turned out the Pic clearly showed the damage and I learned that I should NEVER Bid without my glasses on!!

There are times when you should make sure to maximize communication and, ultimately, it comes down to "feel"... Whether spoken or written, there is a ".. ring of truth.." to language... I pay attention to that more than anything else and then I follow through from there.

This is a tough call... You aren't out anything more than inconvenience and there is at least some chance the information you got was valid. Like someone else said, the most common Seller on eBay is the one that doesn't know what they are doing or what they are selling as they just downloaded the App, clicked some pics and poo-poo'd a description. Taking all that into consideration I think I'd just let it go if the ifno I got back from the Seller sounded even halfway truthful.

Giving them a chance to learn from experience and become a better member of eBay works to a positive moreso than both parties having a negative experience and thus nothing changes on eBay.

Interested in what you ultimately chose to do...

Ebay is the world largest garage sale, flea market, fire sale, a knock off heaven, an a picked over home eviction. Ebay is just there to collect table fees. Period end. If someone gets negative feedback Ebay doesnt care they up the table fee at the swap meet. Seller does not cares until it effects there bottom line and then they open shop under another name. There is the whole gambit The Good The Bad, The Ugly and The Evil. Negative feedback is the placebo effect to let the buyer vent. Time to pay your table fee now sellers. And whats old is new again, step right up, lets make a deal.

A seller cannot leave a buyer a negative feedback!