Hello all,



I'm relatively new to E-Bay trading and just wanting to poll some opinions on a problem I'm having with a seller.



I have recently found out that a seller (who shall remain nameless) I am currently dealing with has posted negative feedback to my account.  I am feeling a bit bent out of shape given the feedback left which was basically: no payment a month after the auction ended, and does not respond to e-mail.  My first question is since when did we adopt a three week month?  My second is how does one send responses to an e-mail account that is non-functioning?  I sent this person eight messages stating that payment was en route (which it was), which were all returned as "undeliverable".  I finally had to track this person down through E-Bay and contact them through the E-Bay mail delivery system to explain the situation - to which I am still awaiting response - by which time I had received negative feedback.  What really burns me is that the e-mail I did not respond to consisted of one message asking if payment was sent.  Two days later, while I was still trying to find a way to contact this person, I was nailed with negative feedback without any further notice.



At this point, I feel a little torn.  One part of me wants to just shrug the situation off leave neutral feedback and make sure I remain extra careful about who I deal with in the future.  On the other hand, I can't help but feel screwed over - which causes the evil voice in my head to suggest I retaliate with some negative feedback of my own to screw them back.  Of course the longer I have to wait for an acknowledgement to my message after having to track them down, the more the latter course appeals to me.  If I don't get the stuff I paid for I definitely will go with that feeling, but for now I'm trying to hold off and see what happens.  



What would you folks do in my position?



Thanks in advance,



The Egg

Dont leave the seller nameless.  Maybe someone here knows more information about him/her.  

Second, try contacting the seller through the ebay button "contact seller".  I have had emails bounce when I used the reply address but went through when I used "contact seller" for some reason.

Also as Sotterraneo said, reply with a negative so when and if the matter is resolved you can mutually withdrawl them.

muaddib5 wrote:

Terminal_Frost wrote:Also as Sotterraneo said, reply with a negative so when and if the matter is resolved you can mutually withdrawl them.

I thought that once feedback was given, it couldn't be changed.  Except in the rare case that it fell under one of eBay's quailfiers (profanity, etc..)?

I know you can reply to feedback given to you but didn't realize it could be withdrawn.

Yep, you can.  I dont know when they started it but just go through game emporiums feedbacks.  As bad as it is already, it would be much worse if a lot of them werent mutually withdrawn (it lists it as such).

I guess thats why he leaves negative feedback for those who do it to him.

Man.. Was it Vintagetul?  Sounds almost exactly like my experience with them in my attempt to by Dragon#1... except they were responding to my emails just not acknowledging payment.

My theory is on these things is either:

-Dumb seller

-Or, they are disappointed in their auction and decide 'offense is the best defense' and try to say you didn't pay on time because they feel they can sell it through other channels for more. (I think this is what happened to me).

What did I do... nothing... other than threaten Negatives (I also commented on theirs).

I SHOULD Negabomb them but haven't yet.  I have a case... for sure... but at the end of the day, it's just not worth my time to worry about it.

I've got something like 170 rating which is enough for most sane people to see that I am a decent enough guy.  I've got 2 negatives in my history.  Both undeservd (one retracted a long,long time ago before they had the 'removal' feature and this latest one)

I wouldn't worry about it, unless you only have a few points of rating.  If that's the case, just buy 10-20 cheap things you want and pay on time and hassle the seller for positives.. or sell a few things us here might like and we'll pump you up in no time.

I predict the downfall of Ebay in a few years unless they really spend some time with their developers and fix the feedback system and better patrol what's being transacted on their service.  I think about how to replace them EVERY DAY.  If I come up with the idea, I'll let you guys know.

Hello again,

My sincere thanks to everyone who took time out to reply to my query.

Update: I have responded to the feedback left for me and decided to reciprocate with some negative feedback of my own.  The seller has also contacted me - with no mention of my response - and informed me that they have relisted the item in question.  So, my next move is to suggest a mutual withdrawal of the negative feedback pending either the arrival of the item I initially won at my door, or the return of the MO I sent.

Man, all this hassle over $20 . . .

Will keep everyone posted.  Thanks again.

The Egg

Coot,
  Since you posted this thread and are asking for opinions, allow me to take a slightly different look at this.  I checked out the auction you are referring to (you purchased from me before - so I knew your eBay id).  

I do agree that the seller jumped the gun on leaving negative feedback - they have 90 days to leave it, so it is best to be absolutely certain before doing so.  The lack of email communication complicated the situation further.  However, as you stated, it is 3 weeks later and your payment hasn't arrived.  Three weeks is simply too long to get payment to a seller (and yours still wasn't there yet).  This seller also explicitly states that payment is due within 10 days.  Sure, the seller could have been more patient, but they certainly don't have to be - they gave you more than double the alloted time to get the payment to them.  

The email complicates things. . . but why did you wait so long to mail out payment to begin with?  Unless you cleared it with the seller first, there are few reasons that are satisfactory.  Also, the seller states that they ship to the United States only and I think you are in Canada. . . did you clear that with the seller first?

I don't say these things to be overly critical, however, if you are new to eBay this advice will help you in the future.  If it takes three weeks or longer for your payment to arrive, then you will undoubtedly receive more negatives in the future (especially if they say "within 10 days").

The email is a problem, but you can always go through eBay system to try and get a message out.