Question
Earlier this week I got a negative feedback from someone who either lied in an email to me or in the feedback she left about 30 minutes later. She sent an email saying that she had gotten an item from me and then left a negative feedback saying that she had not gotten the item. It needs to be noted that there has not been a dispute of any type filed so I honestly believe that she got her item. I was able to wait several hours and leave a response to the feedback that was not "angry" although I am still so ticked off that I can scarcely see straight.
Well, just a few minutes ago someone else left me a negative feedback from a sale in Novemeber saying that I don't respond to emails and that I need to stick to my cats and needlepoint. I sent a message asking what the feedback was about because I do respond to emails and I check my spam filters faithfully for emails. Well, the response back was that I have not responded to emails and that I have the manners of a chimp. I have asked for copies of the emails I supposedly did not respond to and there does not seem to be any issue of whether or not the person received their carpet sweeper or not so I am rather taken aback.
I have not had a negative feedback in over 2 years until the past few days. I can also say that I have honestly only gotten one deserved negative feedback...there were mitigating circumstances...like I had been outbid, someone cancelled their bid making me the high bidder again but I did not know it and I ended up in the hospital for a month and the email account that it was on did not get checked because there was no reason that I knew of to have someone check it. So, I did earn that feedback although it wasn't in the usual way one gets negative feedback.
That being said...this person who left this feedback out and out lied and was just plain nasty. They do not seem to have a history of doing this. I am really aghast.
Should I just ignore their tacky comments, make some kind of response and if I do respond what in the world should I say. I am literally ill about this situation...I have worked really hard to build up my eBay business and maintain good feedback. That has included being polite to some of the most common human beings on the face of the planet.
I want to have a conniption...I want to write hateful things to this jacka** but that would just bring me down to their level and I will not do that...I want to, but I won't do it.
Now, I realize that I am overly sensitive but gosh...my feelings are hurt and it looks bad on my feedback record.
Suggestions would be appreciated...my user id is: sagemoon-cottage
I am simply crushed.
Ardee-ann
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Ardee-ann,
Obviously, Santa was was a disappointment to both of them this year, and their feedback towards you shows it. If you can emotionally remove yourself from the situation (pretend SageMoon is your employer - not you), email each of them (especially the "I got it" - "no I didn't" buyer) and find out if they perhaps mixed you up with another seller. If so, see if you can engage either or both of them into having the feedback mutually removed.
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I'm so sorry.
Have you tried doing the mutual feedback removal thing for the first negative? She appears to be a newbie, and perhaps was a little trigger-happy or was confused with another transaction. I'd also send an e-mail along with the mutual feedback removal thing to let her know that, if there's a problem, you'll be glad to correct it had you known about it (etc. etc.) Do you have a delivery confirmation number that could prove delivery?
The latest feedback comment has me scratching my head!
Well, the response back was that I have not responded to emails and that I have the manners of a chimp.
How would s/he know that you "have the manners of a chimp" (which you don't!) if you "didn't respond to e-mails"? I'm not sure what to tell ya on that one.
These days I prefer to leave feedback after the buyer has left it first and I know they're happy. Some bidders are more likely to work with you about a problem (real or perceived!) rather than hastily pull the neg trigger ... and risk a neg in return.
Answer
Thank you for your input...some of it I have been researching (mutual withdrawal), some I have done (written the first person who left the negative with copy of the email about receiving package...no repsonse...she has been a difficult customer since I wrote to advise her that her package had shipped ) and I have written second person asking them to please send me copies of emails that I supposedly did not respond to...this was after the "chimp" remark and they haven't written back.
I do not see either of these folks as deciding to be reasonable and I am still simply aghast. I am just trying to decide if I want to do the mutual withdrawal...since they both have positive feedbacks from me I doubt that they will be responsive to such a thing.
Lisa, I understand the not giving feedback until feedback has already been left. I used to follow that policy but I really like it when someone acknowledges my speedy payment and quick communication so I have tried to do this with my customers. Until the past week it has worked very well for me.
Kathleen, I am trying to follow your advice and look at SageMoon Cottage as my employer but as I am sure you can relate...I put my heart and soul into everything I do. No, I don't make beautiful handcrafted items but I do go out of my way to write notes to my customers...keep them abreast of shipping schedules and etc. I take my work on eBay very seriously and while I was not suprised by the first negative the second one has really thrown me for a loop as I am totally clueless about what their "beef" is. I know what they say the issue is but I keep copies of everything and I have responded to every email I have gotten. Their item arrived in a timely manner...I just don't get it. If they were tacky on a regular basis I might understand it better but they aren't so I am "bumfuzzled."
Again, I appreciate your input. I am just going to try to put this aside and continue working to build my eBay business. I did go through and read all the positive feedback notes I have gotten lately that weren't just "canned" responses and that helped some. So, I just need to get over myself and realize that there are tacky people in this world and that they will cross my path more often than I would like for them to. Maybe in my next 50 years I will develop a "tougher hide"...maybe...I can hope!!! I won't hold my breath though.
Thanks and hugs,
Ardee-ann
Answer
Originally Posted by sagemoon-cottage
...Again, I appreciate your input. I am just going to try to put this aside and continue working to build my eBay business. I did go through and read all the positive feedback notes I have gotten lately that weren't just "canned" responses and that helped some. So, I just need to get over myself and realize that <b>there are tacky people in this world and that they will cross my path</b> more often than I would like for them to. Maybe in my next 50 years I will develop a "tougher hide"...maybe...I can hope!!! I won't hold my breath though...
aa -- sorry this is happening to you... see? you already worked through to the answer... trust your instincts on this one, too... although having perfect or near perfect feedback is great, you are working with people and it is a fact they really aren't very predictable or controllable... but you knew that, too! Probably one of them tripped over their cat yesterday, chipped their nail polish, and it is now your fault! BTW, the girls look so cute with their Asian Raggedy Anns! -gw4m-
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buyer has left 82 positives and only one negative , something set him off
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Reading through this thread I'm wondering if either or both of these buyers made mistakes and confused you with another seller they were dealing with this past month...but are too embarrassed to admit it to you.
If that's the case, you probably won't hear anything from them in response to your most recent message.
If it were me I think I'd wait a few more days and then attempt the mutual withdrawal and state that it was a misunderstanding... I can't think of a reason that this would hurt anything and it might allow them to 'save face'
Good luck with this!
Elaine
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There is always a chance the buyer is mistaking you for someone else. I've seen that happen, after they neg the seller for something else the buyer bought.
Did the buyer actually call you names in the negative feedback? There are some limits as to what eBay will permit before they remove the feedback themselves, without contacting the buyer, if you notify customer support.
Can we presume you banned the ID? Like you need more of her retaliatory commentary.
eMail servers are a cranky lot. People who presume that these servers are perfect and never loose emails are foolish. ISPs take servers down for maintenance, they do changes, and they loose messages. To presume the recipient saw whatever was sent is uneducated. There are too many variables.
Filters, firewalls, email server differences in formats, client differences in formats, server outages, lost traffic between the hand-offs, etc...
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Sagemoon, I'm so sorry to hear about this. I'm dreading the day I will eventually get negative feedback, so I feel for you, particularly since it wasn't deserved.
I don't think you can mutually withdraw feedback when you've already given positive feedback to the buyer. Maybe the first buyer will be willing if they mistook you for another seller, the second sounds positively awful and I wouldn't even bother responding to them. I second the advice to contact the first buyer and say, heh, was there some mistake? As for the second buyer, I don't know whether they had a bad day, went off their meds, or just have gone cuckoo on you, but I wouldn't respond to them any further. I doubt the exchange would make you any happier, and it sounds like they are the one with the bad manners.
My recommendations for dealing with the current situation is as follows: try to work it out with the first buyer, ignore the second. Promptly ban the second buyer from purchasing your items. The last thing you need is to give them an opportunity to hurt your reputation on Ebay any further, I don't care how much they've bought from you in the past. Future reputation and future sales matter more than what's occurred in the past. Are they a potential or actual competitor on Ebay? Might they be hoping to hurt your reputation and thereby accrue sales to themselves? If they are really vindictive, they could purchase a bunch of small items from you for the malicious pleasure of dinging you again and again and again. Ban them from buying from you, right now, without delay.
Second, while I understand how you like and prefer to give a good evaluation up front, sometimes even when the buyer is difficult and perhaps doesn't deserve it, I think you're going to have to abandon that policy right away. When I was a buyer, I didn't understand why even though I paid promptly and caused no problems, I didn't get a positive rating until after I had rated the merchant. Now, as a seller, I understand why. Its the only means of protecting yourself, holding some slight leverage over the seller, to keep them from giving a bad rating lightly. Even then, its much easier for them as a buyer to just set up a new user ID and start fresh, whereas for sellers, its very important for us to have a high feedback number, and a very good feedback percentage to make people more comfortable buying from us.
My other recommendation is somewhere on your about me page or your store home page, you address the recent negative feedback generally speaking, since you can't do it through the feedback mechanism. Say you want to be up front with your customers, you received one or two negative ratings lately, and you want to let them know they were unwarranted. (I wouldn't address the first problem unless and until its clear you can't work out a mutual withdrawal with the first buyer) Say the first buyer sent you an email saying they have received the merchandise, and your policy is always to respond to emails promptly, and you've asked the second person to forward the emails you haven't responded to, and have received no further response. Say Person No. 2 has purchased X number of items from me over the past Y years, all with positive ratings, I think that says a great deal more than one bad eval.
Be very matter of fact, up front, and I think that could well mitigate any damage you're afraid of.
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pull the contact info and call them.