Ebay has really sunk

General Discussion
1

I have been on EBay since 1998. You used to be able to trust the feedback system. Man, have things changed…

I bought something on ebay recently - The seller claimed it was a legit, official item, but it wasn’t IMHO. And, it seems that ebay is condoning it…

I posted a negative feedback over the issue. And, the seller had the feedback pulled by Ebay. It was gone within 24 hours.

Something like this invalidates the entire feedback system.

I sent a complaint to ebay over the issue, and I basically got the runaround in their reply that I received this morning.

The seller was initially super upset, and I explained why I made my feedback. His ad said that he doesn’t take returns. So, I felt my only course of action was to leave a negative review. He contacted me and complained.

And, then the very next morning, my feedback was gone.

No one from ebay ever contacted me before doing this, either…

How can someone have over 18,000 feedback, and NEVER have a negative review? Now I know how… Somehow he can have negative feedback pulled down on his own.

Anyone else have this experience?

2

This is the official “run-around” email from Ebay I received, in response to my message over the matter… (of them removing the negative feedback for no reason):

Thank you for contacting eBay Customer Service. My name is Judy and I received your concern regarding the item “XXXXXX" (the item I ordered). I acknowledge your time and effort in informing us that you want to know why the feedback was remove without contacting you. I see that the item you receive is a unusable and you have a valid feedback as you have shared your experience with this seller. It is my pleasure to give you an assistance today.

Before I start, I want to acknowledge and appreciate the fact that you have been patient and understanding from the time that this issue was raised up to this point. I know that your time is valuable and you only wanted what is right.

From a professional perspective, I truly recognize your situation at this point as feedback helps other buyers to make an informed decision before completing a sale and a chance to express what they think about the completed sale. Keep in mind that, though the removed feedback is not visible for other eBay members to see, we still have a record of it and we will always be able to refer to it if necessary.

We don’t want to lose any members because of this, so we’d like to let you know that eBay keeps track of every members activity from time to time. Rest assured that any violation we see on the sellers account will be dealt with right away.

If you believe that the seller brings a negative experience by violating our policies, you may have them formally reported instead. You can create your own report and provide us the details of your experience. You may submit the report using the link below:

https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/resolving-issues-sellers/report-issue-seller?id=4022

Once you submitted your report, an internal investigation will be made by our respective team. If we see that someone is abusing our platform in any type of way, then proper action will be taken accordingly. The sanction we are giving is not limited to just limiting the selling ability, sometimes, the result can be suspension or restriction of accounts. For future transactions below is a link in regards to our Feedback Policies.

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/feedback-policies/feedback-policies?id=4208

I trust that I have explained what happened on the case to the best of my knowledge. Thank you for choosing eBay as your online marketplace since 1998.

Kind Regards,

Judy Ann D.
eBay Customer Service

I did the formal report, but I don’t expect anything to change…

3

Username checks out. :smile:

2 Likes
4

Ebay has always policed negative reviews (dating back to the early 2000s when I was selling on the platform as a pawn shop employee).

The system is intended to eliminate feedback that is beyond the seller’s control (e.g. UPS loses/breaks a package) or that the seller disclosed (you can’t leave a negative for receiving a non-working record player if the seller listed the condition as “for parts & repair only”), or that are false (reviewer claims seller failed to respond to customer service inquiries, but ebay message history shows otherwise).

For certain items (e.g. high-dollar Nike shoes), ebay requires an authenticator process. If the product went through that process, then ebay has already certified the product as legit, and should remove such reviews for being false.

I have no idea if any of this is relevant to your specific transaction, just saying that the system has been this way for years, and it has legitimate purposes for seller protection.

5

Well, I have been having ear issues from wearing wired headphones too much. I have an old set of apple wired headphones that are like little discs that sit at the edge of the ear canal. But, they are getting old.

Apple still sells wired headphones, but they redesigned them. The newer design sits deeper in the ear. I want another pair of the old style.

This seller on Ebay was selling the old style. And all over the ad, he claims that they are legit OEM Apple headphones. I had my doubts up front, but I purchased a pair for $20. When I received them, the sound comes out in much higher frequencies. I can’t use them, because I get a headache in a few minutes.

When I switch back and forth between the new pair and my old pair - there is no way these are legit Apple headphones. Big difference in sound quality…

Anyway, my feedback revolved around the fact that they are unusable.

I’ve been on ebay for 25 years. I’ve read feedback and seen vendors sometimes have neg or neutral feedback. My feedback was the truth. And, I took a look through all of his feedback. It is true that ebay likes to just summarize the past 12 months. But, you can go back and look at ALL the feedback page by page.

This guy had over 18,000 positive feedback, and not even 1 negative review. As I said above - after what happened to me, I see why. He can get it pulled.

On another forum I am on, others have reported having the same issue on ebay with other vendors. Vendors getting legit feedback pulled, if it isn’t positive.

For me, in my opinion, this shows that Ebay feedback is useless now.

I can only remember leaving neg feedback a few times over the past 25 years, but I’ve never had it pulled before. Even if what you said is true, they should check with the person who left the feedback before automatically pulling it

6

Unrelated to your Ebay issue(s) but a friend stands by these headphones, which are more open, but supposedly reference quality. Personally, I find them quite uncomfortable on my physically big head (no jokes please) and prefer a set of a different design from HyperX but they’re fully enclosed and would probably make your issue worse. These open back ones my friend chooses are not so isolating, so someone else in the room can hear some sound leakage. Anyway, if you’ve not tried open back ones, maybe they may be helpful for your ears, and they’re fairly inexpensive to try.

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Unrelated to your Ebay issue(s) but a friend stands by these headphones, which are more open, but supposedly reference quality. Personally, I find them quite uncomfortable on my physically big head (no jokes please) and prefer a set of a different design from HyperX but they’re fully enclosed and would probably make your issue worse. These open back ones my friend chooses are not so isolating, so someone else in the room can hear some sound leakage. Anyway, if you’ve not tried open back ones, maybe they may be helpful for your ears, and they’re fairly inexpensive to try.

Thanks for the link…

Wearing the in-ear headphones so much gave me an ear infection recently (the ENT said that people who wear headphones or ear plugs a lot have an increased chance of an ear infection - I have a wife who snores, so I have to wear them all night). It was suggested that I wear over the ear headphones by the doctor… So, I thought I’d give that a shot…

I tried the exact AKG model that Leo wore all the time on the Tech Guy (AKG 240). But, I just sent them back to Amazon. Music did not sound good at all thru them. Very flat sound. They were “studio” headphones as well. I think any studio reference headphones may have a lack of bass, from what I read… And, they did get rather hot, especially when walking outside…

The other problem was that the wire jack was too large to fit thru the phone case hole. I did buy a set of adapters to fit the phone case hole, but the extension wire is super stiff. And, there is static if they move at all (I walk a lot for exercise, and listen to music). So, I sent them back last weekend.

Today, I got in a pair of Panasonic headphones. They look like the style of headphones that came with the old style cassette Walkman players. They sound great, and were only $10 on Amazon. Guess what - the jack is ALSO too big to fit thru the phone case hole, despite the claim that they work great with MP3 players and other devices. So, I am back in the same boat.

Those Samson’s look like they are nice, but I will have the same issue with the phone jack, undoubtedly.

I really don’t know what I am going to do. I don’t want to do wireless headphones.

The old style Apple headphones barely fit in the ear, so they work. But, they are no longer made (and I lost $20 on that ebay pair, and then had the feedback removed). And, the wired earbuds I have used for years are great - but they sit too deep in the ear. I don’t want to get another ear infection…

8

welllllllll…kinda got OT here…
regarding ebay…I stopped selling on ebay about 15 years ago and started my own website. Its so much better. Easier to manage, and ebay;s fee’s are now up to 15% or more. (i guess more, but i havent been there to pay attention. ) My website fee’s are about .8% .
Also I found that the ppl who are least knowledgeable about what they are buying, and the biggest PITA are on ebay. (present company excepted)

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