Marketplace
Howdy folks!
I'm hoping you might be able to offer your collective wisdom and insight into a recent eBay situation I've encountered.
I recently sold an item to a US buyer who, when paying, asked me to state a lower value on the customs declaration. I get that he wanted to minimise his customs/import taxes to save himself a few dollars. I thanked him for paying promptly but politely informed him that I wouldn't submit a false declaration. Moral/ethical reasons aside, it wouldn't make a lot of sense for me to do that if he turned out to be a scammer and claimed that he never received the item. I'd then have to repay him the full cost of the item, even though the insurance cover would only be for the declared value (and if I didn't use insurance, I'd be out of pocket for the full value completely). I ended up paying for the insurance myself just to be on the safe side, and I didn't mind doing that, given the value of the item ($250).
Anyway, he didn't respond to my message but that's fine. Most buyers don't respond after I've told them I'll be posting the item they've bought shortly, which I did, the next day after receiving payment.
Well, he received the item after a couple of weeks and duly left me negative feedback - the first such feedback I've received in fifteen years of being on eBay. His only comments were that the item had the worst packaging he'd ever seen. Here's the thing: the item was sent in its original packaging which I then posted in a padded envelope, sealed and stapled, which was more than adequate for the item. Had I posted it in a bigger box, his postage costs would've been higher too so I was trying to keep the costs low.
After seeing the feedback, I actually got in touch with eBay and was encouraged to submit a request for the feedback to be removed. Incredibly, they responded within a day….but basically told me to suck it. They claimed that the feedback, whilst being disappointing to me, is a buyer's way of expressing their views on their buying experience…blah blah blah…and that they wouldn't remove it. There's nothing constructive in the feedback, the item wasn't damaged (as far as I'm aware, otherwise he would've surely raised a claim) and the item was sent in suitable packaging - its original case, in a bubble wrapped envelope, as I said. I communicated clearly with the buyer. And even with Covid affecting deliveries globally, the buyer received the item quickly. All that was apparently worth nothing to this individual.
Do you think the buyer has intentionally provided negative feedback as retaliation for me not complying with his request for me to falsify the customs declaration?
Has anyone else experienced anything like this? If so, how would you go about resolving it or what have you done previously?
This just reeks of petty, childish payback or retaliation from the buyer because they didn't get their own way (and probably had to pay more for the item than they would've liked, due to the customs/import tax).
I look forward to your responses. Thanks!
As a buyer I'm not going to be put off too much by one negative review out of many. The only thing you can do to 'win' this situation is to forget about it and to go back to your life without stressing about it.