Negative reviews are simply deleted? What did I do wrong?
Summary: A participant shared their frustration about eBay's rating system, describing a situation where they bought an item that never arrived and received a refund only after reporting the issue to eBay. They expressed dissatisfaction when their negative review was removed without their consent, questioning the reliability of seller ratings if negative feedback is easily erased. Another participant speculated that mentioning eBay in the review might have led to its removal. A response from Nina confirmed that referencing the involvement of eBay violated their guidelines, leading to the deletion of the review.
I don’t really get eBay’s rating system anymore:
I bought an item from a seller that never arrived. Only after I reported the case to eBay after 10 days did I get my money back. After that, I rated the seller negatively, because it annoyed me that I had waited for days: "Item never arrived, after involving eBay I got my money back"
Now my negative review has suddenly disappeared – and apparently several other negative reviews from buyers who had the same problem with the same seller have disappeared too.
How can that be? If factually justified negative reviews are simply removed after a refund, what value does a seller’s rating score even have anymore?
Here’s the correspondence I had with the commercial seller. The consequence: he’ll lower the price for me if I rate him better. That can’t be right, eBay!
I didn’t give permission for anything, and I wasn’t informed about the removal either. At the moment I trust eBay ratings zero if everything can be revoked so easily like that.
Seller:
Hello, I absolutely do not agree with your rating and would ask you to remove it. You did not get the money back through eBay, but through my refund, which I gave you as a gesture of goodwill. The package got lost or can no longer be found. I would ask you to remove the rating, as it is very damaging to my reputation.
Me:
hey, what rating would you be okay with then? I ordered 10 days ago and then saw that the item never left your place. what does this have to do with goodwill? and on the refund it says “eBay” as the sender. if the item was lost (according to tracking, obviously with you and not with dhl) I would have expected some info from you. at the latest when the refund message came through (it also says there that “eBay has initiated this”) you’d say “sorry, the item got lost,” wouldn’t you? now you’re acting as if the refund was a concession on your part (goodwill)? in the end I only had hassle with the order from you; how would you have rated it?
Seller:
Iunderstand your point but please understand mine. I am not expecting a positive or neutral rating. I would simply be happy if you would give me permission to remove the rating. You’re welcome to buy something from my shop and I’d then give you a better price again.
nina@ebay
·2 weeks ago@nicotwo Hey. 🙂 The review was removed because of a policy violation. As @bootyooty had already correctly suspected, mentioning turning on eBay or anything similar is not allowed.
@bootyooty Thanks a lot for flagging it. 💖
Best regards,
Nina
nicotwo
OP2 weeks agoHi Nina,
thanks for the specific information. At least that explains why my review was removed.
As a concrete rule, it’s not actually found like that in the publicly visible eBay guidelines either, even with the help of AI (of course I don’t know them in full), but now I’m at least wiser.
This seller went from around 80% positive reviews back up to nearly 100% in the shortest time, after several negative reviews disappeared.
I don’t really want to discuss here whether that’s in the spirit of a transparent and authentic rating system. I’ve already formed my own opinion on that.
Thanks for the clarification.
bootyooty
·2 weeks ago"Item never arrived, after involving eBay I got my money back"
I think it’s because you mentioned eBay; reviews have already been deleted before where there were references to PP or eBay.
But to be honest, probably no one can actually tell you for sure, can they @nina@ebay ? 😘
perfect-sally
·2 weeks agoWell, if you look at the ratings you've left, the "red thread" runs through all your ratings.
And the very first negative one from you violates principles and is simply deleted at the sellers' request.
So much for "factually justified negative ratings"!
And if the seller actually refunded on their own and it can be proven that the package was lost, then it's deleted!
nicotwo
OP2 weeks agoUnfortunately, that is not the situation.
The package was not "provably lost." According to DHL tracking, the shipment was merely "electronically announced." That does not mean that DHL received or transported the package. As far as I know, there is no proof of posting or handover.
The refund was also only issued after I reported the non-receipt to eBay.
Whether you like my other ratings or not is actually irrelevant for this specific case. The key question remains: Why is a negative rating removed when the goods were not delivered and the seller cannot provide proof that the shipment was ever handed over to DHL?
perfect-sally
·2 weeks agoThe seller doesn’t have to prove anything to you, but to eBay. And if he has done that, then the rating is removed.
And whether I like the ratings or not is of course irrelevant to eBay, but if they violate the guidelines they get deleted. And you can see that right away with the first negative one you come across.
Unfortunately, the seller apparently didn’t contest it, because otherwise it would be gone too.
And if you report non-receipt, eBay still hasn’t been brought into it. That only happens once the resolution period has been exceeded and the seller hasn’t responded. So eBay probably didn’t even have to step in and the rating is gone.
eBay doesn’t delete things on a whim; there must have been a valid reason!
nicotwo
OP2 weeks ago · EditedThen we’re apparently talking past each other a bit.
I’m not claiming that eBay deletes feedback “on a whim.” That’s exactly why I’m asking here on what basis this particular feedback was removed.
The actual sequence of events was: item bought and paid for, item not received, DHL status only “electronically announced,” so no proof visible to me that it was handed over to DHL. Only after I reported non-receipt was the purchase price refunded.
Whether eBay was formally “involved” or the seller refunded during the amicable resolution period doesn’t change my actual buying experience.
And that’s exactly my point: if such a negative experience is no longer allowed to appear in the feedback profile after the refund, future buyers are, in my view, left with an incomplete picture. Especially when several buyers were affected by the same problem and the corresponding feedback also disappears.
If you know which specific feedback guideline my review is supposed to have violated, feel free to name it. That’s exactly what I’m asking about.
PS
And I do find the seller’s message quite noteworthy in this context: first he asks me for permission to remove my negative feedback, and then he offers me a better price for another purchase.
nicotwo
OP2 weeks agoAnd which of the ratings I gave are you actually referring to the whole time?
I gave my last rating before this incident in 2014. Is that the “red thread” you describe, which supposedly runs through my ratings? Seriously?
And above all: What does that have to do with the incident described here?
I get the impression that you are now more interested in confrontation than in addressing my actual question. I paid for an item, did not receive it, and reported non-receipt after 10 days. That is exactly the experience I rated.
perfect-sally
·2 weeks agoI paid for an item, didn’t receive it, and reported non-receipt after 10 days. That’s exactly the experience I reviewed.
And apparently that wasn’t in line with eBay rules, otherwise this review wouldn’t have been deleted.
And when a review was written doesn’t matter here either; it’s an example of why a review violates the guidelines! And that was exactly the question in the title!
nicotwo
OP2 weeks agoAnd yet, when you talk about a “red thread through all my reviews,” it obviously matters what you’re basing that claim on. That’s why I asked for clarification. I still don’t see what any other review from 2014 is supposed to have to do with this incident.