why does eBay delete negative feedback even though it complies with the guidelines?
Summary: blinkbit expressed confusion about why a negative review was deleted by an online platform, despite it reportedly adhering to the platform's guidelines. steffi@ebay responded, offering to look into the issue and requested further details, such as an order number, to assist with the investigation.
Why does ebay delete a negative review even though it complies with the guidelines?
What happened:
I received a defective item from the seller.
After several answered follow-up questions from the seller and sending a video, a replacement delivery was promised. However, this was not carried out and an inquiry regarding the tracking number was not answered.
I then gave the seller a negative review with the reason stated.
However, this review does not appear for the seller, why?
steffi@ebay
Hello @blinkbit, I would have liked to look at the removed review to better understand the reason for the deletion. Unfortunately, however, I couldn't find any return, case, or similar information about this purchase. So it would be great if you could send me the item number once 📦🔍 Then I can take a closer look at the process and better understand why the review may have been removed.
Thank you very much 🌻
blinkbit
OP2 months ago · Edited...
blinkbit
OP2 months agoHello Steffi,
there is an item number after all; I had only seen the order number at first, sorry.
Item number: 306660473009
best, blinkbit
oskar_der_wikinger
·2 months agohttps://www.ebay.de/itm/306660473009
Warm welcome from China, I had suspected that from the very beginning.
@Steffi @eBay
please take over. 😉
steffi@ebay
Hello @blinkbit, I was able to look at the removed review. It was removed because the content refers to transport damage or damage to the item during shipping 📦. For damage attributable to the shipping process, theseller generally cannot be held responsible, which is why such reviews can be removed under certain conditions.
In addition, I could not find any return, any eBay case, or any other escalation for this purchase.
Have you maybe not reported or escalated the problem via eBay at all yet?
blinkbit
OP2 months agoHello Steffi ,
thank you for your efforts.
The statement that this is a transport damage claim is, in my opinion, a mere pretext to avoid negative reviews.
The packaging showed no damage whatsoever.
As can be seen from the email correspondence, there were first many follow-up questions, then a video was requested and finally a replacement delivery was promised. They even asked whether the delivery should go to the original address. All of this does not fit with transport damage. When I still had not received a delivery after a long time, I was assured that it had been sent. My follow-up question about a tracking number was then no longer answered.
To me, the whole thing looks like a tactic of brushing it off without replacement and with a negative review.
Too bad, that really doesn't make eBay much fun.
Best regards blinkbit
steffi@ebay
Hello @blinkbit, thank you very much for your detailed feedback and the additional information.
I can understand that the situation is very annoying from your perspective, especially since further information was first requested, a replacement delivery was promised, and you then did not receive any further replies 😕.
Based on the information available, eBay cannot determine whether the damage was already present before shipping or was actually caused during transport. However, in order to protect both buyers and sellers from possible misuse, there are corresponding guidelines and review processes on the basis of which decisions about removing feedback are also made.
Therefore, I have one more question: Did you report the matter to eBay at the time and open a case 📋? If the payment was made via an external payment service provider, was a buyer protection case possibly opened there or a complaint submitted?
This information would be helpful to better understand the further course of events 🔍.
blinkbit
OP2 months agoHi Steffi,
since the seller initially responded to my information about the defective delivery, I didn't open a case on eBay. Because of the delivery time from China, the processing time for the follow-up questions, and waiting for the replacement delivery, so much time had passed that I thought I might no longer be able to open a case.
Regardless of whether it was transport damage or already defective before delivery, the seller should have provided a replacement in my opinion. eBay could have understood that too.
In future, I won't contact the seller anymore, but will open a case straight away.
Best, blinkbit
sunrise1605
·2 months ago@blinkbit
Did you switch the reviews to "newest first" (top right)?
Because Ebay always defaults to "most relevant"
bootyooty
·2 months ago@sunrise1605 if Te looks at their own submitted reviews, there is no most relevant or newest one. 😉
sunrise1605
·2 months agoHi @bootyooty
I thought he was looking for his BW on VK 🤔
blinkbit
OP2 months agoHello Sunrise1605,
thanks for the info but I had already done that
perfect-sally
·2 months agoWe don’t know the text you had written, so there’s nothing to say about it.
blinkbit
OP2 months agoI can't reproduce the exact text because the review was deleted.
It was roughly along these lines:
Seller sent defective item.
After several answered follow-up questions and sending a video, I was promised a replacement.
No replacement was delivered and the follow-up question asking for a tracking number was not answered
perfect-sally
·2 months agoIf it was written something like that, I don’t see a breach of policy. Then there must be other reasons, but ebay is keeping quiet about that.