negative review *Money and lawyer?* | Members help members

vedanz-8484 · 2026-03-10T11:20:22.825000Z

I’m writing on behalf of an acquaintance who doesn’t want to ask this question through his own eBay account, since otherwise his profile would show what it’s about, or rather which seller it concerns. My acquaintance bought a computer on eBay that was offered as “new, in unopened original packaging” . However, right after the purchase, the commercial seller wrote that the packaging and the computer had been opened in order to install an SSD. That probably also explains the noticeably reduced price compared with the manufacturer’s price for the same configuration.This led to a longer exchange of messages, because my acquaintance did not want to accept this deviation from the item description. The seller argued that opening it made no difference and that the packaging had no seal – but in fact it does have a seal.Later, my acquaintance noticed that during this time the seller had retroactively changed the item description to “new (other)”, which he only realized recently.The purchase was ultimately canceled, with the reason “buyer asked to cancel.” However, my acquaintance had only insisted on receiving a computer that was truly in its original packaging, which the seller was unable to provide. The cancellation and refund went through without any problems.Since the seller continues to offer similar computers with other configurations also as “new, in unopened original packaging”, my acquaintance decided to leave a negative review because he considers the item description misleading.The content of the review summarizes the purchase: Seller messages after the purchase saying that the original packaging and the computer were opened to replace the SSD. That contradicts the item description and is misleading. The seller then contacted him again and called the review unfair. After my acquaintance explained his point of view, the seller offered money if the negative review was withdrawn. This offer was later increased even further. My acquaintance did not accept any of these offers, however. The entire message history is documented on eBay. Most recently, he received the same money offer again, this time accompanied by a threat to involve a lawyer if he did not agree. The seller even sent a possible lawyer’s letter with an estimate of costs that my acquaintance would have to bear if the seller won. My acquaintance will be seeking legal advice, but would also like to hear the eBay community’s assessment of how he should respond in this situation.Best regards

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negative review *Money and lawyer?* | Members help members | eBay Germany