hello Steve,

I'm not sure if your the one i should be writing to on a ebay issue. Wonder if you could be of some help to me here.

I'll try to keep it short and to the point.

I sell my item's on ebay and it has worked really well for me for many years.
I have had 100% positive feedback on sales and buying...until a woman put an offer on an item of mine and was automatically accepted.
After over a week of no communication over payment I wanted to know what was going on naturally and after emails back and forth and me putting a complaint in etc she put a negative comment about paying cash (which I didn't accept) and collecting the item. This was untrue and a lie. All my item's I sell are marked with the editions number. So it's an easy thing to prove that she never honored the purchase.

I contacted ebay on grounds of defamatory comment on my feedback and all they did was remove the comment and leave the 'no entry' sign and I still lose my points. She, However still has her 100% feedback as sellers cannot leave negative feedback no matter what the buyer does to them. How unfair is this?

So, I'm stuck with a negative and less points for some women who made up a lie about our non existent transaction.

Ebay say they cannot intervene in the legalities of transactions. But what is the point of taking the feedback off with the negative symbol saying it was 'removed for defamatory reasons and leaving the customer to wondering what is was it about anyway? It was better if the comments were on at least I could have my say on it being a lie?

Any help would be most welcomed,

Thank you for your time in reading this,

Best Wishes,

My response:-

Hello ----------

I was sorry to hear about your problems but to be honest I am not surprised I always thought that the new feedback procedures favoured the buyer over the seller's. This is even more annoying for you when a negative comment is from a pseudo buyer.

The reason eBay introduced the changes to the feedback system was because there had been so many complaints from buyers. I suppose that the good and honest such as yourself are now paying the price for this.

However, all serious eBayers will pick up a negative comment occasionally because quite honestly there are some strange people out there. I do not think it will do any real damage to your credibility. As you did not give me your eBay id I was not able to go and view your listings so I could not tell whether you already have an About Me page posted but if you have not you should put one up as soon as possible and include a link to your excellent web site. Anyone visiting your site will be left in no doubt about your integrity. Incidentally after visiting your web site I came away feeling almost as though I knew you , it really is one of the best "Meet the Seller" sites that I have come across.

One final tip with an About me page posted don't just rely on the eBay ME logo to attract people to the page. In most of my listing I would include some like :

To learn more about the Seller --------- visit her

ABOUT ME page

And I would make the ABOUT ME a live link to your about me page. And I would place this above the description of the item you are listing. I am sure this will more than counteract the effect of one negative comment.

I hope this helps

Best Regards

Steve