Greetings Ebay Sellers!

  Undoubtedly this guide may not help the more professional Sellers, however I'm hoping a bit of input may help the newer Sellers or any Sellers that have run across the scenario's I've experienced recently....

SCENARIO

  I put up for auction a Beautiful Vintage pair of pure Gold Clip-On Earrings, well worth much more than I received in the end however being the person I am, I had hoped the buyer would simply love and enjoy the earrings since I'm unable to wear any type earrings due to sensitive skin.

  Upon my auction ending  the Buyer unbeknown to me had a Private Feedback. Honestly, this should not even be allowed on EBay as I think its unfair business practice. HONEST EBayer's are proud of their feedback scores, least I was.

My earrings sold and after shipping then patiently waiting with no response from my buyer. Anxious to find out if it arrived safely (due to previous postal problems) I sent a message asking if this person received the earrings.

I finally received a response and certainly not what I expected; "Hi (Seller), just rec'd the earrings today and as lovely as they are, I would like to return them for a complete refund as one earring for some strange reason keeps snapping shut before I can get it on my ear and seeing a jeweler for this is out of the question as the nearest jeweler for me is 20 miles through heavy traffic in Honolulu where I seldom go...not even once a month. Please contact me. Thank you, (buyer)"

Dumbfounded, it took me a day or so to think this response through. I came to the conclusion this was not a very good reason for wanting a refund, especially after all the listing & photo fee's, Paypal fee's etc. it took to list these precious great working earrings. I've never heard of a clip on earring being "faulty or defective" because you can't put them on with one hand. I spoke with several of my elderly friends that have worn clip-on's for many years to learn they never try to put them on with ONE HAND. The earrings clearly clipped on and held firmly as designed.

 So I denied the buyer a refund but however having lived in Hawaii, I made a friendly suggestion that if in doubt she take the earrings to a jeweler that was a mere 6mi from her.Apparently this was not what she wanted to hear and again requested a full refund. I pleaded that the earrings worked exactly as described and as designed to no avail she insisted. (I'm thinking she made this purchase and just decided she didn't want them and had to come up with an excuse).

  To my surprise, she filed a complaint with Paypal so I immediately escalated it to a Claim hoping to get the issue resolved quickly so I could move on to more important issues. Paypal decided she did not have sufficient cause for a refund and I won the claim.

 NOW the buyer, evidently vindictive and angered still turns around and leaves me Negative Feedback thereby damaging my proud 100% score. In dismay, I wrote Ebay for help to get the negative removed arguing that Paypal had denied her claim therefore the issue should have been totally resolved. The response I received from Ebay was "that they could not remove the feedback and basically I should just accept i". This is NOT very good business practice since the issue was settled with Paypal and tells me that Ebay doesnt have very good "legal advice". Why should MY feedback be tainted over bogus negative feedback?? So I've come to the conclusion that Ebay really needs to change their regulations and I dislike the fact that Sellers cannot leave a Buyer Negative Feedback either. This is not fair.

Reality is that a Vintage item is generally USED and there are no warranties or guarantee's with USED items and as a seller I cannot make this guarantee. These earrings were EXACTLY As Described in my description, yet the person was able to file an "Item Not As Described claim", Loose the claim then was allowed to leave Negative Feedback?? I'm very discouraged with Ebay at this point and very skeptical about selling anymore. I prided myself on the items I've listed and sold, being careful to only list quality antique or vintage items and Ebay ALLOWS one vindictive person to damage my credibility.

IF I sell anymore, I will not allow bids from certain Buyers, especially with Private Feedback.  Thank you for stopping by to read my Review on EBay's Policies. I hope this helps just one person.