eBay Feedback: Proceed with Caution

Dan Knight - 2007.06.07 - Tip Jar

Low End Mac Reader Specials

Download Typestyler, still the Ultimate Styling Tool for Internet, Print and Video Graphics. Works great in Classic with a Native OS X Version on the way. Free Tryout: www.typestyler.com

LA Computer Company: LA Computer Company: Specials on AppleCare, Apple Displays, MacBooks, iMac's, MacBook Pros, Laptop and iPod accessories and more. Apple A/C Adapters for laptops starting at $25.00 Call 1-800-941-7654 or Click Here.

OWC: NewerTech miniStack FireWire/USB 2.0 HD & Hub Up to 1.0TB of Performance Storage + FW/USB2 Powered Hubs - convenient & sleek 6.5" x 6.5" x 1.5" Featured: 500GB $169.99; 750GB $209.99; 1.0TB $339.99

Mac users can finally play Party Poker for Mac. Not only that, they can also learn how to play PokerStars for Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, laptops, and LCD TVs side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for a new cell phone GPS products or MP3 players. The Ciao network makes searching products easy for you.

MacBook/MacBook Pro / MacMini / iMac Intel Core2 DUO DDR2 667Mhz 4GB Kit $84, 3GB Kit $60, 2GB Kit $40 1GB $20. Click to Maximize your Macs...

One of our readers and a seller we link to in some of our price trackers ran into a big problem with eBay recently; it's something every eBay user should know about.

"Dave" ordered a used Apple keyboard from a second-hand Mac dealer using eBay. The keyboard arrived very used - dirty, in fact, including what appeared to be a chocolate smudge on the Return key.

This wasn't at all what he had expected, and it turns out that "Used Macs" had used a stock photo in their eBay listing, not a photo of the keyboard being auctioned.

It took several days for Used Macs to respond to three emails and a phone call from Dave, which is normally considered poor form, although in this case some of that was over the weekend, when many online businesses are closed.

Dave asked for a replacement keyboard, Used Macs countered by offering to refund half the cost, and Dave "reluctantly accepted this".

In the interim, Dave had given Used Macs negative feedback on eBay because of the dirty keyboard and for not using a photo of the item being sold. Dave agreed to change this once things were resolved and ended up giving Used Macs a positive rating.

On eBay, your feedback rating is your reputation. Anything less than 95% positive feedback makes you seem suspicious.

One Big Mess

Used Macs responded by giving Dave a positive rating - but an hour later another Used Macs employee posted a follow-up comment calling Dave a coward, an "eBay lowlife", and a loser.

It turns out this employee hadn't known how "Bob", the owner of Used Macs, had resolved the issue with Dave. This employee had been using "retaliatory negative feedback" to get customers to retract negative feedback, which borders on extortion, and, according to Bob, he had been doing it without authorization.

The problem is that neither Dave nor Bob can remove this nasty comment, and eBay seems unwilling to do so without a federal court order.

Part of the problem with eBay is that they are very hard to contact. According to Bob, it's impossible to get them on the phone, which forces you to use email or fax. Both Dave and Bob are very frustrated by the whole experience.

Beware

First, if the item you receive isn't the item in the photo posted on eBay, the listing is in violation of the Deceptive Trade Practices Act unless they note that this is a stock photo.

Second, be quick to praise and slow to condemn. If you have issues with a seller (or buyer), try to resolve them before you post negative feedback. While you can add additional feedback later on, the original comments remain.

Third, be very, very careful about letting anyone else access your eBay account. Not only can they bid on things in your name, they can also leave feedback that makes a huge mess.

Fourth, realize that eBay is big business and apparently can't be swayed by anything less than a court order. There should be no reason for them not to remove feedback when both parties agree to it, and they should be willing to use the telephone, not just fax and email. It's just poor form.

In the end, Dave switched his feedback profile to private, which means nobody can read any comments about him, positive or negative. All because eBay refuses to remove one negative feedback that both the buyer and seller want removed.

Dan Knight has been using Macs since 1986, sold Macs for several years, supported them for many more years, and has been publishing Low End Mac since April 1997. If you find Dan's articles helpful, please consider making a donation to his tip jar.

Recent Mac Musings

PowerPC's last chance: The Mac's history with the G5 CPU, 06.24. The introduction of the G5 Power Mac in June 2003 promised a bright 3 GHz future, and failure to achieve that paved the way to today's Intel Macs.
16:9 computer displays: Let's not go there, 06.17. "...there's no reason our computer displays should match the proportions of our television displays."
Left behind by Mac OS X or up to date with Linux?, 06.04. If you wanted up-to-date software, you may need to run the latest version of Mac OS X. But what if it won't run on your hardware?
More in the Mac Musings index.

Recent Content on Low End Mac

Mac Pro overclocking, Windependence with Darwine, Blu-ray for Macs, and more, Mac News Review, 07.04. Also more on running Leopard on non-Apple hardware, Ubuntu on a Mac mini, the first autofocus webcam with Zeiss optics for Macs, and more.
Wouldn't life be great with an iSlate?, John Hatchett, Recycled Computing, 07.04. PDAs and smartphones are too small for some tasks, full-fledged Tablet PCs are overkill, and ebook readers are too limited. Apple has the tech to own this niche.
Mac of the Day: Original iMac G3/233, Aug. 98 - The Bondi blue wonder that bounced Apple back to profitability and into the public eye.
List of the Day: Mac Pro List is for those using a Mac Pro.
July 5 in LEM history: 98: The iMac: First of a family? - iMac Perfect for schools - 00: Apple is not your friend - 01: 75 Mac Advantages - Do you trust me? - 02: The joy of X with Classic - The good, the bad, and the intrusive - 05: No Quartz Extreme for Pismo - A brief history of NeXT - 06: Education iMac - iTunes and the French interoperability law - TopXNotes - Apple's secret battery reset utility - Misleading hard drive capacity
The Macintosh Portable started a notebook revolution, Carl Nygren, Classic Macs in the Intel Age, 07.03. Before Apple introduced the Mac Portable, notebook computers were text-based and ran MS-DOS. Ever since, graphical interfaces have been the norm for laptops.
More links in our archive.

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2008 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, PowerBook, MacBook, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.