Dear eBay Queen:

I’ve been trying to spend an eBay gift card I have for about 2 weeks. I ask seller after seller questions, and they NEVER respond or they send some kind of horrible message back to me. Do people not want to buyers to buyer there products anymore? I tried to buy several items, and NOTHING. I finally had my eye on some Ralph Lauren Mandarin Blue Dishes that would complete my set. Here is my first message to my seller:

“Hi, you say the salad plate is 9”, but I thought the salad plate was 7”. Could you verify which it is?”

I did not receive an answer from the seller, and ended up purchasing another lot from a seller THAT did answer my questions. I messaged the seller again when I saw they still had the same set up.

“I messaged you about this same lot of Mandarin dishes a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to know the size of the salad plates. You had them at 9” when I thought they were 7. You never answered my message, and quite frankly it upset me. I don’t understand why people like you are sellers! Why don’t you step up to the plate and do the right thing and answer question a legitimate buyer asks! I bought a different set of dishes from someone else for less money! I hope people like you are run out of business by good buyers like myself. All I wanted was a clarification! I hope you learn your lesson. Thank you.”

Here’s what this seller responded with.

“I think we need to clarify something here. I saw your message, and I went to look at the feedback you leave sellers. I see that you think you are owed something by every seller that comes in contact with you. You leave more negatives than positives, and each one of those has something about how you wanted to keep the product and get a partial refund. I can’t figure out why one of those sellers has not turned you in to eBay! One of the neutrals you left stated: “Took the seller 8 hrs to respond.” – That’s not even 24 hours! Maybe the seller was at work, and couldn’t answer you. Maybe a loved one was in the hospital and they were visiting. You’ve got a real issue, lady, that you need to get over. While eBay maybe a person’s way they make money, it’s not their life. eBay is being ruined by buyers like you. I’ve blocked you from buying from me, and I reported you to eBay. I hope that you will learn something from this.

I then responded:

How dare you look at the feedback I leave people! That is none of your business. Here’s my advice to you, do your job by answering questions and you won’t have a problem with people like me!

I am livid about this seller. How can they look at the feedback I leave others and decide not to sell to me? Is there any way for me to report this seller? Would it do any good?

M.P.T.

Dear M.P.T.;

Anyone can view the feedback you or any other eBayer leaves. To do this simply click on the feedback number next to a buyer or seller’s name and you’ll see four tabs under the overall scores: Feedback as a Seller, Feedback as a Buyer, All Feedback and Feedback left for others. Select “Feedback left for others,” and you or anyone else can see what feedback you’ve left for other buyers and sellers.

You could report this seller, but I’m not sure what reason there might be. I’m not as concerned about the seller’s behavior as I am with yours. I don’t think it was necessary to berate or chastise the seller. There could be any number of issues they were having that day when they did not answer you. You did not give me your eBay ID, but if that seller is correct and you leave a lot of negative and or neutral feedback for your sellers, I too am concerned. Most people only have 1 problem out of every 100 transactions. If you are having more issues with sellers than this, you perhaps have your expectations to high, and eBay might be the wrong place for you to purchase things.

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