E-Bay Extortion?
 

I recently bought a Sony VX2000 with a couple of lenses and accessories on e-bay. I was very pleased with the transaction and products but then I got the following in an e-mail from the seller:

"THIS IS A AUTOAMTIC FEEDBACK PROGAM AS SOON AS YOU LEAVE FEEDBACK IT WILL RETURN THE FEEDBACK TO YOU.
ITS SIMPLE YOU GET WHAT YOU GIVE IF YOU LEAVE A POSITIVE YOU GET A POSITIVE NEUTRAL FOR NEUTRAL WARNING LEAVE A NEGATIVE AND YOU WILL AUTOMAICALLY WILL GET A NEGATIVE
Please take the opportunity to leave me feedback as well.
For your convenience, I've included the link below...."

WTF? Can they really get away with this shit - I mean if I wasnt happy with what I got I wouldnt want to fuck up my E-bay feedback rating by positng negative feedback even if their shit sucked. So, they pretty much give you no option to post anything negative about them, thus ensuring they maintain a positive rating regardless of how bad their products/services are. Can they really get away with this shit? Would E-Bay be interested in this e-mail or do they really not give a shit?

YEs they can

Hmmm,

If I sold you something on ebay and you gave me a negative I wouldn't be too happy with the transaction. :)

I don't know if they can get away with it for sure. I have sold tons of stuff on ebay and the buyer has alot of pull. Sometimes more than they should. If you got a negative for leaving one only I'm sure you could file a report with ebay and have something done.

Proven retalitory feedback will be removed if you ask and supply proof of the backlash.

I had it before - got it removed. Shame I never got my money back though.

are they fucking kidding? that's total bullshit. :feels-hot

forward that damn email to ebay!

and let me know what happens.


Penetrator

Happens all the time.

I haven't posted anything for them yet. I was actually getting ready to post positive feedback until I got the e-mail and now I'm pissed of about it. It essentially amounts to extortion - i.e. do what I say or else! Anyway, I guess I'll forward the email to e-bay but I dont expect to see anything done about it!

I leave negative feedback for anyone that leaves me negative feedback on ebay so what?

me too, I leave brutal negative feedback hahahha

sounds like they don't read their feedback - post positive, get a positive back and they won't be able to say ANYTHING negative back to you but state DIRTY NASTY THINGS ALL IN CAPS in your positive post.


moooohahahahahahahahahahaha

if u leave neg feedback couldnt you wait until the 60 days or whatever is up to do it? like wait until day 59 and 1/2 then leave the feedback? then by the time they see it it will be too late for them to leave the feedback.

hahaha, great idea

if it's an automatic script you'd have to wait till almost the last second

i had one guy banned on ebay after he left negative feedback as retaliation. i told him i was gonna sue him for not paying, he started making threats. i sent the emails to ebay and they next day he was booted.

some people on ebay are clowns.

Just - got back an autoresponse e-mail from e-bay. "Investigating" I'll be here holding my breath!

haha, that's a great fucking idea

Must be Adorama, I got the same email

Actually it's digitalforu - It's actually one of the numerous wholesalers out of NY - The company is Willoughbys

adorama is probably the program for ebay.

just leave neutral feedback and curse 'em out.

I only have 330 something feedbacks. 3 negs. The first was the worst, from some bitch who decided to post some nasty shit about my item even though all the other dutch bidders (40+) left me positives. Fucking HO. My second neg was a retaliation from a neg I left a buyer for not paying or responding to emails. He retaliated pretty quick tho, so he at least responded to something. Fucker. Lesson I learned was to leave a neg for a buyer (or seller) on the 59th day since the auction ended. Do it close before its the 60th day and you will shut them out for retaliating your feedback.

My third neg was from some asshole using his moms account that said he didnt receive the item or get any response from me after two days, YET this dipshit posted the neg 24 fucking hours after auction closed! Thing is you can respond to feedback comments so I just flat out bashed him and said "MORON, you left this 24 hours later blah blah blahhh".

My point is, after the first neg, I wasnt so anal about getting any negs. SOmetimes transactions just go sour. I make a habit of never posting feedback first as a SELLER. Because most people will retaliate a neg with a neg, and if get a neg, I want to give the mofo one too. The first neg I got I couldnt do that see, cuz I already left her a + saying 'thanks for paying'. Unfortunately I couldnt add 'bitch' to it afterwards.

Ebay depends on its feedback system, and everyone knows how seriously flawed it is and how easy it is to manipulate.

eGAY.

I forgot to say... what that guy sent sounds more like blackmail. Is it not?

FYI - E-Bay doesnt give a shit about extortion/blackmail on their site. The following is the response I just received from them:

"Hello Charles,

Thank you for providing us with the details about this situation
regarding this automated feedback system.

We are concerned about violations on the site and have thoroughly investigated your report. In accordance with our site policies, we have found that there is not enough evidence to show that a violation has taken place. We understand your concern about this situation, and can reopen the investigation if any additional information can be provided.

Because privacy concerns are important to everyone we are not at liberty to discuss the details of another user's account. We hope that you understand our position in this situation. We also hope that it assures you that your personal account history will always remain private.

To read more about what Safeharbor does, and does not investigate please visit the following page:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/investigates.html

If you would like to contact the SafeHarbor team with additional
information about the account you are reporting, or any other site
violations, you can reach us at:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/basics/select-RS.html

We appreciate your help in keeping eBay a fun place to trade.


Regards,

Justin
eBay SafeHarbor
Investigations Team

They don't care about anything... fraud, extortion... as long as their getting paid.

They probably checked and saw this seller makes them a lot of money, so they are going to ignore the situation.