Good evening, as the title says, I was informed via a seller’s message of their intention to bring a civil lawsuit for damages over a negative feedback. I should point out that I did not use any insulting or offensive terms; I limited myself to stating that the product sent to me does not conform. Even so, to avoid possible problems, I tried a friendly mediation by proposing that they send me a request to change the feedback and thus put an end to the matter, but they refused, saying that their account is not enabled to do so. In this case, it is a tempered protective glass for a smartphone; below I report first my feedback and then the seller’s message. What do you think, is there actually a chance that I’ll have to appear before the Justice of the Peace, or is this a bluff?
"I needed it and I bought the tempered glass for Xiaomi Redmi Note 12S as indicated in the item title, but I received one for a Samsung A52. Rather than waste time and go through the hassle of returning it, I installed it anyway, but it lacks the hole for the front camera and, obviously, the dimensions are not correct, so there remains an uncovered part of almost 1mm. I had to make do, but making do is different from being satisfied."
"
! MANDATORY COMMUNICATION IN LEGAL TERMS FOR LEGAL DISPUTE 595 C.P.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Dear customer,
This is forwarded to you in accordance with current regulations since, as a consequence of the transaction carried out on the eBay marketplace, defamatory written public statements concerning the item received have been made and cannot be proven, as also provided for by the eBay Rules and in accordance with the seller protection procedure established by national law (art. 595 C.P.).
A legal dispute will therefore be initiated through which you may prove what was publicly stated, should you be requested to do so via a summons, directly before the Justice of the Peace of the Court of Rome (Lepanto area).
By sending this notice we fulfill our duties under the regulations and we inform you that any communication between the two parties is suspended as we are currently opposing parties in a civil lawsuit.
Any documentation will be sent to you directly by Registered Mail with return receipt from the offices in charge to the address provided on eBay.
Any further clarification and message may only be sent to the official address of our legal representative indicated in the company contacts.
Sorry to have had to act in this way, we inform you that our interest is exclusively to protect our business from potentially fraudulent statements and we inform you that, in any case, the civil lawsuit may, in the worst case, end with a claim for damages by us without any measure that could involve your person.
Thank you and we wish you continued success. |
Anonymous User
·2 years agoWithdraw the feedback, block the seller's messages, and report them to ebay.
heavenwelkin
·2 years agoI believe this THREAD should be saved as an EXAMPLE to show how negative feedback:
Not only does it not solve any problem.
But it can also be dangerous for those who left it.
Maybe it's convenient for the seller to keep all these "defamatory" negative comments so that later in court he'll have a field day together with his lawyer. 😎
Best regards.
tokitasojin
·2 years agoIn my opinion, serfe1945's negative feedback is more than fair, and now I'll try to explain my reasons.
First of all, if the feedback had gone against the rules it would have been removed, and that did not happen.
Then it has to be said that receiving the wrong item is a service failure.
If I buy an item online and I need it by the estimated delivery date, I certainly can't be happy to receive it late, after returns and everything else.
If the delivery date is not met because the seller sends the wrong item, it's right that they take responsibility for it.
And what if the item was a gift??
Yes, if possible it's always better to avoid negative feedback (personally I've never left any and never even received any) but if it's a seller who tends to make the same mistake over and over, then it's better to highlight this lack of attention on the seller's part...
Maybe some hasty buyer (...I've met many) reads the feedback and avoids wasting time for nothing.
The buyer did not use the return, but the service received still did not meet the specifications, and the time for the return is far beyond the estimated delivery date.
I wouldn't have left negative feedback, but I don't blame whoever decides to do it; everyone should take responsibility for their own mistakes, willingly or not the seller made a mistake...
...I repeat, if the negative feedback was not removed by Ebay, evidently it was justified feedback.
It's true that some feedback can be removed in agreement with the buyer, but unjustified feedback is always removed unconditionally.
heavenwelkin
·2 years agoGood evening valtaoi
If you want / you all want, I can also take the buyer’s side so I can get a few more likes and maybe even a nice green badge as the best solution 🤣😂.......
But in my opinion the procedures to receive the refund have to be followed and above all you need to buy with your head and not with your wallet, selling at the lowest price on the web, because then if someone takes the time to read the feedback, they immediately understand that it’s not worth buying from this "seller".
The seller in question (the one who received one of the many negatives) is clearly a hit-and-run seller, one of those who need to clear out stock, otherwise this high number of negative feedback doesn’t make sense.
Among other things, he offers shipping with book mail.
So he’s a seller who very likely isn’t interested in directly contacting support to have one of the many negatives removed.
Because before long I imagine he’ll be kicked off ebay......
Under these sales conditions I personally wouldn’t even buy a pin because it’s obvious that this seller, to empty the warehouse, sends covers at random and users, to avoid hassle, give up those 3 or 4 euros and simply leave negative feedback.
A negative that doesn’t solve any problem and that evidently is convenient for the seller to recover a bit more money 🤣😂
The whole thing is corn.to and beaten up 😎
Best regards
tokitasojin
·2 years agoGood evening heavenwelkin, I agree with you that negative feedback solves nothing, but if you don't leave negative feedback when you receive the wrong item, how is the next user who visits the shop supposed to understand that there's a big risk of wasting time? 😅
cizeta1964
·2 years agoReturns are an integral part, not to be underestimated, of the online purchasing process. It can happen that, for various reasons, a product has to be returned, and it’s a possibility that needs to be taken into account.
Ebay makes it easy to do so, following very specific rules; if a buyer decides not to take advantage of this, they cannot blame either the seller or adebay for that decision. In any online purchase, the seller does not come to your home to take back the product and refund your money or bring you another product, and even if you made a purchase in a physical store, you have to go back there yourself to make the exchange (or get your money back, which is harder).
Negative feedback has value for other users only if, despite all the procedures being carried out correctly, the refund did not go through because of the seller and/or Ebay. Otherwise, it is highly debatable; it is not reasonable to think that everyone who buys items of not very high monetary value will leave negative feedback for the seller because, when faced with receiving the wrong item, they do not want to “put in the effort” to make a simple return. Whether tiring or not, it has to be factored in when buying online, and also in stores anyway, because nobody comes to your house to pick anything up.
In this case, settling for it is a choice, for which the buyer must take responsibility, and certainly not something to be taken as an example for other buyers.
marioelegio
·2 years agoIf negative feedback had had this hypothetical usefulness, there would have been no purchase by the poster and we wouldn’t be here writing about whether the lawsuit is right or not.
In fact, we’re even talking about a threat of a possible lawsuit, from there to getting a conviction ..........
bye
mario
tokitasojin
·2 years agoI tried searching a bit on the web but I've never seen anyone get sentenced for negative feedback on Ebay, though it has to be said that the risk is always there, I'm the first to never leave negative feedback for sellers 😂
heavenwelkin
·2 years agoFeedback started with eBay in 1995; back then in Italy you still paid for your phone connection by the minute 😎 in fact, eBay arrived here in 2000 when ADSL connections were already covering a good part of the country.
Back then you paid by bank transfer, postal order, or Postepay top-up, so having a seller’s rating was essential to understand whether a seller was reliable or not.
Things went on like this at least until the introduction of PayPal, with the abolition first of Postepay top-ups, then postal orders and then bank transfers, if I remember correctly it was around 2012.
With the buyer protections we have now, if you get a negative there aren’t any major consequences for sales; back then a negative could mean not selling anything anymore and/or selling at a much lower price than a seller with a spotless profile.
Today negative feedback is mainly useful to me, since I sell items, to understand what kind of buyer I’m dealing with: if it’s a argumentative, nitpicky, demanding, bitter, fussy buyer, that way I avoid selling them items when they send me a purchase offer 😎
Kind regards.
tokitasojin
·2 years agoI also leave ''negative'' feedback when I find buyers who don't pay or are a bit dishonest, but I always come back to the starting point... how do you avoid a seller who has no negative feedback... it's true that with PayPal, chargebacks and the like we're always protected, but say you buy an expensive item from a faraway country and you get a different one, in that case it would really be a huge waste of time! 😅
Have a good evening 👋
vonbalden
·2 years agoValtoi, as you will have understood, in the narrow world of distance selling, the term feedback
is a noun already in itself capable of dividing the planet of transactions into many factions.
In our country, moreover, we perhaps love discussions to excess, dissecting every
technicality, both for and against something, always with that emotionality and passion typical
of a prosecutor addressing the jury after presenting the facts.
Not that it's wrong, mind you. But in the end, imagining ourselves at the center of a collective
interest that goes out of its way to say its piece for a kind of humanitarian sense, we end up a bit predictable.
Perhaps we resemble those TV war correspondents, those expert pundits
who face off on TV to explain to viewers the reason for the decisions made by two armies
in contention, while sitting comfortably in an armchair far from the battlefields. In closing, to soften any tension accumulated in the thread: Is feedback useful or not? If not, is it true? Is it false?
Sara Fergusson ?😃 Time will tell! Best regards to everyone who participated.
tokitasojin
·2 years agoThe answer will always vary depending on the point of view; if we say ''it depends'' we can never be wrong 😁
Good evening 👋
heavenwelkin
·2 years agoIn short: in your case, the feedback was harmful even if not strictly defamatory, since you did not make use of the tools made available by ebay to protect yourself.
sika700
·2 years agoAs a seller, I’ve always been of the opinion that negative feedback solves nothing if not making the situation worse, as is clearly the case with yours.
If a buyer is not satisfied with the purchase... it may even have been a human packing error... there is the return request, but many times, in the rush to use the new phone, you don’t feel like going through the whole return routine, as you also described well.
If, therefore, the seller opened a legal dispute against you, he had every right to do so, and as a seller I give him a big applause for having... in turn... been willing to put in the effort to eliminate the plague of "laziness" in opening the correct procedures on eBay.
Remember also that to err is human; you have no proof that he intentionally delivered you the wrong item.
Kind regards.
heavenwelkin
·2 years agoI second this and want to highlight it, I absolutely agree with you, if only there were more sellers like this......
serfe1945
OP2 years agoOh, I don't? On the item heading it says Tempered glass for Xiaomi Redmi Note 12S and on the package Samsung A52. With the phone in hand, you can see that the glass is not the right size and the hole for the camera is missing! This subject has over 190 negative feedbacks in the last month alone for similar problems, sometimes with much harsher tones than the ones I used. So does he plan to file a lawsuit against every single user? If for every negative feedback we have to end up in court then eBay should remove the ability to leave them, let’s always and only give positive feedback so every seller appears honest and reliable! Excuse me, but are you kidding? A praise, even! Adding insult to injury.
In addition, as written, while believing I have not committed any wrongdoing, I offered to resolve the issue privately and peacefully by modifying or deleting the feedback, I don't know what else I can do.
sika700
·2 years agoMaybe it's hard to understand the point... as they say, it's always better to prevent than to cure... what would it have cost you to open a return request for an item not as described??
What proof do you have that the wrong glass was sent to you "intentionally"?
You don't have any, only out of let's say "laziness" you chose to make do with an item you already knew wasn't right, for what purpose... just to leave negative feedback?
Why, even though it said it wasn't for your phone, did you mount it anyway?
Let's just say the "damage" was self-inflicted...
Have a good weekend.
serfe1945
OP2 years agoIn fact, I never said that a wrong product was sent to me on purpose! It must have been a mistake, but I still received a non-conforming product; surely I have the right not to be satisfied and to point it out? Does eBay yes or no give the option to leave negative feedback? There. It doesn't even say anywhere that I have to start a return, and I don't see how that can be relevant.
Did I insult him? NO
Did I use colorful terms and expressions? NO
Did I state falsehoods? NO
Did I try to start mediation to peacefully resolve the issue? YES
Gentlemen, what are we talking about? I come here looking for support and as a result I get crucified. I won't say anything else.
cizeta1964
·2 years agosurely I have the right not to be satisfied and to say so? Does eBay allow negative feedback or not? There you go.
Ethically - and according to how eBay works, which is why some get removed - negative feedback should only be left after no solution to the problem has been found, in your case an incorrect product to be returned at the seller’s expense.
It’s obvious that you’re not satisfied with the wrong product, but before expressing that with public feedback you should have returned it as per the rules; if something had still gone wrong then you would have had every right to leave negative feedback.
It was your choice not to return it, neither the seller nor eBay prevented you from doing so.
sika700
·2 years agoThere's no point continuing the conversation if you only look at "your own little corner"... in any case, you didn't answer my "reply"...
Have a nice Sunday.
heavenwelkin
·2 years agoSince we're putting it so bluntly between BLACK or WHITE
Let's suppose ebay is like the game of chess: to play it, you need to know some basic rules of how it works.
You don't need to become a chess master to play, but you can't play if you don't know the basic rules of how it works.
In your case, you did not follow a series of basic rules regarding receiving an item that was not as described, and then you went straight to leaving negative feedback.
Recently some changes have been made in this regard to the feedback system; feedback is no longer an entity in itself but is an integral part of the whole ebay mechanism/system.
In short
Ebay allows negative and neutral feedback: Yes
Can I write whatever I want in feedback even if I am not defaming anyone: NO
Personal considerations and judgments, even if not strictly defamatory toward the seller, should be avoided because if the seller is not given the chance to correct / fix his mistake, the feedback judgment should be considered VOID
And that is why ebay often removes negative feedback.
Now it happens that the seller asks ebay to remove the feedback because, in his view, it does not comply; if ebay does not remove it, the seller will very likely take other routes.
Best regards.
heavenwelkin
·2 years agoDid I insult you: NO
Did I use colorful terms and expressions: NO
Did I state any falsehoods? NO
Did I simply express my own personal opinion on a public matter with free access for anyone? YES
You opened a discussion on a rather controversial issue and everyone expressed their own personal opinion about it.
Beyond personal judgments, we were unable to provide you with support and/or resolve the issue because we are not in a position to do so.
If it had been up to me, I would have removed the negative feedback from the seller.
Did you try contacting eBay support? What did they tell you?
Kind regards.
actar80
·2 years agoGood evening, I agree with Vonbalden when he writes that "Ebay itself encourages you to leave feedback at the end of a transaction to provide a service of reliability and transparency within the community of buyers and sellers".
Your feedback does not seem offensive to me, but I also agree with Cizeta1964 when he tells you that "before leaving a negative public feedback you should have returned the item as per the rules".
If then the seller had not cooperated, you would have had every reason to leave negative feedback.
Let's say your mistake was naively skipping the complaint phase for an item not as described. Understand that at the moment you knowingly installed the tempered glass, you unconsciously accepted the item and in a sense made it non-returnable in the condition in which it was shipped to you. Before installing it, you should have asked the seller for a partial refund for the mistake or started the return process.
It is true that eBay invites you to leave feedback and it should always be like that, but then for legal matters it remains a problem to be resolved between the parties (eBay washes its hands of it) because the platform provides the space in exchange for commissions and the possibility of leaving feedback.
Of course it is true that the possibility of leaving feedback should not lead to legal disputes and they should be removed by eBay if offensive or unfair. Let's say that when the seller accepted the contract with eBay he also accepted being subjected to the feedback system, including negative ones.
As help I can only advise you to contact eBay support by phone and point out that the seller in question has more than 400 negative feedbacks and that there are also others related to sending the wrong item, I don't know how much this may matter but if you are forced to defend yourself in legal proceedings, mention this too.
Obviously the hope is that it does not come to settling the matter in legal proceedings, also because you would not be the only one the seller should sue.
If you want, keep us updated on how the matter evolves.
Good evening
Anonymous User
·2 years agoThere is the right of withdrawal from the sale and reporting to Codacons.
sika700
·2 years agoAnd so?
Did you read the whole conversation?
daxsisko
·2 years agodefinition of "withdrawal" = sovereign veeeery ugly...... in terms of "right/s" I think he has the same ones as the others.....
vonbalden
·2 years agoEbay itself encourages leaving feedback at the end of a transaction to provide a service
of reliability and transparency within the community of buyers and sellers. Apparently, your feedback
does not fall into a bad or unconstructive evaluation in terms of language. It is the description of a
matter of fact that caused dissatisfaction in the buyer. And that falls within the norm, otherwise what would be the point of leaving a proper rating? You also proposed a revision, settling for a non-compliant product. The seller will not hear reason and is threatening legal action and claims of hurt pride.
I am a private seller, but I have never had to raise my voice with a buyer.
In a case of damaged shipping, I provided a partial refund in agreement with the buyer.
Do not fuel anything and do not comment. If he should come back attacking, reply politely that
you reserve the right to contact your lawyer. Full stop. Also listen to the opinions of the other forum users. Best regards.
serfe1945
OP2 years agoThank you for your response. In fact, that was what I thought too; as a consumer and user, I have the right to leave negative feedback if there have been any problems whatsoever! If negative feedback outright amounted to defamation, then eBay should be the one not allowing it. Ridiculous. Besides, for what absurd reason would I make false statements about a seller who is about 500 km from where I live? I would gain nothing from it.
Nevertheless, since I am not well versed in legal matters and faced with the possibility of having to deal with a lawsuit and the related costs, of course the fear comes up, and I asked for support.
heavenwelkin
·2 years agoI saw the feedback you left and I’m highlighting it here for the convenience of readers because it’s public...
One could debate whether there are grounds for possible defamation, but the fact remains that you publicly stated that you did not want to use the procedures provided by eBay for a possible refund request because you didn’t want to waste time, and therefore you stated that you had fitted a cover that was not designed for your smartphone.
What should the seller have done in this case, in your opinion?
Let’s hope that eBay removes the feedback, because if the seller decides to proceed...... it will be a much bigger headache for you than the hassle of starting the return procedure provided by eBay in exchange for a refund.
Best regards.
serfe1945
OP2 years agoeBay's guidelines say that it should be the seller who sends me the feedback revision request, but he claims that's not possible. First I was told that to err is human and I am human too, I'm trying to resolve the issue for the sake of peace while still believing I did nothing wrong, and in response all I get told is that he did the right thing and that maybe he should even be praised for it? I'm speechless. As I said before, not only the damage but the insult too.
heavenwelkin
·2 years agoDon't you want to use eBay's support to get the refund because maybe for 2 or 3 euros you'd have to be tied up for two weeks and be vigilant and active in respecting the timing and following the whole procedure?
That's perfectly fine, but don't say it publicly, keep it to yourself......
If you really HAVE TO, leave negative feedback, writing for example: I ordered a tempered glass cover for Xiaomi Redmi Note 12S and received the one for Samsung A52.
In this specific case, the seller could not have said, nor done anything, and it would have ended there.
Kind regards.
heavenwelkin
·2 years agoThe nice and positive thing about discussion forums is that our replies (which may not be liked) help users grow and become more aware, not only the person who started the discussion but also anyone who just comes here to read.
If you had called support or if support had replied to you here, they would have given you an answer based on a protocol that would certainly not have upset you, but it would absolutely not have been the same thing.
Then one can agree or not with what I wrote, of course.
Best regards.
arcobaleno2022
·2 years ago