Should I pay for extortion

[fashionpathny]

Hi,

A buyer left a defaming feedback that my item is fake and I should be removed from ebay. She stated in the messages she'll remove only if I send a full refund of 300 something dollars. I asked her to return the item but she wants money back and full refund. I already lost 2 sales the potential buyers get scared of buying after reading the review.

I did 4 appeal requests to ebay but customer service team says its declined because buyer asked money after the negative feedback; meaning its not against their extortion policy, which totally nonsense while she is saying if I don't send money the nagative feedback will stay. Also ebay told me they won't guarantee the outcome if I pay for this extortion.  I am so screwed by a criminal and ebay. Don't know what to do and thinking to pay hoping this criminal has a tiny drop of ethic. 

[fashionpathny]

***correction

She wants to keep the item and full refund.

[lakefor94 · Accepted solution]

Either they return the dress or no refund whatsoever.

Your only reply can be:

"Sorry to hear you are not pleased with your purchase.  Please return for refund"

Did you happen to check the buyer's feedback left for others?  Just curious if neg feedback left for others is a habitual thing with the buyer?

Some buyers cannot do returns due to habitual returns. EBay suspends the return privledge.  Bad feedback may be the only way they have left to scam.

[gurlcat]

How do you know you lost 2 sales because the buyers saw the feedback?  

[albertabrightalberta]

DO NOT PAY! 

Even if you pay, there's no guarantee that she'll change the feedback. 

Instead, report the message and the feedback. In the feedback report, copy and paste the message from the buyer. 

[gurlcat]

The OP might not know where/how to report a buyer. 

[albertabrightalberta]

Further information. 

Go to the message and under actions, click the dropdown and click "report message:" 

It'll take you to the next screenshot where you can describe the extortion and copy and paste her demand. 

[gurlcat]

Okay, OP, since you asked what to do, please take the advice and instructions that @albertabrightalberta made the effort to provide for you.  And DO NOT bend to this jerk's extortion.  Honestly I can't fathom how you could even consider a neg removal being worth $300.  And yeah, no guarantee that an extortionist's word is good either.  And even if they did remove it, I don't want your extortionist buyer coming to my store and doing the same thing to me because it worked with you.  

Extortionist buyers are not born; they are created.  By cowardly sellers. 

[rugerskick]

This is clearly feedback extortion.  It doesn't get any clearer than this. Ebay is letting you down.  It won't enforce its own policies against problem buyers.

[isaiah53-57]

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@fashionpathny wrote:

Hi,

A buyer left a defaming feedback that my item is fake and I should be removed from ebay. She stated in the messages she'll remove only if I send a full refund of 300 something dollars. I asked her to return the item but she wants money back and full refund. I already lost 2 sales the potential buyers get scared of buying after reading the review.

I did 4 appeal requests to ebay but customer service team says its declined because buyer asked money after the negative feedback; meaning its not against their extortion policy, which totally nonsense while she is saying if I don't send money the nagative feedback will stay. Also ebay told me they won't guarantee the outcome if I pay for this extortion.  I am so screwed by a criminal and ebay. Don't know what to do and thinking to pay hoping this criminal has a tiny drop of ethic. 

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There are other alternatives

[broto_64]

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@gurlcat wrote:

The OP might not know where/how to report a buyer. 

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Well, time to learn, part of the seller's responsibility, start reading.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

self portrait lace liliana dress brand new/100% authentic or money back

Condition:

New without tags

This seller sells counterfeits. This is not the real brand and is cheap and poorly made clothing in china. They are violating the eBay policy of selling counterfeits and should be removed as a seller. I asked for a refund and they refused.	Buyer: d***l (44) US $285.00 Verified purchase	Past month
Reply from: fashionpathny. Left within past month. Hi all my clients are this brand's collector and the liliana dress I sent it to you was 100% authentic guaranteed. You can verify it's with a platform like realreal. I am so confident. In a meanwhile if you are unhappy such as size was off etc please contact me I am glad to help some corrections to make you happier! I find this exchange disturbing for multiple reasons. You offer money back without stating the conditions. New without tags is a bit iffy. Offering copies of invoices from an authorized distributor of the product would be far superior to sending the buyer to figure out from RealReal whether it is real or not. I would have sent the buyer a copy of the document providing Proof of Authenticity with my request to remove the FB. If I had none, I would recognize I had a real problem. This is an item of undisclosed sourcing and suggestive that it could be counterfeit. Your response does not controvert that feeling. I would feel better if it was NWT or sold as used (New other) In the absence of an MBG claim, I would also recommend holding firm, but I cannot say FB is undeserved and I think your response does not strengthen your appearance to buyers.

[gurlcat]

Valid points, but why would a buyer who cares about authenticity want to keep a fake so bad? 

[fashionpathny]

>>Lakefor94

That is really something I should look into! 

Thank you so much. This is helpful.

[fashionpathny]

Gurlcat,

They first were interested in purchasing but clearly said they are worried about authenticity.

gurlcat