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Buyer sued for posting factual negative review on eBay

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Re: Buyer sued for posting factual negative review on eBay

#81

Post by Karunamon »

illuminate wrote: post #79
cykod wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If instead of showing up at my door I got a note that said you need to come down to the post office during business hours and pick up your package and bring an extra $1.44, I'd actually be kinda put out. This was a mistake by the shipper for mis-weighing the package (as they note in the feedback "This has happened alot from USPS lately." - maybe they need to get themselves a new scale) it should get negative feedback…

Right. This was an intentional attempt to cheat the system that the seller fails at, repeatedly. They attempted to screw the USPS and the customer got the bad end of their incompetence.

>This was an intentional attempt to cheat the system

You don't know that. Say the seller has a faulty scale and does large numbers of transactions at once. 100 packages go out, and 100 postage due complaints come in.

Oops. Clearly the seller is a scumbag.

Re: Buyer sued for posting factual negative review on eBay

#82

Post by goostavos »

klearvue wrote: post #11

Both parties don't come off well here - the buyer could have given the seller the benefit of the doubt before posting a negative feedback over a trivial amount and the seller managed to turn an unjustified, in my opinion, negative feedback into a terrible publicity for itself.

>Both parties don't come off well here

Glad someone is at least acknowledging that both parties are acting ridiculous. Granted, the seller has now taken it to a whole other level by getting litigious, but still, both are coming off like giant children.

For whatever reason, either accidental, or deliberate, the postage was short $1.44. Not a big deal. The Med company offered to make it right, but the person left negative feedback over it anyway.

Imagine if this was just an error. To have someone drag your name down even after offering a remedy has got to be beyond frustrating -- especially in an ecosystem like eBay's.

Re: Buyer sued for posting factual negative review on eBay

#83

Post by overgryphon »

jnardiello wrote: post #35

I work for a popular brand selling accessories on eBay and Amazon. One of my duties is replying to customer care inquiries. We are a small start-up, our team is small, therefore happens quite often to spend hours every day replying to customers having a number of problems (postage problem, usage problem, etc..). I do totally understand the seller, they have done everything they could to make the buyer happy. The buye…

Someone who doesn't sell on eBay would be completely ignorant of the (apparently large) consequences of negative feedback.

She gave negative feedback because her experience didn't match her expectations. It's a reasonable thing to do.

It doesn't seem reasonable for the company to lose large amounts of transactions due to one negative feedback. But that isn't the buyer's fault, it is how eBay is organized.

Re: Buyer sued for posting factual negative review on eBay

#84

Post by kabdib »

A guy sold me an HP calculator, advertised as "in perfect condition" while in fact keys on it were broken, it was badly warped, and cigarette ashes were falling out of it.

I gave him negative feedback and he went ballistic, saying "You should have sent me a message privately, rather than give me bad feedback! I've been on eBay for ten years with no bad feedback. I would have made it up to you."

I explained that his kind of behavior was exactly what bad feedback was for.

eBay feedback is badly broken if people aren't supposed to actually use it.

Re: Buyer sued for posting factual negative review on eBay

#85

Post by acuozzo »

varjag wrote: post #32
jvdh wrote: post #8

This seems like a very unfair situation for the company. Think about what would happen if this were the other way around. For example, buyer returns an article, sends it through the post, and for some reason it ends up at Med Express door with postage due. They leave a negative feedback on eBay about the user. The Internet would then also be up in arms about the company, 'abusing' its position to harm an underdog use…

Ebay does not allow feedback left on buyers.

Yes, it does.

Now, if you meant negative feedback, then you'd be correct.

Re: Buyer sued for posting factual negative review on eBay

#86

Post by DannyBee »

Vivtek wrote: post #77
downandout wrote: post #71

The case is clearly without merit. They almost certainly sued her hoping that she doesn't have the resources to respond to it, which would result in a default judgment against her. If she is able to get an attorney, she will wind up being awarded her legal expenses and potentially other damages since the case was pretty clearly filed in bad faith. The choice to include eBay as a defendant in the suit, however, is cle…

From the article, it would appear there is in fact an attorney in the loop - who doesn't appear to know that this is a mistake.

They know it is, they either don't care, or their client doesn't care.

Re: Buyer sued for posting factual negative review on eBay

#87

Post by DannyBee »

downandout wrote: post #71

The case is clearly without merit. They almost certainly sued her hoping that she doesn't have the resources to respond to it, which would result in a default judgment against her. If she is able to get an attorney, she will wind up being awarded her legal expenses and potentially other damages since the case was pretty clearly filed in bad faith. The choice to include eBay as a defendant in the suit, however, is cle…

You are confused. Most likely, EBay will just file a motion to get themselves dismissed from the lawsuit.

Re: Buyer sued for posting factual negative review on eBay

#88

Post by pyre »

axusgrad wrote: post #75
Karunamon wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>That's just not true Yes it is. I can forgive someone for being ignorant of the way the eBay feedback system works, but when you push that button, you are not just "notifying other perspective buyers of potential problems". It hasn't been that way for years. Not since eBay removed the ability to leave negative feedback for buyers, anyways. If I were the seller in this case, rather than going to court, and negative f…

The buyer is not driving them out of business, Ebay is. Why does Ebay need to react so harshly? They should care more about the hardship they inflict on their sellers, and not blindly measure each piece of negative feedback equally. Blaming the seller is a bit like blaming someone who calls the cops on a loud party, for bad behavior by the cops.

If the cops are known for breaking up parties by beating people to death (and you know of this), don't you hold some responsibility if you call the cops to break up the party? You're not 'solely responsible' for whatever happens, but you have some amount of responsibility.

Re: Buyer sued for posting factual negative review on eBay

#89

Post by pi18n »

yebyen wrote: post #63
pi18n wrote: post #55

This is the sort of frivolous lawsuit that makes a complete mockery of legitimate torts. There needs to be some way to make courts award damages to the defendant in ridiculous cases without making it difficult for small parties to sue large ones over legitimate grievances.

Frivolous like posting a 1 star rating because the seller required you to pay $1.44 in shipping to complete the transaction? I'm not sure it's the lawsuit that's frivolous.

I'm fairly certain yours is not an objective opinion.

Re: Buyer sued for posting factual negative review on eBay

#90

Post by downandout »

DannyBee wrote: post #87
downandout wrote: post #71

The case is clearly without merit. They almost certainly sued her hoping that she doesn't have the resources to respond to it, which would result in a default judgment against her. If she is able to get an attorney, she will wind up being awarded her legal expenses and potentially other damages since the case was pretty clearly filed in bad faith. The choice to include eBay as a defendant in the suit, however, is cle…

You are confused. Most likely, EBay will just file a motion to get themselves dismissed from the lawsuit.

I am not sure how would interpret my comment as being rooted in confusion. If the claims were legitimate, eBay would be an appropriate defendant since they are publishing the defamatory content. Moreover, if they somehow lost such a case, it would open the floodgates for anyone that has ever received negative feedback to sue them. Thus, eBay will likely try to make this publicly painful for this plaintiff to serve as a warning to others that would pursue such ridiculous cases.
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