Update 14 July: this seems to be being revisited by ebay.
This is a very confusing topic, perhaps because the way it works is a bit counter-intuitive.
Buyer is allowed to negotiate shipping after the sale, using the threat of negative feedback to leverage a lower shipping charge. Period, end of story.
Any doubt, click this link to ebay's help page:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/feedback-extortion.html
Observe in particular:
Examples that aren't Feedback extortion
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A buyer says he or she will leave negative Feedback or low detailed seller ratings (DSRs) unless the seller accepts a return and pays for return shipping.
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A buyer says he or she will leave negative Feedback or DSRs unless the seller gives a full or partial refund for an item.
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A buyer feels the shipping costs are too high and says he or she will leave negative Feedback or DSRs unless the seller lowers the shipping costs.
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A buyer pays for an item and waits several weeks for it to arrive. The buyer tells the seller that if the item doesn't arrive by a certain date, he or she will leave negative Feedback or low detailed seller ratings (DSRs).
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A buyer receives an item and decides the item is significantly not as it was described in the original listing. The buyer tells the seller he or she will leave negative Feedback unless the seller allows it to be returned for a refund.
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Excellent post! Shows eBay encouraging buyers to gouge sellers for shipping costs... among other things.
ReplyDeleteI really like this one:
ReplyDeleteA buyer says he or she will leave negative Feedback or DSRs unless the seller gives a full or partial refund for an item.
I mean that was like literally the definition of feedback extortion years ago but now it is explicitly allowed. There is absolutely no mention of defect or returning the item.
On the other hand this one makes sense:
A buyer receives an item and decides the item is significantly not as it was described in the original listing. The buyer tells the seller he or she will leave negative Feedback unless the seller allows it to be returned for a refund.
It is now perfectly fine to request a partial or full refund regardless if there is actually a problem with the item or not. The only thing the buyer can't do is explicitly say they will be keeping the item which then makes it feedback extortion.