LJG765

Ok, I was contacted today by a marketplace merchant from Amazon about a purchase I made over 5 years ago (In 2007!) Here's what they said:

"In 2007 I sold you a book and couldn't find it and refunded back to you. Anyway last 5 years I opened my home base business and start to sell at Amazon for my business. Because of the feedback I get from you my score is very low. I wonder is there anyway you can fix it? My business name is same with my amazon store so I couldn't change it. If you can I really appreciate it. I attached the order detail:"

Is this legal? I don't feel bad about scoring them low (I had to go back through my orders to even remember what they were talking about). I scored them on the service I received. I'm just shocked that they would actually contact someone about this--and one score is bothering them that badly?

Just looking for opinions, I guess, from people who may have had this happen to them or from someone who can explain the other side.

Also, I just looked at Amazon at the transaction. Is there any way I could change it if I wanted to?

Thanks.

Lori

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They used to have a way to delete a feedback rating on your end. I do not know if you could do it for one that old. Perhaps look at their feedback and see why this is bothering them. If one doesn't have much feedback on amazon, then one bad feedback can really hurt their overall rating. It can skew it to look worse than it is.

kahuna

My mom was looking for a book for her sister. I needed 3 copies of it. So i checked Amazon. They did not carry it but 2 different sellers did. I purchased a used copy and then 2 now ones from 2 different sellers on the same day. The seller selling the used one shipped out the next day. The seller I brought the 2 new books from shipped out 10 days later. I was not happy but decided to wait for the books to arrive before I emailed the person. I had no way to track the order since he did not offer one. So I waited 30 days from the date I placed the orders and no books in site. The used book from the other seller arrived 12 days after it was shipped Media mail. I was able to track it. Unfortunately it arrived damaged. I emailed the seller with a pic I took of the book. He gave me a full refund and told me to keep it. I gave him a 5 star rating.

Now for the other seller. I contacted that person 30 days after I placed the order and told him the books had not arrived yet. The seller assured me it had been shipped out even though he could not give me a tracking #. I told him I was not happy it took 10 days for the books to be shipped out. The seller told me he had health problems with his daughter and that is why it took so long. I made a comment maybe he should not be selling on Amazon for not until thing get better with his daughter. I also told him I was seriously thinking about giving him a one star rating. He also had vary few sales. In fact only one. But I told him I would wait 10 days more since that would make it 30 days from the day the book shipped. And it was shipped out Media Mail. I waited 12 and still no books. I contacted the seller again. And told him that I wanted a full refund since the books never arrived. He was not happy and once again said it was shipped out. I told him I would be contacting Amazon.com if I do not get a refund. But if the books ever show up that I would ship them back on my dime and he can bet they would not be shipped media mail and also have a tracking #. He told me I was being rude and believed that even if the books arrived I would never send them back. He did refund me the money for the order. Well guess what the books still have not arrived. I am going to wait a full 60 days from the day the books were shipped and then if they do not arrive I will give him a 1 star rating. Sorry for this being so long.

DVD Josh

What on earth does it being "legal" have anything to do with anything? Either you will change it or you won't. I personally think they are FOS, btw.

Trevor

Fos ?

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

You can tell him he can fix it by selling more stuff and earning good feedback. Too late to do anything now.

SkullOrchard

Full of shit.

RonG617

I like the health issue thing. After selling and buying about 1000 things on Ebay and Amazon over the years that one gets used the most. I didn't ship for two weeks because _____ was sick. I didn't pay right away because ____was ill.

LJG765

Well, I asked if it was legal (or against Amazon policy) because if it wasn't, I would have reported them to Amazon. If it was part of policy, I'd just let it go. I have no plans on changing or removing the review at this time. I did look up the transaction on Amazon, and I gave them a 3/5 because they canceled the order as they couldn't find the book. In the review part, I said something to the effect of refund was quickly given but they didn't have the book that I had bought.

The seller has around 10-15 ratings and I am the lowest...but from what you all have said, I'm just going to ignore the message and forget about it. I don't feel like I was too harsh in judging the transaction and was honest about what happened.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

It's not breaking any laws but it may be against Amazon's policy. You could always report it and if Amazon feels the need to do anything, they'll do it and not rat you out.

They're probably sending messages to everyone else, so they might get told to stop doing it.

Alan Smithee

I usually don't leave feedback at all if I at least get refunded the full amount. If they make a mistake, inconvenience me and I don't get refunded the full amount, then that's another story.

LJG765

It was just a weird thing to do, especially after so long a time. I think I'm just going to let it drop and not do anything-If they push it more, I'll report them to Amazon, but I guess I don't blame them for trying...

PhantomStranger

It happened to me once on Amazon.co.uk, a seller contacted me years after a purchase. Strangely enough, they had contacted me by accident since I had given them the full five stars in the feedback. I thought it strange that they had wanted me to remove positive feedback.

Josh-da-man

I'm trying to imagine how these conversations go...

SELLER: "Hi there. Six years ago you tried to buy a book from me through the Amazon marketplace and I totally ripped you off. My bad. I have accumulated so much negative feedback from unsatisfied customers that potential buyers are now scared off. I was wondering if you would kindly help me out by deleting the negative feedback you left for me so my rating will go up and people will start purchasing from me again. Thank you."

BUYER: "Fuck off. Feedback is there for a reason."

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

The marketplace forums is full of new sellers that don't really think they have to follow the rules and then cry when they have a bunch of bad feedback or amazon gives them a temp suspension. It's a constant stream of posts like that which never ends.

EddieMoney

If you can change your rating, change it from a 3 to a 1. That'll show the bastard.

joe_b

I placed an order with a Marketplace seller whose only been active for about three months. I purchased one item (a kitchen utensil) and they ended up sending me an entire case of them. They caught the mistake before the shipment was delivered and contacted me about it. They offered to refund the entire order if I only kept one and sent the rest back, but nothing about covering the return shipping cost. Trust me, what I paid for the item - about $6 - wouldn't come close to covering the return shipping on this heavy-ass box. It must weigh over thirty pounds.

I don't intend to keep something I didn't pay for, but this thing would set me back a good chunk of change (not including my time and gas money) to return to them. I requested that they at least provide a pre-paid return label. I don't feel I should have to pay return postage upfront, even if they promise to reimburse me later. I have no way of knowing how much this box would cost to return until I got to the post office, plus the company doesn't have the most stellar track record. If the seller won't handle the return expenses up front, how would you proceed? Would contacting Amazon help in this department?

Obi-Wanma

Has it been opened? If not, you could just write return to sender on it and give it back to the postman. If you're being refunded anyway, go ahead and re-order from another seller. If it has been opened, any way it could be resealed without looking like it's been opened? If so, you could still give that a try.

joe_b

It came via FedEx and there isn't a physical location within twenty miles. I've never done a return to sender before, let alone with FedEx. Would my local post office be able to pass it along? I believe they have a small FedEx drop box out front. The seller hasn't refunded anything yet and I don't think they plan to until they get the box back

EDIT: Called the post office and was told that while they do handle drop shipments from FedEx, they would not pass along anything on my behalf. Guy sounded like a total dick.

Oh well, if the seller wants their case back then they can pay to have someone pick it up at my house. I'm not driving thirty minutes out of my way (in heavy traffic) to correct this mistake.

Obi-Wanma

Call FedEx and tell them you want to refuse it and return it to the sender. They might send someone by to pick it up. I've never tried it with FedEx, but UPS has done that for me before.

joe_b

Good suggestion. I'll leave that up to the seller, as I'm sure there would be a cost involved (I was told there was when I requested a UPS pick-up on something last year).

I get the feeling the order fulfillment was done by a distribution center on the seller's behalf, as the person I'm dealing with is totally clueless about shipping labels. They want me to pay return shipping up front and promise to reimburse me later, but I'd be paying at least $50 out of pocket. I'm just not willing to do that when it was their goof. Nothing like this has happened to me before and I want to make sure I'm not liable for the cost of anything I didn't order. Again, I don't want to keep their merchandise -- but I do feel it's their responsibility to handle the situation without making me jump through hoops and spend money I don't have.

Obi-Wanma

UPS didn't charge me anything to pick up a return shipment the 2 or 3 times that I did it.

If that doesn't seem like it's going to work, and you want to estimate shipping without going to the post office, if it's that heavy, a good bathroom scale should be good enough to weigh it, and then you can print your own postage at paypal without any surcharges. If you do that, you could use that to calculate the exact cost without a wasted trip to the post office, and then try to get the seller to front you the money with an exact cost, then purchase the postage, and drop it at the post office or with your carrier.

joe_b

I just checked the weight using the FedEx tracking info and calculated the cost of priority mail to return it (cheapest route for a package this size). I'd be paying just over $50 out of pocket. Ridiculous.... and again, the seller is asking me to pay it up front before reimbursing.

Edit: Scratch that. I missed the option for Standard Post since it wasn't displayed in the online options column. If I go that route, I'd be spending about $30 on the return. Still, I will only pay it if they the seller credits the amount up front.

Obi-Wanma

You can't buy standard postage from usps.com, but you can buy it from paypal, and it will be a bit cheaper than buying it at the post office.

Here's the link: https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_ship-now

joe_b

Never bought postage online before, but I'll check it out. I'm just waiting to hear back from the seller at this point. Haven't gotten a response since I insisted they step up and cover the cost of return shipping up front. If they won't trust me to send the shipment back, I don't really trust them to refund the cost of the return.