eBay Seller Sues Buyer for Leaving “Neutral” Feedback
Living in a Radically Transparent world is, it seems, not without risk. Apparently a Seattle man was recently sued for $10,000 because he left a “Neutral” rating for an eBay seller from North Carolina.
Sued! For $10k for using a system that eBay implemented to encourage feedback!!!
Shellhorn bought some Morgan silver dollars from a man in North Carolina. The price was fair, but Shellhorn says the coins were packed poorly.
“The coins were hanging out of the envelope, loose, with no packing whatsoever around them,” he said.
The seller wanted feedback. Shellhorn couldn’t honestly say the deal was good or bad so he took the middle ground.
“This is neutral feedback, not even negative feedback, but neutral. He sued me for $10,000,” he said.
The judge in Buncome County, NC did dismiss the law suit, but it still raises a serious question about the future of consumer feedback, if the consumer is fearful of leaving any feedback at all.
It’s amazing that someone would sue an individual for one “neutral” rating, but that goes to show just how important ratings are on eBay. It’s also scary that an attorney was willing to take on the case. What if the judge hadn’t shown any common sense? What if the court had ruled in favor of the plaintiff?
It may not have happened this time, but you can bet that this case will inspire someone to think they can remove legitimate negative (neutral?) customer feedback by taking them to court. And it will be a scary time for all, should a naive judge rule in favor of the company.
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Tags: buyer, ebay, feedback, leaving, neutral, seller, sues
April 24th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
If you down mod this comment, I will sue you.
April 24th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
That article has one of the best typos ever: “the treat of litigation.” Some treat!
April 24th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
I think that’s why eBay stopped letting sellers leave feedback for buyers.I had a situation years back where I bought a board game from someone. It was missing important pieces and it arrived late so I left neutral. She flips out and leaves me negative feedback as retaliation. Pretty bullshit.I’m glad they got rid of it.
April 24th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
People get so pissed at neutral feedback on e-bay! I once ordered a laptop battery that, a couple weeks after I purchased it through the auction, they admitted they were out of the batteries. Over a month later, I finally got what I ordered, and left neutral feedback. What I got back was the most scathing negative review I’d ever seen. These sellers can be nuts.
April 24th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
How would you respond without a lawyer? Start reading up on the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and hope for the best?
April 24th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
You don’t find out about that until after you’ve already hired the lawyer.
April 24th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
I don’t buy much on Ebay, maybe one thing a year at most. But I found some stupid belt buckle that my wife would think was funny. So I got for her.It took 3 weeks longer to send than promised. Because the seller forgot to send it and was reminded to do so by an email or 3 from me. The item when it did arrive was pure crap! So cheap, you could not even use it as a belt buckle, it would have broke.It cost me 30 bucks, but my wife still got a laugh out of it, so I was not gonna bother to return it. But I did leave a negative feedback, stating that it took too long to ship and the quality was no where near the discription.The seller sent 5-8 emails bitching at me and demand I retract the feedback. I did’nt go overboard. I just told the truth. But this guy was freaking pissed. I finally filtered his emails.CB…..
April 24th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
I like when feed backs contain A+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
April 24th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Loopholes.