Sued for leaving neutral feedback

by Sue Bailey

This post was written in April 2008; specific information contained within it may be out of date.

eBay sellers have been getting pretty protective of their feedback in recent weeks. With search results’ order and even ability to list on the site now influenced by the feedback buyers leave, I was unsurprised - if a little depressed - to hear of one seller negging a buyer for not leaving four 5s on DSR stars. But now one American seller has gone a step further, trying to sue a buyer for leaving neutral feedback.

According to reports, the buyer had bought some silver dollars on eBay, which arrived poorly packed. Then it seems like the seller asked for feedback. The buyer left him a neutral, and was slapped with a $10,000 lawsuit. Though the judge threw the case out, the buyer was still left with a $500 legal bill for the attorney he’d had to hire.

King5.com’s report of the case says that the seller was prevented from leaving negative feedback for the buyer because of eBay’s rules: in fact, this new rule doesn’t kick in until next month. But I’ll predict that this will not be the last case of this kind that we’ll see from sellers desperate to protect their reputations and their livelihoods.

Tags for this post: , ,
Author: Sue Bailey
Posted at: Thursday, April 24th, 2008 at 11:44 am
Filed Under Featured
 

Comments

7 Responses to “Sued for leaving neutral feedback”

  1. Chris Dawson on April 24th, 2008 12:13 pm

    Just watched the video on the king5.com link…. the last 15 seconds regarding the sellers reputation is worth watching the rest for. A perfect example of how the tables can turn :shock:

  2. Dan Wilson on April 24th, 2008 12:18 pm

    I’d have thought the First Amendment to the US Constitution would have an action like this covered?

  3. northumbrian on April 24th, 2008 12:22 pm

    wonderful karmas a wonderful thing

    the guy got the coins whats he whinging about

  4. Sue Bailey on April 24th, 2008 12:24 pm

    I guess not, Dan, otherwise there would never be any libel/slander cases? Irrespective of the first amendment, one does not have the right to say what one likes if that is going to damage someone else. Of course, we don’t know what the neutral said.

    There’s also the issue of the score (seperate from the comment). Could one sue for loss of business due to a grey or red blob on eBay feedback? Perhaps one could, though I think it would be difficult because unquantifiable.

  5. Sue Bailey on April 24th, 2008 12:28 pm

    Plus the First Amendment says “Congress shall make no law…” It doesn’t say “no one can object to the exercise of free speech”.

    Disclaimer: IANAL etc.

  6. Biggles on April 24th, 2008 12:39 pm

    Spot the winners…

    The lawyers.

  7. Ebay Seller on April 25th, 2008 5:25 am

    I had someone call me a scammer the other day with a scathing negative.

    (shipped his item within 2 days of payment).

    Perhaps I can sue?

    lol

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