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Lawyer warns it could put people off leaving critical feedback
If the Ebay seller who plans to sue a disgruntled customer for libel wins the case, it could make future feedback “worthless”, according to a leading media lawyer.
Hanna Basha, a partner of solicitors Carter Ruck, warned the case could deter buyers in the future from posting negative feedback, even if they deem it valid, as they “will be concerned they could face an action for defamation”.
The row blew up when Chris Read, from Kent, posted a complaint on the auction site about the Samsung mobile phone he had bought from seller Joel Jones. His feedback said: " Item was scratched, chipped, and not the model advertised on Mr Jones' eBay account."
Mr Jones sent Mr Read a refund and asked him to retract the comments. Mr Read refused arguing the feedback was honest and not malicious in any way.
Mr Jones has now threatened to sue him for defamation. He sent Mr Read a pre-court letter demanding he agree the comments were unreasonable. If not Mr Jones said he would be taken to court and face costs of £175 as well as " substantial" lawyers' fees.
A pre-court letter is a letter of demand and can be drafted by the litigant and is not a court document; Mr Read appeared to be sticking to his guns about not retracting his comments.
Ms Basha said: “Mr Jones has a prima facie case (one that at first glance presents sufficient evidence for the plaintiff to win) for defamation. If this does happen, then the feedback on any seller is unlikely to be balanced, showing only the positive, which may make it completely worthless,” she said.
Ebay said it was very disappointed that Mr Jones and Mr Read had been unable to sort the case amicably.
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eBay and their Feedback System.
People work long and hard to keep a small business on eBay. All it takes is a few disgruntled mean spirited buyers to ruin your business! I too would sue if the Negative is uncalled for! This man returned the buyers funds, why then would he leave a negative for him except out of malicious hate? Every eBayer that has been wronged by negative feedback not called for should SUE the buyer who left the negative! eBay has made it easy for buyers to leave negative feedback against the seller and therefore putting sellers out of business. If eBay does nothing about it then the sellers should Sue the buyer! I hope this guy wins big time!
Posted by Tippy, 08 Nov 2008
Ebay and their feedback system
If its a truthfull comment then they shouldn't be able to sue, after how many of us have been ripped of by unscrupulous sellers who don't care what they sell and are very quick to take your money but don't keep there end of the contract up as well. Sellers should put correct information instead of trying to sell rubbish like some of them do. If this person wins it will make a mockery of the whole feedback system and then any buyer can be ripped of and the seller can keep on selling because nobody knows the truth about them for fear of being sued
Posted by petal, 12 Nov 2008
how easy is it to sue
i recently got negative feedback from a buyer stating he did not receive a Processor with the motherboard he purchased Ebay have refused to remove the feedback dispite the fact their was no Processor included in the listing, which is quite clear when you read the text of the listing and view the photograph of the item. I find this quite unbeleiveable seems you can do or say what ever you like if you are a buyer Ebay need to wise up and use common sense
Posted by clifton mc laughlin, 26 Feb 2009
ebay shouldnt let people lie in feedback if they care in the slightest about it
Ebay keeps no control whatsoever on their feedback, yet expects people to deem it reliable. I had a case where a seller refused to deliver after I had paid. Ebay would do nothing about it. They wouldn't even contact the seller and remind him of his obligations! I left negative feedback which was obviously warranted. The seller retaliated and ebay refused to take off the obviously retaliatory feedback, despite my having a complaint in process about non-delivery! Weeks later the seller noticed that his retaliatory feedback had hurt HIM more than ME. He even posted a correction to his retaliatory feedback on their site. (Mind you, he STILL wouldn't deliver!) Still, ebay wouldn't remove the feedback. Eventually after the usual nightmare of time wasting cut-and-pasted email interchanges with their computer system before someone real responds, they agreed to remove BOTH FEEDBACKS if I agreed to lie and say I had actually received the items. EBay insisted that I should lose the money AND lie about receiving it. I'll bet they don't dare answer this!
Posted by Jonathan, 17 Mar 2009
a seller should have the right to sue
There is no concern from buyers now on ebay about leaving negative feedback, with comments that are not always accurate, and the damage that can cause to a well meaning seller. I'm not sure about this case, I would have to know more as the buyer's comments may have been correct at the time (albeit it was mean spirited not to take it off when the situation was righted), but it is the buyer's responsibility to ensure that feedback left is truthful and correct. If they don't and refuse to remove it there should be consequences.
Posted by tina, 18 Jun 2009