what would you do?

[pinkkitty]

we recently bought a broadband modem from ebay, as ours had stopped working.

It was meant to arrive within 14 days, but the seller took almost a month to send it (she claimed she had probs with her PC) and when it arrived it didn't work. It turned out it was the modem Telewest had provided her and was registered to her account, and she had no right to sell it to us.

Naturally we gave her negative feedback, although she did eventually take back the modem and refund us the cost. Now she is e-mailing us, saying she'll also refund the cost of our initial P&P plus "a bit extra" if we retract the negative comment.

I don't want to sound all self-righteous, but this is wrong, surely? It worries me to think that i could be doing business with someone on ebay who has a 100% rating only because they've essentially bribed their customers into giving good feedback.

so, what would you all do? take the "bribe" (for want of a better word) or report her to ebay?

[crossroads]

Take the bribe and then tip ebay off about her behind her back.

[Psychick]

How about a comprimise and leave neutral feedback stating she did take the item back and gave a full refund eventually?

[jinxie]

This IS wrong. Stand by your principles, what she did was theft from Telewest and fraud in taking your money. Surely the whole story means that you have to report her for the sake of other people.

I sell goods on eBay and I should hate to think that anyone could possibly consider that this could happen on my site.

Incidently, I do not believe in charging for postage and am rather saddened by the people who are taken in by a low price and stupidly high postage charge. Also the people who`s "selling price" is next to nothing but plus a ridiculous postage charge. Even if they sell the same item a hundred times and refund the selling price each time, they are still quids in because they do not refund postage.

No doubt your postage charge was quite high but seeing as the item was stole, you should press for it to be repaid.

[Panic Button]

Surely when an internet provider gives you a modem, it is yours to do with as you wish.

I don't see how selling it on counts as theft, though if it wouldn't work with someone elses account it was foolish.

[Betty Noir]

I'd report her. She sounds a bit shifty and she might rip off someone else.

[Dassie]

Leave matters as they are. Others on Ebay need to know with whom they are dealing and it's only fair to them to leave the feedback as is. It's no use reporting the bribe to Ebay as they don't want to lose income by striking a member off their programme.