Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Wisconsin

Can I be sued for giving negative feedback on Ebay?

Recently I the buyer, made a transaction with a seller on Ebay, who ended up selling his Ab Crunch machine for the amount of $50 at the end of the auction, instead of getting the $600 that he initially wanted. The seller's starting price was set with no reserve. After our transaction was completed, his tone was bitter & rude towards me. This occurred up to the point of payment and afterward, when I attempted to send him a proposal to buy more exercise equipment him separate from Ebay.

His response was "Hi, Sorry I am not interested in giving my equipment away. After selling you the AB machine for 50$ I decided I would not do that again, and am now using an equipment dealer.

Many of the machine I have are worth real money to the right purchaser. If I can't find the right purchaser who understands the concepts of Nautilus and Arthur Jones I would simply rather scratch the equipment that I don't plain on using in the future.

As far as how much I pay for storage that really isn't a good negotiation tool or either is the price of scrap metal. For you're information I can afford to keep my storage lockers as long as I want to and the equipment in them. I don't need the likes of you with some low ball proposal to bail me out."

This resulted in me giving him negative feedback where I commented, "He became bitter & rude because his item sold for $50. Sent me insulting email." This resulted in his feedback score dropping down to 66.7%.

Now, he's threatening me to remove the negative feedback, or I will be hearing form his lawers.

The problem is that I'd like to; but Ebay won't allow me.


Asked on 7/29/10, 1:23 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Edward Hoffman Law Offices of Edward A. Hoffman

I don't see any legitimate grounds for a lawsuit against you. Ebayers are supposed to give negative feedback where appropriate, and that is evidently what you did. I agree with you that the seller's email was rude and that he comes across as bitter. Most judges and jurors would surely see things the same way.

I doubt that many lawyers would want to sue you for what you wrote, even if the seller is willing to pay them for their services.

In many states, a lawsuit over something like this would qualify as a SLAPP ("Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation"). In those states, a defendant can bring a special motion to dismiss a SLAPP suit at an early stage. A defendant who succeeds in having a case dismissed as a SLAPP suit is entitled to recover his attorney fees and costs from the plaintiff. Offhand I don't know whether this option is available in Wisconsin. Then again, I'm not sure Wisconsin is where the seller would file any lawsuit he might choose to bring.

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Answered on 8/03/10, 1:48 pm


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